June 13, 2008

The Catholic News & Herald 1 June 13, 2008

Serving CatholiCS in WeStern north Carolina in the DioCeSe of Charlotte

End of schoolDiocesan Catholic schools hold graduation ceremonies

| Pages 12-13

Culture WatchBooks, DVD for Catholic preschoolers; WYD Web site

| Pages 10-11

Picking up the piecesChinese Catholics try to resume normal lives

| 6

jUne 13, 2008 volUMe 17 no. 31

www.charlottediocese.org

PerspectivesThe need for success stories; social justice in theory and action; letters to the editor

| Pages 14-15established jan. 12, 1972

by Pope Paul vi

Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte

Photo by Katie Moore

Priests line up for the laying on of hands during the ordination Mass of Fathers Tri Vinh Truong and Brandon Jones (kneeling), who were ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Peter J. Jugis at St. Vincent de Paul Church in Charlotte June 7.

To shepherd in the name of Christ

Photo by Kevin e. Murray

Seven Sisters of Mercy celebrating their jubilee anniversaries as women religious renew their vows during a Mass at St. Gabriel Church in Charlotte May 31.

Graduates to bring knowledge to roles in church, world

See PEACE, page 6

Celebrating Sisters of Mercy

by KATIE MOOREsTAff wRITER

CHARLOTTE — Father Brandon Jones and Father Tri Vinh Truong formally dedicated their lives to serving the Lord, the church and the people of God.

The men were ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Peter J. Jugis at St. Vincent de Paul Church in Charlotte June 7.

“The whole church of Charlotte praises God and thanks him today for the gift of two new priests for the church,” said Bishop Jugis.

D u r i n g h i s h o m i l y, Bishop Jugis spoke of the graces bestowed upon the two men in the sacrament of holy orders.

“It is God who gives you this gift of holy orders,” said Bishop Jugis.

“Your being is changed

Aspiring to be agents of peaceProgram explores nonviolence of Jesus

See MINISTRY, page 5

See JUBILEE, page 7

by KEVIN E. MURRAyEdITOR

CHARLOTTE — More than 500 people gathered to celebrate the lives and ministries of women religious who have impacted thousands, both near and far.

The anniversaries of seven Sisters of Mercy were celebrated during a Mass and reception at St. Gabriel Church in Charlotte May 31.

Diamond jubilarians (60

years) are Mercy Sister Marie Pierre Martinez, Mercy Sister Mary Alma Pangelinan and Mercy Sister Mary David Richard; golden jubilarians (50 years) are Mercy Sister Therese Galligan and Mercy Sister Clara Virginia Kelly; and silver jubilarians (25 years) are Mercy Sister Larretta Elizabeth Rivera-Williams and Mercy

Making lay ministers

BisHop Jugis ordaiNs Two New priesTs

by JOANITA M. NELLENbACHCORREspONdENT

MAGGIE VALLEY — Five people in a circle faced each other and made their cases as to who had the truth in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

They took turns assuming the roles of Condoleezza Rice,

See PRIESTS, page 9

Jubilarians honored for years of service, ministry to many

by KATIE MOOREsTAff wRITER

HICKORY — A call to ministry doesn’t always mean a call to religious life.

The recent graduates of the lay ministry training program for the Diocese of Charlotte know that being a beacon of God’s light is something they can do in the secular world on a daily basis.

A ceremony recognizing 41 graduates for their commitment to lay ministry was held at the Catholic Conference Center in Hickory June 1.

The lay ministry training program is a two-year program designed for women and men who wish to grow in confidence as they minister to others in their families, the church and the marketplace.

2 The Catholic News & Herald June 13, 2008

Current and upcoming topics from around the world to your own backyardInBrief Jesuit urges U.N. to improve

international protection of workersDaughter’s faith, mother’s insPiration

puBlisHer: Most reverend peter J. JugisediTor: Kevin e. MurraysTaFF wriTer: Katie MooregrapHiC desigNer: Tim FaragheradverTisiNg MaNager: Cindi FeerickseCreTary: deborah Hiles

1123 south Church st., Charlotte, NC 28203Mail: p.o. Box 37267, Charlotte, NC 28237pHoNe: (704) 370-3333 FaX: (704) 370-3382e-Mail: [email protected]

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JuNe 13, 2008Volume 17 • Number 31

ALBEMARLE VICARIATE MONROE — A holy hour is held every Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Our Lady of Lourdes Church, 725 Deese St., until December 2008 in conjunction with the 150th anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady in Lourdes. The holy hour consists of evening prayer, recitation of the rosary and Benediction. The celebration is open to all. For more information, contact the parish office at (704) 289-2773.

ASHEVILLE VICARIATEHENDERSONVILLE — The St. Francis of the Hills Fraternity of the Secular Franciscan Order meets the fourth Sunday of each month 1-3 p.m. at Immaculate Conception Church, 208 7th Ave. W. Visitors and inquirers are welcome. For more information, call Joanita Nellenbach, at (828) 627-9209 or [email protected].

BOONE VICARIATE SPRUCE PINE — A rosary of intercession for priests is recited each Friday at St. Lucien Church, 695 Summit St., before the 9 a.m. Mass. Prayers are offered for bishops, priests and deacons, and for an increase in vocations to the priesthood. For more information, call the church office at (828) 765-2224.

CHARLOTTE VICARIATE CHARLOTTE — A children’s rosary will be held at St. Ann Church, 3635 Park Rd., Sunday, June 22, at 3 p.m. Participants are asked to gather in the church vestibule to process in with the statue of Mary and pray five decades of the rosary. Children will lead the decades. Feel free to bring a flower to place before the statue. If you have any questions, call Tina at (704) 846-7361.CHARLOTTE — St. Basil the Great Ukrainian Byzantine Catholic Church will have a Ukrainian Mass in English in the chapel of Charlotte Catholic High School, 7702 Pineville-Matthews Rd., the third Saturday of each month at 5 p.m. Confession at 4 p.m. The Mass is open to anyone who would like to attend. For more information, contact Father Mark Shuey at [email protected] or call (919) 779-7246.CHARLOTTE — Bishop Peter J. Jugis will celebrate a Mass for U.S. military personnel July 6 at 3 p.m. at St. Patrick Cathedral, 1621 Dilworth Rd. East. The Mass and rosary (to be recited at 2:30 p.m.) will be offered for all military personnel who have died and for those who are now serving. Military personnel are invited to attend in uniform. Photos of those who have died or who are now serving in the military will be displayed in the cathedral vestibule prior to the Mass. To include your loved one, please mail a photocopy of him or her with his or her name and military rank on the back of the picture to Nancy Weber, Office of the Bishop, 1123 South Church St., Charlotte, NC 28203 to be received no later than July 2. (Photocopies of pictures will not be returned)

GASTONIA VICARIATEDENVER — The Blanketeers of Holy Spirit Church hold periodic workshops to make security blankets for seriously ill and traumatized children

Diocesanplanner

Virginia Tech tragedy leads bereaved mother on journey back to faith

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Before April 16, 2007, Marian Hammaren of Westtown, N.Y., thought she knew what she’d been put on the earth to do: to be Caitlin’s mother, to guide and protect her.

But 19-year-old Caitlin Hammaren, a sophomore at Virginia Tech and an only child, did not survive the tragedy on campus that day and Marian Hammaren was left wondering: “What’s my job now?”

In a May 30 telephone interview with Catholic News Service, Hammaren described the dark times that followed the campus massacre that left her daughter and 32 other students and faculty members at Virginia Tech dead.

But she also spoke about a book that “set me back on the journey to God” and helped give her a new role in life.

“Despair doesn’t even describe it,” she said of the weeks following her daughter’s death. “Heavy-hearted is a word you don’t even grasp until you go through something like this.”

After confirmation of Caitlin’s death, Hammaren said she was “truly numb.” She spent the next few days comforting Caitlin’s friends and helping them “say a final goodbye” at a memorial service in Virginia.

She discovered in Caitlin’s dorm room that “she was very religious, more than I actually knew,” Hammaren said.

Among the books at Caitlin’s bedside were an old catechism, a Bible, a book of quotes from Mr. Rogers and a book her father had recently bought her about “1,001 things to do before you die.”

Raised a Catholic but “not practicing as I should have,” Marian Hammaren said she found little comfort in her faith in those first dark weeks after the tragedy.

Because shopping had been a favorite

mother-daughter activity, she had been avoiding malls. But one day she found herself in a bookstore and was drawn to the religion section, where Anthony DeStefano’s “Ten Prayers God Always Says Yes To” caught her eye.

That book led her to the Bible and other spiritual writings and to “A Travel Guide to Heaven,” an earlier book by DeStefano, executive director of Priests for Life.

One day in her garden she began screaming at God about the injustice of Caitlin’s death.

“I taught her to trust you. Where were you?” she recalled yelling. “I need to touch her hair, I need to hear her voice.”

But Hammaren said “God didn’t mind the little beating up I gave him” and graced her with a “very calm, gentle thought: ‘If you want to see her, you have to go through me first.’”

Eventually she came to realize that “when Catie was alive, we were just her babysitters here on earth,” she said. “I had to get past the fact that there could be a better parent than me, and understand that she was in the best hands possible.”

That understanding and the hope that she will see her daughter again in heaven “helped me get out of the despair, out of the blackness,” said Hammaren, now an active member of the Church of the Holy Cross in South Centerville, N.Y.

“I’m happy to be home,” she said of her return to the faith. “I did not get it before. My daughter got it more.”

And Hammaren sees a new purpose in talking about the journey she has taken.

“If I can get one other person back to God,” she added, “then I think I’m doing what he wants me to.”

GENEVA (CNS) — A Mexican Jesuit has urged the U.N. Human Rights Council to improve international protection for Mexican workers affected by transnational corporations working in Mexico.

“There is no real political will in Mexico to protect workers’ rights. That is why we need international action,” said Father Sergio Cobo, director of the Center for Reflection and Action on Labor Issues, at the eighth session of the council in Geneva in early June.

Father Cobo called on John Ruggie, U.N. special representative on labor and human rights, to recommend that the United Nations put in place an interna-tional ombudsman to investigate cases of abuse by transnational corporations in Mexico and throughout the world.

Father Cobo said that although 60,000 Mexican workers are technically unionized, 90 percent of them do not know they belong to a union. Foreign

companies pressure managers and sometimes union leaders to keep workers in the dark about their rights and the work of unions, he said.

