03-27-09 Vol. 30 No. 31

WWW.THELEAVEN.COM | NEWSPAPER OF THE ARCHDIOCESE OF KANSAS CITY IN KANSAS | VOL. 30, NO. 31 MARCH 27, 2009

ABORTIONIST ON TRIAL Notorious late-term abortionist George Tiller faces criminal charges

Mike Hutmacher/Wichita Eagle/MCT

Dr. George Tiller enters the courtroom March 23 on the first day of his jury trial in Wichita. Tiller faces 19 misdemeanor counts charging he had an improper financial relationship with a Lawrence doctor providing second opinions on late-term abortions.

Archbishop, pro-lifers contest governor’s claim to pro-life credentials

Tiller trial seen as day of reckoning

By JOE BOLLIG Leaven staff

By JOE BOLLIG KANSAS CITY, Kan. — The day that many prolife veterans hoped for, but thought they might never see, has finally come.

Doctor George Tiller, one of only two late-term abortion providers in the nation, is on trial for violating Kansas’ late-term abortion laws.

Pro-life advocates have asserted for several years that Tiller, working from his Women’s Health Care Services clinic in Wichita, was violating Kansas’ relatively strict late-term abortion laws.

They could not, however, get the judicial machinery moving until former Kansas attorney general Phill Kline began an investigation in 2003. Six years of investigation, legal maneuvering and delay followed, culminating in this trial.

The trial is taking place in Sedgwick County District Court, Wichita, Judge Clark V. Owens presiding.

Turn to TILLER on page 4

Leaven staff

Photo courtesy of Operation Rescue

Governor Kathleen Sebelius hosted a dinner at Cedar Crest for George Tiller (left), fellow abortionists LeRoy Carhart, Shelly Sella and Susan Robinson, and 20 Tiller clinic staffers. The shirt held by the governor refers to election victories of candidates supported

by Tiller and his political action committee.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Call it a tale of two Web sites.

They have the same subject, but are diametrically opposed in their view of a certain politician: Governor Kathleen Sebelius.

The first, a project of Catholics United, is Catholics for Kathleen Sebelius, at: www.catholics forsebelius.org.

The second, sponsored by Catholic Advocate, is Catholics against Kathleen Sebelius, at: www. catholicsagainstsebelius.org.

Both sites argue over the governor’s stands on life issues. The first claims Gov. Sebelius is pro-life, while the second claims she is anything but.

Mary Kay Culp, executive director of Kansans for Life, says it’s not even close. In her judgment, the governor is firmly pro-choice. Culp and other Turn to RECORD on page 5

2 ARCHBISHOP

THE LEAVEN • MARCH 27, 2009

THE LEAVEN • MARCH 27, 2009

SECOND FRONT PAGE 3

LIFE WILL BE VICTORIOUS

Governor’s claim of reducing abortions deserves closer scrutiny

T

his week, I complete my answers to some of the questions that have arisen because of my comments on the nomination by President Obama of Governor Kathleen Sebelius to serve as the next secretary for Health and Human Services (HHS).

Q. Did not the policies of Governor Sebelius actually reduce abortions in Kansas?

A. It is true that the number of abortions declined in Kansas in the past six years, but they also declined throughout the nation. If Governor Sebelius wants to claim credit for reducing abortions in Kansas, then by the same logic she has to accept responsibility for the state’s huge budget problems. While the governor may have done some things that positively and negatively affected both of these events in Kansas, in actuality, the decrease in abortions and our current economic woes are part of a much bigger picture.

Certainly, the governor has supported some positive policies. For example, I have praised the governor for her support for incentives to promote adoption. Yet, in her career as a legislator and as the state’s chief executive, Governor Sebelius opposed such modest abortion legislation as parental notification for minors, informed consent and waiting periods, and improved regulations of abortion clinics. These are some of the more effective means permitted by the current parameters set by the Supreme Court for states to reduce abortions.

Indeed, Catholics serving in public life have an obligation to attempt to do what they can to limit and reduce abortion whenever possible. In his Encyclical, “The Gospel of Life,” Pope John Paul II defended the morality of Catholic legislators working to limit

abortions, but in the context of where their “absolute personal opposition to procured abortion was well-known.”

In the case of Governor Sebelius, the opposite is true. Her advocacy for legalized abortion is well-known and a matter of public record.

Q. Did not the governor support a Kansas program to assist women who are choosing life for their unborn child?

A.

Yes and no. This program was already in place when Governor Sebelius was elected. Several years ago, she vetoed this program, citing the need to reduce state spending. The next year, when the Legislature passed the program by a veto-proof margin, she signed it. The governor’s proposed budget again eliminates this program in 2010. What the governor chooses to fund and not fund reveals her priorities.

Q.

Are your comments about Governor Sebelius’ nomination to HHS a violation of the separation of church and state?

A.

The anti-establishment clause of the First Amendment is meant to protect religious expression, not to limit it. Our Founding Fathers wished to prevent the state from intervening with the rights of churches. The Bill of Rights was an attempt to prevent the establishment of a state religion that would limit the free expression by other religious groups.

The bill introduced recently in the Connecticut Legislature, that would have empowered the state to restructure the internal governance of the church by taking away the administrative authority of pastors, is an excellent example of what our forefathers were trying to prevent. Our Constitution

Sweet Dreams Scrapbooking announces its

GRAND OPENING April 3 ~ 7 pm - 10 pm April 4 ~ 10 am - 4 pm 17205 W. 159th Street, Olathe, KS 66062

913.748.1620 Sweet Dreams Scrapbooking is a cozy respite where you can scrapbook, quilt or craft with your family and friends in the comforts of an 1880s home!

Reservations for overnight crops available.

www.sweetdreamsscrapbooking.com for more details.

places no limits on the free expression of religious groups or religious leaders because they are religious.

The Catholic Church in the United States under the leadership of its first bishop, Archbishop John Carroll of Baltimore, chose not to engage in partisan politics. Archbishop Carroll, as well as succeeding generations of American Catholic bishops, did not consider it prudent to tie the church’s credibility to any politician or political party. Thus, the church has requested that her pastors not engage in partisan politics by supporting particular candidates or political parties.

Q.

Does the Church’s taxexempt status limit the free expression of the church?

A.

Yes. By accepting tax-exempt status, a church or any nonprofit accepts the limitation of not participating in partisan politics and is limited in the amount of resources that it can devote to lobbying. These tax-exempt restrictions correspond to the Catholic Church’s two-hundred-year-old internal policy not to endorse political candidates or parties. Similarly, a very small percentage of the Catholic Church’s resources are used for issue advocacy.

The church, however, has always cherished its right and responsibility to address public policy issues with a moral dimension. The church could never relinquish this right, even for the benefit of tax-exempt status.

My statements and pastoral actions pertaining to Governor Sebelius were to clarify Catholic teaching regarding the morality of abortion and its legalization. They obviously were not timed to affect an election. The church has a right and responsibility, when the secular media draws attention to a Catholic in public life because they are “pro-choice,” to clarify that support for legalized abortion is not consistent with Catholic moral teaching. I would fail in my responsibilities as a bishop if I permitted dissenting Catholics in public life, by their actions, and the secular media, by their reporting, to redefine Catholic orthodoxy.

Q. The defenders of Governor

Sebelius claim that she accepts Catholic teaching because she maintains that she is personally opposed to abortion. Why is this not sufficient?

A.

Governor Sebelius has been a featured speaker for Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the United States. She has been endorsed by Emily’s List, a political action committee that only supports candidates who support statesanctioned abortion. Governor Sebelius has claimed that she has been a leader in keeping abortion legal. She has helped to raise funds for the Women’s Political Caucus whose first criterion for candidate endorsement is support for legalized abortion. In fact, the Women’s Political Caucus will not support a pro-life woman candidate and will even support a pro-abortion male candidate over a pro-life female candidate.

It is not acceptable for a Catholic to claim to be personally opposed to abortion while working to keep abortion legal. The Catholic Church opposes abortion because every abortion destroys an innocent human life, a truth understandable, purely through reason. It is not morally coherent to be personally opposed to the destruction of innocent human lives and at the same time support laws that protect abortionists and fail to protect innocent unborn children.

Conclusion: I hope that my answers to the preceding questions have provided you with a better understanding of my rationale and motivation for commenting on the nomination of Governor Sebelius to serve as the next secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services. I hope that this column and my previous one have equipped you to be able to discuss this matter more effectively with family, friends, neighbors and coworkers. I encourage you again to pray for our governor. Pray for me, as well, that I might teach with clarity and love our Catholic faith and its implications upon the protection of the most fundamental of human rights.

Mother Teresa’s rosary gives comfort to those in difficult times

By JOHN HEUERTZ Special to The Leaven SHAWNEE — How could a modest plastic rosary be such a comfort to the many people who have used it? Perhaps it has something to do with its previous owner — Mother Teresa of Calcutta.

In 1981, a local Catholic businessman found himself praying the rosary with Mother Teresa and her companion Sister, who were seated next to him on a flight to Kansas City. When they finished, Mother Teresa gave him her rosary (see inset photo) and predicted he’d pray it often in the future.

He did. After about a year, the businessman and his wife lent the rosary to a family friend who was seriously ill with cancer. She recovered completely the following year, and knew it was time to pass the rosary along to the next person who needed it.

A few years after that, another woman asked to borrow the rosary to get through a painful divorce.

Gradually, the comfort of its presence helped things get better.

She returned the rosary; a few months later, a stranger called to borrow it on behalf on her comatose mother — who responded at once to having it placed in her hand just before her death.

The stranger returned it, and several others used it in their turn. About four years ago, the businessman donated the rosary permanently to Good Shepherd Parish in Shawnee.

“He asked that it be shared with hurting or sick parishioners,” explained pastor Father Francis Hund.

About 20 people have since used the Mother Teresa rosary in a wide variety of prayer settings, some of them communal.

“We can’t say we have miracles from it as an object, but we do have com-

fort and assurance that God is still with us,” said Good Shepherd’s director of Caring Ministry, Bernadine Asher. “We attribute the power to trust in God.” Karen Roberts has used the Mother Teresa rosary at prayer vigils held in front of a local abortion clinic.

“Sharing it with people is very special,” believes the Good Shepherd parishioner. “It’s very special to hold on to the rosary while you're praying.”

Jason and Amy Specht, too, have often used the Mother Teresa rosary for their own special intention — their infant son Grady’s good health.

“He has an inoperable brain tumor called gangliolioma,” explained Amy. “He’s [already] had four surgeries and he’s only two and a half. He’s been through a lot in his young life.”

The parish offered the rosary to the family for its use when it learned about Grady.

