Feb. 11, 2000

The Catholic News & Herald 1

February 11, 2000

February 11, 2000 Volume 9 t Number 23

Inside Sister Mary Barbara Sullivan, RSM dies at 74

S e r v i n g C a t h o l i c s in Western North Carolina in the Diocese of Charlotte

Exploring Catholic identity

Mass is key to Catholic identity, Franciscan priest tells college students

Editor’s note: This is the first of a two-part series on the diocesan Catholic campus ministry retreat.

...Page 3

By JIMMY ROSTAR Associate Editor CLOVER, S.C. — During a weekend focusing on the dynamics of Catholic identity, college students from across the Diocese of Charlotte heard an earnest explanation of how the Mass is central to the faith.

Father Jude DeAngelo, a Conventual Franciscan serving in WinstonSalem, told the students on Feb. 5 that everything Catholics do as people of faith is done in the name of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Mass, he said, is the primary example of that devotion, and is one that requires reverent, spiritual preparation to be fully appreciated.

“You have an important job,” said Father DeAngelo, Catholic campus minister for students of Wake Forest and Winston-Salem State universities, N.C. School of the Arts and Salem College. “It’s not just the priest that has to get ready. It’s not just the altar servers that have to get ready. You have to get ready for the Eucharist.

“It is the primary way to be in wor-

Our Lady of Grace youth aid N.C. flood relief ...Page 5

From the Cover

Catholic school students greet Sammy Sosa on Denver visit

...Page 7

Local News Bishop McGuinness School groundbreaking signals new beginning

...Page 9

Living the Faith

See CATHOLIC IDENTITY, page 4

No Regis or millions here, but plenty of blessings, religious ed

...Page 16

Every Week Photo Joann S. Keane

Entertainment ...Pages 10-11

Editorials & Columns ...Pages 12-13 MMMMMMMMM

The love story of St. Valentine

A column by Father John C. Aurilia, OFM Cap

Abe Weaver, 19, of Western Carolina University, Ai Lin Loh, 20, of Appalachian State University, and Samatha Shaver, 20, of WCU listen intently as Bishop William G. Curlin addresses students at the Campus Ministry Retreat.

Catholics celebrate 25th anniversary of Appalachia pastoral tied together by the mountain chain, and by the coal in its center.”

The 1975 document focused on the economic and political plight and powerlessness of the poor people of Appalachia amid America’s flourishing industrial economy.

The cry of the region’s poor had long gone unnoticed, according to those involved in drafting the document.

“We have listened to these cries, and now we lend our own voice,” the bishops said in the pastoral letter.

“This letter is but one part of an un-

By Thomas R. Papeika Catholic News Service WHEELING, W.Va. (CNS) — Appalachian Catholics gathered to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the pastoral letter “This Land is Home to Me” Feb. 5 at Wheeling Jesuit University.

Issued by the bishops of Appalachia in 1975, the letter marked the importance of Catholic social teaching and applying it to a particular place.

“This Land is Home to Me” was the first pastoral letter issued by the bishops of a particular region, according to Father Joe Sanders, part of the original

writing team that drafted the letter.

Father Sanders also noted that the letter was among the first to use a grass-roots listening approach to shaping it, rather than relying on teams of experts.

The letter notes that “the truth of Appalachia is harsh.” It explains the wide range of problems that face the vast region, which stretches from New York all the way to northern Alabama.

And it notes that, despite the enormous diversity of the region, “it’s all

See APPALACHIA, page 15

2 The Catholic News & Herald nine-month strike by students at Latin America’s largest university. About 2,500 police wearing full riot gear but under orders not to use firearms entered the main campus of the National Autonomous University of Mexico at dawn Feb. 6. Students who had occupied the university’s main campus since April 20 did not resist arrest and were led to buses that carried them to various city jails. The strike affected almost 270,000 students in the university and in the UNAM’s network of senior high schools in Mexico City.

Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera of Mexico City expressed satisfaction that the UNAM installations were recovered in “a peaceful way.”

Church leaders demand end to Canadian ‘head tax’ on immigrants TORONTO (CNS) — Canadian church leaders demanded an end to a federal government “head tax,” saying it imposes heavy financial burdens on refugees and immigrants entering the country. The “Right of Landing” fee, established by the government’s citizenship and immigration department in 1995, levies a $975 charge on every refugee claimant and immigrant.

“This tax establishes a ‘welcome debt’ for refugee and immigrant families coming to Canada,” said Robert Filart, coordinator of the Toronto Archdiocese’s refugee sponsorship program.

Although the landing fee allows for government loans and repayment plans, Filart said this does little to ease a struggling family’s integration into Canadian society.

Cardinal, Vatican official differ on church response to problems ROME (CNS) — In an unusual public exchange with a leading Vatican official, a French cardinal has suggested that the church show more openness as it confronts modern doctrinal and disciplinary problems. Cardinal Pierre Eyt of Bordeaux said that while today’s lay Catholics have ideas to contribute on questions of theology, politics, bioethics and other issues, the hierarchy’s dialogue with them seems to be going nowhere. He wondered

CNS photo from Reuters

Feast of the Presentation Jose and Blanca Garcia prepare a Christ figurine to mark the Feast of the Presentation at their family store in central Mexico City Feb. 11.

Mexicans celebrate the day by dressing the nativity figurine and taking it to Mass. The feast marks the ceremony in which Christ was brought to the temple and Mary was purified after his birth.

World Catholic population up, number of priests rises VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The number of Catholics reached 1.045 billion, about 17.4 percent of the global population, the Vatican reported. The statistics, from 1998, were included in an updated pontifical yearbook presented to Pope John Paul II on Feb. 5.

The number of Catholics represented a new high, up about 40 million from 1997, and the percentage of the global population marked a slight increase, too. The Americas, considered as a single continent by the Vatican, had the strongest concentration of Catholics in the general population, with 63.1 percent. It was followed by Europe with 41.4 percent, Oceania with 26.9 percent, Africa with 15.6 percent and Asia with 3.1 percent.

Mexican church leaders welcome police raid ending strike MEXICO CITY (CNS) — Mexican church leaders expressed approval of a federal police raid that ended a

Episcopal February 11, 2000 Volume 9 • Number 23

Publisher: Most Reverend William G. Curlin Editor: Joann S. Keane Associate Editor: Jimmy Rostar Staff Writer: Alesha M. Price Production Associate: Julie Radcliffe Advertising Representative: Cindi Feerick Secretary: Jane Glodowski 1123 South Church St., Charlotte, NC 28203 Mail: P.O. Box 37267, Charlotte, NC 28237 Phone: (704) 370-3333 FAX: (704) 370-3382 E-mail: catholicnews@charlottediocese.org The Catholic News & Herald, USPC 007-393, is published by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte, 1123 South Church St., Charlotte, NC 28203, 44 times a year, weekly except for Christmas week and Easter week and every two weeks during June, July and August for $15 per year for enrollees in parishes of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte and $18 per year for all other subscribers. Second-class postage paid at Charlotte NC and other cities. POSTMASTER: Send address corrections to The Catholic News & Herald, P.O. Box 37267, Charlotte, NC 28237.

February 11, 2000

The World in

c a l e n-

Bishop William G. Curlin will take part in the following events: February 24 — 7 pm Confirmation Holy Angels Catholic Church Mount Airy February 26 — 10:30 am Meeting with Women Religious Catholic Conference Center, Hickory February 27 — 11 am Confirmation St Mark Catholic Church, Huntersville March 3 — 7 pm Confirmation Hispanic Center, Charlotte March 4 — 11 am Diaconal recommitment day St Patrick Cathedral, Charlotte

whether the church might not expose its concepts more to modern ways of thinking. Writing in the French Catholic newspaper La Croix, Cardinal Eyt directed his comments to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, of which Cardinal Eyt is also a member.

Responding in the same newspaper, Cardinal Ratzinger said he thought socalled “institutional” problems in the church were the reflection of a deeper crisis of faith.

Seton Hall fire believed to be deliberately set, newspaper says NEWARK, N.J. (CNS) — Two weeks after a dormitory fire that killed three students and injured 58 others at Seton Hall University, investigators believe the fire was deliberately set, The Star-Ledger newspaper of Newark reported Feb. 2. The report said investigators were seeking four suspects and were focusing on a dis-

Diocesan

plan -

Church Adult Education Department presents “Journey into Lent 2000” today from 9:30 a.m.-2 p.m. This year’s theme “Are there doors in my life that I have closed?” is being explored by Mercy Sister Jeanne Marie Kienast, pastoral associate at St. Matthew Church in Charlotte. The theme will cover “the doors to reconciliations, unresolved grief and new beginnings.” Continental breakfast is being served, but please bring a bag lunch. For more information about registration, call Caryn Cusick, adult education coordinator, at (704) 362-5047, Ext. 276.

ROCK HILL, S.C. — Catholic Engaged Encounter is a weekend retreat allowing couples preparing for marriage to concentrate exclusively on each other free of tensions and pressures. This weekend’s retreat is being held at Winthrop College, 30 minutes south of Charlotte, today and tomor-

pute between students in the freshman dormitory and three nonstudents who were asked to leave the dorm less than an hour before the Jan. 19 fire broke out. “This was not an accidental fire. Someone started the fire,” said an anonymous official quoted in the newspaper.

Maryland firm stops selling body parts from abortions BALTIMORE (CNS) — A decision by a Maryland company to stop procuring and distributing body parts obtained from aborted fetuses is drawing praise from pro-life supporters who had protested the practice as abhorrent and inhumane. The Anatomic Gift Foundation, based in Laurel, announced in late December it would “no longer procure or provide human tissue derived from elective pregnancy terminations for research and education.” State Sen. Martin G. Madden, a Republican representing the district where the company is located, said he was “very pleased” with the company’s decision and hopes that it does not change that stand.

Death threats continue against Mexican church groups MEXICO CITY (CNS) — Death threats continued in January against members of two prominent churchrun human rights groups noted for their defense of indigenous people in southern Mexico, the groups said. In Mexico City, the Jesuit-backed Miguel Augustin Pro human rights center said Feb. 1 its lawyers who defend peasant leaders in the state of Guerrero found two threatening letters inside a desk within their offices Jan. 31. The center said the threats appeared to be related to its investigation of the April murders of three indigenous men and the rapes of two women by soldiers in Llano Largo, Guerrero.

row. For registration, directions and other information, call Dorothy Menze at (888) 310-8040 or (704) 364-6726.

27 HENDERSONVILLE — The St. Francis of the Hills Fraternity of the Secular Franciscan Order meets today from 3-5 p.m. at Immaculate Conception Church, 208 7th Ave. West, in the new office wing. Visitors and inquirers are welcome to sit in and participate. For more information, call Pat Cowan at (828) 884-4246.