The priest also listed other abuses, including demands for sexual favors from workers, of whom a high percentage are women, in exchange for vacation time.

Often, the Jesuit said, workers applying for jobs at such companies are asked if they have relatives who are lawyers, or if women are pregnant. Women workers who do get pregnant often have to work eight- to 10-hour days standing.

Ruggie said he was “deeply moved by the struggles” of Father Cobo and other human rights defenders.

He told them not to give up their struggle and said he intends to ensure his mandate will result in concrete measures that will improve the lives of those affected by corporate misbehavior throughout the world.

CnS Photo CourteSy of the haMMaren faMily

Caitlin Hammaren (left) poses for a photo with her mother Marian in 2007. Caitlin, 19, who was a sophomore at Virginia Tech majoring in French and international relations, was one of 32 students and faculty members killed in the 2007 shootings at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va.

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


Vatican working on interreligious dialogue guidelines, official says

FroM THe vaTiCaN

through Project Linus, a nonprofit organization. The next workshop will be July 19, 9:30 a.m.– 2 p.m. For more information, call the church office at (704) 483-6448 or visit www.projectlinus.org.

GREENSBORO VICARIATEGREENSBORO — Theology on Tap, a speaker series for Catholics in their 20s, 30s and 40s will take place at Natty Greene’s Pub and Brewing Co., 345 S. Elm St. The next sessions will be held Wednesday evenings, June 18 and 26. Socializing begins at 6:45 p.m. Speaker begins at 7:45 p.m. For more information, e-mail [email protected] or call Deb at (336) 286-3687. GREENSBORO — Lessons in Discipleship: Living out the Sermon on the Mount, part of the Saturday School of Faith for adults, will take place at Our Lady of Grace Church, 2205 West Market St., June 21, 9:30–10:30 a.m. This session will look at the final section of Jesus’ key teaching for all his disciples. There will be question-and-answer time to help clarify points of Catholic teaching or practice. To register, e-mail [email protected] or call (336) 274-6520.

HICKORY VICARIATEHICKORY — A Charismatic Mass is celebrated the first Thursday of each month in Sebastian Chapel of St. Aloysius Church, 921 Second St. NE, at 7 p.m. For further information, contact Joan Moran (828)-327-0487.

SALISBURY VICARIATESALISBURY — Our Lady Rosary Makers of Sacred Heart Church, 128 N. Fulton St., are making cord rosaries for the missions and the military. The group meets the first Tuesday of each month in the church office conference room, 10-11 a.m. For more information, call Cathy Yochim at (704) 636-6857 or Joan Kaczmarezyk at (704) 797-8405.

SMOKY MOUNTAIN VICARIATEMURPHY — June 22-27 is designated as Vacation Bible School Week at St. William Church, 765 Andrews Rd. The adult classes will be led by Rev. Ben Bushyhead on June 22 at 6:30 p.m., and June 23 and 24 at 7 p.m. The children’s vacation Bible school will be held Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. There will be a closing Mass for all participants followed by a potluck dinner, June 27 at 5 p.m. For more information, contact Michelle Calascionea at (828) 837–2000. MURPHY — Scripture study of the Gospel of John and the Johannine Letters is being offered now through the first week in August at St. William Church, 765 Andrews Rd. The classes are held on Mondays 10-11:30 a.m. and on Thursdays 6:30-8 p.m. Each session includes reflection on Scripture, commentary, daily questions and a brief synopsis. For more information, contact Michelle Calascione at (828) 837-2000.

WINSTON-SALEM VICARIATEKERNERSVILLE — A Flag Day Ceremony will be sponsored by the Fourth Degree Knights of Columbus Council 8509 June 14, 10:30 a.m.–12 p.m., at the picnic area of Holy Cross Church, 616 S. Cherry St. A formal American flag retirement ceremony will be conducted. The event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be provided. If you have a flag in need of proper disposal, call Steve Salvitti at (336) 993-4401.

is your parish or school sponsoring a free event open to the public? deadline for submissions for the diocesan planner is 10 days prior to desired publication date. submit in writing to [email protected] or fax to (704) 370-3382.

Nine pilgrimage sites in Rome readied for Pauline year

On the spot

June 23-25Bishops’ provincial meetingraleigh

June 27 (7 p.m.)opening mass for n.C. Black Catholic Conferenceraleigh

June 29 (10 a.m.)125th anniversary mass for sacred heart ChurchCatawba College, salisbury

June 29 (3 p.m.)groundbreaking ceremonysacred Heart Church, salisbury

Episcopalcalendar

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

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Vatican is working on a new set of pastoral guidelines for interreligious dialogue, a leading official said.

The Pont i f ica l Counci l fo r Interreligious Dialogue began pulling together elements for the guidelines at its plenary session in Rome, said Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, council president.

“After many years of hesitation about the suitability of such a document, the time has arrived to offer pastors and the faithful some general orientations, which obviously will have to be adapted to local situations,” Cardinal Tauran said in an opening address to the council’s plenary meeting June 4.

The cardinal said the guidelines would be inspired in part by the Ten Commandments, which remain universal principles in a believer’s relationship with God and with neighbors.

Cardinal Tauran offered no timeline for the new document, but said the

council’s meeting should provide ample material for its preparation.

In 1991, the interreligious council published dialogue guidelines under the title “Dialogue and Proclamation.” The document called for a balance between dialogue and evangelization and said proclaiming Christ must be done with sensitivity, humility and respect for other cultures.

Pope Benedict XVI named Cardinal Tauran to head the council last year.

In his opening address, the cardinal said the church must help Catholics understand that all believers share a common patrimony of values, including belief in God, the sacredness of life, the need for brotherhood, the experience of prayer and the language of religion.

For their part, he said, Christians need to proclaim openly that Christ is the way, the truth and the life, and be “prepared to share their spiritual convictions and to consider those of others,” he said.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Nine Rome pilgrimage sites linked to the life of St. Paul are being readied for visitors during the jubilee year dedicated to the apostle, church officials announced.

Pope Benedict XVI plans to inaugurate the Pauline year June 28 at an evening prayer service in the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls. He will light a votive lamp that will burn continually during the jubilee, which ends June 29, 2009.

Vatican officials are hoping pilgrims and religious tourists will give special attention to St. Paul, and the nine sites being promoted all have connections to the saint’s life in Rome.

In addition to the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, where St. Paul’s tomb lies under the main altar, the sites include St. Peter’s Basilica and the Basilica of St. John Lateran.

Another site is the Abbey of the

Three Fountains, built on the spot where St. Paul was beheaded on the order of Roman Emperor Nero.

Two small churches are also featured on the pilgrim’s route: San Paolo alla Regola (St. Paul’s at Regola) and Santa Maria in Via Lata (Our Lady at Via Lata), traditionally considered the first and second houses where St. Paul lived and taught in Rome.

The church of Santa Prisca on the Aventine Hill is included. It was believed to be the residence of St. Prisca, a first-century martyr known by St. Paul.

Also on the route are the basilica and catacombs dedicated to St. Sebastian. The relics of St. Paul were thought to have been preserved in these catacombs before being moved to their permanent burial site.

A final stop is the Mamertine Prison near the Roman Forum, where St. Paul was believed to have been incarcerated.

CnS Photo by todd habinger

Monks from St. Benedict’s Abbey in Atchison, Kan., celebrate an outdoor Mass April 26 in Doniphan, Kan., to mark the 150th anniversary of the founding of their abbey. The Mass was celebrated at the spot Father Casimir Seitz, one of the three founding monks of St. Benedict’s Abbey, celebrated his first Mass 151 years earlier.

attention reaDersThe Catholic News & Herald is currently on its bi-weekly printing schedule for June, July and august. our next issue will be Friday, June 27.Have a news event or story idea to share? Contact staff writer Katie Moore at (704) 370-3354 or [email protected] photos of recent diocesan events, visit www.charlottediocese.org.

Pope meets privately with Muslim, Catholic representativesVATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope

Benedict XVI met with members of the Islamic-Catholic Liaison Committee in a private audience June 11 at the Vatican.

Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran and Archbishop Pier Luigi Celata, president and secretary, respectively, of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, also were at the audience.

The committee was meeting in Rome June 11-13 to discuss the theme “Christians and Muslims: God’s Witnesses of Justice, Peace and Compassion in a

World That Suffers From Violence.”The joint committee meets regularly

and was created in 1995 by Vatican and Muslim representatives as a way to promote mutual understanding, strengthen religious values and contribute to peace and justice.

It includes representatives from major international Islamic organizations, including the Saudi-based International Islamic Forum for Dialogue, the Muslim World League and the World Muslim Conference.

4 The Catholic News & Herald June 13, 2008arouND the Diocese

Bishops encourage support for bill for ‘Choose Life’ plates

CourteSy Photo

People look over items available for sale during a parish rummage sale at St. Joseph Church in Asheboro May 24. Proceeds from the rummage sale, sponsored by the Ladies Guild and Knights of Columbus Council 10891, went toward the parish building fund.

CourteSy Photo

Knights of Columbus flank Father Tim Reid, pastor of St. Ann Church in Charlotte, during a Corpus Christi procession May 25. The event was in celebration of the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ May 22.

Pope Benedict XVI celebrated a Mass and led a Corpus Christi procession through the streets of Rome, which was followed by Eucharistic adoration and Benediction, to mark the feast day May 22. In his homily, the pope said the rites and rituals of the feast day explain what the feast is about: “First, we are gathered around the altar of the Lord to be together in his presence; second, there will be the procession, which is walking with the Lord”; and, finally, all the faithful will kneel before the Eucharist, honoring Jesus Christ who gave his life for the salvation of all.

The Eucharist has the power to unite people, strengthen them and remind them that only God is worthy of worship, said Pope Benedict.

By walking in procession and following Jesus present in the Eucharist, he said, Catholics remind themselves that “the Lord Jesus liberates us from our paralysis, he makes us get up and proceed, he helps us take a step forward, then another.”

Celebrating Corpus Christi A potential way to promote life

Rummaging around

by dAVId HAINsCOMMUNICATIONs dIRECTOR

CHARLOTTE — Pro-life advocates in North Carolina could soon promote their support for life on their vehicles with special license plates.

An effort is underway in the N.C. General Assembly to make available a plate with the words “Choose Life” and the faces of two children on it.

The bill, HB 932, is being supported jointly by the dioceses of Charlotte and Raleigh.

