July 6, 2001

The Catholic News & Herald 1

July 6, 2001

July 6, 2001 Volume 10 t Number 39

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 Doctor discusses abortion-breast cancer link at national conference

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Bishop Curlin announces pastoral changes

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Local News Sister continues tradition of Catholic education

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Photo by Chris Keane

“My brothers, you are being ordained as worthy to care for those in need. You’re being ordained to serve,” Bishop William G. Curlin told seven men ordained into the permanent diaconate June 23 at St. Gabriel Church in Charlotte.

Seven ordained as permanent deacons Faith celebrated with Forty Hours Devotion

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Every Week Entertainment ...Pages 10-11

Editorials & Columns ...Pages 12-13

“You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”

— Luke 10: 27

Laying of hands brings men into hands-on service

By JOANN S. KEANE Editor CHARLOTTE — June gave rise to joyful celebrations in the Diocese of Charlotte as ordinations — both to the priesthood and permanent diaconate — brought forth men into generous service to the faithful.

On June 23, Bishop William G. Curlin imposed his hands upon the heads of seven men, conferring the Holy Spirit and bringing them, as permanent deacons, into the fold of Holy Orders. That Saturday morning, the lives of Scott Gilfillan, Pierre K’Briuh, David King, Alexander Lyerly, James Mazur, Mark Nash and Michael Zboyovski were transformed as they became dedicated to service at the altar and the people of God. The permanent diaconate is a ministryin the Catholic Church. Bishops, priests and deacons are all ordained for service in the church.

“You’re not only being ordained a minister of the church, you’re ordained to

be a defender of God’s wonderfulness,” said Bishop Curlin. “You’re living a ministry.”

“To whomever I send you, you shall go; whatever I command you, you shall speak.” From the book of Jeremiah come those words of obedient service. From Ephesians, further declarations of service: “I plead with you as a prisoner for the Lord, to live a life worthy of the calling you have received, with perfect humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another lovingly.... It is He who gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers in roles of service for the faithful to build up the body of Christ.”

Those readings selected for the ordination speak to diaconal service to the body of Christ, said Father Mauricio West, vicar general and chancellor of the Diocese of Charlotte, who also serves as director of the permanent diaconate program.

Ordination to the diaconate is on the rise in this country. During a three-year period in the late 1990s, nearly 1,000 men were ordained nationwide as deacons, according to statistics from the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate. In the United States, nearly 13,000 men share in the fraternity of the diaconate. With the June 23 ordination at St. Gabriel parish in Charlotte, the Diocese of Charlotte now

counts 72 men as permanent deacons.

“You have studied for years, first through the Lay Ministry program, the diaconal program and work at parishes,” said Bishop Curlin. “My brothers, you’re being ordained to care for those in need. You’re being ordained to serve.”

The ministry of the deacon is particularly challenging. Permanent deacons preach, baptize, and officiate at marriages and funeral services. They solemnly pledge and maintain an obligation to charity and conveyance of the Word. Most deacons support themselves in the private sector in addition to performing diaconal duties. A permanent deacon continues first and foremost with obligations to his own family.

“You are going to be assisting your brother priests in the giving of God’s marvelous gifts,” said Bishop Curlin.

“Pople want to see Jesus,” said Bishop Curlin in his charge to the new deacons.

“Your task is to bring him in loving service to your brothers and sisters.”

Contact Editor Joann Keane by calling (704) 370-3336 or e-mail jskeane@charlottediocese.org

2 The Catholic News & Herald says church group ROME (CNS) — Though countries like China, Sudan and Indonesia still lead the world in violations of religious freedom, legislation in Western Europe to combat sects poses a growing threat to the continent’s religious believers, a Catholic aid group said. In an annual report on religious freedom around the world, Aid to the Church in Need said a recent French bill that criminalizes “mental manipulation” potentially could be turned against any parents who raise their children in a faith or Catholic monks who live in communities that could be viewed as sect-like. The report, 377 pages in its English-language version, was released at a June 28 press conference by the aid group’s Italian office.

‘Smart cards’ help India Catholics keep up with church events HYDERABAD, India (CNS) — A parish in Hyderabad in southern India has introduced an electronic “smart card” system to help people in the techheavy region access parish information easier and faster. Archbishop Marampudi Joji of Hyderabad launched the system June 17 at St. Anthony’s Parish, some 900 miles south of New Delhi, calling it “a thought-provoking incentive” for all church personnel, reported UCA News, an Asian church news agency based in Thailand. Parishioners can use the microchip-embedded card with a touch-screen computer near the parish hall to check on church events, renew subscriptions, transfer payments and make parish bookings. Smart cards will be given to all 556 families of the parish.

Cardinal Dulles says church needs dialogue, not dissent WASHINGTON (CNS) — The church needs respectful internal dialogue, but not the kind that tolerates dissent from church teachings or substitutes “civility for truth,” Cardinal Avery Dulles said in a lecture June 22 at Georgetown University. “For Catholics the only acceptable common ground is the teaching of Christ and the church,” he said. “To seek a common ground between approved and disapproved doctrines would be to give all the trump cards to the dissenter. ... Authentic dia-

CNS photo by Joanna Lightner, Catholic Standard and Times

Touching Liberty Five-year-old Lauren Strickland from St. Catherine of Siena Parish in Clearwater, Fla., touches the Liberty Bell on Independence Mall in Philadelphia June 22. On July 4th, Americans celebrate the 225th anniversary of the birth of the nation.

Abstinence, respecting human dignity seen as key to stopping AIDS UNITED NATIONS (CNS) — The president of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers told the U.N. General Assembly’s special session on AIDS that the path to preventing the disease lay in “respecting human dignity and the person’s transcendent destiny.”

Archbishop Javier Lozano Barragan, who headed the Vatican delegation to the session held June 25-27 at U.N. headquarters in New York, also said prevention was aided by “excluding campaigns associated with models of behavior which destroy life and promote the spread of the evil in question.” Speaking on the last day of a session that often had condoms at the center of attention, he said the most effective way of preventing sexual transmission of AIDS was through “training in the authentic values of life, love and sexuality.”

European anti-sect laws threaten religion,

Episcopal July 6, 2001 Volume 10 • Number 39

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

July 6, 2001

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Bishop William G. Curlin will take partin the following events: July 16-19 Provincial bishops’ meeting Savannah, Ga. July 21 — 6:30 p.m.

Mass for installation of Knights of Columbus state officers St. Paul the Apostle, Greensboro July 24 — 5 p.m.

Charlotte Catholic High School board meeting, Charlotte July 27 — 10:30 a.m.

Opening Mass of National Gathering for Black Catholic Women Adams’ Mark Hotel, Charlotte

logue, on the contrary, keeps the fullness of truth as its norm and goal.” The U.S. Jesuit theologian, who was made a cardinal earlier this year, delivered the third annual lecture of the Catholic Common Ground Initiative. His topic was “Dialogue, Truth and Communion.”

Pope beatifies martyrs from Ukraine’s Eastern Catholic churches LVIV, Ukraine (CNS) — Pope John Paul II beatified 27 martyrs from Ukraine’s Eastern Catholic churches at a Divine Liturgy attended by many of the martyrs’ parishioners, widows, children, grandchildren and students. The martyrs of the Ukrainian and Ruthenian Catholic churches died between 1935 and 1973, the victims of Nazi terror and the systematic Soviet repression of the Eastern Catholic churches. The pope also beatified Sister Josaphata Hordashevska, founder of the Sister Servants of Mary Immaculate. Hundreds of the estimated 1.2 million people at the June 27

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David with Redeemed. For further details and to register by the Aug. 25 deadline, call (704) 521-9949 or visit www.ntrnet. net/~goodnews.

RALEIGH — The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, in co-sponsorship with People of Faith Against the Death Penalty, will be presenting its 25th Annual Conference entitled “Building Communities of Justice and Hope” Oct. 18-21. If interested in attending, contact the NCADP, 1436 U St. NW Suite 104, Washington, D.C., 20009, e-mail nationalconference@ncadp. org or call toll-free 1-888-286-2237.

WINSTON-SALEM — Marriage Encounter Weekends are designed for couples to get away from jobs, kids, chores and phones for 44 hours and focus only on each other. The next Marriage Encounter will be taking place Sept. 28-30 at the Holiday Inn in Winston-Salem. Registration closes Sept. 23, and the weekends fill

liturgy had known personally one of the martyred bishops, priests, religious or laity. Several of the priests were married and left behind their wives and children.

Campaigns launched to raise awareness on Africa WASHINGTON (CNS) — Three major faith-based organizations kicked off separate Africa aid campaigns with the support of several bishops, ambassadors and politicians at a Georgetown University conference June 23-26. Catholic Relief Services, Bread for the World and a group of Lutheran relief agencies each recently began campaigns to raise Americans’ awareness about Africa and encourage support for addressing some of the continent’s most pressing issues: hunger, AIDS and peace-building. Former Sen. Bob Dole, the ambassadors to the United States from South Africa and Uganda, Catholic and Protestant bishops, and representatives of the United Nations and the State Department all said the time is right for a concerted international effort to help the nations of Africa address their most serious problems.

St. Louis Archdiocese conducts eucharistic congress ST. LOUIS (CNS) — Tens of thousands of Catholics from the Archdiocese of St. Louis and elsewhere participated in a two-day eucharistic congress in St. Louis, which culminated in a June 16 Mass to celebrate the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ. After the Mass, a procession was held from the Trans World Dome, where the Mass was celebrated, to the Gateway Arch on the St. Louis riverfront. According to one former official of the National Park Service, 32,000 people took part in the procession. The June 15-16 congress took place 100 years after the first eucharistic congress to be held in St. Louis. Cardinal Jan Schotte, secretary-general of the Synod of Bishops in Rome and Pope John Paul II’s special envoy to the congress, was the principal celebrant at the Mass.

up quickly. For further details and to register, call Tom and Emilie Sandin at (336) 274-4424.

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

July 6, 2001

CRS earmarks $50,000 for Peruvian earthquake relief BALTIMORE (CNS) — Catholic Relief Services has released an initial $50,000 to help victims of a June 23 earthquake in Peru. The quake killed at least 70 people and injured more than 1,200, said Peruvian civil defense officials. The 8.1 magnitude quake hit areas in southern Peru, from its Pacific coast to inland zones high in the Andes Mountains. CRS, the U.S. bishops’ relief and development agency, said at least 60,000 homes were destroyed, many in difficult-to-reach areas.

Vatican renews appeal for worldwide moratorium on death penalty VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Vatican renewed an appeal for a worldwide moratorium on the death penalty, calling it an “integral part of the defense of human life at every stage of its development.” Msgr. Paul Gallagher, a Vatican diplomat, told a June 21-23 world congress against the death penalty, “It is surely more necessary than ever that the inalienable dignity of human life be universally respected and recognized for its immeasurable value.” Gathered in Strasbourg, France, speakers of parliaments from four continents signed a formal declaration calling for a global ban on capital punishment and criticized the United States and China for their recourse to executions.

Police from across U.S. gather to mourn loss of transit officer ALEXANDRIA, Va. (CNS) — A Catholic priest told an overflow crowd gathered for the funeral Mass of a slain Washington transit police officer that “no line-of-duty death is ever senseless.” Speaking June 20 at St. Louis Church in Alexandria, a suburb of Washington, Msgr. Salvatore Criscuolo said, “It is honorable because it comes from dedication to the oath that a police officer takes.” He was addressing more than 1,000 police officers and the family of Marlon F. Morales, 32, who was shot in the head June 10 when he tried to stop a fare evader at a Metro subway station in the District of Columbia. He died from his wounds June 13. the Body.’” The session will be held at St. Matthew Church, 8015 Ballantyne Commons Pkwy., from 2-4 p.m., and West will discuss the pope’s revolutionary teachings on marriage and sexuality. For details, call (704) 543-7677.

Upcoming FORT MILL, S.C. — Power Rally 2001, presented by Good News Ministries in cooperation with the Dioceses of Charlotte, Raleigh, Charleston and Savannah and the Archdiocese of Atlanta, will take place Sept. 8 from 12:30-8:30 p.m. in the Charlotte Hornets Training Center. The event, targeted for high school students and young adults in their 20s and 30s, will feature Bishop William G. Curlin and Fathers Matt Leonard and Matt Kauth from St. Gabriel and St. Matthew Churches.

Joining the bishop are Steve Angrisano, Christian contemporary singer; Jeff Cavins, EWTN show host; Catherine Rumore, author; Franciscan Father Paul Williams and Matt Pinto. Praise and worship music will be provided by Charlotte’s own Kathy and

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CNS photo from Catholic Press Photo

McCarrick kisses crucifix in titular church Washington Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick bows to kiss the crucifix upon entering his titular Church of Sts. Nereus and Achilleus in Rome June 28.