28 CHARLOTTE — The Alzheimer/ Dementia Support Group meets today from 2-3:30 p.m. in rooms D and E of the St. Gabriel Church Ministry Center, 3016 Providence Rd. Activities are provided for the memory-impaired. For more information, call Suzanne Bach at (704) 376-4135.

Please submit notices of events for the Diocesan Planner at least 10 days prior to publication date.

February 11, 2000

The Catholic News & Herald 3

In the

Mercy Sister Mary Barbara Sullivan remembered for

BELMONT — Sister Mary Barbara Sullivan, RSM, 74, died Saturday, Feb. 5, 2000 at Mercy Hospital. She was received as a Sister of Mercy on Aug. 15, 1950, and was in her 49th year as a Sister of Mercy.

The wake service was held at 7 p.m., Monday, Feb. 7, 2000, in the Cardinal Gibbons Chapel at Sacred Heart Convent, Belmont. Visitation followed the wake. A Mass of Christian Burial was held at 11 a.m., Tues., Feb. 8, 2000 Sister Mary Barbara Sullivan, RSM 1925 - 1950 - 2000

at the Cardinal Gibbons Chapel with burial following at the Belmont Abbey Cemetery.

Sister Mary Barbara was born Aug. 7, 1925 in Corinth, Mississippi.

Her birth name was Mary Frances Sullivan; she took the name Sister Mary Barbara upon entering the religious order of the Sisters of Mercy on Aug. 2, 1949.

Sister Mary Barbara studied voice and piano at Salem College, WinstonSalem. She was a graduate of Belmont Abbey College and the Mercy Hospital School of Nursing, receiving her degree as a registered nurse in 1947.

A navy veteran, Sister Barbara served in the U.S. Naval Nurse Corps during 1948 and 1949. She went on to receive her Master’s Degree in Education Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1965.

Her first ministry assignments include supervisory posts in orthopedic and surgical nursing at St. Joseph’s Hospital, Asheville, NC and Mercy Hospital, Charlotte, NC. She was later a teacher and principal at various North Carolina Catholic schools and, for many years, served as educational consultant to her religious community. tonight at 7:30 p.m. In order to have the name(s) of the deceased remembered during the Mass and for further details, call the church office at (704) 334-2283.

25 CHARLOTTE — St. Luke Church, 13700 Lawyers Rd., is hosting “Tales of Wonder,” a musical production featuring all of the church’s singing groups.

Drama and dance are also part of the performance as they tell the Biblical stories through song and dance. There are two performances, one at 7:30 p.m. tonight and on Feb. 27 at 5 p.m. Call the church office at (704) 545-1224 for more details.

HIGH POINT — Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, 512 Montlieu Ave., is sponsoring a meeting for Catholic divorced, single moms tonight at 7:15 p.m.

This serves as a time ad place to share joys and sorrows, successes and challenges and questions and suggestions.

On-site childcare is provided, so to reserve a space or to share your story, call Betsy Strauss at (336) 885-5210.

26 CHARLOTTE — The St. Gabriel

In 1970 she served as the acting Executive Secretary, Elementary Department, for the National Catholic Educational Association in Washington, D.C. In 1971-1972, she served as the first Director of Field Services for the NCEA, as well as the Director of Adult Education.

Later, Sister Barbara held several positions in the Diocese of Charlotte.

She served as Coordinator of Federal Programs and Special Projects and, from 1984-1989, was Superintendent of Catholic schools. During her tenure as superintendent, all Catholic schools in the Diocese of Charlotte became certified by the North Carolina Department of Education.

In 1977, Sister Barbara became the first religious sister to hold a political office in North Carolina when she was elected to the Belmont City Council. In 1979 she was again elected to public office, serving a term as Mayor Pro Tem of the City of Belmont. During her term in office, she spearheaded the building of 32 units of low rent housing for the elderly.

In 1992, Sister Barbara assumed the role of President and Chief Executive Officer of Catherine’s House, a transitional shelter for women and children.

At Catherine’s House, she devoted her energies untiringly to the residents.

By the time she retired in 1998, Catherine’s House, under Sister Barbara’s leadership, had provided food, clothing, shelter and opportunities for spiritual, emotional and intellectual growth to over 360 women and children.

Until her death, Sister Barbara continued her housing ministry as a volunteer paralegal advocate at Legal Services of the Southern Piedmont, helping families about to be evicted in the Gaston County area.

Sister Barbara belonged to numerous national, state and local educational associations, serving in 1972-1973 as the southern states’ representative to the National Catholic Education As-

February 13 CHARLOTTE — St. Gabriel Church, 3016 Providence Rd., is holding a charismatic Mass this afternoon at 4 p.m. For details, call the church office at (704) 364-5049.

16 CHARLOTTE — “Spiritual Direction for Gays and Lesbians” takes place tonight at 7 p.m. at St. Peter Church, 507 South Tryon St. The discussion is being led by Jesuit Father Gene McCreesh. Call the church office at (704) 332-6808 or (704) 332-5342 for more information.

GREENSBORO — The Greensboro Council of Catholic Women is assisting the Servant Center with a mailing for the council’s community service project.

Members or interested ladies should gather this morning at St. Paul the Apostle Church, 2715 Horse Pen Creek Rd., at 9:30 a.m. in the F and G Conference Rooms. For more information, call Carolyn Kingman at (336) 855-1920.

17 GREENSBORO — The Franciscan Center, 233 North Greene St.,

Photo courtesy Sisters of Mercy

Sister Mary Barbara Sullivan, RSM, died at age 74 after nearly 50 years of service to the Sisters of Mercy in North Carolina. sociation. She served on many Boards of Directors, including the Charlotte Diocesan Board of Education, Sacred Heart Campus School Board of Education, Sacred Heart College Board of Trustees, Southern Piedmont Health Systems Agency and South Point Lifesaving Crew.

Sister Barbara was also a Board member for the Gaston County Council on Aging, the state and local division of the American Cancer Society, House of Mercy, Legal Services of the Southern Piedmont and the NC Low Income Housing Coalition. In addition, Sister Barbara chaired the Belmont Housing Authority Board of Directors and served on the Editorial Advisory Board of the magazine “Highlights for Children”.

In spite of her humility, Sister Barbara’s efforts in education and her is presenting “Benedictine Among Baptists: Breaking Down Barriers” this afternoon from 12:10-1 p.m. The presenter is Benedictine Father Samuel Webster, retreat master, spiritual director and faculty member at Wake Forest School of Divinity in early Christianity, worship and spiritual life.

For pre-registration and other information, call (336) 273-2554.

WINSTON-SALEM — The Catholic Home School Educators’ group is taking part in a discussion, led by Father Ray Williams, about the explanation of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The session is being held this morning at 10:30 a.m. at St. Leo the Great Church, 335 Springdale Ave. Reconciliation is available after the session. Call Mary Matheson at (336) 768-1276 for further information.

19 BLACK MOUNTAIN — Catholic Engaged Encounter is a weekend retreat allowing couples preparing for marriage to concentrate exclusively on each other free of tensions and pressures. This weekend’s retreat is being held at the

unflagging vigilance and advocacy on behalf of women and children who are homeless were recognized by numerous nominations and awards. She was twice nominated for the Gaston County Outstanding Woman of the Year award and nominated for the Distinguished Women of North Carolina award and the TBS/Sprint Century of Women Special Achievement award.

She was awarded the NCEA Presidential Award for Outstanding Service to Catholic Education in 1975. In 1995 she received the prestigious Carpathian Award for Personal Advocacy, which is awarded by North Carolina Equity, Working for North Carolina Women and Families. In 1998, Sister Barbara was named Belmont’s Citizen of the Year.

Sister Barbara’s passing is a tremendous loss to her family, her religious community and the civic community she so tirelessly served. She will be remembered as an excellent piano player and singer. She was also an avid sports fan who had a particular fondness for UNC-Chapel Hill basketball games.

Sister Mary Barbara was the daughter of the late John Daniel Sullivan and Julia Barbara Flowers. She was the stepdaughter of the late J.W. Jamison. She is survived by her sister, Anne Hackney of Myrtle Beach, SC; her nieces, Jenny Taylor of Myrtle Beach, SC and Babs Smith of Durham, NC; her nephew, Sam Hackney, III of Monroe, NC; her grandnephews, Tommy Orr of Charlotte, NC, J.J. Taylor, II, Jason M. Taylor and Stephen C. Hackney; and her grandnieces, Jennifer Taylor Maher and Samantha Anne Hackney.

Memorials may be made to Catherine’s House, P.O. Box 1633, Belmont, NC 28012 or Legal Services of the Southern Piedmont, 111-A Third Ave., Suite 200, Gastonia, NC 28052. M

Blue Ridge Assembly, 20 minutes east of Asheville, today and tomorrow.

For registration, directions and other information, call Dorothy Menze at (888) 310-8040 or (704) 364-6726.

CHARLOTTE — “Living Jesus Where You Are: A Practical Path to Holiness” is the theme for St. Ann Church’s Parish Mission, taking place today through Feb. 23 at 3635 Park Rd. There are six morning and evening sessions, after 9 a.m. Eucharist in the morning and beginning at 7 p.m. at night from Feb. 21-23.

Oblate of St. Francis de Sales Father Michael S. Murray, executive director of the De Sales Spirituality Center in Washington D.C., is leading the event. For further information, call the church office at (704) 523-8671.

23 CHARLOTTE — All families are invited to St. Patrick Cathedral, 1621 Dilworth Rd. East, for a Mass for those who have suffered a loss. The Mass is being celebrated

4 The Catholic News & Herald

Around the Di-

Catholic identity, from page 1 ship, and you have to be prepared.”

Father DeAngelo’s message was part of this year’s diocesan retreat for college students in Catholic campus ministry. The gathering at Camp Thunderbird focused on the who, what, when, where and how of Catholic faith, particularly as experienced by collegeaged students.

The retreat included group and individual prayer, the sacrament of reconciliation, the celebration of Mass, and a message from Bishop William G. Curlin.

Colleen McDermott, diocesan director of campus ministry, said the focus of this year’s retreat results from an effort to combine Catholic theology with lived experience.

“A retreat like this needs to be internal and integrated for college students, so that they’re able to express and understand it in their own spirituality,” said McDermott, who met last fall with campus ministers and past retreatants to discuss new possibilities for the 2000 retreat.

“Out of that,” she said, “came what’s really essential: Who are we?

What does the church teach about human dignity? Where are we going?

When are we living out our faith? How do we live this out?”

McDermott said discussions like the one Father DeAngelo led give college students the information about faith they seek — and often lack. “So many of our students are very spiritual and have a strong desire to know about faith, yet they are often uncatechized,” she said. “As I meet people, I see a recognition that there is a search for Catholic identity and what that means. There is that strong desire to be involved, and a strong need for community.”

