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News Briefs
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NEWS BRIEFS Mar-28-2008
By Catholic News Service
U.S.
Young adult Catholics are interested in church ministry, study finds
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Although many young adult Catholics are interested in church ministry they find it difficult to connect their career plans or talents with available ministries, according to a survey released this year. The survey, "Young Adult Catholics and Their Future in Ministry," was commissioned by the Emerging Models of Pastoral Leadership Project, a joint project involving six national Catholic organizations and funded by the Lilly Endowment Inc. A preliminary report on the survey of young adult Catholics will be the topic of an upcoming National Ministry Summit April 20-23 in Orlando, Fla. The summit, initially planned for 1,000 participants, recently was expanded to accommodate all who wish to attend. "The waiting list kept growing," said Christopher Atkins, executive director for the National Association for Lay Ministry, one of the sponsoring groups of the project. He said the interest in discussing the survey's results shows that it "struck a chord with the people who minister and those who plan for future ministry in the Catholic Church."
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Farm bill faces delays; its constituencies face economic uncertainty
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The 2007 farm bill is now the 2008 farm bill. And if something doesn't happen in Congress by April 18, it could very well become the 2009 farm bill. There are many constituencies interested in different provisions of the five-year, $286 billion-plus farm bill currently facing revisions by a House-Senate conference committee. Catholic rural life advocates want to see limits placed on the size of federal commodities payments. The biggest payments now go to the largest farms. Catholic anti-poverty advocates would like to see gains made in federal food stamp and nutrition funding. While the farm bill is being massaged into a version that Congress can stomach and President George W. Bush will sign, federal food stamp payouts will continue at current levels, about $1 per person per meal. Those payouts have stubbornly stayed at $1 per meal for nearly 30 years, according to Candy Hill, senior vice president of social policy and government affairs for Catholic Charities USA. Farmworker advocates want to improve safety and health conditions for the workers -- largely migrants hailing from other countries -- who pick the crops that make it in some form or other to our tables.
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Convention speaker urges Catholic educators to teach students empathy
INDIANAPOLIS (CNS) -- Daniel Pink, an author of books on the changing work world, told Catholic educators March 27 at the National Catholic Educational Association convention in Indianapolis they need to prepare students differently to succeed in today's work force. In a keynote address during the March 25-28 convention attended by more than 7,000 educators, Pink said the work environment is changing from its one-time emphasis on "logical, linear and spreadsheet-type abilities" to more "artistry, empathy, inventiveness and big-picture thinking." Jobs in America that once relied on following a certain set of steps to perform are being outsourced to other countries where they can be performed more cheaply, he said. To prepare students for the changing work force, he said educators need to put more focus on developing those "right brain" skills where a person's creativity and humanity make a difference. Above all, students need to learn empathy, he said, describing it as "the ability to stand in someone's shoes, to feel with their hearts and see with their eyes."
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Bishop urges Catholic educators to help youths embrace their faith
INDIANAPOLIS (CNS) -- Helping today's youths grow more deeply in their faith is a key role for Catholic educators, Bishop Blase J. Cupich of Rapid City, S.D., told participants at the annual National Catholic Educational Association convention March 26 in Indianapolis. "How can we pass on the faith in a way that gives the children and grandchildren of today and tomorrow the same experience of God and of Christ and of the church that shapes our hearts?" he asked. The bishop cited a recent study by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life that said 33 percent of all Catholic Americans have left the church. According to the study, 10 percent of all Americans identify themselves as former Catholics while 25 percent of all Americans between 18 and 29 have no religious affiliation. The study showed that those who left the church did so mainly from an apathy "that stems from a lack of knowledge about the faith," Bishop Cupich said. He said this lack of faith knowledge stems from the "collapse of the catechetical infrastructure."