“The church has really been there for us,” said Amy. “I felt comforted and more at peace when I held it, like everything was going to be OK.” Jason and Amy have repeatedly prayed the rosary with it, during which everyone in the Specht family takes turns holding it — including Grady in his crib.

“It was nice to know that we had others with us, too, praying for us,” said Amy. “Knowing so many others have gotten courage and strength from it was a big comfort to us.

For Father Hund, this is the true significance of the Mother Teresa rosary for his parish.

“I think it expresses the support and compassion of the community in a beautiful way for the person who uses it,” he said.

“It’s a powerful reminder of God’s loving providence among us,” he added.

4 LOCAL NEWS

THE LEAVEN • MARCH 27, 2009

THE LEAVEN • MARCH 27, 2009

Tiller accused of improper Tiller campaign cash financial relationship greases political wheels Continued from page 1 Jury selection was held March 16 to 18, with a panel of six jurors and two alternates. Tiller’s attorneys wanted to seat a 12-person jury, but the motion was denied by Judge Owens because this is a misdemeanor trial. The lead prosecutor is state assistant attorney general Barry Disney; the lead defense attorney is Dan Monnat.

The whole of the trial rests on one issue, explains Kathy Ostrowski, senior lobbyist and researcher for Kansans for Life. That issue is the relationship between Tiller and a second doctor, Ann Kristin Neuhaus.

According to a 1998 law, KSA 656703, Kansas prohibits late-term abortions on viable fetuses after 21 weeks of pregnancy. Two exceptions are allowed.

The first is if the abortion is necessary to save the life of the mother. The second exception is if continuation of the pregnancy will result in the “substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function” of the mother.

It is this second exception that is used as a “mental health” clause, permitting allowances to be made for mental health issues.

The abortion may not be performed, however, unless these exceptions are documented by another physician who is “not legally or financially affiliated with the physician performing the abortion,” according to the statute.

Tiller is being charged with 19 misdemeanor counts of failing to get this second and independent medical opinion. It is alleged that Tiller had a financial relationship with Neuhaus, who has been granted immunity from prosecution.

If he is convicted, Tiller could face penalties of one year in jail and fines of $2,500 for each misdemeanor. The 19 misdemeanor counts were for abortions performed on girls as young as 10 years old, she said. In each case, the fetus was viable. The abortions were performed under exceptions to the ban, with the agreement of a second, allegedly independent, opinion by a second physician: Neuhaus.

“All Tiller needed to run a late-term abortion clinic was another doctor with a Kansas medical license,” said Mary Kay Culp, executive director of Kansans for Life. “Neuhaus had no patients or office because of her tarnished reputation, but she had the one thing that Tiller needed.”

Neuhaus operated an abortion clinic in Lawrence from 1997 to 2002 and also formerly practiced in Wichita. She was forced to close the Lawrence clinic when it fell into debt following a period of inactivity in 2001. The inactivity was due to an investigation by the Kansas Board of Healing Arts.

Neuhaus faced disciplinary action before the KBHA for breaking Drug Enforcement Agency regulations for controlled substances, including failure to keep complete and accurate records. According to an Oct. 18, 1999, stipulation, agreement and enforcement order, the board restricted her to the use of one drug and required an administration log with duplicate prescription copies to be reviewed monthly by an outside pharmacist.

The board imposed emergency limitations on Neuhaus on Aug. 12, 2000, and terminated them on Sept. 8, 2000, after a promise that she and her staff would complete certain training.

The history of the case is long and convoluted. Tiller’s attorneys made several attempts all through the process to have the charges dismissed, and they failed each time.

The investigation began in 2003, after former Kansas legislator Phill Kline was elected Kansas attorney general.

Kline began his investigation with an attempt to obtain redacted medical files of women and girls who had undergone abortions at Tiller’s clinic and at Planned Parenthood of Overland Park. Attorneys representing these two clinics resisted these efforts, but Kline finally received 90 files in 2006.

Kline lost his bid for reelection in November 2006 to Johnson County district attorney Paul Morrison. In December 2006, before Morrison took office, Kline filed 30 misdemeanor charges against Tiller for abortions performed on minors. These charges were dismissed on jurisdictional grounds at the request of Sedgwick County district attorney Nola Foulston.

When Morrison assumed his duties as state attorney general, Kline was appointed Johnson County district attorney.

In October 2007, Kline charged Planned Parenthood with 23 felonies and 84 misdemeanors — a total of 107 criminal counts. Kline lost the primary election in August 2008 to Steve Howe, who went on to become Johnson County district attorney in the 2008 election.

Court documents indicate that this case is currently on interloculatory appeal based on the district court’s ruling on the admissibility of evidence, and the matter has not yet been set for appellate arguments.

An interloculatory appeal means that the judge has ruled adversely to the state, and the state is appealing that ruling because material evidence is needed for trial. The state has a right to appeal the district court’s ruling on the admissibility of the evidence.

Morrison had been very critical of Kline’s investigation, and in June 2007, he threw out the former attorney general’s 30 misdemeanor charges against Tiller. However, in reviewing Kline’s investigation, Morrison filed 19 new misdemeanor charges against Tiller.

When Morrison resigned his attorney general’s post in January 2008 and was succeeded by Steve Six, the latter continued to work the case against Tiller.

“We are hoping that if Tiller is convicted, Attorney General Six will investigate Tiller for the years following 2003, during which we suspect that Neuhaus continued her affiliation with Tiller,” said Culp. “Subsequent convictions would be felonies.”

Culp said that all indications were that the trial would be short, and it is all but certain that Tiller would appeal any conviction. In such case, Tiller would likely continue his practice as the case continues its journey to a higher court.

By JOE BOLLIG Leaven staff KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Wichita abortionist Dr. George Tiller is known to sport a button that says, “Attitude is Everything.”

Well, not everything. When it comes to winning political campaigns and influencing people, he knows that there’s nothing that speaks louder to a politician than a hefty infusion of cash.

Tiller’s largesse for pro-choice politicians has been reported in Kansas newspapers over the past few political cycles.

A June 23, 2007, story by Associated Press reporter John Hanna revealed, for instance, that Tiller and his political action committee — ProKanDo — spent tens of thousands of dollars in elections since its founding in 2002.

In his story, Hanna wrote: “ProKanDo was the most generous in state races in 2002, giving more than $271,000 to candidates, party committees and other PACs — more than double the secondranked Kansas Contractors Association.”

Since then, Tiller and his PAC have dropped off the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission’s top 20 list of donors, but that doesn’t mean that he has stopped giving. Rather, he has merely switched the way he gives.

In that same June 2007 story, Hanna wrote how Tiller shifted his money to polling and phone banks, the creation of “sister” entities, and to funneling money to pro-choice candidates through other more socially acceptable PACs. In these ways, the stigma of receiving abortion “blood money” is erased and the true extent of his giving is hidden.

An example was reported in the article “Back-door cash boosted Biggs,” in the July 31, 2003, Lawrence JournalWorld.

Tiller was working furiously to oppose Kansas legislator Phill Kline, who was running against Chris Biggs for the office of Kansas attorney general. According to the Journal-World story, Tiller gave $153,000 to ProKanDo four days before the 2002 election. ProKanDo gave the same amount to the short-lived Kansans for Democratic Leadership PAC, which, in turn, spent the money on advertising to support Biggs.

No one knew about the cash infusion at the time, because Kansas’ campaign reporting requirements didn’t require disclosure until much later.

However, Overland Park political activist and blogger Earl F. Glynn, who operates the Web log kansasmeadowlark. com, claims the amount spent by Tiller in the 2002 cycle for Biggs was much larger than the reported $153,000. He claims it was above $300,000 — and possibly more.

Whatever the exact figure, Tiller and ProKanDo were back in 2006, and this time they spent tens of thousands to unseat Kline and install his rival, Paul Morrison, in the Kansas attorney general’s seat. Again, ProKanDo gave generously to a second, short-lived entity with close ProKanDo ties — this time the nonprofit Kansans for Consumer Privacy Protection. This entity produced the notorious “Snoop Dog” mailings that slammed Kline.

Tiller and his PAC have also given generously to keep pro-choice politicians in the governor’s mansion.

While it’s true that Tiller and ProKanDo have not given directly to gu-

bernatorial campaigns for Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, it’s also true that he has given generously to Sebelius through a good part of her political career, according the Governmental Ethics Kansas Commission.

Recently, Glynn uncovered campaigning finance records that show Sebelius transferred contributions — including Tiller money — from her insurance commissioner account to her 2002 gubernatorial campaign account.

For instance, between 1994 and 2001 Tiller, his wife, his clinic, and an earlier PAC of his gave more than $15,000 to Sebelius. Between 2000 and 2002, Tiller and his clinic gave $23,000 to Sebelius’ Blue Stem Fund PAC. Also, there’s evidence to suggest that Tiller has routed funds through other PACs to benefit Sebelius, just as he did for Biggs and Morrison. Tiller boasted in a Nov. 15, 2002, ProKanDo fundraising letter that his PACs’ activities “were instrumental in ensuring Kathleen Sebelius’ victory.”

Tiller and ProKanDo have had their missteps, however. In November 2008, the PAC was fined $2,500 for failing to properly identify donors as required by campaign finance law.

Many pro-life advocates believe that they now have the smoking gun that shows the close, mutually supportive relationship between Tiller and Gov. Sebelius.

On April 9, 2007, the governor hosted a dinner for Tiller, fellow abortionists LeRoy Carhart, Shelly Sella and Susan Robinson, and 20 Tiller clinic staffers.

The dinner became known when the prolife protest organization Operation Rescue obtained photos of the dinner, and publicized them.

The governor’s spokesperson said the dinner was purchased by Tiller at an annual fundraising dinner held by the Greater Kansas City Women’s Political Caucus. Sebelius supports the GKCWPC, which in turn, only supports pro-choice politicians.

Kathy Ostrowski, senior lobbyist and researcher for Kansans for Life, disputed this explanation and said it was really a recognition dinner held by Sebelius for Tiller.

In general, pro-life activists question why the GKCWPC didn’t reimburse the state for the dinner until May 2008 and why there is a gap between the time when Tiller allegedly purchased the dinner in 2005 and when it was held in 2007. To them, it simply doesn’t pass the smell test.

The real clincher, they say, is a photo from the dinner that shows the governor pointing to Tiller as she holds a T-shirt that says, “Trifecta: Sebelius, Parkinson, and Morrison,” which refers to the 2006 election victories of the governor, the lieutenant governor, and the attorney general.

For pro-life advocates, another galling aspect of the dinner is the fact that, at the time, Tiller was under investigation for performing illegal late-term abortions.

The true nature of the dinner will continue to be argued about. And the true extent of Tiller’s political giving may never be known, thanks to the labyrinthine routes of political funding and the deficiencies of campaign contribution reporting.

