May 4, 2001

The Catholic News & Herald 1

May 4, 2001

May 4, 2001 Volume 10 t Number 33

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

Inside Youth explore spirituality, community at conference

... Pages 4-5

Belmont Abbey College welcomes middleschoolers

... Page 7

Local News Asheville sister renews faith journey

... Page 15

Retired officer now enforces God’s law

... Page 16

Every Week Entertainment ...Pages 10-11

Editorials & Columns ...Pages 12-13

Fruit of the vine During the 75th anniversary celebration at Immaculata School in Hendersonville, students, parents and friends were invited to leave imprints on the vine mural. With thumbs dipped in purple paint, thumbprints became clusters of grapes. Pictures here show some of the children adding their ‘grape’ to the vine.

Also pictured, members of the Immaculata School choir, who performed during the celebration.

Photos by Joann S. Keane

Diamond anniversary, sparkling celebration

By JOANN S. KEANE Editor HENDERSONVILLE — A parish priest converted his rectory into a parish school, making Catholic education a reality for 23 students. That was 1926.

This past Sunday, Immacula School took time to reflect on 75 years of parochial education in Hendersonville. Over the years, the school’s undergone many changes, but a strongly rooted foundation has given the school room to flourish in Western North Carolina.

“So many people over the years have given so much of themselves to this school,” said Principal William Meehan to a gymnasium filled with current and former students, teachers,

families and friends. “It’s humbling to ponder the impact of this school on the lives of these countless individuals over the years. Although all are not with us today, we can be assured they are with us in spirit on this special occasion in the life of our school.”

Among the returning alumni, Ann Livingston Pouch recalled her days at Immacula School. It was the early 1940s, and the world was at war. Sisters of Christian Education ruled with strict compassion. “They had their rules, and we obeyed,” said Pouch. “The rules I learned then are still the rules I live by today.”

“I couldn’t have gotten a better education,” added classmate Happy

Lentz Gibson. The Lutheran woman can’t recall why her mother enrolled her in a Catholic school. Gibson was in good company. Less than 50 children took their lessons at the mountain community school. Half the class was non-Catholic. “We were taught the Bible, needless to say. I base my whole religious outlook today on what I learned back in those times.”

Back to 2001, as a school family mingled, the stage literally took center stage. To mark this moment in time, an artistic grape arbor — painted as a backdrop on the stage wall — became Immaculata’s answer to a time capsule.

See CELEBRATION, page 8

2 The Catholic News & Herald to Congress WASHINGTON (CNS) — A bill to ban all cloning of human embryos was introduced in Congress April 26. Strongly backed by a number of religious groups including the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, the proposed legislation would impose civil and criminal penalties on anyone who attempts to create a human clone in the United States. Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., and Rep. Dave Weldon, R-Fla., chief sponsors of the bill, announced its introduction at a news conference. The bill is called the Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 2001. Brownback said the bill responds to “a deep concern in America and the world in general” over recently announced plans by some to “create human beings by cloning.”

He said the legislation also would prohibit cloning human embryos “for research or as sources of cells and tissues for possible treatment of other humans.”

Catholics hope papal trip to Athens will highlight discrimination WARSAW, Poland (CNS) — Catholics hope Pope John Paul II’s May 4-5 visit to Athens will draw attention to discrimination facing their church in predominantly Orthodox Greece. However, a church leader said he doubted the pope’s presence would be enough to encourage reforms, which currently face strong Orthodox opposition. “At some stage, the situation has to change here,” said Archbishop Nikolaos Foscolos of Athens in an April 26 telephone interview. “But this is a pilgrimage in the steps of St. Paul, rather than a state or pastoral visit. So there simply won’t be time to raise the Catholic Church’s problems here.”

Article 3 of the Constitution of Greece, a NATO and European Union memberstate, declares Orthodoxy the “dominant religion” and prohibits Bible translations without the Orthodox Church’s consent.

Globalization seen challenging church social teaching VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The challenges of globalization have broadened Catholic social teaching’s vision of responsibility for the weaker members of society, said experts at a Vatican meeting in April.

In coming years, this evolution likely will lead to more articulated church stances on protection of the environment, operation of financial markets, limits of intellectual

CNS photo by Dianne Towalski, St. Cloud Visitor

Looking up to great-great uncle Six-month-old Peyton Crombie looks up to her great-great uncle, Benedictine Father Angelo Zankl, during his 100th birthday celebration April 22 at St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville, Minn. Father Zankl is the first member of the community to reach 100 and will celebrate 80 years as a monk in July Catholic health leader seeks new approaches to graying of America COVINGTON, Ky. (CNS) — The rapidly aging population in the United States will require Catholic health institutions and Catholic social service agencies to form new partnerships to provide care for the nation’s seniors, according to the president of the Catholic Health Association. Father Michael D. Place called for “a shift of focus from treating discrete episodes of acute illness to a focus on chronic illnesses that require care for a prolonged period of time.” He made the comments in a talk April 23 at St. Thomas More College in Covington. “We must think of this continuum in terms of the whole person over extended periods of wellness and illness,” he added. “And we must think and act beyond the walls of traditional acute health care institutions, to include housing and other community-based services.”

Bill to ban human cloning goes

Episcopal May 4, 2001 Volume 10 • Number 33

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

May 4, 2001

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c a l e n-

Bishop William G. Curlin will take part in the following events: May 12 — 7 p.m.

Confirmation Holy Cross, Kernersville May 13 — 2 p.m.

Confirmation St. Barnabas, Arden May 14 — 9:30 a.m.

Mass and May Procession St. Ann School, Charlotte 7 p.m.

Confirmation St. Leo the Great, Winston-Salem May 16 — 7 p.m.

Confirmation Queen of the Apostles, Belmont

property rights, intergenerational differences and the gap between rich and poor, they said. “The church realizes that we have entered a completely new dimension of mankind,” said Jesuit Father Johannes Schasching. “And, therefore, the church has to enlarge herself, her point of view,” he said.

The Austrian theologian and social scientist was one of nearly 50 participants, including economic experts and U.N. officials, at an April 25-28 plenary meeting of the Pontifical Academy for Social Sciences that focused on globalization and ethics.

Anglican leader sees new stage in Christian-Jewish relations WASHINGTON (CNS) — The primate of the world Anglican Communion said he sees Christian-Jewish relations entering a historic new stage, thanks to a recent initiative by a largely American group of Jewish scholars and leaders. “I believe that we are indeed in a unique moment in the history of Jewish-Christian relations,” Archbishop George L. Carey of Canter-

Diocesan

plan -

call Jerry Edwards at (828) 252-2652 or e-mail Phubby@msn.com.

13 CHARLOTTE — In celebration of Mother’s Day, St. Matthew Church will be having its Christian Coffeehouse following 5:30 p.m. Mass from 7-8:30 p.m. in the parish center. All are invited to join the parish for uplifting fellowship and music provided

by Redeemed with Kathy and David, a Christian contemporary band. If interested in being a sponsor or for more information, call Kathy Bartlett at (704) 614-9100 or Aliceann Coon at (704) 540-8696.

14 CHARLOTTE — The support group for adult children grieving the loss of a parent will meet tonight and May 28 from 7-8 p.m. in the family room at St. Gabriel Church, 3016 Providence Rd. For further details, call the church office at (704) 364-5431.

19 GREENSBORO — St. Mary

bury, England, said April 24 in a lecture at the National Cathedral in Washington.

He urged Christians to approach dialogue with Jews in a spirit of learning, humility and truth. Archbishop Carey attributed “the new situation in which we find ourselves” to the statement “Dabru Emet” (Hebrew for “speak the truth”) released last September by the Institute for Christian and Jewish Studies in Baltimore.

CRS asks for more federal leeway in granting food aid WASHINGTON (CNS) — Catholic Relief Services has asked the federal government for more latitude in determining how U.S.-based charities distribute food aid. In testimony April 25 before the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee, CRS executive director Kenneth P. Hackett said federal rules have grown too restrictive in how “private voluntary organizations” distribute food. “We are asking that U.S. food aid be provided to U.S. PVOs to support our own planned relief and development activities,” Hackett said. In the last 10-15 years, he added, “we often feel treated as ‘contractors’ carrying out a changing agenda, one which we have not helped establish and one which has not benefited from our practical on-the-ground experience.”

NCCB official applauds passage of Unborn Victims of Violence Act WASHINGTON (CNS) — A spokeswoman for the U.S. bishops applauded the April 26 vote by the House of Representatives to approve the Unborn Victims of Violence Act. The act, which passed on a 252-172 vote, stipulates that an individual who injures or kills an unborn child while committing a violent federal crime may be punished for a separate offense. Cathleen Cleaver, director of planning and information for the Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, said the vote “sends a powerful message.” Said Cleaver in an April 26 statement: “When a violent assault is committed against a pregnant woman and her baby, under federal law, judgment and punishment will be meted out for violent acts against two victims, not one.”

Church, 812 Duke St., will be hosting a health fair today from 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

Breast cancer awareness, blood pressure, diabetes, eye exams and other seminars will be available along with an on-site doctor or nurse to answer questions and vendors selling healthrelated products. For further information, call Sadie McConnell at (336) 851-5585.

19 MORGANTON — A Disaster Relief Workshop will take place at St. Charles Borromeo Church, 714 West Union St., today from 10 a.m.-1 p.m.

Rev. Mr. Gerald Collins will speak about how parishes can prepare to take an active and effective role in disaster responses. For more details, call Gerry Carter at (704) 370-3250.

20 CHARLOTTE — Father John Vianney Hoover of the New Creation Monastery will be celebrating his 25th Jubilee of Ordination to the Priesthood at 2 p.m. at St. Vincent de Paul Church, 6828 Old Reid Rd, and invites everyone to celebrate his anniversary.

