Papal transition: May 8, 2005, East Tennessee Catholic

DAN MCWILLIAMS

New church for Newport Bishop Joseph E. Kurtz dedicated a new church for Good Shepherd Parish in Newport on April 27. Parishioners, who had been worshiping in a converted home and former funeral parlor downtown since Good Shepherd’s founding in 1967, now have a two-story, 10,000-square-foot building on Cosby Highway. page 7

THE EAST TENNESSEE

The

N E W S PA P E R

of the D I O C E S E of K N O X V I L L E

CNS PHOTO BY NANCY WIECHEC

Volume 14 • Number 17 • May 8, 2005

THREE CHEERS Students from the North American College react April 19 as bells ring in St. Peter’s Square announcing the election of a new pope.

North American College students elated by election of Pope Benedict

Students continued on page 8

$17.5 million raised $2.5 million remaining to meet $20 million goal

As of May 2 the GIFT campaign had raised $17.5 million, more than 87 percent of the $20 million goal. The figure represents major gifts and pledges from parishes.

Pope Benedict XVI waves from his popemobile at the end of his inaugural Mass April 24 in St. Peter’s Square. About 350,000 people attended the Mass that marked the formal start of his papacy.

INAUGURAL MASS

Benedict XVI begins his pontificate The new pope receives the symbols of his ministry and asks for the prayers of all the faithful. By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS)— In a liturgy rich with symbols and promises, Pope Benedict XVI formally began his ministry as head of the universal church, and Catholics from around the world pledged their love and obedience to him.

The morning of April 24, Pope Benedict, elected April 19, walked down to the tomb of the martyred St. Peter in the Vatican basilica to pay homage to

The 78-year-old pope said he would rely on the prayers of all Catholics and the grace of God. “I do not have to carry alone what in truth I could never carry alone,” he said.

The new pope said his inaugural Mass was not the moment to present “a program of governance” but rather a time to promise to try be a good shepherd to Christ’s flock, to rescue those who are lost,

the first bishop of Rome.

Then, with some 150 cardinals, he processed into a sun-bathed St. Peter’s Square to begin the Mass and receive the main symbols of his office: the fisherman’s ring and the pallium.

“At this moment, weak servant of God that I am, I must assume this enormous task, which truly exceeds all human capacity,” Pope Benedict said in his homily.

to help the poor, and to build unity among all believers in Christ.

An estimated 350,000 people attended the Mass, including delegations from more than 130 countries and from dozens of Orthodox, Anglican, and Protestant churches.

Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, brother of U.S. President George W. Bush, led the five-member U.S. national delegation. Canada’s governor general, Adri-

At first audience, pope shares reasons for choosing Benedict

BY CINDY WOODEN

VATICAN CITY (CNS)—At the first general audience of his pontificate, Pope Benedict XVI sat in the full force of the spring sun, expressing again his “awe and gratitude” that God chose him to lead the Catholic Church.

God, he said, “surprised me first of all.”

Although leading more than 1 billion Catholics is a huge task, the knowledge that he will have the help of God and of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the spiritual support of the faithful “gives me serenity

and joy,” he said.

Pope Benedict began the audience by touring St. Peter’s Square in an open popemobile for about 10 minutes. He stood the entire time, waving and blessing the crowd.

He told the estimated 15,000 people gathered in St. Peter’s Square that in the coming weeks he would continue the series of audience talks Pope John Paul II had begun on the psalms and canticles used in the church’s morning and evening prayers.

But first, he said, he Benedict continued on page 2

CNS PHOTO BY NANCY WIECHEC

ROME (CNS)—At Rome’s North American College, where the average ordination age is 26, Pope John Paul II has been the only pope many students have ever known.

But despite their nostalgia and their desire to help fulfill Pope John Paul’s goals, this young generation of seminarians appears confident and at ease with the new Pope Benedict XVI. That generation includes Deacon David Carter, 25, of the Diocese of Knoxville, who is in his final year of theology at North American College and who will be ordained to the priesthood July 1.

“John Paul II’s goals were none other than foundational Christian goals: to preach the Gospel to all people, to proclaim the dignity of the human person as revealed by Christ, to seek the unity of all Christians, and to seek understanding with all religions,” said Deacon Carter. “These things are lived out in every age of the church, and they will definitely continue in the reign of Pope Benedict XVI.” Deacon Jason Tyler, 26, a fourth-year student, was born less than a year after Pope John Paul was elected in 1978. Before and after he entered the seminary, he said, the late pope struck him as a “truly inspiring” example of constant service and untiring mission.

CNS PHOTO FROM REUTERS

BY MICHAEL SEVERANCE

FIRST AUDIENCE Pope Benedict XVI waves to pilgrims at the end of his first general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican April 27.

enne Clarkson, led the five-member Canadian delegation.

The German-born pope’s 81-year old brother, Father Georg Ratzinger, was seated in the front row by the altar, not far from German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and President Horst Koehler.

The crowd was dotted by faithful who were waving flags, especially German flags.

Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, King Juan Carlos of Spain, and Britain’s Prince Philip were seated alongside the altar.

Religious calendars created some complications for some delegations. Israel was represented by its ambassador to the Vatican, although the inauguration took place on the first full day of the weeklong Passover observance.

Sixteen Orthodox churches sent representatives even though April 24 was Palm Sunday on the Julian calendar most of them follow.

Chilean Cardinal Jorge Medina Estévez placed the pallium, a long woolen stole, around the neck of Pope Benedict, reminding Inauguration continued on page 2

letters to the

EDITOR

Pilgrimage honors the ‘disappeared’

This spring 10 pilgrims from North America journeyed in Guatemala and El Salvador to become more deeply informed and to remember and pray for the disappeared and assassinated of both countries. On March 28 we visited the cathedral in the main plaza in Guatemala City and looked at the columns in front of the cathedral, where names of the disappeared are inscribed. We then walked to the garage where Bishop Juan Gerardi was bludgeoned to death in April 1998. This occurred just two days after he published a compilation of the data about people killed, tortured, and disappeared during the Guatemalan civil war. Two military officers were found guilty of the crime; both were graduates of the School of the Americas at Fort Binning, Ga. The next day we enjoyed the beauty of the basilica at Esquipulas, known for the Cristo Negro (black Christ), and the hospitality of the monks. The high point of the day was a performance by the Guatemalan pilgrims for the North American pilgrims. They played music, danced, and sang.

Later in the week we headed out in two buses and a truck to San Salvador, hosted by San Antonio Parish in Soyapango. Father Estafan Turcios, the pastor, had arranged hosts for us to stay with and meals at the church. Our Guatemalan pilgrims played music and sang in the fellowship hall as well as at the Mass celebrated at the church where Archbishop Oscar Romero was assassinated in 1980.

Saturday at an open-air setting in downtown San Salvador, we attended the main ceremony and celebrated Mass to commemorate the continuing legacy of Archbishop Romero. There were people representing many countries of the world, as far away as Japan and Africa. After the Mass we joined in a candlelight procession to the cathedral where the archbishop is buried. By honoring the disappeared and assassinated, we keep alive Christ’s love for the poor and oppressed and re-energize our courage to continue to press for justice.

—Bryson Dean Greeneville

Reader remembers Pope John Paul II

In March 1979 I was in Vatican City, visiting my cousin, who is an Oblate of the Holy Spirit. My cousin is one of the people who makes appointments for an audience with the pope. I attended Mass on March 19, 1979, with the Holy Father. There were 40 of us in the congregation, and the Mass was held at the Basilica of St. Mary Major.

During the Mass the Holy Father requested from the multitude of people someone to read the epistle in English.

Without hesitation, I stood up and did the reading. The Holy Father was thankful that someone had voluntarily read the epistle in English. In his homily he emphasized words like compassion, endurance, and suffering, telling us that they are great blessings from God. Music for the Mass included “Amazing Grace,” “Create in Me,” and “Come Down, Lord.”

I was inspired when the pope read Psalm 139:23, which says, “Examine me, O God, and know my mind, test me, and discover my thoughts.” After the Mass I came up to him, knelt, and kissed his ring. We hugged him like a real father, and he kissed all our heads. It was really an amazing day of grace, seeing the Holy Father in person and listen to his words of comfort and encouragement. ■ —Lorie C. Weeden Knoxville We welcome letters to the editor and carefully consider all submissions. Letters should be 350 words or less and will be edited for grammar, style, clarity, and length. Letters to the editor reflect the opinions of their authors and not those of the editorial staff or the publisher.

Benedict continued from page 1

wanted to share with the public his reasons for choosing the name Benedict when he was elected pope April 19.

“I wanted to call myself Benedict XVI to bind myself to the venerated Pope Benedict XV, who guided the church in a troubled period because of the First World War. He was a courageous and authentic prophet of peace and worked with valiant courage first to prevent the drama of war and then to limit its nefarious consequences,” he said.

“In his footsteps, I want to place my ministry at the service of reconciliation and harmony among individuals and peoples, deeply convinced that the great good of peace is, first of all, a gift of God, a fragile and precious gift to invoke, safeguard, and build day after day with the help of everyone,” Pope Benedict said.

The second reason for choosing the name, he said, was to evoke the spirit of St. Benedict, the founder of Western monasticism.

In his prepared text the pope noted that St. Benedict is a co-patron of Europe, along with Sts. Cyril and Methodius. In his Italian-language talk he went off-script to pay homage to Sts. Bridget of Sweden, Catherine of Siena, and Edith Stein, who also are invoked as patrons of Europe and Italy.

Pope Benedict said the expansion of Benedictine monasticism had “an enormous influence on the spread of Christianity over the whole continent.”

“St. Benedict is very venerated in Germany, particularly in Bavaria, my homeland; he is a basic point of reference for the unity of Europe and a strong reminder of the undeniable Christian roots of its culture and civilization,” he said.

Pope Benedict asked the saint “to help us keep Christ firmly at the center of our existence. May he always have first place in our thoughts and in all our activities.”

The new pope, ably keeping to the general-audience tradition, gave his main talk in Italian, then read summaries and greetings in French, English, German, and Spanish.

To the delight of an estimated 2,000 Polish pilgrims, he also read greetings in Polish, thanking the pilgrims for “your goodness and your prayers.”

At the end of the audience Pope Benedict led the crowd in singing the Lord’s Prayer, which got off to a rocky start, with some prelates singing in Italian and the pope singing more strongly in Latin. He waved his arms like a conductor, getting everyone singing the same language and in unison. ■ Copyright 2005 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops 2

■

MAY 8, 2005

living the

READINGS

BY FATHER JOSEPH BRANDO

What’s next?

The Holy Spirit guides Christ’s disciples in ‘an entirely new way of life.’

When the disciples assembled for what was to be their last time with the risen Lord, they asked him, “Are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” It was a leading and necessary question.

They really wanted to know what they were supposed to do. Was there a mission? Were they to renew Israel morally and politically to take its rightful place among the earth’s kingdoms? Is the church of the world?

In Matthew’s rendition of the same event, some of the disciples worshiped Jesus. Even Luke depicts some disciples just standing there

after Jesus’ ascension, looking up to heaven. In a way they might be worshipping. Their “worship” resulted in a vision of two angels informing them Jesus was in heaven and will return. Is the church not of this world?

Luke reports Jesus’ giving the disciples two instructions. They were to wait for the Holy Spirit and then become Christ’s witness to the world. Matthew reports that Jesus commissioned his disciples, giving them three commands. They were to make disciples, baptize, and teach. Through it all, they would enjoy his continued presence.

One point comes through most clearly. They were to be patient and wait for the power of the Spirit. Yet they were not to go back to their regular jobs either. In John’s account

Your Pentecost gift Each believer has one and can use it to manifest God’s goodness.

he readings for Pentecost give us two views of the conferral of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles. One, from the Gospel of John, takes place on Easter Sunday evening. Jesus appears in the Upper Room and breathes the Holy Spirit on the disciples. With the same words the disciples are given power to forgive sins. The gift of the Spirit is the gift of peace.

The other view is from the Acts of the Apostles. It is the story of a great noise coming from the sky. After the noise filled the house where the disciples were, tongues came

T

to rest on each of them.

They became filled with the Spirit and began to speak different languages.

So the Scriptures present us two seemingly opposite manifestations of the Holy Spirit, with two different purposes. One comes with the quiet breathing of the newly risen Lord, conferring peace and forgiveness.

The other is itself a loud noise granting the ability to overcome the language barrier.

Obviously there is no conflict between the two.

In fact, the reading from Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians explains there are

we read of the risen Christ’s appearance at the Sea of Galilee, where he caught those of the Twelve who were fishermen. They were back fishing.

There he tells Peter to feed his sheep. A task was implied that demanded an entirely new way of life.

When you add up all the information we have about what Jesus wanted the church to do, a few major ideas come out. The church is not to be a political entity pursuing a public-policy agenda. Nor are we to be a people who can be found only in secluded places, privately worshipping God. We are to be a continued presence of the Lord, doing what he did.

We are indeed to worship. But our worship is to unify us in the body of Christ. We are to receive power from the Spirit that will allow us to transform the world by filling it and every human being in it with the love and life of Christ. ■ May 8, the Ascension of the Lord Acts 1:1-11 Psalm 47:2-3, 6-9 Ephesians 1:17-23 Matthew 28:16-20

many spiritual gifts coming from the same Spirit.

The Apostles received more than one of them.

That raises an important question for each of us. What gift did the Spirit give you? Since we are all of the Spirit, we are all gifted. It follows that each of us possesses some divine attribute that is uniquely ours. To find it, we must go through a process of discernment.

The process begins by finding out where we are.

We should recognize we are in the midst of the people of God. We should also feel the presence of the Spirit in our lives.

Then we need to recognize what it is that links the two. What in the church brings out the best in us? Concurrently, what

special gift in us makes the church better? Answers may be as varied as quiet understanding, loud enthusiasm, an ability to bring people together, a kind heart, joy, or a spirit of peace or forgiveness.

We can be pretty sure we’re correct if the attribute is unifying and uplifting as it manifests God’s truth, beauty, and goodness. Once we’ve identified such a gift, we can be sure there’s been a Pentecost event in us. ■ Father Brando is pastor of St. Thérèse of Lisieux Parish in Cleveland.

May 15, Pentecost Acts 2:1-11 Psalm 104:1, 24, 29-31, 34 1 Corinthians 12:3-7, 12-13 John 20:19-23

WEEKDAY READINGS Monday, May 9: Acts 19:1-8; Psalm 68:2-7; John 16:29-33 Tuesday, May 10: Acts 20:17-27; Psalm 68:10-11, 20-21; John 17:1-11 Wednesday, May 11: Acts 20:28-38; Psalm 68:29-30, 33-36; John 17:11-19 Thursday, May 12: Acts 22:30 and 23:6-11; Psalm 16:1-2, 5, 7-11; John 17:20-26 Friday, May 13: Acts 25:13-21; Psalm 103:1-2, 11-12, 19-20; John 21:15-19

Saturday, May 14: Feast, Matthias, apostle, Acts 1:15-17, 20-26; Psalm 113:1-8; John 15:9-17; vigil Mass of Pentecost, Genesis 11:1-9; Psalm 104:1-2, 24, 35, 27-30; Romans 8:22-27; John 7:37-39 Monday, May 16: Sirach 1:1-10; Psalm 93:1-2, 5; Mark 9:14-29 Tuesday, May 17: Sirach 2:1-11; Psalm 37:3-4, 18-19, 27-28, 39-40; Mark 9:30-37 Wednesday, May 18: Sirach 4:11-19; Psalm

119:165, 168, 171-172, 174-175; Mark 9:38-40 Thursday, May 19: Sirach 5:1-8; Psalm 1:14, 6; Mark 9:41-50 Friday, May 20: Sirach 6:5-17; Psalm 119:12, 16, 18, 27, 34-35; Mark 10:1-12 Saturday, May 21: Sirach 17:1-15; Psalm 103:13-18; Mark 10:13-16 ■

of God’s truth, of God’s word, the nourishment of his presence which he gives us in the Blessed Sacrament,” he said.

