Oct. 3, 2008

October 3, 2008

The Catholic News & Herald 1

www.charlottediocese.org

Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte

Perspectives The heart of prejudice; effective parish leadership; letters to the editor

Established Jan. 12, 1972

by Pope Paul VI October 3, 2008

Respect Life month

| Pages 14-15 Serving Catholics in Western North Carolina in the Diocese of Charlotte

CATHOLICS AND THE CAMPAIGN

See the story page 5

no. 41

Comparing the candidates’ views with church teaching CHARLOTTE — Abortion. Immigration. The Iraq war. Education. The environment.

Do you know where the presidential candidates really stand on these issues? Do you know what the Catholic Church really teaches on them?

The U.S. bishops’ document, “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,” seeks to provide a blueprint on how Catholic social teaching should affect political participation

by Catholics.

With this issue, The Catholic News & Herald begins a series of articles examining the political views of presidential candidates Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain in regard to “Faithful Citizenship” and Catholic social teaching.

Photo by CNS

This poster is part of the materials for the U.S. bishops’ 2008-09 Respect Life program, distributed by the Office of Pro-Life Activities, which has as its theme “Hope and Trust in Life.” The theme is centered around Pope Benedict XVI’s message during his celebrated visit to the United States in April.

vOLUME 17

See story on page 9 CNS illustration by Mike Crupi, Catholic Courier

A man holding a rosary with the U.S. flag as a backdrop is silhouetted in this photo illustration. The U.S. bishops’ document “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship” seeks to provide a blueprint on how Catholic social teaching should affect political participation by Catholics.

St. Gabriel School celebrates golden anniversary Parish school provides Catholic education for past 50 years by

KATIE MOORE staff writer

Photo by Katie Moore

Friends of St. Gabriel School in Charlotte browse memorabilia highlighting its 50-year history after Mass Sept. 27.

CHARLOTTE — “The greatest privilege we have is to pass on and share our faith with our children,” said Father Frank O’ Rourke, pastor of St. Gabriel Church in Charlotte.

Fostering faith through Catholic education has been the mission of St. Gabriel

Campaign ’08

N.C. bishops release candidate survey, statement on voter preparation Bishops Jugis, Burbidge encourage informed voting by

KEVIN E. MURRAY editor

School for the past 50 years.

Father O’Rourke celebrated a Mass Sept. 27 honoring the school’s golden anniversary. Concelebrating were former pastors Msgr. Richard Bellow and Father Edward Sheridan, along with Father Luis Osorio, current parochial vicar.

CHARLOTTE — The Catholic bishops of North Carolina are continuing to encourage their flocks to be faithful citizens.

As a follow-up to their July launching of Catholic Voice NC, an initiative to give the

See SCHOOL, page 12

See VOTING, page 8

About discipleship

Culture Watch

Ongoing workshop explores RCIA process

Book on politics and Catholics; Paul Newman lauded

Eucharistic Congress

| Pages 10-11

See full coverage in next week’s issue.

| Page 7

Celebrate the Oct. 3-4!

October 3, 2008

2 The Catholic News & Herald

InBrief

Current and upcoming topics from around the world to your own backyard

Bishop hopes new initiative can bring peace between U.S. and Muslims WASHINGTON (CNS) — A new report calling for stronger diplomatic relations between the United States and Muslims around the world is a step toward peace, said Auxiliary Bishop Denis J. Madden of Baltimore.

“It offers a very good approach to what can be done” and also stresses that the divide between the United States and the Muslim world is “not as wide as people make it out to be,” said the bishop, one of 34 American leaders who produced the 146-page document “Changing Course: A New Direction for U.S. Relations With the Muslim World.”

The report was created by the Leadership Group on U.S.-Muslim Engagement, which included representatives from religious, business, military, foreign policy, academic, foundation and nonprofit circles.

The group released the report Sept.

24, a day after briefing members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and

Coaching Catholicism

Diocesan planner CNS photo by Randy Batista, St. Augustine Catholic

University of Florida head basketball coach Billy Donovan, a Catholic, talks with youngsters at the O’Connell Center in Gainesville, Fla., during one of his annual summer basketball camp sessions in late June.

Faith is key to success, says Florida basketball coach ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. (CNS) — The University of Florida’s head basketball coach, Billy Donovan, said he is a “big believer that everything starts with God.” The coach of the Florida Gators knows a thing or two about good starts with 285 wins in 12 seasons and national championships in 2006 and 2007. In the past 40 years, Donovan is among three college coaches to have won back-toback NCAA titles.

But along with winning games, Donovan, a Catholic, said he also has a passion for helping young people find faith, success and happiness.

During the summer, without the distraction of daily team practices and meetings, Donovan relishes his chance to work with young people at his annual basketball camps. Even though he doesn’t spend much time with the campers, he said it’s the perfect opportunity to “recharge his batteries” after a long season, reflect on his faith and speak to young people.

“Teenagers have so much in front of them today,” said Donovan. “The big thing that I’ve always tried to talk to our children about and other teenagers is to try to make good decisions.”

Donovan said he talks about having faith and “being fair and respectful to everybody’s relationship with God.” “If your faith is strong and you’re living a faith-based life, the chances are that you will make better decisions and

you’re probably going to be happier,” he said.

He says he tries to talk to youngsters about “taking the strengths, talents and gifts God gave them and utilizing them to help other people.” He also asks them to “remember five words: peace, love, hope, joy and forgiveness!”

If people could “feel those five things every single day,” he added, “we would be so happy nothing else would make a difference.”

Donovan said faith is a “gift from God.” “To me, it’s something that takes away our insecurities, our fears, our self-doubt and our worrying all the time,” he continued. “I think it’s easy to have faith when things are going really well, but I think in everything we do, we worry about the next day, our jobs, our friends, our children, our health, our families.”

He stressed that it’s important to keep one’s faith in tough times, too. The 43-year-old coach encourages young people to pray and read the Bible.

Since he works at a public institution where a lot of different religious denominations are represented, Donovan is careful not to force religious beliefs on anyone.

“I’ve found that most of the kids I’ve coached believe in a higher power,” no matter what their faith, he said. “Just taking time to give thanks to God is always a great thing.”

For more events taking place in the Diocese of Charlotte, visit www.charlottediocese.org/calendarofevents-cn.

members of Congress on its key points.

The project involved 18 months of examining various polls and studies of Muslim and American attitudes and coming up with possible solutions for improving relations, including not only more diplomacy but also a major investment in economic development in Muslim countries that would create more jobs for youths.

The report urges the next U.S. administration to take immediate steps.

It calls on the next president to renounce the use of torture and to appoint a special envoy to facilitate negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

Bishop Madden said he only became involved in the initiative in recent months but that he was impressed by the work of the committee members and the body’s bipartisan nature.

“We all signed off on the document, even though there wasn’t always full agreement,” he said.

Church’s Case for Comprehensive Immigration Reform” will take place at St. Elizabeth Church, 259 Pilgrims Way, Oct. 21, 7 p.m. Antonio Cube, national director of the U.S. bishops’ Justice for Immigrants Campaign, will present. For directions, go to www. charlottediocese.org, click on “parishes.” For more information, visit www.justiceforimmigrants.org.

This event is sponsored by the diocesan Hispanic Ministry Office, Catholic Social Services and St. Elizabeth Church.

ALBEMARLE VICARIATE

CHARLOTTE VICARIATE

BISCOE — A presentation on “The Catholic Church’s Case for Comprehensive Immigration Reform” will take place at Our Lady of the Americas Church, 298 Farmers Market Rd., Oct. 22, 7 p.m. Antonio Cube, national director of the U.S. bishops’ Justice for Immigrants Campaign, will present. For directions, go to www.charlottediocese.org, click on “parishes.” For more information on this topic, visit www.justiceforimmigrants. org. This event is sponsored by the diocesan Hispanic Ministry Office, Catholic Social Services and Our Lady of the Americas Church.

CHARLOTTE — The semi-annual rosary rally will be held Sunday, Oct. 12, 3 p.m. at St. Patrick Cathedral, 1621 Dilworth Rd. East. Come honor Our Lady by participating in this 35-year tradition.

The event includes recitation of the rosary, a eucharistic procession and Benediction. Father Roger Arnsparger, pastor of St. Michael Church in Gastonia, will be the homilist. For more information, call Tina Witt at (704) 846-7361.

ASHEVILLE VICARIATE ASHEVILLE — To honor the 150th anniversary of Our Lady of Lourdes and the miracle of the sun in Fatima, a public rosary will be held Oct. 11 at 12 p.m. on the sidewalk in front of Pack Place Education Arts & Science Center, 2 S. Pack Sq. This rosary is in conjunction with 3,000 others nationwide and is coordinated by The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property and its America Needs Fatima campaign.

For more information, contact Lisena Maria Moss at (828) 254-4526 or jemoss@charter.net.

BOONE VICARIATE BOONE — A presentation on “The Catholic

CHARLOTTE — A Monday morning Adult Spirituality series takes place once a month at New Creation Monastery, 1309 Duncan Gardens Dr. The next talk, “The Sacrament of the Present Moment: Living Deeply,” will be held Oct. 13. The gathering will begin with Mass at 9 a.m. followed by the presentation and discussion of the topic at 10 a.m.

In the afternoon there will be a homily preparation series for priests, deacons, catechists and anyone interested in sharing insights on the Sunday Scriptures of the month. The afternoon series will begin with bag lunch at 12 p.m. followed by chant midday prayer at 12:45 p.m. and homily preparation at 1 p.m. For more information, contact Father John Vianney Hoover at (704) 344-0934.