House bill puts limits on oil firms doing business in Sudan WASHINGTON (CNS) — The House has passed a bill that would sharply restrict the financial activities of foreign oil companies doing business in war-torn Sudan, where the Islamic government has waged an unrelenting civil war against Christians and animists in the South. The Sudan Peace Act, which passed in a 422-2 vote June 13, also seeks to compel the Sudanese government to “enter into a good faith peace process” to end the conflict that has claimed an estimated 2 million lives since it started 18 years ago. The bill also would require the U.S. secretary of state to report annually to Congress on the status of Sudan’s construction of oil pipelines, the extent of aerial bombing by the government, and whether relief aid has been manipulated by government officials as the bill alleges.

Church prepares sainthood causes

for more than 100 WWII Poles WARSAW, Poland (CNS) — Poland’s Catholic Church is preparing beatification documents for more than 100 World War II victims, two years after Pope John Paul II beatified 108 other Poles. Bishop Jan Bernard Szlaga of Pelplin, Poland, said the beatifications would fill gaps in the 1999 list and confirm the “great martyrology” of Polish Catholics.

The candidates include 17 martyrs from the northern Pelplin Diocese, all of whom died at Nazi hands during Poland’s 193945 occupation, as well as 102 names put forth by religious orders.

Puerto Rican archbishop asks immediate end to Vieques bombings SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (CNS) — The U.S. Navy bombing exercises in Vieques must end immediately, said Archbishop Roberto O. Gonzalez of San Juan. While praising President Bush for

July 8 CHARLOTTE — A charismatic Mass will be held at St. Patrick Cathedral, 1621 Dilworth Rd. East, this afternoon at 4 p.m. with prayer teams at 3 p.m. and a potluck dinner at 5 p.m. in the school cafeteria. For further information, contact Josie Backus at (704) 527-4676.

11 CHARLOTTE — The 50+ Club of St. John Neumann Church, 8451 Idlewild Rd., will be conducting a meeting this morning at 11 a.m. with a program and lunch in the parish center. Donations are being accepted during the meeting. For more information, call Gloria Silipigni at (704) 821-1343 or (704) 536-6520 or 536-6523.

18 MAGGIE VALLEY — A retreat for women will be held at Living Waters Catholic Reflection Center, 103 Living Waters Lane, beginning today through July 24. Through Gospel reading, dramatization and selfintrospection, Olivia Woodard will help participants explore the friend-

ships and relationships various biblical women had with Jesus. For more information, call the center at (828) 926-3833.

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

23 CHARLOTTE — A support group meeting for caregivers of family and friends suffering from Alzheimer’s/dementia will be held today from 10-11:15 a.m. in room E of the ministry center at St. Gabriel Church, 3016 Providence Rd. With advanced notification, activities for the memoryimpaired can also be provided. For more information about the support group or the Shining Stars Adult Day Respite Program for the memory-impaired, which meets every Monday and Wednesday, call Suzanne Bach at (704) 376-4135.

25 CHARLOTTE — All families who

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deciding to terminate the bombings in 2003, the archbishop said, “I am deeply saddened by the fact that the bombings can be continued for another 23 months.”

He said in a June 19 statement, “I am committed to continue pleading for the immediate end of the bombings.” The statement came a day after the Navy resumed its exercises amid widespread protests in Puerto Rico, a U.S. possession in the Caribbean.

Refugees’ return essential for lasting peace, says Bosnian bishop WASHINGTON (CNS) — A Bosnian bishop said the safe return of displaced people and refugees was essential to maintaining peace in the Balkans.

Bishop Franjo Komarica of Banja Luka, Bosnia-Herzegovina, said some 68,000 ethnic Croats remain displaced from his diocese since the end of the 1992-95 war.

Peace accords signed in November 1995 in Dayton, Ohio, were to ensure the safe return of all displaced people and refugees. The bishop said the threat of violence and a lack of political will from local leaders and the international community have prevented the return of the displaced to the Banja Luka region. The goal of Bosnian leaders in preventing the return of refugees was “ethnic homogenization,” Bishop Komarica said.

Annotated Korean New Testament published after 27 years SEOUL, South Korea (CNS) — A revised and annotated version of the New Testament in Korean has been published after 27 years of work by Catholic scholars on what was conceived as a 10-year project. Bishop John Chang-yik of Chunchon, president of the Korean bishops’ Biblical Committee, wrote a congratulatory message in the newly published version, reported UCA News, an Asian church news agency based in Thailand.

The bishop said the local church had longed for a Korean New Testament more faithful to the original texts, as well as one with annotations “helpful to a deeper understanding of God’s word and Christian life.”

have suffered a loss are invited to attend the monthly memorial Mass at St. Patrick Cathedral, 1621 Dilworth Rd. East, that will be taking place tonight at 7:30 p.m. Call the church office at (704) 334-2283 with the name(s) of loved ones so they may be remembered during the Mass.

25 GUILFORD COUNTY — The Ancient Order of Hibernians Guilford County Division, is looking for more Irish Catholic men to join them for meetings, educational seminars and social events. Contact Michael Slane at (336) 665-9264 for times and locations.

31 MAGGIE VALLEY — Silence and quiet prayer will be the focus of a retreat that will be held at Living Waters Catholic Reflection Center, 103 Living Waters Lane, beginning today through Aug. 6. Dominican Sisters Mary Pat Dewey and Mary Ann Ennis will discuss God’s presence through centering prayer, meditation and simple listening.

Morning prayer and daily Eucharist will include preaching on the daily readings. For further details, call (828) 926-3833.

4 The Catholic News & Herald

Abortion’s link to breast cancer Doctor discusses abortion’s link to breast cancer at pro-life conference

By JIMMY ROSTAR Associate Editor CHARLOTTE — An increasing amount of medical evidence has yielded more insight into the possible link between abortion and breast cancer, said an endocrinologist who addressed the National Right to Life Committee’s annual convention.

Dr. Joel Brind, a professor of biology and endocrinology at Baruch College of the City University of New York, was the opening general session speaker at the 29th annual National Right to Life Convention June 28-30.

The convention, held for the first time in Charlotte, was hosted by North Carolina Right to Life and South Carolina Citizens for Life. About 1,100 people from across the nation came to the convention to attend workshops and speaking presentations on educational and legislative projects of National Right to Life and to learn more about the pro-life movement in general.

Since 1981, Brind has studied the connection between breast cancer and induced abortion. His extensive writing, research and lecturing on the issue yielded 1998’s “Induced Abortion as an Independent Risk Factor for Breast Cancer: A Comprehensive Review and Meta-Analysis,” a peer-reviewed research paper he wrote with colleagues at the Penn State College of Medicine.

July 6, 2001

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The report was published in the British Medical Association’s Journal of Epidemiologists and Community Health, and it has received press on news programs and in such medical journals as the Journal of the National Cancer Institute and the New England Journal of Medicine.

Among the report’s findings is that an induced abortion increases the risk of breast cancer by an average of 30 percent.

The research included studies that involved almost 61,000 women.

At the conference, Brind shared the findings published in the report. He said such research is another example of how abortion’s victims extend beyond the womb.

“Very soon, I think, the floodgates will open, and instead of being safe and legal, the American public will know for sure that abortion is unsafe and lethal,” said Brind.

Brind explained the biology involved in the abortion-breast cancer link, noting that an induced abortion raises the risk for cancer by exposing the body to highly increased levels of estrogen, the main female sex hormone.

“It’s known that most risk factors for breast cancer act through some kind of overexposure to estrogen in some form,” he said. Heightened levels of estrogen are found in women during menstruation and just before ovulation, he said, but women come into contact with their most prolonged and highest dose of estrogen during pregnancy.

During pregnancies, he said, estrogen causes both cell growth and tissue changes in the breasts. When those changes in the

See ABORTION, page 18

St. Joseph of the Hills offers Irish blessing to

By REV. MR. GERALD POTKAY Correspondent EDEN — Mercy Sister Bernadette McNamara began her call to the religious life in her late teens, just out of high school in Ballina, County Mayo, Ireland. It was then that Sister Bernadette fulfilled her plans to join the order at Belmont in North Carolina.

After serving as the parish administrator at St. Joseph of the Hills Church in Eden, Sister Bernadette is returning to Belmont for a new ministerial assignment.

Upon acceptance to the Sisters of Mercy, Sister Bernadette went off to Marywood College, in Scranton, Pa., where she received her undergraduate degree in education.

Having taught for several years in Charlotte and in Long Island, N.Y., Sister Bernadette was called to the role of teacher/ administrator in the Diocese of Orlando. It is there that she received her master’s degree in administration from Stetson University in Deland, Fla. Sister Bernadette also earned a master’s of education degree in pastoral ministry from Fordham University, the Bronx, New York.

With her credentials behind her, Sister Bernadette was transferred to Mount Carmel Cathedral, Saipan, in the South Pacific. It was there in the Diocese of Chalan Kanoa she founded and became the first director of the Office of Worship for the diocese. The five years Sister Bernadette served on the Island of Saipan were “perhaps the most exciting years (of her career).”

One would wonder if that were due to the typhoons she encountered, or the whirlwinds created on her road to success in her ministry while there. Sister Bernadette indicated that she had been able to travel quite extensively in that area due to the “free” tickets afforded her through the frequentflyer plan.

This Irish sister seems to have the missionary spirit of St. Patrick. It’s no wonder that she finally landed in the city of Eden. It was just like yesterday that the parish of St. Joseph of the Hills in Eden was introduced to its new parochial administrator, with a smile on her face and the twinkle of love in her eyes.

Her first official undertaking was to hold a meeting with all the women of the parish. That was the start of her very successful tour of duty in her “Garden of Eden,” as Sister Bernadette would affectionately call her new parish.

According to parishioner Martha Joyce, “Sister Bernadette’s ministry was truly ecumenical,” for it extended beyond the boundaries of St. Joseph of the Hills. Not only did she get the Catholic community involved, she embraced the entire community of Eden in her efforts to fulfill the mission of the church.

“Sister Bernadette had a way of asking ‘you’ to do something so that ‘you’ just could not refuse,” responded Lucille Minter. “For instance, when visiting the sick at home or in the hospital or even the nursing home to bring the Eucharist, Sister Bernadette was always welcomed with her cheerful smile and Irish wit.”

Mark Ligon added that “not only has Sister Bernadette brought many

people back into the church, she has made new converts to the faith, like myself, feel not only welcome, but more importantly, she makes you feel like a significant part of the church.”

“She had a way of putting you at ease,” replied Mary Ann Ligon. It was through Sister Bernadette’s influence that both Mr. and Mrs. Ligon became catechists for the parish — this, shortly after Mr. Ligon’s conversion and acceptance into the church.

“Sister Bernadette is truly a ‘fixerupper’ around here,” said Wayne Carter. “Not only has this good sister healed and mended lost and wayward souls, she has done wonders to both the church and the rectory as well.”

Whether it was by increasing the membership of the parish or the size of the parking lots or, even, by changing carpeting and refurbishing the pews and the lighting and sound systems, Sister Bernadette has accomplished much for the physical plant at St. Joseph of the Hills.

Father Christopher Davis, the sacramental minister of the parish, says that “she will be sorely missed.”

But Sister Bernadette is not leaving without good reason. She has been asked by the Sisters of Mercy of Belmont, where her mission for Christ and his church really took off, to serve as president and CEO of Catherine’s House, located at the Sacred Heart campus in Belmont. This is one of the ministries to the poor and disenfranchised that are sponsored by the Sisters of Mercy.

So Sister Bernadette will not be far away from Eden, because she has accepted this challenge to minister to the poor women and children just as Catherine McAuley, foundress of the Sisters of Mercy, did in the early 19th century in Dublin, Ireland. If anyone can meet this challenge to care for the poor and disenfranchised homeless women and children successfully, it is Sister Bernadette McNamara. She has already left her mark not only on the parishioners of St. Joseph of the Hills, but on each and every location she has ministered.

As a token of appreciation to Sister Bernadette for her years of service to the community of St. Joseph of the Hills, the parish had a get-together in her honor on June 24. It was their way of saying thank you for all she has done for the parish and the community, as well.

It is with this in mind that the parishioners will be wishing their beloved Sister Bernadette the luck of the Irish with their hopes that God will continue to bless her and all those with whom she comes into contact.

July 6, 2001

It’s official: USCCB replaces old NCCB and

By Jerry Filteau Catholic News Service WASHINGTON (CNS) — The U.S. bishops’ national organization became the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops — USCCB — July 1.

The old twin names adopted in 1966, National Conference of Catholic Bishops and U.S. Catholic Conference, are now largely consigned to history.

When NCCB-USCC staff left national headquarters June 29, they drove past the long, low, freestanding concrete wall at the driveway entrance on which the old name was engraved.

Returning from the weekend the morning of July 2, they were greeted with a new sign — 30 feet, 6 inches long and 39 inches high — with the new conference name and logo in white on a forest green background.