The new pope asked for the prayers of the entire church that he would grow in his love for the Lord and for the members of the church and prayers that he would be strong in the face of those who threaten the church.

“Let us pray for one another, that the Lord will carry us and that we will learn to carry one another,” he said.

His homily repeatedly was interrupted by applause, and Pope Benedict received a long ovation when he finished.

After he received the symbols of

his office, Pope Benedict received the act of obedience of his new flock, symbolized by 12 people from eight countries: Bishop Andrea Erba of VelletriSegni, who represented diocesan bishops, leads the diocese of which the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was titular head while serving as dean of the College of Cardinals.

Father Enrico Pomili, representing all priests, is pastor of the Rome parish of Santa Maria Consolatrice, Cardinal Ratzinger’s titular church until he became dean of the college in 2002.

The others included a transitional deacon from Africa; a Discalced Carmelite priest who serves as a

Inauguration continued from page 1

him that Jesus has entrusted him with taking up the ministry of St. Peter to shepherd Christ’s flock.

Italian Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Vatican secretary of state, handed Pope Benedict the fisherman’s ring, which the new pope placed on the ring finger of his right hand.

Cardinal Sodano prayed that “the Spirit of love” would fill the new pope with the strength and meekness needed to minister to Christians “in the unity of communion.”

In his homily Pope Benedict said, “One of the basic characteristics of a shepherd must be to love the people entrusted to him, even as he loves Christ whom he serves.”

“Loving means giving the sheep what is truly good, the nourishment

Inauguration continued on page 3

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T H E E A S T T E N N E S S E E C AT H O L I C

LORD

BY BISHOP JOSEPH E. KURTZ

His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI The new pontiff is ‘a simple, humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord.’

I met the future Pope Benedict XVI this past December during my ad limina visit to Rome with the 20 other bishops from Region V of the United States. The normal routine of the weeklong ad limina visit allows for the bishops of a region to visit with two congregations per day. The meeting is generally conducted by the prefect of the congregation and includes the involvement of his staff. We normally hear from the prefect his perspectives on the church and have an opportunity to share our insights and ask questions. By far the most satisfying for me was the Saturday morning before we left. Then–Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, now Benedict XVI, conducted the meeting.

The cordial and engaging meeting began with personal handshakes. As he moved around the table to shake hands and say hello, I was struck both by his gentle and inviting personality and by his warmth of welcome. There was a calming effect that his presence brought to the room. This is not always the case when a leader enters. I remember thinking to myself that the vibrations were so good.

My first two hints of a good meeting were his excellent command of English (I found out later that he also speaks French, in addition to the expected German and Italian) and his respectful relationship with the staff with whom he worked. I had heard of this fine working relationship from Monsignor Thomas Herron, a priest ordained one year after me who served in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in the 1980s and has since died of cancer.

The meeting itself revealed a man

the view from

HERE

who listened carefully to the questions raised by the bishops and who actually grasped the issues and addressed them directly. I was very impressed. It was an example of dialogue at its best. The future pope approached the 20 bishops of our region with all the elements of good dialogue: civility, respect, a listening ear, the capacity to articulate his understanding of the truth, and the capacity to respond.

One commentator said that his vision for church leadership is not seeking world power but rather renewing its intellectual and moral reverence for the truth. Like the saint of the fifth century from whom he takes his name, one credited with preserving and reviving the faith in one of its darkest hours, our new Holy Father shows his love of the faith.

A few months ago I wrote about dialogue, tolerance, and truth, quoting Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald as saying that “. . . education in tolerance . . . means educating in the exercise of the freedom to adhere to one’s own convictions, while accepting that others may adhere to theirs as well, and in respecting those practices that correspond to each individual’s religious beliefs . . . provided that they violate neither the rights of others nor national security, public health, or morals.” Few people today would think as deeply about this virtue we so cherish. Tolerance of others begins with a commitment to adhere to one’s own convictions. Too often conversation today about tolerance describes not so much one’s own convictions but rather a vague desire not to step on anyone’s toes.

Only when one is clear about one’s own convictions can any lasting and meaningful dialogue take place.

Pope Benedict XVI will be a great model of true dialogue, which our world desperately needs.

Similar to Pope John XXIII, who

BY MARY C. WEAVER

The Ratzinger report Since Benedict’s election I’ve been reading works by and about our new pope.

As we prepared the last issue, I was praying that our new pope wouldn’t be elected until after we met our deadline on Tuesday, April 19. It’s not that I didn’t want to hear the good news—just that I was nervous about how we’d meet our deadline if we had to tear up the paper and start over again with news of the new pontiff. (We managed to send the issue off about six hours later than usual, with the help of coffee, prayers, and an understanding printer.)

I didn’t seriously think the election would be decided before Wednesday or Thursday. After all, most conclaves take several days to complete their momentous business, and this one had just begun the previous day.

But to be on the safe side, I asked my friend Becky Menn-Hamblin (who works at HGTV, where everyone has a TV set at his or her desk) to monitor CNN for papal news.

It must’ve been shortly before noon when she called to say, “Mary, they’re saying they can’t tell what color the smoke is, but I’m telling you, this is white smoke.” She held the phone to her television set, and my heartbeat accelerated as I heard the crowds cheering in St. Peter’s Square. I didn’t realize how riveting the election would be until that moment, and as I ran to turn on the TV at the Chancery, my excitement increased.

Most of the staff ended up in front of that TV, and we watched as Cardinal Jorge Medina Estévez appeared on the balcony and proclaimed, Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum: Habemus papam—“I announce to you a great joy: we have a pope.”

I’ve been on a high ever since, and I’ve taken the opportunity to read as much as possible about the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as well as essays and articles by the cardinal.

The more I learn, the more I admire and love the man. He is brilliant, kindly, good-humored, and self-effacing—so much more interesting and complex a personality than

was elected in 1958 at the age of 77, and his beloved predecessor, John Paul II, whose youth was spent under the politics of tyranny, Benedict XVI, just turning 78, is the first pope from Germany since 1057. Just as some analysts wanted to dismiss John XXIII as an “interim” pope, I am sure the same cries will be heard again. However, judging from my recent observations in December and hearing the Holy Father describe himself as a “simple, humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord,” I cannot help but think that there will be a greatness that will be God’s gift to us. I pledge to follow him as he leads us to the Lord in the path of holiness, truth, and charity. Long live Pope Benedict XVI. ■ BISHOP KURTZ’S SCHEDULE May 8: 9:30 a.m. CDT, confirmation, St. Francis of Assisi Church, Fairfield Glade May 10: noon, general priests’ meeting, Chancery May 11: 8:05 a.m., Mass, Sacred Heart Cathedral May 12: provincial meeting, Louisville, Ky. May 13: 10 a.m., Mass, All Saints Church, followed by reception to honor Knoxville Catholic High School principal Dr. Aurelia Montgomery May 14: 11:15 a.m., Mass of thanksgiving for Father Herbert Prescott’s 50th anniversary, St. Stephen Church, Chattanooga; 5:30 p.m., Mass, Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church, Chattanooga, followed by Respect for Life walk May 15: 9 a.m., confirmation, St. Bridget Church, Dayton May 16: St. Charles Borromeo Seminary class reunion, St. Eleanor Church, Collegeville, Pa. May 17: 1:30 p.m., meeting of Vocations Promotion Council, Chancery May 18: 8:30 a.m., Mass, Chancery May 19: 4 p.m., meeting with students in the Loyola Institute for Ministry Extension Program, Chancery May 20: 6 p.m., annual Knights of Columbus clergy night, Knights’ hall on Lee Highway, Chattanooga May 21: 10 a.m., graduation, Knoxville Catholic High School; 5 p.m., confirmation, Our Lady of Fatima Church, Alcoa May 22: Mass, Holy Spirit Church, SoddyDaisy; 2 p.m., graduation, Notre Dame High School, Chattanooga ■

many of his critics suggest.

At the moment I’m reading God Is Near Us (Ignatius Press, 2003), a collection of the new pope’s essays on the Eucharist, and listening to audiotapes of Salt of the Earth: The Church at the End of the Millennium (Ignatius Press, 1999), a lengthy Qand-A interview between Cardinal Ratzinger and the journalist Peter Seewald.

If you have the notion that the cardinal functioned as some sort of doctrinal attack dog (“the pope’s rottweiler”) in his former position as prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, you should read (or listen to) Salt of the Earth to see how the congregation functioned.

I was fascinated to learn about the collegial discovery and decision-making process of the congregation and how its members were constantly in dialogue with local church officials and others who could shed light on various cases. The congregation’s decisions represented the hard-won, carefully developed consensus of the members—not arbitrary or capricious decisions on any individual’s part.

In my reading I’ve also learned that Pope Benedict’s key passions are teaching, learning, and developing theological ideas. He was a popular university professor in 1977 when he was tapped to become the Archbishop of Munich—a big surprise to View continued on page 7

from the bishop’s

OFFICE

Ministry assignment ishop Joseph E. Kurtz has named Lourdes Perez the new acting director of the Office of Hispanic Ministry, effective July 1, 2005.

“Mrs. Perez has served in the Hispanic Ministry Office over the past year and brings great faith, organization, and enthusiasm to her work,” wrote Father Vann Johnston, moderator of the curia, in an April 22 memo to priests and diocesan staff.

“Our gratitude also goes out to Jeannine De La Torre Ugarte, who has been serving as interim director,” Father Johnston said.

“Over the last year Mrs. De La Torre Ugarte generously agreed to extend her service until a new person could be identified to lead the office. She now will pursue a degree full time at the University of Tennessee. Her service will conclude at the end of June, and she will assist Mrs. Perez with this transition as she is able.”

Articles about Mrs. De La Torre Ugarte and Mrs. Perez will appear in an upcoming issue of the ETC. ■

B

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CNS PHOTO BY NANCY WIECHEC

hope in the

BODY OF CHRIST Pope Benedict XVI distributes Communion at his inaugural Mass in St. Peter’s Square April 24. The Mass marked the formal start of Benedict’s papacy.

consultant to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; a Benedictine abbess; a Korean married couple; a young woman from Sri Lanka; and a young man from Congo.

Italian Cardinal Angelo Sodano, South Korean Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan, and Cardinal Medina represented the College of Cardinals.

Among the thousands of people who gathered in St. Peter’s Square and filled the surrounding streets for the Mass were many who felt represented by the 12.

Francisco Navarro, 36, of Los Angeles said he was not disappointed the world’s cardinals chose a German instead of a Spanish or Latin American pope.

“The pope is the pope,” he said. “I’m happy with it. I hope God will guide him. We feel blessed to be here, to be as one: no racism, no nothing.”

Petra Keller, 36, who is German but lives in Rome, said: “We are proud, yes, but Germans generally are never proud of their country because of their history.

They are more proud where he is from, in Bavaria.”

Keller said that in general “Germans are very critical.

They are waiting to see what he is like because he seems to be very conservative.”

Barbara Schwartzenberg, 49, of Baton Rouge, La., said, “It is nice we have another non-Italian pope to show the universality of the church.”

Although the Gospel was chanted in Latin and Greek, the other Bible readings were in English and Spanish.

The prayers of the faithful were recited in German, French, Arabic, Chinese, and Portuguese.

In French the people prayed: “For our Holy Father Benedict XVI, who today begins his ministry as the Roman pontiff, may he serve the church and be a courageous witness of the Gospel.”

The bread and wine consecrated by Pope Benedict during the Mass were brought up to him by Catholics from Hungary, Croatia, Kenya, Burkina Faso, Italy, China, and Peru; many in the procession wore national costumes.

During the offertory procession and the act of obedience, Pope Benedict smiled broadly, listened attentively, stroked the cheeks of the young, and offered his blessing.

At the end of the Mass Pope Benedict took his first ride in the popemobile, standing in the back of the open vehicle, waving to the crowd and blessing them with his right hand, newly weighted by the fisherman’s ring.

He then went into St. Peter’s Basilica, where a chair had been set on an oriental rug before the main altar.

Members of the government delegations were led into the basilica to greet him and pose for photographs.

Pope Benedict met on April 25 with the delegations from the other Christian churches and from other religions. A separate audience was planned for Catholic pilgrims from Germany.

Note: To read Pope Benedict’s homily for the inaugural Mass, visit etcatholic.com/homily.htm. ■ Contributing to this story were Benedicta Cipolla and Eleni E. Dimmler. Copyright 2005 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

T H E E A S T T E N N E S S E E C AT H O L I C

MAY 8, 2005

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BY TIM SCRIPA

■ A pancake breakfast will be offered after all Masses on Sunday, May 15, in the parish life center. Tickets will be sold at the door. Proceeds will benefit the New York trip of Jamie Kuykendall, Katie Labbe, Paige Smith, and Jordan Reinert.

St. Augustine, Signal Mountain ■ A special event for parish families who are

following the Growing in Faith Together campaign will begin after Mass on Sunday, May 15.

■ Volunteers are needed to help with Vacation Bible School this June. Planning meetings are forthcoming. Call the parish office at 423-886-3424 for details.

■ Newcomers: Michael and Kim Butler, Tim and Lucy Franklin, Mark and Gaye Heinsohn, John Higgins, Mary Suzanne Iorio, Kevin and Christina Schrumpf, Douglas and Charisse Varnell

St. Jude, Chattanooga ■ Volunteers will be needed June 19 through 24 to help host families in the Interfaith Hospitality Network. IHN is a partnership of more than 100 churches in the Chattanooga area that take turns hosting temporarily homeless families for a week at a time year-round. Volunteers will set up and break down facilities for IHN families, participate in children’s activities, host evenings and overnights, and provide transportation. Sign up after Mass on Sunday, May 8. Call Steve Joyce at 423-843-9220.

St. Mary, Athens ■ Parish update meetings will be held after

all Masses the weekend of May 7 and 8. A walkthrough of the new rectory will follow the meetings.

■ The children’s choir will begin practice after the 10 a.m. Mass on Sunday, May 8. All elementary and junior high students are encouraged to join.

■ The parish Senior Citizens are accepting donations and seeking volunteers for the parish flea market Saturday, May 14. Call Ruth Robinson at 745-7455 or Donna Kreps at 507-9933. All proceeds will benefit the St. Mary building fund.

■ A retirement reception for religious-education director Joyce Spurlin will begin at 11:30 a.m. Sunday, May 15, in the old social hall. Bring a covered dish. Call Lee Ann Moates at 423-263-1217 or 887-4982 for details.