In a conversation with students that was part history, part catechism, Father DeAngelo explained how the elements of the Mass — prayer, mu-

sic, candles, the altar, the liturgies of the Word and the Eucharist — blend to present an opportunity for sacred union with God. Noting that the sacrament of Eucharist is central to the Mass — and to the Catholic faith — Father DeAngelo urged his audience to have the greatest respect and reverence for the liturgy.

“The Eucharist is the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ, our savior,” he said. “You want miracles, folks?

It happens every day in Mass.”

Father DeAngelo said the Mass is about relationship: relationship with God, with family and friends, with strangers, with ancestors in faith. At the Mass, he added, Catholics offer all of life’s struggles and joys to God as they continue in their journey of faith.

“It’s not just you and me — it’s us and the Lord Jesus,” Father DeAngelo said. “When you come to church, this is the best thing to do. This is where we’re real; this is where we’re really real, because it’s all of us coming together.

“Every action that we do is a sign of unity with one another in Christ.”

For Nadra Wagner, a sophomore at North Carolina A & T University in Greensboro, Father DeAngelo’s presentation — and the entire retreat — was a learning experience.

“It educated me a little bit more about the meaning behind the Mass and really what it means to be Catholic — that coming together as a community and as a church,” she said. “I’ve been Catholic all my life, and I’ve never really stopped to think about and understand what each part of the Mass truly means.”

As a participant in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults process, J.R. Myrick appreciated the chance to examine the Mass step-by-step. “It was a very interesting perspective,” said Myrick, a freshman at Belmont Abbey College who will enter the church at this year’s Easter vigil. “Knowing is so much better than not really understanding. One of the worst things there is to experience is to be lost.

“To have Father Jude look over

Coming next week:

Bishop William G. Curlin’s dialogue with college students from across the Diocese of Charlotte.

it, you understand where it all comes from, why you’re there at church and why you’re doing what you’re doing.”

One of four retreat coordinators and a sophomore at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Janet Price said Father DeAngelo’s message left her “with a better concept of the Mass in general — what it means to be together.”

“It helps to meet other people who are Catholic — to relate to them, to talk with them, to share experiences,” said Price, who has been involved in retreats in high school and college as both a participant and a team member.

“I walked away from the retreat feeling Christ’s presence in my life in a very profound way.” M Contact Associate Editor Jimmy Rostar by calling (704) 370-3334 or e-mail jtrostar@charlottediocese.org.

Campus ministry is one of the 35 programs and ministries that receives funds from the annual Diocesan Support Appeal.

February 11, 2000

Pope notes low birth rates, urges Italians to have more children

By John Norton Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope John Paul II, calling Italy’s negative birth rate “worrying,” urged Italians to have more children.

“The worrying demographic decline registered in recent years cannot but be for Italian society a motive for attentive reflection and stimulus for renewal, both in mentalities and in cultural, political and legislative decisions,” he said Feb. 6 during the Angelus prayer in St. Peter’s Square.

He said that the government needs “to remove the obstacles which hinder families,” and that couples must “revive the culture of love and life, rediscovering (their) mission as parents, assumed by them at the moment of their marriage.”

The pope’s appeal came during the Italian church’s annual Day of Life, established two decades ago after the country’s legalization of abortion.

Italy’s declining birthrate featured prominently in a recent report by the country’s bishops, which pointed to government statistics for 1998 recording 533,000 births and 577,000 deaths.

The country’s average of 1.2 children per couple, some projections suggest, will reduce the population from the current level of 57 million people to 41 million by 2050.

About 4 million abortions have been performed in Italy since the procedure was legalized 22 years ago, Olimpia Tarsia, national secretary of the Italian Movement for Life, told Vatican Radio. M

February 11, 2000

DSA

The Catholic News & Herald 5

Our Lady of Grace youth aid in N.C. flood relief GREENSBORO — Seven teens inches of rain and the second with and three adults from Our Lady of Hurricane Irene, when the saturated Grace Church in Greensboro recently town received another nine inches of spent two days in Windsor, N.C., asrain. The effects were devastatingly sisting the rebuilding efforts of the the same in both instances.

Interfaith Council of Bertie County.

Kathy Powers, head of the InterStudents helped drywall, putty and faith Council’s Relief Center, said that sand the walls of the ruined homes there are still several areas in Bertie belonging to two elderly women.

County that have not been assisted.

The 75-year-old aunt of one of Moreover, efforts to identify and the owners visited the students workhelp those people have been hampered ing at the site. The retired nurse and because many former elderly residents, the primary caregiver of a 40-yearbelieving they don’t qualify for assisold mentally- handicapped son was tance, have gone to live elsewhere. impressed that the youth would take In fact, the Federal Emergency time from their Martin Management Agency Luther King Jr. holiday (FEMA) was pulling weekend to work on the out of the county dur“We have to continue home of someone they ing that week as deto find ways to assist didn’t know. mand for their services The group spent these people, as many has lessened, even with the night at the local still evident damages in had so little with which many abandoned homes fire station before continuing work the next after the floods. to begin.” day.

The Interfaith — Meredith Lambert The next morning, Council plans to conthe area’s fire chief tinue to assist flood showed the students a victims and will work video of the flood, which covered most to raise funds to help those who have of the 232-year-old town, including fallen through the gap of federal and both of the homes the students had state assistance programs. worked on the day before. About 95 Because the Interfaith Council was percent of the town was covered with sharing FEMA’s rented office space, six to 12 feet of floodwater, much of Our Lady of Grace Church youth which was contaminated. The town helped move the council’s office to a also lost two residents who drowned new site. This entailed transferring during the flooding. hundreds of boxes of donated supThe fire chief, who told the youth plies. he can’t even think about drinking “I see now that people don’t rewater after all they have been through, ally need donations of old clothes, said that Windsor actually experienced household goods, etc., but what’s really two floods — the first with Hurricane needed is money to help rebuild,” said Floyd when they received over twenty Nicole Bergeron, one of the parish’s

Photo courtesy Ruth Fleming

Ten members of Our Lady of Grace parish recently helped rebuild a home in Windsor, NC. The water line on the window awning indicates the level to where flood waters rose this fall. Participants were, from left to right, chaperones Annie Short and Ann Lambert, Meredith Lambert, Lasanio Small, Tia Thomas, Cornelius Short, Sheena Bergeron, Christopher Callaghan and Nicole Bergeron. Not shown is Ruth Fleming, Youth Minister at Our Lady of Grace Church. youth.

Most of the homes damaged by the floods have had to be completely gutted and rebuilt, including the heating and cooling systems.

Many of the flood victims received only $100 to $200 from federal relief programs because they were not in designated flood zones.

According to Powers, FEMA made a distinction between hurricane and flooding damages but declined aid to areas hit by wind-driven rain and tornadoes, which hit rural areas the hardest.

“The two days we worked were really worthwhile,” said Cornelius Short.

“I definitely want to go back because

there is still so much work to be done.”

Meredith Lambert agreed, “We have to continue to find ways to assist these people, as many had so little with which to begin.”

As a result of the mini-service trip, the youth have made fundraising for the flood victims one of their priorities.

They hope to be able to return to Bertie County to assist with the rebuilding again this school year and would welcome inquiries on how others can help assist in these efforts. Call 336274-3766 or e-mail olgyouthmin@ earthlink.net. M

At right, Cornelius Short and Christopher Callaghan quickly learned the art of sanding as they prepared the new drywall for a coat of primer.

Photo courtesy Ruth Fleming

6 The Catholic News & Herald extended to Feb. 22.

California bill to legalize physician-assisted suicide halted SAN FRANCISCO (CNS) — Legislation to legalize physician-assisted suicide in California was halted Jan. 31 when its sponsor declined to bring it to the floor of the state Assembly for a vote. The legislation — AB 1592 — was modeled on an Oregon law. It would have permitted physicians to provide lethal prescriptions to certain “terminally ill” patients, within guidelines. The measure was carried forward last June as a two-year bill and needed to be considered in the state Assembly by the end of January. The bill’s author, Assemblywoman Dion Aroner, a Democrat from Berkeley, reportedly felt she did not have the votes necessary to pass it and quietly let the matter drop.

Catholics applaud Illinois governor’s moratorium on death penalty ROMEOVILLE, Ill. (CNS) — Catholic leaders in Illinois praised Gov. George Ryan’s decision to halt all executions in the state, the first such moratorium in the nation. The Republican governor, who supports the death penalty, made the announcement Jan. 31. He cited the state’s “shameful record of convicting innocent people and putting them on death row” and said he couldn’t risk the execution of an innocent person. Joliet Bishop Joseph L. Imesch, who provided testimony in favor of the moratorium at a public hearing in Chicago, was delighted with the governor’s announcement.

“Naturally, I’m pleased that the governor is taking this initiative,” he said.

“I think it expresses good leadership on his part. I hope a review committee will find that (the death penalty) is not a suitable punishment.”

1993 assassination of Mexican cardinal called premeditated MEXICO CITY (CNS) — The 1993 assassination of a Mexican cardinal was a “premeditated crime,” the governor of Jalisco told his state congress.

However, while Jalisco Gov. Alberto Cardenas Jimenez said evidence points to a plot to assassinate Cardinal Juan Jesus Posadas Ocampo of Guadalajara, “there is still not sufficient evidence” for the case to be sent to the courts. In his annual report to the state congress Feb. 1, Cardenas discounted the federal government’s assertion that Cardinal Posadas was caught in the cross fire of a shoot-out between rival drug gangs or because he was mistaken for a prominent

February 11, 2000

People in the

Photo by Alesha M. Price

“Spirit Songs for Church and Classroom” Mercy Sister Maureen Meehan, diocesan director of formation for the Catholic Schools Office, recently presented patron saints medals to seven students of Our Lady of the Assumption School in Charlotte for their participation in a diocesan gathering of Catholic school teachers. The students assisted in a workshop last October called “Spirit Songs for Church and Classroom,” which explained how music can enhance the spiritual lives of young people. Pictured in front, left to right, are Tanner Anthony, Kate Leone, Peter Bui, Regis Nkrumah and Jennifer Gilewski; in back, Sister Maureen, Benae Beamon, Matt Moorman, and Pat Murphy, school principal. Sister Maureen presented the medals during Catholic Schools Mueller, a Catholic, has written “The Seeker’s Guide to Reading the Bible: a Catholic View,” published by Loyola Press. In it he treats Bible reading as a wondrous spiritual “journey.” Mueller has been an instructor at the Denver Catholic Biblical School for the past 14 years, and also has written articles and lectured on biblical theology and spirituality.

Draft stem-cell guidelines should be scrapped, priest tells NIH WASHINGTON (CNS) — The general secretary of the U.S. Catholic Conference has called on the National Institutes of Health to scrap the proposed guidelines that would permit federal funding of stem-cell research involving human embryos. The official, Msgr.

Dennis M. Schnurr, said in an 11-page submission to the agency that withdrawal of the guidelines was “the NIH’s only morally and legally responsible course.”