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Catholic educators take time to donate blood at convention
INDIANAPOLIS (CNS) -- As she sat in the chair giving blood, Kathy Mears thought of her sister, Jean Burton. Mears remembered the many times that she and Jean's seven other siblings took turns giving pints of blood to try to help their sister in her battle against a blood-related cancer. "When she was ill, she needed blood," Mears recalled. "In a family of nine siblings, it wasn't bad to give blood." Unfortunately, Mears' sister died of the cancer five years ago. Still, in her honor, Mears made sure she gave blood March 26 during a blood drive at the National Catholic Educational Association convention March 25-28 in Indianapolis. "It's a personal thing. It's my way of giving back to the community," said Mears, an associate director of schools for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis and a member of the convention's organizing committee. Many of the people who participated in the blood drive had their own personal stories and reasons for contributing to an effort that collected 104 pints of blood.
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WORLD
Tobacco-free zone? Pope urged to stomp out butts in Vatican City
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Papal visits tend to bring out special interest groups, and one already has surfaced in the United States. Physicians and Nurses Against Tobacco, a Rhode Island-based organization, is asking Pope Benedict XVI to support its campaign for a tobacco-free society. The group's petition, posted online, appeals to the pope not only to denounce the sale and use of tobacco during his April 15-20 visit to the United States, but also to declare Vatican City the world's first tobacco-free state. "We hope to convince him to make this gesture as an example to other religious and political leaders and policymakers," the petition says. Some might dismiss the initiative as a publicity grab, but there is no denying that tobacco is a serious health issue. The World Health Organization says tobacco kills 5.4 million people a year. The Vatican used to be known as a safe haven for cigarette smokers. That changed dramatically in 2002, when Vatican City prohibited smoking in offices and public places. But employees and visitors continue to puff away in outdoor areas of the 109-acre state, and turning the Vatican into a totally smoke-free zone would probably not go down well.
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Catholics work to head off conflicts over Polish migrants in U.K.
WARSAW, Poland (CNS) -- Catholic Church leaders have been working to head off a possible conflict about pastoral jurisdiction over the estimated 1.5 million Polish migrants in the United Kingdom. "Integration affects spiritual and cultural values, so we must give people time and freedom to feel well in their new country of residence without forgetting their old homeland," said Bishop Zygmunt Zimowski of Radom, Poland, the Polish bishops' new delegate for Polish migrants abroad. Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor of Westminster, England, president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, addressed the Polish bishops during their early March meeting. On March 6, Polish and British church leaders announced they had set up a new working group to address the issue of Polish migrants in Britain. Bishop Zimowski told Catholic News Service March 18 that Polish church leaders counted on migrants' ability to "maintain values of faith and morality" in England and Wales and believed the Polish Catholic Mission in England and Wales should work more closely with the bishops there.
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Cardinal calls overturned death sentence in U.S. victory for life
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A U.S. appeals court decision to overturn the death sentence of Mumia Abu-Jamal, convicted of killing a police officer in 1981, is a victory for human life, said Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. A panel of judges from the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia upheld Abu-Jamal's murder conviction March 27, but also upheld a lower court ruling vacating his death sentence. In an interview published on the front page of the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, March 28, Cardinal Martino said: "Justice is not accomplished by punishing with another crime. For this reason, every death sentence not carried out is a victory for man and for life." Cardinal Martino said the basis of all human rights is the right to life. "Therefore, even the criminal who committed a crime has the right to live" and to have the possibility to make amends for his crime and to be rehabilitated, he said.
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Parish donations give medical insurance to elderly Vietnamese
HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam (CNS) -- Special Lenten donations at a parish in Vietnam have bought poor, elderly Catholics medical insurance and an opportunity to receive health care. Marie Tran Thi Lan, 78, one of the beneficiaries, has been bedridden since she slipped and fell on a wet floor earlier this year. "I want to go to the hospital for treatment so I can walk around and go to church for Mass," Lan told visiting officials from Vietnamese Martyrs Parish March 23. Lan, who lives with her daughter's family, shed tears of happiness after the parish council members informed her she was one of 30 local Catholics for whom the parish had bought medical insurance from a government plan. Father Pierre Phan Khac Tu, the parish priest, told the Asian church news agency UCA News that his parish grants monthly allowances of about $4 to 60 elderly people who are poor or have no relatives in the area. These people cannot afford to pay for medical treatment, he said. Father Tu, 70, asked parishioners two weeks before Good Friday to donate for the special cause as a Lenten penance.