■ A potluck picnic for students in grades 4 through 6 and their parents will be held from 11:15 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, May 22, at Athens Regional Park. Call Sue Granger at 334-5978 or 506-7836 or Mary Pascarella at 744-8180 to learn more or to volunteer.

■ Confirmandi: Kelly Aparicio-Rascon, Stephen Ayers, Caroline Banda, Taryn Buckley, Mary Durland, Amanda Gledhill, Colton Griffin, Sara Home, Sara Horner, Ryan Kirkpatrick, Hannah Liner, Hope Marlow, Michael Riggin, Kaitlyn Schrick, Savannah Schrick, Jordan Simbeck, Courtney Wright, Kurt Zoliner

St. Stephen, Chattanooga ■ Knights of Columbus Council 8576 is helping Council 8152 collect band instruments for St. Anne Church in Haiti. The band has 40 students and 11 instruments. Call Mike Horten at 423-825-8191 to make a donation.

St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Cleveland ■ The Seniors’ Group will sponsor a lunch-

eon and concert featuring clarinet and saxophone player Jay Craven, formerly of the Chattanooga Symphony Orchestra, at noon Tuesday, May 10, in the educational building.

Reservations required. Call the parish office at 423-476-8123 to RSVP. Bring a covered side dish to accompany the provided Italian entree.

Cumberland Mountain Deanery

All Saints, Knoxville ■ The parish will celebrate the 25th anniversary of ordination of pastor Father Chris Michelson on Sunday, May 29.

■ Newcomers: David and Shannon Driver; David, Anne, Major, and Martha Hall; Matt, Betsey, Max, and Daniel Hull; Ron Kirby; Jeff, Kristen, Casey, Brodey, and Riley Long; Lauren Mackey; Kenneth and Carol Matts; Francis and Sarah Sledzinski; Bill, Annie, and Aubrey Whitworth; David, Katherine, and Eleanor Wolski

Blessed Sacrament, Harriman ■ The Knights of Columbus will sponsor, prepare, and serve their annual breakfast to honor mothers and their families after the 10:30 a.m. Mass on Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 8.

■ The spring workday will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, May 14, at the church.

■ The Council of Catholic Women will sponsor a reception honoring the parish’s graduating seniors after the 10:30 a.m. Mass on Sunday, May 15, in Blessed Sacrament Hall.

■ A “Blessing Cup” meal and prayer vigil for those receiving first holy Communion will be held Saturday, May 28, in the hall. Call the parish office at 865-882-9838 for details.

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MAY 8, 2005

St. Francis of Assisi, Fairfield Glade ■ A reception will follow the confirmation of Danielle Schlafer at the 9:30 a.m. Mass on Sunday, May 8.

■ An ethnic potluck supper will be held from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Pentecost Sunday, May 15, in the church hall. Reservations required. Call Ellie Elletson at 931-707-9503 to RSVP. ■ Anniversaries: Ralph and Jean Grover (58), Al and Lorraine Kwolek (58), Ed and Joan Bullock (55), Dennis and Nesty Leigh (52), Dick and Caroline Cieszenski (50), Sam and Ann Hall (30)

COURTESY OF FATHER GEORGE SCHMIDT

Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Chattanooga

St. John Neumann, Farragut ■ Grocery certificates and gift cards will be

sold after all Masses the weekend of May 7 and 8. Certificates and cards from Bi-Lo, Food City, Ingle’s, Kroger, and Fresh Market will be available.

■ The Knights of Columbus will offer a breakfast of scrambled eggs, country sausage, pancakes, orange juice, and coffee after all the morning Masses on Sunday, May 22.

St. Thomas the Apostle, Lenoir City

Six confirmed at Sts. Peter and Paul Bishop Joseph E. Kurtz confirmed six young parishioners at Sts. Peter and Paul Church in Chattanooga during the 9 a.m. Mass on March 6. With the bishop are (from left) Hicks Armor, Chelsea Marissa Crosby, Sts. Peter and Paul pastor Father George Schmidt, Dylan Riley Wittenauer, Rikki Dyer, confirmation class instructor William Soffe, Julia Corinne Simon, and Melody Petulla.

■ The Healing Hearts ministry will hold a

three-week grief seminar for those who have lost a loved one. The seminar will run from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Mondays, May 16 and 23 and June 6, in the education center. To register, call Sandy Tompkins at 865-408-0814 or the parish office at 986-9885.

■ A blood drive will run from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Wednesday, May 18. Donors will receive a Tshirt, a cholesterol test, and an IRS exemption from blood-processing fees at any U.S. hospital. Sign up in the narthex.

■ A young-adult ministry for ages 20 to 40 is starting. The ministry has begun an informal Scripture study titled “Gifts and Calling: What Is God’s Will for My Life?” that meets Wednesdays in the education center.

■ Newcomers: Terry and Donna Chase Five Rivers Deanery

Good Shepherd, Newport ■ Volunteers are needed to knit warm cloth-

ing such as sweaters and baby blankets for needy children. Call Lois Hamilton at 423-6251231 for details.

Holy Trinity, Jefferson City

Teaching retreat in Oak Ridge Directors of religious education, catechists, program coordinators, youth ministers, and RCIA leaders from across the diocese gathered recently for a retreat on “Sustaining the Spirit to Teach,” held at St. Mary Church in Oak Ridge.

■ Officers installed at the April meeting of

the Council of Catholic Women were president Michelle Breeden, vice president Jennifer Welch, and secretary/treasurer Anne Wharton.

The evening’s guest speaker was Jean Ann Washman, director of the local Appalachian Outreach.

■ Anniversaries: Donald and Betty Jo Carbaugh (51), Richard and Betty Zyla (45), Charles and Sally Patten (15) ■ Newcomers: Donald and Betty Jo Carbaugh

Notre Dame, Greeneville ■ A Mother’s Day celebration will follow the 3 p.m. Mass in Spanish on Sunday, May 8, at the church. The celebration will include traditional Mexican dances and food.

St. Dominic, Kingsport ■ The St. Vincent de Paul Society will spon-

COURTESY OF ROSA PEREZ (2)

Chattanooga Deanery

sor Blanket Sunday the weekend of May 7 and 8. Envelopes will be available in the vestibule for making a $5 donation.

■ A healing Mass will begin at 10 a.m. Tuesday, May 17, at the church.

St. Mary, Johnson City ■ This year’s vacation Bible school, themed

“Kingdom of the Son,” will run from 8:45 a.m. to noon June 6 through 10 at the church. In addition to participating in the usual activities, children will learn how to know God through prayer. Registration begins Saturday, May 14.

Suggested donation: $5. Call the parish office at 423-282-6367 for details.

New names for Book of the Elect RCIA candidates from Holy Cross Parish in Pigeon Forge participated in the recent rite of election at Holy Ghost Church in Knoxville. With Bishop Joseph E. Kurtz are (from left, front) parish RCIA director Betty Ogle and candidate Misty Gossett and (back) Todd DeGroot, Misty’s sponsor, and candidate Clyde Ogle with his sponsor, Cliff Perez. Not pictured are catechumen Matthew Rediker and his sponsor, Marty Sipe.

St. Patrick, Morristown ■ Singers are needed for the choir for Tony

Dickerson’s diaconate ordination Mass on Saturday, June 11. Practice is held at 7 p.m.

Thursdays in the church.

Smoky Mountain Deanery

Holy Ghost, Knoxville ■ Confirmandi: Daniel Austin, Alex Cate, Jennifer Clancy, Spencer Clancy, Kory Collins, Andrew Cook, Anne Cortese, Nicole D’Apice, Justin Dixon, Meg Dixon, Marcus Duncan, Katie Dunn, Kyle Gaerke, Thomas Jackson, Carey Nelson, Leticia Pickering, Becky Powers, Maggie Smith, Christina Marie Wilson, Jordan Wilson

John XXIII, Knoxville ■ Confirmandi: Caitlin Riddell, Allison Holley, Fiorina Adorati, Kelly Honabach, Phillip Andreae, Emily Jacobssen, Laura Phillips, Danielle Ely, Michael Letsinger, Teresa McCusker, Emily Mass, Michelle Rutherford, Karen Czartorski, Ryan Ericson, Michael Mancini, Erica Geppi, Michael Reilly, Rebecca Gleaves, Michael Mubarak ■

Notre Dame Knights honor priests The Knights of Columbus at Notre Dame Parish in Greeneville sponsored a pastor and priest appreciation dinner at Link Hills Country Club recently. Deputy Grand Knight Bob Moore (right) thanked the 79 in attendance and gave a special welcome to the guests of honor, Notre Dame pastor Father Jim Harvey (center) and Father Bill Casey, who retired from Notre Dame. Associate pastor Father Joe Hammond was unable to attend. Mr. Moore presented the priests with a gift from the Knights in appreciation of their hard work and dedication.

COURTESY OF DEB PEACHEY

NOTES

COURTESY OF SUSAN COLLINS

parish

Statue repainted Mary Bolt of St. Mary Parish in Gatlinburg and Bishop Joseph E. Kurtz stand in front of the statue of the Sacred Heart that Mrs. Bolt recently finished repainting. The statue now sits in the church’s social hall.

T H E E A S T T E N N E S S E E C AT H O L I C

The second annual Haiti Run for Health is scheduled for 8 a.m. Saturday, May 7, at St. Mary Church in Oak Ridge.

Participants may run four miles or walk two miles in the event to help raise money to purchase, transport, and dispense medications to the people of the St. Louis du Nord region of Haiti. All proceeds from the event support the medical mission and are tax deductible.

Cash prizes will be awarded to the men’s and women’s overall winners and to the first-place finishers in each of numerous age divisions. Registration cost is $18. Register by visiting www.epivox.com/ortc/ or calling Peggy Gruzalski at 865482-2910.

Chattanooga Single Catholics will meet for Mass and a baseball game Saturday, May 7. The singles will attend the 5:30 p.m. Mass at Sts. Peter and Paul Church downtown and then carpool to that evening’s Chattanooga Lookouts game. E-mail Cathie at singlescatholic@aol.com for more information.

Knights of Columbus Council 610 will hold a first-degree ceremony in honor of Pope John Paul II before its regular business meeting at 7 p.m.

Monday, May 9, at the Knights hall in Chattanooga.

Candidates should be at the hall by 6:30 p.m.

The Cursillo School of Leaders will hold its quarterly school from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Saturday, May 14, in the Shea Room at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Knoxville.

Theme: “First Conversations at Cala Figuera,” the foundational charisma of the Cursillo movement. Topics include friendship, conviction, and sincerity. Bring a dish. Call Lois Schering at 865-6817858 for details.

The next Engaged Encounter Weekend will be held May 20 through 22 in Sweetwater. Couples are encouraged to attend a weekend at least three to six months before their wedding.

For more information, call Mike or Charla Haley at 865220-0120 or visit www. engagedencounter.org.

A post-abortion healing retreat, sponsored by Catholic Charities of East Tennessee’s Project Rachel, will be held the weekend of May 20 through 22 at Camp Eagle Rock near Maryville for anyone in need of spiritual and emotional healing after abortion. Confidentiality and privacy will be honored at all times. Contact Catherine at 865-694-4971 or Peace4 Lilith@aol.com.

A Seekers of Silence Contemplative Saturday Morning will be held from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, May 21, at John XXIII Catholic Center in Knoxville. Ruth Queen Smith will present “The Inner Life.”

Time will be allotted for group discussion and silent prayer.

Coffee and tea will be served at 8:30 a.m. Bring a bag lunch. RSVP by calling 865523-7931.

Those wanting to learn more about sacred Byzantine icons are invited to attend a free slide/lecture presentation and reception at 4 p.m. Sunday May 22, at the Episcopal Church of the Ascension, 800 Northshore Drive in Knoxville, across from Sacred Heart Cathedral and the Chancery office. The presentation will be given by Father Brendan McAnerney, OP, who will also conduct an icon-painting workshop at the Church of the T H E E A S T T E N N E S S E E C AT H O L I C

Father Prescott celebrating 50th anniversary with May 14 Mass

BY TIM SCRIPA

Ascension from Monday, May 23, through Friday, May 27.

Cost for the workshop is $350, which will include all materials, instructions for painting an icon of the Holy Mandylion, and lectures on the spiritual traditions associated with iconography. For more information about the May 22 lecture or the workshop, contact Ann Maxwell at 865-856-6108 or greenback2@aol.com.

Two groups of diocesan priests will hike 35-mile portions of the Appalachian Trail on Monday, May 23, in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to raise money for diocesan and parish youth programs. Bishop Joseph E. Kurtz, Father Paul Hostettler, and Father Phil Thoni will join the teams at the starting point and hike a portion of the trail as a sign of support. Each parish in the diocese will take pledges. Parishioners should pledge through their local parish and may pledge a fixed amount or a certain amount per mile. Seventy-five percent of the money each priest raises will go to the parish youth program of the person donating the money; the remaining 25 percent will go to the diocesan youth program. Pledge forms may be picked up at each parish office. Call parish offices for more details.

Knoxville Catholic High School will hold its 17th annual basketball camp Wednesday through Friday, June 1 through 3, at the school. Ages 8 to 10 will train from 9 a.m. to noon and ages 11 to 14 from 1 to 4 p.m.

Family pricing available. Limited to the first 90 players to register. Call Coach Mike Hutchens at 865-560-0514 (day) or 621-1845 (evening).

The Ladies of Charity of Knoxville’s fundraiser dinner and silent auction, “Helping Hands and Generous Hearts,” will be held Saturday, June 11, at Rothchild’s in Knoxville.

Knoxville News Sentinel columnist Sam Venable will be the featured guest speaker.

The auction will begin at 6 p.m., with dinner to follow at 7. The evening will also include a cash bar and hors d’oeuvres.

Call Joyce Bacon at 865-5887777 for reservations. Donations marked “Fundraiser” may be mailed to the Ladies of Charity, 1031 N. Central St., Knoxville, TN 37917.

A Weekend for the Engaged will be held June 11 and 12 at St. Augustine Church in Signal Mountain for couples planning summer and fall weddings. To learn more or to register, call Bob or Ann Dougherty at 865-899-1060.

The Steubenville South Catholic Youth Conference will be held the weekend of June 24 through 26 in Alexandria, La. Theme: “Experience the Glory.” The youth group from St. Stephen Parish in Chattanooga has a few openings for high-schoolers interested in going. For more information, call Jeanette Hart at 423-855-2911 or visit www.steubenvillesouth.com.

Memorial Health Care System in Chattanooga is offering the following programs: ■ A diabetes diet class focusing on diabetes meal planning and carbohydrate counting will be offered from 2:15 to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 10; from 8:45 to 11 a.m.

Friday, May 13; from 2:15 to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 17; and from 8:45 to 11 a.m. Friday, May 20, at the Diabetes and Nutrition Center. To regi-

ster, call 423-495-7970.

■ The Mobile Health Coach will be available for mammograms and health information from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, May 14, at the Health Place at Hamilton Place. Call 495-6227 for an appointment.

■ Free abdominal aortic aneurysm screening to detect bulges in the artery wall will be offered the week of May 16 through 20 at Memorial and North Park hospitals to men and women 65 and older who have had no previous diagnosis of abdominal aortic aneurysm and no abdominal CT in the past five years. Registration and an appointment are required; call 495-6000.