CHARLOTTE — The Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians invites women of the diocese to join them in celebrating their Irish-Catholic heritage. The next meeting will be held at St. Vincent de Paul Church, 6828 Old Reid Rd., Oct. 15, at 7:30 p.m. For more information, contact

OCTOBER 3, 2008 Volume 17 • Number 41

Publisher: Most Reverend Peter J. Jugis Editor: Kevin E. Murray STAFF WRITER: Katie Moore Graphic DESIGNER: Tim Faragher Advertising MANAGER: Cindi Feerick Secretary: Deborah Hiles 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 $23 per year for all other subscribers. The Catholic News & Herald reserves the right to reject or cancel advertising for any reason deemed appropriate. We do not recommend or guarantee any product, service or benefit claimed by our advertisers. 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.

October 3, 2008

The Catholic News & Herald 3

FROM THE VATICAN

Vatican’s security force to join Interpol VATICAN CITY (CNS) — After setting up two new anti-terrorism units this year that work closely with international police, the Vatican’s security force has plans to join Interpol.

Vatican Radio reported Sept. 28 that the Vatican’s security force will join the international police organization sometime before Oct. 10 in St. Petersburg, Russia.

The announcement of the alliance was made during a Sept. 27 celebration at the papal summer villa in Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome. Pope Benedict XVI briefly appeared at the celebration and gave his “sincere thanks for the competence and dedication” of the security force, or gendarme corps.

The feast day of St. Michael the Archangel, the corps’ patron saint, is Sept. 29.

The corps’ director, Domenico Giani, said the force also is looking into forging an “agreement of cooperation with the Italian police,” reported Vatican Radio.

The Vatican and Pope Benedict

have been named as potential targets by extremist groups in recent years. Although the Vatican has downplayed the threats, it also has beefed up security, adding metal detectors for all visitors to St. Peter’s Basilica and attendees at papal events.

The gendarme corps also has been deployed at Vatican territories outside Vatican City, in particular at Rome’s patriarchal basilicas.

The gendarme corps, which has about 130 members, works in close collaboration with the Swiss Guard, especially during events involving the pope.

Earlier this year the gendarme corps started working more closely with Interpol, and in June Giani told reporters that the arrangement marked a big step forward for Vatican security.

The collaboration gives the Vatican access to a large data bank of suspects, the latest information on criminal or subversive organizations, and information on the latest anti-terrorism operational procedures.

Jeanmarie Schuler at (704) 554-0720.

For more information, please contact the church office at (704) 735-5575.

CHARLOTTE — A four-week Catholic Scripture study on “Humanae Vitae,” Pope Paul VI’s encyclical on contraception and the role of procreation in marriage, will be offered at St. Ann Church, 3635 Park Rd. Classes begin Oct. 16, 7-8:30 p.m. and will meet weekly through Nov. 6 in classrooms 1 & 2 of the activity center. For more information, contact Brian and Angela Williams at angiegirl67@ yahoo.com or (704) 847-7311. Deadline for registration is Oct. 9.

CHARLOTTE — Elizabeth Ministry, in conjunction with the diocesan Respect Life Office, is hosting “God’s Children, God’s Blessing: A CommunityBased Response to Poor Prenatal Diagnosis” Oct. 24, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. at the diocesan Pastoral Center, 1123 S. Church St. The conference is to help the Catholic community better encourage parents to carry to term after a poor prenatal diagnosis. Registration is required. For information, contact, Tracy Winsor at (704) 543-4780 or e-mail ohboys@carolina.rr.com.

HUNTERSVILLE — The religious education department at St. Mark Church, 14740 Stumptown Rd., presents “A Family Evening of Love and Prayer” with Father Frederick Pompei, Oct. 6, 6-8:15 p.m. The evening begins with a pasta dinner, program to follow at 7 p.m. This event is free and open to the public. RSVP to Donna Smith at dsmith18@bellsouth.net, or call (704)948-1306.

GASTONIA VICARIATE GASTONIA — St. Michael School, 704 St. Michael’s Lane, will host a Road Race and Fun Fair, Oct. 11, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Great fun for all ages, including rides, games, bingo, food and more.

General admission is free. For more information, go to www.smsgastonia.com.

LINCOLNTON — All are invited to attend the fall parish mission, “Three Lessons of St. Paul,” presented by Augustinian Father Augustine Esposito at St. Dorothy Church, 148 St. Dorothy’s Lane, Oct. 13-15, at 6 p.m.

There will be holy hour Monday, penance s e r v i c e Tu e s d a y a n d M a s s We d n e s d a y.

Episcopal

calendar

GREENSBORO VICARIATE GREENSBORO — To honor the 35-year anniversary of the St. Joseph Intercessory Prayer Group, a celebration will be held in the Kloster Center at St. Pius X Church, 2210 N. Elm St., Oct. 13, 7:30 p.m. Speakers will be Father James Stuhrenberg, parochial vicar of Our Lady of Grace Church, and Hannah Hammer, parishioner of St. Pius X Church. Music will be provided by Freeway.

Light refreshments will be served. For more information, call Pat Condon at (336) 288-6093.

Vatican official: Death penalty support denies basic Christian belief ROME (CNS) — Support for the death penalty is a denial of the basic Christian belief that God can turn any person from a life of sin, a Vatican official told a group of justice ministers, judges and lawmakers examining positions on capital punishment.

Archbishop Agostino Marchetto, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Travelers, spoke Sept. 29 at the conference “No Justice Without Life,” which gathered representatives from 16 countries in Rome for a daylong meeting.

The conference, sponsored by the Sant’Egidio Community, included government officials from Rwanda, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Gabon, Kenya, Benin, Tanzania, Mozambique, South Africa, Guinea-Bissau, Lesotho, Liberia, Mexico, the Philippines and Kazakhstan.

Archbishop Marchetto said the United Nations’ 2007 resolution urging a moratorium on the use of the death penalty was the “first necessary step” to abolishing capital punishment completely.

The moratorium, he said,

should give countries who still have death penalty laws time to “adopt appropriate instruments of law” to ensure the most serious criminals are not a threat to society and to increase the foundations of “a culture of life,” paving the way for the abolition of the death penalty.

“Despite everything, the church has always and will always defend the sacredness of human life from conception to natural death as a universal value,” the archbishop said.

If one accepts that respect for human life reflects the reality that God created people in his image and likeness, he said, then “the death penalty increasingly appears to be an unacceptable instrument even more than being a useless and dangerous one.”

“As Christians, how can we accept that someone be denied the hope of redemption?” the archbishop asked.

“A man or a woman who made a mistake, who committed a crime, no matter how brutal, must have the possibility of being forgiven — while serving a tough sentence — and of living in hope,” he said.

Exchanging faith

GREENSBORO — The parish health ministry and Flames of Fire prayer group will sponsor a Charismatic Healing Mass at Our Lady of Grace Church, 2205 West Market St., Oct. 18, 1-3 p.m.

The celebrant will be Father Fidel Melo. Music will be provided by Freeway. Richard Collins, parishioner of Our Lady of Grace Church, will be speaking about the Holy Spirit in our daily lives.

Healing teams will be available for personal ministry after the Mass. For more information, contact Ben D’Apollo at (336) 812-3730.

GREENSBORO — A presentation on “The Catholic Church’s Case for Comprehensive Immigration Reform” will take place in the Parish Life Center at St. Paul the Apostle Church, 2715 Horse Pen Creek, Oct. 20. 7 p.m. Antonio Cube, national director of the U.S. bishops’ Justice for Immigrants Campaign, will present. For directions, go to www.charlottediocese.org, click on “parishes.” For more information, visit www.justiceforimmigrants.org. This event is sponsored by the diocesan Hispanic Ministry Office, Catholic Social Services and St. Paul the Apostle Church.

Is your parish or school sponsoring a free event open to the general public? Deadline for all submissions for the Diocesan Planner is 10 days prior to desired publication date. Submit in writing to kmmoore@charlottediocese.org or fax to (704) 370-3382.

Bishop Peter J. Jugis will participate in the following events:

Oct. 3-4 Fourth annual Eucharistic Congress Charlotte Convention Center

Oct. 11 (6 p.m.)

Annual retreat dinner for deacons and wives Catholic Conference Center, Hickory

Oct. 5-10 Annual priests’ retreat Living Waters Reflection Center, Maggie Valley

Oct. 12 (7 p.m.)

Sacrament of confirmation Our Lady of Mercy Church, Winston-Salem

CNS photo by Greg Tarczynski

Bishop Allen H. Vigneron of Oakland, Calif., Rabbi Steven Chester and Imam Faheem Shuaibe exchange sacred scriptures during a civic and interfaith service at the Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland Sept. 26. The cathedral, dedicated the previous day, had been under construction since 2005, and replaces St. Francis de Sales Cathedral, which was damaged beyond repair in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.

First saplings of Vatican reforestation project to be planted VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The first saplings of the Vatican Climate Forest, a reforestation project to offset the Vatican’s carbon dioxide emissions, will be planted in November.

The U.S.-based Planktos Inc. and its Hungarian partner, KlimaFa Ltd., are restoring more than 600 acres of forests in Hungary along the Tisza River to offset emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2). The two companies earn money by selling greenhouse-gas mitigation credits to individuals and businesses. Whatever carbon dioxide emissions an individual or company cannot eliminate can be offset

by planting trees or buying the carbon mitigation credits of a company that plants trees or takes other action to eliminate carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Planktos and KlimaFa donated to the Vatican enough mitigation credits to offset the Vatican’s annual CO2 production, estimated at 10,000 tons. The monetary value is almost $250,000.

The planting of 125,600 oak, white willow, black poplar and wild fruit trees would begin in November to compensate for the greenhouse gases emitted by heating and cooling Vatican buildings and driving Vatican cars.

4 The Catholic News & Herald

exploring the bible

October 3, 2008

A Bible for every taste, but are they piquing Catholic interest?

Despite variety, only one Bible authorized for English-language Mass by

NANCY FRAZIER O’BRIEN catholic news service

Editor’s note: This is part of an ongoing series on the Bible.