A reception will follow and to RSVP,

May 4, 2001

Quebec bishops call environment, poverty interrelated issues MONTREAL (CNS) — Environmental devastation and the struggle of the poor for a more equitable distribution of the world’s resources are interrelated issues that should be of concern to Catholics, said Quebec’s bishops. “The Cry of the Earth and the Cry of the Poor,” an eight-page document issued by the social affairs committee of the Quebec Assembly of Bishops as their traditional May Day message, calls on Catholics to stop thinking of environmental degradation as a scientific problem and to wake up to the serious social consequences of ongoing ecological destruction. The challenges of desertification, biosphere imbalances, climatic changes and pollution are not just scientific and technical issues, but also “political challenges that affect the lives of workers at home and abroad, particularly in the developing world,” said the Quebec bishops, referring to the 1987 report of the World Commission on Development and Environment.

NFPC official praises priests for implementing Vatican II reforms WORCESTER, Mass. (CNS) — The head of the National Federation of Priests Councils paid tribute to the priests who helped the U.S. church make the transition from the days prior to the Second Vatican Council through the last 35 years to the present. “You led us over the mountain and we stand here today gazing at the horizons of a church for tomorrow. You are our heroes, and God bless you,” Father Robert Silva of Stockton, Calif., said April 24 to priests in Worcester for the 33rd annual NFPC convention. About 280 priests representing 124 dioceses, religious organizations of men and associations of priests were registered for the convention and its House of Delegates. Priests from Canada, England and Ireland also were registered.

The theme of the weeklong convention was “The Spiritual Renewal of the American Priesthood.”

Jews, Christians examine how to address pro-life issues together NEW YORK (CNS) — About 100 supporters of the pro-life cause from the Jewish and Christian communities gathered 8015 Ballantyne Pkwy., from 1:30-3:00 p.m. on May 27 with childcare and a family potluck. For more information, call Dan Hines at (704) 544-6665 or Aliceann Coon at (704) 540-8696.

10 REIDSVILLE — Holy Infant Church will be sponsoring an art show and auction this evening at the Penn Civic Center, 324 Maple Ave., with an art preview hour at 6:30 p.m. and the auction at 7 p.m. Door prizes, hors doeuvres and other refreshments will be available for the attendants, and tickets are available now at the church office at 1042 Freeway Dr. For details, call (336) 342-1448, Monday-Friday from 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

11 ASHEVILLE — The Gay and Lesbian Commission of the Diocese of Charlotte will be sponsoring an evening of reflection for gay and lesbian Christians, their parents and family members tonight from 6-9 p.m. at All Souls Episcopal Cathedral Parish Hall.

For further details about this night of conversation, prayer and fellowship, the May 8 registration and directions,

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CNS photo from Reuters

Third anniversary of Bishop Gerardi’s murder School girls hold a placard with a photo of slain Guatemalan Bishop Juan Gerardi Conedera near his tomb at the Guatemala City cathedral April 26, the third anniversary of his murder. Bishop Gerardi was found bludgeoned to death at his house shortly after presenting a report blaming the nation’s military for human rights abuses during Guatemala’s 36-year civil war.

in New York for an April 24 conference on “exploring how Jews and Christians can work together to sanctify human life.” It was sponsored by the Institute for Religious Values, an agency based in Purcellville, Va., and Ave Maria School of Law in Ann Arbor, Mich., which opened last year with financing from the pizza fortune of Thomas S. Monaghan. With ordained and lay speakers from both the Jewish and Catholic communities, the conference explored the similarities and differences in the two faiths’ approaches to abortion, partial-birth abortion, euthanasia and assisted suicide, as well as the overall topic of the sanctity of life.

Bike ride to raise funds for Christian Brothers schools

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Christian Brother Jeffrey Gros plans to spend his summer vacation riding a bicycle 2,137 miles to raise funds for schools giving tuition-free education to poor children.

Weather permitting, he is getting in shape by bicycling three to four hours each morning before going to work in Washington, where he is associate director of ecumenical and interreligious affairs for the National Conference of Catholic Bishops. “I bicycle regularly anyhow. So I just have to do it a little more now,” he said. Brother Gros plans to participate in a cross-country bike ride, called SPOKE-n-WORD. The aim is to provide funds for the San Miguel Network, five schools run by the Christian

May 6 CHARLOTTE — The 50th SemiAnnual International Family Rosary Day will be held at St. Vincent de Paul Church, 6828 Old Reid Rd., today at 3 p.m. Father Chris Gober of St. Michael Church in Gastonia will be the speaker. Call Kathleen Potter at (704) 366-5127 for details.

6 GUILFORD COUNTY — The Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians Guilford County Division 1, an IrishCatholic social and charitable interparish group, will be having a meeting today from 3-5 p.m. at the Showfety Activity Center at St. Benedict Church, 109 West Smith St. in Greensboro. For further information, call Alice Schmidt at (336) 288-0983.

7 CHARLOTTE — The widowed support group for those grieving the loss of a spouse will be meeting from 6-7 p.m. tonight and May 21 in the family room at St. Gabriel Church, 3016 Providence Rd. For further details, call the church office at (704)

364-5431.

7 CHARLOTTE — Christians in Career Transition is a ministry of St. Matthew Church, 8015 Ballantyne Commons Pkwy., devoted to helping people in career crises. The meeting will take place tonight and May 21 from 7-9 p.m. in the office area of the parish center’s conference room. For more information, call Rev. Mr. Jim Hamrlik at (704) 542-6459.

7 CLEMMONS — Holy Family Church, 4820 Kinnamon Rd., will be celebrating a charismatic Mass tonight at 7:30 p.m. with Father Fidel Melo. The sacrament of reconciliation is being given at 7 p.m., and the laying on of hands will take place after Mass. The next Mass will take place on June 4. For more information, call (336) 778-0600 or Jim Passero at (336) 998-7503.

8 CHARLOTTE — St. Thomas Aquinas Church, 1400 Suther Rd., will be hosting an estate planning seminar this evening. There will also be another seminar held at St. Charles Bor-

Brothers. The ride begins June 12 in Portland, Ore., and ends Aug. 10 in Providence, R.I. Brother Gros plans to ride only the Portland to St. Paul, Minn., lap, estimating it will eat up his 30-day vacation.

Former Philippine president arrested for economic plunder MANILA, Philippines (CNS) — Former Philippine President Joseph Estrada became the first of his country’s leaders to be arrested for economic plunder after the anti-graft court in Manila issued an arrest warrant April 25. The Philippine National Police arrested Estrada around 3 p.m. at his home in San Juan, east of Manila, after pushing through about 2,000 Estrada supporters outside the home. Some 1,000 police escorted the arresting officers. After the van carrying Estrada and the arresting officers left his home, his supporters marched to the nearby Mary Queen of Peace shrine and spray-painted the marker installed there in January to commemorate the uprising that unseated him as president. Under Philippine law, plunder is defined as the accumulation of ill-gotten wealth by a public official through a “combination or series of overt or criminal acts” in the amount of at least 50 million pesos (US$1 million).

Irish president says time to say goodbye to ‘Catholic Ireland’ DUBLIN, Ireland (CNS) — Irish President Mary McAleese, a Catholic, said it is time to say goodbye to the phrase “Catholic Ireland.” Speaking about a recent visit to the United States, where she repeatedly heard Ireland described as a “Catholic country,” McAleese said “that in some ways that expression belongs to a time when Northern Ireland could be described as ‘a Protestant state’ and the Republic described as a Catholic state.” In a national radio interview April 22, she said, “I think one of the lessons we have learned from history is the need to transcend those kind of labels because they send messages to people, which I believe can be hurtful messages, as if there is some ownership of Ireland by Catholicism, for example.”

romeo Church, 714 West Union St., in Morganton on May 16. For further information, call Gina Rhodes, diocesan director of planned giving, at (704) 370-3320.

9 CHARLOTTE — The 50+ Club of St. John Neumann Church, 8451 Idlewild Rd., will be having a meeting this morning at 11 a.m. with a program and lunch in the parish center. Donations will be accepted during the meeting. For more information, call Louise Brewer at (704) 366-8357 or Gloria Silipigni at (704) 821-1343.

10 CHARLOTTE — Churches in the Charlotte area will be hosting ultreyas followed by a school of leaders on the following dates and times: St. Vincent de Paul Church, 6828 Old Reid Rd., from 7-8 p.m. tonight for adults only with shared snacks; St. Thomas Aquinas Church, 1400 Suther Rd., from 1-3 p.m. on May 20 with a school of leaders only with childcare and St. Matthew Church,

4 The Catholic News & Herald

Around the Di-

May 4, 2001

Exploring personal and through the workshops and during other activities. The teens could choose from several workshop themes including prayer, evangelization, liturg y, catechesis, missionary work, social justice and others. One workshop that received many positive comments focused on human sexuality presented by the St. Mark Church Life Teen ministry group from Huntersville. The young men and women were separated, and the presenters talked about the importance of abstinence in the lives of young Catholics.

“That workshop opened my eyes, made me realize some of my own faults and how I need to improve my life,” said Peter Shaw, 16, from St. Pius X Church in Greensboro. “The environment here is so profound, and it (the DYC) reassures me and builds me back up when I am starting to get worn down and is a boost for me.”

The Spitting Image teen group from St. Therese Church in Mooresville presented different aspects of spirituality through interpretive dance and miming. One of the presenters, Juliette Lee, 17, said that DYC helped her to grow in her faith. “It’s very ex-

Photos by Alesha M. Price

Pictured counterclockwise: Michelle Lindstrand, 17, from St. James Church in Hamlet; Robert Simmons, 15, from Our Lady of Consolation Church in Charlotte and Cheryl Gilreath, 16, from Holy Cross Church in Kernersville fill out Diocesan Youth Council applications while waiting for their interviews.