Msgr. Schnurr’s Jan. 31 submission was in response to an NIH request for comment on its draft guidelines for federal funding of embryonic stemcell research. The deadline for public comment, originally Jan. 31, was later

Pope opens door to new entrance of Vatican Museums VATICAN CITY (CNS) — After opening the Holy Doors of Rome’s four major basilicas, Pope John Paul II opened his fifth door of the jubilee: the new entrance to the Vatican Museums.

At a Feb. 7 ceremony, the pope pushed open the museums’ new bronze door to inaugurate the revamped space. Praising the museums’ role as a “temple of art and culture” for all people, the pope said “the museums are, on a cultural level, one of the most significant doors of the Holy See opened to the world.”

Biblical scholar says Catholics need not fear the Bible WASHINGTON (CNS) — For many years biblical scholar Steve Mueller has been concerned that Catholics often fear reading the Bible as if it meant journeying into uncharted territory. To allay those fears

drug lord.

Australian Catholic named chair of government council on family ADELAIDE, Australia (CNS) — It’s easier to get a marriage license than a driver’s license, said a Catholic woman appointed to head a new Australian government council on marriage and the family. But Pauline Frick is not advocating a tightening of marriage laws.

Rather, she wants people “tooled up” on conflict resolution and communication skills before they walk down the aisle.

Frick, a mother of four, was selected by Prime Minister John Howard to chair the 10-member National Marriage and Family Council. It is an 18-month appointment.

Italian bishops cautious to approve Catholic-Muslim marriages VATICAN CITY (CNS) — While extolling the virtues of interreligious dialogue, Italian bishops urged caution in approving marriages between Catholics and Muslims. “A rigorous procedure must be followed, evaluating case by case to see if the conditions to grant a dispensation exist,” the bishops said in a document concluding a meeting of the conference’s permanent council. At a Feb. 1 press conference to present the document, Archbishop Ennio Antonelli, secretary of the Italian bishops’ conference, emphasized the need to protect constitutional rights in the family sphere.

At jubilee for religious, pope stresses benefits of vows VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Religious men and women gain more than they lose when they take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, Pope John Paul II said. “Far from being a renunciation which impoverishes, (the vows) constitute a choice which frees the person for a fuller realization of his potentialities,” he said Feb. 2 during a Mass in St. Peter’s Square celebrating the Jubilee for Consecrated Life. The vows also give an important message to the world, he said: “Those who vigilantly await the fulfillment of Christ’s promises are able to communicate hope to their brothers and sisters, often distrustful and pessimistic regarding the future.”

February 11, 2000

The Catholic News & Herald 7

From the

Catholic school students greet Sammy Sosa on Denver DENVER (CNS) — When Chicago Cub’s home-run hitter Sammy Sosa got off the plane at Denver International Airport, 30 grade school students from area Catholic schools greeted him with a hearty “Bienvenido!”

Clutching baseballs and trading cards, the students were hoping to get autographs from Sosa, who was in Denver to address a Latino educational foundation.

Sosa and St. Louis Cardinal Mark McGuire thrilled baseball fans when both surpassed Roger Maris’ 1961 record of 61 home runs — two years in a row. McGuire holds the single-season homer record with 70; Sosa holds the No. 2 spot with 66.

Sosa’s generosity is as legendary as his baseball playing.

In 1998, he was named National League Most Valuable Player and received the Roberto Clemente Man of the Year Award — given to the player who best balances outstanding skills on the baseball field with civic responsibility.

That year, Sosa created a foundation bearing his name to raise money for underprivileged children in Chicago and the Dominican Republic, his native country.

And he didn’t disappoint the children gathered at the airport Jan. 29.

Flashing a smile and his signature home-run salute, Sosa took time to sign their mementos.

“He’s a good role model and he’s a very nice person to have around and he’s a very good friend for everybody,” said 8-year-old Christian Lujan of Guardian Angels Grade School.

“He plays very good baseball and makes lots of home runs. I think he’s very kind to everybody — not just one person, everybody,” said 10-year-old Juan Munoz of Annunciation Grade School.

Sosa also was a hit with 1,700 adults and youth as guest speaker at the 51st annual Latin American Educational Foundation gala, which raised nearly $800,000 to fund college scholarships for Hispanic youths.

One of the foundation’s goals is to increase the numbers of Hispanic youths who graduate from college. It

“Believe in yourself and believe in God and all your dreams will come true.”

— Sammy Sosa

CNS photo from Reuters

Chicago Cubs record-seeking batter Sammy Sosa smiles in the batting cage before a game last season. has awarded about 3,600 scholarships since 1949.

Nationwide, 30 percent of Hispanic youths drop out of high school and about 8 percent of college graduates are Hispanic, according to a videotaped address by President Clinton.

During the event, Sol Trujillo, president and chief executive officer of US West, was given the organiza-

deserve,” she added. “It’s never too late.”

Erica Soto, a 19-year-old freshman at the University of ColoradoBoulder, said the scholarship is giving her the opportunity to be “one of the first in my family to graduate from college.” M

tion’s award for supporting Hispanic education.

In his remarks Trujillo stressed the importance of supporting Latino youths in pursuing their dreams.

He called Sosa a role model who illustrates “not just success, but a willingness, a desire, to always give back and that is of great value.”

When it was his turn to speak, Sosa stressed the importance of never forgetting one’s roots.

“We are born the same way, but we grow up in a different way — education comes from the house,” Sosa said.

Often when athletes get to superstar status and make big salaries, he added, “they forget who their friends are, they forget everybody. One reason I do this is to set an example, superstars can do that.”

A Catholic, Sosa treasures his family and his faith in God, and he said he has never forgotten that others were willing to help him when he was growing up poor. When Sosa was 7 years old, his father died, leaving his mother widowed with six children.

“I didn’t have the opportunity to go to college because I had to go to the street to help make money for my mother,” Sosa said. “I would find somebody to help me — now I have an opportunity to help not one, but a lot of people.”

Asked what advice he had for aspiring ball players, Sosa encouraged hard work and respect for fellow teammates.

To youths, he advised, “Believe in yourself and believe in God and all your dreams will come true.”

Asked to explain the signature gesture he makes when he hits a home run — he touches his heart and then blows a kiss — Sosa said it means he is sending his love to his mother.

“He is so open with his respect for his mother and his faith in God, I hope that gives young people courage to do the same,” Vicky Garfias-O’Brien told the Denver Catholic Register, archdiocesan newspaper.

Garfias-O’Brien, 53, is one of 133 individuals who received a scholarship last year. She wants to earn a degree in construction management, “to make a difference for people who need better housing.”

“I would encourage older Hispanics, especially mothers, to challenge themselves and get the education they

8 The Catholic News & Herald

Conventual Franciscan Friars leaders meet to plan for future

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Leaders of the Conventual Franciscan Friars from North America, England and Ireland gathered at the Franciscan Renewal Center in Scottsdale, Arizona from Jan. 23-28 to chart a collaborative plan for the future.

Forty-six friars from eight Provinces were joined by the Most Reverend Agostino Gardin, OFM Conv., the Minister General of the Conventual Friars, who traveled from Rome to attend the Conference.

According to the Most Reverend William Robinson, OFM Conv., the Assistant General for the Englishspeaking friars and conference participant, “Never before have the Provincial superiors and their councils met together like this. We hope it will further cooperative ventures and thus a more effective preaching of the Gospel message.”

Those gathered represent more than 700 friars who minister in 25 States and 57 Dioceses in the United States, two Provinces and five Dioceses in Canada, Ireland and England. Many of the friars attending had never met before and acknowledged this meeting as an important step, before other ventures can take place.

Sister Margaret Carney, OSF, Director of the Franciscan Institute at St. Bonaventure University in Olean, New York, addressed the friars, reflecting on the development and heritage of the Conventual Franciscans. She urged them to help the people of today to understand how St. Francis of Assisi met the person of Jesus Christ.

Father Gardin also helped those attending the conference to understand developments in the Order throughout the world. He urged these friars, from countries with a democratic tradition, to assist others in finding new ways of sharing responsibility.

The closing statement composed by the conference, addressed to all the friars of their Provinces admitted, “We may have gathered with doubts, but we depart with an overwhelming consensus that we should take the initial steps to further this dialogue.” A number of concrete action steps were planned for the next five years.

Attending the conference was Friar Jude DeAngelo, Councilor for the Southern Region of the Immaculate Conception Province, Guardian of Our Lady of Mercy Friary in Winston-Salem and Campus Minister at Wake Forest College. M

February 11, 2000

Around the Di-

Sharing memories ...

Our Lady of the Angels Church in Marion shares a favorite memory from 1999 with this photo from last year’s confirmation class. Bishop William G. Curlin conferred the sacrament to the youth. Pictured, front row, from left to right: Father Anthony Marcaccio, diocesan director of liturgy; Karen Yutzy, Jeanette Harris, Bishop Curlin, Nicholas Tucci, Father John Tuller, church administrator; back row, left to right, Mandy Maynard, Jeremy Goniea, Nick MacKinnon.

Courtesy photo

CNH2/00

February 11, 2000

The Catholic News & Herald 9

Catholic Schools

School groundbreaking signals new

The response from parents, teachBy Alesha M. Price ers and students is positive; many are Staff Writer in support of the new school and anxKERNERSVILLE — Next year, iously await its arrival. students in the Piedmont-Triad area “I am looking forward to having will continue their education in a new a larger facility and having a bigger environment, when the new Bishop classroom,” said Bob Klepf, senior McGuinness Memorial High School calculus and pre-calculus teacher at will open its doors for students in Bishop McGuinness. “With a larger August 2001. In a symbolic beginning student population, we’ll be able to to the school’s establishment, Bishop offer more courses and schedule more William G. Curlin dug the first hole levels of honors classes.” during the groundbreaking ceremony Victor Archibong, an Our Lady at the site on Feb. 6. of Grace Church parishioner, has Current and future Bishop Mcchildren who have attended Bishop Guinness students, parents, educators McGuinness, and his son Tony is and diocesan officials were present currently a junior. He expressed his for the final day of celebration, which excitement over the new school. “It included words from the bishop, Fais a joy to see that it is finally coming ther Mauricio W. West, chancellor together. Catholic education is worth and vicar general, George L. Repass, the sacrifice because you can’t beat the principal of Bishop McGuinness and quality of education and the values Bishop McGuinness student council you receive,” he said. president Laura Hoeing.

Bishop McGuinness alumnus The windy day finally overcame Tony Nitz agreed with the flaming torch as it his fellow Our Lady stood in the ground. of Grace Church paThe torch, carried in rishioner: “We have “We are here to by student representabeen waiting, and this tives from Our Lady consecrate this ground couldn’t be a more of Grace School and St. Pius X School in and lay the foundation for perfect time. The benGreensboro, Immacu- a Christian education; we efits of the school are specific and more late Heart of Mary are here to make Christ less holistic because this School in High Point, present in lives of these will embrace the whole and Our Lady of MerT r i a d c o m m u n i t y. cy School and St. Leo young students.”