WASHINGTON — These days you can get a Bible that coincides with pretty much any interest.

For the environmentally conscious, there is the Green Bible, complete with soy-based inks, recycled paper and special features that trace Scripture’s environmental themes.

For the young and hip, there’s the Manga Bible, illustrated in the popular Asian comic-book style and available in versions dubbed “raw” (with commentary and instruction on the manga style) or “extreme” (with the New Testament text written out).

You can listen to “The Word of Promise,” an audiobook of the New Testament that features the voices of leading actors like Jim Caviezel, Marisa Tomei, Michael York, Richard Dreyfuss and Terence Stamp as the voice of God. There are Bibles aimed at couples, students, children, women and participants in just about every sport you can imagine — skiers, skateboarders, surfers and on and on.

The custom Bible program at Thomas Nelson, one of the largest Bible publishers in the United States, allows groups to raise money by creating and selling Bibles that include “special study notes from the ministry’s leader that will encourage and equip members and donors in their spiritual walk.” One group created the “Cowboys & Cowgirls Holy Bible” through that program.

Thomas Nelson also markets a variety of “Biblezines” — glossy magazines with names such as “Revolve,” “Refuel” and “Divine Health” that team New Testament passages with self-help articles such as “240 ways to walk the walk,” “Are you dating a godly guy?” and “Cures the Bible way.”

But not all Bibles are created equal.

And not every Bible reflects a Catholic understanding of Scripture.

Catholic text Although Catholics may read any version of the Bible for their personal use, the Bible authorized for use in Englishlanguage Masses in U.S. Catholic churches is the New American Bible, for which the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine holds licensing rights.

The confraternity operates out of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Office of Publishing.

Mary Elizabeth Sperry, associate director for USCCB permissions and New American Bible utilization, handles each request to use all or part of the NAB text, using guidelines developed by the membership of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine.

She refers any borderline requests back to the confraternity’s board of control, made up of Scripture scholars appointed

by the confraternity’s president.

Requests that would be turned down are those that “interpret the Bible in a way not consonant with Catholic teaching or do not reflect the integrity of the Catholic text,” Sperry said.

The Confraternity of Christian Doctrine currently has licensing agreements with publishers of the New American Bible in Korea, India, Philippines, the United States and “most of Anglophone Africa,” she said, and other agreements are in the works.

The U.S. situation is rather unique because “we are one of the few publishers that controls a copyright but does not publish” a Bible itself, Sperry said.

When a new translation of the Old Testament is completed — the hopedfor date is sometime this fall — Sperry predicts “an explosion” in the licensing and publication of so-called “niche Bibles” for Catholic women, couples, youths and other groups.

“Catholics want to have the same choices that their Protestant friends have, but they want to have a Catholic text,” she said in an interview with Catholic News Service.

Reading the Bible Catholics’ interest in the Bible still lags behind that of their Protestant counterparts, however, according to polling in recent years.

The Barna Group found in its 2006 survey of religious behaviors and beliefs that 47 percent of Americans reported reading the Bible in a typical week, outside church services.

That was the highest Bible readership since the evangelical polling firm began asking the question in the 1980s.

The number had been as low as 31 percent in 1995, according to the series of surveys, which had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.

But a survey this spring by LeMoyne College in Syracuse, N.Y., and Zogby International found that nearly twothirds of adult Catholics said they never read the Bible (31.6 percent) or read it only a few times a year (31.3 percent).

Only 8.4 percent said they read the Bible daily; another 14 percent said they read it at least once a week.

A 2005 survey by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University in Washington found that 87 percent of adult Catholics in the United States said they had a Bible in their home, but 54 percent said they had never read it outside Mass in the past 12 months.

Another 28 percent said they read it less than once a month and only 2 percent said they read it daily.

The margin of error for the LeMoyne/ Zogby survey was plus or minus 2.6 percentage points; for the CARA poll it was plus or minus 2.76 percentage points.

Other sources But Catholics may be going to sources other than the printed word for

CNS photo by Gregory A. Shemitz

A worn edition of the New American Bible rests on a book cart during a New Testament class at St. Luke Church in Brentwood, N.Y., in July. The New American Bible, often called the Catholic Bible, is the version authorized for use in English-language Masses in the United States.

Bible reading, if the Web site of the USCCB is any indication.

In the first six months of 2008, the New American Bible page on the USCCB Web site had 8.7 million hits — 70 percent of the 12.4 million hits to the entire Web site.

And podcasts of the daily Bible readings were downloaded nearly 1 million times during that period.

It’s unclear how many of those Web visitors were Catholics but an informal poll of visitors to the NAB page over two months in 2007 found that more than half of the respondents identified themselves as parishioners or parish volunteers.

More than 90 percent reported attending Mass at least weekly. Also difficult to gauge is the number of Bibles published each year and to date.

Luke Timothy Johnson, the R.W. Woodruff professor of New Testament and Christian origins at Emory University in Atlanta, has estimated that the Bible has been printed some 5 billion times since the early 1800s and translated into

more than 2,000 languages.

The publishing unit of the New York-based American Bible Society said the “best estimate” for Bible sales and distribution worldwide is well more than 100 million per year, although the figures are not fully reported.

There are dozens of English translations of the Bible.

“If the Bible were tracked in terms of best-seller lists, it would pretty much be a constant at the top of that list, week after week,” said Tamara Collins, public relations officer of the society.

Wycliffe Bible Translators, a worldwide interdenominational movement that sends translators as missionaries to remote areas where the Bible has not been translated into the local language, estimates that some or all of the Bible has been translated into 2,426 of the 6,912 languages spoken in the world. The nonprofit organization is named for John Wycliffe, who became the first person to translate the Bible into English in the late 1300s.

October 3, 2008

respect life

Attention Readers! Have a Story to Share?

Contact Staff Writer Katie Moore at (704) 370-3354 or kmmoore@charlottediocese.org.

The Catholic News & Herald 5

‘Hope and Trust in Life’

Respect Life program brings attention to words of Pope Benedict XVI WASHINGTON (CNS) — “Hope and Trust in Life” is the theme for the 2008-09 Respect Life program, centered around Pope Benedict XVI’s message during his celebrated visit to the United States in April.

A new packet of materials distributed by the U.S. bishops’ Office of Pro-Life Activities includes pamphlets, a flier containing important points made by Pope Benedict during his April 15-20 U.S. visit and a CD with full-length versions of articles on a variety of life-related topics, with recommended resources.

All are linked to the pope’s message of hope and trust as an antidote to what he called “America’s brand of secularism.”

The Respect Life program packet mirrors the range of pro-life issues that are necessary for Catholics to comprehend regarding their church’s beliefs. The topics include: — The false hope of embryonic stemcell research and the real hope offered by research using adult stem cells, outlined

by Maureen Condic, a researcher and associate professor in the department of neurobiology and anatomy at the University of Utah School of Medicine.

— The dangers of advance directives that presume in favor of withdrawal of medical treatment, written by Stephen Mikochik, a professor at Temple University Law School and chairmanelect of the National Catholic Partnership on Disability.

— Conscience and the Catholic voter, by Bishop William E. Lori of Bridgeport, Conn., chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Doctrine.

— “Pornography: What’s the

Problem?” by Mark Houck, co-founder and president of a lay apostolate called The King’s Men. — A reflection on the AfricanAmerican family and the culture of life,

by Auxiliary Bishop Martin D. Holley of Washington, chairman of the USCCB Subcommittee on African-American Affairs and a member of the USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities.

— Male grief and trauma following abortion, by Vincent Rue, a psychotherapist who is co-director of the Institute for Pregnancy Loss in Jacksonville, Fla. The packet also contains a liturgy guide, program models and notable prolife quotes, in both English and Spanish.

The Committee on Pro-Life Activities creates this package annually to encourage schools, religious education programs and Catholic institutions and organizations to use these materials to help spread the Catholic Church’s prolife message.

Although the Respect Life program is year-round, October is observed as Respect Life Month and the first Sunday in October, Oct. 5 this year, is designated as Respect Life Sunday by the Catholic Church in the United States.

To mark the day, parishes in the Diocese of Charlotte are participating in Life Chains on Respect Life Sunday, Oct. 5. Parishioners will stand along property lines of churches, on city sidewalks and with other church groups in their towns as a sign of support for life.

They will hold pro-life signs with messages such as “Abortion Kills Children” and “Jesus Forgives and Heals.”

6 The Catholic News & Herald

around the diocese

Discussing the framework

October 3, 2008

Fires of faith

Courtesy Photo

Daniel Mulhall, a former staff member for the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis, presents the doctrinal framework for high school catechesis during a diocesan Education Vicariate in-service day at St. Charles Borromeo Church in Morganton Sept. 25.

Mulhall’s presentation was based on “Doctrinal Elements of a Curriculum Framework for the Development of Catechetical Materials for Young People of High School Age,” which was approved by the U.S. bishops at their November 2007 meeting.

The document sets the framework for material that should be covered in high school religion classes in Catholic high schools, parish religious education or youth ministry programs and for home-schooled Catholic teenagers.

The core curriculum, outlined in the document, includes a format for teaching about who Jesus is, how he is revealed in Scripture, his mission and how the church continues it, encounters with Jesus in the sacraments and how to follow the example of Jesus in modern life.

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Have a Story to Share?

Do you have a story to share with The Catholic News & Herald? Do you know of people who are living the tenets of their faith? Do you have photos of a parish- or ministry-based event?

If so, please share them with us.

Contact Staff Writer Katie Moore at (704) 370-3354 or kmmoore@charlottediocese.org.

Photo by Deacon Gerald Potkay

Deacon Fred Scarletto, a permanent deacon at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in High Point, leads a class on the sacraments during the 14th annual Lighting the Fires of Faith at St. Paul the Apostle Church in Greensboro Sept. 20.