Earlier this month, priests in the Diocese of Charlotte received via e-mail a letter from Msgr. Michael Clay, legislative liaison for the Diocese of Raleigh. The letter asks for prayers and support for the passage of the bill by the House Finance Committee.

The letter also includes a list of legislators serving on the finance committee who reside in the diocese.

“I ask for your help in creating the momentum needed to move our legislators beyond their fears to enact this legislation,” wrote Msgr. Clay.

The letter and the list of legislators can be viewed on the diocesan Web site at www.charlottediocese.org.

Currently North Carolina issues 122 specialty license plates that promote issues from environmental causes to colleges. There is even a plate promoting Harley Davidson motorcycles.

Funds raised through the sale of the

“Choose Life” plates will be distributed by the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services to nonprofit crisis pregnancy centers that do not offer abortion-related services, referrals or counseling.

Maggi Nadol , Respect Life coordinator for the Diocese of Charlotte, said the “Choose Life” license plates would allow for more freedom of expression by pro-life Christians.

“Anything that we can do to promote the sanctity of life as an issue is important both to the unborn and for the advancement of our Christian mission,” said Nadol.

The nonprofit organization Choose Life, Inc. reports that 18 states, including South Carolina, currently make the “Choose Life” plate available. Ten other states are actively considering it.

C o n t a c t C o m m u n i c a t i o n s Director David Hains by calling (704) 370-3336, or e-mail dwhains@ charlottediocese.org.

CourteSy Photo by ChooSe life, inC.

The Catholic News & Herald 5 June 13, 2008from the coVer

Lay ministry graduates to bring knowledge to world

MINISTRY, from page 1

CourteSy Photo by barbara gaddy

Don Edgerton receives a certificate of completion from Msgr. Mauricio W. West, vicar general and chancellor, during the lay ministry training program graduation ceremony at the Catholic Conference Center in Hickory June 1. The lay ministry training program is designed for those who wish to grow in confidence as they minister to others in their families, the church and the community.

“The program is not informational; it is formational,” said Frank Villaronga, director for evangelization and ministry formation for the Diocese of Charlotte.

“The role of the laity is to respond to their baptismal calls to participate in the ministry of the church,” said Villaronga. “That may mean doing it in their particular roles in life.”

One of the goals of the lay ministry training program is to help participants discern their calls to ministry in the church, but “it’s up to each person to discern what that role will be,” said Villaronga.

Participants meet approximately 12 times a year for two years for classes on various topics related to ministry and church teaching.

“I would say that it’s for any lay person who is interested in knowing more about his or her faith and putting that faith into practice,” said Villaronga.

Program participants come from all walks of life. Some come into the program with doctorate degrees while others have high school diplomas. Some have been actively involved in the church for years while others are just discovering their faith.

“There is a bond that happens,” said Villaronga. “Friendships form.”

“It is not the primary purpose of the program, but it’s a really good byproduct,” he added. “They walk together and help each other through the process.”

A chance encounterDon Edgerton heard about the program

during a visit to St. William Church in Murphy a little over two years ago.

“I had no idea what it was,” he said. “Not the slightest idea. But something hit me.”

Edgerton’s draw to the program may be a bit more dramatic than most.

For him, the call to lay ministry meant selling his businesses and moving from Florida to North Carolina. He underwent a complete lifestyle change.

“This (program) is something that if you expose yourself to one time, it is contagious,” he said.

“If you let the Spirit work within you, it is a life-changing event,” he added.

As a lay volunteer, Edgerton hopes to get involved in prison ministry. He said he asks God every day for guidance in knowing how best to use his gifts.

“The lay ministry training program for me is the most fulfilling thing that I’ve been able to do in my faith life,” he said.

His enthusiasm for lay ministry is something he is eager to share with those around him.

“I treat the Catholic lay ministry program sort of like a good book: If you read a good book and you get done, the first thing you do is run to a friend to tell them to read it,” he said.

Room for growthMichelle Calascione is the faith

formation coordinator at St. William Church. When she started the lay ministry training program two years ago, it was to better equip her to perform her job.

As a college graduate and a practicing Catholic, she was certainly qualified for her job, but she recognized a need to grow deeper in her understanding of the faith.

“I didn’t feel like my knowledge was sound enough to be a faith formation coordinator for other adults,” said Calascione.

Knowing very little about the program, she was uncertain of what to expect. “I kind of went into it blind,” she said.

But after the first class she was pleasantly surprised.

“I walked away from the first day realizing how much I needed to learn and how much I was going to learn,” she said.

She hopes to encourage fellow parishioners to take part in the next training program.

“There are many individuals who feel that they know all they need to know about their faith,” she said. “This program shows that there is so much that we don’t know.”

Lasting friendships Pat Voelker has always been

an active participant at her parish, St. Vincent de Paul Church in Charlotte.

Over the years she has volunteered as a lector and an instructor for the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults program.

For Voelker, who took the training in the Greensboro Vicariate, the best part of the program was the bonds she formed with her fellow group members.

“It was truly a group experience, it wasn’t just individuals gathering and talking about these topics,” said Voelker.

“It’s about getting to know other people who have this understanding that they need to do more — that they need to serve,” she said. “Being around people who have that mindset really encourages you to serve.”

Now that she has completed the training, she plans on becoming more involved with the RCIA team at her parish. Having completed the training, “I think I can be more effective,” she said.

With her retirement coming up in August, she is hoping to use the extra free time to do more charitable work.

“I want to be a presence in the community,” said Voelker.

“Life doesn’t just happen in church on Sundays,” she said. “Christian life is happening all the time and we’re called to bring Christ into the world all the time.”

aBout the ProgramThe lay ministry training program was formed in 1990. Training sites for the 2008-2010 program are in Bryson City, Charlotte, greensboro and lenoir, with a spanish-language version in salisbury. sessions begin in august.

Want more info?For more information on the diocesan lay ministry training program visit www.charlottediocese.org/layministry.

Laborers of the Lord’s harvestThose interested in joining the

permanent diaconate must be at least 35 years old, but must not have reached age 65 by 2014.

They must have the consent of their wives, if married; the endorsement of their pastors; and be U.S. citizens or legal, permanent residents of the United States by December 2009.

Want more info?For more information about the permanent diaconate, visit www.charlottediocese.org/deacons.html, or e-mail [email protected] or [email protected].

CHARLOTTE — For those men considering serving in the Diocese of Charlotte as permanent deacons, the diocesan lay ministry training program is the first step.

The two-year program, designed for men and women who wish to grow in confidence as they minister to others, is a pre-requisite for the diaconate formation program.

“This Sunday’s gospel calls for ‘laborers’ to go out and work in the master’s harvest,” said Deacon George Szalony, permanent diaconate formation director.

Permanent deacons are the “laborers” and more are needed, he said.

Lay ministry training program pre-requisite for permanent diaconate

6 The Catholic News & Herald June 13, 2008from the coVer

Program explores the nonviolence of Jesus, others

Photo by Joanita M. nellenbaCh

role-players learn just how difficult it is to see all sides of an issue during “Walking with Jesus, micah and Gandhi: living Nonviolently today” at living Waters catholic reflection center in maggie Valley may 31. Clockwise from left: Tim Mahoney-Lynch; Joan Mahon; Donna Mahoney-Lynch; Augustinian Father Liam Tomás O’Doherty of St. Margaret of Scotland Church in Maggie Valley; and Barbara Lewis. Pat Mahon, who presented the program, observes in the background.

U.S. secretary of state; Ehud Olmert, Israeli prime minister and leader of the Kadima party; Ban Ki-Moon, U.N. secretary-general; Khalid Mashaal, co-leader of Hamas, Islamic Resistance Movement; and Mahmoud Abbas, Fatah leader and president of the Palestinian Authority.

The role-players were attending “Walking with Jesus, Micah and Gandhi: Living Nonviolently Today,” at Living Waters Catholic Reflection Center May 31.

J. Patrick Mahon, a member of Immaculate Heart of Mary Mission in Hayesville, presented the program. He and his wife, Joan, coordinate the Pax Christi chapter at St. William Church in Murphy and Immaculate Heart of Mary.

“It was interesting trying to shift gears,” said Augustinian Father Liam Tomás O’Doherty, of the Friary of Lecceto, the Augustinian community in Maggie Valley.

“I felt conciliatory as the secretary-general and as Condoleezza Rice, and I wanted to create resolution,” said Tim Mahoney-Lynch, a parishioner at St. Margaret of Scotland Church in Maggie Valley. “When I was playing the other roles, I had some fire in my belly.”

“After awhile you do begin to feel how hard it is to give up something that’s been a part of them for so long,” said Donna Mahoney-Lynch, also of St. Margaret of Scotland Church.

“It brought to my mind how difficult the hopes of people must be,” said Kathy Tilley of St. Joseph Church in Bryson City, one of those observing the role-playing.

The exercise illustrated that no one ever has all the truth and that part of seeking the truth in any situation is trying to understand all sides of the issue.

A dozen people attended the program, which took its theme from the prophet Micah: “You have been told, O man, what is good, and what the Lord requires of you: Only to do the right and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8).

Micah, Jesus and Mohandas Gandhi all lived under repressive regimes yet advocated peace and nonviolence.

E l emen t s f ound i n gospe l nonviolence are justice, gratitude for the gift of creation, humility, listening, love for community, wisdom (not just knowledge), courage, love and hope.

The early church, Mahon said, thrived on Matthew 5:43-48, which describes how Christians are to love rather than hate their enemies and to pray for those who persecute them.

“Unless now the world adopts nonviolence, it will spell the suicide of humanity,” said Ghandi, who read the “Sermon on the Mount” (the beatitudes) (Matthew 5) every day. “Nonviolence

is the only thing the atom bomb cannot destroy.”

“True peace has nothing to do with arms,” Mahon said. “It’s the peace of Jesus on the cross, drawing all people to him through the power of his nonviolent love.”

“As a culture, we’ve accepted violence, given it approbation,” said Father George Kloster, vicar of the Smoky Mountain Vicariate and pastor of St. William Church in Murphy and Immaculate Heart of Mary Mission.

“If you question the use of violence, you’re suspect,” he continued. “We have to show that nonviolence is authentic Christianity. God is a God of peace and reconciliation.”

Peace must begin within each person making it his or her constant attitude and habit of living.

