March 23, 2001

The Catholic News & Herald 1

March 23, 2001

March 23, 2001 Volume 10 t Number 28

Inside Irish Catholics share faith, heritage, history

... Page 5

Pope ordains nine new bishops

... Page 15

Local News Those with disabilities honored at Mass

... Page 7

Faith accompanies Northerner down South

... Page 16

Every Week Entertainment ...Pages 10-11

Editorials & Columns ...Pages 12-13

“Jesus spoke to them again, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’”

— John 8:12

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

By JIMMY ROSTAR Associate Editor GREENSBORO — Understanding who they are as a diverse people of family, community, faith and culture is a basic yet essential step in reaching out to immigrants as people who wish to call the United States home, said members of a panel addressing a statewide conference on immigration.

The state’s first Legal Immigration Forum was hosted by the North Carolina Gover nor’s Hisp a n i c / L at i n o A d v i s o r y C o u n cil and the North Carolina Legal Immigration Coalition March 16 in Greensboro. The statewide conference gathered experts in the fields of government, law, religion, industry and education to ponder practical solutions for improving an immigration system that has been in place for nearly a halfcentury.

During their panel presentation “Latinos in North Carolina,” four advocates for Hispanics said in their daily experience with those they serve, they encounter a wide variety of people who hunger for a sense of home, job security and social belonging.

And while the people with whom they work are varied in their backgrounds and experiences, the panelists said all immigrants to this country share in a common thread of hopes, expectations and needs.

“We are a very different people from many different countries,” said Katie Pomerans, a native of Uruguay and an advocate for Hispanics who now coordinates North Carolina State University’s NC AgrAbility program in the Triangle. “Some of us have been here for many years and have raised families here. And some of us are just arriving, trying to establish here, trying to learn to live in a new culture and a new environment, and trying to survive.”

While the economy has changed dramatically since the current immigration system was established in 1952, the visa system has stayed static, conference organizers said.

Long-term problems have resulted, they said, including such issues as legal work authorization, proper citizenship credentials, and fear and mistrust of the people that immigrants encounter in the very land they hope to make their home.

Discussions included those on immig rants from a plethora of places across the world who come to this state, while the conference focused particularly on the tremendous influx of Latinos who are calling North Carolina home these days, either permanently or for the time being.

Jesuit Father Paul Brant, chair of the Immigration Committee of

Experts ponder immigration influx at statewide conference the Gover nor’s Council on Hispanic/Latino Affairs, ministers to Hispanics in 16 counties within the Diocese of Raleigh. On the “Latinos in North Carolina” panel, he said in his experience with a mostly Mexican population, he meets people who fight for survival from financial ruin in their homeland.

“The bad economic situation in most of the Latin American countries has forced the people to leave the land there because it’s not able to support them anymore,” Father Brant said.

“A Mexican worker here can earn in one day what he earns in two weeks in Mexico. As long as you have that, they’re going to be coming here.”

The panel discussed topics that included the basic needs, expectations and desires of immigrants who come here.

Ilana Dubester, executive director of the Hispanic advocacy organization Vinculo Hispano, said documentation is part of Hispanics’ dream for a better life.

“They are making a leap of faith that one day, perhaps, they will be doing everything that they are doing now, only with a little piece of paper that says that they are allowed to stay here,” said Dubester, who works with Hispanic family members one-to-one on such issues as healthcare and social security.

The panel members said a strong family connection exists in Hispanic culture, and many workers are finding expensive and often dangerous ways of bringing their families into the United States to be with them. For

See IMMIGRATION, page 4

Photo by Larry Chance

Jeff Heath applies beeswax with a copper stylus to an intricate pattern on an egg during a Pysanka Egg Writers Retreat at Holy Family Church in Clemmons. Parishioner Ann Michel led the retreat, which weaves spirituality into the Ukrainian style of egg decorating. See story, page 9.

2 The Catholic News & Herald 23 speech at a Miami meeting of the National Institute of Liturgy for Hispanics.

Church groups to participate in alternative summit in Quebec OTTAWA (CNS) — Canadian church organizations will participate in an alternative summit in Quebec City in the days before leaders of 34 governments in the Americas gather for the Summit of the Americas. The Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace, the Ecumenical Coalition for Economic Rights and the Inter-Church Committee on Human Rights in Latin America are members of coalitions that plan to take part in the Second People’s Summit of the Americas, April 16-21. The heads of governments from North and South America will meet in Quebec City from April 20-22 and are expected to sign the first draft of the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas. Under the umbrella of the “Hemispheric Social Alliance,” the alternative summit will bring together representatives of more than 400 organizations opposed to the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas.

Asian traditions can renew church, says theologian SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. (CNS) — Asian nations offer diverse religious traditions “which can renew and strengthen the Catholic Church,” said Father Peter Phan, president of the Catholic Theological Society of America. These traditions include a commitment to family, stability, respect and a sharing lifestyle, he said. They are also influencing the United States because millions of Asians have arrived since World War II, he added. Father Phan, a professor of religion and culture at The Catholic University of America in Washington, gave the Archbishop Peter Leo Gerety lecture March 8 at Seton Hall University.

Pilot program offers intensive study of Christian classics ST. LOUIS (CNS) — Through a pilot program called Traditio, 20 top college students from across the country will study important texts of the Christian tradition this summer at the University of Notre Dame. The program — designed to further the integration of faith and learn-

CNS photo from Reuters

Residents make their way through flooded village Villagers row though flooded streets in the village of Geten in western Ukraine March 15. Tens of thousands of homes in more than 240 villages and towns have been hard hit by recent flooding in Ukraine.

Some church policies alien to Hispanics, says N.M. bishop WASHINGTON (CNS) — Many Hispanics are kept away from the sacraments by church practices and policies alien to them, said Bishop Ricardo Ramirez of Las Cruces, N.M. Church authorities need to be more flexible about procedures associated with baptisms, annulments and weddings, he said in a March 14 phone interview.

He added that government legal procedures for people seeking U.S. residency also present pastoral problems. The Mexican-American bishop was interviewed on issues he raised in a Feb.

Episcopal March 23, 2001 Volume 10 • Number 28

Publisher: Most Reverend William G. Curlin Editor: Joann S. Keane Associate Editor: Jimmy Rostar Staff Writer: Alesha M. Price Graphic Designer: Tim Faragher 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.

March 23, 2001

The World in

c a l e n-

Bishop William G. Curlin will take part in the following events: March 24 Attending Leadership Training Program St. Vincent de Paul, Charlotte March 25 — 11 a.m.

Mass St. Joseph of the Hills, Eden March 26 — 7 p.m.

Confirmation Our Lady of the Annunciation, Albemarle March 28-29 LARCUM Ecumenical Dialogue Catholic Conference Center, Hickory March 30-April 2

ing — was developed and is directed

by Eleonore Stump, professor of philosophy at St. Louis University.

She and Notre Dame provost Nathan Hatch received a $600,000 grant from Pew Charitable Trusts to cover the expense of students’ travel, books, board and housing at Notre Dame, where the program will be held this year. Each student will also receive a $3,000 stipend.

Church in Sierra Leone launches AIDS prevention campaign FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (CNS) — The Catholic Church in Sierra Le-

Diocesan

plan -

friends on the following days: St. Gabriel Church, 3016 Providence Rd., tonight at 7 p.m. in the conference room of the ministry center and St. Matthew Church, 8015 Ballantyne Commons Pkwy., on April 3 at 7 p.m. in the office building. For more information, call: St. Matthew - Marilyn Borrelli at (704) 542-2283 and St. Gabriel - Eileen Cordell at (704) 352-5047, Ext. 217. For further information, call Bob Poffenbarger, Sr., coordinator, at (704) 553-7000.

CLEMMONS — Holy Family Church, 4820 Kinnamon Rd., is celebrating a charismatic Mass tonight, not April 7, at 7:30 p.m. with Father Frank O’Rourke. The sacrament of reconciliation is being given at 7 p.m., and the laying on of hands is taking place after Mass. The next mass takes place on May 7. For more information, call the church office at (336) 778-0600 or Jim

one is working to prevent AIDS by educating people about how the disease spreads. “The AIDS epidemic is spreading fast. The church has therefore become concerned, because the more it spreads, the more it affects our parishioners in different parts of the country,” said Father Theophillos Momoh, a priest of Sacred Heart Cathedral in Freetown, the coastal capital of Sierra Leone. Following a workshop in early March in collaboration with the ministries of health and education, the church embarked on sensitizing parishioners on the dangers of engaging in activities likely to cause the spread of the HIV virus that causes AIDS. Speaker discusses improving male-female collaboration in church CHICAGO (CNS) — Improved collaboration among women and men in the Catholic Church must start with moving the site of decision-making out of the rectory or other locations closed to women, a speaker told a national gathering of women March 12. Leodia “Lee” Gooch, program manager for evangelization and parish outreach in the Human Rights Office of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, spoke on the second day of a three-day meeting in Chicago.

The meeting was convened by the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Women in Society and in the Church to consult with some 150 women holding diocesan leadership positions.

Friars resolve land-use dispute with National Park Service NEW YORK (CNS) — The Franciscan Friars of the Atonement announced March 8 that they have “amicably” resolved a land-use dispute with the National Park Service. The controversy involved an area of land where the Appalachian Trail crosses the property of the friars’ Graymoor headquarters. Adjusting an easement of 58 acres granted the Park Service in 1984, the agreement adds a little more than seven acres and returns almost two acres of the original easement to the friars, leaving 63.28 acres covered out of the total of about 400. The friars, who received $116,500 for the Passero at (336) 998-7503.

4 CHARLOTTE — Bishop William G. Curlin is presenting a Lenten evening of reflection at St. John Neumann Church, 8451 Idlewild Rd., tonight at 7 p.m. The evening includes prayer, Scripture reading, a homily by the bishop, Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and Benediction. Call (704) 535-4197 for details.

CHARLOTTE — St. Gabriel Church, 3016 Providence Rd., is hosting a bereavement education session entitled “Grief: Dealing with Loss in the Years that Follow.” All are invited to come and explore how feelings of grief and loss continue sometimes long after the first year for many people and how one can deal with those feelings. For further details, call B.J. Dengler at the church at (704) 364-5431.

WINSTON-SALEM — St. Leo the Great Church, 335 Springdale Ave., is hosting Dr. William Rabil as he leads a presentation on the Shroud of Turin tonight from 7-8:15 p.m. at the activity center annex. The talk concerns

March 23, 2001

Canadian church group urges education about refugee rights OTTAWA (CNS) — The federal government should be more active in educating Canadians about the rights and needs of refugees, a Catholic Church group told a House of Commons committee studying a proposed overhaul of the Immigration Act. “Many causes, including high-profile media coverage of human smuggling, queue jumping and other abuses, combine to produce a negative public opinion that is hostile to refugees,” said Bernard Daly, chair of the permanent refugee committee of Notre Dame Cathedral-Basilica and a former assistant general secretary of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops. Daly, a retired former publisher of the Catholic Register in Toronto, was among presenters at a mid-March hearing of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration.