■ The Diabetes Self-Management Program, a two-session program for diabetes control, will run from 1 to 5 p.m. Tuesday, May 17, at the Health Place at Hamilton Place. The second session is May 24. The first session of a second series will be held from 4 to 8 p.m.

Thursday, May 19, at the Chattanooga Heart Institute. The Diabetes and Nutrition Center can assist participants in obtaining a physician’s referral. To register, call 495-7970.

■ A talk titled “The Role of Nutrition in Controlling Your Blood Pressure” will be offered from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.

Tuesday, May 17, at the Chattanooga Heart Institute. To register, call 495-CARE. ■ A free “Is Gastric Bypass Roux-en-Y Surgery an Option For You?” seminar will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m.

Tuesday, May 17, in the community rooms at Memorial.

Call 495-2244 for reservations or register online at www. memorial.org.

■ Tess Canlas, a registered dietitian, will demonstrate how to make healthy shakes and nutritional supplements for cancer patients from noon to 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 18, at the Cancer Resource Center.

Call 495-7778 to register.

The second annual “Double Up for Catholic Charities of East Tennessee” tennis tournament will be held the weekend of June 17 through 19 at the Knoxville Racquet Club, 5535 Lonas Road. See the April 24 ETC for more details. Call Lisa Ingle at 5249896, extension 107, to volunteer or obtain a tournament brochure.

Knoxville Area Catholic Singles upcoming events include the following: ■ Monday, May 9: Walk in the park at Lakeshore Greenway, 6 p.m. Call Kathy S. at 865694-8209 or Alan S. at 9824208.

■ Friday, May 13: Alive After Five at the Knoxville Museum of Art, 5:30 to 8 p.m.

■ Saturday, May 14: Tennessee Theater tour, 10:30 a.m.

Call Kathy S. at 694-8209.

■ Sunday, May 15: Lunch at O’Charley’s on Kingston Pike across from Downtown West, 1 p.m. Call Alan S. at 9824208 to RSVP. ■ Monday, May 16: Walk in the park at Lakeshore Greenway, 6 p.m. Call Kathy S. at 6948209 or Alan S. at 982-4208.

■ Thursday, May 19: Sundown in the City on Market Square, 6:30 p.m. RSVP at 368-0404 by May 17. “Single and Thriving” workshop series at the Blount County Library, 7 to 8:15 p.m. Contact Jack Bippus a 983-5618 or jgbippus@charter.net.

■ Friday, May 20: Terrific Friday Games Fun Night at Church Street United Methodist Church, 6:30 to 9 p.m.

Call 521-0298.

■ Saturday, May 21: Hike in the Smokies, 8:30 a.m. RSVP to Ted at 379-6458 or tedkrauss@earthlink.net. ■

ather Herbert W. Prescott will celebrate the 50th anniversary of his ordination with a Mass of thanksgiving at 11:15 a.m.

Saturday, May 14, at St. Stephen Church in Chattanooga.

Father Prescott was ordained for the Diocese of Nashville on May 28, 1955, by Bishop William L. Adrian at St. Thomas Church in Memphis. Now serving as a volunteer chaplain at Memorial Hospital in Chattanooga, where he was formerly director of pastoral care, Father Prescott from 1962 to 1965 was the first priest

Catholic High School and also taught at Notre Dame High School in Chattanooga and Bishop Byrne High School in Memphis.

He is a former pastor of St. Stephen and of the parishes of St. Bridget in Dayton, St. Thomas the Apostle in Lenoir City, Our Lady of Fatima in Alcoa, and St. Augustine in Signal Mountain and has served as a chaplain at the Alexian Village in Signal Mountain and at St. Mary’s Medical Center in Knoxville.

Everyone is welcome to attend the anniversary Mass. A reception will follow in the parish hall. ■

F

Father Herbert W. Prescott

principal of Knoxville Catholic High School.

He later became the first principal of the newly consolidated Memphis

Annual diocesan Ministries Day conference scheduled Aug. 27 he diocese’s annual Ministries Day conference returns Saturday, Aug. 27, to All Saints Church and Knoxville Catholic High School.

Nationally known speaker and author Father Richard M. Hogan is the keynoter for the event, chaired by the diocesan Office of Family Life and Adult Christian Living.

Father Hogan, 53, ordained for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, is recognized for his work with Pope John Paul II’s theology of the body, and his many speaking appearances include the 25th-anniversary International Humanae Vitae Conference in 1993. He has

T

contributed to numerous catechetical publications as a writer and editor and has had articles published on the theology of marriage, family life, natural family planning, and many other topics.

This year’s theme for Ministries Day is “Life in Christ,” and the conference will focus on families and on adult faith formation. The event again features a Hispanic track and this year will offer a youth track and more workshops (details will be published in an upcoming issue of the ETC).

For more information, call Office of Family Life and Adult Christian Living director Dale Powers at 865-584-3307. ■

Loudon student receives Xavier University scholarship, grant an Pacitti, the son of Steve and Toni Pacitti of Loudon, recently accepted a Trustee Scholarship and Performing Arts Grant from Xavier University in Cincinnati.

He will participate in the Honors A.B. Program and the Symphonic Winds Ensemble. Dan will graduate this spring from Loudon High School, where he is a member of the National Honor Soci-

D

ety and Leo Club and is marching-band drum major and co-editor of the yearbook and newspaper.

Recipients of the Trustee Scholarship must rank in the top 10 percent of their high school class and have a score of 1,280 or higher on the Scholastic Aptitude Test or 29 or higher on the American College Test.

The Pacittis are members of St. John Neumann Parish in Farragut. ■

Dan Pacitti

Elizabethton Knights donate fund proceeds to special education nights of Columbus St. Elizabeth Council 10743 in Elizabethton has provided checks of $250 and $240 to Michelle Lovelace, special-education teacher at Unaka Elementary School, from November’s MR fund drive.

Mrs. Lovelace will use the council’s second contribution to purchase additional instructional materials for her classes not already covered by school funds.

In other council news: ■ Knights and their wives had nights out to celebrate both St. Patrick’s Day on March 17 and the Knights of Columbus Founders Day on March 29.

■ Timothy E. Harmon recently became a second-degree Knight. His exemplification took place at St. Mary Church in Johnson City. ■

K

COURTESY OF TOM MANNING

CALENDAR

HELPING STUDENTS Knights Council 10743 MR

fund-drive chairman Bob Peoples presents a check for $250 to Unaka Elementary School teacher Michelle Lovelace. Grand Knight Sam Barker (left) and council member Hugh Buckles, also a teacher at Unaka, joined in the presentation.

COURTESY OF FATHER BILL MCKENZIE

on the

Sister Yvette ‘held for ransom’ to raise funds Sister Yvette Gillen, RSM, pastoral associate at St. Therese Parish in Clinton, is being “held for ransom” in the church utility room until the parish Relay for Life team raises $10,000 in pledges. The American Cancer Society’s 20th annual all-night relay is set for Friday and Saturday, June 3 and 4, at the Anderson County High School track. To volunteer or make a pledge, contact Carmine or Sarah Sesa at 865-457-8288 or casasesa@msn.com or Marcia Guyton at St. Therese at 457-4073.

ETSU Catholic Center needs instrumentalists, vocalists for Mass he Catholic Center at East Tennessee State University is in need of a pianist, other instrumentalists, and vocalists for the 8 p.m. Sunday Mass during the fall 2005 and spring 2006 semesters.

Catholics and non-Catholics are invit-

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ed to come at 7 p.m. Sundays to rehearse and to summer rehearsals/meetings at 7 p.m. Tuesdays.

For more information, contact Kristen Lehman at 423-926-7061 or etsucatholic center@yahoo.com. ■ MAY 8, 2005

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from the

WIRE

BY JERRY FILTEAU

The roots of Benedict’s theology

D.C. TALK Maureen O’Connell (left) led the 2004 JPIC Collaborating Council retreat. At right is council member Margaret Fontenot of All Saints Parish in Knoxville.

Member of LaFollette parish addresses national Catholic Social Ministry Gathering aureen O’Connell, a parishioner of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in LaFollette, recently addressed the national Catholic Social Ministry Gathering sponsored by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD).

Celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Vatican II Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World and the 35th anniversary of the founding of CCHD, the event drew social-action ministers from across the United States to Washington, D.C. Ms. O’Connell of OLPH was an invited guest at the gathering and was one of the panelists at the opening session of the assembly. Ms. O’Connell is the longtime director of Save Our Cumberland Mountains (SOCM), a 33-year old statewide citizens group based in Lake City.

“It was an honor to be part of an event to celebrate anniversaries that are at the heart of our Catholic social teaching,” she said.

She said CCHD was formed by the bishops to address the root causes of poverty and powerlessness in the United States and to fund groups across the country that work for justice.

“The panel I participated in shared ways groups in this country that have been funded by CCHD are responding to the call in ‘The Church in the Modern World’ to create a social order founded on truth, built on justice, and animated by love,” said Ms. O’Connell.

Glenda Struss-Keyes, director of the diocesan Office of Justice–Peace–Integrity of Creation (JPIC), also participated in the conference, which is an annual gathering of Catholic social ministry.

“Hearing Maureen describe the courage and the struggles of grass-roots folks in the early days of SOCM was one of the highlights of the conference for me,” said Ms. Struss-Keyes.

“It was exciting to hear someone from the Knoxville Diocese address the National Assembly and also to know that through parish social-justice committees JPIC has been able to connect parish social-justice leaders with SOCM and other community-based groups that are working on social-justice issues.” ■

COURTESY OF PAM BERNARDS

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WASHINGTON (CNS)—As a theologian the newly elected Pope Benedict XVI has been described as Augustinian rather than Thomist and more ressourcement than aggiornamento.

These are categories many Catholics may not recognize, but theologians who know his work said they help characterize important aspects of how the new pope, formerly Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, thinks.

The French term ressourcement, meaning a return to the sources, and the Italian term aggiornamento, updating or modernizing, were two ways of speaking about the task of church reform and renewal at the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s. In the years following the council they began to be seen as distinct terms identifying different views of the council.

“I think Cardinal Ratzinger had some concerns with what he perceived to be the drift of some of post-Vatican II Catholic theology and, to compensate for that, perhaps stressed the ressourcement,” said Father Robert P. Imbelli, a theologian at Boston College.

“But I don’t think he is unaware of the need for aggiornamento. The question is the relative balance between them,” he said. “I use those two terms—which were used at the time of the council—as an effort to speak

CNS PHOTO FROM KNA (2)

COURTESY OF GLENDA STRUSS-KEYES

Theologians analyze the former Cardinal Ratzinger’s experiences and writings for clues to his papacy.

ARCHBISHOP RATZINGER Pope Benedict XVI is seen in this file photo on May 28, 1977, the day of his ordination as archbishop of Munich and Freising. On June 27, 1977, Pope Paul VI elevated Archbishop Joseph Ratzinger to the college of cardinals.

about the dialectic and tension of Vatican II, which has perdured. I think the difficulty is to keep the tension, and too often one opts for an either/or rather than a both/and.”

St. Augustine of Hippo, one of the greatest theologians of the ancient church, is noted for his strong emphasis on the corruption of human nature by sin and the absolute necessity of grace for salvation.

St. Thomas Aquinas, one of the greatest medieval theologians, did not deny sin or the need for grace, but he

placed greater emphasis on the goodness of nature, including human nature.

For an Augustinian theologian such as the new pope, “there’s a certain pessimism about what a human being can do on his own without God’s grace,” said Dennis Doyle, a professor of religious studies at the University of Dayton in Ohio. “I think that does color his approach, and it mixes in very well with his strong antiMarxism, which is also at the same time an anti-utopianism, the idea that human beings

should not try to create a perfect world on their own.”

The idea that there is “something very negative about the human experience if we consider it apart from God’s grace . . . is a strong characteristic of his work,” Doyle said.

In Cardinal Ratzinger’s homily to the other cardinals just before entering the conclave where he was elected pope, that strong Augustinian bent came through clearly as he warned against “a dictatorship of relativism,” “a trivialization of evil,” and alien ideologies

assailing the church, “from Marxism to liberalism, even to libertinism; from collectivism to radical individualism; from atheism to a vague religious mysticism; from agnosticism to syncretism.”

As a young priest teaching theology in Germany, Father Ratzinger studied St. Augustine extensively. His first book, published in 1954, was Volk und Haus Gottes in Augustins Lehre von der Kirche (People and House of God in Augustine’s Teaching on the Church).

In an article in a German theological review in 1969 he wrote, “Augustine has kept me company for more than 20 years. I have developed my theology in a dialogue with Augustine, though naturally I have tried to conduct this dialogue as a man of today.”

No short article or couple of labels can capture the complexity and nuances of thought of someone who has been part of the Catholic theological world for more than half a century, the author of more than 60 books and hundreds of articles, and one who, as head of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, has been deeply involved in the greatest questions of theology and teaching confronting the church in the past 24 years.

But Father Imbelli said such a discussion of a person’s theological roots Theology continued on page 9

ON TARGET Knoxville Catholic’s Stephanie Botica and Daniel Garey pose for a picture with former Olympic archery medalist Vic Wunderle.

KCHS students excel in archery events noxville Catholic High School students Stephanie Botica and Daniel Garey, who compete as members of the Atom Splitters Junior Olympic Archery Development Club, recently participated in the 36th National U.S. Indoor Archery South Regional and National Archery Association (NAA) tournaments in Conyers, Ga. Stephanie, shooting in the female recurve junior division, won both the regional and NAA Southeastern indoor championships. Daniel, who competed in the male recurve junior division, took third place in each event.

Stephanie also recently participated in the National Field Archery Association (NFAA) Nationals in Louisville, Ky., the largest indoor archery tournament in the world. Shooting her personal best, she placed third nationally, only two points (less than one arrow) from the second-place finisher.

Before these tournaments, Stephanie and Daniel competed in the NFAA/Tennessee State Indoor Archery Tournament in Lenoir City. Both students won state championships in their divisions, and Stephanie set a state record for her division. ■

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Take note of ETC deadlines e welcome submissions about parish and community events. To make sure we receive your information in time for publication, please submit it by the following deadlines: ■ Monday, May 9, for the May 22 issue ■ Monday, May 30, for the June 12 issue. ■

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Father Joseph Ratzinger is seen with French Dominican Father Yves Congar during the Second Vatican Council in 1962. Father Ratzinger, who became Pope Benedict XVI, gained a reputation as a progressive theologian during Vatican II.

VATICAN II PARTICIPANTS

T H E E A S T T E N N E S S E E C AT H O L I C

DAN MCWILLIAMS (2)

Catholic Communication Campaign collection set for May 14-15

Bishop Kurtz and Good Shepherd parishioners sing “Enter In” at the start of the church-dedication Mass outdoors.

Also pictured are altar server Joseph Young and (center) Deacon Jim Fage.

GATHERING HYMN

‘Day of rejoicing’ at Good Shepherd Newport Catholics move from a converted home downtown to a brand-new church on Cosby Highway.

WASHINGTON (CNS)—The annual Catholic Communication Campaign collection will be conducted in most U.S. parishes the weekend of May 14 and 15.