Jus t ice and peace ac t iv is t s themselves, passionately defending their views, can sometimes err on the side of violence. Mahon cautioned that activists cannot be self-righteous and must examine their motivations to discern unconscious motives they might have, including “look how bad they are and

PEACE, from page 1

“We have to show that nonviolence is authentic Christianity. God is a God of peace and reconciliation.”

— Father George Kloster

how good I am.”Remedies to prevent such attitudes

include prayer, studying the issues and nonviolently resisting identified evils such as consumerism, militarism, sexism, capital punishment, classism and racism.

Anger can be appropriate. Mahon quoted St. Thomas Aquinas, who said, “It is the mark of a virtuous man to be angry at injustice.”

In the afternoon, attendees had quiet time to work on individual plans for nonviolent living.

In the wrap-up session, Tim Mahoney-Lynch said that he starts and ends each day with peace, which sets the tone for his actions throughout the day.

“I begin the day with an attitude

of gratitude,” he said. “I look at my relationships: Are there people in my life — living or dead — with whom I’m not at peace?”

During evening prayer, he and his wife recommit themselves to each other.

To become fully informed about issues, Donna Mahoney-Lynch said, “Make sure you question, question, question, and make sure the answers suit you. It’s important to have good mentors. I’ve learned to live simply, gently, gracefully. I’ve learned how to give back.”

Contact Correspondent Joanita M. Nellenbach by calling (828) 627-9209 or e-mail [email protected].

The Catholic News & Herald 7 June 13, 2008VocatioNs

Pastoral assignments Bishop Peter J. Jugis announces the following pastoral changes:

Jubilarians honored for years of service, ministry

Sister Nancy Marie Nance.“They accepted God’s call to come

and serve as women religious,” said Mercy Sister Paulette Williams, president of the Sisters of Mercy Regional Community of North Carolina.

“We thank God who has given us these women religious on our faith journeys,” she said.

The jubiliarians have ministered throughout North Carolina and at the Sisters of Mercy mission in Guam.

“The Sisters of Mercy community has done so much to nurture us and the church,” said Father Frank O’Rourke, pastor of St. Gabriel Church, who celebrated the Mass.

“We come here today to celebrate these women and the work they have done,” said Father Frank Cancro, pastor of Queen of the Apostles Church in Belmont and homilist for the jubilee Mass.

During his homily, Father Cancro related the ministries of the jubiliarians

to working in a garden. When tending a garden, he said, there is often a lot of hard work and sweat involved.

“We celebrate the sweat that has allowed them to use their gifts … to open their hearts and respond ‘yes’ to some hardships they’ve had to endure here, in Guam and everywhere they’ve been called to be,” said Father Cancro.

Beauty, he said, is a word that comes to mind when one thinks of a garden, and a beautiful garden is often the result of hard work.

“We celebrate the beauty of these individual women … beauty that allows us to see in them the beauty and power of the Gospel they proclaim … in every breath and aspect of their lives,” said Father Cancro.

“For all your sweat, hard work and beauty, we say thank you. On behalf of the whole church that has benefited and seen the beautiful face of God in your work, thank you,” he said to the jubilarians.

“Thank you for allowing us to walk with you, until finally and forever we are home,” he added.

JUBILEE, from page 1

mercy sister marie Pierre martinezBorn in guam, sister Martinez entered the sisters of Mercy June 20, 1948 and made her perpetual profession aug. 13, 1956.Her ministries include serving as a teacher and principal and in administrative appointments in the united states and guam. Ministries in guam included serving in chaplaincy ministry at guam Memorial Hospital; serving as chair to the Continuing Formation Committee and as a member of the Formation/education Board and Mercy personnel Board. she also was a coordinator at agana Mercy Convent.

mercy sister mary alma PangelinanBorn in guam and growing up amid the Japanese invasion during world war ii, sister pangelinan was forced to live in caves to avoid capture and forced labor. That experience fueled her desire to enter the sisters of Mercy on dec. 6, 1947, in guam. By 1950, she was missioned with four other sisters on the southern part of guam, where they taught Confraternity of Christian doctrine (CCd) classes in various villages.Her ministries include teaching in guam and the united states, and working in the food services department and finance office at her regional community in Belmont.

mercy sister mary David richardBorn in Buffalo, N.y, sister richard always knew she wanted to be a woman religious. Not long after entering the sisters of Mercy on sept. 15, 1947, she was ministering and teaching in guam. Her stateside ministry includes service at Nazareth orphanage in raleigh, our lady of the assumption school in Charlotte and various ministries in Belmont.

mercy sister therese galliganBorn in akron, ohio, sister galligan entered the sisters of Mercy in 1957 and taught for several years in the parochial school system of the diocese of raleigh.with education and training in nursing, she has been an active participant in numerous

charitable organizations related to health care, bereavement, nursing and hospice.in 1979, she helped establish a hospice program in western North Carolina. she later served as vice president of the board of directors, nurse coordinator and executive director of Mountain Area Hospice, Inc. in Asheville, the fifth hospice program for North Carolina.

mercy sister Clara Virginia KellyBorn in spencer, N.C., sister Kelly entered the Sisters of Mercy Jan. 26, 1958. After final profession of vows in 1963, her ministries included various nursing and administrative roles in health care in asheville, Charlotte and Florida. while at st. Joseph’s Hospital in asheville, she served on its board of directors for 13 years, and served as health care coordinator for her religious community. she presently ministers at Consulate Health Care in Melbourne, Fla.

mercy sister Larretta elizabeth rivera-WilliamsBorn in winston-salem, N.C., sister rivera-williams attended st. Benedict the Moor school and Bishop Mcguinness High school. she entered the sisters of Mercy sept. 8, 1982.with degrees in social work and religious education, and certifications in pastoral education and critical stress management, she has served as director of religious education and pastoral associate at st. Benedict the Moor Church. she currently serves as assistant chaplain at wake Forest university in winston-salem.

mercy sister nancy marie nanceBorn in alton, ill., sister Nance entered the sisters of Mercy sept. 8, 1982. since 1985, she has had one major ministerial assignment — working with children and adults with mental retardation at Holy angels in Belmont.she helped establish Cherubs Café and Candy Bouquets in Belmont, which provides vocational training and meaningful supported employment for individuals with mental retardation. she currently serves as outreach services director.

aPPointments of Pastors Effective July 8father Paul garyFrom: rector, st. patrick Cathedral, CharlotteTo: pastor, st. luke Church, Mint Hill

father adrian PorrasFrom: pastor, st. andrew the apostle Church, Mars Hill; sacred Heart Mission, BurnsvilleTo: pastor, st. Barnabas Church, arden

father tien DuongFrom: pastor, our lady of the Mountains Mission, Highlands; st. Jude Mission, sapphire valleyTo: pastor: st. Francis of assisi Church, Franklin

father fred Werth Jr.From: parochial vicar, Holy Family Church, ClemmonsTo: pastor, st. andrew the apostle Church, Mars Hill; sacred Heart Mission, Burnsville

father Dean CesaFrom: pastor, st. Barnabas Church, ardenTo: pastor, our lady of the Mountains Mission, Highlands; st. Jude Mission, sapphire valley

aPPointments of ParoChiaL ViCarsEffective July 8father nohé torresFrom: parochial vicar, st. vincent de paul Church, CharlotteTo: parochial vicar, sacred Heart Church, salisbury

father Jean Pierre LhoposoFrom: parochial vicar, sacred Heart Church, salisburyTo: parochial vicar, st. aloysius Church, Hickory

father richard DeClueFrom: Theological studies in washington, d.C.To: parochial vicar, st. vincent de paul Church, Charlotte

father tri Vinh truongFrom: Newly ordainedTo: parochial vicar, Holy Family Church, Clemmons

father Brandon JonesFrom: Newly ordainedTo: parochial vicar, st. patrick Cathedral, Charlotte

otherEffective May 1father Patrick WinslowTo: summer academic studies in canon law, while continuing as pastor, st. John the Baptist Church, Tryon

Effective July 1father eric houseknechtFrom: sabbatical year of studyTo: pastoral ministry, diocese of phoenix

Effective July 8father Christopher rouxFrom: in residence, st. ann Church, CharlotteTo: rector, st. patrick Cathedral, Charlotte

father Julio DominguezFrom: parochial vicar, st. aloysius Church, HickoryTo: administrator, new central region Hispanic ministry program

father robert ConwayFrom: parochial vicar, st. patrick Cathedral, CharlotteTo: Chaplain, Holy Trinity Middle school, Charlotte Catholic High school; in residence, Cardinal Newman House, Charlotte

father matthew KauthFrom: pastor, st. Francis of assisi Church, FranklinTo: academic studies in moral theology

father roger arnspargerTo: vicar for education, while continuing as pastor, st. Michael the archangel Church, gastonia

father James hawkerFrom: pastor, st. luke Church, Mint HillTo: retirement at his own request

8 The Catholic News & Herald June 13, 2008VocatioNs

Guided by the Holy Spirit

CourteSy Photo by biShoP Peter J. JugiS

Pope John Paul ii embraces bishop Peter J. Jugis at his priestly ordination in st. Peter’s basilica at the Vatican June 12, 1983.

The Diocese of Charlotteinvites you, your family and friends

to escape winter and join with Fr. Mo West to

by KEVIN E. MURRAyEdITOR

CHARLOTTE — Bishop Peter J. Jugis was recently honored for the 25th anniversary of his priestly ordination.

Bishop Jugis, who celebrated his anniversary June 12, and 11 other priests celebrating jubilee anniversaries were recognized during a Mass at the bi-annual priests’ convocation in Asheville June 10.

Also recognized was Father James Hawker, vicar of education and pastor of St. Luke Church in Mint Hill, who is retiring in July.

A native of Charlotte, Bishop Jugis graduated from South Mecklenburg High School in 1975 and, while studying accounting at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, he began to contemplate life as a priest.

“I just began to realize my heart wasn’t in the accounting field,” said Bishop Jugis in a 2003 interview with The Catholic News & Herald. “I could do it intellectually, but I just didn’t feel that this was what I wanted to give my

Bishop Jugis, priests recognized for years of servicelife to totally.”

After a year of discernment and after talking with several priests and then-Bishop Michael J. Begley, and with encouragement from his parents, Bishop Jugis applied to be a seminarian of the diocese in 1979.

He studied at the North American College, the U.S. seminary in Rome, and was ordained by Pope John Paul II in St. Peter’s Basilica June 12, 1983.