This much is true, however. Regardless of the outcome of the March trial, Tiller has left his indelible mark on the laws and political landscape of Kansas.

LOCAL NEWS

5

Record one of ‘uncomprised support’ of abortion Continued from page 1 Kansas pro-life activists are outraged by attempts to portray the governor as pro-life.

Sebelius has a long history of political opposition to pro-life efforts and support of measures that favored abortion providers, said Kathy Ostrowski, senior lobbyist and researcher for Kansans for Life.

As a state representative from 1986 to 1994, Sebelius voted against several pieces of pro-life legislation, including ones that proposed a parent’s right to consent to a minor child’s abortion, parental notification of a minor’s abortion, a 24-hour waiting period, limiting post-viability abortions, and removing a health exception.

By contrast, she voted for an amendment allowing girls to avoid parental notification, for a bill to codify the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision into Kansas law, and for an amendment to prevent social services agencies from denying coverage of abortion under their medical programs.

In response to her statehouse activities, Archbishop Ignatius J. Strecker wrote in the The Leaven on March 27, 1992, that “Rep. Kathleen Sebelius of Topeka led the death-march of the unborn to the abortion clinics in the House of Representatives.”

As recently as March 6, Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann wrote in The Leaven about his opposition to the appointment of Sebelius to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services because of her record and of his request that she not receive the Eucharist. “[B]ecause of her long history, both as a legislator and governor, of consistently supporting legalized abortion, and after many months of dialog, I requested Governor Sebelius not present herself for Communion,” said Archbishop Naumann.

“I did this in the hope that it would motivate Governor Sebelius to reconsider her support for what is an intrinsic evil — the destruction of innocent human life by abortion,” he continued. “I also took this pastoral action to protect others from being misled by the governor’s public support and advocacy for legalized abortion.”

During her first run for governor, Sebelius tried to distract from her legislative record with an Oct. 28, 2002, letter targeted to Catholic voters in Topeka.

“I am not pro-abortion,” she wrote. “I will not, and never have, promote abortion. I am a practicing Catholic” and “I feel about abortion just like you do.”

She also said it was “absolutely false” that her campaign had been funded with hundreds of thousands of dollars by a political action committee active on the issue of abortion — an oblique reference to abortionist George Tiller’s activities.

Tiller had, however, given generously to Sebelius while she was a legislator and insurance commissioner and in the run up to her gubernatorial campaign. In fact, the last direct contribution from Tiller to Sebelius’ Blue Stem Political Action Committee was in March 2002.

And Tiller continued to give generously to political action committees that, in turn, gave funds to her campaign. Tiller’s fundraising letters do not mention Sebelius by name, but plead support to stop her opponent. There was no one else Tiller’s efforts could benefit but Sebelius.

Later, Tiller would take credit for contributing to Sebelius’ victory and Sebelius would later show her apprecia-

Opposing Web sites have been established alleging Catholic support and opposition to Sebelius. tion to Tiller at a dinner at the governor’s mansion on April 7, 2007.

Once she was elected, Gov. Sebelius extended her pro-choice record by vetoing clinic-licensing bills in 2003 and 2005. She vetoed a late-term abortionreporting bill, and vetoed the Comprehensive Abortion Reform Act of 2008.

Catholics for Sebelius point to pro-life

legislation signed by Sebelius, but Culp says there’s more to the story.

“Governor Kathleen Sebelius only signed pro-life legislation when vetoproof majorities were bearing down on her,” said Culp, “or as, in 2005, when she signed two bills less threatening to her supporters in order to use all her political capital to heavily and successfully lobby two Democrat[ic] state representatives

to change their votes, and sustain her veto of a clinic licensing bill adamantly opposed . . . by George Tiller.”

Of the small amount of legislation that Gov. Sebelius has signed that her supporters call “pro-life,” none of it has anything to do with abortion clinics, said Ostrowski. In fact, Sebelius blocked attempts to regulate clinics at a time when one Kansas City, Kan., clinic was shut down because it was filthy and vermininfested.

In 2007, Gov. Sebelius signed the unborn victims of violence bill (Alexa’s Law) — the same kind of legislation she had opposed in 1989.

“In 2007, pro-life legislators managed to attach Alexa’s Law to important crime legislation supported by the governor,” said Michael Schuttloffel, executive director of the Kansas Catholic Conference.

“Rather than veto the entire legislative package that included both Alexa’s Law language and the crime legislation sought by the governor, she signed the bill,” he said.

Some have tried to give Sebelius prolife credit for signing the Sen. Stan Clark Pregnancy Maintenance Initiative, which funds support services for pregnant women as an alternative to abortion.

Schuttloffel calls this claim “Orwellian” in its language.

“In fact, Governor Sebelius’ 2010 budget proposal eliminates the Sen. Stan Clark Pregnancy Maintenance Initiative Program,” said Schuttloffel. “The program was first funded in 2000, before she was governor. In 2004, Governor Sebelius used her line-item veto to eliminate funding for the program.”

Senator Clark tried to organize a veto override, but he failed. Not long after, he died in an auto accident. The following year, the Legislature passed the initiative again, although with reduced funding.

“This the governor signed,” said Schuttloffel. “Whatever her reason for doing so, she is now attempting to get rid of the program. . . . To suggest that she has somehow championed the Stan Clark Pregnancy Maintenance Initiative is outrageous and shameful.”

Another claim is that Gov. Sebelius’ support for adoption tax credits and adoption support and health care reduced abortions in Kansas. Culp said the downward trend began before Sebelius became governor, and that state trends were part of a national decrease.

Governor Sebelius has never offered support or encouragement to the prolifers of Kansas, said Ostrowski. She has never communicated support for pro-life legislation in her state of the state addresses nor attended pro-life events or fundraisers.

Sebelius has, however, dined with Tiller and his colleagues, partied with Planned Parenthood, and attended fundraisers to support organizations that promoted pro-choice candidates, said Ostrowski. If Sebelius was as pro-life as her supporters say, Kansas pro-lifers would have noticed. Instead, she has cynically tried to redefine what it means to be pro-life.

Schuttloffel, from the Kansas Catholic Conference, agreed that the governor’s record is clear.

“The fact is, Governor Sebelius’s record of uncompromising support for the most extreme elements of the abortion industry is beyond anyone’s power to misrepresent,” he said. “It is clear. It is unambiguous.”

6 LOCAL NEWS

THE LEAVEN • MARCH 27, 2009

Spreading radio activity

POPE CHALLENGES AFRICA

By JOE BOLLIG Leaven staff

Leaven photo by Father Gerard Senecal, OSB

Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann sits in on a small group discussion at a recent meeting of the Atchison Region pastoral planning process. The first assignment of the pastoral planning process task force is to gather facts and information about the region to determine what changes might need to be made to enhance the long-term vitality of the region and its parishes.

Planning process looks at Atchison Region

By KARA HANSEN

ATCHISON — In the northeasternmost corner of the archdiocese, numbers are only one of the factors that go into the calculations of the pastoral planning process.

When members of the task force began the pastoral planning process for the Atchison Region in January, they knew their region had the smallest number of families of any region in the archdiocese.

A similar demographic in another area might leave parishes struggling to meet the faith needs of their Catholic families. But the Atchison Region enjoys unique resources: the Benedictine Sisters of Mount St. Scholastica, the monks of St. Benedict’s Abbey, and Benedictine College.

“That region of our archdiocese has really great resources in the Benedictine community with the abbey, monastery, and college all serving Catholics there,” said Carroll Macke, communications director for the archdiocese.

At a meeting recently attended by task force members, parish leaders from throughout the region, Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann, and consultant Mike Maude, representatives of the three communities shared how their ministries and outreach programs helped meet the needs of the parishes in the region.

The Benedictine Sisters, for example, offer ministries of prayer, adult formation for rural parishes, retreats, and parish outreach programs. The Benedictine monks staff some parishes, provide weekend sacramental assistance at others, direct retreats, provide School of Faith teachers and more.

“

This can be a painful but necessary process that will give new vitality to our parishes.

“

Leaven staff

Father Gerard Senecal, OSB, leader of the Atchison pastoral planning task force Through Benedictine College, students provide services to the parishes as well. Their activities range from offering retreats to working as youth ministers in parishes to participating in blood drives to providing meals to lowincome families.

“We’re really very spoiled in Atchison that so many college students teach in our CCD programs, and they’re very dedicated,” said Father Gerard Senecal, OSB, pastor of St. Benedict’s and Sacred Heart parishes in Atchison and leader of the pastoral planning task force.

The pastoral planning process begins with the task force gathering facts and information about the region to determine what changes might need to be made to enhance long-term vitality. Parish vitality is measured in various ways, but includes an evaluation of how high a priority each parish makes conversion, evangelization, Catholic education, stewardship, and serving those in need.

In an effort to keep the lines of communication as open as possible with parishioners in the region, regular updates are provided to parishioners through their church’s weekly bulletin.

“We really try to keep parishioners updated about what’s going on throughout the process,” said Macke.

Maude has been hired by the archdiocese to assist with the process. So far, he has interviewed all the pastors in the region and held listening sessions at each of the parishes to help gather feedback and ideas about the planning process. The task force will work with all of the information gathered to make recommendations to the archbishop and presbyteral council to help develop a strategic plan for the Atchison Region.

“This can be a painful but necessary process that will give new vitality to our parishes,” said Father Gerard.

A second round of parish meetings will be held in April and May to give parishioners a chance to respond to the proposed recommendations. It is expected that the final recommendations will be ready to submit to the archbishop for his approval sometime this summer.

Father Gerard said task force members have to be mindful throughout the process of how the needs and priorities of each parish might look slightly different.

“A parish with 40 families is going to have a very different set of ideals than a parish with 600 families,” he said. “There’s going to be a different fit to every parish.”

The Atchison Region is comprised of 15 parishes spread through four counties, and numbers some 2,200 Catholic families.

Seven priests serve the parishes, which are scattered throughout the region. Father Gerard said that of the four counties included in the region, only Jefferson County’s population is on the rise.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — It just got easier to find Catholic programming on the radio.

Station KEXS 1090-AM, based in Maryville, Mo., just completed a power boost from 1,000 to 3,400 watts on Feb. 5. With the boost, the station reaches the entire Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas, as well as the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph.

KEXS carries “The Catholic Way,” featuring Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann and Archbishop Emeritus James P. Keleher, at noon on Sundays, and “Kingdom Come,” with Matt Karr and Bill Scholl, at noon on Saturdays. Karr is archdiocesan consultant for evangelization and catechesis; Scholl is archdiocesan consultant for social justice.

The $450,000 project stalled when the economy went sour, but seven listeners lent sufficient money to the station to permit the project to go through, said Jim O’Laughlin, president of Catholic Radio Network.