The new sign, made of steel, was attached over the lettering of the old. USCCB Associate General Secretary Bruce Egnew said the construction and installation cost, $17,000, was less than it would have cost to demolish and remove the concrete wall.

Also changed over the weekend were the conference Web site — from www.nccbuscc.org to www.usccb.org — and staff e-mail addresses, which now end with @ usccb.org.

The change did not involve any changes in conference departments, offices or staffing.

Like the old conference logos, the new one has a white cross atop a green circle. In the old logos, the words “National Confer-

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In the

ence of Catholic Bishops” or “United States Catholic Conference” formed a square enclosing the circle. In the new logo the words form a circle: “United States Conference of” forms the top arc and “Catholic Bishops” the bottom arc.

On the Web site, the new name and logo have replaced the old on the home page and the pages of the various departments and secretariats. Egnew said other things, such as documents which came from the USCC or NCCB, will not have their attribution changed.

He said people will be encouraged to use the new Web address, but those using the old one will connect to the new site “probably indefinitely.”

“We don’t know how many (computer) bookmarks we’re on and address lists and that kind of thing,” he said. “We don’t want to close it off, nor do we want to surrender the old name for Web purposes.”

Egnew said some transitional things, such as changes in office stationery, business cards and phone book listings, were still in progress.

The transition involved “a number of legal requirements” as well as practical issues, he said. “Some of it we could and had to do ahead of time, and some of it we could not do ahead of time. It will take a few weeks to complete it all.”

“Like a new bride who changes her name to her husband’s name, we probably have a number of other things that we haven’t even thought of yet but will come to mind as the marriage of the two conferences really takes shape,” he said.

Pastoral Assignments Bishop William G. Curlin announces the following pastoral changes:

Effective July 10: Appointment of new vicars Rev. Richard Bellow, Vicar of the Charlotte Vicariate Rev. Michael Buttner, Vicar of the Winston-Salem Vicariate Rev. Kenneth Whittington, Vicar of the Hickory Vicariate Pastoral assignments Rev. Herbert Burke

From: Parochial Vicar, St. Leo the Great, Winston-Salem To: Administrator, Immaculate Conception, Forest City

Rev. Michael Buttner

From: Pastor, St. Francis of Assisi, Lenoir To: Pastor, Holy Family, Clemmons

Rev. Dean Cesa

From: Parochial Vicar, St. Patrick Cathedral, Charlotte To: Pastor, St. John, Tryon

Rev. Duc Duong, Newly Ordained

To: Parochial Vicar, St. Matthew, Charlotte

Rev. Tien Duong, Newly Ordained

To: Parochial Vicar, St. Gabriel, Charlotte

Rev. Robert Ferris, Newly Ordained To: Parochial Vicar, St. Gabriel, Charlotte Rev. Kurt Fohn, Newly Ordained

To: Parochial Vicar, St. Leo the Great, Winston-Salem

Rev. Francis Gillespie, S.J.

From: Pastor, Our Lady of the Assumption, Charlotte To: Reassignment by Jesuit Order to Washington, D.C.

Rev. John Hanic Chaplain,

From: Parochial Vicar, St. Gabriel, Charlotte, and Part-time

Rev. Peter Jugis

From: Judicial Vicar, Diocesan Tribunal, Charlotte To: Pastor, Our Lady of Lourdes, Monroe, while remaining as Judicial Vicar

Rev. Eric Kowalski

From: Parochial Vicar, Our Lady of Grace, Greensboro To: Administrator, Holy Angels, Mount Airy

Rev. Mark Lamprich

From: Pastor, Our Lady of Grace, Greensboro To: Pastor, St. Vincent de Paul, Charlotte

Rev. Matthew Leonard

From: Parochial Vicar, St. Gabriel, Charlotte To: Administrator, St. Francis of Assisi, Lenoir

Rev. Gregory Littleton

From: Administrator, St. John, Tryon To: Pastor, Our Lady of the Assumption, Charlotte

Rev. Carmen Malacari

From: Outside the Diocese To: Parochial Vicar, St. Patrick Cathedral, Charlotte

Holy Trinity Catholic Middle School, Charlotte To: Sacramental Ministry, Holy Trinity, Taylorsville, and Full-time Chaplain, Holy Trinity Catholic Middle School, Charlotte

Sister Bernadette McNamara, RSM From: Administrator, St. Joseph of the Hills, Eden

To: Reassignment by Sisters of Mercy at Catherine’s House, Belmont Rev. Gabriel Meehan

From: Pastor, Immaculate Conception, Forest City To: Retirement at his own request

Rev. Fidel Melo

Clemmons

From: Administrator, Our Lady of the Americas, Biscoe To: Administrator, Hispanic Ministry, with residence at Holy Family,

Rev. Frank O’Rourke

From: Pastor, Holy Family, Clemmons To: Pastor, Our Lady of Grace, Greensboro

Rev. Luis Osorio

From: Parochial Vicar, Our Lady of Lourdes, Monroe To: Parochial Vicar, Our Lady of Grace, Greensboro

Rev. Msgr. William Pharr

From: Pastor, St. Vincent de Paul, Charlotte To: Retirement at his own request

Rev. Ricardo Sanchez

From: Parochial Vicar, Holy Family, Clemmons To: Administrator, Our Lady of the Americas, Biscoe

Rev. Thomas Selvaraj

From: Parochial Vicar, St. Ann, Charlotte To: Pastor, St. Joseph of the Hills, Eden

Rev. Thomas Stott

From: Pastor, Holy Angels, Mount Airy To: Sabbatical at his own request

Rev. Arockiasamy Sundaram

From: Outside the Diocese To: Parochial Vicar, St. Ann, Charlotte

Rev. Carlo Tarasi

From: Pastor, Our Lady of Lourdes, Monroe To: Chaplain for Food for the Poor, Florida, at his own request

Rev. Joseph Waters

From: Administrator, Holy Trinity, Taylorsville To: Retirement at his own request

Effective August 15: Rev. James Hawker

Education

From: Vicar for Education To: Pastor, St. Luke, Charlotte, while remaining as Vicar for

6 The Catholic News & Herald Actor O’Connor’s commitment to faith recalled at funeral LOS ANGELES (CNS) — Family, friends and many leaders in the entertainment industry gathered for the funeral Mass for actor Carroll O’Connor at St. Paul the Apostle Church in west Los Angeles June 26. O’Connor “symbolized in such a beautiful and courageous way a commitment to faith he allowed to be part of his personal life and his professional life,” said Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles, the principal celebrant. “Dallas” star Larry Hagman and Martin Sheen of “The West Wing,” the actor’s friends, served as lectors.

Liam Gannon recited an Irish blessing and Mary Reynolds played a violin solo of “Danny Boy” that left many in tears. Known for his TV portrayals of Archie Bunker on “All in the Family” and “Archie Bunker’s Place” and police chief Bill Gillespie on “In the Heat of the Night,” O’Connor died June 21.

Fellow ecumenists reflect on Father Hotchkin’s life, work WASHINGTON (CNS) — Father John F. Hotchkin rarely appeared in the public spotlight, but behind the scenes he was easily one of the most significant and influential Catholic ecumenists of the past third of a century, according to those who knew him best. In interviews with Catholic News Service and public statements, other leading ecumenists painted a portrait of a man of grace, humility and a passion for Christian unity — and one who perhaps more than any other person has shaped the Catholic ecumenical enterprise in the United States. Father Hotchkin, 66, died unexpectedly June 24 from a severe bronchial infection. A Chicago priest, he was executive director of the U.S. bishops’ Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs in Washington for more than 30 years.

College grad designs sign system to help disabled communicate WASHINGTON (CNS) — A college research project inspired by a grandfather who was recovering from a stroke has made a 22-year-old Woodbridge, Va., resident something of a national phenomenon. Nikki Kissane, a recent graduate of the University of Virginia and member of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in Lake Ridge, Va., spent most of her college years developing a simplified form of sign language designed to help autistic children or stroke-impaired adults communicate. Her system uses

July 6, 2001

People in the

CNS photo by Bill Kissane

Student developes simplified sign language Recent college grad Nikki Kissane signs words using the Simplified Sign System. Clockwise from top, left are the signs for phone, pray, book and God. Since her freshman year at the University of Virginia, Kissane has worked on developing a simple form of communication for non-speaking people with autism or aphasia. simple signs that clearly resemble the object or action represented, such as folded arms and a rocking motion as a sign for the word baby. “The system is similar to pantomime.

It’s supposed to be something that you can pick up without having to learn a lot,” Kissane told Catholic News Service.

Father Hesburgh gets 16th presidential appointment NOTRE DAME, Ind. (CNS) — President Bush has appointed Holy Cross Father Theodore M. Hesburgh, retired president of the University of Notre Dame, to the Commission on Presidential Scholars. It marks the 16th presidential appointment for Father Hesburgh, who also has served on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights,

the Presidential Clemency Board and the Overseas Development Council, which led an initiative to avert mass starvation in Cambodia in the late 1970s. The Commission on Presidential Scholars meets annually to select some 140 high school students from across the country for recognition as presidential scholars.

Pope blesses formerly communist property set to become university LVIV, Ukraine (CNS) — Pope John Paul II blessed a piece of property in Lviv where the Soviet Communist Party had started to build a cultural center. What was to have become a monument to the primacy of communism will become Ukraine’s first

Catholic university. Pope John Paul blessed the site June 26 and was scheduled to bless the cornerstone of the new university June 27 during a Divine Liturgy. “May the university serve simultaneously as a source and a channel of divine and human wisdom for the renewal of the entire people of God throughout the land of Ukraine,” the pope prayed as he blessed the property.

Unscheduled papal stop at Marian icon strikes chord in Ukraine KIEV, Ukraine (CNS) — The first stop on Pope John Paul II’s long-awaited trip to Ukraine — a prayer visit to an icon of Mary — wasn’t even on the official program, but it struck a chord among Ukrainian Catholics and Orthodox alike. The pope pulled his motorcade over at the edge of a Kiev park June 23 and walked into the small Church of St. Nicholas, a former recital hall under communism, to meditate before a “miraculous” image of Our Lady of Zarvaniza.

Tradition holds that the icon was found by a Ukrainian monk fleeing persecution in the 13th century, after he fell asleep next to a stream and had a dream about Mary. He eventually built a shrine to her on the spot, and it draws thousands of pilgrims today, many seeking physical healing.

Holy smoke! Skywriter praises God in the air BOCA RATON, Fla. (CNS) — Because many people live busy and hectic lives they often forget about God and the many blessings that he has bestowed on them, according to Jerry Stevens, a member of St. Jude Parish in Boca Raton in the Diocese of Palm Beach. To help people think about God more often, the veteran pilot decided to take up skywriting and put messages of hope and inspiration in the skies over south Florida. Stevens, 58, adds a special oil to his plane’s exhaust system to make the milelong letters of inspiration, 9,000-12,000 feet above the ground. He said he keeps his messages short and sweet because they can dissipate quickly in the wind. Among them are “God is Great,” plus “God Loves U” and “Jesus Loves U,” the latter two with smileyface icons. At Thanksgiving he writes, “Thank God,” and at Easter, “He is Risen.”

July 6, 2001

From the

The Catholic News & Herald 7

Sister continues tradition

By Alesha M. Price Staff Writer WINSTON-SALEM — Whenever Sister of St. Joseph Anne Thomas Taylor watches the old Bing Crosby movie “The Bells of St. Mary,” she is reminded of her childhood. It is not as if she compares herself to anyone in the movie, but when she was younger, there were times that it almost seemed as if she were a character in some of the scenes.

Sister Anne’s childhood home was located across the street from the Sisters of St. Joseph convent in Philadelphia, and she would sit on her steps and listen to the sisters sing and pray.

She says she watched the sisters walking back to the convent on Saturday afternoons, and she would note the satisfied and content expressions on their faces. Those experiences always evoke pleasant memories for her and are what propelled her to want to be a Sister of St. Joseph.

“I could probably safely say that by the time I was in my junior year of high school, I knew what I wanted to do,” said Sister Anne, referring to entering religious life. “I began working after graduation and cared for my invalid mother. The more I worked in the banking industry, the more frustrated I became and the more I knew that religious life was for me.”

She entered religious life in 1976 and began attending Chestnut Hill College, the institution established by

the sister community. She soon realized that it would be somewhat of a difficult time for her. “It was pretty overwhelming in the beginning because I was getting used to living in a community and going back to school after eight years. It was a challenge, but I had a huge support system.

“It’s not like Whoopi Goldberg in ‘Sister Act’ where she puts on a habit and becomes one of the nuns. I love the movie, but it’s not like that,” she said with a chuckle.