Chris Nunes, 17, from St. Ann Church in Charlotte; Phillip Derrick, 15, from St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Charlotte; Kyle Ingle, 16, from Sacred Heart Church in Brevard and Phong Nguyen, 21, a chaperone from St. Thomas, discuss the day’s events during free time. Seventeen-year-old Sarah Hamilton from St. Therese Church in Mooresville gathers her thoughts before reconciliation.

citing to be able to share God’s word with other people. This enables me to see Christ in others and learn more about our faith which helps me to go out and share with people, so we can all feel his love.”

With daily Mass — including a closing liturgy celebrated by Bishop William G. Curlin — the group icebreaker games, time for parish bonding and other activities, the teens were treated to a conference that delivered a time for faith and spirituality geared for youth and was reflective of their world, so different from that of past generations.

“The atmosphere is great because there are all of these teens here who are Catholic coming together to celebrate their faith, and you usually don’t see teens gathering to talk about their spirituality,” said 15-year-old Robert Simmons from Our Lady of Consolation Church in Charlotte, who came with members of his parish’s youth group, Youth in Action. “We are the new generation that will have to step up and take over our faith when our parents and so forth go on. We will have to be able to say ‘yes, I am Catholic.’”

May 4, 2001

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spirituality at 2001 Youth Conference

By ALESHA M. PRICE Staff Writer LAKE WYLIE, S.C. —The afternoon sun shone on Lake Wylie as teens, dressed for summer because of the climbing temperature, took advantage of their free time during the Diocesan Youth Conference 2001 (DYC).

The breeze from the gently moving waters bordering Camp Thunderbird roused the still, sun-warmed air and the spirits of the young people in search of spiritual nourishment.

Some sat in quiet thought and prayer, awaiting their turn to confess to one of the priests who joined the young group. Others used the time to play basketball or group Frisbee, while those involved in the closing Mass practiced the liturgical dance component. A group of anxious young men and women waited to be interviewed for a position on the Diocesan Youth Council, the group who, along with adult mentors and coordinators, plan and organize the entire weekend event, held April 27-29.

The yearly event, which draws one of the largest concentrations of youth from all parts of the western half of the state, was composed of several scheduled activities of which the teens could take part. The period of free time

was only one section of a weekend retreat filled with song, dance, liturgy, workshops and religious interaction.

“The purpose of the DYC is to gather the young Church of Western North Carolina for prayer, education, fellowship and to experience the power of life as we gather as a church,” said Paul Kotlowski, diocesan director of youth ministry. “It is a time to for the youth to have fun, grow, meet people and meet the Lord through each other and the events.”

Youth from all parts of the diocese gathered to reflect on this year’s theme, “More than Wood and Stone,” based on a biblical verse from 1 Peter 2:1-10, which reads: “...Come to the Lord, the living stone rejected by people as worthless but chosen by God as valuable... .” Kotlowski reiterated the significance of those words to the group at the closing keynote address.

“I talked about the wood of the cross, carrying our crosses and how sacrifice is an integral part of who we are as church and how we need to be about that work as we build the kingdom. I asked them to look at the paradox of living stone and how we need to be rock solid and firm in certain areas but we also need to be abundantly alive.”

The DYC theme was reiterated

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6 The Catholic News & Herald Pope pleased U.S. bishops will implement education norms VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope John Paul II said he was pleased that U.S. bishops are close to implementing Vatican norms for Catholic higher education, said the head of the U.S. bishops’ conference. “We told him we were about to finish the whole work on ‘Ex Corde Ecclesiae,’ the application of the mandate,” said Bishop Joseph A. Fiorenza of Galveston-Houston, following an April 27 lunch with the pope. “He was glad to hear that.” Bishop Fiorenza, Bishop Wilton D. Gregory of Belleville, Ill., conference vice president, and Msgr. William P. Fay, general secretary, met with the pope during a semiannual visit with the heads of various Vatican offices. Other luncheon topics, said Bishop Fiorenza, were the U.S. jubilee experience, the pope’s post-jubilee apostolic letter, and the upcoming papal pilgrimage to Greece, Syria and Malta.

Bomb found hidden near bishop’s residence in Indonesia ATAMBUA, Indonesia (CNS) — A bomb was found hidden among banana trees some 160 feet from the bishop’s residence in Atambua, the second such incident in five months. “It is really a bomb to terrorize the bishop,” one police official said following the discovery. Bishop Anton Pain Ratu of Atambua was not home when a group of East Timorese refugee children found the bomb April 23 at 10:05 a.m.; he was attending a meeting nearby, reported UCA News, an Asian church news agency based in Thailand. A life insurance employee who was talking with a priest in front of the bishop’s residence, immediately took the box from the children and carried it to the Atambua police station, an eyewitness said. Bishop Pain Ratu has been called “the bishop of the refugees” for his efforts to reconcile people in neighboring East Timor with East Timorese refugees in West Timor.

Pope clears way for beatification of 27 Ukrainian martyrs VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Just seven weeks after the local study of 27 Ukrainian martyrs ended, Pope John Paul II cleared the way for their beatification during his June 23-27 trip to their homeland. The Vatican published the decrees recognizing the martyrdom of the 27 members of Ukraine’s Eastern-rite church who died at the hands of Nazi invaders and communist occupiers, in Soviet gulags or as the result of their imprisonment.

The same day, April 24, the Vatican

People in the promulgated a decree recognizing the martyrdom of Ruthenian Bishop Teodoro Romzsa, apostolic administrator of Mukacheve, Ukraine, who was killed in 1947. He, too, is expected to be beatified by the pope in late June.

U.S. official who helped media at Vatican retires after 30 years VATICAN CITY (CNS) — After 30 years of shepherding photographers, television producers and filmmakers through the Vatican, Marjorie Weeke, a U.S. official at the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, is retiring from Vatican service. Weeke has worked at the council for 30 years and has passed the Vatican’s mandatory retirement age of 65 for lay employees. U.S. Archbishop John P. Foley, council president, said before hosting an April 24 farewell reception, “It will be difficult to get along without her.”

Weeke said she has no intention of retiring, although she is looking forward “to seeing what it is like not to get up at 6:30 every morning.” She said she probably will work as a consultant on documentary films about the Vatican.

Hispanic growth causing adaptations in youth ministry WASHINGTON (CNS) — The mushrooming U.S. Hispanic Catholic population is causing changes in youth ministry as parishes and dioceses begin tailoring efforts to attract Hispanics not fitting the mold of traditional programs. So, in the Diocese of El Paso, Texas, church officials have an outreach program to gang members which includes placing ex-members at risk in families living in other dioceses. In the Washington Archdiocese, Hispanic youth leaders go door-todoor three times a year to let young people know where they can attend Masses in Spanish and about programs geared for them. In the Boston Archdiocese, Orlando Vargas arrived from the Dominican Republic 22 years ago and found no programs in Spanish so began forming his own. Now the 36-year-old is a full-time, salaried archdiocesan Hispanic youth official.

These examples show a church reaching out to attract the youths and young adults of the fast growing segment of the Catholic population.

May 4, 2001

Photo by Jimmy Rostar

With a little help from his friends Nicholas Wardwell, 17, works on his Eagle Scout project on the parish grounds of St. Barnabas Church in Arden. Wardwell enlisted a group of friends to complete the landscaping project, which included constructing the parish sign pictured in the background.

May 4, 2001

By JIMMY ROSTAR Associate Editor BELMONT — Education. Independence. Better job opportunities. A chance to prepare for adult life.

For 525 eighth-graders from 10 Catholic schools in the dioceses of Charlotte, Raleigh and Charleston who attended Belmont Abbey College’s first Catholic Schools Day April 30, these were among the ingredients in their recipe for a college experience.

Catholic Schools Day was an effort to introduce middle school students to campus life at the only Catholic college in the Atlanta Province.

“We were delighted to have that number of students on campus,” said Abbot Placid Solari, abbot of Belmont Abbey and chancellor of the college.

“It was magnificent.”

College officials addressed the students about preparing for life after high school, the history of Belmont Abbey and its college, and the educational, cultural and social aspects of the college years.

“This was an opportunity to introduce middle school students to the campus environment and to show them what life is all about at a small college,” said Dean de la Motte, academic dean at Belmont Abbey College, who organized the day.

“This is one of the ways we can connect better with the diocese, the parishes and the parish schools, by bringing students on campus and celebrating Catholic education,” he said.

Eliane Kebbe, the college’s athletic director, was impressed by the students’ range of questions, from the academic to the social, the cultural to the spiritual.

“You can never think about college too early, so hopefully this is a step toward getting them to think along the lines of attending a college, whether they’re thinking about Belmont Abbey or someplace else,” she said.

Stephen Clipp, 14, who traveled from St. Thomas More School in Chapel Hill, said he appreciates the sense of community that exists in the Catholic school setting.

“Everyone knows you, and you know everyone,” he said. “You feel

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From the

Belmont Abbey College invites students to come and

Photos by Jimmy Rostar

Dean de la Motte, academic dean at Belmont Abbey College, spoke with middle school students about preparing for life after high school. like you belong there. You’re part of this whole puzzle that goes on there, and you just don’t get that at larger schools.”

Incorporating the Benedictine tradition, Belmont Abbey and its college were founded in 1876 by Benedictine monks who settled here from St. Vincent Abbey in Latrobe, Pa. With a student body of close to 1,000 today, Belmont Abbey College offers a liberal arts curriculum, an athletic program in Division II of the NCAA and a host of social, cultural and extracurricular activities includ-

ing the Abbey Players, a theater group that has been in continuous production since 1884.