Bishop McGuinness School in Winston— Bishop William provided a wonderful Salem, represented G. Curlin environment and opa way to bring the portunity for me and middle schools in the my children, and the Triad area together new school will bring better technoland served as a light for the future, said ogy, more space and a better athletic Eddie Mitchell, Bishop McGuinness and arts environment.” director of development and public The groundbreaking ceremony relations. was the culmination of three days of “I am excited about the school befestivities, including a fine arts evening cause it will be technologically better,” with poetry and music and soccer and said Greg Means, an eighth grader at basketball battles between the alumni St. Leo School, who carried the torch and current students. M onto the site. “It is good, academically, because all of the new classes, and athContact Staff Writer Alesha M. letically, because of the new fields and Price by calling (704) 370-3354 or e-mail sports programs.” amprice@charlottediocese.org.

Repass addressed the crowd, gathered in semi-circle fashion, and thanked all involved with the process on diocesan and community levels.

He mentioned the people who are

Photo by Alesha M. Price

Bishop William G. Curlin invites young participants to assist him in breaking ground at the new Bishop McGuinness Memorial High School site during the ceremony on Feb. 6. “among those who recognized the need to provide for a growing Catholic presence in the Triad and those who have long-awaited and hoped for [the new facility] and who were involved with the planning process, which began so many years ago.”

“What will be built upon this site will provide a more ample means for the school to achieve the vision embodied in its mission, and what begins today will ensure the excellence we seek for perhaps years to come,” he continued.

Flanked by the Abbot Vincent G. Taylor Assembly of Greensboro Knights of Columbus, Bishop Curlin blessed the field, which will become a place of learning for many area students.

Parker Sloan, a ninth grader at Bishop McGuinness, said, “I will be happy when it is finally built because we will have more room and more options for clubs and sports programs, like football.”

In his remarks, the bishop commented about the importance of Catholic education, which shaped his own life. “I would not be a priest today if I had not had the blessing of

Catholic education; I believe the support I received from my parents and the inspiration I received from my teachers motivated me to give my life to the Lord.”

“We are here to consecrate this ground and lay the foundation for a Christian education; we are here to make Christ present in the lives of these young students,” he said.

In his benediction, Father West led the crowd in prayers of intercession: “You inspire us in the firm hope that the school we begin to build today with Your blessings will be brought to completion with Your protection.”

Hoeing, a senior at Bishop McGuinness, talked about the various service groups at the school and how they have been beneficial to the surrounding community. She mentioned the camaraderie and family atmosphere found in the current building that will follow the students and faculty into the new facility. “... With all of these improvements found in the new school, one thing at Bishop McGuinness is not going to change, and that is the sense of community and fellowship found in every hallway and classroom ...”

Charlotte Catholic High School hosts Gala 2000

CHARLOTTE — The CCHS Foundation will host its annual gala and auction on February 26, 2000, from 7 p.m. until midnight at the new Renaissance Charlotte Suites Hotel.

Gala 2000, formerly called the Grand Prix Party, will feature dinner, dancing and an auction, to support Charlotte Catholic High School. Musical entertainment will be provided by “From the Top,” a seven-piece orchestra.

At Gala 2000, you will enjoy all the southern hospitality Charlotte has to offer. Gala 2000 promises to make this year a memorable one. Join us in the Grand Ballroom at the Renaissance Charlotte Suites Hotel, located at 2800 Coliseum Drive.

At this year’s auction, there will be a variety of items up for bid, such as, fine jewelry, gift certificates to Charlotte’s hottest restaurants and clubs, autographed memorabilia, golf packages, sporting event tickets and many others. There will be a silent and a live portion of the auction. The Foundation needs items that can be used in the auction. If you would like to donate an auction item, please call the CCHS Development Office at (704) 543-9118.

The winner of this year’s Grand Spree London-Paris Holiday will be announced at Gala 2000. The Grand Spree trip includes seven days and six nights in London and Paris, round-trip World Traveler transatlantic airfare to London, round-trip airfare between

London and Paris on British Airways, round-trip transportation between the airport and your hotel in each city, three nights hotel accommodations in both London and Paris, (including breakfast, tax and service charges), a three-day London Central Zone “Visitor Travelcard,” a London Open Top Bus Tour and a Paris Open Top Bus Tour. Date of travel restrictions may apply.

Raffle tickets for the London-Paris holiday are just $5 each or $25 for six tickets and can be purchased by calling 704-543-9118. The winner of the 2000 Grand Spree London-Paris holiday will be announced the night of the gala. You need not be present to win.

All proceeds from the event will

directly benefit students at Charlotte Catholic High School. The CCHS Foundation has previously funded uniforms for the marching band, technology needs, the Spring musicals and Fall plays, the automation of the library and many other educational demands that cannot be met through tuition alone. Order now, as tickets are limited. M Tickets for Gala 2000 are $75 and can be purchased by calling the Charlotte Catholic High School Development Office at (704) 543-9118.

1 0 The Catholic News & Herald Book Review

Graham Joyce’s “Indigo” full of rich, suspensful Reviewed by Julie Asher Catholic News Service Graham Joyce’s writing is rich, his descriptions powerful, and his story original, but “Indigo” is a bizarre, uncomfortable tale.

It opens with Jack Chambers traveling to Rome to wrap up the estate of his recently deceased father. He’s accompanied by his half-sister, Louise, whom he barely knows, and her toddler, Billy.

Jack, an Englishman who is down on his luck (he’s a bobby turned pro-

“Indigo”

By Graham Joyce Pocket Books (New York, 1999) 258 pp., $23.95.

cess server), never really knew his father, Timothy Chambers. Jack visited him at his Chicago apartment a couple of times but Timothy remained an enigma.

Now he’s dead, and Jack has to follow his last wishes, including finding a publisher for Daddy’s obscure tome, “Invisibility: A Manuscript of Light.”

Jack has to publish it to receive any money. The bulk of Chambers’ estate is left to a woman named Natalie Shearer, and Jack has to find her.

That search takes Jack and Louise from Chicago to Rome, where their father had a house, between the Colosseum and the Appian Way. It’s a strange trip.

Jack discovers his father was a madman, a cultlike figure who became fixated on how to become invisible, or, as he says, “the art of making oneself unseen.” He also is obsessed with wanting to see the color indigo more clearly. Indigo is one of the seven primary colors, but supposedly is the most difficult for the naked eye to distinguish in the spectrum.

Timothy Chambers’ dual obses-

February 11, 2000

Read-

sions are inventive. Joyce intersperses “excerpts” from the Chambers manuscript. Each one describes another step toward invisibility and seeing indigo.

It’s inventive, for sure, but weird and hard to grasp.

Billed as a thriller, the book is suspenseful. It is engrossing in parts as Jack follows a twisted trail around Rome to discover things about his father and ends up in some danger as he learns his father drew young artists into drugs, sex and mind games in hopes they would understand his invisibility quest.

Jack becomes attracted to one of the women his father knew and gets trapped in her world of sex and drugs.

She lets him believe she is the Natalie he is seeking. She also is fascinated with the pagan festival Lupercalia and images of being a she-wolf, which is really too much to take on top of the book’s peculiar invisibility/indigo theme.

Finally, Jack rejects her weird ways, and he and Louise track down the real Natalie — in an asylum. She thinks she’s invisible. Then Natalie disappears from the asylum, and Jack thinks maybe his father isn’t really dead and has taken her away. He and Louise return to Chicago, and the task of publishing the manuscript.

There’s more to the weird story of their father, including evidence he and his followers practiced “trepanning,” a surgical procedure in which a small disc is cut out of the skull, perhaps to alter the brain. And there is the matter of how the father becomes obsessed with seeing indigo — it is spurred by seizures experienced by his second wife (Louise’s mother).

The book is fast paced and one has to appreciate Joyce’s colorful literary and imaginative style, but the story’s fantastic nature is too much to buy.

And the characters, while somewhat likable, have no moral dimension. M Asher is national editor at CNS.

Weekly Scripture Readings for the week of Feb. 13 - 19, 2000 Sunday (Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time), Leviticus 13:1-2, 44-46, 1 Corinthians 10:31-11:1, Mark 1:40-45; Monday (Sts. Cyril and Methodius), James 1:1-11, Mark 8:11-13; Tuesday, James 1:12-18, Mark 8:14-21; Wednesday, James 1:19-27, Mark 8:22-26; Thursday (Seven Servite Founders), James 2:1-9, Mark 8:27-33; Friday, James 2:14-24, 26, Mark 8:34-9:1; Saturday, James 3:1-10, Mark 9:2-13

Word to Life February 13, Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B Readings:

By Dan Luby Catholic News Service 1) Leviticus 13:1-2, 44-46 Psalm 32:1-2, 5, 11 2) 1 Corinthians 10:31-11:1 3) Gospel: Mark 1:40-45 Three boys peer nervously across the cafeteria where, at a table by himself, the class geek, all bad hair and thick glasses and dirty hand-me-downs, eats his sandwich, sloppily. Even the most oblivious passerby recognizes him as a social pariah.

As the scene unfolds, Homer, one of the boys, rises and walks forward.

The outcast is a brain, and Homer needs his help to realize his dream of building a working rocket and winning a scholarship.

His friends warn that he’s committing social suicide. If he sits down with this hopeless nerd, the shame of his differentness, his poverty, his sorrow, will settle on Homer like a poisonous mist. He too will become an outcast.

This scene from the movie “October Sky” mirrors the thinking at work in the treatment of lepers during biblical times (and for centuries before and after). They were feared and reviled because their calamity

was thought contagious by touch.

Lepers had to tear their clothes and dishevel their hair and cover their faces and call out “unclean,” so that no one might touch them accidentally and suffer the same fate.

When a leper kneels before him in this week’s Gospel, no one would blame Jesus for taking a discreet step backward. No one would wonder had Jesus politely pretended not to notice and kept walking.

I dare say it’s what most of us do today when “otherness” — as mental or physical illness or social class or skin color or any of a host of “deviations” from the social norm — confronts us with our own vulnerability, with the fragility of the acceptance and inclusion and approval we so need.

Fortunately for the leper — and challengingly for us — Jesus does not step away or pretend not to notice. He acknowledges and touches — his friends gasping in horror — the brother who yearns to belong.

Questions: Who in your life has risked exclusion by touching you at a time of need? What is one concrete way you can include someone who suffers because of isolation?

“Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him and said: ‘I do will it. Be cured”’ — Mark 1:41

February 11, 2000

Entertain-

The Catholic News & Herald 11

Epic drama “Titus” tells tale of Roman war hero and

By Anne Navarro Catholic News Service NEW YORK (CNS) — A wronged mother avenges the death of her firstborn son at the hands of a Roman war hero by bringing death and despair on the hero and his family in the epic drama “Titus” (Fox Searchlight Pictures).

Titus (Anthony Hopkins), Rome’s “Titus” The U.S. Catholic Conference classification is A-IV — adults, with reservations. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R — restricted. finest general, returns victorious to his homeland with his Goth prisoners of war: Tamora (Jessica Lange), the queen of the Goths, and her three sons. He has lost all but four of his many sons in the war, and as reparation, he sacrifices Tamora’s eldest son, right before her eyes. This begins the vicious cycle of bloody revenge.

In an unusual turn of events, Tamora finds herself the wife of the recently appointed emperor Saturninus (Alan Cumming). It is in this new position of power and with the help of her Moor servant and lover, Aaron (Harry Lennix), that she is able to make Titus pay dearly for the death of her son.

In a misguided rage, Titus kills one of his sons to protect the honor of Saturninus. Two of Titus’ other sons are framed for the murder of his son-in-law (the emperor’s brother) and beheaded. His only daughter is raped

by Tamora’s two sons, who cut out her tongue and shove twigs into the stumps where they have chopped off her hands. Lucius (Angus Macfadyen), the only son he has left, is exiled from Rome. And this is only part of the carnival of carnage in director Julie Taymor’s “Titus.”

Certainly not for the faint-hearted, Taymor’s three-hour version of Shakespeare’s first successful play is both visually scintillating and repulsive.

Watching the arms of Tamora’s sons go slack after their throats are slit is jarring. A scene in which the emperor’s court partakes in an orgy is also arresting. Revenge is painted so

thickly that at times it can be nauseating.

But Shakespeare so eloquently expressed the effects of hatred sowed in the human heart that it is hard to escape how current his tale seems today, especially in light of the recent atrocities in Bosnia and Rwanda and the murderous high school rampages in the United States. And Taymor stays true to his words, reproducing a higher percentage of text than any other recent screen adaptation of his work.

Although this is a dark film, Taymor uses touches of humor mixed with modernism to lighten it. Tamora’s sons, the punkish princes Demetrius (Matthew Rhys) and Chiron (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), live in a den that looks part MTV studio and part video arcade. Hanging on the wall of this dirty bachelor pad is a dart board with Titus’ scarred picture in the center.

The stellar performances give the film’s bloody audacity some balance.

Lennix makes his Aaron seethe with contempt for the years of humiliation and prejudices his black skin has endured and presents a man in whom hate has only borne more hate.

It is a pity that Hopkins announced his plans to retire while still filming the picture because he gives one of his best performances as Titus. And Lange’s passionate Tamora brings vengeance and loathing to an new height.

“Titus” is an unending descent of destruction culminating in a twisted banquet serving a “family” recipe.

But even though the stunning visuals and key performances are engrossing, three intense hours of unavoidable gore may keep some viewers away.

Because of recurring graphic violence, several explicit sexual situations, and nudity, the U.S. Catholic Conference classification is A-IV — adults, with reservations. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R — restricted. M Navarro is on the staff of the U.S. Catholic Conference Office for Film and Broadcasting.

CNS photo from Fox Searchlight Pictures

Anthony Hopkins portrays Titus in the recent film adaptation of Shakespeare’s early work.

Out on video

“Love Affair” (1994) Sentimental remake of the 1939 “Love Affair” in which a couple (Warren Beatty and Annette Bening) have a shipboard romance though each is engaged to another, then plan to meet three months later to get married, until a tragic accident jeopardizes their future. Director Glenn Gordon Caron’s sumptuous, postcardpretty melodrama is sweetly old-fashioned in its execution though it ultimately disappoints as the lovers’ characters are only superficially developed. Romantic complications and an instance of rough language. The U.S. Catholic Conference classification is A-II — adults and adolescents. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 — parents are strongly cautioned that some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

“Moonstruck” (1987) Charming romantic comedy set in an Italian-American neighborhood in Brooklyn where a widow (Cher) accepts the proposal of a fastidious bachelor (Danny Aiello) but then falls in love with his darkly emotional younger brother (Nicolas Cage). Director Norman Jewison concentrates more on the comedy of character than on incident and the result is pleasantly amusing, emotionally operatic and humanly uplifting. Several sexually suggestive scenes but the movie’s moral perspective is implicit throughout. The U.S. Catholic Conference classification is A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG — parental guidance suggested.

“Muriel’s Wedding” (1995) Obsessed with fantasies of her wedding day, a young woman (Toni Collette) lacking self-esteem excitedly rushes into an arranged marriage, abandoning her wheelchair-bound roommate (Rachel Griffiths) in the process, only to come to her senses after a family tragedy. Despite the infectiously buoyant tone of the proceedings, Australian writer-director P.J. Hogan’s giddy comedy-drama never digs deeply into the title character’s development as a person until the undeserved feel-good ending. Discreet bedroom scenes, fleeting nudity and a few instances of rough language. The U.S. Catholic Conference classification is A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R — restricted.

“Sabrina” (1995) Gauzy romantic fantasy in which a workaholic billionaire (Harrison Ford) falls in love with his chauffeur’s daughter (Julia Ormond) while trying to distract her from an infatuation with his engaged brother (Greg Kinnear). Director Sydney Pollack’s long but lush remake of the 1954 Audrey Hepburn version is featherweight fluff laboriously plumped up with contrived romantic emotions.

Fleeting violence and very mild sexual references. The U.S. Catholic Conference classification is A-II — adults and adolescents. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG — parental guidance suggested.

1 2 The Catholic News & Herald

February 11, 2000

Editorials & Col-

The Pope Speaks

POPE JOHN PAUL II

Pope calls on U.S. leaders to use moral values to save democracy

WASHINGTON (CNS) — In an address delivered by his apostolic nuncio, Pope John Paul II told the National Prayer Breakfast Feb. 3 in Washington that people of faith with political authority bear a moral responsibility to save democracy from self-destruction.

“Democracy is our best opportunity to promote the values that will make the world a better place for everyone,” said the pope. “But a society which exalts individual choice as the ultimate source of truth undermines the very foundations of democracy.”

His address was delivered by Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, the apostolic nuncio to the United States.

The annual prayer breakfast draws thousands of people of all denominations from across the country. In addition to religious leaders, it typically is attended by the president and first lady, many members of Congress, the Cabinet, the judiciary, diplomats and state and local politicians.

The pope’s remarks said that the vision of faith to which Christians are particularly called in this jubilee year has a public dimension, “for the deeper understanding of the truth about human nature and human fulfillment given to us by faith naturally inspires efforts to build a better and more humane world.”

When economic and political systems fail to respect the spiritual nature of mankind, immense suffering results, as the last century shows, he said.

Those who believe in Christ have a moral responsibility to reflect his teachings in all areas of life, the pope’s address said.

“The spread of a purely utilitarian approach to the great moral issues of public life points to the urgent need for a rigorous and reasoned public discourse about the moral norms that are the foundation of any just society,” he said.

The pope noted that the United States was begun as an experiment in ordered freedom, “in which the exercise of individual freedom would contribute to the common good.”

The American concept of separation of the institutions of church and state “was accompanied from the beginning of your republic by the conviction that strong religious faith, and the public expression of religiously informed judgments, contribute significantly to the moral health of the body politic.”

In the Western democratic tradition, men and women in political life “are not mere brokers of power in a political process taking place in a vacuum, cut off from private and public morality,” the pope’s address said. “Your vocation as ‘representatives’ calls for vision, wisdom, a spirit of contemplation and a passion for justice and truth.”

The pope said that in the United States, which has a heritage that has become synony-

See THE POPE SPEAKS, page 15

The living wage movement he best of times for shareholders reveals still hard times for low wage workers. Great times for CEO pay scales show flat times for workers making minimum wage. A surplus for the federal budget masks the mounting indebtedness of low skilled workers. The mighty national economic engine has already roared out of the station pulling a train of unprecedented prosperity, while the working poor stand on the platform left behind.

The movement for a “living wage” addresses the widening income gap. Since 1994 ordinances passed in 42 cities and counties with proposals in 80 more mandate that private firms eligible for local government contracts pay their workers substantially more than the minimum wage. At $5.15 an hour set in 1997, the minimum wage means a gross annual wage of $10,712, well below the federal poverty guidelines of $16,000 for a family of four. Plainly put, businesses that benefit from public contracts should pay workers enough to keep them out of poverty.

The living-wage movement comes at a time when prosperity has highlighted social inequalities.

Welfare reform in 1995 never intended to eliminate poverty, but simply to get people off welfare roles.

Stories written about welfare-to-work show the working poor beaten by a system that continues to bloat CEO paychecks and by government contracts that reward corporations with pork. Of the welfare recipients who went from welfare in 1998 to work in 1999, only 28.8 percent earned above the federal poverty level of $14,500 for a family of three. Approximately 6 million single-parent families, mainly headed by women, survive on low-wage jobs.

For people of faith, a just wage addresses the injustice of the system. “Workers must be paid a wage which allows them to live a truly human life,” writes John XXIII, summarizing the church’s 20th century social teachings on wages. Trying to calculate a just wage in dollars and cents, however, posses a daunting task. Numerous variables cloud the calculations. Fr.

T

Spirituality for Today FATHER JOHN CATOIR CNS Columnist

and environmental protection. Even the Vatican has voiced its protest to some WTO practices.

After five years of frustration, it all came to a head. Representatives of 70 nations gathered to form an international coalition against the powerful cartel of multinational corporations. Big businesses operate internationally with no real system of checks and balances protecting the consumer. Without protests of some kind, their power will increase geometrically.

The WTO has shown a callous disregard toward those who oppose its goal of maximizing profits come hell or high water. In Seattle it caught a little bit of hell for it. I do not condone the violence of the small radical minority, but I am making a case for hundreds of protesters who came from all over the world to express their outrage.

Why am I writing about the WTO in a column dedicated to spirituality? Because spirituality can no longer be relegated to the level of private devotion, it must be part of our whole value system. Today, theologians and spiritual writers agree that spirituality involves the whole person. Your spirituality includes not only the way you pray and worship God, but also the way you think about money, politics and family.

We are all going to be judged on love. In view of this, we must all ask ourselves how Jesus would react to this situation. What would Jesus do?

Economy of Faith FATHER JOHN S. RAUSCH Guest Columnist

John A. Ryan, a theologian focusing on economics, published his doctoral dissertation in 1906 as “A Living Wage: Its Ethical and Economic Aspects.” After careful analyses of living expenses and social expectations, Ryan suggested a $600 a year minimum for a decent living wage in an American city. At the time, the average wage for urban workers remained only $571, so about 60 percent of America’s industrial labor force fell below Ryan’s proposed living wage.