Even though college was tough at times, she is glad that she was able to work and live in the secular world before making her commitment to God. “It’s important to have a good college experience, to experience the social life, dating, so that you have a much better idea of the world and whether you are willing to give that up,” she explained. “I came in at an advantage because of my age. I knew what I was doing and what I was giving up, and it was OK. I knew it would be a sacrifice, but I don’t think it was as difficult for me as it was for other younger women.”

Sister Anne professed her final vows in 1984 and continued teaching fourth grade. After seven years in elementary school, she went back to earn her master’s degree in humanities with concentrations in music, fine arts and theatre. She is an accomplished flute and guitar player and singer and would practice late into the night on the convent piano in the basement to play a selection from Bach as part of her degree requirements.

She taught band and chorus in an innercity high school where she also began a pep

Photo by Alesha M. Price

Sister of St. Joseph Anne Thomas Taylor, dean of students at Bishop McGuinness Memorial High School, is busy at work preparing to move to the new building in July. The administration is in the midst of packing and will be ready to welcome students in the fall at the new location. band and a gospel choir. That choir became her favorite part of teaching in that school.

“There was no way you could have a bad day starting off like that,” she said of the 7:15 a.m. practice sessions, which now remind her of “Sister Act II,” in which Whoopi Goldberg directs a gospel choir. “It was so invigorating, life-giving and spiritual, and the choir became well-known.”

She came to Bishop McGuinness Memorial High School in WinstonSalem as the music teacher in 1997 and helped to re-establish the drama program and started the school’s pep band.

Principal George Repass asked her to become assistant dean of students, and an illness made it necessary for her to devote her attention serving as dean full-time.

Sister Anne is carrying on the tradition of

BMHS, established in 1959 by the first Sisters of St. Joseph who came to the Winston-Salem area in the early 1950s. Her three years at the Winston-Salem Catholic high school have been fulfilling for her, and now, she is helping to make the transition to the new school as seamless as possible for the students and faculty.

She has become a part of the BMHS family in a short amount of time. The talent and dedication of the students and their willingness to learn and want to be involved with various extracurricular activities has impressed her throughout her years there.

“More people have realized that there is a lot that can happen for young people in Catholic schools, and there is a lot happening here at Bishop. The building is never quiet,” said Sister Anne. “We have kids who come here who want to be at Bishop, and because they want to be at Bishop, they succeed.”

8 The Catholic News & Herald

In the

The Franciscan Center

By REV. MR. GERALD POTKAY Correspondent GREENSBORO — At an inconspicuous storefront building in the center of Greensboro one can locate The Franciscan Center. Here amid the hussle and bustle of the busy everyday city life is a place of solitude. It is a sanctuary where one can take refuge from the world.

The Center itself is a Catholic book and religious article store run by Franciscan Father Louis Canino. But it is more than that.

Every Wednesday, Mass is said at 12:10 for the people who work in downtown Greensboro area. Throughout the year the Center hosts visiting Catholic and Christian speakers who give lunchtime talks on a wide range of topics dealing with Christian life and how Christians can achieve everlasting life with the Eternal Father.

Father Canino is also instrumental in the planning and the building of the proposed St. Francis Springs Prayer Center to be located on the Stoneville/Wentworth border. The project has gotten off of the drawing board and will start with an official groundbreaking ceremony on August 18 at 11 a.m.

Along with his other duties around the Center, Father Canino is also the chief cook and bottle washer for the luncheon presentations.

The guest speaker for June 21 was Father Anthony Marcaccio, who celebrated his 10th anniversary in the priesthood in June. Father Marcaccio is presently serving the diocese as pastor of St. Pius X in Greensboro. Prior to this assignment, he was the bishop’s priest secretary.

Father Marcaccio spoke on the topic “Practicing the Presence of God,” an approach to spirituality based on what little is known of Brother Lawrence, a Carmelite lay brother who lived in 17th-century Paris.

As Father Marcaccio pointed out, Brother Lawrence’s life was centered on God through everything he did, including his cooking and dish washing until his death at the age of 80. Through his spirituality, probably based on the spirituality of another Carmelite, St. Teresa of Avila, Brother Lawrence became one of the great mystics of his day.

Spirituality, according to Father Marcaccio, must encompass a “complete

abandonment to God.” By it, one “comes to know God more fully through all created things,” much like the spirituality of St. Francis — for it is not only poetic in nature but contemplative as well.

According to the spirituality of “Practicing the Presence of God,” the believer must have utter trust and complete confidence in God at all times. Father Marcaccio indicates that “there must be a continual unity with God such that one does not abandon self to the will of God, but to God himself.”

Therefore, each must accept not only the sweet things in life, but also the bitter.

Father Marcaccio emphasized this type of spirituality consists of a “simple loving gaze upon God, who is both the beloved and the lover.” It would be like placing oneself as a “block of stone before the Master Sculptor allowing God to shape as he saw fit.”

Father Marcaccio emphasized the variety people bring to their personal spirituality, from reciting rote prayers to praying the rosary in silence to saying simple prayers like “Jesus, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

Of those in attendance, Kathleen Brockman indicated that this was one of the best presentations that she had heard at the Center, while Betty Steinkamp and Pat Cleary said: “We ate it up. We are interested in growing in Catholic mysticism. And we thor-

July 6, 2001

Vatican welcomes, with some reservations, U.N. AIDS declaration

By Tracy Early Catholic News Service UNITED NATIONS (CNS) — The Vatican welcomed the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS adopted by consensus at the June 25-27 special session of the U.N. General Assembly, but expressed some reservations and regrets in a “statement of interpretation.”

Although the rules of some international conferences such as the 1994 Cairo, Egypt, conference on population and the 1995 Beijing conference on women allowed the Vatican to be a full participant, in the General Assembly it is only an observer state and not a voting member.

But it participated informally in the negotiations on the text of the declaration, and at the conclusion of the session secured time to set forth points that qualified its general acceptance of the results.

The statement said the Vatican joined in the commitment expressed at the special session on AIDS to “address the needs of those whose lives have been ravaged by this horrible disease.”

However, it added that Vatican involvement in discussions about the declaration text should not be “understood or interpreted as an endorsement of concepts that it cannot support for moral reasons.”

The statement singled out use of terms such as “reproductive health” that it said should apply to “a holistic concept of health” and be interpreted “in accordance with moral norms.”

It also declared that, “with regard to the use of condoms as a means of preventing HIV infection” the Vatican “has in no

way changed its moral position.”

“The Holy See also regrets that irresponsible, unsafe and high-risk or risky behavior was not adequately discussed and addressed in preparing this declaration,” the statement added.

In a section on AIDS prevention, the U.N. declaration called for a wide range of programs, such as “encouraging responsible sexual behavior, including abstinence and fidelity,” as well as use of condoms.

Msgr. Anthony R. Frontiero, a staff member with the Vatican mission to the United Nations who read the statement at the end of the session June 27, told Catholic News Service the following day that the Vatican was pleased it was able to get in the reference to “reducing risk-taking behavior.”

But he said there was not adequate attention to the responsibility of those engaging in the risky behaviors for the spread of the disease.

“That has to be fundamental to any discussion of this disease,” he said. “Responsible behavior cannot just be listed alongside condoms, but has to be prior.”

Similarly, the Vatican statement said the discussion of human rights in the declaration was not linked in an adequate way to “the ability to be protected from the irresponsible behavior of others.”

The declaration called for “measures to increase capacities of women and adolescent girls to protect themselves from the risk of HIV infection, principally through the provision of health care and health services, including sexual and reproductive health, and through prevention education that promotes gender equality.”

July 6, 2001

The Catholic News & Herald 9

Diaconate Ordina-

Permanent deacon Class of 2001 brings variety of paths to service At Sacred Heart Church, Rev. Mr. Mazur has been an acolyte serving at daily and Sunday Masses, the leader of the parish’s altar servers and a reader at daily Mass.

The newly ordained permanent deacons of the Diocese of Charlotte come from a variety of family and professional backgrounds, yet they now share in a common ministry of service to God’s people in the western half of North Carolina.

Here is an introduction to seven men who were ordained as permanent deacons by Bishop William G. Curlin at St. Gabriel Church in Charlotte June 23.

Rev. Mr. Gerard La Pointe was ordained by Bishop Curlin March 9 at St. Margaret Church in Maggie Valley.

He was featured in the March 16 issue Rev. Mr. Scott Gilfillan Rev. Mr. Scott Gilfillan lives in Conover with his wife, Kimberly, and their three children. In his leisure time, he enjoys being with his family, hiking, playing tennis and mountain biking.

Rev. Mr. Scott Gilfillan earned a bachelor of science degree in industrial engineering from Clemson University and credits toward a master’s of business administration degree at the University of West Virginia.

His educational background set the foundation for a career in various supervisory and managerial roles in manufacturing and engineering. After college, he worked for Butler Manufacturing Company, a leader in pre-engineered buildings.

For the past 10 years, he has been the general manager of a steel service center in Newton currently owned by Bethlehem Steel Company.

His leadership and volunteer activities include his assignment as a Guardian ad Litem advocate for more than 10 abused and neglected children. He is past president of the Newton-Conover Rotary Club and is a Junior Achievement consultant. At his home parish, St. Joseph Church in Newton, he is past chairman of the pastoral council and is currently involved in cantoring, RCIA, youth ministry and adult education.

Rev. Mr. Pierre Moock K’Briuh Rev. Mr. Pierre Moock K’Briuh was born into a Montagnard peasant pagan family in November 1937 at Di-Linh in the Lam Dong province of Vietnam. His life’s journey has taken him on a circuitous route from Southeast Asia to the United States where, in 1987, he came to settle in the Diocese of Charlotte.

He was baptized in May 1955 and confirmed a year later. On Jan. 25, 1970, he married in Banmethuot, Vietnam. He and his wife, Anna, went on to have eight children — though the family would be split apart for a time because of the turmoil in their native land.

Prior to the collapse of the former Republic of South Vietnam, Rev. Mr. K’Briuh was a civil servant at the Ministry for the Development of Ethnic Minorities. But he

Photo by Joann S. Keane

From left, Rev. Mr. Scott Gilfillan, Rev. Mr. James Mazur, Rev. Mr. Pierre K’Briuh, Rev. Mr. Mark Nash, Bishop William G. Curlin, Father Mauricio West, Rev. Mr. Alexander Lyerly, Rev. Mr. David King and Rev. Mr. Michael Zboyovski stop for a quick picture. was later sent to a “re-education camp” in Thai Nguyen, North Vietnam — a test of his faith and a strain on his family.

He escaped by boat in 1983 and settled in Sacramento, Calif., in hopes of a brighter future with his family in the United States. He moved to Greensboro in 1987, and in 1992 his wife and eight children joined him as immigrants to the United States. With nine grandchildren now in the K’Briuh family, a new generation is taking root in the United States.

They are parishioners at St. Mary Church in Greensboro.

Rev. Mr. David E. King A convert to the Catholic faith, Rev. Mr. David E. King came into the church at Easter of 1989. His family was diversified in its faith traditions — his mother was a Methodist, his father a Mormon.

One of three siblings, Rev. Mr. King is the uncle of eight nephews and nieces and eight grandnephews and grandnieces.

All of his family members live within 100 miles of one another; family get-togethers are frequent.

After Rev. Mr. King graduated from high school, he was drafted into the military. He joined the U.S. Army Intelligence service and served four years on active duty, including a year in Vietnam. During his service time, he traveled to many places and met many people of various cultures. Following his active service, he served nine years in the U.S. Army Reserves.

Rev. Mr. King earned an associate’s degree in accounting and graduated from Ashemore Business College. He has worked in the furniture industry and spent his career in logistics management.

A parishioner of Our Lady of the Highways Church in Thomasville, Rev. Mr. King made his Cursillo in 1989 and continued to grow in faith as he became a lector, eucharistic minister, faith formation teacher, RCIA instructor and team member, parish council member and Boy Scout troop leader. He has also brought a nephew into the Catholic Church through the RCIA process.

Rev. Mr. Alexander Lyerly

Rev. Mr. Alexander Lyerly was enrolled in the Diocese of Charlotte’s Lay Ministry program when he first began to contemplate entering the permanent diaconate.

A native of Banner Elk, the North Carolinian attended public schools, graduated from Lees-McRae College and from Appalachian State University before earning his doctorate in law from South Texas College of Law at Texas A & M University.

He practiced law in Houston, Texas, before eventually returning to North Carolina. In 1980, he was elected to the district court. He continues to be a district court judge.

Rev. Mr. Lyerly says the diaconate formation period has been a time of deep personal growth for both himself and his wife, Kate. Both look forward to continuing to serve God in more and more ways, as they remain active at their parish, St. Elizabeth Church in Boone. A native of Illinois, Kate is assistant director of admissions at Appalachian State University.

Rev. Mr. Alec and Kate Lyerly are both converts to the Catholic faith.