College students once again spend break helping others WASHINGTON (CNS) — This year, while hundreds of thousands of college students flock to the beaches during their spring break, a growing number of college students are taking part in service projects. Instead of drinking beer and sunbathing, they’ll be building homes, tutoring students, registering voters, visiting the sick and elderly, and volunteering in homeless shelters and soup kitchens. Students are spending the week in projects dubbed “Alternative Spring Breaks,” “Spring Break Out” or “Appalachian Outreach,” helping people in rural areas in the United States and Central America. These service projects require a lot of advance planning.

Students have to fill out applications, get on waiting lists, and take part in prerequisite training seminars and fund-raising projects before taking off.

NCCW offers leadership institutes for Catholic women WASHINGTON (CNS) — The National Council of Catholic Women is offering leadership institutes on “Spirituality and Service” for Catholic women at seven sites around the United States this year. The daylong program — deof the sacraments, Scripture, morality and creed. For more information and to register, call Marylin Kravatz, Southern Regional Faith Formation Coordinator, at (704) 370-3247.

April 1 ASHEVILLE — St. Joan of Arc Church, 919 Haywood Rd., is sponsoring a ministries fair to be held today following the 10 a.m. Community Mass. The joint Mass is being celebrated in the parish gym in lieu of the four regular weekend Masses and is intended to allow the church membership to g reet each other as one church family. Following Mass, the 16 church ministries are being represented by displays throughout the building to familiarize people with the ministries and to encourage participation. For details, call (828) 252-3151.

2 CHARLOTTE — Churches in the Charlotte area are having their regularly scheduled cancer support group meetings for survivors, family and

The Catholic News & Herald 3

The World in

CNS photo by Karen Callaway

Activists hold vigil before execution in Indiana Bob Dhoore, a Catholic from Notre Dame, Ind., joins a vigil protesting the execution of Gerald Bivins outside the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City March 13. Bishop Dale J. Melczek of Gary, Ind., was a witness to the execution of Bivins, who was put to death by lethal injection for a 1991 murder. scribed as part training, part retreat — is designed to help Catholic women reflect on their faith in the light of Catholic social teaching, exploring the link between service and the principles of Catholic social thought. Sessions scheduled for 2001 are: April 7, Portsmouth, N.H.; May 5, Moses Lake, Wash.; May 19, Austin, Texas; June 2, Stevens Point, Wis.; June 22, Davenport, Iowa, and Boise, Idaho; and Sept. 22, Springfield, Ill. Ukrainian Catholic aid workers urge help for flood victims MOSCOW (CNS) — Ukrainian Catholic aid workers in the impoverished former Soviet republic are appealing to Catholics abroad for help in coping with flooding that has killed at least six people and damaged more than 33,000 homes. “They called the 1998 flood the biggest flood of the cen-

tury, but this one is even bigger,” said Father Ken Nowakowski, president of Caritas Ukraine, in a telephone interview March 14 from the Ukrainian Catholic Church’s headquarters in Lviv.

“In February, we had a huge amount of snowfall, and then what happened was last week there were torrential rains that melted all this snow. That, along with the rain itself, caused the flooding,” he said.

Updates for Mass seen as opportunity to examine goals of liturgy MANTECA, Calif. (CNS) — The Vatican’s first revision in 25 years of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal gives Catholics an opportunity to take a new look at the liturgy and reforms initiated by the Second Vatican Council, said the U.S. bishops’ top liturgy official. Father James P. Moroney, executive director of the U.S. bishops’

March 28 WINSTON-SALEM — Schools in the Winston-Salem area are having Lenten reconciliation services on the following dates: St. Leo School, 333 Springdale Ave., this morning at 10 a.m. and Our Lady of Mercy School, 1 East Banner Ave., at 10:30 a.m. on March 30. Call the schools for details.

29 WINSTON-SALEM VICARIATE — Churches in the vicariate are having Lenten reconciliation services on the following dates at 7 p.m.: Our Lady of Mercy, 1919 S. Main St. in Winston-Salem, tonight; Our Lady of Fatima Chapel, Corner of Cherry and 3rd Sts. in Winston-Salem, April 5; Our Lady of the Rosary, 619 S. Main St. in Lexington, and Holy Family, 4820 Kinnamon Rd. in Clemmons, April 6; St. Benedict the Moor, 1625 E. 12th St. in Winston-Salem, April 10 and Good Shepherd, East End of Kirby Rd. in King, April 11. Call the churches for details.

30 ASHEBORO — The diocesan Boy

Scouts of America Catholic Camporee is taking place today through April 1 at the Woodfield Scout Reservation. All parish and other Cub Scout Packs and Scout Troops are invited to participate in this yearly event. For additional information, contact Henry Wallace at (704) 792-9329.

DENVER — Holy Spirit Church, 537 North Hwy. 16, is hosting a fish fry this evening and April 6 from 5-8 p.m.

All-you-can-eat and carry-out fried fish, French fries, bread and sweetened tea are on the menu for the two-day gathering to benefit the church. For details, call (704) 483-6448.

SYLVA — The youth of St. Mary Church, 22 Bartlett St., are presenting the Living Stations of the Cross tonight at 7:30 p.m. For more information, call the church office at (828) 586-9496 or Beth Harcourt at (828) 586-0463.

31 BOONE — The diocesan Office of Faith Formation is presenting the 5th Annual Boone Education Conference today beginning at 9 a.m. and

Secretariat for Liturgy, discussed the revised rules in a February talk to about 1,000 participants at a Stockton diocesan liturgy workshop in Manteca. Stockton Bishop Stephen E. Blaire invited Father Moroney to give the workshop for laity and a session for priests as the first major events of the diocese’s observance of 2001 as a “Year of Liturgical Catechesis.”

Holy See decries Italian threat to cut power to Vatican Radio VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Holy See denounced a threat by Italy’s environmental minister to cut off electricity to Vatican Radio over alleged electromagnetic pollution and said ongoing bilateral negotiations were the proper means to resolve the dispute. In a statement March 17, Joaquin Navarro-Valls, Vatican spokesman, called it “surprising” that an Italian government official spread misinformation and suggested “initiatives that are contrary to the spirit of negotiations.” Willer Bordon, the environmental minister, said March 16 he would order the Italian electricity company to suspend service within 15 days if the radio’s transmission antennae continued to violate Italy’s very strict radiation standards.

CRS sends food to thousands of displaced in southern Sudan NAIROBI, Kenya (CNS) — Catholic Relief Services Sudan sent food to thousands of displaced people in southern Sudan’s Diocese of Rumbek after renewed fighting between government-backed soldiers and the Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Army.

Responding to an urgent appeal by Bishop Cesare Mazzolari of Rumbek for food, water, and other relief supplies, in mid-March CRS Sudan delivered 60 tons of lentils, vegetable oil, bulgar wheat and other supplies to the Bahr el Ghazal region in the western part of southern Sudan, said David Snyder, media relations adviser with CRS, the U.S. bishops international relief and development agency. The Sudan program is CRS’ biggest project, with most of the funding coming from the U.S. Agency for International Development, he said. concluding at 3 p.m. at St. Elizabeth Church, 259 Pilgrims Way. Based on the theme “Our Baptismal Call and Response,” Anne Trufant will share her sense of God’s call in her life and will engage in fellowship and spirituality with participants. The deadline for registration is March 26, and for information and registration, call Peg Ruble, Central Regional Faith Formation Coordinator, at (704) 3910445.

CHARLOTTE — A Catechist Recognition Workshop for catechist training is being held at St. Matthew Church, 8015 Ballantyne Pkwy., today beginning with registration from 8:15-8:45 a.m., Mass at 9 a.m. and modules presented during two sessions from 10 a.m.12:30 p.m. and 1-3:30 p.m. Any adult involved in parish ministry or seeking personal enrichment is invited to come for the four Phase I modules offered for the catechist certification process with the topics

4 The Catholic News & Herald

IMMIGRATION, from page 1 many immigrants, they said, the dream will always include being in Latin America, though conditions force them to find new homes.

“I don’t think there is an immigrant who doesn’t dream of going home and sharing what they accomplished in their life,” said Pomerans. “(But) their plans are for here, for establishing their whole family here, for having a job, for giving their children the best possible education.”

Dr. H. Nolo Martinez, director of Hispanic/Latino Affairs for the Office of the Governor, moderated the panel.

“One of the things that is unique about the immigrant population is their behavior,” he said. “Theirs is a behavior that is a result of, as I understand it and as we have seen it, their immigration status.”

Father Brant agreed. He likened the Latino experience of displacement to the biblical Exodus story. “These people have been through the desert,” he said of those to whom he ministers. “Some of them have seen people die. They’ve been turned back several times and have had to cross again.

They’re survivors, these folks, and that explains a lot (about their behavior).”

When it comes to basic needs, the panelists spoke of documentation, healthcare, education, and labor and law issues as key. They also spoke of North Carolina as being a favorable place to host its new residents.

“I hear from a lot of clients that they are very grateful to be here and for the opportunity,” said Dubester.

“People are very hopeful about North Carolina, are very thankful to be here and find it a good place to live with lots

Around the Diof opportunities.”

Father Brant said depending on the future economic situations in their homelands, many immigrants may return to Latin America — though many will stay here in the States for good.

“We’re going to have a permanent Hispanic population in any case, and they are going to have the same expectations for the future as any other person living in North Carolina does,” he said.

In a March 2000 report, the U.S. Catholic bishops named the Diocese of Charlotte as having the largest percentage of increase in the Hispanic population between 1990 and 1996 among all U.S. Catholic dioceses. The Diocese of Raleigh was listed fourth.

Vincentian Father Vincent Finnerty, director of Hispanic Ministry in the Diocese of Charlotte, said educational meetings such as the forum provide an opportunity to look at how individuals, the church and other institutions, and society as a whole can reach out to welcome strangers in a new land.

“The big problem with the immigration law is that many people come as strangers here,” he said, “but they’re not able to come as documented people, and so they live in great insecurity and fear during the time that they’re here.”

Father Finnerty said the church has long taken a leadership role in outreach to immigrants and that the church here in North Carolina is currently providing tremendous outreach to Hispanics.

“The church must continue to be aware of its role — that Hispanics will come to us because they have confidence in the church,” he said.

“As long as we try to respond to their needs, then we have power with them, and as a result, the voice of the church becomes strong in society to advocate for Hispanics’ rights.”