The event, sponsored by the North Regional Office of faith formation in the Diocese of Charlotte, provides catechists the opportunity to enhance their teaching skills and knowledge of Catholicism.

According to Sister of Providence Betty Paul, the northern region coordinator of faith formation, 180 catechists and presenters attended the event.

October 3, 2008

‘About discipleship, not membership’

around the diocese

The Catholic News & Herald 7

Ongoing program explores RCIA process by

JOANITA M. NELLENBACH correspondent

BREVARD — “Susan” and “Jack” are falling in love, but not with each other. They’re falling in love with God. Susan, who has never been baptized or had any experience of church, has been impressed with co-workers who seem to have a more peaceful, joyful attitude than other people she knows.

When asked, they tell her it’s a result of their Catholic faith. Susan goes to visit their pastor and tells him she wants what her co-workers have.

Jack has been married to Linda for six years. Linda is a practicing Catholic; Jack was baptized and grew up in another Christian faith tradition, but didn’t strongly participate in that tradition. He believes that it’s important for families to worship together, so he attends Mass every Sunday with his family.

Jack helps greet people outside the church before Mass, assists with taking up the collection and is a member of the parish team that cooks dinner two Saturday evenings a month at the local soup kitchen. Now he wants to be in full communion with the parish community.

Learning more about how to help people embrace the Catholic faith through the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) is the purpose of the four-workshop program, “The Initiation Process in Rural and Small Parishes,” sponsored by the Diocese of Charlotte in collaboration with the North American Forum on the Catechumenate.

The first workshop, “The Period of Evangelization and the Precatechumenate,” was held at Sacred Heart Church in Brevard Sept. 20.

The workshop covered the rite of acceptance/welcome, reflection on the rite, vision of the inquiry period, rural dynamics, elements of inquiry and discernment for the rite of acceptance.

The three remaining workshops, also scheduled to be held at Sacred Heart Church, will be “Period of the Catechumenate” in spring 2009, “Period of Purification and Enlightenment” in fall 2009 and “Period of Mystagogia” in spring 2010.

This diocesanwide program on RCIA will benefit RCIA team members and coordinators, sponsors and faith-journey partners, spouses of catechumens and candidates, catechists, priests, deacons and liturgy committee members.

Speakers of the Sept. 20 workshop were Franciscan Sister Gael Gensler, who has been involved with adult and children’s initiation for 20 years; and Msgr. Michael Clay of the Diocese of Raleigh, whose doctorate from Catholic University of America had as its emphasis RCIA in rural and small town settings.

“We’re about discipleship, about continuing the mission of Jesus Christ to spread the Gospel,” Sister Gensler said. “The goal is about discipleship, not membership. The goal of RCIA is conversion to Christ.”

“All of us are called to something bigger than ourselves, which is hard because our culture tells us we live in Burger King land: you can have it your way,” Msgr. Clay said.

Discipleship is a call to mission, listening to the word of God, he said.

“No activity is more important than listening,” Msgr. Clay said. “Is our attitude, ‘Speak, Lord, your servant is

Photo by Joanita M. Nellenbach

Franciscan Sister Gael Gensler makes a point during “The Initiation Process in Rural and Small Parishes” workshop at Sacred Heart Church in Brevard Sept. 20. listening’; or is it, ‘Speak, Lord, and I’ll think it over and get back to you’?”

Discipleship is answering the call, but it’s not easy.

“We fear the cost, that we’ll have to change,” Msgr. Clay said. “We can fear that I’m too young, too old, don’t have enough education. All calls are to mission and response.”

A way to grow If Susan decides, after several months of inquiry into the Catholic faith (the precatechumenate), that she is ready to progress further in her Catholic faith journey, she becomes a catechumen.

“Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults,” the U.S. bishops’ manual for the RCIA process, states: “The term ‘catechumen’ should be strictly reserved for the unbaptized who have been admitted into the order of catechumens; the term ‘convert’ should be reserved strictly for those converted from unbelief to Christian belief and never used of those baptized Christians who are received into the full communion of the Catholic Church.”

Thus, if Susan completes RCIA and is baptized in the Catholic faith, she’s a

convert to Catholicism.

Jack, who has already been incorporated into Christ through a valid Christian baptism, is a candidate for reception into full communion with the Catholic Church.

A valid baptism “consists in immersing the [person] in water, or pouring water on the head, while pronouncing the invocation of the Most Holy Trinity (‘I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit’),” according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Jack has already demonstrated his Catholic discipleship by his regular participation in the Catholic way of life.

RCIA, Sister Gensler pointed out, is a process rather than a program. It’s a way for people to grow in their love of God. “God is always present,” she said, “but we’re not always aware of it.”

It’s the Holy Spirit that prompts a person to want to find out more about God, she said.

Contact Correspondent Joanita M. Nellenbach by calling (828) 627-9209 or e-mail jnell@dnet.net.

8 The Catholic News & Herald

campaign ’08

N.C. bishops release candidate survey, statement on voting VOTING, from page 1

state’s Catholics a greater voice in the political process via an informative and nonpartisan Web site, Bishop Peter J. Jugis of Charlotte and Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Raleigh have surveyed political candidates on issues relating to church social teaching.

Posted on the diocesan Web sites of Charlotte and Raleigh are the results of the survey sent to all candidates running for elective office to represent North Carolina as governor and in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives and the state Senate and House.

Candidates were asked questions on a variety of topics, including health care, education, social security and abortion.

The candidates, as listed by the N.C. Board of Elections, were notified of the survey via mail in July and asked to complete the survey online at the Catholic Voice NC Web site, www.catholicvoicenc.org.

Candidates who did not respond to the initial inquiry were sent follow-up notices, with the option to complete the survey online or by hard copy. Candidates were informed the results would be made available online.

Results can be viewed at the Diocese of Charlotte’s Web site, www. charlottediocese.org.

The bishops encourage all Catholics in their diocese review the survey results prior to voting. In a Sept. 23 joint statement on voter preparation, the bishops also asked every adult Catholic to be “aware of church teaching to assist you in the formation of your consciences.”

“We also note the moral duty we have to vote, both as an exercise of our

CNS illustration by Karen Callaway, Catholic New World

constitutional right and in adherence to church teaching,” said the bishops’ statement.

“If you are not registered to vote in North Carolina, please take the steps to register before the deadline of Oct. 10, 2008,” it said.

“We ask you to pray for divine wisdom and insight as well as for the candidates themselves throughout the time remaining in the campaign season,” said the bishops.

Contact Editor Kevin E. Murray by calling (704) 370-3334, or e-mail kemurray@charlottediocese.org.

WANT MORE INFO? To view the candidate survey results and read the bishops’ statement, visit www.charlottediocese.org.

For more information on Catholic Voice NC, visit www.catholicvoicenc.org.

October 3, 2008

Priests for Life takes education campaign on abortion to Congress WASHINGTON (CNS) — Abortion supporters, including members of Congress and candidates for public office, are being challenged to explain their understanding of abortion by Priests for Life and other pro-life leaders.

In a campaign that was taken to both houses of Congress over three days in midSeptember, the pro-life leaders asked the elected officials, “Is this what you mean by abortion?” after showing them graphic diagrams, quotes from medical texts and testimony about the most common abortion procedure by a physician who once performed the procedure.

The campaign is designed to come to a common understanding of the term abortion, said Father Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, during a media briefing Sept. 18 at the National Press Club.

Joining the effort was Alveda King, the niece of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and Dr. Anthony Levatino, an obstetrician-gynecologist who said he performed about 1,200 first- and secondtrimester abortions during his first five years in private practice.

“To have a meaningful debate on

any topic, those having the debate must have a common starting point,” said Father Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life.

“In the abortion debate, however, the debating sides are rarely talking about the same thing,” he said. “The purpose of our effort is to establish a common starting point, so that those discussing abortion have the same thing in mind when they start off the discussion.”

Responding to recent comments about the Catholic Church and abortion by two prominent Catholic lawmakers, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Democratic vice-presidential candidate Sen. Joseph Biden, Priests for Life said that “those who support legal abortion are all too often unable or unwilling to describe what it is that they are supporting.”

Many people are in denial that abortion actually is “an act of violence that kills a child,” Father Pavone said.

“Anyone using the word should be able to answer that question. Moreover, the project is completely nonpartisan and applies to people of any party or no party.”

Escape winter on a diocesan trip!

Don’t wait - over half full!

October 3, 2008

Campaign ‘08

The Catholic News & Herald 9

Candidates’ stands on life cover more than abortion Some finer points, differences difficult to ferret out by

NANCY FRAZIER O’BRIEN catholic news service

Editor’s note: This is the first in a series on the 2008 election.

WASHINGTON — On few topics do presidential candidates Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain diverge as sharply as on abortion.

But on other life issues — embryonic stem-cell research, assisted suicide and the death penalty — the differences are not always easy to ferret out.

On abortion, McCain’s campaign Web site said the Republican candidate “believes Roe v. Wade is a flawed decision that must be overturned” as “one step in the long path toward ending abortion.”

Obama’s Web site says the Democratic nominee “will make safeguarding women’s rights under Roe v. Wade a priority” and that he “opposes any constitutional amendment to overturn that decision.”

In their 2007 document, “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship: A Call to Political Responsibility,” the U.S. Catholic bishops stress the importance of the life issues.

“T h e d ir e ct a n d i n t e n t i o n a l

destruction of innocent human life from the moment of conception until natural death is always wrong and is not just one issue among many,” the document says.

“It must always be opposed.”

Martin Shaffer, a political science professor and dean of the School of Liberal Arts at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., said the impact of the life issues “may be murky at best given that neither candidate has been known nationally as a leader in either direction on those issues.”

“Although John McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin for his ticket is in part an attempt to make connections to voters on the life issues, neither presidential candidate is crystal clear and consistent on these issues,” Shaffer told Catholic News Service Sept. 17.