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Cardinal: Liberalized use of Tridentine Mass already is bearing fruit
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI's outreach to traditionalist Catholics by liberalizing the use of the Tridentine Mass already is bearing fruit, said Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos. The cardinal, president of the Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei," which coordinates care for traditionalist Catholics, said that thanks to the pope's action "not a few have asked to return to full communion, and some already have returned." In an interview published in the March 28 edition of L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, Cardinal Castrillon said 30 cloistered nuns in Spain have "already been recognized and regularized" and "there are cases of American, German and French groups" who have begun the process. He added, "There are individual priests and many laypeople who contact us, write to us and call us for a reconciliation and, on the other side, there are many other faithful who demonstrate their gratitude to the pope" for his July letter authorizing wider use of the liturgy from the 1962 Roman Missal. In his letter, the pope said the Mass from the Roman Missal in use since 1970 remains the ordinary form, while celebration of the Tridentine Mass is the extraordinary form.
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PEOPLE
Donzelli named to head Catholic News Service client relations efforts
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Enrico Donzelli has been named assistant director for client services at Catholic News Service. Donzelli, 36, will oversee business development and manage relationships with the more than 400 publishing clients of CNS. He will coordinate marketing strategies for news and information products, and he will manage the day-to-day operations of the news service's business department. "Enrico brings to the news service his excellent skills in market development and client relations. We are delighted to have him in this key role," said Tony Spence, CNS director and editor in chief. Donzelli was business development project manager for Prometheus, an Italian software company. He is a former sales representative for the Citta Nuova Editrice, a Catholic publisher, based in Trent, Italy, and project coordinator for Wall Street Italia, the online news and financial services company in New York. Donzelli is a native of Bergamo in the Lombardy region of Italy. He is a graduate of the University of Trent and New York University. He resides in Vienna, Va.
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Young adults at NCEA convention live out their faith by teaching
INDIANAPOLIS (CNS) -- In his keynote address March 26 at the National Catholic Educational Association's annual convention in Indianapolis, Bishop Blase J. Cupich of Rapid City, S.D., set out a plan for Catholic educators to help their teenage and young adult students embrace the faith. Listening to him were a handful of young adults who have done just that. Twenty-eight-year-old Colleen Keller teaches kindergarten at the Jesuit-run Red Cloud Indian School in Pine Ridge, S.D. Keller grew up in a suburb of New York and did undergraduate work at the nearby Fordham University. After graduating, she participated in a two-year teaching program operated by Jesuit-run Loyola University Chicago; the program is called LU-CHOICE (Loyola University Chicago Opportunities in Catholic Education). Keller said what keeps her in Catholic education is her love of Christ, something that Bishop Cupich said was the first thing that Catholic teachers need to pass on to their students.
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Book is glimpse into faith of retired Army officer known for heroism
MOBILE, Ala. (CNS) -- "A General's Spiritual Journey" gives a rare glimpse into the mind, heart and soul of a battlefield warrior and faith-filled American hero, retired Lt. Gen. Hal Moore. It's a story of the courage, compassion, faith and servant leadership of a man whose heroism goes beyond the battlefield and points to the ultimate goal -- eternal life -- or, as Moore puts it, "the final cut." "My principal hope is that a reader of this small booklet will derive some comfort as well as an urge and desire to become closer to God, whatever his or her religion," Moore, who is now 86, told The Catholic Week, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Mobile. A longtime resident of Auburn and a daily communicant at St. Michael Church, Moore is well known for his heroic actions in the battle of Ia Drang, the first major U.S. military confrontation in the Vietnam War. The battle was Nov. 14-16, 1965, and was led by then-Lt. Col. Moore, of the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry. The book may be ordered through the Web sites www.ageneralsspiritualjourney.com and www.amazon.com. The costs is $10.95 plus shipping and handling. It also can be ordered by writing to: Wild Goose Ministries, 225 Wall St., Vail, CO 81657-3167.
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