“Part of the point of bringing the students to the Abbey was to point out the role the Abbey has played in the church in the Carolinas as one of the earlier founding centers,” said Abbot Placid.

“We wanted them to think of the tradition that has been handed on to them that, to a certain extent, had a focal point in the early days of Catholicism at Belmont Abbey. We hope they will appreciate those

About 525 eighth-graders traveled to Belmont Abbey College April 30 for the college’s first Catholic Schools Day. Students from the dioceses of Charlotte, Raleigh and Charleston — including these students from St. Anne School in Rock Hill, S.C., attended. who have gone before us in building up the church in both Carolinas.”

Contact Associate Editor Jimmy Ro-

8 The Catholic News & Herald

Bennett urges Catholics to stand up for what’s

By Carol Zimmermann Catholic News Service WASHINGTON (CNS) — Catholics have a responsibility to “stand up for what is right in today’s world,” William Bennett told a group of lay Catholics in Washington.

The Republican activist, best-selling author and former Reagan Cabinet member, said Catholics should be courageous in their faith and follow the Gospel message often reiterated by Pope John Paul II: “Be not afraid.”

“I’m not afraid,” he told members of the John Carroll Society April 20 in an address at a dinner celebrating the group’s 50th anniversary. “Part of why I’m not is because of what my Catholic education has done for me.”

But Bennett, who is Catholic, acknowledged that he was not always so clear on matters of faith.

He recalled religion classes of his youth when students were asked to “choose the world, the flesh, the devil or God.” And at age 7, he pointed out, “that was no problem.”

But choosing a life of faith as a teenager was a little more complicated for Bennett, who admitted he was in “a lot of trouble” and was even thrown out of a retreat at Gonzaga High School in Washington.

“I was very argumentative,” Bennett told the crowd.

Now, with a son of his own in high school and another son in sixth grade, Bennett said everything he learned and worked through in school formed him to what he is today.

“What’s real endures,” he said.

“Catholic teaching endures.”

He now sees Catholicism as having something to offer, particularly in response to troubled aspects of today’s society, such as the family, he said.

“The family today is under siege, under attack,” he said, “and if it goes, the nation goes with it.”

Bennett, who described the family as the “first department of health, education and welfare,” noted that the Catholic Church has much to say about families and “holds the family (as) central.”

But for taking that stance, among others, he said, “the Catholic Church is one of two to three institutions that are made fun of without apology.”

“It is the only acceptable bigotry left,” he said, adding that Catholics should take a stand against such ridicule.

Bennett, for his part, has not shied away from rejecting what he sees as society’s lack of values and ethics and its family breakdown.

Bennett wrote “The Book of Virtues” and “The Children’s Book of Virtues,” aiming to provide, as he writes in the book’s introduction — “a moral

May 4, 2001

In the

education.”

His books followed time spent in government positions, including chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities and education secretary, under President Reagan, and as head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, known as “drug czar,” in the previous President Bush’s administration.

Bennett’s wife, Elayne, also is outspoken about today’s problems.

Fourteen years ago, she started the Best Friends Foundation, an abstinencebased pregnancy and drug prevention program for adolescent girls based in Washington.

Elayne, a convert to Catholicism, said she began her organization after seeing so many pregnant teens and wondering what kind of help they were getting.

When her own children were young, she said, the personal contact she had with other mothers helped her through the challenges of raising children. She realized teen-age women needed just as much support and needed to learn how to “say no to their boyfriends” without worrying about hurting their feelings.

She told John Carroll members that she remains committed to that cause and hopes others will join her in helping youths “get through the incredibly trying times of adolescence in today’s world.”

The Bennetts both received John Carroll Society medals at the dinner for their leadership and faith commitment.

Washington Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick commended the organization for its 50 years of service to the church, telling the audience that if the Washington Archdiocese did not have such a group, he would say, “Could I invent something like that?”

“When a bishop comes to a diocese, he says, ‘I need men and women enthusiastic about the faith and each other taking ownership of their faith and evangelizing,”’ the cardinal said.

He said bishops do not always find such a group, but that he has.

He urged the more than 1,000 members of the lay group to continue to strengthen their own faith and reach out to others, always remembering that the “church is not made for saints but made to make saints.”

“I can’t do it without you,” he said, “and with you we can do great things and we will.”

CELEBRATION, from page 1 Students, parents and friends were invited to step up, dip their thumbs in purple paint, and leave an imprint.

From the vines, methodically placed purple thumbprints took the form of clusters of grapes.

Parent Lois Hanson is credited with the artistry, while a collaborative effort brought parents together to paint the massive arbor. “It started out as an idea of trying to do a family tree for the Immaculata family,” said Hanson, juggling a bowl of purple paint as big and little thumbs dipped in to create a visual imprint in history.

“Over the years, as more students or

teachers arrive ... every time someone becomes part of our family, their grape goes up.”

From alumni from the 1940s to those yet to enroll, the Immaculata family left their mark on April 30.

Even 20-month-old Luke Power added his tiny grape print, his purple thumb guided by mother Monique. Luke’s two older brothers are students in the school that he, too, will someday attend. “This is the perfect place to raise children,” said the mother of three.

We wanted to let people go and be creative, said Meehan. Working from the gospel of John, “I am the vine, you are the branches,” was imprinted for posterity and as the theme for this living mural. “Without Christ, this school wouldn’t exist.”

The Catholic News & Herald invites you to join an 11-day pilgrimage to Shrines of France with Rev. Mr. Curtiss Todd, tour host with Msgr. Bill Pharr, sacramental minister Join us on a life-changing pilgrimage to the Shrines of Lisieux, Nevers, Ars and Lourdes. We will visit holy sites, celebrate Mass daily and experience a new awareness of the richness of our heritage in the faith.

October 8 - 18, 2001 Limited registration still available For more information, contact Joann Keane 704.370.3336 or email jskeane@charlottediocese.org

“The family today is under siege, under attack, and if it goes, the nation goes with it.”

Photo By JOANN KEANE

Thirsting for education You might want to think twice next time the urge hits for the pause that refreshes. Immaculta School eighth grader, John Ashbrook took first place in the Western division and placed third statewide for his science experiment. Ashbrook explored the toxicity of soft drinks. Curious about the results of his hypothesis? Ashbrook deduced soft drinks, while somewhat toxic, are not likely to kill anything larger than a pinhead.

Pictured here, John Ashbrook [background] shows his experiment to classmate Andy Buchman, who peers into the microscopic results.

May 4, 2001

The Catholic News & Herald 9

1 0 The Catholic News & Herald Book Review

Book ponders faith Reviewed by BRIAN T. OLSZEWSKI Catholic News Service Are there any Catholics who have never struggled with some part of their faith, who have never been challenged to live according to the teachings

WELCOME HOME!: STORIES OF FALLEN-AWAY CATHOLICS WHO CAME BACK, edited by Victor R. Claveau. Ignatius Press (San Francisco, 2000). 318 pp., $14.95 of the church?

There might be some, but the rest of the faithful have stories of struggles, disenchantment, of walking away from practicing their faith.

“Welcome Home!” consists of 11 stories from Catholics who left the church and came back. Most follow a similar path: they were born Catholic and attended at least eight years of Catholic school, during which a Baltimore Catechism-approach to faith formation was employed.

Somewhere, be it in college, the workplace or the military, these individuals found themselves searching for something other than what the church taught them. They tried other faiths, or tried living with no attachment to any religious denomination.

Different circumstances brought each back to the church, and they are living happily with their newfound rediscovery.

The publisher’s intention is that Catholics who have walked away from the church might be inspired to come back after reading these testimonials. It’s possible. Most are engaging, but all have a similar theme: I returned to the church because I had found a parish that embraces the traditions — e.g., eucharistic adoration and Marian devotions — with which I was raised. Those giving testimony are very much inclined toward an exclusive “Jesus and me” relationship rather than a “Jesus, the faith community of which I am a part and me” relationship.

May 4, 2001

Read-

While all of the stories have a happy ending (otherwise they would not be in this book), each person manages to include at least one criticism about worship and faith formation, or lack thereof, that took place immediately after the Second Vatican Council and well into the ’80s. The criticisms certainly have merit, but they are delivered with spite. Healing of that pain might mean greater happiness.

Since each person’s faith journey is unique, one has to accept the stories as they are. But one has to wonder, since most of the stories are from people who went through adolescence in the ’70s and ’80s, if psychological factors and cultural influences were as much at work as was their detachment from practicing their faith.

The stories should have been edited more tightly. Even the most moving testimony doesn’t need to be told in 35-plus pages. In fact, the more inspiring stories are told in fewer pages.

If you are what the publisher terms a “revert,” you might enjoy reading how others have come back to the church.

For those whose departure from the church parallels the post-Vatican II tumult many experienced, it might be the source of inspiration the publisher intended.

Those who have grown in their faith by immersing themselves in the living, growing church, who have withstood the difficult times in their individual and community religious experiences, and who are able to proclaim and live the Word of God as a result of those experiences will be glad that these 11 “reverted.” Their response, however, might be, “Good. You’re back.

Now, we have hungry people to feed, prisoners to visit, and naked people to clothe.

Let’s get busy.”

Olszewski is editor and general manager of the Northwest Indiana Catholic, newspaper of the Diocese of Gary, Ind.

Word to Life

May 6, Fourth Sunday of Easter Cycle C. Readings: 1) Acts 13:14, 43-52 Psalm 100:1-2, 3, 5 2) Revelation 7:9, 14b-17 3) Gospel) John 10:27-30

By BOZENA CLOUTIER Catholic News Service The same nightmare haunted my dreams for decades. It did not come that often, maybe two or three times a year, but it always left me terrified and drenched in sweat.