Half of all money contributed to the collection stays in the local diocese for its own communications initiatives.

The CCC, one of the communications arms of the U.S. bishops, uses the other half to sponsor or produce video and radio presentations.

Among the TV productions sponsored by the CCC are a one-hour Personally Speaking talk show; Come to the Water: The Adult Journey to Baptism, offered to ABC stations at Easter; and another ABC presentation, Faith Works: Across the U.S.A. Radio shows that benefit from CCC funds include Catholic Radio Weekly, which airs on more than 75 stations; American Catholic Radio, produced by Franciscan Radio; Lino at Large, a half-hour program aimed at listeners in their 20s and 30s; and Catholic Bookmarks, which features interviews and a best-sellers list.

The CCC also produces a quarterly bulletin insert, “View in the Pew.” Through its own website, www.catholic communicationcampaign.org/news, the campaign offers information on program scheduling as well as streaming video of meetings of the U.S. bishops, important press conferences, and other events in the life of the church. It also includes promotional materials on the collection for diocesan communications directors and parish priests.

The CCC also helps promote a website that carries Mass times for virtually every parish in the United States.

“Our lives are saturated with media messages. It sometimes seems that the world is full of only bad news,” said Monsignor Francis J. Maniscalco, the executive director of the U.S. bishops’ Department of Communications, which oversees the campaign. “The CCC is how the good news gets around.” ■ Copyright 2005 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

he Church of the Good Shepherd now has a church all its own.

Catholics worshiping in Newport had attended Mass downtown at a century-old converted home and onetime funeral parlor since the parish’s founding in 1967. On April 27 Bishop Joseph E. Kurtz capped a longstanding dream of the 80family parish by dedicating a new Good Shepherd Church on Cosby Highway.

“This is a day of rejoicing,” said Bishop Kurtz in his greeting outside the front doors, where the liturgy began.

“We have come together to dedicate this church in honor of the Good Shepherd, Jesus.”

The dedication Mass united a number of friends of Good Shepherd: priests and parishioners from nearby parishes, the rector of the Episcopalian church that once shared space with the Catholic community, and Father Philip Thoni and several parishioners of Gatlinburg’s St. Mary Parish, which in 2001 contributed $100,000 to the Good Shepherd building fund.

Doris Stogner, whose family sold the new church’s site to the diocese, was among the more than 225 attending and was recognized with an ovation.

“We believe these six acres are God’s acres, and we’re very grateful for this opportunity to have our new location,” the bishop told Mrs. Stogner. “We thank you and the family for your willingness to allow us to do this.”

Principal concelebrants were Good Shepherd pastor Father Dan Whitman; Father Pat Garrity, the Five Rivers dean and the pastor of St. Patrick Parish in Morristown, from which the Newport parish was created; and Father Xavier Mankel, the diocesan vicar general.

Among the 13 additional concelebrants were five former pastors: Fathers Bill Casey, Charlie Burton, Mike Creson, Jim Harvey, and Alex Waraksa. Dea-

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con Jim Fage of St. Patrick assisted.

After the bishop’s greeting outside, he received the keys to the church from Bill Reagan, representing contractor George W. Reagan Co. of Knoxville, and building committee chairman Michael Newell. Presenting the plans of the church and the project manual to the bishop were architect Thom Haeuptle of Johnson Architecture in Knoxville and building committee vice chair John Haymore.

The bishop formally requested that the doors be opened, a task performed by pastoral council chair Joanne Newell and parish coordinator/bookkeeper Dennis Bible, and led the procession inside.

Bishop Kurtz started the ceremony indoors by blessing the baptismal font and sprinkling the people and walls with holy water. He said he would make a return trip to bless the church’s permanent altar once it arrives and is installed.

The bishop had been in East Tennessee less than a year when he received a call from Good Shepherd’s then-pastor.

“It was in October 2000 that Father Jim Harvey called,” he said in his homily. “‘Bishop,’ he said, ‘I believe we have some land that you’re going to want to look at.’ I remember Dennis Bible, Father

Jim, and I came to this land, and I’m thinking I got my car stuck—the clay is so rich.”

Bishop Kurtz pointed out how important the new church will be for parishioners, whether they attend Sunday Mass, baptisms, weddings, or funerals there. “You will come each time and listen to God’s word, and you’ll be on holy ground.”

After the homily the bishop anointed the four crosses on the church walls, and the candles in the church were lit.

At the end of Mass, Father Whitman led applause for numerous contributors to the new church and was himself honored with an ovation led by the bishop. Among those thanked by Father Whitman were Richard and Deb Prier, parishioners who painted the building inside and out without charging the parish.

Afterward the pastor praised the teamwork of parishioners in moving items from the old church to the new.

“What’s beautiful is that on Saturday in three hours we moved over all the stuff we didn’t need for Sunday Mass,” said Father Whitman. “That was amazing. Then last Sunday after church, everybody came back at 2 o’clock, gathered everything left in the church, and moved it out here in

about an hour.”

The new $800,000 building has its 10,000 square feet evenly divided between the upstairs worship area and an as-yetunfinished downstairs, which will eventually include classroom space, parish offices, and a pastor’s office equipped with a shower and space for an overnight stay.

The old Good Shepherd Church on East Broadway is already being gutted for its new use.

“There’s going to be an apartment complex built on the back of the property,” said Father Whitman.

“The upstairs of the house will be turned into a three-bedroom apartment for the manager and his family, and the downstairs will be a community room for the apartment complex. It’s still going to be a gathering place for people—that’s what’s awesome about it.”

The St. Mary gift, proceeds from the sale of the old property, and money in the building fund helped pay for the new church, said Father Whitman. Funds the parish received from the diocesan Growing in Faith Together capital campaign will help Good Shepherd retire the debt on its new building, he said.

Masses for Newport Catholics were held in a variety of locations beginning in 1907. Father Newport continued on page 9

View continued from page 3

Father Ratzinger—and he really didn’t want the job because it would take him away from those passions. But he said yes because he felt it was his duty to serve the church rather than please himself. He was again surprised at being made a cardinal later the same year, but again he put service first. (Fortunately for us, he did find time to continue developing his ideas and writing.)

In 1981 he began his position as prefect, a post from which he tried to retire three times. His heart’s desire was to go home to Germany, where he could spend more time with his older brother, Georg, also a priest, and devote himself to his studies.

Each time the former Cardinal Ratzinger requested resignation, Pope John Paul II refused—and seeing how the pope continued his own work despite failing health and suffering, the cardinal knew he couldn’t press the point.

God obviously had plans for Joseph Ratzinger.

Since Pope Benedict’s election I’ve also read numerous articles by those who are disappointed in the conclave’s choice. One such piece, published May 1 in the Chicago Sun-Times, perfectly illustrates the way we humans tend to view the world through our own filters rather than see what’s actually going on. The author, William O’Rourke, is on the creative-writing faculty at the University of Notre Dame and is the author of the book The Harrisburg 7 and the New Catholic Left.

His recent column, “Will elevation to papacy change Benedict XVI?” takes the new pope to task for, well, looking so happy since his election.

O’Rourke’s problem seems to be that he can’t believe someone who didn’t want the papacy—as Benedict has openly said—could then wear such a big grin when appearing on the balcony April 19 and on every public appearance since then. O’Rourke calls it “a charm offensive,” commenting that the new pope tells the story about praying not to be elected “only to set up a punch line: ‘Evidently . . . [God] didn’t listen to me this time.’”

Because he looks so happy about the result, O'Rourke reasons, he must have been campaigning for it—must have wanted the “power” of the papacy. After all, he had been “second in command of one of the most powerful and wealthy enterprises in the world.”

Right.

Those who interpret the church primarily in terms of power politics will not be able to accept that the former cardinal would really have preferred to return to a quiet life of scholarship, family ties, Mozart, and churchyard cats.

I’ve been studying Pope Benedict’s photos, and he does indeed appear to be a profoundly happy man.

Why? I suspect it has to do with the joy of abandoning oneself to God’s will—a concept many find difficult to comprehend. ■

The good we do lives after us— when we remember to make a will.

Parishioners Monica Tritt and Andy Goehl (above) and Gerald and Ruth Bieniek presented the gifts to the bishop during the dedication Mass at Good Shepherd.

Only you can divide your own property as you want it divided. A bequest to your church can be a living memorial to the nobility of your life.

MAY 8, 2005

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obsessions

BY GINGER HUTTON

Here there be dragons

Holy Family statue dedicated at KCHS A statue of Mary, Joseph, and Jesus was dedicated April 28 in honor of outgoing Knoxville Catholic High School principal Dr. Aurelia Montgomery. Posing with the sculpture are (from left) KCHS development director Jan Johnsson, school spiritual director Father John Orr, Dr. Montgomery, Bishop Joseph E. Kurtz, and Catholic Schools Superintendent Dr. Sherry Morgan.

Students continued from page 1

After Pope John Paul’s death April 2 Deacon Tyler said he and fellow seminarians were deeply saddened. “The world’s spiritual father was gone. We were all orphans.”

As the longtime prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was “like a hero” to the North American College students, said Deacon Carter.

“He was the one who defended the faith against those who would distort it, water it down, or compromise it with secular anti-Christian thinkers,” he said. “Having him now as the pope gives us a renewed faith in the promise that Jesus made to Peter about the church—the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

As Italian radio announced white smoke rising from the Sistine Chapel on April 19, Deacon Tyler and other students leaped from their desks at the college to rush down to St. Peter’s Square.

Deacon Tyler said he was “overwhelmed with joy” to see Cardinal Ratzinger appear on the balcony. “I have always loved the work of Joseph Ratzinger and am certain that he will be a wonderful pope.”

Although some have spoken of the 78-year old pontiff as a “transitional pope,” Deacon Tyler said transition is not the right word to use when speaking of a papacy.

“Benedict XVI is the pope, and his exercise of the Petrine ministry is very much his own,” he said.

Deacon Carter agreed. “To limit someone by calling him ‘transitional’ is to negate the role of successor of Peter and to make it a political tool. Benedict XVI is Peter now, and he will lead the church as a pastor. He may be older and may have been elected because of this, but that does not make him irrelevant.”

Millions are interested in what the new pope has to say, as his books are “selling like hotcakes now,” said Deacon Carter.

“His views on many issues are already known, and he knows and is known by a great majority of bishops in the world—so half of his work is already done for him. He has vision, and he has the ability to see it through.”

Joshua Guillory, a third-year seminarian at the college, had been waiting in St. Peter’s Square since the late afternoon April 19. He recalled how the atmosphere suddenly “turned electric” as the basilica’s bells confirmed a successful ballot.

As the white smoke billowed and the bells rang, “people dropped everything and started literally running through the streets of Rome, even from across town,” said Deacon Carter. “Within 30 minutes there was an instant crowd of 70,000 people.”

Deacon Carter said he and his classmates may have been among the loudest cheering the announcement of the pope by Chilean Cardinal Jorge Medina Estévez. “He read off the first name, which sent shivers up our spines because we knew of only one cardinal who had the first name of Joseph, but we stifled our screaming to hear the rest. He read off the last name, Ratzinger, and I think I jumped about three feet off the ground.”

The seminarians stayed in the square “for some time, trying to take in what had just happened,” said Deacon Carter. “It seemed like a dream, but there it was all the same. The city now had a new bishop, and the world now had a new pastor. We cheered for the next few days.”

Guillory said he was elated with the cardinals’ choice and said he thought Pope Benedict would provide a “unique sense of continuity.” However, Guillory said, “it must be admitted that being prefect [of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith] . . . and being pope are two different roles altogether.”

“Pope Benedict, no doubt, is more keenly aware of this than anyone else,” Guillory said.

Another North American College student, John McDonald, 29, said he thought it was important that Pope Benedict “be first and foremost a pastor, a father, and a priest.”

“In the 21st century the church needs the same kind of leadership it has always needed: compassionate, caring, listening, but firm and demanding when it comes to our necessary response to Christ’s call to be holy and love one another,” he said. ■ Dan McWilliams contributed to this story. Copyright 2005 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops 8

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Timid Catholics are regularly horrified by my way of teaching my godchildren about the church. I want them to love the church and be realistic about the people in it at the same time, and I don’t think my 4-year-old godson is too young for this. So we play Catholic games.

My favorite game lately is the one in which James and I join Bishop Kurtz in his thrilling battles against the dragon Subtle Heresy. Subtle Heresy is a particularly bad dragon because he renders blind those who listen to his voice. He has a seductive voice, this dragon, and thus our hero regularly finds himself hampered by people who do not see the dragon at all—or even worse, who insist that he isn’t a dragon.

Fortunately, Bishop Kurtz has his sword of truth, which all bishops have but some refuse to use. In our games our bishop never does that.

He always defeats the terrible dragon with cunning arguments or brilliant swordplay—depending on who is telling the story—and in the process makes it possible for all who have been tricked by the dragon to see clearly again.

Of course, that works fine for fostering a sense of the grandeur and

the catholic

DIFFERENCE

romance of sound theology, but what of the unpleasant reality that not everyone in the hierarchy lives up to the ideal? For that we have the cardinal action figures: hightech toys available to anyone with triangular red blocks and a permanent marker. Cardinal Law demonstrates (in a veiled, age-appropriate manner) the dire things that can happen to a diocese when its shepherd refuses to use his sword of truth or even his stick of prudent administration. Meanwhile, Cardinal Mahoney covers the ugly liturgy and architecture angle.

Is this a bit disrespectful? Maybe.

But James is learning a lot of things that I don’t think he’s old enough to grasp any other way—for instance, that there are evil and error in the world, and they fight against good.

That there are people whose opinions you listen to and others whom you don’t. That it is the job of the bishop to protect his people and defend the faith; those who do it are heroic, but those who don’t harm themselves and others. Does James understand it all? No, but he understands more than you’d expect.

I’m not just thinking about now.

All parents know that sooner or later their child will come home and ask why Father or Sister or Teacher so-and-so told them something that contradicts the faith as you’ve taught it and as it actually is. And you’re going to have to deal with

Ginger Hutton is a parishioner of St. Mary Church in Oak Ridge and a fulltime godmother.

BY GEORGE WEIGEL

What Benedict XVI means The election of Cardinal Ratzinger may indicate that the Catholic ‘progressive project’ is over.

The election of Pope Benedict XVI means many things: a resounding affirmation of the pontificate of John Paul the Great; an overwhelming vote of confidence in Joseph Ratzinger, one of the great Christian minds and spirits of our time; dynamic continuity in the world’s oldest office.

In the long view of history, though, April 19, 2005, may mark the moment at which the 40-year effort to force Catholicism to tailor its doctrine and

its message to the tastes of secular modernity crashed and burned.

Ever since the Second Vatican Council some Catholics and most of the world media have expected—and in certain cases demanded—that the Catholic Church follow the path taken by virtually every other non-fundamentalist western Christian community over the past century: the path of accommodation to secular modernity and its conviction that religious belief, if not mere childishness, is a lifestyle choice with no critical relationship to the truth of things.

These expectations have involved both doctrinal accommodation (e.g., the

question of whether Jesus is the unique savior of the world) and moral accommodation (e.g., the many issues involved in the post-Freudian claim that human beings are essentially bundles of desires).