Then-Father Jugis served at numer-ous parishes across the 46-county Dio-cese of Charlotte, including St. Leo the Great Church in Winston-Salem, Holy Infant Church in Reidsville, St. John Neumann Church in Charlotte, Sacred Heart Church in Salisbury, Queen of the Apostles Church in Belmont and Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Monroe.

In November 1985 he was appointed to be a diocesan tribunal judge, and in Au-gust 1987 began studies for his doctorate in canon law at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

In 1992, Bishop Jugis became the first priest of the diocese to receive a doctorate in canon law. Six years later, he began working full-time for the diocesan tribunal while regularly serving as administrator or pastor in churches around the diocese.

It was in July 2003 that Archbishop Gabriel Mantalvo, then-papal nuncio to the United States, called to tell him he was appointed to be the next bishop of Charlotte. It was a humbling moment — one that brought him to his knees, recalled Bishop Jugis.

When he was ordained and installed as the fourth bishop of Charlotte at St. Matthew Church in Charlotte Oct. 24, 2003 at the age of 46, he was one of the youngest bishops in the United States.

Being a bishop is a tremendous responsibility, said Bishop Jugis.

“I try not to think of the enormity of the task, but just want to serve the best that I can, and let the Holy Spirit guide and show me what has to be done,” he said.

“It is a special grace and a blessing to be chosen as a bishop where I’ve already served, where I’ve really spent all of my life,” said Bishop Jugis. “I was one of the priests helping to build up the diocese. Now I’m building up the diocese in a different way as bishop.”

Celebrating 60 years- Jesuit Father william lynch

Celebrating 55 years- Father Joseph Kelleher- Msgr. Thomas walsh- Benedictine Father Kenneth geyer

Celebrating 50 years- Father richard McCue- Jesuit Father vincent de paul alagia- Benedictine Father david Kessinger- redemptorist Father edward gray- Franciscan Capuchin Father Jude duffy

Celebrating 25 years- Bishop peter J. Jugis- Father John Hanic- Father John schneider

retiring- Father James Hawker

Look for s tor ies about these jubilarian priests in the next issue of The Catholic News & Herald.

Fathers Dean Cesa, Chris Davis, Matt Leonard and Peter Pham celebrate their 10-year anniversaries to the priesthood this month. Look for their stories in the next issue of The Catholic News & Herald.

The Diocese of Charlotteinvites you, your family and friends

to escape winter and join with Fr. Mo West to

The Catholic News & Herald 9 June 13, 2008VocatioNs

“The Lord will work through your ministry to produce the fruits of salvation ...”

at the time and he asked me, ‘Do you believe in the Bible?’ When I said yes, he said ‘Well my church wrote it.’”

“That was a formative event in my conversion to the faith,” said Father Jones.

At age 17, Father Jones was received into the Catholic Church at St. Stephen Church in Elkin. A few years later, while studying Latin at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, he first considered the priesthood.

He began his studies for the priesthood in 1993 when he entered the Theological College at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. Two years later, then-Bishop William G. Curlin assigned him to the Pontifical North American College in Rome.

In the following years, Father Jones considered a vocation with the Dominican order of priests; worked as a Latinist, editing and annotating documents; and earned licentiate degrees in philosophy and theology.

In 2006, he decided to return to the diocesan priesthood track and completed his studies at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Pennsylvania.

During the past five months, Father Jones has served as a transitional deacon at St. Vincent de Paul Church.

“A priest has to be primarily a man of prayer,” said Father Jones. “He has to have a lively interior life and to be in close communion with our Lord in order to bring him to others.”

Father Jones has been assigned to serve as parochial vicar at St. Patrick Cathedral in Charlotte.

Father Tri Vinh TruongFather Truong was born in Vinh

Long Province, Vietnam. In 1994, his family was granted refugee status,


Fathers Tri Vinh Truong (left) and Brandon Jones (right) lie prostrate before the altar during their ordination Mass at St. Vincent de Paul Church in Charlotte June 7. The congregation joined Bishop Peter J. Jugis (center), diocesan and visiting priests, deacons and seminarians in prayer for the church, its people and the priestly candidates.

Want more Photos?More photos of the ordination are online at www.charlottediocese.org.

allowing them to immigrate to the United States.

After living for a year in Atlanta, the family moved to Charlotte, where they currently reside.

Father Truong graduated from St. Xavier University in Chicago and worked for a health care company for several years. But, a vocation to the priesthood continued to call to him.

“I’ve wanted to be a priest for a long time,” he said.

He attended Mount St. Mary’s College and Seminary in Emmitsburg, Md., where he studied canon law, theology, systematic theology, homiletics (preaching) and Scripture.

During his last year at seminary, he served as a transitional deacon at Immaculate Conception Church in the Diocese of Harriburg, Pa.

As a priest, he said he is looking forward to “carrying out the saving work of God in Christ Jesus.”

“I’m looking to serve the people in any way that I can,” he said. “My main goal is to carry out Christ’s salvation to the world.”

Father Troung has been assigned to serve as parochial vicar at Holy Family Church in Clemmons.

Ordination MassConcelebrants of the ordination

Mass at St. Vincent de Paul included Abbot Placid Solari of Belmont Abbey; Msgr. Mauricio W. West, vicar general and chancellor of the Diocese of Charlotte; Father Christopher Gober, director of diocesan vocations; priests serving in the Diocese of Charlotte; and visiting priests. Also in attendance was

Bishop Emeritus William G. Curlin.During the rite of ordination, Fathers

Jones and Truong made their promises to fulfill the office of the priesthood. Kneeling, they placed their hands between Bishop Jugis’ hands in a promise of obedience to him and to his successors.

The congregation was invited to join in prayer for the church, its people and the priestly candidates as they lay prostrate before the altar.

During the rite’s most solemn moment, Fathers Jones and Truong knelt before Bishop Jugis, who laid his hands on their heads. The celebration of the sacrament of holy orders was completed as the bishop extended his hands over the kneeling candidates and prayed the prayer of consecration.

The new priests were vested with astoles and chasubles — outer garments of the priestly office. Bishop Jugis anointed their hands with sacred chrism and each was then presented with a chalice and a paten signifying his role as a celebrant of the Eucharist.

The newly ordained priests then joined their brother priests to concelebrate the Mass, thus opening a new chapter in each of their lives.

“The church has gained two fine men who have sacrificed much to follow Christ,” said Father Gober.

“Their witness gives hope both to the faithful and to the many seminarians who will accompany them shortly,” he said.

Contact Staff Writer Katie Moore by calling (704) 370-3354, or e-mail [email protected].

Bishop Jugis ordains two new priests

PRIESTS, from page 1

by this powerful grace, making you a sacrament of Christ the high priest, capable of acting in the person of Christ,” he told them.

Bishop Jugis also spoke of the priests’ sacramental identification with Christ and how it is threefold. As priests they will take on the roles of teacher, nourishing people on the Gospel; sanctifier, administering the sacraments to the people; and shepherd, leading their flock to the pastures of eternal life.

“By your teaching, sanctifying and shepherding in the name of Christ, the Lord will work through your ministry to produce the fruit of salvation in the people you serve — the fruit which remains unto eternal life,” he said.

Father Brandon JonesFather Jones grew up in Elkin, where

he was raised in the Baptist church. He was first introduced to the Catholic faith at age 11, when his cousin — Father Jay Scott Newman, current pastor of St. Mary Church in Greenville, S.C. in the Diocese of Charleston — converted to the Catholic faith.

Father Conrad Kimbrough, then-pastor of St. Benedict Church in Greensboro was the first priest Father Jones ever met.

“I remember I was 13-years-old


Priestly candidates Brandon Jones (left) and Tri Vinh Truong (right) stand before the congregation during their ordination Mass at St. Vincent de Paul Church in Charlotte June 7.


a roundup of scripture, readings, films and moreCulture Watch WORD TO LIFE

SUNDAY SCRIPTURE READINGS: JUNE 22, 2008

WEEKLY SCRIPTURE

June 22, Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Cycle A Readings:1) Jeremiah 20:10-13 Psalm 69:8-10, 14, 17, 33-352) Romans 5:12-15 Gospel: Matthew 10:26-33

Catholics must be light in dark to protect humanity

by JEAN dENTONCATHOLIC NEws sERVICE

W.D. doesn’t blame his two lung transplants on the quarter century he spent working in the Virginia coal mines, “but it sure didn’t help,” he said.

No, he expla ined, h is lungs failed because of a genetic condition that was present in only two of his parents’ nine children.

W.D. has lived his entire life in Appalachia, a beautiful mountainous region of the eastern United States known for its paradoxical culture of riches and poverty.

Like most natives of Appalachia, W.D. loves the land where he lives — he loves his mountains and he loves his neighbors.

With them, he’s struggled over the years against various forms of injustice that have been perpetrated on the region mostly from outside sources.

Of all the forces that have exploited his community — unfair labor practices, environmental destruction, lack of health care, domestic violence, poor schools and general impoverishment — the one that hit him hardest was the most recent outrage: rampant drug abuse.

This specter arrived less than 10

years ago, entering the region in the form of an evil specifically targeting a weak human community.

This weekend’s Gospel gives voice to what W.D. and the people of Appalachia have been doing for decades: fighting for God’s goodness against forces of darkness that will destroy the body and more.

The pain drug oxycodone was aggressively marketed in Appalachia because of the poverty and high incidence of disability and injury among the populace.

Abuse of the highly-addictive drug spread like wildfire. The result: broken families, broken lives, death.

W.D. told me about his work as a community volunteer. After his last transplant, he explained, “As soon as I got some of my health back, I started working every day with the anti-drug program we started in our schools.”

Pressed for details, he said his daughter had become addicted to drugs.

“It’s torn our community up,” he said. “Those drugs coming in here have really hurt our young people.”

W.D. has stood in the courtroom with a crowd of others in testimony against the drug manufacturer. They continue to stand publicly against such victimization.

Theirs is the Gospel message: Don’t fear those who can kill the body, but protect the true gift of humanity that God created — the life within you that won’t die.

Questions:What have you experienced that

poses a threat to the living God among humanity today? How can you stand up to that threat?

Scripture to be Illustrated:“What I say to you in the darkness,

speak in the light” (Matthew 10:27).

by NANCy fRAZIER O’bRIENCATHOLIC NEws sERVICE

WASHINGTON — After nearly 30 years of teaching religious education to children ages 3 to 14, Peggy Olds of Willowbrook, Ill., was convinced of one thing.