Over the years my husband had found that touching me during the nightmare only increased my agitation, so he had learned to wake me by talking to me. It was his familiar voice that used to bring me back from the terror into the safety of wakefulness.

I am sure he used gentle words, but I do not remember them. It was his well-known and trusted voice that was my lifeline, and it was only when I was fully awake that he held and comforted me.

Words are so very important, but sometimes they just fail. They are inadequate in times of profound sorrow or ecstatic joy. Sometimes they fail because they no longer are heard and lose all power of communication.

Such is the case in the first reading from Acts when, after an initial preaching success, Paul and Barnabas meet with a barrage of words that becomes increasingly acrimonious and eventually escalates into violence.

Paul and Barnabas realize that at that point words can do no more and leave the city.

Unlike words, voices — especially well-known and trusted voices — communicate at a different level.

Human beings seem to have an inherent sensitivity to them from before birth till death. Babies can hear while still in the womb. The sense of hearing is the last of the senses to leave as we die. Comatose patients often hear what is said around them. Even very young babies respond to the voice of parents, and, conversely, parents have an extraordinary ability to distinguish their child’s voice amid a cacophony of sounds.

The Gospel passage shows us Jesus calling us at that deep, basic level where words matter little. “My sheep hear my voice, I know them and they follow me.” The hearing and following of that voice implies that this is a familiar, trusted voice, else why follow? Jesus goes further. Not only will we hear, recognize and follow this voice, but we then will be held safe and secure in his hand and that of the Father.

QUESTIONS: Whose are the voices that you respond to at that deep, wordless level?

How can you develop a greater sensitivity to distinguishing the voice of Jesus in your life?

Weekly Scripture Readings for the week of May 6 - 12, 2001 Fourth Sunday of Easter, Acts 13:14, 43-52, Revelation 7:9, 14-17, John 10:27-30; Monday, Acts 11:1-18, John 10:1-10; Tuesday, Acts 11:19-26, John 10:22-30; Wednesday, Acts 12:24-13:5, John 12:44-50; Thursday, Acts 13:13-25, John 13:16-20; Friday, Acts 13:26-33, John 14:1-6; Saturday (Sts. Nereus and Archilleus, St. Pancras), Acts 13:44-52, John 14:7-14 Readings for the week of May 13 - 19, 2001 Fifth Sunday of Easter, Acts 14:21-27, Revelation 21:1-5, John 13:31-33, 34-35; Monday (St. Matthias), Acts 1:15-17, 20-26, John 15:9-17; Tuesday (St. Isidore), Acts 14:19-28, John 14:27-31; Wednesday, Acts 15:1-6, John 15:1-8; Thursday, Acts 15:7-21, John 15:9-11; Friday (Pope John I), Acts 15:22-31, John 15:12-17; Saturday, Acts 16:1-10, John 15:18-21

May 4, 2001

TV REVIEW

By Gerri Pare Catholic News Service NEW YORK (CNS) — Here are capsule reviews of theatrical movies on network television the week of May 13: Sunday, May 13, 8-10 p.m. EDT (TNT) “Next of Kin” (1989). Savvy Chicago cop (Patrick Swayze) is torn between the law and his family’s backwoods code of justice when his older brother (Liam Neeson) comes to town to avenge the murder of their younger brother (Bill Paxton) by the mob. Director John Irvin attempts to contrast the feuding ethics of hillbilly and mobster clans, but the movie’s numerous plot gaps, ethnic caricatures and deterioration into vigilantism weaken the effort. Much profanity and some scenes of grisly violence. The U.S. Catholic Conference classification of the theatrical version was O — morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association of America rating was R — restricted.

Monday, May 14, 8-11 p.m. EDT (ABC) “Con Air” (1997). Overly violent action thriller in which a gang of hardened prisoners (led by John Malkovich) seize control of their federal transport plane, unaware that a parolee (Nicolas Cage) on board is undermining their efforts to escape the country. Director Simon West’s shrilly overwrought action movie offers only the empty excitement of pumped-up brutality, murder and deadly chaos.

Excessive violence, glamorized mayhem, frequent rough language and an instance of profanity. The U.S. Catholic Conference classification of the theatrical version was O — morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association of America rating was R — restricted.

Thursday, May 17, 9-11 p.m.

EDT (A&E) “Nell” (1994). A woman (Jodie Foster) living completely on her own in a remote wilderness area of North Carolina and speaking what seems only gibberish is terrified when discovered by a caring physician (Liam Neeson) who, with the help of a research-minded psychologist (Natasha Richardson), tries to communicate with her and prepare her for the likelihood of court-ordered institutionalization. Directed by Michael Apted,

Entertainthe beautifully photographed, sensitively acted story deals with the simple wisdom of innocence, though sluggish pacing and logical inconsistencies diminish the narrative’s fablelike qualities. Shadowy skinny-dipping, a flash of nudity, brief sexual references, minimal profanity and an instance of rough language. The U.S. Catholic Conference classification of the theatrical version was A-III — adults.

The Motion Picture Association of America rating was PG-13 — parents are strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

Friday, May 18, 8-11 p.m. EDT (CBS) “Batman and Robin” (1997).

Empty spectacle marks the fourth entry in the series as Batman (George Clooney), Robin (Chris O’Donnell) and Batgirl (Alicia Sliverstone) tangle with deadly seductress Poison Ivy (Uma Thurman) while trying to save Gotham City and its residents from being fast-frozen by demented scientist Mr. Freeze (Arnold Schwarzenegger). Directed by Joel Schumacher, it’s an elaborate live-action cartoon, with villains who are somewhat more interesting than the bland superheroes, but the movie sags in between the visually frantic action sequences. Much cartoon-like violence and some sexual innuendo. The U.S. Catholic Conference classification of the theatrical version was A-II — adults and adolescents.

The Motion Picture Association of America rating was PG-13 — parents are strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

Saturday, May 19, 8-11 p.m.

EDT (ABC) “The Bodyguard” (1992). Sluggish would-be romantic thriller about an Oscar-nominated singer-actress (Whitney Houston) and a former Secret Service agent (Kevin Costner) hired to protect her from a very determined and resourceful killer.

Directed by Mick Jackson, the slowmoving action and stilted romance are matched by some unintentionally funny dialogue. Brief violence, an implied sexual encounter and frequent rough language. The U.S. Catholic Conference classification of the theatrical version was A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association of America

The Catholic News & Herald 11

CNS photo from Warner Bros. Pictures

Scene from movie “Driven” Sylvester Stallone and Cristian de la Fuente star in a scene from the action film “Driven.” The U.S. Catholic Conference classification is A-II -- adults and adolescents. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 -- parents are strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13. rating was R — restricted.

Saturday, May 19, 8-10 p.m.

EDT (TNT) “Platoon” (1986). The Vietnam War as experienced by a raw recruit (Charlie Sheen) is evoked with relentless realism in scenes of battle and brutality in writer-director Oliver Stone’s haunting reminiscence of its horrors and inhumanity. Its excessive

violence, unrelenting profanity and graphic depiction of representative atrocities are stomach-churning, but serve as a corrective to Rambo-style romanticizations of the war. The U.S. Catholic Conference classification of the theatrical version was A-IV — adults, with reservations. The Motion Picture Association of America rating

1 2 The Catholic News & Herald

The Pope Speaks

POPE JOHN PAUL II

Pope calls for end to embargo against Iraq B CINDY WOODEN y

May 4, 2001

Editorials & Col-

Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Meeting Iraq’s new ambassador to the Vatican, Pope John Paul II repeated his call for lifting the international embargo against the Middle Eastern nation.

“Innocent people should not be made to pay the consequences of a destructive war whose effects are still being felt by those who are weakest and most vulnerable,” the pope said April 28.

The sanctions were imposed after the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and maintained after the 1991 Gulf War, despite the claims of human rights organizations and the Vatican that the sanctions are hurting only Iraqi’s poor, not its leaders.

Pope John Paul told Abdul-Amir al-Anbari, the new ambassador, that the Vatican’s involvement in international diplomacy aims to benefit all people.

“Although sadly afflicted in many regions by tension, violence and armed conflict,” the pope said, the world “is seeking greater equity and stability so that the whole human family can live in true justice and lasting peace.”

The desire for justice and peace is not just an ideal, he said, but a value and a right of all people.

Pope John Paul told the new ambassador that, while Catholics form less than 2 percent of the Iraqi population, they want to work with their Muslim neighbors for unity and harmony.

“Their Christian faith and values inspire them to cultivate a spirit of mutual respect with pride in their national identity and concern for the progress of their country,” he said.

Pope John Paul urged Iraqi Christians and Muslims to increase their dialogue with each other, which will help them “to respect one another, to rise above all discrimination and to serve the common good in a spirit of brotherhood and understanding.”

Al-Anbari told the pope it was a privilege for him to be assigned to the Vatican after serving as Iraq’s ambassador to Great Britain, to the United States and to the United Nations during the Persian Gulf War. “Unlike other great powers, the Holy See has no military force, which gives it a high moral and diplomatic standing in the world,” the ambassador said.

He thanked the Vatican for its efforts “to save and protect not only Catholics, but humanity as a whole. In this sense, Catholicism is not just the faith of the Catholics but a universal power seeking to serve and help all humanity.”

Do You Get It? God Loves You In a way it sounds far too simplistic. It’s first-grade religious education stuff, it’s right out of a little kid’s Bible, it’s something that’s so obvious, it’s not even funny: God loves you.