The KEXS signal now reaches as far west as Salina, south to El Dorado, north to the Iowa border, and east to Columbia, Mo. Not only does KEXS cover a wider area, but it also can now be heard within homes. In the past, it sometimes was only possible for KEXS to be picked up in vehicles.

The station plans to increase its coverage even more next year by raising the power of KEXS 1090-AM from 3,400 to 7,000 watts.

KEXS, like many AM stations, is a daytime-only station. However, in June 2008, KEXS 106.1-FM, located near Ravenwood, Mo., powered up, and this 50,000-watt 24-hour station reaches four states: Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Iowa. It reaches southwest approximately to Platte City, Mo. A translator station, 106.7-FM, covers St. Joseph, Mo. KEXS is part of Catholic Radio Network, a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization. The network will soon add a 24-hour, 25,000-watt FM station in Pleasanton, which is near Mound City in Linn County.

KEXS can be heard live online by going to: www.thecatholicradionetwork. com/kexs.html; click on the “listen” button on the left side of the station’s Web site.

Attitudes, cultural trends at the heart of the pope’s message

By JOHN THAVIS Catholic News Service UANDA, Angola (CNS) — Pope Benedict XVI’s inflight statement opposing condom distribution in AIDS prevention drew sharp criticism and was seen by many as a distraction from his main message in Africa.

But a closer look reveals that very little of what the pope had to say during his March 17-23 African journey was easy or accommodating. On issues ranging from abortion to corruption, from women’s rights to economic development, he preached the Gospel in a way that took issue with common practices and prevailing attitudes.

His conviction, expressed on his first day in Cameroon, is that Christianity is the answer — the only real answer — to the chronic problems plaguing Africa. His fear is that Africa, caught up in economic and cultural globalization, will follow the secularized West and lose touch with its own best values.

Condom campaigns are, to Pope Benedict, a small but very real part of this threat. But his concern extends to virtually every area of social, economic and political life.

“At a time when so many people have no qualms about trying to impose the tyranny of materialism, with scant concern for the most deprived, you must be very careful,” he told Africans in Cameroon.

“Take care of your souls,” he said. “Do not let yourselves be captivated by selfish illusions and false ideals.”

L

Jean Ann (Lierz) and John Patrick Gish, members of St. Michael the Archangel Parish, Overland Park, will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary on April 4. The couple was married on April 4, 1959, at Sacred Heart Church, ANNIVERSARY Baileyville. Their children and their spouses are: Stacey and Rob McCully, Overland Park; Kristi and Dave Coleman, Horton; Steve and Connie Gish, Overland Park; and Marci and Jon France, Olathe.

They also have 11 grandchildren. There will be a Mass on April 4, followed by a family dinner at the Hereford House. A reception will be held on April 5 from 2 to 4 p.m. at Nicklaus Golf Club at Lionsgate, Overland Park.

CNS photo/L’Osservatore Romano via Reuters

News accounts usually leave out the words that inevitably followed these papal warnings, but for the pope they were the most important part of his message in Africa: “Only Christ is the way of life.” “The Lord Jesus is the one mediator and redeemer.” “Christ is the measure of true humanism.”

The transformation the pontiff asked of Africans was, as he described it, one that must begin with a radical conversion to Christ that redirects every aspect of life.

“The Gospel teaches us that reconciliation, true reconciliation, can only be the fruit of conversion, a change of heart, a new way of thinking. It teaches us that only the power of God’s love can change our hearts,” he said at an outdoor Mass in Angola.

The pope kept reminding listeners that, in his view, inside and outside Africa the Christian message lived to the full is profoundly countercultural.

That was eminently clear when he addressed young people in an Angolan soccer stadium, telling them that their power to shape the future was directly dependent on their “constant dialogue with the Lord.”

“The dominant societal culture is not helping you live by Jesus’ words or to practice the selfgiving to which he calls you,” he said. In fact, he said, today’s “individualistic and hedonistic” values prevent young people from reaching maturity.

At his Mass the next day, the pope continued in the same vein, Turn to POPE on page 8

CNS photo/Alessandro Bianchi, Reuters

▲ Pope Benedict XVI looks on as Archbishop Simon-Victor Tonye Bakot of Yaounde carries a gift during an evening prayer liturgy at the Basilica of Mary Queen of the Apostles in Yaounde, Cameroon, March 18. ▼ Pope Benedict XVI waves to the crowd after celebrating Mass at Amadou Ahidjo Stadium in Yaounde, Cameroon, March 19.

POPE APPAREL A woman with a picture of Pope Benedict XVI on her head smiles as the pope celebrates Mass at Amadou Ahidjo Stadium in Yaounde, Cameroon, March 19.

CNS photo/Alessandro Bianchi, Reuters

LION KING FLOWER CHILD

Pope Benedict XVI touches a preserved lion during a meeting at the Unity Presidential Palace in Yaounde, Cameroon, March 18.

CNS photo/L’Osservatore Romano via Reuters

CNS photo/L’Osservatore Romano via Catholic Press Photo

Pope Benedict XVI smells a flower offered by a girl during his visit in Luanda, Angola, March 21.

Pope lays down tough challenges for Africa Continued from page 7 saying that “living by the truth” was not easy in the face of the “hardened attitudes” of selfishness that dominate much of contemporary social relations.

Abortion was very much on the pope’s mind in Africa. His first speech on the continent reminded Africans of their traditional values and said the church was the institution best able to preserve and purify them — unlike agencies that want to impose “cultural models that ignore the rights of the unborn.”

In a speech to foreign diplomats, he laid down a direct challenge to international organizations that, in his words, were undermining society’s foundations by promoting abortion as a form of reproductive health care. The working document for next October’s Synod of Bishops, delivered by the pope to African bishops, said globalization “infringes on Africa’s rights” and tends “to be the vehicle for the domination of a single, cultural model and a culture of death.”

The pope hit hard on African wars and ethnic conflicts and repeatedly held out Christianity as the answer. If Africans grasp that the church is “God’s family,” he said in Cameroon, there is no room for ethnocentrism or factionalism. In effect, he presented the church as the only institution capable of bringing Africans together in a way that goes beyond political or economic expediency.

Although the pope had two one-liners about corruption, typically portrayed in the West as the quintessential “African” problem, he did not engage in finger-pointing — even in Cameroon, which is usually at the top of the corruption charts of human rights organizations. Indeed, he called Cameroon

a “land of hope” for Africa.

The reason is that he knows local African church leaders are already on the front lines in denouncing political corruption. In Cameroon, for example, a year ago Cardinal Christian Wiyghan Tumi of Douala took the unprecedented step of publicly opposing President Paul Biya’s constitutional meddling that allowed the president to serve yet another seven-year term — a position the cardinal reiterated during the pope’s visit.

Significantly, the pope treated corruption not as a problem to be eliminated in return for foreign aid, but as a practice incompatible with the demands of the Gospel. He added, however, that Africa deserves a similar change in attitude from the developed world — not “more programs and protocols” but “conversion of hearts to sincere solidarity.”

His visit to the sick in Cameroon illustrated that the church must invest its resources in love and care for the needy, but with a special focus: Human suffering can only make sense in light of Christ’s crucifixion and his “final victory” over death, he said.

Even the pope’s defense of women’s rights in Africa was very much a “Benedict” approach, based not on human rights declarations but on the biblical account of creation. Here, too, his point that men and women have “complementary” roles will no doubt find critics.

The pope’s method in Africa was not to lay down the law but to lay down a challenge, asking people to examine their own lives and their relationships in the light of the Gospel. He believes that Christianity is a perfect fit for Africa but that, in view of cultural trends, it won’t necessarily be an easy fit.

PAPAL KISS Pope Benedict XVI kisses a child as he leaves Amadou Ahidjo Stadium following Mass in Yaounde, Cameroon, March 19.

CNS photo/L’Osservatore Romano via Catholic Press Photo

CROWD PLEASER

DANCE OF THE PYGMIES

Crowds cheer as Pope Benedict XVI arrives at the Basilica of Mary Queen of the Apostles for an evening prayer liturgy in Cameroon’s capital, Yaounde, March 18.

A group of Pygmies from Cameroon’s Baka tribe dance for Pope Benedict XVI outside the nunciature in Yaounde, Cameroon, March 20. The Pygmies conferred a rare turtle, a traditional sign of respect in their culture, to the pope shortly before his departure for Angola.

CNS photo/Finbarr O’Reilly, Reuters

CNS photo/L’Osservatore Romano

RISE ABOVE A crucifix is held up as Pope Benedict XVI meets with young people at Coqueiros Stadium in Luanda, Angola, March 21. Angola was the second and last stop on the pope’s pastoral visit to Africa. Celebrations in Angola marked the 500th anniversary of Christian evangelization in the country.

CNS photo/Alessandro Bianchi, Reuters

FEEL THE RAIN Children stand in the rain hoping to catch a glimpse of Pope Benedict XVI in Cameroon’s capital March 18.

CNS photo/Finbarr O’Reilly, Reuters

10 NATION

THE LEAVEN • MARCH 27, 2009

Twinning programs connect US Catholics to Africa WASHINGTON (CNS) — Parishes in the United States have set up twinning programs with sister parishes in Africa to foscross-cultural BRIEFLY ter communication and a deeper appreciation of their faith. In response to the need for water in the village of Siritanyi, Kenya, Father James L. Dalton, pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish in Arlington, Wash., signed a covenant to twin with Christ the King Cathedral Parish in the Diocese of Bungoma, Kenya. Father Dalton’s first initiative, called Mama Lukelesia’s Well Project, asked parishioners to donate money to construct two wells, which supplied enough water for hundreds in the African community. “For a long time I was praying for this to happen, and I knew one day God will open ways,” Father Christopher Wanyonyi, pastor of the cathedral, said in an e-mail message to Catholic News Service. His parish is in the city of Bungoma and has a mission parish in Siritanyi. Immaculate Conception Parish, in the Seattle Archdiocese, also established an adopt-a-student program for Bungoma to fund students’ education, textbooks, uniforms and lunches.

Previously, one book was shared among five students. The donations ensured a book for almost every child.

Obama urged to grant Haitians protected status WASHINGTON (CNS) — With a new administration in the White House, the leader of the U.S. Catholic bishops is once again urging an American president to grant Haitians residing in the U.S. temporary protected status, an order that would keep them from being deported back to their poverty-stricken Caribbean nation. Cardinal Francis E. George of Chicago, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, sent President Barack Obama a March 19 letter urging him to make the designation for citizens of the poorest nation in the Americas, five months after he made the same plea to then-President George W. Bush. Temporary protected status — known as TPS — is based on a determination that armed conflict, political unrest, environmental disaster, or other extraordinary and temporary conditions exist in a nation and that the return of that country’s nationals would further destabilize the nation and potentially bring harm to those who go back. “Haiti meets the standard for TPS because it has experienced political tumult, four natural disasters and severe food shortages in the last year,” Cardinal George wrote in his letter.