Stem-cell research On stem cells, neither McCain nor Obama fully embraces the bishops’ unequivocal opposition to any stem-cell research that involves the destruction of human embryos.

McCain “opposes the intentional creation of human embryos for research purposes” and “will strongly support funding for promising research programs, including amniotic fluid and adult stem-

CNS photo by Jim Bourg, Reuters

U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the Republican presidential nominee, and Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, the Democratic presidential nominee, take part in the first presidential debate at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Miss., Sept. 26. cell research and other types of scientific study that do not involve the use of human embryos,” according to his Web site.

Obama believes “we owe it to the American public to explore the potential of stem cells to treat the millions of people suffering from debilitating and life-threatening diseases,” his campaign site says.

But both candidates voted for — and Obama co-sponsored — the StemCell Research Enhancement Act of 2007, which President George W. Bush vetoed and the U.S. bishops had strongly opposed.

Th e leg is latio n would have permitted the destruction of so-called “spare embryos,” unused after fertility treatments, for use in embryonic stemcell experiments.

Phyllis Zagano, senior research associate in the religion department at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., and a columnist on Catholic issues, said she believes the life issues “will play a very big role in the election, not only for Catholics but for all people of religious faith.”

But because both candidates would permit embryonic stem-cell research and McCain has said he would allow abortions in cases of rape, incest and

danger to the mother’s life, “for people for whom life issues are primary, I honestly don’t know how it will fall,” she told CNS Sept. 18.

Zagano said, however, that the combination of Palin’s “appeal to the middle of America” and McCain’s stronger position on abortion will likely mean that religiously motivated voters “will fall more on the McCain side.”

Other life issues The topic of assisted suicide does not come up on either candidate’s campaign Web site, and neither has taken a public stand on Washington state’s Initiative 1000, which would legalize physicianassisted suicide.

In “Faithful Citizenship,” the bishops say, “The purposeful taking of human life by assisted suicide and euthanasia is not an act of mercy, but an unjustifiable assault on human life.”

The bishops also criticize “our nation’s continued reliance on the death penalty” and said they support “efforts to end” its use and moves to limit it “through broader use of DNA evidence, access to effective counsel and efforts to address unfairness and injustice related to application of the death penalty.”

Asked by U.S. Catholic magazine about their positions on capital punishment, neither candidate embraced that view.

“I support the death penalty for heinous crimes in which the circumstances warrant capital punishment,” said McCain.

Obama’s stand was a bit more nuanced. “Throughout my career I have worked strenuously to ensure that the death penalty is only administered fairly and justly,” he told U.S. Catholic. “But I do believe that there are some crimes that are so heinous that they deserve the death penalty.”

Frank McNeirney, co-founder and national coordinator of Catholics Against Capital Punishment, says he does not expect the death penalty to be much of an issue for Catholic voters in the 2008 elections.

Even in 2004, when the Democratic candidate for president, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, opposed the death penalty, “it was not a big factor in any of the debates,” he said.

October 3, 2008

10 The Catholic News & Herald

Culture Watch

A roundup of Scripture, readings, films and more

Authors seek to replace ‘eitheror’ politics with Catholic vision reviewed by DAVID GIBSON catholic news service

A deeply ingrained “politics of division” erects walls in today’s America that keep people from conversing civilly about public policy concerns and leave them to approach issues on an “either-or basis,” according to Chris Korzen and Alexia Kelley, joint authors of “A Nation for All.” They view the common good as the big loser in this divisive atmosphere.

Korzen and Kelley think that neither major U.S. political party in recent years has lived up “to the call to the common good.” Their goal? To examine policies and ideas holding sway in this divided time and “offer a vision of the common good that can benefit” everyone.

Korzen is co-founder and executive director of Catholics United, while Kelley is principal founder and executive director of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good.

Their organizations, born in 2005, hope “the national dialogue on faith and politics” can be turned around.

The politics of division “takes place when our leaders encourage us to put aside our commonalities and focus on our differences”; it is witnessed, for example, when leaders resort “to scare tactics and name-calling” to advance their agendas, the book explains.

Sen. Robert P. Casey, D-Pa., a pro-life Democrat, speaks in the foreword about an “ideological rigidity fused with partisan hostility (that) makes collaboration and consensus impossible.”

It seems to me that a daunting challenge faces the authors of a book like this one: how to get beyond preaching only to the choir. After all, if today’s politics of division is as they describe it, who on the divide’s other side will read their book?

The authors seem aware of this challenge. They point out that “shared experiences and time together” foster trust and civility between political rivals, and that increased understanding of the common good helps people get past the

WORD TO LIFE

Sunday Scripture Readings: Oct. 12, 2008

Oct. 12, Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time Cycle A Readings: 1) Isaiah 25:6-10a Psalm 23:1-6 2) Philippians 4:12-14, 19-20 Gospel: Matthew 22:1-14

God’s gifts are to be used, shared political divide.

Casey suggests that “dialogue and consensus-building” are needed.

Still, I cannot help wondering how such a dialogue will happen in the context the authors describe. Perhaps this is a topic for yet another book — by these or other authors.

One would expect this book to examine the moral responsibilities of Catholic voters, the withholding of holy Communion from some Catholic politicians, abortion and the scope of Catholic social teaching, and to survey the history of contemporary debates on the church and politics — and it does.

The authors view abortion as an affront “to human life and dignity,” while holding that discourse on human life too often presents a “false choice” between fighting to end abortion or fighting to promote social justice. Research shows consistently that a majority of women seeking abortions “do so for economic reasons,” they write.

If “A Nation for All” opposes a politics of division, it places great hope in a politics of the common good. It recommends focusing “more on the kind of society we should have and less on the kind we shouldn’t.”

Furthermore, the book says, the church’s “long history of grounding the common good in the dignity of the human person and the specific demands of justice makes Catholics especially well suited to challenge our nation’s leaders to embrace a more robust common-good agenda.”

Gibson was the founding editor of Origins, Catholic News Service’s documentary service.

by JEAN DENTON catholic news service

I n th e “F ir s t Principle and Foundation” of his spiritual exercises, St. Ignatius Loyola explained that God’s gifts are presented to us so that we can come to know him more easily and better return his love.

He added, “We appreciate and use all these gifts of God insofar as they help us develop as loving persons.”

This is the twofold message in today’s Gospel parable about the banquet God places before us: We must recognize the richness of his gifts and also reverence them.

The first part of the story shows people simply ignoring the gifts; the second part shows people partaking in the banquet but with a total lack of appreciation for what they are offered and no clue as to what to do with it.

As Ignatius suggests, how we respond to the particular gifts God offers each of us is the foundation of our lived faith.

If she were in the parable, my friend Jackie probably would not have been on the original invitation list. She

wasn’t born into privilege and wasn’t academically gifted.

Struggling through school, she watched others go to college while she worked to pay bills and tuition for courses in various professional programs. She was repeatedly disappointed by being turned down for admission or missing the final cut.

Test-taking was a particular obstacle.

Last month her decade-long persistence paid off as she completed a medical technician program and passed the certification test.

But throughout her long personal struggle, she took every opportunity to give what she had — in ministry to youth, caring for family members, offering support to friends and celebrating the lives and accomplishments of other people.

I guess you could say she was sort of sneaking food.

So as Jackie continued to hang near that banquet hall, when she finally got invited in she was dressed for the occasion.

She donned her sacrificial love for her family; she sported deep friendships and spiritual growth she’d nurtured in her teens; she wore her favorite perseverance and good grace that somehow kept her from resenting others’ gifts; she was dressed in her continuous relationship with her church community — it was practically painted on; and she brought her abiding love for her host.

Questions: What gifts has God put on the banquet table he’s spread in your life?

How have you reverenced them — or failed to?

WEEKLY SCRIPTURE Scripture for the week of Oct. 5-11 Sunday (Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time), Isaiah 5:1-7, Philippians 4:6-9, Matthew 21:33-43; Monday (St. Bruno, Bl. Marie-Rose Durocher), Galatians 1:6-12, Luke 10:25-37; Tuesday (Our Lady of the Rosary), Galatians 1:13-24, Luke 10:38-42; Wednesday, Galatians 2:1-2, 7-14, Luke 11:1-4; Thursday (St. Denis and Companions, St. John Leonardi), Galatians 3:1-5, Luke 1:69-75, Luke 11:5-13; Friday, Galatians 3:7-14, Luke 11:15-26; Saturday, Galatians 3:22-29, Luke 11:27-28.

Scripture for the week of Oct. 12-18 Sunday (Twenty-eight Sunday in Ordinary Time), Isaiah 25:6-10, Philippians 4:12-14, 1920, Matthew 22:1-14; Monday, Galatians 4:22-24, 26-27, 31--5:1, Luke 11:29-32; Tuesday (St. Callistus I), Galatians 5:1-6, Luke 11:37-41; Wednesday (St. Teresa of Avila), Galatians 5:18-25, Luke 11:42-46; Thursday (St. Hedwig, St, Margaret Mary Alacoque), Ephesians 1:110, Luke 11:47-54; Friday (St. Ignatius of Antioch), Ephesians 1:11-14, Luke 12:1-7; Saturday (St. Luke), 2 Timothy 4:10-17, Luke 10-1-9.

The Catholic News & Herald 11

October 3, 2008

Catholic film critics laud Paul Newman’s career, generosity WASHINGTON (CNS) — Catholic film critics lauded the work of actor Paul Newman, who died Sept. 26 at age 83 of cancer. Other praise came from the Vatican’s newspaper.

“In his films he was the tough guy and the braggart, the rebel and the conquistador,” said a notice in the Sept. 29 issue of L’Osservatore Romano.

“In reality Newman was a generous heart, an actor of a dignity and style rare in Hollywood quarters.”

The obituary mentioned his role in the 1954 biblical epic “The Silver Chalice,” although Newman at one point took out a full-page ad in a Hollywood newspaper deriding the movie as one of the worst ever made.