Today, the U.S. Catholic bishops reflecting about the just wage include provisions common in the American economic system: “adequate health care, security for old age or disability, unemployment compensation, healthful working conditions, weekly rest, periodic holidays for recreation and leisure, and reasonable security against arbitrary dismissal.” Many of these provisions, though not all, have become American law and form part of a worker’s social wage. Yet, the list indicates what a modern economy expects for “a truly human life.”

Orthodox economists argue that raising the minimum wage for businesses contracting with local governments makes small businesses unprofitable and hurts job opportunities for low skilled workers.

Living-wage advocates cite recent studies showing

See ECONOMY OF FAITH, page 15 Spirituality and world politics Recently the Seattle police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at men and women protesting the practices of the World Trade Organization. The press, and the TV program “Sixty Minutes II,” depicted all the protesters as wild anarchists who were bent on violence.

Not so!

The fact is that a broad coalition of sane, nonviolent protesters representing 70 nations came to the state of Washington to express their objection to the WTO’s agenda. This organization represents big business interests, and has consistently put free trade above human rights, fair labor standards, environmental safeguards and public safety.

As a result there has been a worldwide ground swell of opposition.

I, for one, am not afraid of the globalization trend. It began in 1948 with the establishment of the United Nations. I also believe that free trade, if managed properly, will be a potential boon for the world’s economy.

However, the WTO, in the five years of its existence, has managed to alienate people from every walk of life by attempting to sweep away any local laws that inhibit free trade.

What does all this mean to the ordinary citizen?

Mothers, for instance, have joined the protest because they are afraid that their children’s health will be endangered by exposure to dangerous chemicals found in the food we import. Many countries drench their products in pesticides. We have laws regulating the food that comes into this country, but the WTO wants no restrictions on imports.

U.S. farmers oppose the WTO because they are afraid of going belly-up. They share with labor leaders a fear that they won’t be able to compete with countries paying substandard wages to an exploited labor force. We already have seen mass firings as a result of NAFTA, which is our free trade agreement with those south of the border.

Many members of the clergy have seen the erosion of gains they made in the area of human rights

February 11, 2000

The Catholic News & Herald 13

Editorials & Col-

Light One Candle FATHER THOMAS J. McSWEENEY Guest Columnist silence. 3000 worshippers suspended in utter stillness and apprehension. If I had closed my eyes, I would have thought the Cathedral empty.

“I am going to tend to our friend here,” I said.

And in seconds, I had moved through the opening at the communion rail and knelt next to the motionless man, who only moments before had been smiling at me.

A fellow priest arrived with sacred oils for the anointing, so I stood to embrace the wife. She calmly explained that her husband and she were in New York celebrating their wedding anniversary. They had just finished seeing the Radio City Christmas Show and wanted to get to Saint Patrick’s for Mass because it was there they had been married 43 years ago to the day.

And then she said, “Bless you, Father, and all these people who are trying to help. Bless you. My husband couldn’t be in a better place.”

Returning to the pulpit in the silent presence of all in that great Cathedral, my eyes searched the page for a place to resume the Gospel: “And Mary said: ‘Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.”

No sermon was spoken. But, I know Mary’s words of wholehearted acceptance of God’s will had a profound meaning for us. Death and life, faith and hope, all come from God’s loving hands.

St. Augustine, who wrote more about marriage than any other early theologian, believed sexual relations were sinful, and anyone who engaged in them committed sin. “A man who is too ardent a lover of his wife,” he taught, “is an adulterer, if the pleasure he finds in her is sought for its own sake” (“Against Julian,” 2,7). For centuries this teaching made it difficult to assume that marriage is a sacrament.

The sacramentality of marriage, of course, was closely related to the church’s involvement in the wedding ceremony. In early Christian centuries the church generally followed Roman marriage laws. A Christian marriage was simply one between two baptized persons who dedicated themselves to live their faith in Christ together.

By the year 400, some bishops and priests began to bestow a blessing to the couple, either the day before the marriage or at the festivities following the civil ceremony. The only Christians then actually bound to receive a church blessing of their marriages, by decree of Popes St. Siricius and St. Innocent I, were priests and deacons.

It took a long time before theologians could also acknowledge marriage as a sacrament, an authentic source of grace just as the other six sacraments. Augustine’s concept that original sin was transmitted from parents to children by sexual intercourse remained strong.

From St. Thomas Aquinas onward, however, it increasingly was accepted that Christian marriage is a true sacrament, continuing throughout their life, and enabling husbands and wives to live and grow in a holy life together.

At last, the ecumenical councils of Florence (1439) and Trent (1563) listed marriage as one of the seven sacraments. According to Trent, the fathers, councils and tradition of the church “have always taught that marriage should be numbered among the sacraments.”

Catholic teaching today contains many other profoundly rich biblical, theological and psychological insights on the sacrament of marriage. That marriage is a full-fledged sacrament, however, a source of divine grace for Christians in that vocation, remains of course

A death in the cathedral An event took place a few weeks ago that was for me one of the most profound experiences of my twenty-nine years of priesthood.

It’s been my privilege to offer Mass at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City during the past four years. Dec. 8 was the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, a holy day for Catholics celebrating Mary’s unique place in God’s plan of salvation. The Cathedral was full to capacity. Christmas shoppers, office workers, international travelers crowded into the pews or patiently stood along the side aisles.

The lector, music cantor and I had entered the sanctuary and were starting Mass when I noticed a couple in their 60s move from the aisle into a pew where a younger fellow made some room for them to sit. They captured my attention immediately because the older fellow beamed a broad grin and nodded cordially.

He saw me watching him and his wife settle in and eyed me apologetically — but I smiled sympathetically.

It was one of those little moments when two people have a spontaneous, brief exchange of good will and warmth. The liturgy was proceeding when, just before the Gospel, a muted chorus of voices drew my attention back to where my new acquaintance had been sitting.

Several faces turned to me in alarm and whispered all at once: “A doctor! A man here needs a doctor! Ask for a doctor! A doctor, now!”

At the pulpit, I leaned into the microphone and alerted the congregation: “A man is in distress. If there is a doctor here, please come forward.” Several men and women moved toward him.

Sensing things would soon be under control, we continued the liturgy with a sung prayer leading to the Gospel. But, I had spoken only a few lines, when an usher came toward me, stood at my side, and said softly into my ear, “He’s dead, Father. His wife is asking you to come to him and anoint him. Now.” There she was, in the midst of continuing efforts to revive her husband, summoning me to come. As I looked out to the congregation, I was struck by the

Question Corner FATHER JOHN DIETZEN CNS Columnist

The history of Christian marriage Q. In connection with my responsibilities as a deacon, I’m requesting any information you might offer about the history of Christian marriage. Certainly the first converts to Christianity from among the pagans and Jews did not receive the sacrament of marriage as we know it today.

My question is, When did the church establish matrimony as a sacrament? Why was this done?

A. In pre-Christian times, a “sacramentum” was the Latin term for a pledge of money, for example in lawsuits.

Later it was the oath of loyalty to Roman officers and gods, taken by recruits for military service. This was the meaning of the word picked up by the early Christians for their primary ceremony of initiation.

When people committed themselves to a new life of holiness and service of Jesus Christ, baptism ritualized that commitment and at the same time was the channel of grace needed to become faithful Christians. Other sacraments later followed this understanding, each in its own way.

It was this understanding, that the sacraments are themselves sources of God’s life and help, that kept marriage off the “official” list for many centuries. Marriage, particularly sexual intercourse, was widely accepted as necessary to alleviate sexual desire and to have children, but in itself it could not be a source of grace, since sexual desire and fulfillment, even in marriage, was always bad.

Valentine’s Day Father John C. Aurilia, OFM Cap Guest Columnist Valentine’s Day: Our love story lives on ome years ago, the liturgical leaders of the Catholic Church decided to clean up the calendar of saints. They removed a number of pseudo-saints from the official roster of holy men and women. The existence of these people was founded more on imagination than on fact.

One such saint was the alleged but very popular Roman priest and martyr, St. Valentine, who was annually honored on the 14th day of February. The effort to remove the name of Valentine from our religious and secular vocabulary has not been very successful.

As a far as we know, there are at least three different St. Valentines — all of them martyrs — and they are mentioned in the early martyrologies on Feb. 14. One is described as a priest of Rome, another as bishop of Interamma (present Terni), and these two men seem both to have suffered in the second half of the third century and to have been buried on the Flaminian Way. The third Valentine was martyred in Africa with some companions, and nothing more is known.

Today, there is no longer an official liturgical commemoration of St. Valentine; however, eveybody knows that Feb. 14 is Valentine’s Day. If anyone thinks otherwise, just visit a greeting card shop. The awesome array of cards lavishly decorated with hearts and loaded with the language of love is not named after Romeo and Juliet. They are Valentine’s cards, and nobody can tell us otherwise.

It is healthy, after all, to celebrate love in this year 2000, especially when the world stresses anger and fear; whereas God stresses love. Our culture, especially through the advertising media, conveys the message that our feelings and emotions are determined by circumstances. Are they? For example: Buy this car, and you will be happy. Buy this shampoo, and you will feel loved.

The truth is that we can change shampoos and still feel lonely.

Perhaps, it is time to re-program our thinking. The old-fashioned way of love is still valid and new. “John 3:16” is not simply flashing on billboards; he is flashing in our hearts. The love story of Valentine may not be historically sound, but it is a powerful story that still fascinates young and old people, because it is our own love story.

The real love story begins with you and never ends. Love indeed has many hands: Hands that reach Hands that love Hands that offer hope Hands that feed Hands that teach Hands that heal Hands that nurture Hands that comfort.

How many hands do you have?

S

Capuchin Father John C. Aurilia is pastor of Immaculate Conception Church in Hendersonville.

1 4 The Catholic News & Herald

In the

February 11, 2000

Vatican reserves judgment on Austrian far-right party

By Benedicta Cipolla Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Amid European Union outcry over the inclusion of a far-right political party in Austria’s new government, the Vatican reserved judgment.

“The Holy See does not have a tradition of pronouncing preventive judgments on people or programs,” Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican’s secretary of state, said Feb. 3.

“When a government’s plan is made known, then a judgment can be

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made,” he said.

The only instance where the Vatican might intervene, said the cardinal, would be if governmental programs go “against Christian morality.”

Austria’s 14 partners in the European Union have all expressed grave concern over the inclusion of Joerg Haider’s Freedom Party in the country’s new coalition government.

Haider, whose comments playing down Nazi war crimes and expressing hostility to immigration have drawn widespread international criticism,

will not be a member of the new Cabinet, but his party will boast six ministers.

The European Union said political sanctions against Austria would take effect Feb. 3.

Cardinal Christoph Schonborn of Vienna celebrated Mass Feb. 3, inviting all Austrians to pray for the good of the country.