Big news, right? When my students in Catholic high school religion classes would reflect on the worst of the worst of their previous teachers, they’d usually come up with at least one (or two or more!) whom they remembered for being able to teach that particular message over and over — and not much else — as an answer to every test question.

God loves you.

And we all had a good laugh.

After all, there’s so much more to Catholicism, isn’t there? So much more that intelligent teens like you are able to understand and grasp. So much depth and breadth, so much richness to our ancient faith.

Let the little kids have “God loves you.” We’re ready for something more complex.

Of course you are. You’re hungry for more, and you won’t find a stronger advocate for meeting that challenge in religious education than this writer.

But aren’t there times when those simple lessons of childhood are exactly what we need?

Most teens, for example, struggle at least once in a while with loneliness and isolation. Sure, they may lead busy lives surrounded by loads of other busy people chatting the day and night away.

But despite all that, a feeling nags. “Does anyone really understand me? What if all these people I call my friends really knew the real me — my deepest thoughts and feelings, my secrets and sins? Would they still care?”

“Surely not,” we’re all tempted to think sometimes.

“Surely when you get down to it I’m probably your basic unlovable loser.”

God loves you. It’s really an amazing thing, this deceptively simple idea.

Perhaps there are times when you wonder what in the world to do with your life. Other people seem on an absolutely straight road to college and a fabulous career of choice. But you? You’re still wondering, you just don’t know. Sometimes

Economy of Faith

By FATHER JOHN S. RAUSCH, Glenmary Guest Columnist

fat tissue. It’s linked to neurological damage in fetuses and is suspected of causing cancer. The upshot: human and environmental health are inseparable.

The pastorals from the bishops focus on some basic teachings in Genesis about creation and humanity’s role in God’s plan. Humanity, created in the image of God, is given dominion over creation to exercise authority the way God would exercise authority, i.e. in God’s stead. Transferred to the political or economic realm, humanity might reflect this image of God by caring for creation like a shepherd (cf. Ezek. 34), or acting like a co-gardener with God (Gen. 2:15.)

Regional bishops issue pastorals when they feel the urgency to address an important issue from a faith perspective. With both the Appalachian pastoral and the one from the Columbia Watershed the bishops adopted a process of reading the signs of the times. They listened to groups of people representing a variety of views, then reflected on the Gospel’s social teachings. Straight economic arguments need the insights from ecology and the teachings from theology. God’s garden stands to turn brown unless humanity changes its patterns of consumption and some methods of production. Only the spirit of dialogue coupled with God’s Word can save the beauty of the Columbia Watershed and the majesty of the Appalachians by transforming narrow attitudes of

Coming of Age AMY WELBORN CNS Columnist

everything interests you, sometimes nothing at all can grab your imagination. You just can’t see yourself as an adult. You just don’t know what you’ve been put here to do.

God loves you.

Once again, those three little words cut through the pain. You may not know what is right this minute, but with faith in God’s personal love and what that means, you know you’ll eventually figure it out because he does have a purpose for you, and he has no intention of hiding it from you forever.

Finally, think about sin. Your sin. Those habits and patterns that seem to have you helplessly entrapped. You’re ashamed, you feel as if you’re going down a road you know is the wrong one, but you feel helpless to turn around. “After all,” you wonder, “I’ve done this bad stuff now. Isn’t it too late for me?”

God loves you. To the rescue once again, it’s that simple little phrase.

Think Prodigal Son. Think lost sheep. Think of the thief on the cross. Then think of that phrase and let it happen. Let God love you.

We may learn a lot of theology, and we should, but the truth is, in the dark of night, in the most isolating circumstances, the words we scribbled in crayon so long ago aren’t any less true now. They’re worth remembering, and more important, they’re worth living: God loves you.

Creation in Our Hands The Appalachian Mountains and the Columbia River Watershed lie distant by nearly 2,500 miles, yet they share common concerns about water quality, land use and the overall pollution of the environment. The Columbia Watershed begins in British Columbia, Canada, and is fed in the U.S. by various tributaries in Montana, Idaho, Washington and Oregon till it flows as the Columbia River into the Pacific Ocean. The watershed balances competing interests for producing hydroelectric power, fishing for salmon, irrigating for wheat farmers, harvesting for timber concerns and preserving sacred places for Native American spirituality.

The Appalachian Mountains, the oldest mountain chain in North America, stretch through all of West Virginia and parts of 12 eastern states from Mississippi to New York. The paramount issues there concern coal production by both underground and strip mining, clear-cut logging for chip and paper mills, plus garbage and toxic waste disposal for outside metropolitan areas.

In the midst of beauty tortured for economic goals, the bishops of Appalachia wrote a pastoral letter in 1995, “At Home in the Web of Life.” This year addressing similar trade-offs the bishops of the western region wrote “The Columbia River Watershed: Caring for Creation and the Common Good.” Both pastorals represent a growing awareness that environmental choices form part of the Christian ethic of being in the world.

Already evidence mounts that human influence is affecting global climate. Over the past 100 years the average surface air temperature has increased globally, between 0.3 and 0.6 degrees Centigrade. Scientists project the continued greenhouse gas emissions will warm the air an additional one to 3.5 degrees by the end of the 21st century. Although scientists don’t know the exact impact of the change, environmental commentators fear, “If present trends continue, we will not.”

Also, hazards from a sick environment demonstrate how closely humanity relies on nature for a healthy life. Asthma attacks increase with smog, and skin cancer occurs more frequently with ozone damage. Dioxin, an industrial waste product, enters the food chain through air or water and lodges in human

May 4, 2001

Editorials & Col-

Light One Candle Msgr. Jim Lisante Director, the Christophers

booted from the seminary, but ticked off at the cruelty of the joke.

I think most of us react more like Joe then we should. Joe was none of the negative things described in that report. He was just the opposite. Goodhearted and kind, prayerful and generous, hardworking and intelligent, Joe was a great candidate for ministry. But like most of us, he relied on others in formulating his self-vision. If people said he was bad or weak or lacking character, he believed it! After all, someone else said it. It’s got to be true, right? No. Our inner compass, our sense of ourselves, our understanding of our inherent worth and value, shouldn’t be dependent on the whimsical feelings others have about us.

We are valuable because we’re made by the Creator, because we share a mutual human dignity. Every single one of us matters very much. And no arbitrary evaluation or judgment should be the determining factor in our own self view.

I wish my friend, on reading that evaluation, had been able to look in the mirror and say “they got it wrong. They don’t really know me. I’ll have to let them in on who I truly am.” Instead he believed what he’d been told by others. The inner voice of our personal truth should be the final determination of our value, a voice filtered through the prism of our inestimable value as children of a God who does not make mistakes.

obstacle to that grace.

Obviously, that includes children who die too young to have consciously chosen any obstacle to God’s love. St. Augustine, in fact, uses precisely this principle to support his teaching that God gives the grace of baptism, and therefore salvation, so such children.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church approaches the same idea from another direction. Baptism is necessary for salvation, it says, “for those to whom the Gospel has been proclaimed and who have had the opportunity to ask for this sacrament.” Little children obviously have not had that opportunity.

God has told us much about his plan for salvation which we are obliged to believe and follow. But there is also much he has not told us. As Pope John Paul II encouragingly put it in his book, “Crossing the Threshold of Hope,” God is unendingly at work in the sacraments “as well as in other ways that are known to him alone” (Page 134).

As for limbo, this became a subject of heated debate when 18th-century Jansenists insisted that all nonbaptized children are condemned to hell. Against them, Pope Pius VI declared that one may believe in a limbo that is neither heaven nor hell and still be a Catholic (Errors of the Synod of Pistoia, No. 26). That remains the only significant reference to limbo in any major Catholic document.The Catechism of the Catholic Church doesn’t even mention limbo, for good reason. Limbo would imply some sort of two-tiered final destiny for human beings. One is eternal life with God, the other a “natural” happiness apart from God (limbo), where people “go” who through no fault of their own do not reach the top level.

The catechism strongly teaches otherwise. There is only one final goal, one desire of happiness for all humanity: life with the God who created us. We may attain that goal, or we may reject it by our own fault, but there is no halfhappiness somewhere in between.

The desire for this eternal union with God, according to the catechism, is part of our nature, a gift of God, a vocation addressed to every human being. The ultimate goal of every person is the same, to share in the very happiness of God (Catechism, Nos. 1718-1719).

Evaluating Ourselves The seminary is a mystery to most people. They know it’s a place people go to prepare themselves for ministry, but what happens there is often unknown. It’s really not complicated. To work in religious life you need knowledge; you study theology and philosophy. It’s also a place of prayer, since developing a personal relationship with God is essential. Whether or not someone is destined to be ordained is left to a group of advisors, or evaluators. Let me share with you one rather unusual story of evaluation.

During my time in the seminary, a written synopsis of faculty opinion would be given to each student on one’s readiness for promotion. Needless to say, the evaluation sheet was a source of high anxiety. One of the best and brightest students, diligent in his work, faithful to his prayer life and just an allaround great candidate for priesthood was my friend Joe. But, like all of us, Joe didn’t always believe that his goodness was so apparent. He worried that he might not be voted on to the next level of preparation for ordination.

Another classmate, Tony, picked up on Joe’s insecurities.

Finding a blank form discarded by a faculty member, Tony proceeded to author a bogus evaluation of Joe. Forms were usually dropped off at our rooms at dinner time. I happened to be with Joe when he saw the form envelope tucked under his door. He went to his room to study the assessment of his priestly candidacy. About fifteen minutes later, he was in my room, looking like he’d lost everything. “Well,” said Joe, “I guess it’s all over for me. They want me gone.” The evaluation would certainly lead anyone to the same conclusion. It criticized Joe about everything: his studies, his personality, his multiple inabilities. In short, it was a devastating indictment of this good man.