Photo by Jimmy Rostar

Jesuit Father Paul Brant, far left, addresses the Legal Immigration Forum March 23 in Greensboro. Seated from left with Father Brant is Ilana Dubester, Dr. H. Nolo Martinez and Katie Pomerans.

March 23, 2001

Photo by Susan de Guzman

From Winston to Washington St. Leo School students and faculty mailed a care package to President George W. Bush recently which included a giant card, two school cookbooks (one for Laura, the president’s wife, and one for his mother, Barbara) and other school memorabilia. This project was organized

by Resource Specialist Linda Fatale, who is the school’s 2000-01 “Teacher of the Year.” Pictured are teacher Linda Fatale with fifthgrade students. This project was part of a nations day celebration for Catholic Schools Week.

March 23, 2001

Irish Catholics share faith, heritage,

By ALESHA M. PRICE Staff Writer CHARLOTTE — It was a wonderful day for a parade. With a shelter of clouds and blue skies, hundreds of people from Charlotte and the surrounding areas turned out to watch this year’s annual St. Patrick’s Day parade, sponsored by Dyer-Hart Productions and the Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH) Mecklenburg County Division. The parade is just one of the projects in which the group of Irish Catholic men who comprise the AOH is involved. Several other organizations benefit from the group whose origins reach all the way back to Ireland.

The AOH reportedly began several hundred years ago during the 16th century when Catholicism in Ireland had been outlawed by Queen Elizabeth I, and she declared Anglicanism as the religion of Great Britain. Citizens and priests caught practicing their Catholic faith were executed as violators of the laws created against the Irish.

In response to the laws, many people practiced their faith in underground societies and were guarded and protected by dedicated Irish laymen.

Thus, the AOH, in its earliest forms, began.

After thousands of Irish people immigrated to America and were met with similar hostility and discrimination, the men, who had been a part of those first secret societies which protected the Catholic faith and its believers, officially formed the AOH in America in 1836 in New York. Their job was to protect churches and clergy from violence and to support new immigrants in finding jobs, homes and other resources.

Today, the AOH is the oldest and largest Irish Catholic lay organization in the United States with divisions

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Around the Di“We are fairly new, so we are mostly devoting ourselves toward development and organizing. We are an organization that promotes fraternity and charity among Irish-Catholic men and the education of our own people of our true Irish history.”

Through support of the Irish

Photos by Alesha M. Price

The annual St. Patrick’s Day parade in Charlotte is one of many projects in which the Ancient Order of Hibernians’ Mecklenburg County Division is involved.

The AOH’s motto is “Friendship, Unity and Christian Charity.”

extending into Canada and Mexico.

“Hibernia” is the ancient name for Ireland, and the promotion of history and customs comprises a large part of the organization. Charitable works performed by members of the group throughout the United States and promotion of the Catholic faith and

Irish heritage is at the forefront of the AOH’s philosophy.

With the motto “Friendship, Unity and Christian Charity,” the AOH strives to not only keep its members educated and steadfast in their faith but also to inform the public about the rich and varied history of the Irish people and to improve religious and political conditions in their native land.

In North Carolina, several divisions exist, including one in the western part of the Diocese of Charlotte, which was the first in the state. The AOH Buncombe County Cross and Shamrock Division received its char-

ter in June 1993, and since then, other groups have formed with members of that first division.

Activities in this division include two Communion breakfasts a year, the annual St. Patrick’s Day party, an annual ball game and picnic, work with the Asheville Buncombe County Christian Ministry and other charities, and a recent addition, a retreat.

“We started the retreat this year for personal and spiritual growth, and it was very successful,” said Bill Mitchell, president of the Cross and Shamrock Division. “Also, at this year’s St. Patrick’s Day party, we awarded Dr. James H. Mullen, chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Asheville, the Irish-American Man of the Year award for his leadership and service.”

Mitchell said that the organization has helped him to establish and maintain friendships, to concentrate on his own spirituality and to learn more about his Irish-Catholic background.

“The national office stresses that we emphasize our Irish heritage, which is Catholic, and you can’t separate the two. We hope that with the celebration of our heritage that we will see other groups celebrating their heritage as Americans.”

In the Charlotte area, the AOH Mecklenburg County Division received its charter in 1996 and is involved with Charlotte’s St. Patrick Day parade and other major charitable and social events. With state president Tim Lawson involved in this group, the division sponsors the Emerald Ball, an annual charity dance and concert benefiting Holy Angels, and Project St. Patrick, a national program in support of seminarians in the nation and in the Diocese of Charlotte.

In addition to the charitable works, the group is also involved in the spiritual, social and personal development of their members through workshops, festivals and other gatherings.

Michael Slane’s job as AOH state director is one of support and encouragement to all divisions in the state including his own, the AOH Guilford County Division, which received its charter in 1999. “I work with promoting and developing the divisions of the AOH and looking to create additional divisions. I act as an intermediary between divisions by visiting divisions around the state,” said Slane.

See IRISH, page 14

6 The Catholic News & Herald Catholic school students win national engineering contest CHICAGO (CNS) — Three eighthgrade students at St. Barnabas Elementary School in Chicago have won a national competition sponsored by the National Society of Professional Engineers. Katherine Dunham, 13, Meredith Messerle, 13, and Dan Cullina, 14, won first place in the National Engineers Week Future City Competition for their floating city, “Maropolis,” which travels the world’s oceans in the year 2500. Some 26,000 students nationwide participated in the ninth annual competition. Each of the three winners received an IBM laptop computer and a visit to the U.S. Space Camp in Huntsville, Ala., this summer.

Archbishop proposes St. Maximilian Kolbe as communications patron VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Luxembourg’s Archbishop Fernand Franck proposed St. Maximilian Kolbe, a Franciscan priest and newspaper editor who died in a Nazi concentration camp, as patron saint of social communications. “It seems to me the life of Maximilian Kolbe predestines this martyr to become the patron saint of the means of social communication,” Archbishop Franck said March 15 during a weeklong plenary meeting of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications. Convinced that modern tools of communication could be used to further the church’s message, St. Maximilian founded and edited two highly successful periodicals in his native Poland and another successful monthly magazine in Japan.

Longtime Florida Catholic journalist dead at 80 MIAMI (CNS) — Marjorie Fillyaw Donohue, who spent nearly her whole life reporting on the church in South Florida and became known as the “walking encyclopedia” of Miami archdiocesan history, died March 12 after a three-month battle with brain cancer. She was 80. Her funeral Mass was scheduled for March 17 at St. Rose of Lima in Miami Shores, with Miami Auxiliary Bishop Thomas G. Wenski and other priests of the archdiocese concelebrating.

Ukrainian Orthodox leader says papal visit won’t weaken church ROME (CNS) — The leader of one

March 23, 2001

People in the

CNS photo from Reuters

Anti-abortion activists protest in Panama Catholic anti-abortion activists protest in Panama City, Panama, March 12. They were seeking to pressure Congress for laws restricting abortion in the Central American country. of Ukraine’s Orthodox churches said he is not worried that Pope John Paul II’s June visit to Ukraine will weaken the Orthodox Church in his country.

Patriarch Filaret of Kiev, head of the independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church, said, “We do not have any fear” that the pope’s visit will cause Orthodox to join the Catholic Church. “Ukraine is a territory which has had dealings with Catholicism for 1,000 years. The choice of what faith to belong to already has been made both by the Catholics and by

the Orthodox,” the patriarch said in a March 15 interview with the Italian newspaper La Repubblica. With the papal visit, “I do not think Orthodox will run to convert to Catholicism,” he said.

Longtime music director lands L.A. cathedral music post LOS ANGELES (CNS) — Frank Brownstead, music coordinator for the Los Angeles archdiocesan Office for Worship since 1986, has been named director of music for the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, effective July 1. “As a musician of the highest caliber,

Frank has been selected director of music for his sound musical, liturgical and pastoral judgments, appropriate criteria ensuring that the highest quality of music will be celebrated in the cathedral church,” said Msgr. Kevin Kostelnik, pastor of the cathedral, which is slated to open in September 2002. Brownstead said he was thrilled by and looking forward to the challenge of his new, full-time role.

Director of ‘Jesus in Art’ show has expertise in TV commercials WASHINGTON (CNS) — What’s someone who directs TV commercials for a living doing overseeing an important feature-length documentary like “The Face: Jesus in Art”? Peter McGowan replies that, while not abandoning commercials altogether, he’s going the “long-form” route from here on in. He’s been based in Detroit for many years, having directed scads of commercials for Chevrolet, Geo and Budweiser. But it was a childhood friend from McGowan’s native Cleveland, Bill Baker — now the president of PBS’ New York City flagship station, WNET — who thought McGowan would like to branch out and film a documentary. Baker commissioned McGowan to direct “The Body of Christ,” a half-hour summation of a Houston art exhibition that served as the inspiration for “The Face.”

Pope names Cardinal Egan to council on Vatican finance issues VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope John Paul II has named Cardinal Edward M. Egan of New York to a council of 15 cardinals that deals with Vatican financial issues. Joining Cardinal Egan as new members of the Council of Cardinals for the Study of Organizational and Economic Questions of the Apostolic See were Cardinals Cormac Murphy-O’Connor of Westminster, England, Ivan Dias of Mumbai, India, and Thomas Williams of Wellington, New Zealand. The appointments were announced at the Vatican March 10.

The council is convened, usually twice a year, to review Vatican budget reports and discuss extraordinary financial problems of the Holy See.

March 23, 2001

From the

The Catholic News & Herald 7

Those with mental, physical disabilities are honored by community at

By ALESHA M. PRICE Staff Writer CHARLOTTE — Beth Kennedy, a 16-year-old sophomore, goes to school every morning like other teens her age, participates in extracurricular activities and attends concerts. She worries about her appearance, clothes, music and other things over which teen-age girls obsess. However, Beth experiences life a little differently than others. She has Down syndrome.

In order to bring awareness of those with mental and/or physical disabilities and the gifts they can bring to parish life, the disABILITY ministry of St. Gabriel Church in Charlotte sponsored a Mass on March 18 in honor of the National Arc Sabbath Sunday Mental Retardation Awareness Weekend. Beth and others with mental and physical disabilities throughout the community demonstrated their skills by participating in the Mass.

“We decided to do something to celebrate our brothers and sisters in Christ with mental retardation. We have done social things in the past and felt that it was time to do something spiritual,” said Father Richard Bellow, pastor of St. Gabriel. “This was sort of a culmination of many things we try to do in support of our brothers and sisters in Christ who we might think are different but are very much the same. This is our way of making people aware of how special they are and how they have a place at the Lord’s table.”

Featured in the Mass were mini handbell concerts from men and women from group homes of the United Methodist Association for the Retarded, the processional played

by Brent Seisler and the recessional, “How Great Thou Art,” sung by Brian Johnson. Beth shared her talent by reading the first and second readings

during the Mass, and 7-year-old Adam Utterback, who has Down syndrome, brought up the gifts with his family.

