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National Council of Catholic Women to honor noted author
CONSOLATA MISSIONARY Father Giovanetti Giuseppi comfor:ts children from the village of Arba Gosa, south of the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa,·rec~ntly. Etl:liopiafaces drought and famine,"With more than four million people needing direct food aid. (CNS photo by Declan Walsh) .
WASHINGTON (CNS) -Author Mary Higgins Clark will r\lceive the National Council of Catholic Women's 2003 distinguished service award September, 28 during the organization's biennial convention in Minneapolis. "Mary Higgins Clark is a living example of the fact that one can be a successful author in today's society without resorting to morally objectionable or sexually explicit imagery to sell books," said Barbara, Garavalia, NCCW president. Archbishop John J. Myers of Newark, N.J., praised the selection of Clark for the honor. "In the short time I have served the church of Newark, I have come to know Mary, her husband, John', ' and members 'of her family well," he said. "She is a true example of a woman. who lives her faith, and
Dry soil, swollen bellies: Agencies work to avoid.(amlne in Ethiop.ia By
a
Our Lady's ,Monthly Message From Medjugorje
DECLAN WALSH
with more than 20 years' experiA local population explosion ence in Ethiopia. and a quasi-medieval farming ARBA GOSA, Ethiopia In Father Giuseppi said he could economy are partly to blame. Two Ethiopia, it is a painful yet familiar remember the hist major famine decades ago there were 40 milscene. Inside a dark hut, ~ desperate in the area, in 1984, when chil- li.on Ethiopians; now they numfather cradles his hungry children in dren survived on emergency ber almost 70 million. Most are his lap. Outside, the parched soil has drips, health clinics were full and peasant farmers trying to eke out blown his crops to dust. Now he can many people died. Then, as now, a living' from ever-smaller tracts only crouch in the gloom and wait he was relying on relief aid from of land, badly degraded by lack ' Catholic Relief Services, the U.S. of irrigation and massive deforfor Western food aid. "We are just praying to God," bishops' international relief and estation. The war with Eritrea, which said Kedir Ido, a farmer who has development agency, to help feed turned to begging in this village the hungry. ended just three years ago, and 60 miles south of the capital, Relief workers· say that in a .plummeting coffee prices also Addis Ababa. As he spoke he worst-case scenario this year hurt badly. Coffee is Ethiopia's rubbed the fingers of Nul', his could see a repeat of the 1984 largest export crop. , , two-year-old son with a swollen famine, but that scenario looks But the recurrent crisis has rebelly and thinning hair. sulted in fresh questions about the unlikely, at·least for now. Western nations have filled the , effectiveness of Western aid. The sword of famine hangs over Ethiopia yet again. A scorch- food"pipeline," or supply chain, Desperate to avoid stark teleing drought last year ruined the until late June. Supplies for the vision images of skeletal children, harvest; now there are chronic following months have not yet Western governments plow food shortages with 14 million been promised, but government money for famine relief into Ethiopia. In the past two years, people at risk. Even areas that· officials are confident. . But if this is success, it is of a the United States has given food used to produce a crop surplus, like the area around Arba Gosa, very narrow kind. Despite more aid worth $172 million to the are stricken. . money and better r~lief organiza- U.N. WorldFooct Program. But while the flood of funds is "People's grain stores are 'tion than ever, Ethiopia's hunger empty, their cattle are dying, and crises are getting deeper and more crucial to staving off death it does· they are selling their oxen for over frequent. In 1984 more than eight relatively little to prevent the next half the normal price," said Fa- million people were 'affected. Now crisis. During "quiet" years there ther Giovanetti Giuseppi, a. 66- at least four million need food aid, is relatively little enthusiasm for slow-burn development projects year-old Consolata missionary even in a good year, to survive. - such as irrigation schemes or tree planting - that contain few . dramatic images but could help to stave off famine permanently. Government controls can hamper what development projects exist already. Although Catholics account for perhaps just one percent of the population, the Church runs 230 schools, five hospitals and more than 60 health clinics if! Ethiopia. Until now, Ethiopia has had the highest per capita level' of emergency aid in sub-Saharan Africa, but the lowest rate of development assistance. But change is slowly coming: Last December donors A YOUNG boy hugs a pole in the drought-stricken village pledged $3.6 billiop. over the next of Meki, south of the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa. (CNS three years for a mixture of emergency and development work. photo by DeCian Walsh) .
who, through her art, encourages others to do the same." Clark, a mystery writer with more than two dozen best sellers to her credit, lives in Saddle River, N.J. A widow for many years, she, married JohnJ. Conheeney in 1996; between them they have nine children and 15 grandchildren. The award honors a nationally recognized Catholic woman for her achievements. It is presented biennially to woman whose life and work exemplify the NCCW mission to "support, empower and educate Catholic women in spiritual-' ity, leadership and service." Previous winners include Corinne "Lindy" Boggs, former U.S. ambassador to the Holy Sec, and death penalty opponent Sister Helen Prejean, a Sister of St. Joseph of Medaille.
CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE
March 25, 2003 Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina "Dear Children! Also today I call you to pray for peace. Pray with the heart, little children, and do notJos~ hope because God loves His creatures. He desires to save you, one by one, through my coming here. I call you to the way of' holiness. Pray, and in prayer you are 'open to God's will; in this way, in everything you do, you realize God's plan in you and through you. "Thank you for having responded to my call."
P.q.
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