I respect the decisions that other Christian communities have made, before God and before the bar of history, in adopting accommodation strategies.

Yet it is very, very difficult to argue that this strategy of cultural accommodation—which in some cases bleeds into cultural appeasement—has solved the 250-year-old problem of being Christian in the modern world.

Nor is it possible to demonstrate empirically

that cultural accommodation or appeasement produces vital, growing, compelling Christian communities. Precisely the opposite is the case.

Christian communities with porous doctrinal and moral boundaries wither and die. Christian communities with clear doctrinal and moral borders flourish, even amid the acids of modernity.

Yet it was expected that the Catholic Church would, indeed must, take the path of accommodation: that has been the central assumption of what’s typically called “progressive” Catholicism.

That assumption has now been decisively and definitively refuted.

The “progressive” project is over—not because its intentions were malign but because it posed an ultimately boring question: how little can I believe and how little can I do and still remain a Catholic?

Weigel continued on page 9

MARY C. WEAVER

NINA FORTUNATO

Action figures help 4-year-old James comprehend the fight against ‘Subtle Heresy.’

the idea that authority figures in the church can be wrong and yet the church still be holy and the faith still true.

I think being able to start with “You remember when we used to talk about that dragon, Subtle Heresy? Well, your teacher has been listening to him . . .” may well be a useful introduction. The concepts will be there when the need to use them arises.

I already have some evidence that it works. Cardinal Ratzinger was one of our most beloved action figures. For some reason (probably me) James believed Ratzinger’s primary mission was to rescue self-obsessed theological madmen from themselves by reminding them of reality. Cardinal Ratzinger was always flinging himself into rooms, screaming: “Stop it, you megalomaniacs; you are not God!” James and I were watching TV, waiting to find out who our next pope would be and debating whether to make a new white action figure or just buy the red one a tiara.

The network featured the usual embittered baby-boomer theologian, who was droning on and on about how Joseph Ratzinger would be the worst possible choice. I observed to James that this guy didn’t like our cardinal. James said, “He doesn’t like Cardinal Ratzinger? Is he one of those megalomaniacs who thinks he’s the center of the universe?”

“Yep,” I replied.

“Well,” James said, “I’m not going to listen to him then.”

My point exactly. ■

Greeneville parish celebrates golden anniversary The members of Notre Dame Church marked the parish’s 50th anniversary with a Mass on April 29, concelebrated by Bishop Joseph E. Kurtz and numerous priests. Above (clockwise from lower left) are parishioner Dianna Thompson, seminarian Dustin Collins, former pastors Father Alex Waraksa and Father Wiatt Funk, former associate pastor Father Joseph Hammond, Father Phil Thoni, pastor Father Jim Harvey, Bishop Kurtz, and former pastors Father Bill McKenzie, Father Charlie Burton, and Father Bill Casey. A story about the anniversary Mass will appear in the next issue of the ETC. T H E E A S T T E N N E S S E E C AT H O L I C

around the

DIOCESE

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BY DAN MCWILLIAMS

St. Mary’s Medical Center milestone The North Knoxville hospital celebrates its 75th birthday April 22 with a party and Mass. he St. Mary’s Medical Center family turned out in full to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the hospital on its birthday April 22.

The day began with a party at St. Mary’s and concluded with a Mass celebrated by Bishop Joseph E. Kurtz at Holy Ghost Church.

“We know that St. Mary’s Hospital is within the parish boundaries of Holy Ghost, so how wonderful to celebrate right here,” said the bishop.

In the pews were many Sisters of Mercy as well as hospital administrators, staff, and volunteers.

Readers were Sister Maris Stella Mogan, RSM, and Dr. Douglas Leahy of the hospital. Gift bearers were Debra London, president and chief executive officer of St. Mary’s Health System (SMHS); Larry DeWine, a former hospital vice president; and Barbara Caudle, a St. Mary’s nurse. Mr. DeWine’s greatgreat-uncle, Daniel DeWine, donated the land on which the hospital is built.

The eight concelebrants included host pastor Father Xavier Mankel and former longtime hospital chaplain Father Bill Gahagan. Music was provided by the Holy Ghost choir and Classic Sound of Knoxville.

Earlier, hospital associates and volunteers attended a birthday party at St. Mary’s. Bishop Kurtz, Mrs. London, and Mercy Sister Martha Naber spoke at the event, which also featured proclamations read by local government officials and performances—including “Happy Birthday”—by the Fulton High School choir.

The hospital has chosen “A Calling That Continues” as its theme for the anniversary (see the article “St. Mary’s marks 75 years of service” in the March 20 ETC, available online at etcatholic.com/ march20/stmarys.htm).

In his homily at Holy Ghost the bishop asked his listeners to consider how their act of thanksgiving ought to permeate their lives beyond the anniversary Mass, how Christ’s teaching is reflected in the core values of St. Mary’s, and how “to allow the gratitude and mercy we experienced today to overflow into the future.”

On the third point, Bishop Kurtz said “we pray that for the next 75 years, which will begin as we leave church tonight,

DAN MCWILLIAMS

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HAPPY 75TH Bishop Kurtz delivers the homily for the St. Mary’s Medical Center 75th-anniversary Mass at Holy Ghost Church. The assembly includes Sisters of Mercy (back) and (foreground, from left) former St. Mary’s Health System chief executive officer Rich Williams, current CEO Debra London, and SMHS vice president for information systems John Schlenker.

we will have just as glorious a tradition, a tradition in which the Lord is the center of our lives and his truth forms the very basis on which we reach out to touch others.”

Speaking at the end of the liturgy were Mercy Sister Marie Hartmann, a Catholic Healthcare Partners board of trustees member, along with Father Gahagan and Father Mankel.

The latter told those assembled that they should have no trouble locating Holy Ghost’s downstairs parish hall for the reception. “Directions from here to our basement are not all that complicated,” he said.

“If you can find your way around St. Mary’s Medical Center, you can find your way downstairs here.”

The Holy Ghost pastor purposely referred to the medical center’s original name of St. Mary’s Memorial Hospital, words that can still be seen above the original front entrance.

“The older name was the name when I first personally experienced the warmth and hospitality of St. Mary’s,” said Father Mankel. “I welcome you tonight; you welcomed me then.

“Three score and 10 years ago this coming November, my mother and my daddy took me to St. Mary’s Memorial Hospital to be born, and it’s been a great relationship ever since.”

Father Mankel’s mother, Willia, also was among those attending the 75thanniversary Mass.

Bishop Kurtz concluded the Mass by leading applause both for Father

Evan Eckhoff, OFM, the current chaplain at St. Mary’s and a concelebrant of the anniversary liturgy, and for all those who preceded him in the chaplaincy at the hospital.

St. Mary’s held a 75thanniversary fundraising gala April 23. Additional anniversary-events include ■ An open house to honor retired SMHS associates from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Friday, June 10, in the Emerald Room at the hospital. Retirees who have not already been contacted should call Macy Montgomery at 865-5457760 for details.

■ A luncheon honoring School of Nursing alumni at noon Saturday, June 11.

Alumni not already contacted should call Evelyn Fielden-Smith at 5457923.

■ An ecumenical celebration at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 20, at Wallace Memorial Baptist Church on Merchants Drive in Knoxville. The public and SMHS associates are invited. Seven different faith communities will celebrate St. Mary’s through song and Scripture.

Birthday parties are not confined to the parent St. Mary’s facility. St. Mary’s Jefferson Memorial Hospital celebrated its anniversary April 26, and additional birthday parties are scheduled at the following facilities: ■ St. Mary’s Holston Health and Rehabilitation Center, 2 p.m. Wednesday, May 25 ■ St. Mary’s Residential Hospice, Knoxville, 2 p.m.

Wednesday, June 29 ■ St. Mary’s Medical Center of Campbell County, 10 a.m. Friday, July 22 ■ St. Mary’s North and the

Health and Fitness Center next door, 10 a.m.

Wednesday, Oct. 12.

Contact each facility for details.

Sister Maris Stella, the St. Mary’s emergencyroom family liaison and the public face of the health system in television and print advertising, deemed the April 22 anniversary “the most eventful day I can remember in a long time, and I thank God for the 75 years that St. Mary’s has been able to help people.”

She recalled being asked to serve at St. Mary’s by Sister Elizabeth Riney, RSM, the health system’s late senior vice president of corporate mission.

“I just have been so grateful that she honored me with an invitation to work at St. Mary’s,” said Sister Maris Stella at the reception following the anniversary Mass.

One SMHS alumnus attending the April 22 events was Rich Williams, the president and CEO of the system from 1995 to 2001 who is now with the Advanced Plan for Health in Dallas.

“It was exciting to go to St. Mary’s, and the Mass was emotional for me,” he said. “It was a very touching time and made me appreciate all the times that I had been here.”

Mr. Williams was a member of John XXIII Parish on the University of Tennessee campus during his Knoxville days.

“It was great seeing all the sisters again,” he said.

“As I went through the hospital this afternoon, I talked to dozens and dozens of people. For me it was a family reunion, really a wonderful thing.” ■

Theology continued from page 6

and leanings, despite its limitations, can be helpful in getting “away from the too-easy liberal-conservative dichotomy.”

He called Pope Benedict “a person of substance who is firm in doctrine but also able to explain the faith, not just issue dictums. He will be a pope of reconciliation and peace.”

He said he believed the pope’s choice of Benedict as his papal name reflected first of all his admiration for St. Benedict, whose life and spirituality were “profoundly rooted in Christ.” For the pope, as for his namesake, “Christ is the measure” of everything, he said.

Father John T. Ford, a professor at T H E E A S T T E N N E S S E E C AT H O L I C

The Catholic University of America in Washington, said that for many years he used Father Ratzinger’s Introduction to Christianity, which came out in English in 1969, as a basic text for courses on Christianity.

He, like others, recognized a shift in the theologian’s approach to postconciliar reform just a few years after the council.

By all accounts the young Father Ratzinger was part of the progressive wing of the church before and during the Second Vatican Council, in which he participated as theological expert to German Cardinal Joseph Frings.

He was involved in the drafting of several of the council’s documents.

Near the end of the council, which was held in four sessions from 1962 to 1965, the beginnings of his break with many fellow progressives could be seen in concerns he had about the council’s Pastoral Constitution on the Modern World, Gaudium et Spes.

In The Theology of Joseph Ratzinger British Dominican Father Aidan Nichols wrote that in Father Ratzinger’s notes on the development of that document during the council’s third session, he recorded “the unresolved tension between two tendencies, one which gave enthusiastic affirmation to the world in a theoloTheology continued on page 11

PARACLETE

BY ROBERT CURTIS

Benedict the prolific ew pope. “Get out an order for his books ASAP!” “OK. Which of these 30 titles would you like to order?” Yep, 30, not counting the random biographies—a book reviewer’s nightmare or a dream come true, depending on the reviewer.

Fear not. The Paraclete has ordered 12 different books by our new Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI. We are fervently praying that they will be on our shelves before this article shows up in your mailbox.

Let’s see now. There is God Is Near Us (Ignatius, 2003, $12.95). In this book, subtitled “The Eucharist, the Heart of Life,” Pope Benedict thoroughly examines the Eucharist’s biblical, historical, and theological dimensions, culminating with our individual devotion to this sacrament of intimacy wherein our ineffable God shares with each of us his presence.

God and the World: Believing and Living in Our Time (Ignatius 2002, $18.95) is probably the most comprehensive book on Benedict’s views on just about everything. It has 460 pages and no pictures but is worth the read.

Pope Benedict’s more recent views (than the 1987 Ratzinger Report) on the current controversies and challenges facing the church at the threshold of a new millennium can be

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found in Salt of the Earth (Ignatius 1997, paperback $12.95, audiotapes $29.95).

Both God and the World and this book are printed transcripts from Benedict’s interviews with Peter Seewald. The interview format of each gives these books a more conversational, personal tone.

The answer to “What is this pope going to be like?” will be answered by history.

Meanwhile, there is no shortage of books to give us a clue. Our new pope is a writer of beautiful, wellthought-out prose. Stay tuned: more reviews of Benedict’s many other books to follow. ■ The Paraclete is a full-service Catholic book and supply store. Visit 417 Erin Drive in Knoxville, near Sacred Heart Cathedral, call 865-588-0388 or 800-3332097, or e-mail staff@ paracletebooks.com.

Newport continued from page 7

Luzerne Schnupp became pastor of St. Patrick and its mission parishes in 1965 and began searching for property for a Newport church. The Diocese of Nashville purchased the Broadway building and grounds in May 1967, and the first Mass was celebrated there by Father Schnupp on Sept. 24, 1967.

From 1967 to 1981 Good Shepherd parishioners shared their space with the Episcopal Church of the Annunciation. That church’s current rector, the Rev. David Garrett, attended the dedication of the new Good Shepherd building.

Bishop Joseph A. Durick announced the new Catholic mission’s name of Good Shepherd in January 1968.

“Just think what a gift it is to be reminded of the person of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, who laid down his life for his sheep,” said Bishop Kurtz in his homily. “We are the sheep. We are people who need a God who loves us and through that gift of his love to be able to love one another.” ■

Weigel continued from page 8

In choosing a pope with an unparalleled command of ancient, medieval, and modern theology, the College of Cardinals has sent a clear signal to the entire Catholic Church: the really interesting question is, how much of this rich, vast, subtle tradition have I made my own? At the same time the College of Cardinals, by electing Pope Benedict XVI, has told both the church and the world that the evangelical adventure of dynamic orthodoxy launched by John Paul II will not only continue but also be deepened.

Conventional wisdom notwithstanding, the great divide in world Catholicism these past several decades has not been between “liberals” and “conservatives,” “reformers” and “integrists.” It’s been between bishops, priests, religious, and laity who see the church primarily in terms of its evangelical mission and bishops, priests, religious, and laity who see the church primarily in terms of institutional maintenance and the exercise of intra-institutional power. The conclave of 2005 was a rout for the latter and a smashing triumph for the former.

The conclave of 2005 also repudiated what might be called “50-yard-line Catholicism”—the attempt to find the safe, comfortable, unthreatening “center” between “the extremes.”

Pope Benedict XVI, like his immediate predecessor, is emphatically not a 50-yard-line bishop. If one end zone is the truth of the world and the other embodies a false story about the world and about us, you can’t split the difference and rest comfortably at midfield. Benedict XVI, to press the imagery a little further, will not play to avoid the interception; he’ll play for the touchdown.

Pray for his success. Pray that he’ll inspire the bishops of the church to do the same so that the people of the church are given bold leadership in the critical task of showing the world the face of Christ, which reveals both the mercy of God and the truth about us. ■ George Weigel is a senior fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C. MAY 8, 2005

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Death EMMALINE WATKINS

Emmaline Jones Watkins, 93, of Chattanooga died Friday, April 15.

Mrs. Watkins was a graduate of Howard High School in Chattanooga and a member of Sts. Peter and Paul Parish.

Survivors include a son, Edgar H. Watkins Jr., of Atlanta.

Funeral services were held Thursday, April 21, at the McCallie Avenue Chapel of Franklin-Strickland Funeral Home with Father George Schmidt officiating.