A d a m ’ s f at h e r, Te r r y U t terback, and Beth’s mother, Mary Kennedy, both belong to the disABILITY ministry at their church.

Led by Connie Andrews, the ministry has sponsored several other activities including a dance, bingo games and information sessions to educate, inform and entertain the parishioners, family members and community friends and those with mental and physical disabilities.

The ministry began in April 1995 with the support of Father Ed Sheridan, now pastor of St. Aloysius Church in Hickory, who knew of several parishioners who had children or immediate family members with disabilities. The group banded together and began presenting ecumenical workshops to the public and inviting churches of all denominations to join them to learn more about disabilities and how they might start disability ministry programs in their own parishes and churches. Since then, other Charlotte churches have also formed similar ministries, including St. Matthew Catholic Church in Charlotte, said Utterback, father of three.

“Father Sheridan felt like this was an unrecognized part of our parish, and he wanted us to put together a ministry that would minister to them and help demonstrate the gifts they bring to the parish,” continued Utterback.

Since its beginnings, the ministry has worked toward improving church life and enacting change in their parish and in the community as well. Wheelchair-accessible doorways and ramps, handicapped parking spaces and automatic front doors have been added for those with physical handicaps. Also, through a grant from the North Carolina Council on Developmental Disabilties, they were able to have an auditory system installed for the hearing-impaired.

“This has opened the Mass to

Photo by Alesha M. Price

Adam Utterback, 7, who has Down syndrome, joined his family in bringing up the gifts to Father Richard Bellow and Rev. Mr. Ben Wenning during a Mass sponsored by the disABILITY ministry at St. Gabriel Church in Charlotte on March 18. Also pictured is Adam’s mother, Allison Utterback.

Photo by Alesha M. Price

Men from the Teresa B. Hall Group Home of the United Methodist Association for the Retarded in Charlotte played handbells for the congregation at St. Gabriel Church at the Mass sponsored by the disABILITY ministry on March 18. many more parishioners because now they can use their hearing aids, and those who don’t have hearing aids can benefit from the hearing assistance program,” said Utterback.

Although they have made many strides, the group continues to work toward incorporating those with mental disabilities more fully into church

life. “It has taken a little longer to get the mentally handicapped involved in church, but I think we are starting to make some progress,” said Mary Kennedy, mother of two. “I think with the Mass that we have made a big step because so many parishioners were able to see what these people are capable of doing and achieving. I think that the mentally disabled, with their absolute love of the Lord, can bring so much to the church.”

Utterback agreed: “People with

8 The Catholic News & Herald it is on rehabilitating them or correcting them, even though we call it the ‘criminal justice system.’”

Bishop Gossman noted that while many people — including Catholics — still favor the use of the death penalty, a significant number of people are pointing out and listening about the flaws in its employment.

The bishop spoke of the Catholic Church’s views on capital punishment, citing largely from “The Death Penalty: An Historical and Theological Survey,” by Dr. James Megivern, a Catholic, a Scripture and theology scholar, and a University of North Carolina-Wilmington professor of philosophy and religion. The book is an exhaustive study of Western Christian thought on the subject.

Bishop Gossman noted that the earliest Christians literally followed Jesus’ plea for nonviolence. “But once Christianity was recognized by the Roman Empire (in the fourth century) ... the Catholic Church was no longer an underground operation,” he said. “It now had the sanction of the Roman Empire, and it immediately began to use the existing structure to deal with the issues, the troubles, the problems and the other things that laws are meant to deal with.”

That existing structure included executing for capital offenses — including infidelity to the church. But capital punishment became even more prevalent with the church’s preaching of the first Crusades in the late 11th century, the bishop said.

“It made heroes out of those Christian men who were willing to go to the Holy Land and kill the infidel,” he said, adding that St. Thomas Aquinas in several of his 13th-century writings sanctioned the death penalty’s use, thus further cementing the church’s approval of capital punishment when society deemed it necessary.

While the debate over capital punishment varied across the world over the ensuing centuries, many of the faithful in the U.S. Catholic Church, including the hierarchy, were “perfectly willing to accept the statement, the fact, the teaching that the state has the right to take the life of a criminal for certain crimes” well into the 20th century, he said.

With the sweeping reforms of Vatican II in the mid-1960s, however, came a gradual shift in the church’s thoughts on capital punishment. Several papal documents took issue with the use of capital punishment, and the U.S. bishops eventually stated their opposition to its use in a general statement.

Bishop Gossman said Cardinal Joseph Bernardin of Chicago changed many hearts — and angered many others — with his “consistent ethic of life” theory, which held that God equally loves all people: certainly the

March 23, 2001

Around the Dio-

Raleigh bishop discusses death penalty issue from

Photo by Jimmy Rostar

Bishop F. Joseph Gossman of Raleigh shares stories with Bill Matevie, program director of the Diocese of Charlotte’s prison ministry and jail chaplain for the Mecklenburg County Sheriff ’s Office. innocent, but also the guilty, regardless of their sins.

“The foundational principle of our faith is that all of life is sacred,” Bishop Gossman said. “It comes from God. It must be protected. ... Retaliation and revenge have no place in the world that God created.”

In addition, he said, the U.S. bishops have since published more specific — and more opposing — statements regarding the use of the death penalty, including last year’s “Responsibility, Rehabilitation, and Restoration: A Catholic Perspective on Crime and Criminal Justice. A Statement of the Catholic Bishops of the United States.”

Bishop Gossman’s message at the Bradley Institute gathering was the latest public statement from North Carolina’s two Catholic bishops on the death penalty. In the March 9 issue of The Catholic News & Herald, Bishop William G. Curlin, now con-

cluding a diocesan Lenten pilgrimage in Italy, published a letter to the parishioners of the diocese asking for a heartfelt examination of the death penalty.

“Surely other means of punishment, rather than state-sanctioned violence, can be used to protect society, ensure criminals answer to both vicitms and society for wrongful deeds, and assist in the rehabilitation of the criminal,” he wrote. “Violence is not the way to solve or answer for crimes; violence only leads to more violence.”

The letter was reprinted in the March 12 issue of The Charlotte Observer.

Bishop Gossman cited the papacy of

Pope John Paul II as a period of significant influence on the church’s change of thought on the death penalty, pointing to the pope’s 1995 “The Gospel of Life” and the subsequently revised “Catechism of the Catholic Church.” “(The pope’s) own comments concerning the death penalty represented a rather significant change from the traditional,” Bishop Gossman said. “The Holy Father said, ‘Punishment ought not to go to the extreme of executing someone except in cases of absolute necessity when it would not be possible otherwise to defend society from its members and that such cases are, at best, very rare if not practically nonexistent.’”

Bishop Gossman said the change of heart about using the death penalty is far from an easy one, but rather a decision that takes serious reflection on the Gospel teachings on forgiveness, God’s boundless love for every person and the need for reconciliation.

“Some people say he was soft on crime,” the bishop said of the way Jesus encountered sin and sinners. “But he wasn’t soft on crime. He shifted the focus of judgment in these matters to a higher level where there is absolute knowledge.”

“Jesus spoke of forgiveness, he lived forgiveness, he taught forgiveness,” the bishop said. “Sometimes I wonder that if we really find human forgiveness so hard to come by, then that’s why so often we find it so hard to believe that our God’s love is so available, even to the worst of us.”

Bishop Gossman acknowledged that the church’s moral point of view is not always easy to accept, even for many Catholics, but that one need only to read through the New Testament to find Jesus’ teachings on God’s law.

He closed his presentation with a statement by Megivern that in the bishop’s estimation summed the predicament perfectly: “Killing killers to show that killing is wrong has always been the oddest possible way to try to teach the value of human life, and there is certainly nothing whatsoever in the teachings of Jesus Christ to justify it.”

Contact Associate Editor Jimmy Rostar by calling (704) 370-3334 or e-mail

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March 23, 2001

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Associate Editor BELMONT — The Catholic Church’s long and conflicted relationship with capital punishment has come into a new light especially in the past quartercentury, Bishop F. Joseph Gossman of Raleigh told an audience at Belmont Abbey College.

Bishop Gossman spoke as a guest of the college’s Bradley Institute of the Study of Christian Culture, which presents timely issues from ethical, theological and philosophical views to the wider community. Looking through historical and ecclesiastical lenses, Bishop Gossman said the death penalty is but one element of a troubled criminal justice system in this country.

“Our nation has 2 million people in jail, one of the highest percentages of any civilized country in the world,” he said, adding that drug offenders compose a high percentage of today’s prison population.

“It’s really become a moral question for a lot of people: that a nation like ours has no other way to solve its problems than to incarcerate people.

“The death penalty is only one part of it (the criminal justice system) that needs fixing,” he added. “So many times one gets the impression ... that our system is much more interested in punishing people than

Around the Di-

Pysanka egg ministry

By LARRY CHANCE Correspondent CLEMMONS — It is an enduring sign of life, the simple egg. Many cultures consider it to be the original source of creation. The egg has been beaten, scrambled, fried, made into soufflé, whipped into meringue and at times, lobbed at unpopular public figures. For people of faith, especially those from Ukraine or of Ukrainian decent, the egg, decorated with rich ornamentation, symbolizes the rebirth of man, represented by the Resurrection of Christ.

For Ann Michel, a parishioner of Holy Family Church in Clemmons, decorating eggs in the style of Ukraine has become a personal ministry — a craft to be shared along with her Catholic faith. She shares her craft and faith through a series of Pysanka Egg Writers Retreats, such as the one she held last Saturday at her home parish.

Michel began writing Ukrainian eggs after taking a class in 1984 at Winston-Salem’s Sawtooth Center. She likens the process of writing pysanky eggs to repetitive prayer, such as the rosary or a novena.

Around 1990 she offered her first retreat at Our Lady of Mercy Church in Winston-Salem, her parish at the time.

“Maybe the Holy Spirit is guiding me,” she said. Thinking back about her initial reasons for offering such a retreat, Michel felt that faith and her love of crafts are two aspects of her life that could be shared. “Wouldn’t it be nice that they do this in a parish setting?”

The Pysanka tradition is deeply rooted in Ukrainian tradition, dating back to the acceptance of Christianity in the region, in 988 A.D. Throughout Ukraine, the mistress of the house would write her pysanky in the late hours of the evening. Prior to beginning the process, she would spend holy day, a day without sin. She would offer specific prayers and work in total silence.

During her retreats, Michel often plays spiritual music in the background, while participants quietly apply beeswax with a copper stylus, and various dyes to their eggs.