Rev. Mr. James Mazur Rev. Mr. James Mazur is a parishioner at Sacred Heart Church in Salisbury. He has been married to wife Colleen since 1991, and they have two sons, Michael and Stephen.

Rev. Mr. Mazur was raised in Ohio, in the Diocese of Youngstown. The product of Catholic grade and high schools, he went on to attend college at Youngstown State and graduated in 1982 with a bachelor of science degree.

With an interest in healing, he moved on to medical school at Ohio College of Podiatric Medicine in Cleveland, where he graduated in 1987 with a doctorate in podiatric medicine. He practiced his residency in the surgical residency program at the Foot Clinic of Youngstown.

As a doctor, he opened a private practice in Salisbury after settling in North Carolina. He is a partner on the board of directors of Carolina Primary and Urgent Care based in Statesville, and he is certified in foot surgery by the Fellow American College Foot and Ankle Surgeons.

Rev. Mr. Mark D. Nash Rev. Mr. Mark Nash is a native to the South, though he would spend years in his home state of Florida and in Texas before making his way to the Diocese of Charlotte in North Carolina.

Born in Daytona Beach, he attended Catholic elementary and high schools there. He would later graduate from the University of South Florida in Tampa with a bachelor of arts degree in special education.

Rev. Mr. Nash is a veteran of the U.S. Navy. He served as a hospital corpsman and attained the rank of Petty Officer Third Class.

With his degree in special education, he taught middle school for three years, and he met his future wife, Heidi, while they were both teaching in Key West. They married in December 1985 in Orlando. The Nashes now have two children, Justin and Sarah.

Nash moved to Dallas, Texas, in 1986 and two years later changed professions; he has been in the banking business ever since. He is now employed by First Union National Bank in the CMG-Corporate Trust Department.

Nash had entered the permanent diaconate program in Dallas, but in 1998 he and his family transferred to Charlotte.

He is a parishioner at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Charlotte, where he is a member of the Knights of Columbus Council #10505.

In his leisure time, Rev. Mr. Nash enjoys gardening, reading W.E.B. Griffin novels, and spending time at the beach.

Rev. Mr. Michael J. Zboyovski Jr. At an early age, Rev. Mr. Michael J. Zboyovski Jr. had dreams of being a medical missionary. Over time, he felt called toward the priesthood, but after four years of seminary he realized his gifts might be better utilized in the medical field.

Moved by the calling to heal, both Bishop William G. Curlin has appointed the newly ordained permanent deacons to the following parishes, effective July 10: Rev. Mr. Scott Gilfillan: St. Joseph, Newton (and prison ministry) Rev. Mr. Pierre K’Briuh: St. Mary, Greensboro (and ministry with Montagnard community) Rev. Mr. David King: Our Lady of the Highways, Thomasville (and ministry to Maryfield Manor) Rev. Mr. Alexander Lyerly: St. Elizabeth, Boone, and St. Lucien, Spruce Pine Rev. Mr. James Mazur: Sacred Heart, Salisbury (and pro-life ministry) Rev. Mr. Mark Nash: St. Thomas Aquinas, Charlotte (and ministry to Engaged Encounter) Rev. Mr. Mark Zboyovski: St.

1 0 The Catholic News & Herald

Diaconate Ordina-

July 6, 2001

Photo by Chris Keane

Photo by Joann S. Keane

Above: As part of the ordination, the diaconal candidates lay prostrate on the floor in prayer as a sign of total commitment.

The congregation kneels to join the candidates in prayer, invoking all the saints to ask the blessing of God upon them.

Above right: “The Blood of Christ.” Rev. Mr. David King distributes the Communion cup to a brother deacon.

Right: Ordained earlier this year, Rev. Mr. Jerry La Pointe participated in the ordination June 23.

Below right: “You are going to be assisting your brother priests in the giving of God’s marvelous gifts,” said Bishop William G. Curlin in his homily.

Below: The newly ordained deacons are vested with the stole, a sign of the deacon’s office of service, and the dalmatic, the outer garment used in the liturgy. Here, Rev. Mr. Carl Macero assists Rev. Mr. Mark Nash with vestments for the first time.

Photo by Joann S. Keane

Photo by Chris Keane

July 6, 2001

Diaconate Ordina-

The Catholic News & Herald 11

Photo by Chris Keane

Photo by Chris Keane

Above: The ordination rite concludes as the bishop greets the newly ordained deacons with the kiss of peace. This action emphasizes the deacon’s role as a co-minister in the bishop’s ministry to the Church. Here, the other deacons in attendance extend this sign of peace to the newly ordained as a symbol of their mutual love and responsibility.

Above left: Assisted by Father Anthony Marcaccio and Rev. Mr. Ben Wenning during the rite of ordination, Bishop William G. Curlin prays over the diaconal candidates.

Left: In addition to their ministerial duties, permanent deacons hold first and foremost their obligations to their wives [and families.] At left, a newly ordained Alexander Lyerly and his wife, Kate, process happily out of St. Gabriel Parish.

Photo by Joann S. Keane Below left: It is the deacon’s duty to proclaim the Gospel and preach its meaning by word and the example of his life.

Below left, Bishop Curlin presents Rev. Mr. Pierre K’Briuh with the book of the Gospels as a sign of the deacon’s mission to “Believe what you read, teach what you believe, practice what you teach.”

Below: In this profound gesture of ordination, each diaconal candidate kneels before the bishop. The bishop then imposes his hands upon the head of the candidate. This gesture comes to the church from the holy Scriptures.

Photo by Joann S. Keane

Photo by Joann S. Keane

Photo by Joann S. Keane

Photo by Chris Keane

1 2 The Catholic News & Herald

Around the Di-

Diocesan Schools Office recognized for exemplary

By JIMMY ROSTAR Associate Editor BOSTON — By providing teachers and parents in Catholic schools in western North Carolina with the technology to access its programs, the Diocese of Charlotte’s Education Office is being recognized nationally for its efforts to support educators and families.

The Catholic Schools Office of the Diocese of Charlotte is among 13 education offices from across the United States honored by the National Catholic Educational Association and Boston College for programs considered as national models for recruiting and retaining teachers.

“Web-Based Teacher Development and School Religion Programs” was developed by Mercy Sister Maureen Meehan, director of religious formation for the Diocese of Charlotte’s Catholic Schools Office. She and 12 other Catholic school officials presented their programs during the National Catholic Educational Association’s “Conversations in Excellence 2001: Teacher Recruitment and Retention” conference June 29-July 1 at Boston College.

Educators in elementary and secondary Catholic schools across the nation attended the conference.

“The goals of this program are to educate and support both parents and teachers with the Catholic education curricula by providing them direct access via our Web site to the diocesan Catholic Education Office and its programs,” said Sister Maureen of the diocesan program.

The program serves as a “distancelearning” model for parents and their children, Sister Maureen added.

“Parents, who are the primary educators of their children, have at their fingertips access to program descriptions that will better enable them to be in sync with their child’s learning,” she said. “Additionally, parents can use the information available through the Web site to reinforce what their child is learning in the classroom.”

Using the program together can lead

to a richer parent-child relationship, she said, “which can foster the faith life within the family.”

Teachers benefit from the program by having access to information designed to support the classroom experience.

“Modules, worksheets, activities and suggested prayer services are just a few of the samples of the wealth of information available to the educators,” Sister Maureen said. “These resources will enable the teachers to take ownership of the teaching situation and offer the students the best environment for learning.”

The Web site invites teachers to partake in the diocese’s religion certification program as well, which confers certificates in religious education.

The conference at Boston College was a part of the Selected Programs for Improving Catholic Education (SPICE) initiative, organized by the National Catholic Educational Association and Boston College to recognize and share information on successful Catholic educational programs.

“Through this conference, we hope to provide participants with practical methods and models for assisting Catholic schools with teacher recruitment and retention,” said Regina Haney, co-director of SPICE and executive director of the National Catholic Educational Association’s National Association of Boards of Catholic Education.

Including the presentations of the 13 programs, keynote speakers Thomas Groome, Janice Jackson and Michelle Doyle addressed issues important in the field of Catholic education.

Groome, who addressed teachers in the Diocese of Charlotte during an inservice session two years ago, represents the Institute of Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry at Boston College.

Jackson works in Boston College’s Lynch School of Education. Doyle is a member of the U.S. Department of Education.

A goal of SPICE and the Boston conference is to share information on programs such as the 13 honored so that

schools can adapt them for their needs.

Sister Maureen said the Diocese of Charlotte’s program is designed to reach a wide audience.

“Teachers in any school environment could very well adapt this program because it is age appropriate and culturally diverse,” she said. “The educator can access the information and tailor it to the children in their school setting, be it inner city, rural, urban and so forth.

“For example, the Social Justice program might be adapted for the children in the inner city to reflect the needs of the neighborhood poor as opposed to a rural setting, which might reflect the needs of the farm worker.”

Contact Associate Editor Jimmy Rostar by calling (704) 370-3334 or e-mail jtrostar@charlottediocese.org

July 6, 2001

Knights give millions of dollars, hours to charity NEW HAVEN, Conn. (CNS) — Knights of Columbus in the United States last year raised and donated to charity more than $116 million and volunteered more than 56.7 million hours of service, the Catholic men’s organization reported.

Results of the Knights’ annual survey of fraternal activity showed an increase from the previous year in time and money donated. In 1999 Knights reported raising and donating $108.9 million and volunteering 55.3 million hours of service.

The figures are based on reports of fraternal activity received from approximately 70 percent of local and state units of the Knights of Columbus.

The Knights have about 1.6 million members in 12,000 local units in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, the Caribbean and Pacific rim.

July 6, 2001

The Catholic News & Herald 13

1 4 The Catholic News & Herald Book Review

Book looks into Salvadorans’

Reviewed by Bob Zyskowski Catholic News Service We whose lives are not touched directly by the violence and death of war, who never learned that our sons were killed in battle, who never watched as family or neighbor died from bombs or bullets, have been spared.

While the movie “Saving Private Ryan” captured the futile deaths of sol-

THE WEIGHT OF ALL THINGS, by Sandra Benitez. Hyperion (New York, 2000). 241 pp., $22.95. diers, its setting in a war against an evil enemy allows deaths as useless as were many of those during World War II to be ennobled and honored. In contrast, Sandra Benitez takes us inside El Salvador’s 1979-1990 civil war, a war for which there is no redeeming value, no noble cause.

In “The Weight of All Things,” many of Benitez’s characters die terribly, brutally and for nothing. Whether killed by the soldiers of their own nation, by guerrillas, by so-called “security forces” or even from across the border by Honduran forces, Salvadorans die — and no one gains. Not the army, not the revolutionaries, and certainly not the poor, subsistence-level campesinos who are caught in the middle between armed combatants.

We need to know about El Salvador’s war because it happened on our watch, almost under our noses — some would say almost with U.S. blessing. Forces trained at the U.S. Army’s School of the Americas were found to be involved in the deaths of four American women missionaries in El Salvador, in the murder of six Jesuit priests and their housekeeper and her daughter at Central American University in El Salvador, and in the daylight shooting to death of Archbishop Oscar Romero of San Salvador as he presided at Mass.

Benitez grew up in Mexico and El Salvador, the daughter of an Americandiplomat father and Puerto Rican mother.

Though she had moved to the United States by the time the revolution began,

July 6, 2001

Read-

she lost four friends because of it, and her brother-in-law was kidnapped, then fled El Salvador.

She uses the real-life massacre of defenseless mourners at Archbishop Romero’s March 30, 1980, funeral as the jumping-off point for her work of fiction.

But as in all good novels, the fiction in “The Weight of All Things” works because Benitez describes reality — from the pungent, sweet-yet-sour smell of the Salvadoran landscape to the strengthsapping heat of the climate to the deep, ingrained, unshakable spirituality of the Salvadoran peasants.

The people’s love of Archbishop Romero is depicted as coming as easily as their belief that prayers are answered, that God and especially Mary the Mother of God play active roles in their lives. Trust and belief in Mary’s comforting, watchful protection is not diminished but in fact grows despite the reality of death all around.

That is something Benitez never questions, never accuses, never puts on trial. Because, while the reality of the bullets through the head, the torture and the orphans is real and factual, the faith of the people is real, too.

Following the fictional journey of a 9-year-old boy orphaned by the bullets of the Romero funeral massacre will enlighten you at least at a literary level with the reality of this tiny Central American country’s civil war. It may move your own heart. Like little Nicolas de la Virgen Veras in the story, you too may want to throw in the river every rifle that causes such pain, not just in El Salvador but in so many parts of the world.

But this beautifully written story will put you in touch with a dimension of religious belief that challenges even the most faithful of churchgoers and Gospel followers: In the face of such terrible evil, unable to control any facet of life, could you and I have such great faith?