THE LEAVEN • MARCH 27, 2009

Vatican hopes to influence UN racism meeting

Bishop urges priests to live simply GREAT FALLS, Mont. (CNS) — A Montana bishop told the priests in his diocese the country’s current economic downturn offered a good opportunity to examine the meaning of “Gospel poverty” and “the notion of simplicity as it applies to our lifestyles as priests.”

“The lifestyles we live as priests say much to the people we serve,” Bishop Michael W. Warfel of Great Falls-Billings wrote in a Lenten letter to priests.

Economic uncertainty amid the Lenten season provides an opportunity for priests to take a closer look at their lifestyles, he said.

He noted that unless they are members of religious communities it is unlikely diocesan priests have taken vows of poverty. But even without these vows, he said, “to some degree, every priest is called to embrace a simple lifestyle.”

Living simply, he added, goes along with spoken vows of celibacy and obedience “like the third leg of a stool” and is “necessary in the life of one who would serve as an ordained minister in the church.”

He urged the priests to look at scriptural examples of simple living, particularly the Gospel’s emphasis on detachment from material things, which he said was the primary action of the disciples who “left everything” to follow Jesus.

Bishop Warfel said the disciples’ call, not unlike the calling for priests today, “involves detachment” from material things to “be available for service.”

Priests should not give up possessions “as if they were somehow evil in themselves,” the bishop said, but instead priests should make certain sacrifices “for the love of God and God’s people.” He urged them to take a closer look at the style of their homes and cars as well as their hobbies and recreational activities.

“The issue here is not that there is something inherently wrong with nice living conditions, going out to dinner, having a hobby or pursuing recreation.

It is more a matter of where we place our priorities and the context in which we serve, more a matter of honestly admitting that we may be more attached to a material pleasure than is good for our ministry,” he wrote.

CNS photo/Gaston Brito, Reuters CNS photo/Max Whittaker, Reuters

HOMELESS MAN PACKS DIRTY LAUNDRY — Jim Gibson packs up his dirty laundry March 15 at a tent city for the homeless in Sacramento, Calif. Gibson lost his construction job and has been homeless for six months. Sacramento’s tent city has seen an increase in population as unemployment numbers grow in the United States.

Governor changes mind about New Mexico death penalty SANTA FE, N.M. (CNS) — New Mexico repealed the death penalty March 18, after Gov. Bill Richardson had a change of heart about his long support for capital punishment.

Richardson said at the press conference where he signed the bill into law that he only decided that afternoon to sign it. As he considered it that morning, Richardson, a Catholic, said he went to Mass and then to visit the state’s high-security penitentiary where prisoners would serve out lifewithout-parole sentences in lieu of facing execution.

He said he also had met with murder victims’ family members who wanted the law to remain in place and weighed the fact that few nations in the world practice capital punishment, making the United States out of step with most Western democracies.

Reports by New Mexico newspapers and television stations described an obviously unsettled Richardson relating his struggle over whether to sign the bill. Long a supporter of capital punishment, Richardson said he had been re-evaluating his beliefs and his position for six years.

He said he concluded that the way capital punishment is implemented is

simply too flawed to guarantee that everyone sentenced to death deserves the penalty. Richardson said he only reached his decision at 4 p.m. on the day he signed the measure to repeal it.

“Faced with the reality that our system for imposing the death penalty can never be perfect, my conscience compels me to replace the death penalty with a solution that keeps society safe,” Richardson said. Four New Mexicans who had been on death row were among 130 people in 26 states who were later exonerated.

The New Mexico law is not retroactive. The two men now on death row could still be executed. Cases currently being adjudicated and new capital crimes committed before July 1 also are eligible for capital punishment.

Richardson said his trip to the prison helped affirm that life in prison was indeed a harsh sentence.

“I went to the prison today to look at the conditions, the death chamber,” he said. “I wanted to see what imprisonment for life would look like. Those cells are worse than death.”

He told reporters his office had received nearly 12,000 calls and e-mails on the bill. More than two-thirds supported the repeal.

“You and your family deserve the finest services available. Whether you choose burial or cremation services, you can be assured the service you received will be second to none.”

War on drugs must focus on saving lives, says Vatican

By CINDY WOODEN Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The health, dignity and lives of people suffering drug addiction must be the centerpiece of the global war on drugs, a Vatican official told a meeting sponsored by the United Nations.

Bishop Jose Redrado Marchite, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry, led the Vatican delegation at the March 11-20 meeting of the U.N. Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna, Austria.

A copy of his remarks was released at the Vatican.

Too many people, he said, consider drug abuse “a reality that forms part of our daily lives and so one can seek only to limit its damage.”

But drug abuse destroys lives, tears families apart, gives rise to crime and enriches international criminal networks, Bishop Redrado said.

The Vatican delegation was participating in the Vienna meeting to encourage strategies that focus first on “the health, dignity and life of drug addicts,” he said.

In the fields of education, health care, family and youth ministry, the

Skilled Nursing Facility 170 beds

Catholic Church has a long and successful history of fighting drug abuse and caring for its victims, he said.

In early 2006, he said, his office commissioned a survey of drug prevention and treatment programs in Catholic institutions in 121 countries.

One-third of all Catholic hospitals, clinics and dispensaries worldwide have a program for the prevention or treatment of drug abuse, he said. The programs identify and assist drug addicts, provide education about drug prevention, and train health care workers to treat and minister to addicts and their families, he said.

Church programs in Spain, France, Ireland and Portugal appeared particularly successful, Bishop Redrado said, because of public information campaigns and courses and their holistic approach to recovery. Such approaches involved medical care, psychological counseling, the rebuilding of personal dignity, the development of skills and values for living a healthy lifestyle and assistance in repairing family bonds.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The only way to influence the results of the upcoming U.N. conference on fighting racism and discrimination is to be present and participate in the negotiations, said Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, who will lead the Vatican delegation.

Israel, Canada and Italy had said they would boycott the April 20-24 conference in Geneva, and the United States, Australia and the European Union were threatening to join them if the conference’s preparatory document continued to single out Israel and criticize its treatment of the Palestinians.

A new draft, circulated March 17, has no specific references to Israel. In response to other threats of boycott, the draft also now has no references to discrimination based on sexual orientation and to criticism of religious leaders and figures, which some Muslim leaders wanted the conference to define as a violation of human rights.

Archbishop Tomasi, the Vatican representative to U.N. agencies in Geneva, said the fact the preparatory document for the conference has been rewritten should guarantee greater participation.

“We need to be open and to bring the document into line with human rights language, not political language,” said the archbishop.

“This conference has two very important aspects: ethical and political,” he said.

Its ethical importance involves recognizing that “discrimination affects racial groups, religious groups and minorities. It must find ways to fight discrimination against anyone and find a way to promote respect for the dignity of every person,” he said.

In the political realm, he said, “if the Western countries turn their backs on the conference, it will send a message that discrimination isn’t that important and so some countries, especially in Africa, will begin looking elsewhere for support.”

JERUSALEM (CNS) — “In accordance with rules of hospitality and dignity,” Israel will not preBRIEFLY vent Pope Benedict XVI from wearing his pectoral cross when he visits the Western Wall, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said.

Responding to what it called a “misleading quotation” in The Jerusalem Post, the ministry released a statement by Ambassador Mordechay Lewy from the Israeli Embassy to the Holy See March 17.

When Pope Benedict visits the Western Wall during his mid-May trip to the Holy Land, “the same procedure that was applied in the papal visit of the year 2000 will be valid,” Lewy said in the statement released by the Foreign Ministry. “The Israeli host will respect, as a matter of course, the religious symbols of the Holy Father and of his entourage.” During his 2000 pilgrimage Pope John Paul II visited the site with his cross visible. The Jerusalem Post article quoted the rabbi of the Western Wall, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch, as saying that it was “not fitting to enter the Western Wall area with religious symbols, including a cross.”

Priest, invited to discussion, beaten in mayor’s office BAOJI, China (CNS) — A Catholic priest from Shaanxi province was injured seriously after two men beat him up inside a mayor’s office, where he had been invited to discuss issues related to a disputed church property. Father Francis Gao Jianli, a priest of the Fengxiang Diocese, was hospitalized in Baoji after he was attacked March 16 at the mayor's office in Xiangong town, part of the city of Baoji, church sources told the Asian church news agency UCA News. After the attack, Father Gao complained of numbness, dizziness and headache, but later said he was feeling better, the sources said. The local church has been asking for the return of a plot of land after a factory that occupied it since the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution closed several years ago, sources told UCA News. The church and the district government’s property management office have disputed its ownership, but both sides agreed that the land would not be developed until a settlement has been reached. However, the town government decided this year to take over the land, sources said. In protest, Father Gao, another priest and about 100 lay Catholics stayed at the site, now a garbage dump, to protect it.

V i l l a St . Fr a n c i s

Let your next big event be a crowd pleaser

16600 W. 126th Street • Olathe, Kansas 66062 Phone: (913) 829-5201 Fax: (913) 829-5399 Daily Mass in the Chapel at 10 a.m.

PORTABLE RESTROOM | Weddings | Corporate Events | Fairs | | Carnivals | Sporting Events | Emergency Needs

• Medicare and Kansas Medicaid certified • 24 - hour nursing care • Dementia/Alzheimer’s unit • Physical, occupational and speech therapist on staff/ Rapid recovery • Nutritious Home cooked meals • Private and Semi Private rooms • Beauty and Barber Shop • 24 hour snacks

FUNERAL HOMES • CREMATORY • MEMORIAL CHAPELS LEGACY CENTER • ACTIVITY CENTER

10901 JOHNSON DRIVE SHAWNEE, KANSAS 66203 TELEPHONE 913-631-5566 FAX 913-631-2236 Gregg Amos

www.amosfamily.com

Wagner’s Mud-Jacking Co. Specializing in Foundation Repairs Mud-jacking and Waterproofing.

Serving Lawrence, Topeka and surrounding areas.

Topeka (785) 233-3447 Lawrence (785) 749-1696 In business since 1963

Affiliated with the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas

Running Water * Flushing Toilets Heating & air conditioning

Phil & Agnes Maas 911 N. Kansas Frankfort, KS 66427 (785) 292-4933 www.franfortsanitation.com

11

Israeli Foreign Ministry: Pope can wear cross at Western Wall

By CINDY WOODEN Catholic News Service

INDIGENOUS WOMEN REST — Bolivian indigenous women rest after a March 13 rally in La Paz, Bolivia, marking the 228th anniversary of the siege of La Paz . Bolivians celebrated the 1781 siege that led to the independence of Bolivia from Spanish rule.