For her, writing pysanky helps to keep alive symbolism, which she feels that society has turned away from in recent years. “God wanted me to do this because we’re losing our sym-

The Catholic News & Herald 9

bols.” She cites an essay by Anthony E. Gilles, who says, “One principal shortcoming of the modern age is our ignorance of the symbolic dimension of life.” He says, “For the Christian water is a powerful sign pointing to spiritual cleansing, wholeness and rejuvenation. ...When integrated into the Sacrament of Baptism, however, water becomes a powerful symbol which actually does what it signifies ... water actually does make us clean from Original Sin, whole in God’s sight and spiritually rejuvenated.”

In many respects, decorating Ukrainian eggs is a way to remind Pysanky egg retreat participants about the long tradition of symbolism in the church.

Familiar Christian symbols used on the eggs include the Alpha and Omega, the cross, INRI (“Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews”), even a net to illustrate the notion that Christ commanded his Apostles to become “fishers of men.”

Pysanky egg writers who exchange the eggs with friends and family consider the act to be a prayer for the person who is receiving the egg. At the conclusion of her retreats, Michel leads the group prayer for a blessing upon their completed work. They pray for God to bless the work of creation manifested in the symbols and designs of the eggs. The prayer also asks for blessings upon the artists, the homes where the eggs are displayed, and for

1 0 The Catholic News & Herald Book Review

Book on cathedrals offers meditative Reviewed by MARK LOMBARD Catholic News Service The world’s great Gothic cathedrals seem at odds with the minimalist, iconoclastic spirit of today, and, for many, have become simply museums of the medieval period.

It is to recover the story that these

HEAVEN IN STONE AND GLASS: EXPERIENCING THE SPIRITUALITY OF THE GREAT CATHEDRALS, by Father Robert Barron. Crossroad Publishing Co. (New York, 2000). 128 pp., $16.95. repositories of the Christian spirit hold that Father Robert Barron has written the short but illuminating “Heaven in Stone and Glass: Experiencing the Spirituality of the Great Cathedrals.”

In it, he leads the reader not on an architectural guided tour of the engineering genius of the Gothic structure but rather a meditative pilgrimage through the cathedral, directing attention to its windows, towers, vaults, naves, labyrinths, altars, gargoyles, buttresses and facades, and teaching “how to read” its specific spiritual, transformative language.

Today, as “heirs of the Enlightenment and the age of technology,” the society has lost its sense of the symbolic and the transcendent and is “spiritually hungry,” writes Father Barron, a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago, a professor of theology at Mundelein Seminary at the University of St. Mary of the Lake in Mundelein, Ill., and the author of several books, including “Thomas Aquinas: Spiritual Master,” which won the Catholic Book Award for Spirituality in 1997.

Cathedrals, he writes, can be vehicles for teaching the faith and focusing the soul’s journey. “To know the Gothic cathedrals is to know the Christ in whose form and image they are. To see, touch, walk around, study and pray in a Gothic cathedral is to apprentice to the Son of

March 23, 2001

Read-

God.” With the reader, Father Barron visits Notre Dame of Paris and cathedrals in Chartres, Amiens, Reims, St. Denis, Cologne, York, Lyon and Lincoln.

The cathedral serves the faithful as a metaphor of faith, Father Barron writes.

The building can be read as: — A port of safety, of peace and of light from the dangers and the blindness outside its walls.

— A ship to carry one toward the fullness in Christ.

— A picture, seen through its rose window, of harmony, radiance and the Christ-centered nature of the universe.

— A witness, through its overall structure, of the cross as the center of Christianity and the Christian life.

— A medium, through the stone and wood carvings and glass etchings, between the plant and animal life of earth and heavenly bodies to the supernatural dimension of God’s creation.

— A place of the “mysticism of otherness,” seen in its “staggering verticality.”

Father Barron also aims a critical eye toward today’s church architecture, saying that since the Second Vatican Council the “iconic element has been undervalued.” Many churches today, resembling “living rooms or shopping malls,” are “largely empty spaces, void of imagery and color, places where the people gather but not places that, themselves, tell a story,” he writes.

“Heaven in Stone and Glass” explores, but not in great depth, the significance specific architectural details had for medieval times and how they are relevant today.

But what makes it valuable is its ability to redefine this sacred, mystical space as not a place merely to visit, but to experience as a pilgrim struggling to find direction and gain strength to continue the quest for and to God.

Word to Life

March 25, Fourth Sunday of Lent Cycle C Readings: 1) Joshua 5:9a, 10-12 Psalm 34:2-7 2) 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 3) Gospel: Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

By BEVERLY CORZINE Catholic News Service In the pre-dawn light, the brownand-white station wagon speeds along the flat, incredibly straight roads of southeastern New Mexico. Once again we are on our journey to visit my parents, 12 long hours away in Colorado.

Toward the end of the first hour of our trip, a sighing, mournful little voice from the farthest seat in the back is the one to pose that fateful question that we know is the first in a seemingly endless series, “How much longer is it to Grandma’s house?”

The names of the towns we have to pass along the way have become part of one of the games we play to pass the time. Over the years each town and village looming on the horizon has become our children’s personal sentry, pointing the way toward our destination.

In the second seat two other voices join in with, “Have we passed Vaughn yet? When are we going to eat breakfast? Are we almost at Grandma’s house? How soon will it be until we cross the mountains?”

The questions and the miles roll on until finally at day’s end three children tumble out of the car into the warm

arms of adoring grandparents, who have longed for sweet kisses from their sticky, wrinkled angels.

My husband and I look at each other. At last we have made it to Grandma’s house — a journey completed! The joy that existed in those hugs of loving welcome lives forever in my heart and memory.

Life and Scripture are filled with journeys. When we read the beloved story of the Prodigal Son in today’s Gospel reading from Luke, we see a different story of journey and welcome.

This familiar story of the rashly extravagant young man who wastes his inheritance, grieves his father deeply, angers his self-righteous older brother, but finally comes to his senses, is dear to us.

It’s a perfect model to understand the generosity of God. Remember, Jesus uses this parable to answer critics who are annoyed with his constant welcoming of, and eating with, sinners.

Each character in the story can be a sentry like those small towns on a distant horizon, guiding us toward forgiving arms of God during this blessed season of Lent and preparing us for the glorious mystery of Easter.

QUESTIONS: How many of us find ourselves on the road home to the Father this Lent?

Can we point out the way to someone who seems to have forgotten how eagerly he awaits?

Weekly Scripture Readings for the week of Mar. 25 - 31, 2001 Fourth Sunday of Lent, Joshua 5:9-12, 2 Corinthians 5:17-21, Luke 15:1-3, 1132; Monday (Annunciation of the Lord), Isaiah 7:10-14; 8:10, Hebrews 10:4-10, Luke 1:26-38; Tuesday, Ezekiel 47:1-9, 12, John 5:1-3, 5-16; Wednesday, Isaiah 49:8-15, John 5:17-30; Thursday, Exodus 32:7-14, John 5:31-47; Friday (Abstinence), Wisdom 2:1, 12-22, John 7:1-2, 10, 25-30; Saturday, Jeremiah 11:18-20, John 7:40-53 Readings for the week of April 1 - 7, 2001 Fifth Sunday of Lent, Isaiah 43:16-21, Philippians 3:8-14, John 8:1-11; Monday (St. Francis de Paola), Daniel 13:1-9, 15-17, 19-30, 33-62, John 8:1-11; Tuesday, Numbers 21:4-9, John 8:21-30; Wednesday (St. Isidore), Daniel 3:1420, 91-92, 95, John 8:31-42; Thursday (St. Vincent Ferrer), Genesis 17:3-9, John 8:51-59; Friday (Abstinence), Jeremiah 20:10-13, John 10:31-42; Saturday (St. John Baptist de La Salle), Ezekiel 37:21-28, John 11:45-57

March 23, 2001

Entertain-

The Catholic News & Herald 11

Pope welcomes proposed document broader cultural and philosophical issues raised by the Internet, as well as traditional concerns like pornography, privacy and intellectual property rights, meeting participants said.

In his address, the pope said technology advances, globalization and the deregulation and privatization of media “present new ethical and indeed spiritual challenges to those who work in social communications.”

“These challenges will be met effectively by those who accept that ‘serving the human person, building up community grounded in solidarity and justice and love, and speaking the truth about human life and its final fulfillment in God were, are, and will remain at the heart of ethics in the media,”’ said the pope, quoting from the council’s 1997 document, “Ethics in Communication.”

Russell Shaw, a U.S. journalist and council consultor who presented the Internet document’s draft outline at the meeting March 14, said he expected the new document to take an overall positive approach, recognizing the Internet as “a technological marvel which has the capacity for doing a lot of good.”

The document is “not intended to be just one more negative criticism of new technology and media,” he told Catholic News Service.

While encouraging the positive aspects, the document will take note of problem issues like pornography, invasion of privacy and copyright infringement — but not only those, Shaw said.

“These are serious problems and any responsible discussion of Internet ethics has got to talk about these things,” he said. “But I’ve also come to believe there are deeper ethical issues involved.”

The deeper issues spring from the decentralized technological structure of the Internet itself, which “opens up all

sorts of value-oriented issues and realities,” Shaw said.

In many ways, he said, the Internet’s design lends itself to and reinforces a “libertarian ethic,” which advocates absolute freedom of expression and action.

Such an approach stands in sharp contrast to Catholic principles, Shaw said.

“The church for a long time has been talking about community, the common good and solidarity. There’s no room for these things in a system of absolute libertarianism or absolute freedom of expression,” he said.

Shaw said civil authorities have found it virtually impossible on a national level to ensure that the Internet serves the common good because of the technology’s “boundary-less character.”

“I think there’s the need for some new forms of international cooperation and international agreement,” he said.

In addition, the Vatican document probably will examine the global cultural implications of the Internet, in light of the technology’s dominance by Englishlanguage and Western industrialized nations, he said.

The issue also was raised directly by Pope John Paul in his Jan. 1 World Day of Peace message.

“He said that the new information technology can be and is instrumental to intercultural dialogue,” Shaw said. “But he also said — and this is the negative side — that the new technology lends itself to forms of cultural domination, cultural imperialism, cultural homogenization.”

Shaw said that probably the best long-term solution to the threat of cultural domination is to help other countries and cultures come “up to technological speed” so that they can defend themselves.

The U.S. journalist said that the Vati-

CNS photo from Paramount Pictures

“Enemy at the Gates” “Enemy at the Gates” is a chilling fact-based World War II story about the deadly cat-and-mouse game that developed during the Nazi siege on Stalingrad between a skilled Russian sniper (Jude Law) and a more experienced Nazi major (Ed Harris) specifically sent to find and execute the young marksman. With Jean-Jacques Annaud’s flat direction, the narrow focus on the two mortal enemies reduces the war to a mere backdrop while the subplot’s romantic triangle (involving Law, Rachel Weisz and Joseph Fiennes) seems contrived. Much intense wartime violence and a sexual encounter. The U.S. Catholic Conference classification is A-IV — adults, with reservations. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R — restricted. can’s attempt to unravel the Internet’s ethical implications involved much work in uncharted waters.