“He and (Marlon) Brando are gone now, and they pretty much defined screen acting in the ‘50s,” said Jim Arnold, who wrote movie reviews for 39 years for St. Anthony Messenger magazine before retiring in 2003. “That kind of defined the end of a generation in Hollywood.”

“Probably every Catholic film professor or adult is fond of certain films of his,” said Arnold.

Arnold talked about his personal favorite: “‘Cool Hand Luke,’ of course, being the classic one — the Christian parable in which the Luke character (played by Newman) is a Christ figure coming to the nasty world of the prison

and sacrificing himself for others — not in a very conscious, churchy way but in a subtle, very intelligent way.

“It was a very, very good film. It was shown a lot in the 1960s and ‘70s in a lot of church halls as well as at film festivals,” he said.

Gerri Pare, a former director of the U.S. bishops’ Office for Film & Broadcasting, couldn’t stop at just one Newman favorite. She chose the 1990 movie “Mr. and Mrs. Bridge,” starring Newman and his real-life second wife, Joanne Woodward. In her review, she said the “standout performances” of the two previous Oscar winners merited them additional Academy Award statuettes.

Pare also picked Newman’s last major on-screen film role, 2002’s “Road to Perdition.”

Pare noted how Newman made his gangster character in that film “really realize there would be consequences to all his criminal activities: ‘You know what we have done, and there’s not going to be a heaven for us afterwards.’”

“We don’t see that too often. ... It made a real moral point,” said Pare, who rated it one of the best movies of 2002.

“He was just outstanding in ‘The Verdict’ and you couldn’t help but be entertained by ‘The Sting’ and ‘Butch Cassidy (and the Sundance Kid’).”

“A gentleman’s sense of character

CNS photo courtesy 20th Century Fox via Reuters

Actor Paul Newman is shown in a scene from the 1969 film “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” in this undated publicity photograph. Newman died Sept. 26 from cancer at his home in Westport, Conn. He was 83. always came through” in Newman’s performances, said Joseph Cunneen, who has reviewed movies for the National Catholic Reporter weekly newspaper.

“There was a human generosity behind it all that makes him different from the usual Hollywood star.”

“I am not ready to rate him as an actor against other great actors. That’s not a problem I’m ready to solve,” Cunneen said, but recalled that “he was in very few bombs.”

“His relationship with his wife was very gratifying. They acted well to each other and encouraged each other to go after roles in films that were particularly worthwhile,” he said.

Newman’s last film credit was as narrator of the 2007 documentary “The Price of Sugar,” which chronicled the efforts of a British-born Catholic priest to help the Haitians who had migrated to the Dominican Republic make money by planting and harvesting sugar.

Although Newman’s voice-over is gravelly, “it fits our story,” said director Bill Haney last year during the film’s release. “It’s a bit of the voice of God. He’s got a bit of Methuselah in his voice.”

Newman had announced earlier in 2007 he was retiring from acting because of his advancing age and his decreased ability to remember his lines.

Arnold mentioned the Newman’s Own line of specialty foods that bear the actor’s name and likeness.

“When he became wealthy and could afford to do that kind of thing, he had the advantage of finding a more healthy way to have a product with his name on it,” he said.

Sales of Newman’s Own products have generated millions of dollars for charities.

“As a matter of fact, two nights ago,” Pare told CNS, “I was watching ‘Larry King Live,’ a memorial tribute to him (Newman), and I ate Newman’s Own popcorn during it. I thought that was an appropriate tribute.”

12 The Catholic News & Herald

October 3, 2008

in our schools

Archival Anecdota For the month of October, here are some historical facts about Bishop Emeritus William G. Curlin, the third bishop of Charlotte.

St. Gabriel School celebrates 50 years of fostering faith SCHOOL, from page 1

Archival Photo

Bishop Emeritus William G. Curlin is pictured with Missionaries of Charity in their convent in Charlotte, which was opened in June 1995 during a visit to the Diocese of Charlotte by Blessed Mother Teresa.

Biographical information: • Aug. 30, 1927: Born in Portsmouth, Va. • May 25, 1957: Ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. by Cardinal Patrick O’Boyle.

• Nov. 10, 1987: Appointed titular bishop of Rosemarkie and auxiliary bishop of Washington, D.C. • Dec. 20, 1988: Ordained auxiliary bishop of Washington, D.C. by Cardinal James Hickey; appointed regional bishop of southern Maryland counties.

• Feb. 22, 1994: Appointed third bishop of Charlotte by Pope John Paul II. • April 13, 1994: Installed as bishop of Charlotte at St. Gabriel Church, Charlotte.

• Sept. 10, 2002: Retired as bishop of Charlotte.

During his time as bishop of Charlotte: • The number of Catholics increased from 95,000 to more than 135,000; • Blessed Mother Teresa, a friend, spoke at an ecumenical prayer service at the Charlotte Coliseum June 13, 1995. A convent for the Missionaries of Charity was opened in Charlotte during her visit.

• In November 1997, the chancery and diocesan offices moved from Morehead Street to Church Street in Charlotte.

• Bishop Curlin and Raleigh Bishop F. Joseph Gossman issued a joint pastoral letter, “Of One Heart and One Mind,” to N.C. Catholics in 1997. The letter presented the difficulties of the poor in N.C. through the use of personal accounts and discussed church teaching regarding responsibility to assist those who are less fortunate. The bishops asked for action in not only addressing the effects of poverty but also in confronting the root causes of it.

• The Church of Mary Help of Christians at Belmont Abbey was elevated to a minor basilica July 27, 1998. The dedication occurred March 22, 1999.

Bishop Curlin’s coat of arms (designed by Anthony W.C. Phelps):

• Episcopal motto: Sentire cum Christo (To think with Christ), adapted from Philippians 2:5.

• Top left quarter: Celtic cross edged in gold honoring St. Patrick, patron saint of the Diocese of Charlotte’s cathedral. Bottom left quarter: Gold crown symbolizing Queen Charlotte for whom the see city was named.

• Right half: Personal arms of Bishop Curlin.

Cross quartered in red and blue over a white shield. Red and white are colors for Christ, blue symbolizes Blessed Virgin Mary. Blue with red and white professes the unique union of Mary with Christ in the mystery of redemption. The gold fleur-de-lis symbolizes Our Lady and is a remembrance that all of the parishes Bishop Curlin served as priest held titles relating to the Blessed Mother.

The celebration also included a film highlighting the school’s 50 years and an indoor picnic. Among the attendees and special guests were past administrators and teachers.

In 1958, Father Paul Byron, the first pastor of St. Gabriel Church, opened a school with one kindergarten; a first grade was added the following year.

In 1960, St. Gabriel School was dedicated by Bishop Vincent S. Waters of Raleigh. The school opened with 150 students in kindergarten through eighth grade. Administrative and teaching duties were assumed by the Sisters of Mercy, and Sister Jeanne Marie Kienast was the school’s first principal.

“The thing that stands out most in my mind was the happiness and the closeness that we felt,” said Sister Kienast.

In the early days, classes were held in quail huts on the church property; the original gym could seat no more than 50 people; and in the first school building there was no way to get from the first floor to the second floor without going outside in the rain, recalled Father Sheridan, who gave the homily.

“The campus has changed, but the mission has not,” said Father Sheridan.

And that mission, he said, is “to provide an environment where things can take place that really matter — to provide an environment where there is true Christian guidance for our children and our parents.”

The family atmosphere was evident

at the picnic, which was attended by approximately 800 people, according to Lynn Erin Tyler, PTO president.

Among them was Pete McArdle, who graduated from St. Gabriel School in 1983. He said he credits the school for providing him with “a good moral compass and a solid Catholic background.”

“I have four kids, all of whom go to school here,” he said. “The school’s a lot bigger now, but it’s the same spirit and the same energy.”

Fellow alumni Todd Siczek also has two children attending the school.

“It’s pretty special,” said Siczek, of seeing his children attend his alma mater, “especially given that the children of classmates of mine are friends with my kids.”

St. Gabriel School has come a long way over the past 50 years.

In 1992, a new parish center was built, which housed the school and also served as the location for faith formation and adult education activities.

The new 79,000-square-foot building included 19 classrooms, a 500-seat cafeteria and a 600-seat gymnasium, allowing for an increase in enrollment from 385 to 535 students.

Today, enrollment is up to 595 students, the school has a state-of-the-art computer lab and teachers use interactive smart boards, according to Principal Sharon Broxterman.

But like Father Sheridan said, the mission of the school has remained the same.

“Most importantly, we are a Catholic school,” said Broxterman. “Our purpose is to pass on that faith to the next generation.”

• The green pontifical hat with six tassels on each side indicates rank of bishop.

Interesting facts about Bishop Curlin: • He told people they could stop by the bishop’s residence any time they saw the light on and needed to talk.

• As a priest in Washington, D.C., he stayed at a homeless shelter overnight to experience what the poor endure.

• He acted as “cook” and scrubbed floors at the Missionaries of Charity convent in Washington, D.C. • During one 5-month period in his first year as bishop of Charlotte, he put 21,000 miles on his car attempting to visit as much of the diocese as possible.

He enjoyed praying the rosary on the long trips.

• Bishop Curlin has a special affinity for the sick and dying, and uses the words of St. Paul of the Cross as a maxim: “In the twilight of life, God will judge us by the love we offered the poor and the suffering on earth.”

Courtesy Photo

Mercy Sister Mary Martin stands in her third-grade classroom at St. Gabriel School in Charlotte circa 1964-65. The school celebrated its 50th anniversary with a Mass and picnic Sept. 27.

