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Kids flock to Corpus Christi Parish summer camp
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CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO Newspaper of the Archdiocese of San Francisco
SERVING SAN FRANCISCO, MARIN & SAN MATEO COUNTIES
www.catholic-sf.org
JULY 27, 2012
Former papal altar boy claims rare full set of Vatican stamps GEORGE RAINE CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO
The first thing you notice about Agostino Crotti’s photographs from his years as one of a select few altar boys at the Vatican, from 1963 to 1969, is that he is always in the center of the action – he’s always involved, doing something key in whatever celebration or gathering the photos capture. There’s a reason Agostino Crotti for that: “You know what I learned from the very beginning? I never forget. Either you do what they want or you are out,” he recalled. “I learned that the two key words in order to be successful in that business are humility and obedience. So never be pretentious, and always, whatever they tell you, no matter what, you say yes.” Those are vivid memories and lessons for a lifetime, to be sure, and Crotti, who served his last Mass for Pope Paul VI in 1969 and, at 18, immigrated to San Francisco with his family, can also summon them by leafing through any of the 36 volumes of Vatican stamps he has collected over the last 49 years. It’s a stunning array of many thousands of stamps from the smallest independent state in the world, and it is, he believes, the most complete collection of Vatican stamps. It begins with the first issue at the founding, in 1929, when Benito Mussolini, on behalf of King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, and Cardinal Pietro Gasparri, on behalf of Pope Pius XI, agreed to the Lateran Treaty creating Vatican City, and it continues through this year. SEE COLLECTOR, PAGE 5
San Franciscan Agostino Crotti began collecting Vatican stamps during his time as a Vatican altar boy in the ‘60s serving popes including fellow Northern Italian and stamp collector Paul VI. Top, from his collection, is a stamp featuring Pope Pius VI (1775-99). Crotti selected the stamp for sentimental reasons: His bedroom window for six years was on the third floor of the La Sagrestia, the sacristy building near St. Peter’s Basilica pictured at the bottom of the stamp.
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Aurora prayer: Answer horror with love, grace CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE
AURORA, Colo. – Denver Auxiliary Bishop James D. Conley urged those coping with the aftermath of the “Dark Knight” massacre not to seek quick answers but to place their hopes and fears in God’s hands. “Questions arise when the everyday securities and certainties of life – the trust we carry in our fellow human beings, that we can safely go to work each day, or to school, or to the movies, are shaken,” Bishop Conley said in his invocation at an evening prayer service that drew thousands. “It’s natural for us to wonder why does this kind of suffering happen and what does it really mean? We who gather tonight have come to seek answers,” Bishop Conley said. “Not the answers that the commentators on television might provide, but answers to the real questions that leave us feeling insecure and fearful.” Twelve people were killed and 58 wounded July 20 when a gunman fired on the crowd at a midnight showing of the latest Batman movie, “The Dark Knight Rises.” The accused shooter, 24-year-old James Holmes, a former doctoral student, was in court July 23 and ordered held without bond. Bishop Conley urged the crowd, which included Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper and city officials, to place their questions, fears and uncertainties “in the hands of our loving and merciful God.” “Let us trust God with our doubts and let us turn to him with our fears. Let us ask him for the hope we need to see in the midst of this darkness,” Bishop Conley said. “We do not grieve like those who have no hope. ... We grieve with the knowledge that neither death nor life can separate us from the love of God,” Bishop Conley said. “When we do return to our lives, let us see in this SEE AURORA, PAGE 5
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