“What I’ve found in working on this project is that you open up one door and all of a sudden you see you’re looking at a very large vista. It’s a whole series of interrelated issues and realities,” he said.

“From that point of view, it’s quite complex to analyze and rather difficult to talk about. But I think we can begin to talk about it.”

By JOHN NORTON Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope John Paul II said a proposed Vatican document addressing ethical concerns raised by the Internet was “very timely” and could be a great help to Catholics in facing “the many challenges of the emerging ‘media culture.”’

“The church cannot be a mere spectator of the social results of technological advances, which have such decisive effects on people’s lives,” he said March 16 to participants in a plenary meeting of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications.

The council’s members discussed a draft outline of the document during the March 12-16 meeting. No deadline has been set for its publication.

The document will likely address

1 2 The Catholic News & Herald

The Pope Speaks

POPE JOHN PAUL II

Pope says Mary is model of faith through trials B CINDY WOODEN y

March 23, 2001

Editorials & Col-

Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Blessed Virgin Mary’s pilgrimage of faith is a model for all people whose journey toward God passes through the difficulties and injustices of life, Pope John Paul II said.

While chosen by God and filled with his grace, Mary knew uncertainty and pain, the pope said March 21 during his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square.

Hers was a journey of faith “which knew the portent of the sword that would pierce the soul, passed through the tortuous paths of exile in Egypt and of inner darkness when Mary did not understand the attitude of the 12-year-old Jesus in the temple, but kept these things in her heart,” he said.

Mary’s pilgrimage led her to the foot of the cross, he said.

“In a certain sense, she died as a mother with the death of her son,” but with his Resurrection she gained “a new motherhood,” becoming mother of the church.

Mary walks ahead of the church and of every believer on the path that leads to salvation in Christ and to eternal life with God, he said.

“We turn to her so that she would continue to guide us toward Christ and the Father, even in the dark night of evil and in moments of doubt, crisis, silence and suffering,” Pope John Paul said.

The pope, quoting Martin Luther, said the Magnificat, Mary’s hymn of praise to God, offers a model of how everyone should love and praise God. “From the moment God looked at her with love, Mary became a sign of hope for the multitude of poor, of (the) least of the earth who would become first in the kingdom of God,” he said.

“The church follows Mary and the Lord Jesus, walking the winding paths of the history to raise up, promote and value the immense procession of poor and hungry, humiliated and oppressed women and men,” he said.

Attending the audience was a group from the Diocese of Charlotte that was concludnig a Lenten pilgrimage in Italy led by Bishop William G. Curlin.

During the audience, the pope greeted 700 participants in a meeting of the World Union of Catholic Women’s Organizations.

“You have come together to grow in a deeper understanding of your mission and to support one another as you seek to live out your commitment to Christian holiness, to feminine holiness,” he said.

The pope told them the church has a special need for their commitment and talents at the beginning of the third millennium.

“Women, in fact, are uniquely gifted in the task of passing on the Christian message in the family and in the world of work, study and leisure,” he said. “Catholic women who live by faith, hope and love and who honor God’s name in prayer and service have always played a central role in transmitting the genuine sense of Christian faith and in applying it to every circumstance of life.”

A threat is an action you must act on You already know the story. On March 5, a 15-year-old boy in Santee, Calif., the town next to mine, walked into his high school with a pistol and shot 15 of his classmates. Two died.

As I write, nobody has any idea why he did it. He had been teased a lot. He was a loner. As times goes on, the theories will grow and multiply.

Still, one tragic fact is obvious right now. The young boy had told people that he was going to do it. Perhaps 20 people heard him joke about taking a gun to school. It is reported that he even asked some to join him. Then he laughed it off, saying it was a joke, saying he didn’t really mean it.

He meant it.

Why didn’t any of those kids tell? I have not interviewed any of them but I do know the way the mind works, and there are some common reasons people keep that sort of information to themselves.

—First, they don’t want to believe it. The idea that somebody you know, a kid you hang around with, would go to school and start shooting is just too awful to believe, so you don’t.

—Second, you feel that if you tell and the kid gets in trouble it will be your fault. After all, he was just talking, and words aren’t actions. He probably isn’t really going to do it. It doesn’t seem fair to get somebody in trouble for something he probably won’t do.

There are two important things to remember here.

—First, people are responsible for their actions. That includes teen-agers.

—Second, words are actions.

If you threaten to kill someone, that is an action. It has effects. Threats damage people’s trust and sense of safety, even if no actual violence follows. Reasonable, responsible people don’t ever make that kind of threat. People who do should be held accountable.

You don’t need to know the future, whether the person making the threats will or will not actually come to school with a gun. If he says he will, those words are action enough, and you must report them to somebody in authority.

Telling your parents isn’t enough — they may be just

The Bottom Line ANTOINETTE BOSCO CNS Columnist

through the ages “the tonic of the soul.”

It’s no mystery to Frank and Judi why medicine is now looking much more seriously at the health benefits of music therapy. They point out that the medical profession is now much more open to alternative methods of healing.

“Instead of being afraid of the unexplained, doctors and scientists have become curious and are making more of an effort to understand” how music, prayer, spirituality, meditation, yoga and such connect with ill and hurting people in ways that traditional medicine has not been able to, Frank told me.

Music, said Judi, “reaches people who cannot be reached by verbal communication. It touches deeper than words. It does more than elicit emotions. It connects people with their emotions. Sitting and listening to calming music is not stillness, but a very active interaction.” It is a starting point for healing.

Being a music therapist is a special kind of privilege, said Frank, because it means you lead people to “a sense of engaging in a medium that relates to us on all levels, helping one get unstuck from being locked solely in a thinking mode. With music therapy, you merge thought with feelings, and that’s what’s so powerful about it.”

Music, I have found personally, is a most effective and wonderful medication.

Coming of Age CHRISTOPHER CARSTENS CNS Columnist as inclined as you to hope it won’t happen and keep it to themselves. No, you need to tell someone who is part of the organized safety net around your school — the principal, a counselor, a teacher or the police.

I direct an emergency mental health service, and over the years our staff members have seen a number of teens who made threats, were reported and brought in for counseling.

Were they serious when they made the threats? Some were, some weren’t.

Did coming to see a therapist embarrass them? Probably.

Did getting reported ruin their lives? Absolutely not.

Not one of those kids later went out and shot up a school — an act that scars lives by the hundreds.

In San Diego, at least 20 teens went to bed wishing they had called somebody. If you are ever in a situation where you hear someone making threats like that, remember that the threat is an action and that people are responsible for their actions.

Then be responsible for your own actions. Make the call.

The lives of your friends may depend on it.

Your comments are welcome. Please address: Dr. Christopher Carstens, c/o Catholic News Service, 3211 Fourth St. N.E., Washington, D.C. 20017.

Music therapy, more than comfort If we want to talk about the great gifts the Creator bestowed upon creation, music would have to be near or at the top of the list.

Much has been written about the joyful gift of music almost since the beginning of recorded words. I could write a column quoting saints such as Ambrose and Augustine, great thinkers like Thomas Carlyle and geniuses from the ancient world — all reflecting on the marvels of music.

The bottom line would be, as Joseph Addison wrote back in the late 1600s in commemorating the feast of St. Cecilia, “Music is the greatest good that mortals know, and all of heaven we have below.”

More recently, attention has been placed on music as a healing balm. King Saul, in the Old Testament, knew this, which is why he solicited young David to play his lute for him. Down through the centuries, this healing effect of music has been affirmed in many documents.

But what’s different now, in these days of scientific emphasis, is that the medical establishment has taken notice of this. Proof of this is how the emerging field of music therapy, once considered just a pleasant diversion, is gaining great respect as a healing profession.

“Music therapy is on the books as hard science,” according to a report in The New York Times. New respect for music as therapy has developed because proof of its value can no longer be denied.

The Times reported, for example, that scientists have “discovered that Muzak piped into a New York City intensive care unit seemed to help lower the mortality rate 8 percent below the national average.” Even more astounding, “lullabies played in a neonatal nursery might have helped premature infants gain weight and spur their discharge home.”

I am a believer, and not just because I personally have found such peace and healing in music. My son Frank and his wife Judi are both music therapists. They got their degrees back in the early ’80s from New York University and have worked in this healing profession ever since.

I have seen and felt the beneficial effects of their work, so linked with music, which has been called by many

March 23, 2001

Editorials & Col-

Light One Candle Msgr. Jim Lisante, Director, The Christophers

are important to us, we will also make the time to be there.

“But the sermons are so boring.” Give me a break. If we switched off everyone and everything that’s boring in life, we would stay home in bed. Assume the speaker is trying hard. Shouldn’t we try to listen? And more to the point: we are not just there for the homily. We go to be part of a community that needs us. We go to get closer to God, who never bores us or gives up on us.

“I can find God in many places. I don’t need a church to pray.” That’s true. But let’s be honest: if we don’t go to church, how much serious praying do we really do? And further, where else can you go to receive Communion?

Are they giving It out someplace else? More importantly, Jesus told us in no uncertain terms: I want you to gather with other believers to celebrate My life.

“I used to go, but I had a really bad experience at church.” We have all had some bad experience at church.

But again, let’s compare our experience of God’s friendship with the rest of our lives. If every time we had a poor experience with our parents, siblings or friends, we said, “That’s it, this relationship’s over,” we would have none at all. But we keep working at relationships that matter.

We forgive, we compromise and we try to love again.

If we give the same energy to our love of God and His people as we give to our friends and family, maybe we would find that the boredom that put us off wasn’t of fasting every day but Sundays, adding up to 36 fast days. A few centuries later, four days were added, starting with Ash Wednesday, to make a total of 40.

There’s a lesson in the interesting fact that the concern over exactly 40 days seems to have developed as the emphasis on the season turned more toward the obligation of fasting and away from the original purpose of these weeks, which was to prepare the minds and hearts of Christians for a worthy and joyful celebration of the Lord’s resurrection — and our resurrection with him.

Does this say something about the way to look at your question? We, in a special way, pray, deny ourselves and do good for each other during Lent to unite ourselves more closely with the cross of Christ and to rejoice more fully with him in his risen life.

To carry out these resolutions every day, including Sundays, manifests perhaps a somewhat more enduring commitment for these six weeks. To do them every day except Sunday is also good.

Liturgically, of course, Sundays are unquestionably a part of Lent. But in accord with ancient Christian custom, Lent now ends on Holy Thursday evening, before the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. The sacred triduum has its own identity from then until the Easter Vigil ceremonies. So, even with Sundays, Lent is again much closer than before to the old “40 days.”