Although parents spend a lot of time teaching their preschoolers their ABCs, numbers and other information needed to prepare them for first grade, she said, they don’t do the same to ready their children for learning the basics of their Catholic faith.

Olds hopes to fill that gap with her “Questions for God” series, which aims to tell salvation history in a way that children can learn and retain it as easily as their ABCs.

Through 10 books of 16 pages each and a 50-minute DVD, the series takes on children’s questions from “God, Who Are You?” through “God, How Did Jesus Save Us?” to “God, When Will We Be With You?”

Although written primarily for 3- to 6-year-olds, the books can be used with children up to sixth grade, as well as with others who learn best from simple concepts, such as the developmentally disabled, children or adults with English as a second language and the elderly, Olds said.

Audrey Merschman, a longtime

sCriPture for the WeeK of June 15-21sunday (eleventh sunday in ordinary time), exodus 19:2-6, romans 5:6-11, Matthew 9:36--10:8; monday, 1 Kings 21:1-16, Matthew 5:38-42; tuesday, 1 Kings 21:17-29, Matthew 5:43-48; Wednesday, 2 Kings 2:1, 6-14, Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18; thursday (st. romuald), sirach 48:1-14, Matthew 6:7-15; friday, 2 Kings 11:1-4, 9-18, 20, Matthew 6:19-23; saturday (st. aloysius gonzaga), 2 Chronicles 24:17-25, Matthew 6:24-34.

sCriPture for the WeeK of June 22-28sunday (twelfth sunday in ordinary time), Jeremiah 20:10-13, romans 5:12-15, Matthew 10:26-33; monday, 2 Kings 17:5-8, 13-15, 18, Matthew 7:1-5; tuesday (the nativity of John the Baptist), isaiah 49:1-6, acts 13:22-26, luke 1:57-66, 80; Wednesday, 2 Kings 22:8-13; 23:1-3, Matthew 7:15-20; thursday, 2 Kings 24:8-17, Matthew 7:21-29; friday (st. Cyril of alexandria), 2 Kings 25:1-12, Matthew 8:1-4; saturday (st. irenaeus), lamentations 2:2, 10-14, 18-19, Matthew 8:5-17.

sCriPture for the WeeK of June 29-JuLy 5sunday (sts. Peter and Paul), acts 12:1-11, 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 17-18, Matthew 16:13-19; mon-day (holy martyrs of rome), amos 2:6-10, 13-16, Matthew 8:18-22; tuesday (Bl. Junipero serra), amos 3:1-8; 4:11-12, Matthew 8:23-27; Wednesday, amos 5:14-15, 21-24 Matthew 8:28-34; thursday (st. thomas), ephesians 2:19-22, John 20:24-29; friday (st. elizabeth of Portugal), amos 8:4-6, 9-12, Matthew 9:9-13; saturday (st. anthony mary Zaccaria), amos 9:11-15, Matthew 9:14-17.

friend of Olds, prepared the watercolor illustrations for each book.

In a recent interview with Ave Maria Radio, Olds said the series also can help adults learn along with their children.

“So many parents did not receive good catechesis over the past 40 years,” she said. “The DVD provides a simple family activity for learning together.”

The series has received an imprimatur and “nihil obstat” — which grant official permission — from the Archdiocese of Chicago and a “declaration of conformity” from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Each book also includes one or more of the main church prayers — the Our Father, Sign of the Cross, Act of Contrition, Hail Mary and others — that the children are encouraged to learn by repeated recitation.

In a study guide for the series, Olds said the prayer to St. Michael the Archangel is especially apt in a society prone to seeking out superheroes.

“The superheroes in movies and on TV are not real — St. Michael is,” she wrote. “He is a powerful ally for the young child who faces so many fears. ... Comic-book heroes can’t measure up.”

“Encourage learning this prayer early and encourage the child to call St. Michael whenever he/she feels shaky,” she added.

Books, DVD aim to ready preschoolers for learning Catholic faith


PERTH, Australia (CNS) — The Australian Catholic Students Association has kicked off a Web site linking international pilgrims with Australian Catholics as they prepare for World Youth Day in July.

Sydney Cardinal George Pell launched the Web site, www.ybenedict.org, in late May at a Spanish-themed party in Sydney, where World Youth Day will be held July 15-20.

The Web site offers daily pilgrim news in English and Spanish for the final days leading up to World Youth Day events. It will be translated into Spanish

Catholic student association launches pilgrim news Web site for WYD

by Mexican youths who are in Sydney volunteering for the events.

The Web site is a project of Towards 2008, the Australian student and young adult campaign for World Youth Day 2008.

Anthony McCarthy, national coordinator of Towards 2008, said the Web site will allow pilgrims “from Sydney to Santiago, from South Australia to Spain” to follow all the developments leading up to the events.

During the launch party, Cardinal Pell also starred in a short video commercial to promote Carnivale Christi 2008, an event at the University of Sydney, as part of the World Youth Day Youth Festival.

The party followed the “Activ8” promotions May 24, when young people promoted World Youth Day in 50 locations across Sydney.

by JUdITH sUdILOVsKyCATHOLIC NEws sERVICE

JERUSALEM — Academy Award-winning actor Jon Voight said the strong Catholic roots instilled in him by his mother have helped him overlook much of the “nonsense” of Hollywood.

“It is a relief in Hollywood to have some spirituality,” Voight told Catholic News Service in mid-May in the lounge of a hotel on the edge of Jerusalem’s Old City.

“You are protected from all the nonsense. You keep your spirituality by doing good deeds,” he said.

After a period of spiritual-seeking in the mid-1980s, Voight said, he rediscovered the lessons learned as a young child from his mother and became involved in using his celebrity status to help others, including American Indians, drug addicts, the homeless, Vietnam veterans and farmers.

Playing a pope, promoting peace

He also has been a spokesman for almost 20 years for Chabad’s Children of Chernobyl, a medical relief program for Russian Jewish children still affected by the fallout from the 1986 explosion of the nuclear reactor in Chernobyl, Ukraine.

Voight was in Israel to show his support for the Chernobyl children’s program.

The actor, who is known for his role in “Midnight Cowboy” and his Oscar-winning role in “Coming Home,” also has portrayed the older Pope John Paul II in a televised miniseries.

He is also the estranged father of actress Angelina Jolie.

In addition to meeting children from Chernobyl who were brought to Israel with the help of the medical relief program, the 69-year-old actor spent a day in the southern Israeli city of Sderot and met with Israeli terrorism victims and their families.

In Jerusalem, Jon Voight says Catholic roots fight Hollywood nonsense

Sderot has been facing daily missile launches from the Gaza Strip.

“It made me so upset” to see the children in Sderot, he said.

“The press does not give it any attention,” he said. “The most important thing is: I am here to try to figure out a way to bring recognition to these people who are surrounded by (other) people who want to bring (about) their destruction.”

In May, Palestinian militants lobbed hundreds of missiles into southern Israeli communities, and at least two Israelis were killed. Israel retaliated, and a Palestinian mother was killed.

“People in the United States can’t even get our minds around it, it is so horrific and despicable: putting your own family’s life on the line and using it for gain for your cause,” Voight said.

He said he seeks out knowledge about other religions because “holy people are holy people,” regardless of their religion.

“I try to surround myself with holy people wherever they come from,” he said.

Voight has said Pope John Paul, author and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel and the Dalai Lama were the few moral voices that could be counted on.

The actor said he loved playing

Pope John Paul.“It was great to be able to play

someone I loved so much,” Voight said. “I was very happy to do it. He was a great man.”

Voight spontaneously began imitat-ing the pontiff, quoting from a papal speech at the 2002 peace meeting in Italy, that was left out of the television movie.

“I am ready to acknowledge that Catholics have not always been faithful to this affirmation of faith,” Voight said, imitating Pope John Paul’s accent and cadence, holding up his hand for emphasis.

The pope, said Voight, fulfilled his personal definition of what it takes to be a great person: someone who brings other people together, no matter what the religion or title, and seeks justice and is a spiritual being.

He said his mother in Yonkers, N.Y., was a true example of that.

“She was a very Catholic woman and she went to Mass more than one time a week, but she never talked about it. We never knew when she went. It was very private,” he said.

“I felt guilty thinking she was only taking care of us when she could be running a hospital. She could have been (legendary Israeli Prime Minister) Golda Meir,” he said.

12 The Catholic News & Herald June 13, 2008iN our schools

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Bishop McGuinness graduates celebrate commencement

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Pictured is the 2008 graduating class of Bishop McGuinness High School in Kernersville May 29.

KERNERSVILLE — Ninety-eight graduates of Bishop McGuinness High School in Kernersville recently received their diplomas.

The commencement ceremony was held at the Stevens Center in Winston-Salem May 31. A baccalaureate Mass was celebrated at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in High Point May 29.

Earlier that day, the graduating seniors were honored and received awards for their academic accomplishments and recognition of college scholarships.

During commencement, diplomas were conferred by Msgr. Mauricio W. West, vicar general and chancellor for the Diocese of Charlotte; Linda Cherry,

superintendent of diocesan Catholic schools; George Repass, principal of Bishop McGuinness; and Bob Belcher, school admissions director.

In the fall, the graduates will be attending 45 colleges and universities. Two are foreign exchange students who will return to their home countries of France and Germany.

Bishop McGuinness’ graduating class received $4.5 million in combined scholarships.

Graduates and their guests heard remarks by special guest speaker, Tim Rice, CEO of Moses Cone Health System in Greensboro and father of graduate Brian Rice.

CourteSy Photo

John Wiesenhan, Charlotte Catholic High School alumni association vice president, presents a scholarship award to Joey Parker during an awards ceremony at the school May 30. The scholarship recognizes a graduating senior for exceptional academic performance, extracurricular involvement and exemplifying a positive image of the school to the church and community.

Charlotte Catholic graduates receive diplomas

CHARLOTTE — Graduates of Charlotte Catholic High School have said good-bye to high school.

Charlotte Catholic’s class of 2008 consisted of 336 students, who received more than $11 million in combined scholarships and will attend 83 colleges, academies and universities this fall — one as far away as Canada.

One graduate plans to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps and one plans to enlist in the U.S. Merchant Marine.