WORLD

Rent our new portable restroom for your next event!

12 CLASSIFIEDS ■ EMPLOYMENT Academic principal - St. Teresa’s Academy is a private, Catholic, all-female college preparatory high school located in the Brookside/south Plaza neighborhoods of Kansas City, Mo. Founded in academic excellence and rooted in Christian values, St. Teresa’s seeks to fill the position of academic principal. The academic principal is responsible for providing visionary leadership, accountability and dayto-day management of the educational activities of the academy. This includes assistance with hiring, supervision and evaluation of the faculty; maintenance of a climate conducive to teaching and learning; assurance of effective delivery and improvement of instruction; and direct, effective communication with students and parents. For specific requirements, please refer to our Web site at: www. stteresasacademy.org. Employment opportunities are within the ‘About Us’ section. E-mail resume to: bmadden@stteresasacademy.org or mail to: St. Teresa’s Academy, c/o Beth Madden, Executive Assistant, 5600 Main St., Kansas City, MO 64113.

Padre P io Academy - Has three full-time positions open. For information and job descriptions, visit the Web site at: www.napcis.org/ placement.html, or call (913) 268-3155.

Cu stomer- dri ven, fri endl y, servi ce- orient ed p eop l e n eed ed - Proficiency in MS applications, able to assist Web users with demos, navigation of our Web application, and other support-related issues. Great opportunity with a growing company.

Salary, bonus, benefits, plus 401(k) plan. Send your resume, via e-mail, to: HR@cobraguard.net. EOE. Financia l representa tiv e - Due to the success and growth of the Knights of Columbus, we are adding financial representatives in the Kansas City area. This position is ideal for a determined, highenergy, high-expectation, professional, selfdisciplined, independent individual desiring to serve others, yet earn a better-than-average income. We provide top-rated financial products to our members and their families and will provide excellent benefits and training. For more information or an interview, contact John A. Mahon, 307 Dakota, Holton KS 66436; or call (785) 364-5450.

■ SERVICES

Golf lessons that last! All ages, all skill levels.

Individual or group lessons; reasonable rates; certified teaching professional. Member of Holy Spirit Parish, Overland Park. Call Mike at (816) 522-3847.

Virtus trained. To play better golf today. . .call Mike.

Bankruptcy - When debt becomes overwhelming, seek professional help. Experienced, compassionate Catholic attorney Teresa Kidd. For a confidential, no obligation consultation, call (913) 4220610; or send an e-mail to: tkidd@kc.rr.com.

Accoun ti ng/cons ulti ng servi ces - Member of St. Joseph Parish, Shawnee. Reasonable rates. Visit my Web site at: www.allaccountskc.com or call (913) 669-5013.

Counseling servi ces - Our contemporary society can present families, couples and life partners with unique challenges, stress, breech of trust, financial loss and communication breakdown. We each have the power to change and improve the quality of our life. This is the purpose of therapy. I provide affordable, confidential therapy for individuals, couples and families. I also specialize in clinical outpatient substance abuse, outpatient treatment for adult men and women. Call JB Strong, MA, LCPC, AAPS, at (913) 722-1118.

Compu ter ba si cs for s eniors - Low-cost computer training for Mac or PC. Learn computer basics in the comfort of your own home, at your own pace, and on your computer. Call Becky at (913) 4921544, or visit: www.allaccountskc.com.

Pres erv e y ou r memori es by t el l in g y ou r li fe story! I can type your memoirs from handwritten or recorded notes. Also provide secretarial services.

Call All About Words at (913) 438-5922.

Granite, Cambria and Silestone countertops See our new showroom at 5820 Barton, in the heart of beautiful downtown Shawnee. Call The Top Shop, Inc., at (816) 898-8685 or (913) 962-5058.

THE LEAVEN • MARCH 27, 2009

All Lawn Services/Mowing/ Fertilizing Most city-sized lots $25-30 Call for a free estimate.

Family-owned by local parishioners.

Lic/Bond/Ins. References. (913) 620-6063

THE LEAVEN • MARCH 27, 2009 REMODELING & REPAIRS Quality work at reasonable prices. Baths, kitchens, basements and door replacements.

Member of Queen of the Holy Rosary Parish, OP. Ralph Pruente at (913) 631-1115.

Spring is here! I do mowing, landscaping, walls, decks, patios, and winter cleanups. Call Josh at (913) 709-7230. Southern Johnson County.

House painting - Interior and exterior; wallpaper removal. 20 years experience. Reasonable rates. References. Call Joe at (913) 620-5776.

G r a s s c u t t i n g a n d t r i m m i n g – Shawnee, Merriam and Lenexa areas. Call (913) 268-5337.

Deck W orks - Decks, pergolas, ramps, fences, screened porches; licensed and insured; references available; 15+ years of experience. Serving Johnson, Leavenworth, and Wyandotte counties. Call for a free estimate. (913) 432-DECK.

Tu t orin g - For K-12 in various subjects, especially music and French. Tutor is working on a master’s degree at local university. Tutor customizes lessons to fit the student’s needs and teaches in a fun and meaningful context. Tutor also specializes in test prep and study skills. For information, call (913) 206-2151 or send an e-mail to: Klmamuric@ yahoo.com.

Machine quilting by Lyn - I also do T-shirt, photo, and memorial quilts too. Located in Overland Park. Call Lyn at (913) 492-8877.

Do you need help caring for an elderly family member? Contact Benefits of Home – Senior Care and let our social work expert help you build a plan of care. We provide assistance with homemaker and personal care services, in the comfort of your home. To speak with our social worker, contact Benefits of Home at (913) 422-1591.

C aregi v in g - We provide personal assistance, companionship, care management, and transportation to the elderly and disabled in home, assisted living and nursing facilities. We also provide respite care for main caregivers needing some personal time. Call Daughters & Company at (913) 341-2500 and speak with Andrea, Sara or Gary.

D o y o u i n t e n d t o l e a ve a C a t h o l ic c h a r i t y in your wil l? What are you waiting for? The C athol ic F ou n d a t i o n o f N or t h e a s t K a n s a s helps people with charitable intent to put their instructions into place. We help stretch your gift further and last longer for the people you love and the causes you care about. For a free, confidential consultation, call (913) 647-0365 or for free estate planning information, visit the Web site at: www.cfnek.org.

■ HOME IMPROVEMENT

Organizing & handyman services - Basements, garages, attics and shop spaces organized! Your items sorted, boxed & labeled; areas cleaned when finished! Wall repair, interior painting, tile work, handicap bars and ramps. Great references and insured. For pictures of current projects, view my Web site at: www. swalms.com. Call Tillar Swalm at (913) 375-9115.

Adept Home Improvements Where quality still counts!

Basement finishing, Kitchens and baths, Electrical and plumbing.

Licensed and insured.

(913) 599-7998 Damaged sheetrock repaired – WyCo and JoCo areas. Ceilings, painted or textured. 25 yrs. experience; insured and reliable. Call (913) 631-5241.

Electrician - Free estimates; reasonable rates.

JoCo and southern KC metro area. Call Pat (913) 963-9896.

House painting - Interior and exterior; wallpaper removal. 20 years experience. Reasonable rates. References. Call Joe at (913) 620-5776.

Beat the recession; prices wil l never be lower! - Home additions, kitchens, baths, basements, roofs and fences. Green construction options.

Repeat clientele. References available. Licensed and insured. Call Ralph Miller at (913) 927-0267.

Ti m t he Ha ndy ma n - Insured; free estimates.

Carpentry: new and repair deck, doors, windows, siding, screens. Plumbing: faucet, garbage disposals, toilets. Electrical: switches, outlets, ceiling fans, light fixtures. Light landscape: fill dirt, trimming, planting, garden tilling and mulching. Serving Johnson County. Call Tim at (913) 859-0471.

Contractor - Commercial and residential work — painting and renovating. Free estimates; insured; 20 yrs. experience. Call (913) 206-4524.

Cus tom-kit chen coun tertops - Laminate tops manufactured and installed within 5 days.

Competitive prices, dependable work. St. Joseph Parish member. Call The Top Shop, Inc., at (816) 898-8685 or (913) 962-5058.

Masonry work - Quality, new or repair work. Brick, block, and chimney/fireplace repair. Insured; second generation bricklayer. Call (913) 829-4336.

STA ( Su re T hi ng A l w ay s) Ho me Re p ai r Basement finish, bathrooms and kitchens; interior & exterior repairs: painting, roofing, siding, wood replacement and window glazing. Call for free estimates. Cell: (913) 579-1835; phone: (913) 491-5837; e-mail: smokeycabin@hotmail.com. Member of Holy Trinity Church, Lenexa.

EL SOL Y LA TIERRA *Commercial & residential * Lawn renovation * Mowing * Clean-up and hauling * Dirt grading/installation * Landscape design * Free estimates Hablamos y escribimos Ingles!!

Call Lupe at (816) 252-3376 .

■ VACATION

Ski cabin in Winter Park, Colo. – 2 BR, 1 BA, on free ski shuttle route. $110/night. Call (913) 6423027. For pictures, visit the Web site at: cabin. forcadeassociates.com.

S k i v a ca t i on - Winter Park, Colo. 2 BR, 1BA, sleeps 6. Fully furnished, fireplace, rec. center with pool & hot tub. $125/night; $750/week. Call Joe Frederick at (913) 385-5589.

W alk to S t . Ja me s A ca de my - 4 BR, 3-1/2 BA home on a cul-de-sac. Granite countertops, hardwoods and many upgrades. View at: www.9617 AppleridgeLn. Blogspot.com or call (913) 397-0938.

Villas of Whitehorse - 15011 Ash St., Leawood.

Located on a cul-de-sac, this beautiful home has 4 BR, 3 BA, a screened-in porch, tile roof, granite countertops, a butler’s pantry, built-in bookcase, office, central vac and more! $419,000. Call Mark at (913) 851-0606.

Weekend ret rea t - Six-year-old two-bedroom home with all the amenities. Home has a huge, covered front porch and is being sold fully furnished.

House sits on 25 acres of timber/pasture with a two-acre fully stocked pond. Turkey and deer are abundant. Property is located south of Ottawa and is less than a one-hour drive from Lenexa. $160,000. Call Mike for details at (816) 507-4848.

■ CHILD CARE Su mmer chi ld ca re n eed ed - Prince of Peace family seeks in-home summer child care for two boys, ages 5 and 8, starting May 26. Prefer collegeage or older with own transportation. For details, call (913) 764-8122.