A free brochure answering questions Catholics ask about the sacrament of penance is available by sending a stamped, self-addressed envelope to Father John Dietzen, Box 325, Peoria, IL 61651.

Questions may be sent to Father Dietzen at the same address, or e-mail: jjdietzen@aol.com.

Going to Church I was heading over to church one Sunday morning to help with Communion. When I got to the sacristy, I realized that the priest celebrating Mass was just completing his homily. So I decided to take a step outside to enjoy the pleasant weather.

As I went out a side door I bumped into two sheepish teen-age guys who were leaving. They clutched in their hands copies of the parish bulletin: parental notification of the fact that they had been to church.

“Busy day?” I asked them. “No,” said the older boy, “we’re just bored.” They mumbled good-bye and took off.

Watching the two of them retreat, I started thinking about some of my own friendships over the years —and the elements that make those relationships work. It certainly isn’t excitement: friends sometimes bore each other. It isn’t intellectual: sometimes our conversations are dull beyond belief. It isn’t the richness of our personalities: we can be annoying, obnoxious and difficult to be around. It isn’t power or money: we haven’t got much. In fact, it’s less a “feeling” of friendship than a commitment to be friends: our desire to be loyal and our decision to be there for each other.

And friendship, I think, is at the heart of our spiritual lives, too. Sometimes going to church can be boring, dull and intellectually vacant. And if we’re expecting exciting entertainment, we will surely be disappointed. Rather, we are there because our friend God has invited us to be there. If we are true friends, we take that invitation seriously. That means we reject all the nonsense we use as excuses for staying away, like: “I’m really busy.” There are 168 hours in every week. We somehow find the time to eat, to sleep, to go to school or work, to play sports or pursue hobbies, to be with people we care about, to take care of a great number of personal obligations and preferences. In fact, we find the time for everything we really believe is important. If our God and His people

Question Corner FATHER JOHN DIETZEN CNS Columnist

Sundays and Lent Q. At our parish elementary school, children are taught that Sundays do not constitute part of Lent.

Therefore, what they give up for Lent they may have on Sunday.

I’ve been told this is true, but I’ve also heard that, even though including Sundays makes Lent longer than 40 days, one should still observe any sacrifices made during that time. Is there any correct teaching on this? (Illinois) A. There is no “correct” teaching on this, though there’s a lot of discussion about it every year. Any extra self-denial or prayer or good works undertaken for Lent is purely voluntary. One is bound only by what one wishes to be bound by.

One might resolve to abstain from candy or beer, for example, on Wednesdays and Fridays of Lent, much as the church now has only a few specific Lenten days obliging Catholics to fast and/or abstain from meat.

As you imply, part of the uncertainty may be traceable to the confusion over the number of days.

Probably imitating our Lord’s 40 days of fast in the desert as described in the Gospels, the period of penance before Easter has been traditionally “40 days” since at least the fourth century.

How those 40 days were calculated differed from place to place. At first, in the West, Lent was six weeks

The Catholic News & Herald 13

Lenten Reflection FATHER JOHN AURILIA, OFM Cap. Guest Columnist Palm Sunday: A passing glory!

The event we call Palm Sunday is usually called “The Triumphal Entry.” It was a prophecy of the ultimate triumph of Christ. There are, however, a few shadows hanging over Palm Sunday.

St. John the Evangelist skillfully places Jesus’ prediction of his own death immediately after the triumphal entry, perhaps to remind us that every time we celebrate Palm Sunday, we are also aware of Good Friday.

The text I am referring to is John 12: 20-37, which describes glory and defeat, success and failure, joy and sorrow, salvation and condemnation, life and death, light and darkness. The shadow of the cross is more visible than the green of the palms, even on Palm Sunday.

There was a cross ahead of Jesus. This “hour” was the crucifixion, just five days away. Death was that monstrous, hideous enemy, which would crush the life out of Jesus and break the hearts of his disciples. The shadow of judgment is a necessary evil in some circumstances, when the world is indifferent to the light and chooses darkness.

“Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself.” (Jn 12: 30-32) Jesus uttered these words with great sadness. The very next day, Jesus wept over Jerusalem and its coming judgment.

The light shone brightly on that Palm Sunday, but very few saw it and it was changed into darkness for many. The shadow of rejection overwhelms the whole spectrum. Jesus had just, that very day, experienced the triumphal entry, had heard the hosannas, and had been welcomed as a king, but not everyone felt the same way. Palm Sunday ended on a sad note, “yet they did not believe in Him.” What does it take to believe, for heaven’s sake!

Life has its shadows over Palm Sunday. Life is also full of light, because Good Friday must become Easter Sunday. A successful person is one who can lay the foundation with the bricks that others throw at her or him. I really like, in spite of the shadows, to keep the green branches of Palm Sunday and stay away from the crosses of Good Friday ... and why not?

The story of Captain Cook comes to mind as we recall Jesus’ love story. Captain Cook was an Englishman who circumnavigated the world.

Wherever he landed, he was noticed by the boatmen to go up away from them a bit, and he was seen to take little packets out of his pockets and keep on going around, throwing them out of his hand unto the soil. He belted the world with English flowers. Other navigators were surprised to find English flowers where they could not have dreamt of seeing them. Whenever and wherever we sow the seeds of kindness and goodness, others will see the flowers. Let us not forget that the young man called Jesus who was king on Palm Sunday, who died on Good Friday and resurrected on Easter Sunday is the same Jesus who “went about doing good.”

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

1 4 The Catholic News & Herald

Rally hails Catholic University’s first NCAA championship

By MARK PATTISON Catholic News Service WASHINGTON (CNS) — More than 300 students, faculty and staff crowded around the steps of old McMahon Hall on the campus of The Catholic University of America in Washington to hail their men’s basketball team, which won the NCAA Division III championship March 17 in Salem, Va. The March 20 rally was punctuated with applause, cheers and shouts of joy as Cardinals’ head coach Mike Lonergan, himself a Catholic University alumnus, spoke about his job, his team and his school.

After he was interviewed for the job nine years ago, Lonergan said, he went to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, next to the Catholic University campus, and prayed “that Father Friday and Mr. Talbot would hire me.”

Father Robert Friday, the school’s vice president for student life, and Robert Talbot, the university’s athletic director did. Nine years later, the school has its first NCAA championship team.

With the 76-62 win over William Paterson (N.J.) University March 17, Lonergan, with 177 victories, became the winningest basketball coach in the school’s history, beating out its first coach, Fred Rice — who needed 19 seasons to reach 176 wins.

“By winning we’ve been able to give some more exposure for our university.

This is a nice place, and I don’t think enough people know that,” Lonergan said.

Lonergan confided that, as he was interviewed for the job, he was hoping that other officials at the university had forgotten his name because, as a student, he had spraypainted his name on a campus building.

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Director of Music Ministry: Holy Infant Catholic Church is in search of a full-time Director of Music. Located in Durham, North Carolina, a dynamic and growing area of the country near Research Triangle Park, this Vatican II parish consists of 900 households that are committed to ongoing liturgical renewal. Holy Infant Parish embraces

March 23, 2001

In the

He thanked all the fans for supporting the Cardinals, but especially “the people who were with us when you could look into the crowd and count 30 to 40 people.”

The Cardinals’ Pat Maloney was named the most valuable player of the NCAA Division III tournament. “Some of the guys don’t have the stats of a Pat Maloney but they’ve contributed to our team from the first to the 15th man,” Lonergan said.

Division III schools do not give athletic scholarships and do not lower admission standards for prospective students who are expected to play sports.

Talbot said there are 380 Division III schools in the United States.

And after a 16-game winning streak to close out the season, including a threegame Colonial Athletic Conference tournament, and the six-game NCAA tourney, “at 7 p.m. last Saturday night, we were the only team left standing,” he added.

V i n ce n ti an Fath e r D av i d O’Connell, Catholic University’s president, read from a letter he wrote to Lonergan and the team. “From your very first days on this earth, family and friends have told you that you should use your ‘God given’ talents to their fullest, and as individual players you have,” he said.

“This year as a team you have been together in times of great adversity and, just like in your last few games, you have come from behind to capture victory when it seemed nearly impossible to do so,” the priest added.

Personal tragedies that rocked the team included the deaths of Lonergan’s mother and uncle, the death of a Catholic University football player in an auto accident, and the death of forward Brian sister, Amanda; its call to be Meyer’s hospitable, inclusive and she was buried theThis weekposition of the chamChrist-centered. works pionship game. closely with the Pastor and a collaborative

and supportive staff. Requires a minimum of a bachelor’s degree in a relevant field although a master’s degree is preferred.

Must have music performance skill (e.g. piano, voice); choral directing; cantor training; knowledge of Catholic rites and rituals. Available no later than November 1, 2000. Salary commensurate with education and experience. Benefits package included. Send resume to: DOMM Search Committee, Holy Infant Catholic Church, 5000 Southpark Dr., Durham, NC 27713.

Fax 919/544-1799. References required at time of application for consideration for this position.

Director of Music Ministry: Part-time position for growing 800-member parish.

St. Mary’s Church, Shelby and Christ the King Mission, Kings Mountain is seeking qualified person proficient in organ and with vocal ability to work with cantors and choir. Responsibilities include one Saturday evening service and two Sunday services (one in Kings Mountain and one in Shelby). Salary commensurate with education and experience. Send resume and references to: St. Mary’s Music Search Committee, 818 McGowan Rd., Shelby NC 28150 or Fax: (704)487-0187.

For more information on our parish, visit

IRISH, from page 5 Children’s Christmas Charity, which supports children of political prisoners in Ireland, Slane said that one area of focus is the peaceful settlement of political and religious unrest in Ireland. “The AOH is for peaceful settlement of issues in Northern Ireland through negotiation and peaceful methods of any kind.”

While the men are busy with the development of new divisions, the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians is also hard at work. The LAOH Mecklenburg County Division #1 — St. Brigid was installed as a division in June 1998. The division president, Margaret Shannon, was involved in the LAOH in New York, and after moving to Charlotte, she helped to establish the first division in the state.

The ladies are involved with charity work and have been working toward their state charter. “We started a division in Greensboro and started one in Wilmington, and we are growing now,” said Shannon.

Contact Staff Writer Alesha M. Price by calling (704) 370-3354 or e-mail amprice@charlottediocese.org.

Margaret D. Latsko, mother of Swannanoa pastor, SWANNANOA — Margaret D. Latsko, 89, died Friday, March 16, 2001 at a healthcare facility. She is survived by her son, Father Andrew Latsko, a priest of the Diocese of Charlotte, her many nieces and nephews, and her loving friends of St. Margaret Mary Church in Swannanoa.

She was born in Beaverdale, Pa., and was the daughter of the late Michael and Mary Sumrick Vojtko. She was an integral part of the St. Margaret Mary Church and a member of the School House Center of Folsom, Pa., She was preceded in death by her husband, John, in 1964.