Donations may be made to the Ladies of Charity, 1800 Main St., Chattanooga, TN 37403 or a favorite charity. ■

Faith-formation classes for adults begin aith-formation classes for adults are now being offered throughout the diocese. One of the educational initiatives funded through the Growing in Faith Together capital stewardship campaign, the program is offered at no charge. (For more information, see “Adult faith-formation classes soon to be offered throughout diocese,” available online at etcatholic.com/march6/gift.htm.)

The following classes have been scheduled. All begin at 7 p.m. local time unless otherwise indicated.

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The Universal Call to Holiness, Father Al Humbrecht ■ May 10, St. Stephen Church, Chattanooga ■ June 14, St. Dominic School, Kingsport ■ July 12, St. Alphonsus Church, Crossville ■ Aug. 27, 1 p.m., Knoxville Catholic High School Belonging to the Body of Christ, Father Michael Cummins ■ May 24, Chancery ■ June 14, St. Augustine Church, Signal Mountain ■ July 12, St. Mary Church, Johnson City ■ Aug. 27, 1 p.m., Knoxville Catholic High School ■ Sept. 13, St. Francis of Assisi Church, Fairfield Glade Celebrating the Christian Mystery, Father Chris Michelson, Nancy Manthey, and Kathy Walker ■ July 11, All Saints Church, Knoxville ■ Aug. 27, 1 p.m., All Saints Church, Knoxville ■ Sept. 13, Holy Spirit Church, Soddy-Daisy ■ Oct. 4, St. Dominic Church, Kingsport ■ Nov. 3, St. Alphonsus Church, Crossville The Sacraments, Father Christian Mathis ■ June 14, Chancery Those interested are urged to register for classes online, using the Virtus database. To register ■ Log on to virtusonline.org, using your user name and password. If you don’t have a user name and password, click the yellow “registration” link at left, and follow the prompts.

■ Click the “my training” tab.

■ Click “instructor-led training” in the green column on the left side of the screen.

■ Click “Preregister for an upcoming instructor-led training session in your area.”

■ Enter your phone number, select the class you want, and click “submit registration” at the bottom of the page.

For more information, contact Anne Frederick, the director of the Office of Religious Education, at afrederick@ dioceseofknoxville.org or 865-584-3307. ■

Positions available at parish, schools ur Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in Chattanooga is seeking a dedicated and visionary principal to work with a professional staff, active parent base, and supportive pastor in its K-8 school of 350 students for the 2005-06 school year.

The principal will be responsible for all aspects of the school, including budgeting, teacher supervision, curriculum development, community outreach, and technology planning. The applicant must be a practicing Catholic.

Application deadline is Monday, May 30. Qualified candidates should send a cover letter and resume to Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish, Attention: Principal Search Committee, 501 S. Moore Road, Chattanooga, TN 37421 or to boleary78@comcast.net.

Visit www.myolph.com for more information on the parish and school.

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ST. JOHN NEUMANN SCHOOL IN FARRAGUT IS SEEKING AN ADMINIS-

trative assistant for 2005-06 to perform a variety of comprehensive secretarial and administrative duties.

Send resume and cover letter to Dotti Morris, Principal, 625 St. John Court, Knoxville, TN 37922.

ST. JOSEPH SCHOOL IN KNOXVILLE IS SEEKING APPLICATIONS FOR

the following positions for the 2005-06 school year: library/media specialist, Spanish teacher, and elementary classroom teacher.

Applicants should be certified or certifiable in the state of Tennessee. Submit resumes to Joan Turbyville, St. Joseph School, 1810 Howard Road, Knoxville, TN 37918.

CHRIST THE KING SCHOOL IN ATLANTA (BUCKHEAD SECTION) IS ACcepting applications for the position of curriculum coordinator for the 2005-06 school year.

Requirements include a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction, the desire to work in a Catholic environment, a minimum of five years’ academic classroom instruction experience, the ability to maintain confidentiality, a thorough understanding of K-8 curriculum alignment, highly developed organizational skills, knowledge of current education research and trends, the ability to analyze testing data, and excellent verbal and written communication skills.

Applications are available at www.christking.org. Send resumes and applications to Peggy Warner, Principal, 46 Peachtree Way, Atlanta, GA 30305. ■

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MAY 8, 2005

called

TO FOLLOW

BY SUZANNE ERPENBACH

A time of commencement New graduates—the recipients of untold love and sacrifice—look to the future.

It’s graduation time once again. Invitations are arriving, and families and friends are making plans to celebrate these special events. Once upon a time the soon-tobe-graduate was born, surrounded by hopes, prayers, and desires for a lifetime filled with possibilities and opportunities. Parents anticipate the birth of a child and subsequently observe each mark and movement as the baby grows and develops.

Small observations are noted in books and memories over the years as special keepsakes of shared time, life, and love.

As much as each individual means to and can possibly be loved by any single person or family, God’s love for each unique human being surpasses comprehension. God wills the creation of each person, perhaps from his original creation of all things. He chooses a couple, the time and place, and the genetics for the conception and birth of this special individual. He gives each person special talents and abilities. One can only wonder what plans and purpose God has in mind for this person. How will he discover and use his talents and abilities? What will be her vocation or career calling?

What will pique her interest or

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spark his dreams? What contributions will each person make to family life, the church, the community, or the world over a lifetime?

Graduation certainly recognizes academic achievement. As importantly, it reflects the character and integrity of the graduate, developed with personal values, priorities, and the work ethic. Investments of time, effort, and finances and the personal sacrifice of the graduate, the family, and others are honored at graduation. Many people share in helping a person discover talents and abilities, giving encouragement to his or her interests and dreams. Love surrounds each graduate, shared and expressed in many forms. The graduate’s response is to note, to seek, to compare, to reflect, and to express what love is and means.

Graduates look to the future. Each graduation completes another stage of development or accomplishment.

As one stage is completed, another begins. For some, graduation marks the time to leave family and the comfort of familiar lifestyles to forge ahead alone, stretching one’s independence to enter a new phase of purpose and direction in living.

Such a person will reflect on much from the past and will miss and be missed by family and friends.

Parents face graduation with tremendous nostalgia for the wonderful years shared with their precious children. We feel a charge of

responsibility and care for a child over a period of years. We also realize that God gives us a child to share with him but not to keep. Each year is preparation for the time we must part to move in new and different directions. Seeds are planted to become nurtured both individually and through the influence of others in different places, times, experiences, and expressions. All too soon we realize it is time to let children go so they may continue to grow.

Graduation marks an occasion when faith, prayer, and modeled example provide the foundation for future endeavors. Faith brings solace as prayers express heartfelt sentiments and as hope and trust are placed in God for the care of each special loved one. God’s steady presence through good, bad, joyful, sad, lonely, and discerning times is available through a relationship with him.

Stewardship is celebrated at graduation, focused and expressed over time by many different people. God, graduates, parents, families, friends, clergy, teachers, neighbors, acquaintances, and more share the day.

Graduations invite us to gather, rejoicing and celebrating the presence and gifts of God and others in life.

We honor graduates, celebrate their achievements and development, anticipate their future, and express our love for who they are and what they mean to us.

Go with God, graduates. Take and use your gifts, dream your dreams, and soar like eagles into the future.

Remember always that you are so very much loved! ■ Suzanne Erpenbach is the director of the diocesan Office of Stewardship and Development.

BY NANCY FRAZIER O’BRIEN

Women converge on Capitol Hill to tell Senate of their pro-life views WASHINGTON (CNS)—From college students to grandmothers, an assortment of women from around the country came to Capitol Hill April 27 to tell their senators that pro-life and anti-cloning views represent “real women.”

The “Real Women’s Voices” lobbying day, sponsored by six pro-life or pro-family organizations, brought more than 200 women to Washington, gave them a crash course in lobbying, and sent them to meet with their senators about cloning, federal judicial nominees, and parental notification before an abortion.

Another 1,200 women signed up online to participate “in spirit” by contacting their senators that day by phone, fax, or e-mail.

“Women are the bearers of human life and we must therefore be the protectors of human life,” said Kara Klein, a freshman at The Catholic University of America in Washington, at a press conference on the event.

“We must stand up for those who cannot speak for themselves and say no to the violence of abortion, no to the violence of death by starvation and dehydration, and no to all violence that is perpetrated against women,” she added.

A singer who is working on her second album, Klein recently wrote a song dedicated to Terri Schindler Schiavo, the severely brain-damaged Florida woman who died March 31, 13 days after her food and water were removed by her husband against her parents’ wishes.

The lyrics of “Beautiful Still—Terri’s Song” say in part: “Do you think I’m beautiful still?/Even now when I have never felt so broken?/Like a flower once in bloom/I have begun to wilt./Do you think I’m beautiful still?”

The Rev. Alveda C. King, a grandmother, linked the fight against abortion to the civil rights movement led by her late uncle, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. “If the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is to live, our babies must live,” she said. “Our mothers must choose life.”

The Rev. King said she underwent two abortions before her six children were born and suffered from guilt for years but eventually achieved healing.

“The doctor told me [the abortion] wasn’t going to hurt any more than having a tooth pulled,” she said. “It did.”

Rachel Campos-Duffy, a former participant in MTV’s The Real World reality series, described herself as “a product and former face of the MTV generation”—a generation, she noted, that has “never known a time when abortion was not legal.”

Although women her age have been told since childhood that “the

For more information on post-abortion healing, visit silentnomore awareness.org and rachelsvineyard.org. right to abortion was a hard-fought gift to us,” she said, “my generation has more firsthand experience with the painful aftermath of abortion” than any other generation.

“We know that abortion represents failure: women in time of need being failed by their boyfriends, husbands, parents, friends, and of course, our society,” added CamposDuffy, who currently co-hosts a weekly cable series on Lifetime, Speaking of Women’s Health, with Florence Henderson.

Campos-Duffy and her husband, Sean, also a veteran of The Real World, live in Wisconsin and have three children.

Helen Alvare, an associate professor of law at Catholic University who recently was part of the fivemember U.S. delegation to the Mass inaugurating the papal ministry of Pope Benedict XVI, said the new pope and his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, both “seamlessly . . . wove together respect for the unborn alongside respect for every other human person—women, religious minorities, refugees, and the poor, to name just a few.”

“By contrast, how incongruous is the United States in allowing unlim-

ited abortion rights alongside its many fine statements and demonstrations of respect for women and human rights?” she said. “It doesn’t fit together.”

The “real women” lobbyists took messages to their senators in support of an up-or-down vote on President George W. Bush’s judicial nominees, against human cloning, and in favor of the Child Custody Protection Act, which would ban efforts to circumvent parental notification or consent laws in one state by taking a minor to another state for an abortion.

The House version of that bill, the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act, was approved on a 270-157 vote April 27. Its chief sponsor, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., expressed confidence at the press conference that the bill—already approved three times by the House—would also pass in the Senate this year.

Speaking about the rationale behind the bill, the congresswoman said, “A minor who is forbidden to drink alcohol, to stay out past a certain hour, or to get her ears pierced without parental consent is certainly not prepared to make a life-altering, hazardous, and potentially fatal decision such as abortion without the consultation or consent of at least one parent.”

Sponsors of the lobbying day were the Susan B. Anthony List, the National Right to Life Committee, the Eagle Forum, the Silent No More Awareness Campaign, the Family Research Council, and Concerned Women for America.

Jane Abraham, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, said the lobbying day was organized “because we know our nation is at a crossroads.”

“We know that our senators’ votes on judges, cloning, and other prolife issues this session will be decisive in determining what our nation will stand for in the coming generation—a nation that honors the dignity of women and children’s lives or one that pits one against the other,” she added. ■ Copyright 2005 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops T H E E A S T T E N N E S S E E C AT H O L I C

CNS PHOTO BY NANCY WIECHEC

Theology continued from page 9

would take.

“Rahner’s spin on that was that Christianity is making explicit what to some degree is already true about all of human experience,” Doyle said.

“Ratzinger, consistently throughout his theological life, always gave more of an emphasis to the need for an explicit encounter with Christ, and he did not point to the presence of grace in the world that is somehow prior to or other than what is explicitly Christian—not that he wouldn’t acknowledge it, but he wouldn’t use it as a starting point or as a point of emphasis in the way that Karl Rahner did.”

Father Ford spoke of a shift in Father Ratzinger’s direction around 1968, during the student uprisings in the United States and Western Europe.

“There was a certain exuberance or euphoria after the Second Vatican Council,” he said, but 1968 saw student protests against the war in Vietnam, the issuance of Pope Paul VI’s condemnation of artificial birth control, followed by organized public dissent to that teaching from many theologians, and the assassinations of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy.

In his 2000 biography, Cardinal Ratzinger, John L. Allen reports that as a

theology professor at Tubingen in 1968 Father Ratzinger was shocked “that the theology faculties of Tubingen [had become] the ‘real ideological center’ of the movement toward Marxism.”

In one of his own books, Salt of the Earth, Cardinal Ratzinger wrote of the confrontations and challenges to the faith in 1968, “That experience made it clear to me that the abuse of the faith had to be resisted precisely if one wanted to uphold the will of the council.”

Father Imbelli said that as a priest in the years following the Second Vatican Council the new pope “had begun as one of the people who was promoting the new review, Concilium.” Concilium is an international theological journal founded in 1965 and published in seven languages to, in its words, “promote theological discussion in the spirit of Vatican II.” Father Ratzinger was on the founding board.

Father Imbelli added that within a few years, however, Father Ratzinger “became concerned about the direction” in which that journal was going. He assisted Swiss theologian Father Hans Urs von Balthasar in founding another journal that would restore the balance they thought was

Joseph Ratzinger, who became Pope Benedict XVI April 19, is seen as a young scholar in this undated file photo.

T H E E A S T T E N N E S S E E C AT H O L I C

lacking in Concilium.

Communio, a quarterly begun in 1972 and now published in 15 semiautonomous editions in Europe, Latin America, and the United States, says it is committed to a “program of renewal through return to the sources of the authentic tradition.”

Communio promotes reflective circles where its readers regularly get together to pray and discuss articles in the journal and issues in the church. One of its goals is to help overcome the polarization between church traditionalists and progressives. As a priest, bishop, and cardinal the new pope has been a frequent contributor.

Father Imbelli said, “I tend to associate Communio with the ressourcement of Vatican II and Concilium with the aggiornamento.”

Father Ford said another key event that alarmed Father Ratzinger just a few years after the council was the publication of Infallible? An Inquiry by his former colleague at Tubingen, Father Hans Kung.

“I was just appalled by Kung’s book. It was more a trumpet blast than a serious work of theology,” Father Ford said. However, he said, “it was picked up in popular circles” and for the next decade “it caused the wrong debate.”

Father Ratzinger was made archbishop of Munich and Freising and a cardinal in 1977, and in 1979 he was involved in the decision of the Vatican, in conjunction with the German bishops, that Father Kung could no longer teach as a Catholic theologian.

While speaking of the time around 1968-70 as a kind of turning point, Doyle cautioned that “this always has to be qualified, in the sense that he also argues that he didn’t fundamentally change his positions.”

Rather, Doyle said, the radicalization among students, the dissent against the birth-control teaching and other things, including a discussion in Concilium on whether there should be a Vatican III, “brought home to him that the Second Vatican Council could be interpreted and applied as though it were the starting point of some liberal trajectory.”