The diplomas were conferred at Cricket Arena in Charlotte May 31 by Msgr. Mauricio W. West, vicar general and chancellor of the Diocese of Charlotte; Linda Cherry, superintendent of diocesan Catholic schools; and Jerry Healy, principal.

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The Catholic News & Herald 13 June 13, 2008iN our schools

CourteSy Photo

Pictured are 2008 graduates of Our Lady of Mercy School in Winston-Salem during the graduation ceremony at Our Lady of Mercy Church June 4. After the ceremony, family and friends joined the 25 graduates at a reception and awards ceremony.

Honoring graduates Eagles earn wings

CourteSy Photo

Oblate of St. Francis de Sales Father Jack Kelly, pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in High Point, is pictured after the end-of-year program featuring Immaculate Heart of Mary School’s first class of the Eagles Nest kindergarten readiness class and its teachers Mendy Yarborough and Jennifer Sargeant May 28. The pre-kindergarten class performed songs and skits in front of family, friends and fourth-grade prayer partners.

Certificates of completion were then distributed to the class and a set of gold wings was pinned on each child.

CourteSy Photo

Principal Joseph Puceta (left) of St. Michael School in Gastonia receives his distinguished principal award from Linda Cherry, superintendent of diocesan catholic schools, and father roger Arnsparger, pastor of St. Michael Church, during an end-of-year awards ceremony in the school gymnasium June 6. Principals of the Diocese of Charlotte nominated Puceta for the annual award, presented by the National catholic educational Association. Puceta was chosen because, among other criteria, he best exemplifies a clear philosophy of Catholic education and provides effective faith leadership.“i am deeply honored that i have been nominated (for this award),” said Puceta. “all of our principals are equally devoted to our schools and most especially our students, and they all deserve recognitions and support.”

Proven principal

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

if so, please share them with us.Cal l staff wri ter Kat ie Moore at (704) 370-3354 or e-mail [email protected].


Perspectives a collection of columns, editorials and viewpoints

Using words to affect attitude while stating mission‘Word warriors’ must keep socio-ethical questions in moral context

While walking to dinner through a Toronto neighborhood, our group came upon a modern fortress-like building very out of place amidst the older architecture of the 19th-century factory buildings converted to condos and boutiques.

A large sign over the front proclaimed: “Toronto Police Service.”

“That’s a nice way of saying it,” one of our party said, and, perhaps because we had been working with words all day, all agreed that “service” did indeed set a tone and attitude that took some of harshness away from the building and from activities within.

Service. It is a nice way to state a mission.

Several hundred editors and writers meeting in Toronto late last month for the Catholic Media Convention were examining and discussing the tools of their trade. Since words are our stock in trade, it was not so much looking at new products as much as looking at more effective ways to use those tools.

What’s new in our trade is that we have the tools to help Catholics carry out their responsibility as citizens.

From several presentations came a common theme that Catholics are obligated to be participants in the public square and therefore must be equipped to effectively present their positions and get along with others where possible.

Catholics as voters must be assisted in discerning — not told — what to do.

One speaker urged us to be “word warriors.” Despite the militaristic metaphor, it was good advice to use our tools to frame the debate in the public square to keep the socio-ethical questions in a moral context.

“Give them the words to speak their truth,” said Margaret Somerville, an ethicist from Montreal’s McGill University.

To be effective requires finding what we have in common with opponents in order to experience belonging to the same moral community, Somervile said.

She also said language has contributed to the “banalization” and “functionalization” of evil. Such language is used to shut down moral intuition.

As an example, Somerville said, the terminology “merciful acts of clinical care” makes more remote what physician-assisted suicide is really all about.

People want to be told what do to but that is not only not possible, it’s the lazy way.

Catholics must do the hard work of hearing, analyzing and acting upon the policies of political candidates, for example.

The job of the institutional church is “equipping people to make choices, not to make the choices for them,” said Joan

Rosenhauer of the U.S. bishops’ peace and justice office.

Somerville is concerned that religious people too often use language that alienates. Much better, she said, is to find good secular arguments for our positions since even people of no religion can find the sacred in the secular.

“Find what we have in common to experience belonging to the same moral community,” she said.

Peter Lauwers , a Canadian constitutional lawyer, said the church must commit to supporting “accommodative pluralism” that encourages dialogue among different viewpoints and tolerates real diversity.

In fact, he seemed a bit envious of the robust policy debate of the United States, which he finds Canada lacks.

“Policy here is not so much debated as it is alternately announced and denounced,” he said.

The Christian responsibility is to actively participate in the political process so individuals must be equipped to be effective.

We learned from the experts and ethicists about the power of words, the importance of clarity and tone, and to look for what unites rather than divides.

We also learned from the simple inscription on a building how to set the tone and thus affect an attitude while stating mission.

Write a Letter to the eDitorThe Catholic News & Herald welcomes letters from readers. we ask that letters be originals of 250 words or fewer, pertain to recent newspaper content or Catholic issues, and be in good taste.To be considered for publication, each letter must include the name, address and daytime phone number of the writer for purpose of verification. Letters may be condensed due to space limitations and edited for clarity, style and factual accuracy.The Catholic News & Herald does not publish poetry, form letter or petitions. items submitted to The Catholic News & Herald become the property of the newspaper and are subject to reuse, in whole or in part, in print, electronic formats and archives.send letters to letters to the editor, The C a t h o l i c N e w s & H e r a l d , p. o . B o x 37267, Charlotte, N.C. 28237, or e-mail [email protected].

Tribute to Father Hunt’s ministry

As parishioners of St. Benedict the Moor Church in Winston-Salem, we read the tribute paid to Jesuit Father Lawrence Hunt (“Priest remembered for mission work, leading others to Jesus,” May 30).

Brief mention was made of Father Hunt’s 1990-2004 pastorate at our church and Good Shepherd Mission in King. He was revered for his compassion, sense of humor, diplomacy and his ability to interact with people of all socioeconomic backgrounds, and was highly respected by all the clergy in Winston-Salem and Forsyth County.

An avid gardener, Father Hunt shared the fruits of his gardening skills with the needy. His ministry was a caring one, of which his many hospital visits gave evidence. Never averse to manual labor, Father Hunt often cut the grass at St. Benedict the Moor Church.

Father Hunt truly was a living saint throughout his life, a model of faith in action. Father Hunt brought hope, understanding and love to all with whom he came in contact. He was a peacemaker and through him, you could see Christ.

— Robin and Bill AchWinston-Salem

Peace the proper responseThis year’s edition of the U.S.

bishops’ “Faithful Citizenship” document lists war and peace as serious moral issues, including the end of nuclear proliferation, the arms trade, torture and the use of unjust war (“Challenged to be faithful citizens,” May 23).

For some Catholics, “the love of enemies is the strongest assertion of Jesus.” These Catholics, such as Dorothy Day, believe in a radical discipleship that requires a pacifist stance. To Day, for example, it was simple: Jesus made love a commandment, and in doing so calls his disciples to be peacemakers regardless of any other factors.

Most people see it impossible to confront the challenges of current foreign policy issues with such an attitude. But are not Jesus’ teachings infamous for being a challenge?

Yes, but we as Christians have hope that with the grace of God we can make it through anything — even facing a harsh world with love and peace.

— Anna ZarosHuntersville

Christ-like conversionI loved the commentary by Father

Eugene Hemrick on evangelization (“Before we go running to convert others,” May 16), and how our first greatest witness is through personal holiness, and that we must be converted before we can convert others.

This is very true to a point. Our own conversion and growth in holiness is surely, for most of us, a process to which we apply ourselves over time.

Second to pursuing our own deeper love and devotion to Jesus comes living that out as a real joy about our life, with all its stresses, difficulties and hassles. If God is for us who can be against us?

Through an interior conversion there will be fruit in our individual daily encounters with others and as we seek

to serve Christ in the world through the church. Undergoing personal conversion is not an isolated enterprise. The more we exercise our faith in the areas that matter most to Christ, the more likely our conversion is to stick and that personal holiness is to reach into the hearts of the lost all around us.

— J. FlemingsCharlotte

A way to defend lifeIn response to Mary Rose Pearl’s

letter to the editor (“Powerful defense of life,” April 18), I extend an invitation to every member of our diocese to take a definitive stance against the intrinsic evil that is abortion. Let us increase our prayers to end this shame, let us stand in front of abortion clinics and pray.

When I joined a group to stand outside a clinic and pray the rosary on Saturday mornings, I did not feel comfortable at first. But then I began to see what a powerful tool such prayer is to fight abortion. Occasionally, I see women who decide to keep their babies. This is a great reward.

As Catholics, we have a great obligation to fight this moral evil that cuts deep into the very fabric of our society. And what better way to do so than to seek the help of our Blessed Mother right where the evil strikes.

— Matthew ThekkekandamGreensboro

1983 document inadequate for modern warfare

Tony Magliano’s column on the U.S. bishops’ 1983 pastoral letter, “The Challenge of Peace,” was woefully inadequate with modern times (“A silver anniversary worth remembering,” May 30). The U.S. bishops have been worried about mutually-assured destruction for more than 25 years. It has been proven that ballistic missile defense can hit and destroy a “bullet with a bullet.” This concept was recently proven with destruction of a rogue satellite.

A positive aspect with BMDs is there is no “life” in danger. Any incoming ballistic missile can be targeted and destroyed without loss of life on either side. So there is no need for nuclear deterrence, mutually assured destruction, reciprocation or an arms race. Disagreements can be settled by negotiations, resolutions and embargos.

— Kevin RoetenAsheville

Tony Magliano has the audacity to judge “most U.S. Catholics” as not having the ability to think for themselves (“A silver anniversary worth remembering,” May 30).

Pope John Paul II was right in saying the horrors of modern warfare were unacceptable, but I think he was talking to all the world, not just the United States. Augustine’s and Aquinas’ interpretation of natural law gives us the right to defend ourselves, and a nuclear deterrence is the only way in this day and age.

— Michael J. McNamara Edneyville

Letters to the Editor

Consider This

sTEpHEN KENTCNs COLUMNIsT


Declaration of Independence: America’s safeguard against relativism

Pope says living exemplary life is key to re-evangelization

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Living an “exemplary life” is key to re-evangelizing lands that have forgotten their Christian roots, Pope Benedict XVI said.

St. Columbanus, a sixth-century Irish monk, was “one of the fathers of Europe” who helped re-evangelize a region that had succumbed to a resurgence of paganism, the pope said during his June 11 general audience in St. Peter’s Square.