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October 3, 2008

Pie for a cause

in our schools

The Catholic News & Herald 13

Wash for Life

Courtesy Photo

Courtesy Photo

Diane Daniel, assistant kindergarten teacher, and Elissa Brannan, assistant second-grade teacher, laugh during the “Pie in the Face” attraction at the fun fair at Our Lady of Mercy School in Winston-Salem Sept. 13. More than 500 people attended the fun fair, a fundraising event that featured rides, carnival games, food, clowns and karaoke. The “Pie in the Face” attraction, which featured teachers, was quite popular among the students.

Hannah Grendahl, an eighth-grader at St. Mark School in Huntersville, holds a sign during “Wash for Life” Sept. 23. Twenty-one eighth-graders participated in the national pro-life event, during which youth groups from around the country hold car washes to raise funds for local pregnancy care centers. Organized by middle school youth minister Katie Herzing, the event raised $340 for Room at the Inn, a Catholic maternity home in Charlotte.

Due to the drought in North Carolina, the students washed only the insides of cars. Working in groups, the students cleaned windows, vacuumed carpets and seats, collected debris and dusted the interiors. “The day was a huge success, and we plan on participating in the Wash for Life next year and washing 100 cars,” said Herzing.

October 3, 2008

14 The Catholic News & Herald

Perspectives

A collection of columns, editorials and viewpoints

A look into the heart of prejudice

The better we know ourselves, the wiser and less indiscrete we are “This country isn’t ready for an African American president!”

“We will never have a woman vice president as long as I am alive!”

One way to learn about innate prejudices in people is to discuss the upcoming election. Without a doubt, everyone has a right to an opinion.

In fact, people’s ability to voice their opinion is what has made our country great.

But where do we draw the line between sound opinion and prejudice?

What does being wrongfully prejudiced say about a person?

The word “prejudice” means to prejudge. Webster’s defines it as “injury due to some judgment or action of another, as in disregard of a person’s rights.”

By its nature, prejudice spawns injury.

It can result in character assassination and destroy reputations, actions that often are much more painful than physical injury.

In the U.S. Supreme Court, a frieze depicting the works of good and evil stands above the justices; one of the works of evil is slander, one of the handmaids of prejudice.

Whenever we talk about prejudging, we also are speaking of imprudence.

Prudence advises us to be clear-sighted in seeking the truth, not flinching when something is not to our liking.

So knowing the real truth is essential for prudent judgment. It is also the antithesis of indiscretion and foolishness.

How do people become prejudiced?

One answer can be found in Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s book, “The

No common ground for abortion

I was dismayed by Douglas Kmiec’s Sept. 19 column (“Abortion and common ground”). Dr. Alveda King (niece of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.) and others have made a compelling moral analogy between abortion and slavery.

Both are grave evils that deny personhood and claim ownership of another life. If we apply this slavery analogy to Kmiec’s argument, we would seek to improve economic conditions to make slavery unnecessary but ignore the unjust law that legalizes such grave evil.

Kmiec asks us to find “common ground.” He states “there is, in fact, more than one way to be pro-life.”

But there is only one way to

The Human Side FATHER EUGENE HEMRICK cns columnist

Brothers Karamazov.”

In one of the episodes, Fyodor and his three sons visit a wise old monk named Zosima. During the visit, Fyodor plays the part of a buffoon. When he finally settles down and admits his indiscretion, he beseeches Zosima to share wisdom on his behavior.

Zosima replies, “You are lying!” He tells Fyodor he is not truthful to himself, and hence not to everyone around him.

Prejudice, more often than not, is the result of a person not being truthful with himself or herself. Prejudiced persons love their own self-deceit, wallow in it.

They have no desire to leave their comfortable, narrow world to learn the real truth and the discomfort it can create.

The opposite of prejudice is wisdom that encourages us to ask what ultimately is behind our heavy heartedness and the feelings that are locking us into our onesided world.

The better we know our true hearts, the wiser and less indiscrete we are.

That should govern the way we pick our next president and vice president! be pro-life — with all your heart, soul and mind.

— Peter Miller Hickory

Moral clarity apprciated

We want to express our gratitude for Father Matthew Buettner’s column in the Sept. 26 issue (“Moral clarity in an election year”). The definitions of the moral issues of our current political scene with the respective positions of the Catholic Church were crystal clear, consistently logical and documented with references to the catechism.

The conclusions are irrefutable and the responsibility of each Catholic voter is obvious. Thank you for making this outstanding material available to members of the Diocese of Charlotte.

— Joseph and Anita Di Pietro Charlotte

Fighting the force High abortion rate associated with Down syndrome diagnosis Editor’s note: This is part of a series on prenatal diagnosis.

This morning, I went to Mass with my family. Admittedly, I was a bit distracted by my 6-month old son, George, who was trying to get my husband’s attention with his newest tricks — grabbing noses, blowing bubbles, trying to sing (or at least that’s what we call it).

When George does all those regular baby things, we rejoice more than we did with his older siblings because George has Down syndrome, a chromosomal disorder.

After the doom and gloom prognosis we were given for him, it’s now wonderful as we realize that he’s overwhelmingly more like his siblings than different from them.

As I sat in church today, I wondered where all the other babies with Down syndrome were. Last week we were at a violin concert, and there was a happy, busy 4-year-old with Down syndrome sitting behind us.

In May, I brought George to an education conference where I saw three other babies with Down’s in the room.

So where are the babies with Down syndrome at my church? There’s a wonderful young man, Nathan, who has Down syndrome. He was in my Sunday school class several years ago, but he’s on his way to middle school now.

In my 11 years of working with every first Communicant at our parish, Nathan has been the only kid with Down syndrome to celebrate that sacrament.

Nobody I’ve asked has been able to think of a baby with Down syndrome baptized at our church in the past few years, other than our George.

I can’t think of any reason Catholic moms wouldn’t conceive just as many babies with an extra chromosome as the rest of the world’s women — so where are the babies?

Ninety percent of all babies prenatally diagnosed with Down syndrome are aborted.

From personal experience, I can

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Life Issues Forum ELIZABETH S. DeHORITY, M.D. guest columnist

tell you that the obstetrical care system is a strong force, and truly a challenge for even the most passionately pro-life families. While early prenatal care and screening is valuable and positive for many reasons, as soon as there is even a remote possibility of a fetal problem all the relationships in that system change.

It’s called poor prenatal diagnosis (PPD). When obstetricians provide a PPD, the system can go from one geared toward investing in the health of mother and baby to a fast-paced, frightening, very negative organization.

When our family learned that George probably had Down syndrome, we made it absolutely clear to everyone that we would keep our son. I was, however, amazed at how much time and effort it took to go against the flow. Why would these professionals make life more difficult for a family struggling with a PPD? Why wouldn’t they be supportive of a family carrying to term?

Things became more difficult when we had additional pregnancy complications that required a specialist.

Finding a maternal fetal medicine doctor willing to help us bring George into the world in as healthy a state as possible required much time and grief.

We managed to resist the force, and we kept George. He was premature, and he has Down’s, and he brings joy to our family.

So I think of Newtons’ Third Law: “Every force has an equal and opposing force.” Perhaps that explains why there aren’t any other babies with Down syndrome in my church, because the force of the fast-paced, frightening, nonpro-life obstetrical industry isn’t being met with much of anything to oppose it.

How can we create a force, equal in speed, strength and power to that of the medical system, that could support families dealing with bad news about their babies?

Our force must be positive, peaceful, honest and gentle. Families in this situation are so vulnerable, so options must be visible and immediately available. Often medical-related issues happen so fast that if parents don’t know about supportive options ahead of time, it might be too late.

And finally, our efforts to support these families must be fully integrated into a culture of respect for life — no matter how brief, no matter how handicapped — in every aspect of our faith community.

Dr. DeHority is a parishioner of St. Ann Church in Charlotte.

October 3, 2008

The Catholic News & Herald 15

Effective parish leadership Servant leadership qualities encourage ‘followership’ There’s a lot of talk about leadership these days, most notably, of course, in the campaign for the presidency.

But it was encouraging to see an emphasis on leadership in early September at Corpus Christi Catholic Church in suburban Philadelphia where hundreds of people from surrounding parishes gathered to discuss leadership, involvement, community and spirituality in parish life. I was invited to offer some keynote thoughts.

There is a distinction, I pointed out, between leadership and management, and that distinction was not news to this predominantly lay assembly. They agreed that management deals with complexity and leadership deals with change.

Although it is sometimes said that you lead people and manage things, I reminded them that the late Peter Drucker, an expert on business management, held that, “Management deals with people, their values, their growth and development — and this makes it [the study of management] a humanity.”

Aware, however, that leadership deals with change, the parish leaders in this assembly realized that any attempt to bring about change will draw resistance; they know that most humans prefer to live in the immediate past.

So those who want to lead,

I suggested, have to be persuasive communicators. It is more important, of course, for a leader to have integrity and creativity, but if you don’t write and speak well you are probably not going to lead effectively.

Although the emphasis at the Corpus Christi gathering was on parish leadership, it was natural to think of political and business leaders, even military leaders, as we considered various styles of leadership and their applicability to the leadership challenge in a parish.

There’s something to be said for “followership” too, but it was up to the subgroups in this gathering to decide how best to generate more involvement and wider participation on the part of parishioners in parish activities.

I mentioned that I had read an interesting book recently: “Counselor: A Life at the Edge of History” by Ted Sorensen, special counsel to President John F. Kennedy and best known, perhaps, as Kennedy’s chief speech writer.

Speaking of Kennedy as leader, Sorenson says: “JFK was a wonderful boss. We never argued, quarreled, shouted or swore at each other. He never bawled me out. He never asked me to lie to anyone. He never misled or lied to me. ...

“When mistakes occurred, whether

Why isn’t school choice a national issue?

Anti-religious bias still blocks educational choices My father was a protegé of the first Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago.

He took great pride in being one of the mayor’s “foot soldiers” in the regular Democratic Party in the “city of big shoulders,” as Carl Sandburg put it so well in poetic lyric. My dad liked that image, since it conjured up the idea of taking up in a very Catholic way other people’s worries and helping them out.