It was in that time, he said, that “he seemed to become aware of how distinct his own positions were from the direction that the implementation of the council was going.” ■

CNS PHOTO FROM REUTERS

THE CARDINAL’S BOOKS Titles by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, are on display in the window of a bookshop near the Vatican April 21.

CNS PHOTO FROM CATHOLIC PRESS PHOTO

gy of the incarnation, the other presenting the much more critical posture of a theology of the cross.”

“This contrast enables us to establish more closely the nature of Ratzinger’s ‘progressivism’ at this point,” the British theologian wrote. “It was controlled not so much by the imperative of modernization, or adaptation, aggiornamento, but by that of a return to the biblical, patristic, and high medieval sources, ressourcement.”

Father Nichols said that in Father Ratzinger’s published notes on the council’s fourth session, his objections to the optimism about the world found in Gaudium et Spes increased.

In the epilogue to the fourth session notes, he added, Father Ratzinger struck “more than one somber note.”

“Here and there, he thought, and perhaps more frequently than this phrase would imply, ‘renewal’ would be regarded as synonymous with the ‘dilution and trivialization of the whole.’ Here and there, the pleasure of liturgical experimentation would ‘belittle and discredit’ the reform in worship. Here and there, people would enquire after modernity, not after truth, and make what was contemporary the measure of all they did,” Father Nichols wrote.

In a 1967 commentary on the council Father Ratzinger repeatedly criticized Gaudium et Spes, calling it “unsatisfactory” and saying it “is not at all prepared to make sin the center of the theological edifice.”

As Gaudium et Spes was being developed, Doyle said, “everybody agreed that the world’s an ambiguous place and that the church has the light of Christ to offer to the world.” He said the document, however, reflects more the kind of approach that another prominent German theologian at the council, Jesuit Father Karl Rahner,

Father Jose Tamayo Cortez, an environmental activist in the Honduran province of Olancho, holds his Goldman Environmental Prize before a press conference in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, April 26.

ENVIRONMENTAL HONOREE

Honduran priest cites dangers of illegal logging

BY AGOSTINO BONO

WASHINGTON (CNS)—Massive logging operations in Honduras are a two-edged sword for the country’s rural poor, said Father Jose Tamayo Cortez, an environmental activist in the Honduran province of Olancho.

Logging is destroying the environment, with little of the wealth generated going for local development, said Father Tamayo during a visit to Washington to talk with U.S. church and governmental officials about the situation.

About 85 percent of the logging is illegal, corruption is widespread, and the government does not have the political will to enforce environmental-protection laws, he said.

In the past 30 years two-thirds of the forests in Olancho have been destroyed, he said at an April 21 briefing for officials of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Olancho, in east-central Honduras, is the country’s largest province. Environmentalists have complained that the massive logging has ruined the province’s once fertile farmland as it has lowered the water table and increased soil erosion.

“Olancho was once the breadbasket of Central America.

Now it does not even produce enough grain for the province,” said Father Tamayo.

This is forcing people’s migration to urban areas and eventually their clandestine immigration into the United States, he said.

Father Tamayo said he is asking foreign countries that provide aid to Honduras to give such aid on the condition that the government put in place anti-corruption programs and enforce environmental protection laws. He also favors blocking U.S. imports of Honduran lumber and wood products until the Honduran government agrees to improve the logging situation.

Without safeguards, aid money will be absorbed by corruption and will not benefit the poor, he said.

Father Tamayo is a priest of the Diocese of Juticalpa, which covers most of Olancho. He is also the moving force behind the Environmental Movement of Olancho, a coalition of subsistence farmers and religious leaders opposed to uncontrolled commercial logging.

In San Francisco on April 18 the Honduran priest was awarded the 2005 Goldman Environmental Prize for his grass-roots work. The prize includes a $125,000 award. He was cited for his mobilization of local residents in defense of the environment and his drawing of national attention to environmental issues.

In 2003 and 2004 Father Tamayo led protest marches to the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa to spotlight the illegal logging activities.

While in Washington, Father Tamayo said that by mobilizing people he is trying to build a political base for keeping Olancho’s problems in the public eye.

So far his movement has succeeded in making the logging issue part of the national political agenda, he said.

Honduran church leaders are slowly coming to understand the problem, he said.

Boston-born Bishop Tomas Muldoon of Juticalpa is cautious in his support because of fear that too much activism will provoke violence against environmentalists, said Father Tamayo.

In July 2003 Carlos Reyes, a staff member of the diocesan environmental ministry, was killed after a series of death threats against environmentalists. A few weeks later Bishop Muldoon temporarily suspended the work of 40 lay social-ministry workers because of death threats. ■ Copyright 2005 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Copyright 2005 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops MAY 8, 2005

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Pope stresses peace, workers’ rights, unity in first Sunday blessing

A Chinese Catholic woman prays March 27 at the state-sanctioned St. Ignatius Cathedral in Shanghai. Members of the underground church in China have sent messages of congratulations to Pope Benedict XVI while urging him to not forget that they are a persecuted community in a country that lacks religious freedom.

HOPING FOR FREEDOM

Underground Catholics in China tell pope, ‘Do not forget us’ B Y C A R O L G L AT Z

ROME (CNS)—Members of the underground church in China have sent messages of congratulations to the new pope while urging him not to forget that they are a persecuted community in a country that lacks religious freedom.

One underground community of Catholics in northwest China wrote to Pope Benedict XVI asking him “not to forget the suffering church in China” because it struggles “without any freedom at all,” said an April 29 report by Asianews, an Italian-based missionary news agency.

“Ever since China’s religious affairs regulations came into effect March 1, underground Catholic priests must report weekly to religious affairs officials on their activities and must ask public security officials for permission to leave the parish,” the Catholic community said in its message.

China created a government-approved Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association in 1957 to bring the church in line with communist goals and separate it from “foreign interference,” such as ties with the Vatican. An underground church continued to exist and face persecution. In recent years Hong Kong church officials said up to two-thirds of underground bishops have reconciled secretly with the Vatican, and at the parish level, there is some mingling of the churches.

Asianews said underground Catholics in Wenzhou Diocese in eastern China wrote Pope Benedict with their hopes that he would visit China soon and bring them “light and freedom” as well as lead them “in love and truth toward full communion with the universal church.”

The news agency said the pope’s choice of name had special meaning for Catholics in China.

Pope Benedict XV, who was pope from 1914-1922, “made special efforts for the church in China, enabling his successor, Pope Pius XI, to ordain the first Chinese bishops in 1926,” it said.

In his note of congratulations to Pope Benedict, retired underground Bishop Casimir Wang Milu of Tianshui, in northwest China, said he was “praying intensely” that the new pope might visit China someday.

The bishop also wrote that Pope Benedict XV’s 1919 apostolic letter, Maximum Illud, called on Catholics in China “to sacrifice themselves for the sake of evangelization, not to indulge in court disputes, not to ask for compensation, but to forgive with love.” ■ Copyright 2005 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Catholics urged to boycott eBay for allowing listing of consecrated host B Y A N D R E W WA LT H E R

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (CNS)—Catholics are being urged to boycott eBay because the popular auction Internet site allowed an Iowa man to try to sell a Communion host purported to be consecrated by Pope John Paul II. The host was later withdrawn by the seller, no money exchanged hands, and the host was properly disposed of according to church law. However, groups calling for the boycott contend that eBay should not have allowed the auction of an item sacred to Catholics.

The eBay company “is more interested in profits than in the beliefs of Catholics,” said Tom Serafin, founder of the International Crusade for Holy Relics, one of the groups supporting a boycott. He said his organization has been trying for seven years to get eBay to stop allowing the sale of religious articles.

Hani Durzy, a spokeswoman for the San Jose, Calif., company, said the auction of the host was allowed despite criticism prompted by the eBay listing because it did not violate any federal, state, or local laws and was not deemed hateful by the company.

In an interview with the National Catholic Register, the spokeswoman also said auctioning the host might be offensive to some but did not incite hate like Nazi paraphernalia, which cannot be sold on the site for that reason. Durzy did not have an immediate response to the call for a boycott.

Groups backing the boycott include the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights and the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property. A website has been set up, www.boycottebay.org, and it has a link to a petition people can sign asking eBay to prohibit religious goods from being auctioned on the site. ■ Contributing to this story was Deborah Gyapong in Ottawa.

Copyright 2005 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops 12

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VATICAN CITY (CNS)— Pope Benedict XVI delivered his first Sunday noon blessing and launched appeals for peace, for the defense of workers’ rights, and for unity between Catholic and Orthodox Christians.

“I address you for the first time from this window, which my beloved predecessor rendered so familiar to innumerable people around the world,” Pope Benedict said May 1.

A crowd of nearly 100,000 gathered in the square to see the new pontiff and started to applaud even before he appeared at the window of the Apostolic Palace. The first wave of applause started as soon as his aides unfurled the red and gold cloth that hangs from the window whenever the pope speaks.

Following in the footsteps of Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict used his Sunday noon appearance to express concerns over current world events and to launch an appeal.

“In these days I find myself thinking often of all peoples who suffer because of war, illness, and poverty,” the German pope said. “In particular, today, I am close to the dear populations of Togo, ravaged by painful internal conflicts. For all these nations I implore the gift of harmony and peace.”

In Togo political violence has claimed more than 20 lives since disputed national elections April 24. The clashes have sent thousands of people fleeing their homes, according to U.N. authorities.

On April 29 masked gunmen torched the German cultural Goethe Institute in Lome. Togo was under German dominion for a period ending with Germany’s defeat in World War I.

CNS PHOTO BY NANCY WIECHEC

CNS PHOTO FROM REUTERS

Four weeks after John Paul II’s last Sunday blessing, Benedict XVI continues the tradition. By Eleni E. Dimmler

MEXICAN PILGRIMS Young people from the central Mexican state of Guanajuato hold up their nation’s flag after receiving the Sunday blessing of Pope Benedict XVI in St. Peter’s Square May 1 at the Vatican. The pope recited the “Regina Coeli” from his apartment window overlooking the square.

The crowd gathered in St. Peter’s Square included thousands of representatives of Italy’s major labor unions, who were in Rome to mark May Day labor celebrations and the feast day of St. Joseph the Worker, all workers’ patron saint.

Speaking to the crowd, which included thousands of members of Italy’s Association of Christian Workers, Pope Benedict said believers must promote “Christian fraternity . . . in the workplace and in social life so that solidarity, justice, and peace may be pillars on which to build the unity of the Christian family.”

Pope Benedict recalled that Pope Pius XII had created the feast day of St. Joseph the Worker in order “to stress the importance of work and of the presence of Christ and the church in the labor world.”

“It is necessary to pay witness also in today’s society to the ‘Gospel of work,’ which John Paul II spoke of in his encyclical Laborem Exercens,” Pope Benedict said.

“I hope that work will not be lacking, especially for young people, and that working conditions will respect always the dignity of the human person,” the pope said.

May 1 was also Orthodox Easter this year. Pope Benedict’s first words on Sunday after remembering Pope John Paul were for Orthodox Christians.

“I would like to greet with special affection the Orthodox churches and the Oriental Orthodox churches which this very Sunday celebrate the resurrection of Christ,” the pope said.

“To these dear brothers, I address the traditional announcement of joy,

Christos Anesti,” he said, using the Greek words for “Christ is risen.”

“Yes, Christ is risen, he is truly risen,” Pope Benedict said. “I wish from my heart that the celebration of Easter will be for them a choral prayer of faith and praise for him who is our common lord and who calls us to move with decisiveness on the road toward full communion.”

Christian unity has emerged as a priority in Pope Benedict’s homilies and discourses since his election April 19.

Pope Benedict moved into the papal apartments April 30. His first Angelus message came four weeks after Pope John Paul last appeared at the same window and blessed the crowd but was unable to speak. ■ Copyright 2005 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Methodists, Catholics complete talks on church and church structures B Y J E R RY F I LT E A U

WASHINGTON (CNS)—Catholic and United Methodist scholars, meeting in Washington April 29 through May 1, called for greater collaboration between their churches as they concluded a dialogue on the church and church structures.

Their findings will be published in a joint study titled “Through Divine Love: The Church in Each Place and All Places.”

The 20,000-word document was expected to be made public before the end of May. It explores similarities and differences in the structural ways Catholics and Methodists express and strengthen their communion with one another and with God. Various levels of conferences express the connectedness of Methodists, said the Methodist cochairman, recently retired Bishop Walter Klaiber of Frankfurt, Germany, in an interview with Catholic News Service April 29.

He said the conferences—at the local, regional, and general levels— are not just a way of organizing and governing the church but an expression of being together in the church of Jesus Christ.

Having a German bishop as cochairman of the dialogue is indicative of the structure of the United Methodist Church, which has 50 episcopal areas in the United States and 18 abroad. The dialogue sponsor on the Catholic side is the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Bishop Frederick F. Campbell of Columbus, Ohio, Catholic co-chairman, said the Catholic Church “believes our hierarchical structure is

constitutive of the church,” with the local church formed of the communion of Catholics around their bishop and the universal church formed by the communion of all the local churches with the church of Rome.

Bishop Klaiber said the United Methodists also regard the episcopacy as constitutive of their church and they cannot do away with it, “but the reason would be different” than it is for Catholics. Methodists simply regard episcopacy as the best way in practice to govern church regions, not as something required by divine mandate, he said.

The concept of koinonia or communio—the Greek and Latin terms expressing the idea of the church as a communion or fellowship of believers—formed a framework for much of the dialogue’s approach to understanding similarities in the respective local, regional, and global structures of their churches.

“In all ecumenical dialogue we want to begin where there’s common ground,” Bishop Campbell said. He said the koinonia/communio approach derives directly from the Christian understanding of the life of the Trinity, a communion of three persons in one God. “The concept of koinonia/communio is especially helpful to bring together the vertical dimension and the horizontal dimension of the church, meaning we are in communion with the triune God and share in the life of the Holy Spirit by sharing with one another,” Bishop Klaiber said.

“The koinonia concept best explains the connectedness of the lo-

cal and global level in both of our churches,” he added.

He said Methodists differ from Catholics in their understanding of the universal church. Although Catholics identify their church as the universal church and see other Christian churches or ecclesial communities as living in imperfect communion with the Catholic Church, “we wouldn’t identify the church universal with any level of our church organization,” he said. “We believe that the church universal is something which includes all communions of baptized Christians.”

One of the aims of the dialogue, he said, is “to highlight the unity we already share. . . . We share a lot of insights, a lot of common practices.

One of the aims is to ask theologians, pastors, and bishops to look at what we already share.”

“A second aim is that we ask both our traditions for renewal” by learning from one another, he said.

Another goal of the dialogue is a call to their churches, in their common mission, to see how they can work together and respond “to the challenges all churches face.”

The three-day meeting at the Paulist College in Washington was the ninth session of the sixth round of the U.S. Catholic–Methodist Dialogue, which began in 1965. As part of the work of their final session, participants in the sixth round drew up recommendations to present to their churches on possible topics for the next round of dialogue. ■ Copyright 2005 Catholic News Service/ U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops T H E E A S T T E N N E S S E E C AT H O L I C