Through his life and writings, the Irish saint helped shape the monastic culture of the Middle Ages “and thus nourished the Christian roots of Europe,” said Pope Benedict.

Pope Benedict said the saint’s message to people today also includes “a firm call for conversion and letting go of earthly goods.”

His ascetic lifestyle was not an end in itself “but a means for freely opening oneself up to God’s love,” the pope said.

“Let us remember that we have to return all those gifts that (God) has given us” after death and that earthly possessions are nothing in comparison to the heavenly rewards that await in eternity, he said.

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

Dear Brothers and Sisters,In today’s catechesis, we turn to St.

Columban, one of the many Irish monks who contributed to the re-evangelization of Europe in the early Middle Ages.

Columban made his monastic profession in Bangor and was ordained a priest. At the age of 50, he left the monastery to begin missionary work in Europe, where entire regions had lapsed into paganism.

Beginning in Brittany, Columban and his companions established monasteries at Annegray and Luxeuil. These became centers for the spread of the monastic and missionary ideals brought by the monks from their native Ireland.

Columban introduced to Europe the Irish penititential discipline, including private confession. His stern moral teachings led to conflict with the local bishops and the Frankish court, resulting in the exile of the Irish monks, first to the Rhineland and then to Italy.

At Bobbio, where he established a great monastic center, Columban worked for the conversion of the Arian Lombards and the restoration of unity with the bishop of Rome.

It was there that he died, leaving behind not only the example of an austere monastic life, but also a corpus of writings which shaped the monastic culture of the Middle Ages and thus nourished the Christian roots of Europe.

Republic acknowledges a Creator, rights from Creator as self-evident truth

For the Journey

EffIE CALdAROLACNs COLUMNIsT

Faith & Precedent

dOUGLAs w. KMIEC

CNs COLUMNIsT

The Pope Speaks

pOpE bENEdICT XVI

individual moral conclusions must be free from public criticism.

After all, we would have found it disrespectful in the extreme for the national media during Pope Benedict’s visit to second-guess the wisdom of his exposition of Catholic thought.

Of course, as soon as religious belief is no longer a proper subject for public discussion, it will be insisted that religion lacks a legitimate basis to claim any authority over laws that will govern the actions of the public — that is, individuals beyond its own believers.

But now consider what that means for the Supreme Court’s permissive stance toward abortion or the recent California decision on same-sex marriage.

Here the law is running against the church, but if religion is not a proper subject for debate, does the church really have any basis to complain?

Yes, and here’s the real reason to light up the sky in celebration on the 4th of July: By the famous declaration of that day, the American republic acknowledged a Creator and rights flowing from that Creator as self-evident truth.

Th i s acknowledgment i s a commitment to natural law, and while the meaning of natural law may be disputed, it at least has to be admitted into the public debate.

In short, if we are true to the

Pope Benedict XVI recently cautioned Americans against the “dictatorship of relativism.” By that he meant to warn us against the modern proposition that contends that conscience is private and personal with only subjective moral conclusions.

This modern proposition is not the view of Catholic theology.

Every moral act consists of three elements: the act itself; why we do it; and the circumstances in which the act is performed — where, when, how, with whom, and its consequences.

It is Catholic teaching that some acts are always wrong apart from the intention of the actor or the circumstances in which the act takes place. Abortion is such an act.

Those who are not Catholic or are unbelievers may say “not so fast.”

Many moderns also contend — unlike those Founding Fathers who got together in 1776 — that the natural law is not self-evidently knowable.

The argument for relativism that worries the pope can be insidious. For example, sometimes relativism is asserted to be an aspect of freedom.

Thus, when asked in the abstract whether matters of conscience should be free from coercion (e.g., not subject to legal penalty), many would agree, and some would go so far as to say our

Declaration of Independence, we will be less likely to come under the sway of any relativistic dictatorship.

Because of religious differences, we cannot insist that Catholic doctrine be directly enacted into law, but the declaration’s reference to natural rights from a Creator does illustrate why it is wrong for the Supreme Court to come down on the side of abortion.

Even if the law is incapable of grasping the moral wisdom of the truth of the human person embodied in Catholic teaching, it should be silent — totally silent — on a question such as abortion. Only if there was an overwhelming consensus that natural law specified an answer that should guide everyone’s actions should the court have spoken.

Avoiding the dictatorship of relativism thus means understanding the limited capability for human law to substitute for a well-formed conscience.

It is for this reason too that it is incumbent upon every Catholic to be simultaneously unwavering in the revealed belief that abortion is an intrinsic evil without justification and charitable toward those who by the relativism of the age may be led astray on this question.

Social justice in theory and in action

We heard popes defend life, not just in warning against abortion but against the death penalty, nuclear arms, the arms race. We heard our church proclaim a preferential option for the poor. We heard Pope John Paul urge us to stand in solidarity with the poor, shoulder to shoulder.

And when the weekend ended, someone put up a mock finish line for us to run through. Funny, but ironic, because we knew we were not at the end but at the beginning: How do we make these teachings part of our lives?

The morning after my marathon weekend, I woke up to find an amazingly coincidental article on the front page of my newspaper. A local nurse, born and raised in Alaska who lives in my neighborhood, has started an orphanage in Ethiopia. She operates a nonprofit from Anchorage, and with $40,000 this year, made it possible to house and educate 43 children in Ethiopia. According to the Anchorage Daily News, there are more orphans in Ethiopia than there are people in Los Angeles.

How did an ordinary gal decide to do this? Although her religious affiliation wasn’t mentioned, she grew up, said the Daily News, in a family committed to acts of charity. As a result, she occasionally volunteered for a medical group that helps refugees in places like

Quick: Name three papal encyclicals on social justice.

Having trouble? I confess, before I took Christian ethics as part of my graduate studies in pastoral studies, I would have flunked this test, too.

When my classmates and I gave our presentations on Catholic social justice documents at a marathon weekend session, the first presenter wore a jogging suit, hummed the theme to “Rocky” and handed us all bottles of water. This was her way of saying, “We’re going to cover some distance here, folks.”

And we did. Whew! We started with Pope Leo XIII, who in 1891 expressed the church’s concern with the wider world as he commented in “Rerum Novarum” on the horrific working conditions brought about by industrialization.

And we marched — jogged or slogged — all the way to Pope John Paul II’s “Sollicitudo Rei Socialis” (“On Social Concerns”).

We heard popes, bishops’ synods and the Second Vatican Council talk about the rights of workers, the right to organize and join unions and the right to private property. We heard popes discuss the merits or demerits of capitalism, communism, socialism. We were reminded that our faith commits us to the dignity of all.

Uganda or Ethiopia. Three years ago, volunteering in

Ethiopia, she met a man who was letting 43 children — many of them AIDS orphans — live in his yard.

When she returned to Alaska, the man and his desperate wards haunted her sleep. Now she has provided a primitive orphanage, with the only swing in the village, and people around Anchorage are helping her out.

How do I relate this story to our marathon on social justice?

First of all, notice where this gal developed her sense of social obligation. As Catholic parents, we are our children’s first teachers, and a sense of social justice must be part of our teaching.

Second, our social justice tradition teaches us it’s not enough to just write a check. Charity and justice are not the same thing: One helps the poor; the other brings them into communion with us.

Pope John Paul urged us to stand shoulder to shoulder with the poor. The nurse in Anchorage did that, and it moved her to act, and proved the enormous power of just one person.

Catholics should practice both charity and justice to others

The Catholic News & Herald 16 iN the NeWs

June 13, 2008

CnS Photo by reuterS

Christians pray for earthquake victims during a Mass in Miangyang in Sichuan province, China, June 7.

Praying and picking up the pieces

Final deadline to save $150** Monday, June 16!

“The disaster is a cross God has given us, be it rich or poor.”— Father Joseph Ye Yong

by CATHOLIC NEws sERVICE

GUANGYUAN, China — Despite fears of continuing aftershocks, Catholics in this quake-hit area of Sichuan province are in good spirits and optimistic about rebuilding their homes soon, said a local priest.

Father Joseph Ye Yong of the Chengdu Diocese has visited all eight churches in Guangyuan parish, traversing mountainous areas about 160 miles northeast of Chengdu on his motorbike, reported the Asian church news agency UCA News.

Chengdu is the provincial capital.Father Ye, the assistant parish priest,

told UCA News June 2 he was relieved to confirm no fatalities among his 20,000 parishioners.

Most of them are farmers who now live in relief tents, their houses having collapsed in the earthquake, but they have returned to work in their terraced fields because the wheat-harvesting season has begun, he said.

Some are still nervous, he added, especially when aftershocks hit.

“The disaster is a cross God has given us, be it rich or poor,” the 35-year-old priest said, noting that “all are equal and small when facing the natural disasters.”

Many parishioners, he said, are confident of rebuilding their homes if they work hard for a few years, since they expect reconstruction work to mushroom.

“We don’t feel alone, because we have received much help and concern from different parts of the country and overseas,” said Father Ye.

Seismic waves traveling north-eastward to the neighboring Gansu and Shaanxi provinces caused extensive dam-age in Guangyuan, about 150 miles from the quake’s epicenter in Wenchuan.

As of May 31, local officials were

reporting that, in the May 12 earthquake, in Guangyuan and the surrounding counties under its administration about 4,500 people died, more than 20,000 people were injured and more than 1 million were displaced.

Most of the Guangyuan parish’s e i g h t c h u r c h e s w e r e d a m a g e d seriously. Father Ye estimated it would cost about $577,000 to repair and reinforce all the churches, but he hopes to resume church life as soon as the aftershocks stop.

Fa the r S imon L i Zh igang , administrator of the Chengdu Diocese, told UCA News that more than 20 damaged and flattened churches must be rebuilt.

He said the diocese would make a long-term plan and estimated repairs and reconstruction would cost $10 million-$11 million and take up to four years.

Since mid-May, the diocese has received nearly $30,000 from Catholics across the country toward church reconstruction, he added.

About 30 laypeople of the diocese died in the quake, mainly in the Dujiangyan, Mianzhu and Pengzhou areas, but the injured are hard to count as some were transferred to hospitals in other provinces, Father Li said.

He acknowledged also that the situation of remote churches and Catholic families is still not known, because some roads are still blocked by landslides.

Chinese Catholics try to resume normal lives in rural quake-hit areas

June 13, 2008

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Transcript of June 13, 2008