Knowing Joe well, I responded: “Hey, they got it all wrong.

This doesn’t describe you at all. You’ve got to challenge this, Joe.” But Joe would have none of it. If the faculty thought so little of him, then maybe it was time for him to go. In his face I saw all his hopes vanished. It was a sorry sight.

Not five minutes later, Tony entered the room, picked the evaluation out of Joe’s still trembling hands and ripped it into little pieces. Joe shouted “what are you doing?” Tony, laughing and still not realizing the impact his trick had made, told him lightly, “It’s not a real evaluation, dopey. I wrote it myself. Just wanted to see you react!” Joe was relieved that he wouldn’t be

Question Corner FATHER JOHN DIETZEN CNS Columnist

Children Who Die Before Receiving Baptism Q. What is the doctrine of the Catholic Church on the destination of children who die before birth and therefore before baptism? This happens many times just in normal circumstances, but obviously thousands of times in abortions.

I’ve had people tell me such children go to heaven, some say they go to hell. Others say they go to limbo. Is there a Catholic teaching about this? (Florida) A. The death of a child before birth and baptism is always an anguishing and confusing experience for believing Christian parents. The tragedy is compounded, of course, when the action is deliberate, as in the case of abortion.

Jesus distinctly told us that baptism is the essential sacramental way people enter into his life, his community of faith. Most Christians have long pondered how exactly to understand this. Billions of people die without baptism, without even hearing of God or Jesus.

If God loves all people and wishes them to be saved, which is certainly part of our faith, how does he make this happen? As the question applies to very young children, theologians through the centuries have offered a variety of explanations.

Whatever the theory, however, one fundamental conviction is considered beyond doubt. God offers the grace of salvation to everyone who does not place a deliberate

The Catholic News & Herald 13

On the Light Side DAN MORRIS CNS Columnist A Mother’s Day Reminder From a Fish I was reminded of Mother’s Day recently by a fish. She was, I am pretty sure, a sculpin or a close relative. These are ugly, toothy little fish that much resemble what most folks know as bullheads.

Mrs. Feisty Fish and I met in about 20 feet of water in the Straits of Juan de Fuca in a large kelp bed just around the corner from Fresh Water Cove. I was diving for green sea urchins. I had not called in advance to tell her I would be there, and she was clearly not happy about it.

There are actually two layers of kelp in this area of the straits. The first is the lengthy, flowering kind you see floating on the surface and sporting long, ribbonlike “leaves” from bulblike heads.

Underneath and growing close to the bottom are what we call bull kelp. Bull kelp resemble miniature underwater trees like you’d see in a rain forest. Their trunks are about the thickness of your thumb, and they grow three to six feet tall.

When you hover over a bull-kelp forest, it’s like being suspended over a Hobbit world. When you descend through the canopy and settle to the bottom amid the bull-kelp “tree trunks,” it is as if you are a giant creature squeezing into an elfin world.

You wriggle through the forest. My particular mission was to keep an eye out for small squads of green sea urchins to harvest and place into the bag I was dragging along behind.

Feisty Fish Momma resented this, all 10 or 11 inches of her.

It is common to find sculpins lying on the bottom and giving you a “bet ya can’t see me” look from their buggy, beady eyes. But Feisty was not about to be camouflage. She lifted off the bottom, swam about three feet away, turned around, looked me square in the mask and paused.

After a nano-second of face-to-face evaluation, she shot straight at me and bonked me almost in the middle of my forehead. (I sported a knot and small cut for a while to prove it.) The Navy should have underwater vessels that can launch that fast.

She retreated about three feet, turned and looked at me again. Then she finned slowly toward me until she was not 18 inches away. I reached out slowly to thunk her gently between the eyes on her pronounced forehead. When my dive-gloved hand was about four inches from her noggin, I snapped my wrist to tap her.

Unbelievably, she spun-and-swam so quickly I didn’t touch her. I could hardly believe it.

And I could not believe it again when she came back and positioned herself in the same way. I think she was saying, “Nanner, nanner, nanner.”

I was starting to like this little fish. Talk about courage. Nonetheless, for the principle of it, I reached out slowly again to tap her. How could I have missed her lumpy forehead from four inches away?

And back she came.

Like birds who feign a broken wing to seduce a predator away from their babies, this little mommy was willing to put herself in danger, even give up her life. (How would she know I was a sucker for courageous parenting, even in ugly fish?)

So I moved. And was moved.

I was proud of this little, wonderful creature with tiny fins and a huge love for her nest. Funny, as I wriggled away through the kelp stalks and looked back at her, she did not seem homely in the slightest, but quite beautiful.

1 4 The Catholic News & Herald

National conference to be held in

By FATHER CONRAD HOOVER CHARLOTTE — The Diocese of Charlotte will be the site for the annual meeting of the National Association of Catholic Diocesan Lesbian and Gay Ministries in September of 2001. Each year representatives of more than 40 approved diocesan ministries gather to share information, experience and prayer with one another. Other interested persons are also welcome to attend in order to hear the plenary speakers and attend the workshops.

Most of those who attend are priests, religious and lay people who are involved in a variety of approved pastoral initiatives and programs for gay and lesbian Catholics.

The emphasis for this year’s program is on spiritual nurture and growth within the Catholic Tradition.

Plenary speakers will include Father Walter Burghardt, S.J., and Father Ray Kemp, both of Georgetown University and the “Preaching the Just Word” program. Father Burghardt is one of America’s renowned preachers. Also featured will be Dr. Keith Egan, who holds the Aquinas Chair in Catholic Theology at St. Mary’s College, Notre Dame, and is full adjunct professor of theology at Notre Dame University.

He will share talks on relationships with God and others created through meditation and prayer. In addition, the Very Reverend J. Augustan DiNoia, O.P., will speak on “Ministry with Gay

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Parish Catechetical Leader: St. Joseph Parish, Kannapolis. Seeking a dedicated and spiritual leader for our faith education program. Must be certified catechist. Completion of Lay Ministry courses helpful but not necessary. Candidates shall have experience working with children, strong organizational skills, and leadership. Bilingual skills (Spanish) preferred but not necessary. Part-time (20-30 hours per week) with competitive salary.

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Principal: Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic School seeks a principal beginning the 2001-2001 academic year. The school is a well-established

May 4, 2001

Around the Di-

and Lesbian Persons: Catholic Theological and Pastoral Perspectives.” In 1997, Pope John Paul II appointed Father DiNoia to the International Theological Commission. From 1993 to April 2001, he served as Executive Director of the Secretariat for Doctrine and Pastoral Practices of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, and is now the Director of the Intercultural Forum, Pope John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington, D.C. Workshops on related topics will be offered as well.

Bishop William G. Curlin will welcome the participants on the first night of the meeting and will preside at the closing Mass on Saturday evening at St. Peter Church. The conference will be held at the downtown Hilton Hotel, Sept. 20-21, 2001. Registration forms will be available in mid-May from your local parish or the diocesan offices. Persons can register for the full event or one day’s events.

In conclusion, it must be stressed that this is not a gay activists meeting or a gathering of people who do not support the church’s teaching. Much misinformation has been spread about this meeting and many good people are questioning its presence in our midst.

The orthodox credentials of our presenters speak for themselves. The official teaching of the Church will be presented as it has been at previous meetings of the Association, as in Chicago by Francis Cardinal George. Much careful planning and prayer has gone on in

parochial school with 61 years of operation. Applicants must be practicing Catholic, hold a teacher certification and a principal’s license (or in progress).

Applicants must have administrative experience and be willing to relocate to the Rocky Mount area.

Please send your resume, references and salary history to: Our Lady of Perpetual Help, 328 Hammond St., Rocky Mount, NC 27804 or fax your resume to 252-972-4780.

Teachers: Our Lady of Mercy in Winston-Salem has two teaching positions for 2001-2002: Physical Education, part-time, K-8; Guidance Counselor, full-time, K-8. Call school office (336)722-7204.

Teachers: St. Catherine of Siena Catholic School, Wake Forest, NC. 2001-2002 school year: certified kindergarten and 3rd grade teachers. Call (919)5700070 or fax (919)570-0071.

Teachers: Our Lady of Mercy High School is seeking full-time teachers in Chemistry/Biology and Studio Art. We are also seeking part-time teachers in Music and French. Interested parties should send a resume to: Our Lady of Mercy High School, John Cobis, Principal, 861 Highway 279, Fairburn, Georgia 30213.

Youth and Young Adult Ministry Director: Roman Catholic Church of the Most Holy Trinity, 720 Telfair Street, PO Box 2446, Augusta, GA 30903. www. themostholytrinity.org. (706)722-4944. Full-time

Census shows changing face of Southern California Catholics LOS ANGELES — Census 2000 numbers reveal a new profile of Southern California, one that has broad implications for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Times has reported that Latinos have replaced whites as the largest ethnic group in Los Angeles County. They now represent more than 40 percent of the total county population.

The population of Asians and Pacific Islanders surged more than 38 percent statewide, making Asians

the third largest ethnic group in the state. The white population in Los Angeles County fell some 18 percent, while the black population decreased 3.6 percent.

The numbers confirm that the Archdiocese of Los Angeles — which in its 2001 directory lists Masses celebrated in some 30 different languages weekly — is one of the most diverse dioceses in the world.

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May 4, 2001

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Through illness, Asheville sister finds renewed journey of faith

By WENDY E. MURRAY Correspondent ASHEVILLE — In 1998, Sister of Notre Dame de Namur Charlene Lamb was stricken with Guillian-Barre Disease, an illness that stopped her heart four times, left her speechless, deaf and unable to breathe on her own.