Zyskowski is associate publisher and general manager of The Catholic Spirit, newspaper of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Word to Life

July 8, Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Cycle B Readings: 1) Isaiah 66:10-14c Psalm 66:1-7, 16, 20 2) Galatians 6:14-18 3) Gospel: Luke 10:1-12, 17-20

By Beverly Corzine Catholic News Service Late one summer evening the clanging of swordplay reverberated in the next room. Always a pushover for a good period movie, I asked my husband what he was watching. “Gladiator” was his answer. As I began to watch the ingeniously equipped legions prepare for battle with their catapults and other war machines, I thought of Miss Marjorie Davis, my high school Latin teacher.

Miss Davis was old in the ’50s. Her finger-waved hairstyle was the reflection of a silent movie star of the 1920s. She wore gaudy gem-cluttered rings, big beautiful and ornate gold bracelets, and ankle-length dresses. However, it only took a few days of my sophomore year to learn that the image of a faded film star of long ago was an illusion because our Latin teacher’s feet were firmly planted in the era of the Caesars.

Each year on the Ides of March we donned togas and black armbands and mourned the assassination of Julius Caesar. During our translating of Caesar’s Gallic War commentaries, each of us in the class suspected that Miss Davis knew more about waging war and the organization of the Roman legions than Julius

Caesar. Moreover, it became quite clear that our proficiency in the Latin language and the Roman military should be able to pass the scrutiny of the great general himself.

On the other hand, Miss Davis taught us more than the Latin language and Roman ingenuity; she believed that we should be keenly interested in one of history’s great ironies: How Christianity changed the empire.

We soon discovered that not only did Miss Davis know the Caesars, she also knew St. Paul and expected that when we read his letters at church we should understand his world.

She taught us about the unseen characters who were generations removed from Sts. Peter and Paul. They were the citizens of the Roman world that met, prayed, broke bread, shared and preserved the teachings of Jesus, and many times they themselves literally embraced his cross.

Miss Marjorie Davis was not a filmmaker, but she possessed the gift of making the Roman world and its language come alive for her students so that they would understand something of the world that shaped their faith and the faith that shaped the world.

QUESTION: Though we often lament the secularism of our age, we often forget the temptations and trying circumstances of other ages in which the Gospel has prospered. What can we learn from the courage of the early church?

Weekly Scripture Readings for the week of July 8-14, 2001 Sunday, Isaiah 66:10-14c, Galatians 6:14-18, Luke 10:1-12, 17-20; Monday, Genesis 28:10-22a, Matthew 9:18-26; Tuesday, Genesis 32:23-33, Matthew 9:3238; Wednesday (St. Benedict), Genesis 41:55-57; 42:5-7a, 17-24a, Matthew 10:1-7; Thursday, Genesis 44:18-21, 23b-29; 45:1-5; Matthew 10:7-15; Friday (St. Henry), Genesis 46:1-7, 28-30, Matthew 10:16-23; Saturday (Bl. Kateri Tekakwitha), Genesis 49:29-33; 50:15-24; Matthew 10:24-33 Readings for the week of July 15-21, 2001 Sunday, Deuteronomy 30:10-14, Colossians 1:15-20, Luke 10:25-37; Monday (Our Lady of Mt. Carmel), Exodus 1:8-14, 22, Matthew 10:34—11:1; Tuesday, Exodus 2:1-15a, Matthew 11:20-24; Wednesday, Exodus 3:1-6, 9-12, Matthew 11:25-27; Thursday, Exodus 3:11-20, Matthew 11:28-30; Friday, Exodus 11:10—12:14; Matthew 12:1-8; Saturday (St. Lawrence of Brindisi), Exodus 12:37-42, Mat-

July 6, 2001

Entertain-

MOVIE REVIEW

“A.I. Artificial Intelligence” remarkable

By Gerri Pare Catholic News Service NEW YORK (CNS) — Remarkable in many ways, Steven Spielberg’s “A.I. Artificial Intelligence” (Warner Bros.) is a visual stunner. The provocative issues it raises, however, hover as a mist without being truly developed.

Perhaps the difficulty Spielberg had was in writing the screenplay, his first since 1977’s “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” He tries to meld his preference for warmth and sentiment with the chilly, cerebral sensibility of the late director Stanley Kubrick, who worked on the movie for years before asking Spielberg to direct it.

And so we have a visual style reminiscent of many Kubrick movies and his dark foreboding tone, yet the story is drenched in Spielbergian childlike emotion and a would-be boy’s search for love.

Nonetheless, it has the summer popcorn movies beat by miles as it takes viewers to a future after polar ice caps have melted and flooded coastal cities. Everything is rationed, especially having children, and the only child of Henry (Sam Robards) and Monica Swinton (Frances O’Connor) languishes in cryogenic suspension with a terminal illness.

Henry’s boss (William Hurt) and his team, however, have come up with the first

robot boy who can be programmed to actually love his adoptive parents. Named David (Haley Joel Osment), the robot is given to the Swintons and after initial reluctance, Monica opts to connect the emotional circuitry in David’s interior that will make him love her unconditionally. The happy mother-“son” bonding is altered for the worse, however, when the Swintons’ real son (Jake Thomas) recovers and returns home, sparking jealousy — and David is seen as a threat.

Abandoned in a forest, the distraught David remembers hearing the story of Pinocchio wanting to become a real boy and looks for the Blue Fairy so he, too, will be real and Mommy will take him back.

Now trying to survive in a nightmarish world where humans enjoy destroying robots, David meets robot Gigolo Joe (Jude Law) as they try to evade vicious robot killers and find the Blue Fairy that David is convinced exists. Their odyssey is harrowing — and only one survives — into the far distant future where dreams might come true, if only for a day.

Strange and surreal, “A.I.” dangles the issues of humanity clashing with technology, men playing God and the problematic nature of love. But these are themes that float above rather than become ideas which take form and are given a solid direction in

the narrative.

Both a heart-tugging fairy tale and a pitch-black fantasy, the film suffers from its mood swings and the ending is a wispy one indeed. One minute you question what Gigolo Joe adds to the story (plot holes, mostly) and the next minute you are touched by David’s complete faith in the power of prayer (to a statue of the Blue Fairy) to make his wish come true. Tawdriness and innocence sure make an odd couple.

The exceptional imagery, however, holds the viewer, and it’s hard to resist comparing scenes to other Kubrick and Spielberg films. The overlit modern settings and unusual angles seem to be a tribute to Kubrick’s distinctive style while the movie’s wide sentimental streak is true to Spielberg’s penchant for films from the heart.

In the end, heightened expectations may leave audiences disappointed that “A.I.” didn’t deliver in every single respect, although Osment made a soulful David and

The Catholic News & Herald 15

the visuals were extraordinary.

“A.I.” certainly offers food for thought as bioethicists become increasingly challenged by cloning, genetic engineering and super-sophisticated technology that mimics the human mind in sometimes disturbing ways.

Due to stylized violence to robots, some sexual innuendo and minimal profanity, 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.

Pare is director of the U.S. Catholic Conference Office for Film and Broadcasting.

CNS photo from 20th Century Fox

Scene from film ‘Dr. Dolittle 2’ Eddie Murphy stars in a scene from the movie “Dr. Dolittle 2.” The U.S. Catholic Conference classification is A-II — adults and adolescents.

The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG — parental guidance suggested.

1 6 The Catholic News & Herald

The Pope Speaks

POPE JOHN PAUL II

Pope says movements can enrich priests, must not alienate them B John Norton y

July 6, 2001

Editorials & Col-

Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — While priests can be spiritually enriched by associating with one of the many new church movements, they must not alienate themselves from the broader church, Pope John Paul II said.

It is important that the participation of priests, deacons or seminarians in church movements does not result “in a closure that is as presumptuous as it is restricted,” the pope said in a message to a June 26-29 meeting of church movements.

U.S. Cardinal J. Francis Stafford, president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, read the message June 27 to some 1,300 priest participants in the gathering, organized by the Focolare Movement and held at the group’s headquarters outside Rome. A copy of the pope’s text was released at the Vatican.

The pope said participation in church movements can give priests the “heat and light” they need to grow as fervent Christians, “attentive to church discipline” and in “ever stronger faithfulness to their legitimate pastors.”

Especially those who discover their priestly vocations in church movements will draw on the groups as a “source of assistance and support in their path of formation,” he said.

But priests must guard against feeling their movement is an objectively superior path of Christian life, the pope said.

Priests’ participation in movements “must open their spirit to acceptance, respect and appreciation of other ways of participation of the faithful in fellow church movements, pushing them to be always men of communion, ‘pastors of the whole,”’ he said.

Addressing another concern, he warned priests against allowing their distinctive priestly identity to be “obscured or progressively assimilated into a lay state” through their participation in movements.

The pope said priests have a unique ministerial contribution to make, which he said may even be decisive in helping the largely lay groups achieve “ecclesial maturity.”

Organizers said meeting participants came from 44 countries and included Orthodox and Protestant clergy. In addition to members of the Focolare Movement, speakers included representatives of the Sant’Egidio Community, Communion and Liberation, the Neocatechumal Way, Schoenstatt and the Renewal in the Spirit movement.

Celebrating Mass for the meeting’s opening and closing were, respectively, Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, prefect of the Congregation for Clergy, and Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.

Is Instant Messaging Real Communication?

We’re really big on rapid communication these days: cell phones, e-mail and, quickest of all, the instant message or IM — a little bit of computer magic that lets two people pass notes back and forth on their computers.

Instant messages are a lot like the notes kids used to pass in the back of class. The only difference is that the two people don’t need to be in the same room or even the same state or country.

The term “instant message” is bogus on two counts.

First, it may be quick, but the communication is hardly instant. One person types six or eight words, and clicks “send.”

Then he waits, while the other participant types a reply. IM exchanges are unbearably slow.

Second, there often isn’t much message inside the IM. You really can’t share much real information in an IM. Besides which, frequently the participant in an IM conversation actually has three or more exchanges going on, each in a different window, while he works on his English homework. The pace makes reflection almost impossible.

Psychological research tells us some interesting things about how people communicate. It turns out that the words we speak only convey about 20 percent of the information that goes back and forth during a conversation. The tone of your voice, the expressions on your face and the body language that just pours out of you carry far more information than the words themselves.

Have you ever been with an obviously angry friend — her face red, breathing shallow and fast, her fists clenched — who said, “No, I’m not angry, it doesn’t bother me at all.”

Did you believe her?

Actions speak louder than words. Most of us don’t believe what people say if it doesn’t fit with how they’re acting.

With the IM all you have are the words. None of the other information is there.

A phenomenon takes place with IMs that I call “Internet hypnosis.” Exchanging IMs over a period of hours, you

Guest Column FATHER JOHN AURILIA, OFM Cap. Guest Columnist into a nearby farmhouse and asked the attractive lady who answered the door if they could spend the night. “I realize it’s terrible weather out here, and I have this huge house all to myself, but I’m recently widowed,” she explained, “and I’m afraid the neighbors will talk if I let you stay in my house.”

“Don’t worry,” Jack said. “We’ll be happy to sleep in the barn, and if the weather breaks, we’ll be gone at first light.” The lady agreed, and the two men found their way to the barn and settled in for the night. Morning came, the weather had cleared, and they got on their way and enjoyed a great weekend of skiing.

About nine months later, Jack got an unexpected letter from an attorney. It took him a few minutes to figure it out, but he finally determined that it was from the attorney of that attractive widow he met on the ski weekend. He dropped in on his friend Bob and asked, “Bob, do you remember that good-looking widow from the farm we stayed at on our ski holiday up north?” he asked. “Yes, I do.” “Did you happen to get up in the middle of the night, go up to the house, and pay her a visit?” “Yes,” Bob said, a little embarrassed about being found out. “I have to admit that I did.”

“And did you happen to use my name instead of telling her your name?” Bob’s face turned red and he said, “Yeah, sorry buddy, I’m afraid I did. Why do you ask?”

Jack replied: “She just died and left me everything.”

And you thought you knew the ending. Did you not? What is your spiritual lifestyle? Do you have one?

Coming of Age CHRISTOPHER CARSTENS CNS Columnist can quickly develop a sense that you know this other person deeply and that the other person knows you better and more deeply than anyone you’ve ever met.

Next, you start imagining that you’ve found your perfect match, better than anybody in your real life.

The sense of intimacy comes because you “tell” things to strangers over IMs that you never would tell friends you had to see in school every day.

Because you share secrets, it feels as though you have formed a special bond.

When people “fall in love” over the Internet with someone they’ve never met, they’re almost always in love with someone who doesn’t exist.

Remember, all you have are the words, not the rest of the information about the person. The other 80 percent of the person you think is there is made up in your own mind.

When people finally meet these Internet heartthrobs face to face, they’re often disappointed. The person they imagined was clever, kind and considerate may be all of those things — or none of them.

Never give your heart to somebody you’ve never met.

It’s a setup for a heartbreak.