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and Travelers, said while he was not familiar with Haider, the church condemned all racist ideologies.

“It’s right that people oppose any policy that supports racism or xenophobia. But I am not the one to express an opinion on concrete means of intervention,” he said.

“It is the responsibility of governments, which know more about the situation,” said the cardinal. M

Rabbis say they’ll meet pope at Chief Rabbinate, not Western

By Judith Sudilovsky Catholic News Service JERUSALEM (CNS) — When Pope John Paul II travels to the Holy Land, Israel’s chief rabbis will meet with him at the Chief Rabbinate and not at the Western Wall, said a spokesman for the Chief Rabbinate.

“The pope has asked to meet with Jewish religious leaders, and so the place to meet with them is where the chief rabbis sit,” said the spokesman.

“He has asked to meet with them, and they would like to welcome him in their home, and their home is at the Chief Rabbinate. If they were to go to the Vatican they would also come to greet the pope at the Vatican,” he said.

Pope John Paul was scheduled to visit holy sites in Jordan, Israel and Palestinian territories March 20-26.

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ment on the location of the meeting of the pope and chief rabbis.

Earlier, the Vatican announced a planned papal meeting with Jewish religious leaders at the Western Wall, or Wailing Wall, the place most venerated by Jews.

Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Israel Meir Lau, who represents Jews of East European descent, had welcomed a meeting with the pope at the Western Wall, saying that it symbolized a recognition of Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem.

However, Chief Sephardic Rabbi Eliahu Bakshi-Doron, who represents Jews of Middle Eastern descent, disagreed and called for a meeting at the Chief Rabbinate.

News reports said Rabbi BakshiDoron brought the issue to Rabbi Lau’s attention.

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demeaning, so the meeting should take place at the Chief Rabbinate.

Meanwhile, National Police Chief Yehuda Wilk, appointed to head the national control center overseeing the pope’s visit, assembled representatives of the government and other bodies involved in the preparations to brief them on their responsibilities.

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February 11, 2000

The Pope Speaks, from page 12

mous with freedom itself, there is a burden for religious believers in public life to serve a “prophetic” function.

“As one who is personally grateful for what America did for the world in the darkest days of the 20th century, allow me to ask: Will America continue to inspire people to build a truly better world, a world in which freedom is ordered to truth and goodness?” said the pope.

“Or will America offer the example of a pseudo-freedom which, detached from the moral norms that give life direction and fruitfulness, turns in practice into a narrow and ultimately inhuman self-enslavement, one which smothers people’s spirits and dissolves the foundations of social life?”

The pope said the world looks to the United States for leadership on “the great civil rights issue of our time,” that of “cherishing every human life and in providing legal protection for all members of the human community, but especially those who are weakest and most vulnerable.”

Also speaking at the prayer breakfast, President Clinton talked about the need for reconciliation among rival groups — from nations at war with each other to hate crimes committed within the United States.

Within Washington, “we often ... forget in the heat of political battle our common humanity,” Clinton said. “We slip from honest difference, which is healthy, into dishonest demonization.”

In the

The Catholic News & Herald 15

Appalachia Pastoral, from page 1

finished conversation with our people, with the truth of Appalachia, with the living God.” Joe Holland, professor of philosophy and religion at St. Thomas University in Miami, delivered the keynote address of the anniversary celebration, in which he examined the contemporary state of Catholic social teaching.

“Catholic social teaching is today the core of Christian spirituality,” Holland said. “Justice and peace are constitutive elements of the Gospel message.”

Holland went on to say that “the Western, modern, bourgeois way of life is not sustainable.” He noted that the self-sufficient communities of Appalachia are a model of lifestyle that can serve as an alternative to excessive consumerism.

“Some talk about a population problem among the poor,” the bishops wrote in 1975. “There’s an even bigger consumption problem among the rich.”

Sister of St. Joseph Gretchen Shaffer said, “The letter is as true today as it was 25 years ago.”

Todd Garland, executive director of the Catholic Committee of Appalachia, pointed to the pastoral letter’s easy-to-read, poetic style. “It’s so meaningful and easy to read, that many people actually read this document again and again.

“Hardly a week goes by where we don’t get calls for reprints of the letter. After 25 years, that’s amazing,” he added. “The voices still cry out to us, and urge us to continue our efforts for justice in Appalachia.”

Michael Vincent, director of Catholic Community Services Southern Region in the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, noted that “This Land is Home to Me” is a “pastoral of hope. It puts the reality of Appalachia out there, and moves us toward justice not only in economics, but in ecology as well.”

Carol Warren, director of the diocesan Justice and Life Office, agrees. “In the coming century, our care for the earth may be the ultimate life issue,” she said. “None of us will survive without food and clean water, commodities increasingly denied to the neediest among us.”

Participants also discussed the 1995 pastoral “At Home in the Web of Life,” a follow-up pastoral to “This Land is Home to Me.” In it the Appalachian bish- This is the cover of the 25th Anniversary ops discussed the need for “sus- Edition of “This Land is Home to Me,” a tainable communities,” which pastoral letter on the Appalachia region would have their own perma- written in 1975. nent social and economic base ment. in the region and be an alternative to Vincent said the Appalachian pasoutsiders coming in who see the area torals have been instrumental in shaponly as a source of cheap resources ing social justice in Appalachia over and labor. the past quarter century, and that they The new message also stressed will be “part of our spiritual geograthe abandonment of the people there phy for years to come.” M in the post-industrial age and the pervasive attacks on the region’s environ-

Economy of Faith, from page 12 that Los Angeles’s $8.64 living wage increased total costs by only 1% to 1.5% for the affected businesses.

With CEO pay rising 36% in the last Business Week survey compared to a 2.7% increase for blue collar workers and no increase for the minimum wage earners, the living-wage advocates are arguing from the moral high ground.

A living wage between $8 to $11 an hour approaches a just wage more closely than the anemic federal minimum wage some corporations are now paying the working poor.

Father John S. Rausch writes, teaches and organizes in Appalachia.

1 6 The Catholic News & Herald

Living the

February 11, 2000

No Regis or millions here, but plenty of blessings, religious received refreshments and a certificate

By Joseph Young for a pizza.

Catholic News Service In the ninth-grade competition, ST. NICHOLAS, Minn. (CNS) — teachers Matt Walz and Shirl Carlson Channel surfers have lately been riding grilled the team of Mitchell Braethe wave of the popular prime-time gelmann, Jennifer Kunkel and Steven television quiz show “Who Wants to Landwehr.

Be a Millionaire?” hosted by Regis “Who is the patron saint of firePhilbin. men?” Walz asked. “Is it St. Lucy, St. The basement of St. Nicholas Florian, St. Stephen or St. James?”

Church in St. Nicholas is no New York “Of firemen?” Braegelmann TV studio, and Philbin was nowhere asked incredulously. After consulting near the church the evening of Jan. 26, amongst themselves the team venbut about 65 contestants were. tured a guess: “St. Stephen?”

These contestants, however, were “That’s your final answer?” Walz not your run-of-the-million quiz show asked, poker-faced. “Yes,” they replied, contestants. They were fresh-faced their faces florid with hope. “No, the seventh-, eighth- and ninth-graders answer is St. Florian,” he said apoloin the religious education program at getically.

Holy Cross Parish, Pearl Lake, and St. Meanwhile, seventh-g raders Nicholas Parish, which are in the St. Amanda Krueger, Heather Anderson Cloud Diocese. and Jessica Gully squirmed as pseudoRegis wasn’t on hand to ask conRegises Heidi Krippner, Sara Krippner testants, “Is that your final answer?” and Leanne Donnay quizzed ‘em about but a handful of the parishes’ voluntheir wisdom. teer religious education “Which of the folteachers acted as Philbin lowing is not a beatifill-ins.

Tom Decker, a Rocori tude?” they were asked, This staff — along senior who emceed and were given the choice with parish religious the eighth-graders of three beatitudes listed education coordinator in Matthew’s Gospel Maureen Hieserich — competition along along with the subtly planned the evening of with Brenda Kunkel, spurious “Blessed are quizzing for the youths by preparing 100-plus said that “kids learn they that starve, for they questions with a reli- better when you make will be fed.”

The girls, not really gious bent. For example, it fun for them, and sure, used a “lifeline” — “What does Immanuel mean?” and “Who you could tell they’re which is also an option on the TV show — and walked on the water to having fun tonight asked for help from a Jesus?”

For each one, conworking together and member of the audience.

Luckily for them, Father testants could choose an using teamwork.”

John Caskey, pastor of answer from four offered the parishes who was — one answer was cormoseying among the rect and the three others three classes, happened to be present bogus. and proffered the correct answer when Students from each grade competed asked. among themselves in a kind of simulta“Are you positive?” Krueger asked, neous three-ring circus that was intense. a doubt shadowing her brow. “One Youths were placed in teams of three and hundred percent,” Father Caskey said four, all vying for, not money, but for the confidently. The girls accepted the anmost fabulous prize of all — theological swer, and their doubts turned to shouts knowledge — in “Who Wants a Million of triumph.

Blessings?”

Speaking of doubting, the quesAs a parting gift, all contestants

CNS photo by Neil Andersen, St. Cloud Visitor

Tina Hennen quizzes her grandmother in a “lifeline” call during a game of “Who Wants a Million Blessings?” at St. Nicholas Church in St. Nicholas, Minn., Jan. 26. During the game-show spinoff, young people were presented with questions that tapped their knowledge of religion. tion “Which disciple was known as a doubter?” stymied three eighthgraders — Tina Hennen, Monique Hieserich and Kelly Lochen.

So they took advantage of another form of lifeline — a telephone call for help. Hennen had warned her grandmother, Lorraine Hennen, who was waiting at home by the phone playing cribbage, that she might be getting a call.

“We asked her the question,” said Tina Hennen, “and before we could even give her the multiple choices she blurted the right answer.”

The telephone lifeline worked less successfully for ninth-graders Dane Inderrieden, Rodney Lutgen and Tim Krueger, who called their Rocori High School classmate Adam Hennen, a member of Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Cold Spring, figuring he could help them with: “What did Jesus do at Jairus’ home? Did he cure Jairus’ daughter of leprosy? Of blindness?

Did he bring her back to life? Or, did he cure Jairus’ wife of a 12-day hemor-

rhage?”

“We didn’t have a clue,” Krueger admitted. Alas, neither did Hennen, who suggested to his friends that Jesus cured Jairus’ daughter of leprosy, when he actually brought her back to life.

Tom Decker, a Rocori senior who emceed the eighth-graders competition along with Brenda Kunkel, said that “kids learn better when you make it fun for them, and you could tell they’re having fun tonight working together and using teamwork.”

“The kids are really excited,” agreed Jim Norman, watching his seventh-grade daughter, Emily, earn a blessing or two with some correct answers. “Learning about religion while competing like on a game show — it’s a great concept.” M