A Mass of Christian Burial was held March 19 at St. Margaret Mary Church.

A viewing and wake service was also held at the church. The graveside service and interment was at St. Peter and Paul Cemetery, Springfield, Pa..

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association, 3 Louisiana Ave., Asheville, NC 28806 or St. Margaret Mary Church, 102 Andrew Place, Swannanoa, NC 28778.

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The Catholic News & Herald 15

In the

Pope ordains nine new bishops, including two North

By CINDY WOODEN Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — On the feast of St. Joseph, Pope John Paul II ordained nine new bishops, including two from North America, and told them to care for the church as Joseph cared for Jesus.

Before the pope placed his hands on the heads of the new bishops March 19, he asked them to “care for the holy people of God with the love of a father.”

Among those kneeling before the pope in St. Peter’s Basilica were Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, a 49-year-old native of Cleveland, appointed nuncio to the Dominican Republic and apostolic delegate in Puerto Rico; and Bishop Marc Ouellet, 56, a native of Quebec named secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

“If, at times, you should encounter difficulties and obstacles, do not hesitate to be willing to suffer with Christ for the good of his mystical body,” the pope said in his homily.

“The Lord, who will not fail to give you his grace, today consecrates you and sends you as apostles into to the world,” he said. “Carry engraved on your hearts his words, ‘I am with you always,’ and do not fear.”

Pope John Paul told the new bishops to keep St. Joseph as a model for their ministry.

“He, a faithful and wise servant, accepted with obedient docility the will of the Lord who entrusted to him his family on earth so that he would care for them with daily dedication,” the pope said.

While fulfilling the earthly role of being Jesus’ father, Joseph knew his place was “totally relative to that of God,” he said. Joseph, like every other person, was called to be a disciple of Christ, and he did so by watching

CNS photo from Reuters

Pope John Paul II presents a bishop’s staff to newly ordained Archbishop Domenico Sorrentino as five others stand by March 19. From left are Bishop Djura Dzudzar, Bishop Marc Ouellet, Bishop Tomasz Peta, Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio and Archbishop Fernando Filoni. The pope ordained nine new bishops at the ceremony. over and providing for Jesus and the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The pope addressed each new bishop briefly in his homily, offering thanks for the service they have given in the past and prayers for their new ministries.

He thanked Archbishop Broglio, who had served as chief of staff to Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican secretary of state. He prayed that the new archbishop would be “a witness of the affection of the successor of Peter among the dear peoples” of the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, “at the doors of the American continent.”

The pope told Bishop Ouellet his new post at the council for Christian unity is one “of particular importance because of the very noble goal which

inspires it and because of the renewed hopes which the celebration of the jubilee year raised in the souls of many Christians.”

Through 46-year-old Auxiliary Bishop Djura Dzudzar of Mukacheve, Ukraine, Pope John Paul said he wanted to send greetings to the entire Ukrainian nation, “a country which, God willing, I will have the joy of visiting soon.”

The pope is scheduled to visit Ukraine in late June.

The pope ordained six other new bishops March 19: — Italian Archbishop Fernando Filoni, 54, nuncio to Iraq and Jordan.

— Polish Archbishop Henryk Nowacki, 54, nuncio to Slovakia.

— Italian Archbishop Domenico Sorrentino, 52, prelate of the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Pompei.

— Polish Bishop Tomasz Peta, 49, apostolic administrator of Astana, Kazakstan.

International business conference brings U.S., Mexican officials to Charlotte BELMONT — Charlotte’s business community will be exposed to international expertise April 2-3 when the Going Global International Business Conference convenes.

Sponsored by the new International Business Studies Program at Belmont Abbey College, the conference will focus on production and logistics in the United States and Mexico and will explore how textile production might be brought back to the Western Hemisphere from the Far East.

Dr. James Giermanski, an Abbey graduate and an internationally known expert on international business, directs the program at the college and has organized the conference. Giermanski is frequently interviewed by news media because of his international business credentials.

He has also consulted with state, provincial and national governments in the United States and Mexico.

Among the topics to be covered are U.S. policy and textiles; new Mexican customs changes; new job creation; border crossing issues and problems; new U.S. legislation; management issues in Mexican production; and more. Top American and Mexican officials and business leaders will be the conference presenters.

The conference has been endorsed by the American Textile Manufacturers Institute, the American Yarn Spinners Association, the U.S. Export Assistance Center, the Charlotte World Trade Association, and chambers of commerce representing Charlotte, Gaston County, Belmont and Matthews.

The conference will be hosted at the Renaissance Charlotte Suites hotel.

For conference registration and other information, call (704) 825-3922.

1 6 The Catholic News & Herald

St. Joan of Arc Church plans ASHEVILLE — St. Joan of Arc Parish has announced plans for a ministries fair to be hosted on Sunday, April 1, following a 10 a.m. community Mass in the parish gym.

The 16 church ministries will have table displays arranged throughout the building, representing a wide variety of interests and parishioners, from Catholic Daughters to karate, bereavement to parish celebrations, and Hispanics to Hibernians.

Sandwiches and finger foods will be served from the church kitchen and diverse desserts will be placed on each ministry table, adding interest and encouraging progression throughout the exhibits.

The community Mass that precedes the fair will be celebrated in lieu of the parish’s four regular weekend Masses and is intended to allow the church membership to greet each other as one church family.

Father John M. Pagel, pastor, said he anticipates that the event will not only familiarize parishioners with various aspects of church ministries, but will also encourage increased participation.

For further information, call (828) 252-3151.

Living the

Faith accompanies Northerner down

By ALESHA M. PRICE Staff Writer GREENSBORO — As Rev. Mr. Timothy Rohan poured the water on his newest grandchild Samuel’s head during his baptism this year on March 10, his namesake, his 4-year-old grandson Tim, gazed in wonderment at his grandfather, a permanent deacon. Young Tim was interested not in this sacrament of initiation but in his grandfather’s vestments. Out of curiosity, he asked him, “Why do you wear a dress?”

The intermingling of family and faith has been the source of comfort and joy for Rev. Mr. Rohan since his childhood days in New York to his days as a father of five and grandfather of five and during his nearly 13 years as a permanent deacon. Moreover, ministry and family have complemented and supported each other throughout his life.

“One of the great gifts that the permanent diaconate has given to our family is that he has baptized all five of our grandkids and has given first Communion to our oldest granddaughter Patty,” said wife Eileen Rohan. “It affects the children in a special way to have him in the role of clergy, and for him to have been able to be the minister of the sacraments has been phenomenal for our family.”

As a young Catholic growing up in Brooklyn, Rev. Mr. Rohan never dreamed

“ ... the Father loves his Son and shows him everything that he himself does, and he will show him greater works than these, so that you may be amazed.’”

— John 5:20

Photo by Jimmy Rostar

March 23, 2001

they played in the same block, whereas in Greensboro, they could be anywhere; although they were with friends, they could be at the park, pool, anywhere.”

However, the fledgling Catholic faith in the western area of the state offered a sense of comfort and nostalgia for times past. “We found a that his life would take him in the direcdifferent spirituality in this area than tion of ordained ministry in the state of in New York. Faith had become lax as North Carolina. Faith was at the forefront far as rules and doctrine, and when we of the couples’ lives in their childhood moved here, we found that it was like neighborhood. Groups of youth and teens our church was years ago. We felt our played, prayed and studied together durchildren had moved into a more strucing the post-World War II era. tured church, and our church became “Religion was always principle in strong to us again,” said Mrs. Rohan. both our homes, and we learned the That renewed sense of strength true meaning of being disciples of Christ propelled the couple to become infrom our parents,” said Rev. Mr. Rohan. volved in ministry at their home “And later on, our children had the same church, Our Lady of Grace in Greensupbringing that we did.” boro, and in the community. Mrs. Mrs. Rohan agreed: “The meldRohan began working with Hospice ing of our spirituality came early of Greensboro, while Rev. Mr. Rohan on, and through was elected to the the influence of parish pastoral the Eucharist and council and also the sacraments, worked with Euwe received adcharistic ministry ditional comfort and as a lector. and blessings.

InvolveBack then, everyment with the thing was done permanent diain a group; there conate came were no one-onwhen Father Joe one couples.”

McCarthy, then The couple associate pastor was married in of OLG, gave a 1958 after Mrs. talk about the Rohan completed ministry during nursing school.

Mass one SunThroughout the day, and Rev. Mr. courting phase of Rohan’s curiosity their relationship, was piqued. With Rev. Mr. Rohan encouragement would take three from Msgr. Wilbuses to visit his liam Pharr, then future wife. “It pastor, he was was a traveling Rev. Mr. Timothy Rohan ordained in the romance,” he diocese’s second joked. diaconate class.

During that time, Rev. Mr. Rohan Since that time, Rev. Mr. Rohan had begun working for Western Elechas been involved with the adjunct tric in the mailroom and had started chaplaincy program at Moses Cone attending college at night and earned Hospital, marriage preparation, ecua degree from St. John’s University. He menical prayer services, prison miniseventually worked his way up the protry and various other diaconate duties. verbial ladder to a position as a senior He retired from Western Electric, now computer specialist, while the family known as AT&T, in 1990 and became the began to expand. The Rohan children business manager of OLG. After seven grew up in a house in the same neighyears of service to the church, he unoffiborhood that their parents did and cially retired for the second time to devote experienced almost the same type of himself fully to his diaconate ministry. upbringing complete with Catholic Through it all, Mrs. Rohan has been by his values and education. side in support of the ministry.

The reality of moving to North “The key to a successful marriage is Carolina came as somewhat of a shock to make God the head of the home. The to the family who had to relocate with marriage cannot fail if this is so,” said Rev. Rev. Mr. Rohan’s company, and they Mr. Rohan, who has been diaconate vicar did not know what to expect. It was an of the Greensboro region for the past four adjustment for all involved. “We didn’t years. know anyone in North Carolina, but we “Our morning prayers and our work looked at it as an opportunity for us to with perpetual adoration at Maryfield start fresh in new surroundings in the Nursing Home have become a tremenbigger house that we had wanted for dous source of comfort for us which we our growing family,” he remembered. would have never experienced had it not “However, our kids were in culture been for the permanent diaconate,” said shock. They thought we were moving Mrs. Rohan. To be able to see the clerito a place like ‘Green Acres.’” cal end of the church and to share what Mrs. Rohan recalls the adjustment we have as givers as well as receivers has to continuing to raise her children in a been very special for both of us.” more rural area rather than an urban one surprisingly more unsettling than Contact Staff Writer Alesha M. before. “We felt that the children had Price by calling (704) 370-3354 or e-mail too much freedom. In Brooklyn, we amprice@charlottediocese.org. always knew where they were because