Spiritual lifestyles When we hear about spiritual life, we usually identify that as fuzzy, formless and amorphous. Not so. Spiritual lifestyle has a definite shape and form. As there is a variety of spiritual gifts, so there is a variety of spiritual lifestyles.

The Gospel points out very sharply the difference between Peter and John the Evangelist, Matthew and Luke. Definitely Isaiah’s power differs from Jeremiah’s struggle. The doubts of Thomas are in contrast, not in opposition, with John the Baptizer, “the wild man in the wilderness.” John’s spiritual lifestyle is flamboyant. As we might say in our slang, it is an “in your face” style. Jesus’ spiritual lifestyle is that of the Good Shepherd. As we might say, “in your heart.”

There are always two ways of looking at reality: my way and the wrong way. A businessman notorious for his ruthlessness announced to Mark Twain, “Before I die, I mean to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. I will climb Mount Sinai and read the Ten Commandments aloud at the top.” Mark Twain replied: “I have a better idea. You could stay home in Boston and keep them.”

How do we deal with sin in our spiritual journey? It all depends on our lifestyle. Two woebegone Talmudic students came to their rabbi and made a shameful confession. “Rabbi, we have committed a sin.” A sin? What kind of sin? They replied: “We looked with lust upon a woman.” “May God forgive you,” cried the rabbi. “This is indeed a serious transgression.”

The students humbly asked what can be done to atone.

The rabbi said: “Well, if you sincerely seek penance, I order you to put peas into your shoes and walk about that way for 10 days.

Perhaps that will teach you not to sin again.”

The two young men went home and did as the rabbi had ordered them. A few days later, the penitents met on the street.

One of hobbling painfully, but the other walked easily.

“Is this the way to obey the rabbi?” asked the first student reproachfully. “I see you ignored his injunction to put peas into your shoes.”

The other replied, “I didn’t ignore him at all. I just cooked them first.”

Just a different lifestyle, is it not?

Now, let’s see how different views and lifestyles can play real tricks on us. Here is a story which you may stop reading if you find it offensive.

Jack decided to go skiing with his rich buddy, Bob. They loaded up Jack’s minivan and headed north. After driving for a few hours, they got caught in a terrible blizzard. They pulled

July 6, 2001

Editorials & Col-

Light One Candle MSGR. JIM LISANTE Guest Columnist

which came from his heart and soul.

This man is deeply devoted to sharing his truth. His writing, his website, his speeches and his energies are uniformly devoted toward making the case that life should be treasured; that every abortion ends a unique life; and that as a civilized people we can do better.

As a Catholic priest, I found listening to this Jewish man share his ideas about the sanctity of all human life illuminating. His courage and conviction reminded me of a similar conversation I had with an actor friend who works on soap operas. He recently told me his convictions about life and many of his views echoed Ben Stein’s. But, he said, he could never say these things publicly. It would, he was sure, ruin all his chances for greater success with the more liberal elements of the media.

Two public figures, both with solid thoughts about the need to protect innocent and defenseless human life.

One speaks out without apology, the other remains publicly silent. Their different approaches reminded me of the statesman Edmund Burke and his noted insight that All that is necessary for evil to triumph in our world, is for good people to do nothing. However large or small the audience, each of us has an obligation to speak the truth. We owe it to ourselves, our neighbors and future generations. We owe it to God. As biblical scholarship advanced, it became clear that this final doxology was inserted later and was not an authentic part of the Scripture text.

Protestant Bibles since the King James version ordinarily eliminate the sentence, mentioning it at most in a footnote as an inauthentic addition to the biblical text or as a clause found in earlier or “some late manuscripts” (New International Version).

No Bible translations under Catholic auspices contain this conclusion to the Lord’s Prayer.

Incense in church Q. I am writing concerning your column on incense in church. I am another person who gets sick when I’m around it and was disappointed to learn from you that there is no nonallergic incense.

Many people find they cannot stay for Mass when the priest uses incense, causing them to miss even Easter and Christmas celebrations. I have two suggestions that might help my family and others who suffer from allergies.

—Would it be possible to list in the bulletin which Masses will have incense the following Sunday?

—Could a parish have an incense-free Mass early in the morning, before incense fills the church?

Thanks for letting me voice my suggestions.

A. The number of people who wrote to me after that column, all with similar problems, surprised me, even though I encountered it several times as pastor. Clearly, more than a few people are affected, some seriously, by heavy clouds of incense during the liturgy.

For most of us, of course, it’s not a problem. For those who suffer from this allergy, however, it can be a major spiritual concern, depending, of course, on liturgical customs in their parishes.

I’m not sure what can be done about it, but your suggestions might help priests who are sensitive to the problem. Another reader recognized the value of incense, but asked: Is it necessary to cloud the whole church? It would much improve the situation, she suggested, if less incense were burned.

I’m grateful to the readers who brought this more fully to my attention. At least their thoughts

Win Ben Stein’s Values Ben Stein’s public career and public service have spanned decades. As the gifted son of presidential counsel Herb Stein, Ben was a noted attorney (a graduate of Yale) who went to work as a speechwriter at the White House of President Richard Nixon.

Yet, his greatest public fame has not come from his legal skills or speechwriting abilities. No, he was “discovered” for his minor role as an actor in the film “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.” He was memorable playing a teacher attempting to instruct a bored group of teens. Thus began an acting career which continues, successfully, to this day. He went on to appear in “Ghostbusters II,” “The Mask” and “Dave,” among other films, and played another teacher as a regular on the delightful television series “The Wonder Years.” His current television series, “Win Ben Stein’s Money,” is seen on Comedy Central. He is also a prolific writer of books and magazine pieces.

Ben Stein is a person who believes in speaking his truth plainly and directly. I interviewed him recently for our television program “Christopher Closeup.” He acknowledges that he has been richly blessed in life. But he and his wife, Alexandra, had an emptiness that position, money and success couldn’t fill. That’s when they decided to adopt their son Tommy. The presence of this child in their lives has changed everything. Stein details the experience in his book “Tommy and Me — The Making of a Dad.” He clearly finds the privilege of parenting as close as you get to experiencing a little bit of heaven right here on earth.

His love for Tommy, and children in general, is also expressed through his energetic opposition to abortion. He thanks God that his beloved son was given the chance to live and be loved. Ben admits that being an unapologetic pro-lifer in the Hollywood community has, at times, made him unpopular. But he doesn’t seem to care. Not long ago he was asked to give a speech. To reward his entertaining presentation, he was offered an honorarium. Ben suggested they make a donation instead to the National Right to Life Committee. It was not a very welcome suggestion, but one

Question Corner FATHER JOHN DIETZEN CNS Columnist How the Our Father Ends Q. Why does the Catholic Church omit the last words of the Our Father, “For thine is the kingdom ...” and so on? I like to use the complete prayer when I say it privately.

Is this wrong?

A. No, there’s nothing wrong with that prayer. In fact, Catholics in many other parts of the world regularly include this conclusion to the Lord’s Prayer in their public liturgies and devotions. If it helps, go ahead and use it.

The prayer to which you refer became part of the liturgy very early in the Christian era, probably because a similar prayer had been common in their Jewish heritage for centuries. We, of course, continue that tradition when we recite the same prayer together at Mass shortly after the Our Father.

Sometime during the centuries before the printing press, when the Scriptures still were copied by hand, some perhaps overzealous copier(s) added these words alongside the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew (6:9-13).

They constitute what is called a “gloss” — a marginal interpretation or pious note inserted alongside the text, possibly just to break the monotony of a tedious job. Some such glosses, including this one, later found their way into the Gospel text itself.

This was the situation when the King James Authorized English version was published in 1611. Since Protestants used this translation of the Bible for more than 300 years, and since it included this one-sentence addition to the Lord’s Prayer, the addition became part of what was sometimes called the Protestant Our Father.

The Catholic News & Herald 17

The Bottom Line Antoinette Bosco CNS Columnist A Priest Who Underscores Human Rights In late spring we heard that the United States lost its position on the U.N. Human Rights Commission.

That was disturbing news, and many people I spoke to expressed confusion and anger. After all, we consider ourselves one of the great leaders in human rights. Are we mistaken?

To get a clear picture of where we and other countries of the world stand when it comes to human rights, I strongly recommend a reflective reading of “The Mobilization of Shame” (Yale University Press), written by Jesuit Father Robert F. Drinan. This priest — a professor of law at Georgetown University and a former congressman from Massachusetts — now has put a spotlight on what he calls a “breathtaking” vision for the world that emerged from World War II: the formation of the United Nations, dedicated to working for “human rights and fundamental freedom for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion.”

Looking to the future, he presents an almost prophetic warning that if the self-interest of nations, which has eroded that 56-year-old dream, continues, abuses of human rights will worsen.

The first power of Father Drinan’s book is to remind us of the language agreed upon when 48 nations of the world, mourning the 30 million-plus casualties of World War II, came together and pledged “to initiate a worldwide crusade” to protect human rights.

In forming a United Nations, which 152 more countries subsequently joined, these 48 founding nations agreed to be partners in achieving “international cooperation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural or humanitarian character.”

Their goal would be “prompting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedom for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion.”

The idea of human rights for all is a “seminal concept” of the U.N. charter, Father Drinan reminds us.

But in reading on, I felt shame at facing the facts about my own country: that U.S. backing of human rights has been spotty, that we have a track record of not cooperating in some major international human rights efforts. For example, only two nations have not ratified the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child: the United States and Somalia.

We are the only Western nation still maintaining a death penalty, and we are the world leader in executing those who were juveniles when they committed their crime. We also still refuse to ratify a statute for an international criminal court.

As Father Drinan points out, we have the blueprint for continuing to make progress in worldwide human rights, but so much work still has to be done.

He points out the worldwide need to gain rights for children, women, prisoners; the need to recognize the right of all to food and religious freedom; and the need to end torture and cruel and inhuman treatment, anywhere and everywhere.

Father Drinan ends with a quote from Solon, the ancient Athenian jurist: “Justice will not come until those who are not hurt feel just as indignant as those who are.” This book comforts and disturbs, and for this, I suggest, it must be read.

1 8 The Catholic News & Herald

ABORTION, from page 4 tissue stop, cell growth stops as well. While estrogen levels increase 2,000 percent during the first trimester, other hormones turn off that growth during the third trimester.

In the case of an induced abortion, those hormones do not stop the continued estrogen increase, thus keeping women exposed to that prolonged hormonal increase for a longer period of time. In effect, estrogen becomes a carcinogen and increases the cancer risk in the breast tissue, Brind said.

“The effect of carcinogens is to mutate the DNA so that the cells now think that they’re somebody else and are not really a part of your body,” Brind said. “They’re ready to go into business for themselves.”

Brind said there is an important difference in cancer risk when comparing induced abortions to spontaneous abortions, or miscarriages.

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Church Photographer, Portrait Sales: 100% employee-owned Lifetouch Church Directories and Portraits is expanding teams in metropolitan Charlotte and surrounding counties to service area churches. Must be able to work independently and as a team member, be creative, embrace new ideas, and be able to work afternoons, evenings, and Saturdays. Paid training, excellent benefits. Send resume to stacmc@ prodigy.net, or call Stacey at (704)596-9265.

Elder Ministry, Regional Coordinator: Diocesan Catholic Social Services position for Morganton/Hickory area. Team member to develop elder programs, activities; engage in ecumenical cooperation on elder issues; provide on-site assistance to parishes within designated region. Bachelor’s degree desired. Extensive travel required throughout diocese. 30 hours per week. $21-$24K plus full benefits. Send inquiries/resume to: Sandra Breakfield, Catholic Social Services, 1123 S. Church St., Charlotte, NC 28203-4003. Deadline: July 9th.

Organist: 1,200-member parish seeks experienced organist for two Masses each Sunday and one Wednesday night choir rehearsal. Must demonstrate ability to lead congregational singing, accompany choral anthems and soloist, and play prelude/postlude. Familiarity with Roman Catholic liturgy is not a requirement.

Organist will report directly to the Director of Music Ministries. Starting date is August 26.

Deadline for application is July 20. To apply, send letter of application, resume, and contact

July 6, 2001

Around the Di“It’s the nature of the pregnancy itself,” he said. “There is something (biologically) wrong with the pregnancy that’s going to abort spontaneously.

Obviously, that’s why it has to abort.

“The difference — that we know for sure and have known for decades now — in the hormones is mirrored in the difference that we see in epidemiological studies, where we compare women with breast cancer and women who don’t have breast cancer and look for differences in their reproductive history.”

Most miscarriages are the result of inadequate production of the hormone progesterone, which is created by estrogen. Because progesterone production is low, so is estrogen production.

In his research, Brind found data pointing to the abortion-breast cancer link dating back to 1957. He said while members the medical community have countered such research with “inappropriate statistics” refuting the link, he has also encountered physicians and

information for 3 references to: Organist Search Committee, Sacred Heart Catholic Church, 4 Brian Berg Lane, Brevard, NC 28712.