She spent eight months in an Intensive Care Unit, immersed in a totally uncommunicative state. During this life experience, she discovered parts of her self she had never known.

She came to know death and more about her relationship with others, but most importantly, she came to know God in the depths of her soul.

This is her story.

As one of the presenters in a sixweek Lenten series on death and dying sponsored by St. Eugene Church in Asheville, Sister Cita, as her friends affectionately call her, gave a gut-wrenching, inspirational reflection of her journey.

“I came to know death at the doors of the Intensive Care Unit,” she said.

“I knew about death when my mother and my brother died six days apart. I’m here to tell you about what I learned lying there in that ICU bed all those months.”

When it began, the virus took its toll quickly. Sister Cita had a shunt put into her head, a ventilator became her ever-constant companion, she lost her

hearing, and had 28 diagnoses and the threat of pneumonia.

“Since I was unable to eat, I was fed intravenously,” she said, jokingly adding, “I soon realized how much time is wasted just eating.”

In a more serious tone, Sister Cita revealed, “I descended into myself.

There was just silence. I withdrew from the world. I was vulnerable to the reality within my body, but I was plunged into an encounter within the depths of my soul.

But then I realized that I could be determined to have one goal — to rest and to find my peace.”

Sister Cita told the audience that one of the ways peace came to her was through reestablishing her relationship with Mary, mother of Jesus. She drew strength from her childhood prayers.

Even now as she recovers, she prays the Memorare each day.

Every night, trying to fall asleep with someone reading or singing to her, she prayed: “Angel of God, my Guardian dear; to whom God’s love commits me here. Ever this day be at my side, to light and guard, to rule and guide. Amen.”

Speaking about her relationship with God, Sister Cita said, “As a nun, I wasn’t very good at relationships. If anyone asked me who God was, I avoided the question. I was spiritually dead.”

She recalled her 30 years of academic professionalism and her recent directorship of the New Hope Alcohol Treatment Clinic in Burnsville. A certified alcohol counselor, she began to practice a 12-Step program from Alcoholics Anonymous.

“All of this prepared me to die,” she said. “It gave me a power greater than myself. In my isolation, it gave me a daily practice. I was committed to prayer. I was committed to my Higher Power. It helped me to find the highest priorities in my life, and it is the greatest discovery of my life.”

Sister Cita discussed her hallucinations, or ‘visions’ as she calls them. In her dream-like state, she said, “There was a young carpenter who was my ‘Protector.’ He never left my side. He had constancy and faithfulness.”

Four months after Sister Cita was diagnosed, she spelled out her first word by blinking her eyes. The word was ‘deaf.’

The Catholic News & Herald 15

“I was petrified that I could not hear,” she said. Another operation was needed to correct the damaged nerves in the ear canal.

Eight months later, she entered Shepherd Hospital in Atlanta for physical therapy. “The joy of standing up for the first time was something I will never forget,” said Sister Cita.

To her listeners, she publicly thanked her loyal friend, Sister Sara Fahey, someone who read her to sleep, interpreted the doctor’s actions and advocated on her behalf. She gave praise and gratitude to Anne Bergeron and Margaret Clagle, two faithful daily visitors lasting the whole course of her journey in the hospital until she was well enough to go to Atlanta for rehabilitation.

“Near death, I saw my mother and my dear aunts waving their outstretched arms beckoning for me to come toward them. But I looked back and saw Sara standing there so I told them I could not come.”

Holding her Notre Dame de Namur cross in her hands which says in French, ‘Ah! Quil est Bon Le Bon Dieu’ [How Good is the good God], Sister Cita Lamb closed her talk with these words.

“I am a different person today. I take much more into my stride. I don’t sweat the small stuff. I take a lot more risks in my relationships. I’m not wasting my time. Life is short. I have become a grateful person. I had withdrawn from the world. I had silence. Now I have sharing.”

1 6 The Catholic News & Herald

Puerto Rican layman’s beatification process moved quickly B JOHN NORTON y

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The beatification process for Blessed Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, a 20th-century Puerto Rican layman, was one of the shortest in church history, in part because of a “fast-track” policy favoring modern lay candidates, said a Vatican sainthood official.

Pope John Paul II beatified “Charlie,” as he is popularly known, at an April 29 Vatican ceremony, less than nine years after the Vatican approved the start of his process.

The pope has asked sainthood officials to give precedence to the causes of modern men and women, especially lay people, to offer contemporary believers engaging models of holiness, Archbishop Edward Nowak, secretary of the Congregation for Sainthood Causes, said May 2.

Compared to other non-martyrs, Blessed Carlos’ process was even shorter than some widely known for their brevity, like that of Blessed Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer, founder of the personal prelature of Opus Dei. The Spaniard was beatified in 1992, 11 years after his cause was introduced.

Living the

May 4, 2001

Retired officer now enforces God’s

By ALESHA M. PRICE Staff Writer GREENSBORO — It was a shot heard around the country. The 1968 assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. affected many people in various ways. For the students at North Carolina A&T University in Greensboro, it was devastating and life-altering. Violence and chaos erupted around the historically black university as disillusioned students reacted to the murder of their civil rights leader. The local police department was called in to keep the peace, and Rev. Mr. Vincent Shaw was in the middle of the gunfire.

After only three of his nearly nine years after being sworn into the Greensboro Police Reserves, Rev. Mr. Shaw was a witness to events that truly frightened him. “It was the worst time in my life. People standing alongside me were hit with bullets, and there was gunfire everywhere. To be singled out because I was a policeman made me finally understand what it might be like to be singled out because of my nationality or race. I learned firsthand about prejudice. I prayed that if I were able to get out alive, I wouldn’t do this (type of work) again.”

Interestingly, he began active duty for the Greensboro Police Department in 1973 partly because of a yearning to

second career. He spent nine years in serve the community. Volunteer work the patrol division and the rest of his with the reserves unit, which allowed time with the traffic division with four him to “do some of the exciting work years as a motorcycle police officer. He that police did in a controlled manner,” says that despite the adjustment to his and being ordained as a permanent family’s lifestyle because of a pay cut, deacon in 1988 further satisfied his he truly enjoyed his job. need to work on behalf of the public.

“The policemen in the patrol diviHis life has gone in directions that the sion are the ones who answer when Northern transplant never imagined you call the police. I saw everything, while growing up in the Bronx, N.Y. and it has its exciting parts. Contrary Rev. Mr. Shaw was raised in a to what you see on Adam-12, it doesn’t Catholic family as the oldest of eight go that quickly from case to case. The children and remembers a pleasant paperwork is tremendous.” childhood filled with swimming and But, when he was transferred to fishing in Eastchester Bay and lining the traffic division, it was then that he up with his classmates for weekly recfound his place. onciliation and the “I found my Eucharist. true love. I got to At 18, he was run around, chase drafted into the people and give Army after the end them tickets. I was of the Korean War. the oldest motorcyWhile in Korea, he cle cop and earned never saw any commy radar car latbat but says he did er. It is amazing see a war-torn and that people don’t pover ty-stricken see the cars or the country full of sickmotorcycles until ness and plagued too late. There are with the Black Marmore people killed ket. “I did my two in traffic accidents years of active serthan are murdered, vice very quietly and for almost 12 and unobtrusively.” years, I was able After being to do something discharged from about wise guys a c t i ve d u t y, h e Rev. Mr. Vincent Shaw and wise girls who began working for thought they could a tobacco company use and abuse anyand met his wife Catherine at a party. one on the road.

I loved it because they “It was just one of those things that knew someone was watching them, happened, and I originally didn’t want and maybe, they wouldn’t kill me or to go. We sat up all night talking and someone else.” went to Mass the next morning.” After Even though he loved his job, Rev. they were married in their neighborMr. Shaw had to be cautious that his hood church, Rev. Mr. Shaw says he professional life did not take over his experienced a resurgence of his faith. personal life with all of the negativity “My wife brought me back to my that he saw during his years with the faith. I had lost touch with the church police department. after I was drafted into the Army.

“It’s easy to become jaundiced Everyone tried to test his or her faith toward life because you see people when Mom wasn’t looking, but when at their worst, and you have to fight I came home, I started going back to against that all the time. There is an church.” everlasting war against cynicism beThey were transferred to Greenscause you look at people in different boro when he was promoted to manways. You have to trust and love someager of the new order department. So, one at some point in your life.” newlyweds Rev. Mr. and Mrs. Shaw That trust and love accompanied moved to a new town in a South that him to the permanent diaconate. Alwas unfamiliar to them. though he was steadfast in his belief “We left all of our friends and that God had always been a major part relatives and moved to a town where of his life, he reluctantly applied and we knew no one. We were now in a began attending classes. missionary diocese with two strikes “I was one of those who was unagainst us — we were Yankees and sure right up until the end. I guess I Catholic. But, it was a smooth transididn’t consider myself worthy to put tion, and our family grew.” on the collar, but my pastor helped me During the 1970s, Rev. Mr. Shaw get over those feelings. No one is worhad moved on to data processing. thy to be a deacon, priest, etc., but you When it was decided that the Greensdo the job God gave you to do. My wife boro order department be phased out, and kids were my biggest supporters, Rev. Mr. Shaw was asked to move back and I am doing things now that I didn’t to New York. He declined the offer before — praying and taking the time and was subsequently laid off. “It was to listen to God. This has given me a a traumatic time for me and my famchance to be among God’s people.” ily. Here I was 35-years-old with four Rev. Mr. Shaw, grandfather of children and no job.” four, works part of the day at St. Mary Less than a month after being Church in Greensboro, and works laid off, he began active duty with with the Moses Cone Hospital Adjunct the police department and started his