■ FOR SALE

Bulk mulch for sale - Prices start at $28/cu. yd. plus a $50 per load delivery fee. For details, visit the Web site at: www.mokanmulch.com or call (913) 631-7217.

Re si d en t i a l li f t s - Buy/sell/trade. Stair lifts, porch lifts, ceiling lifts and elevators. Recycled and new equipment. Member of St. Michael the Archangel Parish, Leawood. Call Silver Cross® KC at (913) 393-2042.

To purchase the book, “ Soa rin g on t he W ings of a Dream” by Ed Dwight, contact Levita Ross at (913) 299-0678.

■ MISCELLANEOUS

Gi ga nt i c g ara ge sale - St. Teresa’s Academy, 5600 Main, Kansas City, Mo. Fri., April 3, from 9 a.m. - 7 p.m. and Sat., April 4, from 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. A huge sale featuring a building full of furniture, housewares, books, lamps, pictures, knickknacks, antiques, vintage linens, kitchenware and much more. You won’t want to miss this fantastic sale!

Sneak preview sale on Fri., April 3, from 9 - 11 a.m. for $5 admission.

■ FOR RENT

■ WANTED TO BUY

H o me fo r re n t – 7508 W. 98th St., Overland Park. 3 BR, 2 BA, LR/DR, family room with gas fireplace, eat-in kitchen with all appliances, two-car garage, full bsmt. No pets. Walking distance to Holy Cross School. $1150/ mo. with 1 yr. lease. Call (913) 645-0425.

*** BUYING *** Coins — Sterling — Watches I buy coins, old watches, sterling silverware, postcards, photographs, military items, political campaign pins, Zippo lighters, fountain pens, toys, slot machines, old signs & tins, quilts, Indian rugs, beadwork, baskets, pottery and 22-gauge rifles.

Call Chris at (913) 593-7507 or (913) 642-8269.

A p a r t m e n t f o r r e n t – 1 BR, 1 BA. $495 per month, includes utilities. One-year lease. 10911 W. 59th Terr., Shawnee. Near St. Joseph Parish. View at: www.shawnee-rentals.com, or call (913) 649-7596.

Hom e for rent - Modern, 2 BR, 1-1/2 BA home with attached garage near 83rd and Antioch in Overland Park. Many adorable updates and amenities including pool and exercise room; and trash, lawn and snow care. Appliances stay. One-year lease.

No pets or smokers. Call Catherine at (913) 972-8852.

■ REAL ESTATE Open house - March 29 from 1 - 3 p.m. at 12709 W. 116th, Overland Park. Just four houses from Stoll Park entry. Walk to St. Thomas Aquinas High and JCCC. Large, Oak Tree Meadows home with 4 BR, 2-1/2 BA, new carpet in finished, walk-out LL, new roof, new windows, new siding, new paint, new entry. Huge, fenced yard with deck and covered patio. $219,000. Lowest price in OTM. Call Rosemary to make offer. Masters GMAC Real Estate (913) 6619744.

*** Wanted to Buy *** Antique and vintage costume jewelry Member St. Joseph Parish Renee Maderak (913) 631-7179

■ ENTERTAINMENT S i n g l e s E x t r a v a g a n z a - March 28 at the Doubletree Hotel, College Blvd. & Alt. 69 Hwy., Overland Park. Mingle hour from 6 - 7 p.m.; booths and keynote speaker from 7 - 8 p.m.; live music and dancing until midnight. The cost is $15 in advance; $20 at the door. For information or tickets, call Zep at (816) 292-2848.

TO PURCHASE A CLASSIFIED Send an e-mail to: jennifer@the leaven. com, or call (913) 647-0327. The cost is $16 per column inch, five lines or less.

Each additional line is $1.50.

March 28

The Sanctuary of Hope and Father Dennis Wait will host the annual “Paths to Peace” presentation from 9 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. on March 28 in the chapel, located at 2601 Ridge Ave., Kansas City, Kan. This year the talks will include Ben Worth on Buddhism and Barb McAfee on the Baha'i Faith. In addition, Ann Hatch will give a presentation on art. The cost is $20 per person. For information or to RSVP, call 913-321-HOPE (4673).

Holy Family Church will host a taco dinner and bingo on March 28 in its club, located at 513 Ohio, Kansas City, Kan. Dinner will be served from 6:15 - 7:15 p.m., with bingo following at 7:30 p.m. The cost of $15 includes dinner and a bingo card.

For tickets, call Annette at (913) 371-5063.

Training for respite volunteers will be on March 28. Men and women volunteer in their parish community to relieve caregivers caring for a family member in the home. The family caregiver receives up to four hours of personal time, once a week or several times a month. Volunteers do not give medication or do housework.

Trained volunteers are insured against liability. For more information or to register for training, call Aletha Adams at (913) 362-7798.

Cristo Rey High School, Kansas City, Mo., will host its annual benefit evening at 6 p.m. on March 28 at Marriott – Muehlebach Tower, 200 W. 12th St., Kansas City, Mo. This year’s theme is “Dancing with the Stars,” and will include civic leaders and well-known personalities from the metro area who will take the stage to perform a dance. Cristo Rey Kansas City combines a traditional Catholic collegepreparatory education with a unique and innovative corporate work/study program.

It serves only students in economic need.

For information or to purchase tickets, contact Andy Stith at (816) 457-6044.

Holy Spirit Parish, 11300 W. 103rd St., Overland Park, will host a healing Mass at 9 a.m. on March 28. The sacrament of anointing of the sick will be offered.

Prayers in honor of St. Peregrine, the patron saint of those with cancer and HIV/AIDS, will be said.

The annual Greenway auction, benefiting Xavier Grade School and Immaculata High School, will be held on March 28 in the McGilley Field House at the

University of Saint Mary, Leavenworth.

The silent auction begins at 5 p.m.; a buffet dinner will be served at 6 p.m.; the live auction begins at 8 p.m. The cost is $35 at the door. For information, call (913) 6827801 or visit the Web site at: www.green wayauction.org.

The Johnson County Unos will gather for 4:30 p.m. Mass on March 28 at St. Pius X Church, 5601 Woodson, Mission. Dinner will follow at Perkins Restaurant, 11200 W. 87th St., Lenexa.

A singles extravaganza will be held on March 28 at the Overland Park Doubletree Hotel, College Blvd. & Alt. 69 Hwy. Mingle from 6 - 7 p.m.; booths and keynote speaker from 7 - 8 p.m.; live music and dancing until midnight. The cost is $15 in advance; $20 at the door. For information or tickets, call Zep at (816) 292-2848.

29

Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas invites all to join in praying for the homeless, the poor and the vulnerable at a prayer vigil at 2 p.m. on March 29 at Shalom House, an emergency shelter for men, located at 2100 N. 13th St., Kansas City, Kan. A reception will follow.

The Ignatian Spirituality Center of Kansas City will sponsor “The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius — What Do They Have for Me?” at 7:15 p.m. on March 29 in Mabee Theater on the Rockhurst University campus, 1100 Rockhurst Rd., Kansas City, Mo. Sister Marie Schwan, CSJ, will be the presenter. For reservations or information, call Joseph Cirincione at (816) 501- 4109 or visit the Web site at: www.ignatian center kc.org.

April 1, 2 & 3

St. Joseph Medical Center, I-435 and State Line Rd., Kansas City, Mo., will host a book fair featuring quality books and unique gifts from 7 a.m.

- 4 p.m. on April 1 and 2 and from 7 a.m. - 3 p.m. on April 3.

3

St. Patrick Early Education Center, 1080 N. 94th St., Kansas City, Kan., will host an Easter egg hunt and open house from 6 - 7:30 p.m. on April 3.

All preschoolers, ages 3 - 5, are welcome to attend and tour our school. For information, call (913) 299-3051.

A course in the sympto-thermal method of natural family planning will begin at 7 p.m. on April 3 at Queen of the Holy Rosary Parish (Wea), 22779 Metcalf Rd., Bucyrus. A reasonable course fee will be charged. For information or to register, call Christine or David Downey at (913) 837-3182, the Couple to Couple League of Kansas City at (913) 894-3558, or visit the Web site at: www.cclkc.org.

The Johnson County Unos will hold their monthly meeting and potluck dinner at 6 p.m. on April 3 at St. Pius X Church, 5601 Woodson, Mission. Bring meat casseroles, salads, vegetables or desserts — enough to feed 8 — or $5 to pay for your meal.

St. Teresa’s Academy, 5600 Main, Kansas City, Mo., will host its annual TNT garage sale from 9 a.m. - 7 p.m. on April 3 and from 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. on April 4 featuring a building full of furniture, housewares, books, lamps, pictures, knickknacks, antiques, vintage linens, kitchenware and much more. You won’t want to miss this fantastic sale!

4

Holy Trinity Parish, 9150 Pflumm, Lenexa, will host “A Day of Reflection, A Call to Holiness and Prayer,” for women from 8 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. on April 4. Sisters from the Apostles of the Interior Life will be the presenters. The cost is $10 in advance; $15 at the door. For tickets, mail a check to: Fran Jaderburg, 8914 Country Hill Court, Lenexa, KS 66215.

Tom Jacobs is offering a mini-retreat on contemplative prayer meditation from 9 a.m. - noon on April 4 at Avila University, 11901 Wornall Rd., Kansas City, Mo. All are welcome. Directions will be given when you call Tom to enroll at (816) 619-3499. The cost is $25 per person.

16-19

Marillac Center, Leavenworth, will offer a creative mystery retreat for artists from 7 p.m. on April 16 through 10 a.m. on April 19. The program is open to poets, writers, visual artists, musicians, dancers, photographers and other artists to honor, share and celebrate their unique creativity. Sister Frances Marie Grady, SCL, will facilitate the sessions. This will be a collaborative retreat in which participants will need to bring their own tools or instruments of creativity. The cost of $180 includes room and meals. Scholarships are available. The registration deadline is April 6. For information or to register, call (913) 758-6552 or send an e-mail to: retreats@ scls.org.

CALENDAR

13

Misc.

Bishop Ward alumnus, astronaut, and sculptor, Ed Dwight, who was recently featured in The Leaven, has written an autobiography entitled, “Soaring on the Wings of a Dream.” To purchase the book, contact Levita Ross at (913) 299-0678.

St. Thomas Aquinas High School, 11411 Pflumm Rd., Overland Park, will offer summer camps for boys and girls in K - 8th grade. Many opportunities to participate in both sports and non-sports activities will be available, including: baseball, basketball, cake decorating, cheerleading/ dance, cross country, football, sewing, soccer, softball, youth speed and agility, and wrestling. For information, call Michelle at (913) 319-2416 or visit the Web Site at: www.aquinascommunity.com/ summercamps.html.