Parish Music Minister: St. Joseph, Kannapolis, seeking dedicated, spiritual leader for music ministry program. Would like to have music teacher/ instructor with church experience and music degree. Knowledge and familiarity with choral and instrumental programs desirable. Beginning hours, part-time (5-10 hours per week). Send resume and salary requirements to: St. Joseph Catholic Church, Attn: Music Ministry Position, 108 St. Joseph St., Kannapolis, NC 28203. For information, (704)932-4607 or fax:(704)932-0566.

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Secretary: Diocesan Office of Development needs part-time secretary (21 hours per week - flexible). Requirements include: high school graduate who is computer literate with training in MS Word and MS Access; Raiser’s Edge by Blackbaud helpful, but not required. Responsibilities include: standard office tasks such as data entry, word processing, fielding phone calls, copying/ collating, etc. Please submit resume by July 20th to Barbara Gaddy, Office of Development, 1123 South Church St., Charlotte, NC 28203.

Teachers: Immaculate Heart of Mary School has openings for the following positions for the 20012001 school year: middle school science teacher

others who are beginning to acknowledge the truth of the studies and let patients know of the long-term health risks involved following induced abortions.

After a visit to Greensboro in 1998 to address the North Carolina Right to Life Conference, Brind met a former classmate who lived in Greensboro and had heard about his address. A physician who performs abortions, the classmate told Brind that he had heard about the cancer report and was reconsidering his stance on the issue.

“Who would think that at a ... Right to Life convention, you would give a talk that the people who actually do the abortions are going to hear about and are going to care about,” Brind said.

“But they do. They are listening. Our hard work is paying off.”

Contact Associate Editor Jimmy Rostar by calling (704) 370-3334 or e-mail jtrostar@charlottediocese.org

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Rates: $.50/word per issue ($10 minimum per issue) Deadline: 12 noon Wednesday, 9 days before publication date How to order: Ads may be faxed to (704) 370-3382 or mailed to: Cindi Feerick, The Catholic News & Herald, 1123 S. Church St., Charlotte, NC 28203.

Payment: Ads may be pre-paid or billed. For information, call (704) 370-3332. (part-time position is possible), and middle school art teacher/teacher assistant. Interested certified teachers may contact Ned Forney, principal, 605 Barbee Avenue, High Point, NC 27262; call 336887-2613, or fax 336-884-1849.

Teachers: 4th Grade; MS Language Arts; MS Social Studies/Religion; part-time PE (K-5); parttime Athletic Director beginning August 9, 2001.

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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)7224944. Full-time position to direct and develop Middle/High School and Young Adult Ministries that are relational, holistic, developmental, ministerial, goal-centered with a multi-dimensional approach to youth ministry. Must work in harmonious collaboration with parish personnel, parents, many volunteers and youth. Must also work closely with DRE (Director of Religious Education) in areas of administration. Must have computer and office skills. This parish is a traditional, downtown parish with 1200 families and is demographically and ethnically diverse. Qualifications: Active, practicing Catholic in good standing with the Church. Experience in parish youth min-

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Send resume and references to: Fr. Allan J. McDonald at above address.

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July 6, 2001

Around the Di-

Faith celebrated with Forty Hours Devotion

By REV. MR. GERALD POTKAY Correspondent REIDSVILLE — During a prayerful period known as the Forty Hours Devotion, parishioners at Holy Infant Church had the opportunity to reflect on their love for Jesus and carry on a centuries-old tradition of the church.

The rudiments of the exposition and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament can be found in the early Middle Ages. The faithful began falling away from frequent reception of the Eucharist due to convictions of personal unworthiness. Confessions were often harsh and generally reserved for the dying.

Then, too, the faithful felt alienated from the Mass due to an atmosphere of coldness expressed by the priest’s back to the people and the separation by railings and barriers of language.

Feeling excluded from the eucharistic sacrifice, there arose a desire to focus eyes and hearts upon the host as a means of fostering interior communion with Jesus in the mystery of the “real presence.” This stems from custom, originating in the 13th century, of the priest elevating the bread and the wine after consecration.

To fulfill their desire to “see” the Risen Lord, the faithful would run from church to church to look at the elevated consecrated host and cup during Mass in the belief that it would provide physical and spiritual benefits. Eventually, this led to the spread of simple devotions that used local language and included the warmth of hymns and prayers, which fulfilled the needs of the people while centering on the adoration and worship of the Blessed Sacrament.

The Forty Hours Devotion is a practice that continues the late medieval eucharistic devotions connected with the sacred Triduum of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday. Devotions spread rapidly throughout Europe and, according to St. Augustine, represents the length of time that Jesus would have laid in his tomb.

Today, the faithful are encouraged by the church to “watch one hour” with Christ. This is to extend the communion with Christ whom the faithful have received in the Eucharist. The devotion itself should start with a gesture of profound adoration (genuflection or bow). Asking the Holy Spirit to fill their hearts with his gift of love and praise, the faithful invoke Mary, the angels or saints to assist in uniting their interior being with the divine. In the silence of their hearts they love,

praise and thank God for being who he is — for God says: “Be still and know that I am God.” (Ps 46) The faithful can say the rosary, favorite prayers, or just repeat a mantra like “Jesus, I love you” over and over again to ready their hearts for the presence of the Risen Lord. Much like basking in the sun, it is a time to soak up the Word of God who speaks the language of silence.

Should one become distracted, a return to the mantra allows one to sink back into the divine presence.

The hour ends with thanksgiving for all that the God has done or will do on one’s behalf. Closure is with a profound gesture of profound adoration.

According to Father Christopher Davis, parochial administrator at Holy Infant Church, the weekend of June 22-24 is the ideal time for a Forty Hours Devotion at the parish, because it incorporates the feasts of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Birth of John the Baptist, as well as the 39th anniversary of the dedication of Holy Infant.

At Mass, in honor of the Sacred Heart, which initiated these Forty Hours, Father Eric Kowolski from Our Lady of Grace Church in Greensboro, who concelebrated with Father Davis, told of how this type of devotion was a yearly observance but has since fallen into disuse. But he hopes that there will be a resurgence and the Forty Hours will once again become the norm for the church.

Of those offering an hour of adoration are Mary Faint, who says this particular devotion brings her a “closeness to Jesus” she cannot find anywhere else but in the Eucharist.

Carol Leech states: “I am here because the real presence of Jesus is here.

Now I can give back an hour to honor and thank him for all he did for us.”

Danny Briggs tells of how little time he really finds to appropriately reflect on life and the eternal. He is using this time to “find the meaning of things — like why my Mom is suffering with cancer.”

In all, there are many parishioners who take the hour to reflect on God and his goodness. This is why the parish of Holy Infant has come together for these Forty Hours: “To kneel or sit still before the ‘Real Presence of Jesus’ in order to totally love Him in the si-

Eucharistic ARDEN — St. Barnabas Church, 109 Crescent Hill Dr., hosts Eucharistic adoration on the following days: Friday mornings immediately following the 9 a.m. Mass until noon, Wednesday evenings from 7:30-8:15 p.m. and today and every first Friday from 9:30 a.m.-8:45 p.m. For more information, call the church at (828) 684-6098.

ASHEVILLE — The Basilica of St. Lawrence, 97 Haywood St., hosts daily adoration from 9 a.m.-6 p.m. For more information, call Jane Sorrells at (828) 298-0334.

BELMONT — Belmont Abbey, 100 Belmont-Mt. Holly Rd., hosts perpetual adoration in a chapel on the grounds. For volunteer and other information, call Marie Siebers at (704) 827-6734.

CHARLOTTE — All are invited to St. Gabriel Church, 3016 Providence Rd., for perpetual adoration. For volunteer and other information, call Kathleen Potter at (704) 366-5127.

HIGH POINT — Maryfield Nursing Home, 1315 Greensboro Rd., hosts perpetual adoration in the chapel. For volunteer and other information, call Theresa Hansen at (336) 273-1507.

SYLVA — Eucharistic adoration takes place every first Saturday at St. Mary Church, 22 Bartlett St., following 9 a.m. Mass until 3 p.m. For more information, call Annette Leporis at (828) 497-7464.

The Catholic News & Herald 19

2 0 The Catholic News & Herald

Living the

Lasting faith, spirituality lead gether through support and prayer. where he answered his call to the “We didn’t let the moving overwhelm permanent diaconate, and he was us. We just did things as a family and ordained in 1982. He says that the adjusted as best we could,” said Rev. support of his family and his wife’s Mr. Szalony. willingness to be involved with the “Even though the house we lived formation offered the foundation that in changed, we always brought home he needed. with us,” added Mrs. Szalony.

“I knew that it was inevitable for The last stop for the family was him [to be involved with the perCharlotte, and they have been living manent diaconate]. He had always here since 1994. Rev. Mr. Szalony, now been very committed to faith and was the manager of ver y idealistic special markets about his faith, for Pelton-Crane, and it was one of is one of the perthe things that manent deacons attracted me to at St. Gabriel him,” said Mrs. Church in CharSzalony. “I knew lotte and is the even as we courtdiocesan assised that he would tant director of be involved in formation for the service.” permanent diaNearly a year conate. He was later, he, his wife asked to become and three daughassistant directers relocated to tor after teaching Montana for Rev. in the program Mr. Szalony to for several years, accept a position putting his masas a general manter’s degree in ager of a compastoral studies pany that manuRev. Mr. George Szalony to use. factured dental He is now hand pieces. His preparing for the oldest daughter next class of aspirants in formation stayed behind to finish college in for the permanent diaconate in JanuIllinois. He became involved with ary 2002. Between his work and the students the University of Montana permanent diaconate, he finds special through his work with their church, time to have conversations with his which served as the ministry center for five grandchildren. the students and faculty of the college.

“It has been an exciting time for us, He also performed other diaconate and our children provide new insight duties such as RCIA training, marriage into our faith and spirituality,” said preparation and adult education.

Mrs. Szalony. “The permanent diaconNew Jersey was the next stop for ate has been an enriching experience the family, where Rev. Mr. Szalony in our lives.” continued with campus ministry and became involved with hospital minContact Staff Writer Alesha M. istry. Both Mr. and Mrs. Szalony say Price by calling (704) 370-3354 or e-mail that they were able to move so many amprice@charlottediocese.org. times and keep their family unit to-

By Alesha M. Price Staff Writer CHARLOTTE — Every time you look at a calculator, think of Rev. Mr. George Szalony. Why is he associated with an item that some people use every day? In the early 1970s, Rev. Mr. Szalony began working for Bowmar Instruments in Indiana as the head of purchasing and had a hand in developing and designing the first hand-held calculator, which sold for over $200 at that time.

“It was a rare experience to be a part of something that changes life. I marvel at how i n e x p e n s i v e calculators are nowadays,” said Rev. Mr. Szalony.

From calculators to ice cream, electronic organs to dental equipment, Rev. Mr. Szalony has worked in a variety of professions all over the country. The sum total of his diverse life experiences have added to his ministry as a permanent deacon, something that he simply felt he needed to do.

“The permanent diaconate was the right thing to do at the right time, and I felt a calling to be more publicly active,” explained Rev. Mr. Szalony, whose faith was instilled in him by his parents and his extended family.

He grew up during a time when less than 30 cents could provide public transportation anywhere in the heart of Chicago. The neighborhood church was within walking distance as were his relatives, so he and his brother and sister did not have to travel far for weekly reconciliation or for a treat and a hug and kiss from their grandmother or one of their aunts.

When he received Communion for

July 6, 2001

the first time, he did not realize that his future wife was also receiving the sacrament in the same church. Even though the two did not officially meet until years later and had grown up near other, the youngsters’ paths had crossed unbeknownst to them. A subway would be their next stop on their road to marriage.

After Catholic high school and after school jobs in his uncle’s store and at a local dairy, he began taking night classes and worked as an engineering apprentice and later as a mechanical designer at an electronic organ company. During this time, he met his future wife, Chris, on a subway, and they recognized each other from the neighborhood. They were married in 1963, and Rev. Mr. Szalony received his bachelor’s degree in sociology in 1969.

“Working in mechanical engineering introduced me to a different world and took me on a path very different from my father,” said Rev. Mr. Szalony.

“My father pushed me not to work in the factory where he worked.”

The family moved to Indiana, where he helped bring the calculator to life and where he and his wife became involved in charismatic renewal and Cursillo. Keeping their spirituality at the forefront of their lives, they had also been a part of the Christian Family Movement. “It shaped our marriage and helped us to grow. We were associated with other married couples who came together to share their faith, much like small faith communities,” said Rev. Mr. Szalony.

A promotion and a career change to sales and marketing with dental hand pieces sent the family back to Chicago. It was back in his home