In my dad’s day, that’s what politics was about — helping somebody get a break who truly needed one. And not surprising, in a city like Chicago, New York, Detroit or Cincinnati, it was frequently new immigrant families that needed help finding a job, a decent place to live, getting the kids into schools.

Immigrants of Irish, Polish, Italian and German descent often sought to enroll their children in Catholic schools.

But Catholic schools were crowded then. In many Catholic schools today, the problem is less space than the affordability of parochial education.

It was inequitable to Dad that taxpayers could not direct a portion of their own tax monies for education to the schools of their choice. Indeed, it was not uncommon for Dad to hear from new immigrants that this had long been done in “the old country” — Europe.

But in the United States it was

different. In the late-19th and early 20th century, an anti-immigrant wave swept the country, aided and abetted by Ohio Republican James Blaine, who thought he could get himself elected president by getting American citizens (mostly immigrants themselves only a generation or two earlier) to fear the new arrivals.

Blaine focused this dislike on Catholics, accusing them of being in league with a foreign pope and often running their own schools.

While Blaine’s attempted amendment of the federal constitution failed, he was successful in getting some pretty mean wording added to 37 state constitutions: “(No) revenue ... shall ever be taken from the public treasury directly or indirectly in aid of any church, sect or religious denomination or in aid of any sectarian institution.”

Dad’s retired now in Florida, but at 86 he still follows politics closely. Recently an effort by the Florida Tax and Budget Commission caught Dad’s attention.

The commission proposed to ask the people of Florida on the November ballot whether or not to get rid of Blaine’s anti-Catholic language and substitute something more evenhanded: “Individuals or entities may not be barred from participating in public programs because of religion.”

Looking Around JESUIT FATHER WILLIAM J. BYRON cns columnist

in his campaign or in his presidency, he never blamed me or anyone else on his staff, or disavowed me or others when under political or journalistic pressure.

To the contrary, he always protected and defended us.

“When a speech of his on which I had worked went well, or a political task I had undertaken for him succeeded, he often telephoned me the next day with profuse thanks.”

In this political season, the entire nation is assessing leadership qualities.

Most of us like a friendly leader.

We want evidence that the would-be leader’s ears are not purely ornamental; we want to be heard by the one we’re being asked to follow. We want honesty, integrity and veracity as well as energy in our leaders.

Years ago in a panel discussion at the University of Notre Dame the following three essentials of Christian leadership were mentioned: availability, accountability and vulnerability.

Where parish leadership displays those three, can engaged followership be far behind?

Faith & Precedent DOUGLAS W. KMIEC cns columnist

The elegant simplicity and fairness of those few words would have permitted parents to get a voucher and send their children to the school of their choice: public, independent or religious.

However, the proposed measure awakened the state’s public school teachers’ union, which opposed it. Then, because of a bureaucratic technicality, the Florida Supreme Court justices decided to keep the proposal off the ballot.

Apparently the tax commission is the wrong entity to propose state constitutional amendments about state taxes. As the kids say, “whatever.”

For now at least, the ghost of Jimmy Blaine stands again in the way of religious freedom.

Catholic Floridians and Catholics in every state where educational choice is blocked by the anti-religious bias of an earlier era ought to keep trying.

Years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court cleared away any lingering federal objection to school choice. Any state that doesn’t follow suit will be employing an ethic that says “I’ve got mine, get your own.”

That’s not the Catholic way, and come to think of it, it shouldn’t be the American way either.

Freedom means imitating Christ, especially serving poor, pope says The Pope Speaks POPE BENEDICT XVI VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Christian freedom is not being able to do anything one wants, but being free to imitate Christ, especially in serving the poor, Pope Benedict XVI said.

“Let us allow ourselves to be guided by the Spirit, trying to live in the freedom that finds direction in faith in Christ and becomes concrete in service to our brothers and sisters,” the pope said Oct. 1 at his weekly general audience.

“Being increasingly like Christ is essential. That is how one becomes truly free,” the pope told those gathered for his audience in St. Peter’s Square.

The pope’s audience talk focused on how St. Paul and the other apostles resolved differences they had, particularly regarding whether new Christians from pagan families were required to observe Jewish law.

Here is text of the pope’s remarks in English.

Dear Brothers and Sisters, In our continuing catechesis on St. Paul, we now consider two events that illustrate Paul’s relationship to the Twelve, which combined respect for their authority with frankness in the service of the Gospel.

At the Council of Jerusalem, Paul defended before the Twelve his conviction that the grace of Christ had freed the Gentiles from the obligations of the Mosaic Law. Significantly, the church’s decision in this matter of faith was accompanied by a gesture of concrete concern for the needs of the poor (cf. Gal 2:10).

By endorsing Paul’s collections among the Gentiles, the council thus set its teaching on Christian freedom within the context of the church’s communion in charity.

Later, in Antioch, when Peter, to avoid scandalizing Jewish Christians, abstained from eating with the Gentiles, Paul rebuked him for compromising the freedom brought by Christ (cf. Gal 2:11-14).

Yet, writing to the Romans years later, Paul himself insisted that our freedom in Christ must not become a source of scandal for others (cf. Rom 14:21).

Paul’s example shows us that, led by the Spirit and within the communion of the church, Christians are called to live in a freedom which finds its highest expression in service to others.

October 3, 2008

in the news

The Catholic News & Herald 16

Returning to life after Ike

Hope, faith in abundance at first Mass on Galveston Island since hurricane

by ERIK NOREIGA and JONAH DYCUS catholic news service

CNS photo by Erik Noriega, Texas Catholic Herald

Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston greets Massgoers Sept. 28 after celebrating the first Mass on Galveston Island after Hurricane Ike hit Sept. 13. The Mass was at St. Patrick Church, which was in relatively good shape although the rectory and old school building were both completely inundated by the storm surge. Last century the church withstood the great storm of 1900.

GALVESTON, Texas — An hour prior to Mass, Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston was walking around the grounds of St. Patrick Church, taking time to speak with those who showed up early for the first Mass on Galveston Island since it was battered

by Hurricane Ike Sept. 13.

They all shared similar stories. Some had lost everything. Some had only lost their utilities and were still waiting.

Some were born on the island. Some weren’t.

Regardless, they all shared in the hope that the historic island would recover as it has after previous storms, and they all shared the same faith — that Jesus Christ in the Eucharist would lift their spirits during these challenging times.

And like his predecessors — from Bishop Jean Marie Odin to retired Archbishop Joseph A. Fiorenza — Cardinal DiNardo was present to his flock when they needed him most, sharing a smile, a word of hope or just a simple pat on the back.

“I want the people of Galveston to know that faith is going to be pretty important for them as they begin all of their cleanup and rebuilding and we are here with them,” Cardinal DiNardo said.

This Mass, celebrated Sept. 28, was followed by another Mass at Sacred Heart Church just down the street a few hours later. While the sanctuary of each church was useable, both parishes sustained heavy damage.

“St. Patrick is in relatively good shape. The big problem here is the air condition(ing) is gone,” Cardinal DiNardo said.

“When you go inside, the church looks very fine. It was one of the reasons I decided to come here to St. Patrick,” he said.

While St. Patrick and Sacred Heart churches were able to celebrate Mass, the rest of the churches on the island did not fare as well.

Cleaning crews meticulously scrubbed every inch of St. Mary’s Cathedral Basilica, the mother church of the state of Texas, which was inundated with more than 5 feet of water.

Archdiocesan officials were finally able to reach St. Therese Church on Point Bolivar. The church, like most buildings on that part of the island, suffered catastrophic damage.

Regardless, Cardinal DiNardo preached a message of hope as crews from a disaster response company worked feverishly throughout the week to get St. Patrick Church ready for the Mass.

“They are working hard and we are working with them and we hope to have the buildings back up and running

— including the schools here — as fast as possible,” Cardinal DiNardo said.

The Mass at St. Patrick was concelebrated by a number of priests who currently serve the Catholic faithful on the island.

Franciscan Father John Bok, the pastor, was greeted by members of his flock happy to see a familiar face.

“I am grateful to be back. My heart was lifted up just from the experience, it was wonderful. I think we all needed it, to get back on the island a little bit of normalcy,” Father Bok said.

“It helped us all to get back a little sense of what we are used to, the norm,” he said.

While the church fared well during the storm — it had previously been lifted 5 feet after the great storm of 1900 — Father Bok lost his living quarters during Ike as a result of the storm surge.

He is currently residing elsewhere.

Father Bok’s living situation has given him insight on how many of his parishioners are feeling without a place to call home.

“One of the sad things is that it has been difficult to keep track of people because we dispersed all over the place. I don’t know where many of our parishioners were; they probably didn’t know where I was until today,” Father Bok said.

“That is another thing that is wonderful about being able to make these connections again. To see some of the people whom we may have not known how they are, where they have been,” he said.

After the Mass, Cardinal DiNardo spent a half-hour shaking hands and offering words of hope to the standing-room-only crowd who attended the Mass.

And as Galvestonians gathered after Mass, neighbors shared hugs and stories.

The favorite question was, “Do you have lights?” This was the first time many had seen each other since Ike. “Faith” and “hope” were two words being repeated, like the new mantra of those who are going to rebuild their lives on Galveston Island.

“I’m almost 73 years old, I have lived a long time. I’ve learned, even in the midst of our valleys, what Psalm 23 said, ‘The Lord is our shepherd,’ and in the darkest valleys, he is there with us,” Father Bok said.

“And people who have faith, like these people here today, realize that God is with us, and God is going to get us through it,” he said.

“It is a very difficult time of adversity for all of the people of Galveston. I am zeroing in on the Catholic community but my heart goes out to all the people in Galveston,” Cardinal DiNardo said.

If everyone is “in solidarity with one another and we move step by step,” he added, “we can build up again this great city” and its faith communities.