Bishop Ward High School, class of 1969, will hold its 40th class reunion on the fun-filled weekend of June 26-28. For information, call Ginger (Ventura) Schoenberger at (913) 321-5818 or send an e-mail to her at: gschoenberger@ kc.rr.com.

For those struggling with an addiction to pornography, Sam Meier, MA, LPC, provides counseling and men’s groups for sexual integrity. Call (913) 647-0378, or send an email to: mhmg@archkck. org. Women, contact Beth Meier for information on groups for spouses and loved ones at (913) 6470379, or send an e-mail to: bmeier@ archkck.org. Support is confidential and from a Catholic perspective. To listen to live testimonials, visit the Web site at; www.arch kck.org/myhouse.

The Singles of Nativity will gather for round-robin-style tennis from 2:30 - 5 p.m. at the Indian Creek Recreational Center, 103rd and Marty, Overland Park, on Sundays throughout the winter/spring, weather permitting. If the temperature is above 45 degrees and it is not windy, we will play outdoor tennis. Beginners are welcome; there is room for everyone. For information, send an e-mail to Nancy Driscoll at: ndriscoll1@kc.rr.com.

Save the date for Bishop Ward High School’s hall of fame dinner on April 18.

The cost is $125. For information or to purchase tickets, contact Paula Gettles at (913) 371-6901 or send an e-mail to her at: pgettles@wardhigh.org.

Want to help someone heal from an abortion?

Call Toll Free 888-246-1504

We are grateful to have served this community since 1929 and we are proud to continue the Skradski Family Tradition of compassion and caring.

Helen Skradski Funeral Director M-F 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Sat. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. | Summer Months: Sat. 10 a.m to 3 p.m.

THE LEAVEN • MARCH 27, 2009

340 N. 6th • Kansas City, Kan. 66101 • (913) 371-1404

15

MARK MY WORDS President MOST REVEREND JOSEPH F. NAUMANN Editor REVEREND MARK GOLDASICH, STL frmark@theleaven.com

SKRADSKI FUNERAL HOME

COMMENTARY

D

Managing Editor ANITA McSORLEY anita@theleaven.com Senior Reporter JOE BOLLIG joe@theleaven.com Production Manager TODD HABIGER todd@theleaven.com

701 NORTH 94TH STREET * KANSAS CITY, KANSAS 66112 * (913) 334-3366 FUNERAL HOME * CEMETERY * CREMATION SERVICES

Advertising Representative JENNIFER SIEBES jennifer@theleaven.com Reporter KARA HANSEN kara@theleaven.com Circulation sub@theleaven.com

Catholic Press Association Award Winner 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007

W

e have the newest and nicest funeral home in Wyandotte County, right across the street from St. Patrick’s Church. Personalize a Funeral, Cemetery or Memorial Service all from one office, instead of driving all over town making plans. We even accept many pre-arranged plans from other funeral homes. To receive a free Personal Planning Guide, call or stop in today.

Archbishop Edward O’Meara Award Winner 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003 Publication No. (ISSN0194-9799)

There are a lot of good reasons to make Catholic Community Hospice your choice when selecting a hospice.

• Our pain management expertise • Our low nurse-topatient ratio • Our Catholic identity

Or maybe you have your own reasons for wanting to feel as good as you can, as long as you can.

If so, we can help.

Catholic Community Hospice.

Ask for us by name.

913-621-5090 • 785-357-5107 • www.catholiccommunityhospice.com

Published weekly September through May, excepting the Friday the week after Thanksgiving, and the Friday after Christmas; biweekly June through August. Address communications to: The Leaven, 12615 Parallel Pkwy., Kansas City, KS 66109. Phone: (913) 721-1570; fax: (913) 7215276; or e-mail at: sub@theleaven.com.

POSTMASTER : Send address changes to The Leaven, 12615 Parallel Pkwy., Kansas City, KS 66109. For change of address, provide old and new address and parish.

Subscriptions $18/ year. Periodicals postage paid at Kansas City, KS 66109.

SCRIPTURE READINGS FIFTH WEEK OF LENT March 29 FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT Jer 31: 31-34; Ps 51: 3-4, 12-15; Heb 5: 7-9; Jn 12: 20-33 March 30 Monday Dn 13: 1-9, 15-17, 19-30, 33-62; Ps 23: 1-6; Jn 8: 1-11 March 31 Tuesday Nm 21: 4-9; Ps 102: 2-3, 16-21; Jn 8: 21-30 April 1 Wednesday Dn 3: 14-20, 91-92, 95; (Ps) Dn 3: 52-56; Jn 8: 31-42 April 2 Francis of Paola, hermit Gn 17: 3-9; Ps 105: 4-9; Jn 8: 51-59 April 3 Friday Jer 20: 10-13; Ps 18: 2-7; Jn 10: 31-42 April 4 Isidore, bishop, doctor of the church Ez 37: 21-28; (Ps) Jer 31: 10-13; Jn 11: 45-56

THE GOSPEL TRUTH

Wheat a metaphor for resurrection for both John and Paul

W

e sometimes accuse politicians of not giving a straight answer to a simple question.

Instead, they will beat around the bush — delivering the speech which clearly enunciates their positions on a directly because they were unsure how variety of issues but avoiding the one he would receive them. After all, they at hand. were not Jews, but Gentiles. That is We might suspect Jesus of taking a why they go through Philip, whom we similar approach in Sunday’s Gospel might note, has a Greek name and so reading, Jn 12:20-33. When would have appeared sympatold that some visiting Greeks thetic to the Greeks.

FIFTH would like to see him, he The Greeks in question SUNDAY OF launches into a long dismost likely believed in the LENT course about his impending One God of Israel. That is why Jn 12: 20-33 death and about the benefits they were visiting Jerusalem it will bring. That discourse to worship at the Passover includes the image of the feast. At the same time, they seed “dying” in order to produce new were not fully initiated into Judaism life: “Unless a grain of wheat falls to and did not observe the full law, for the ground and dies, it remains just a example, the dietary regulations. That grain of wheat; but if it dies, it proexplains their hesitation in approachduces much fruit.” ing Jesus.

Do these words have any connecBy his discourse, Jesus indicates tion to the desire of the Greeks to see that, contrary to the Gentiles’ expectaJesus? If so, what is it? tions, he would indeed welcome them.

I believe that there is a connection, alThey also will eat of the fruit produced though it may not have been obvious at by the grain of wheat which falls to the the moment. Jesus’ death will bring life, ground and dies. They also will share not only to the Jews, but to the Gentiles in eternal life, if they serve him. as well. It will benefit the entire world.

It is interesting to compare the The Greeks did not approach Jesus Gospel of John’s image of the wheat to

Paul’s use of that image in 1 Cor 15:3638: “What you sow is not brought to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body that is to be but a bare kernel of wheat, perhaps, or of some other kind; but God gives it a body as he chooses, and to each of the seeds its own body.”

Paul goes on to make his usual complicated argument which we will not go into. Instead, I would like to focus upon the fact of Paul’s use of the image of the wheat as a metaphor for the Resurrection. Did Paul have access to John’s Gospel, or is it a coincidence that both draw upon that image? Since most scholars date John’s Gospel well after Paul’s letters, Paul could not have referred to it in his letters.

On the other hand, it is possible that a saying by Jesus about the grain of wheat was floating around in the oral tradition. John may have incorporated the saying in his Gospel. Similarly, Paul may have referred to that saying in the First Letter to the Corinthians.

In any case, it is interesting that the apostle to the Gentiles would have drawn upon the same image that John’s Gospel uses in Jesus’ response to the Gentiles to see him.

Father Mike Stubbs is pastor of St. Francis de Sales Parish in Lansing and has a degree in Scripture from Harvard University.

16 LOCAL NEWS

THE LEAVEN • MARCH 27, 2009

Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann’s April calendar 1

12

Eucharistic adoration and Benediction — Hayden High School, Topeka

9 a.m. Easter Sunday Mass — Good Shepherd, Shawnee

2

13

Donnelly College Mission Committee meeting

Confirmation — Church of the Ascension, Overland Park

19

14-15

20

Confirmation — Holy Cross, Overland Park

18

26

Gospel of Life convention Mass — St. Thomas Aquinas High School, Overland Park

Mass and Scout awards — Cathedral

Mass, 50th anniversary of St. Paul School, Olathe

7

16

Chrism Mass

Adoration and Benediction — Maur Hill/Mount Academy, Atchison

21 Administrative Team meeting

29

Priests Personnel

Dedication of Marian Hall — Donnelly College

Confirmation — Church of the Ascension, Overland Park

Catholic Education Foundation meeting — Topeka

7 p.m. Holy Thursday Mass — Cathedral

Curia meeting Donnelly Mission Committee meeting

23

10 3 p.m. Good Friday service — Cathedral

11

Kenrick-Glennon Seminary board meeting — St. Louis

17 Dr. Janet Smith talk

25

Catholic Radio taping

St. Thomas Aquinas Walk for Life

8 p.m. Easter Vigil — Cathedral

Archbishop James P. Keleher’s April calendar 1

7

11

Confirmation — St. Agnes, Roeland Park

Vocation talk with youth before Chrism Mass

Holy Saturday

2

Chrism Mass

Confessions — Church of the Ascension, Overland Park

9

Easter Mass — Sisters, Servants of Mary, Kansas City, Kan.

Holy Thursday

Good Friday service — Cathedral Confessions — Church of the Nativity, Leawood

19 25 Confirmation — St. Joseph, Chicago

KEATING Mud Jacking Serving NE Kansas Since 1976

FOUNDATION REPAIR Cracked • Bowed • Settled Wall Repair ¬ Wall Bracing ¬ Waterproofing ¬ Steel Underpinning

FREE ESTIMATES

MUD JACKING Raise & Level Patios Drives Garage Floors Slab Houses

Kansas City (913) 262-9352

12

Confirmation — Florida

10

Locally Owned & Operated

Jesus Caritas bishops prayer meeting

Confirmation — St. Michael the Archangel, Overland Park

9

¬

27-28

11 a.m. Palm Sunday Mass — Cathedral

Install Father Ed Oen as pastor of St. Mary Parish in St. Benedict — Chancery

Prison Mass

Meeting with Msgr. Paul Watson, director of Maryvale Institute

To New York for installation of Archbishop Dolan as Archbishop of New York

5

5

27

Piers Driven to Load-Bearing Strata or Bedrock

Lawrence (785) 865-0006

Topeka (785) 246-0128

Concrete Work Any type of repair and new work Driveways, Walks, Patios Member of Queen of the Holy Rosary Parish

Harvey M. Kascht (913) 262-1555

28

Confirmation — Prince of Peace, Olathe

30 Adoration and Benediction — St. Thomas Aquinas High School Confirmation — Prince of Peace, Olathe