Although Catholic young adults are not as attached to the church as young adults were in the 1940s and 1950s, they are hardly a generation that has lost its faith, according to speakers at a two-day forum at Fordham University.

More than 700 people participated in the Jan. 28-29 "Lost? Twenty-Somethings in the Church" conference cosponsored by the Francis and Ann Curran Center for American Catholic Studies and the Fordham Center on Religion and Culture. Participants included young adults, campus ministers, youth ministers, and others.

Sociologist James Davidson, professor emeritus at Purdue University, said young Catholics "distinguish between the Catholic faith, which they identify with and respect, and the Catholic Church, which they are less attached to."

Quoting a wide body of research, including his own, Davidson said eight of 10 young Catholics believe there are many ways to interpret Catholicism and they grant more authority to their individual experience than they do to the church itself.

"They stress the importance of thinking for themselves more than obeying church leaders," he said. "Instead of simply embracing church traditions and teachings, they tinker with them. They distinguish between abstract beliefs and principles that they think are at the core of the Catholic faith, and more concrete norms and codes of conduct that they consider optional or peripheral," Davidson said.

"They believe that doctrines such as the Trinity, the Incarnation, Mary as the Mother of God, Christ's real presence in the Eucharist, and the need to be concerned about the poor are more important than teachings such as the need to limit the priesthood to men, the need for priestly celibacy, the church's opposition to artificial birth control, and its opposition to the death penalty," he said.

Tami Schmitz, assistant director of spirituality in campus ministry at the University of Notre Dame, said young adults yearn for good catechesis, a connection with God, and a place in a community. Many of the students she sees have a weak understanding of the basics but are eager, open, and curious to learn about the faith.

"We owe it to them to develop ways to feed this precious hunger in them. Catechizing them in ways that are creative and exciting and answering their questions is a good start," she said. "If we don't do it, where else are they going to get their answers? And how long will they keep searching?"

Schmitz said those in their 20s seek community. "They want someone to know, listen to, and treasure their story. They want to know that being a part of a faith community makes a difference in their lives. When you are part of a true faith community, you can't be lost: Someone will come looking for you because they will miss you if you are not there."

In late January the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles announced it would become the first school system in California—public or private—to move to a 200-day academic year at its elementary campuses. But after complaints from parents that the longer year would disrupt family schedules, diocesesan chancellor Mary Elizabeth Galt said that the decision on whether to add instructional days will be left to schools.

According to Cardinal Roger Mahony, the archdiocese planned to add 20 days to the school year because of the clear relationship between time spent in an academic setting and increased student performance. "Elementary schools in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles are responding to this critical national issue in order that our students grow up to be successful leaders in the global workforce," Mahony said in a statement.

Kevin Baxter, the archdiocese's superintendent of elementary schools, said about 10 schools already operate on an extended schedule, and the Los Angeles Times reported that 70 percent of the archdiocese's schools have said they will adopt the extended year; some are expected to phase it in over two years. The move will result in slightly higher teacher salaries and tuition costs, he said.

The Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia, also known as the Nashville Dominicans, recently celebrated their 150th anniversary with a postulant class of 27 young women, or 10 percent of the entire community, following up on last year’s group of 23 entrants.. The sisters are active across the United States and in Australia, where they teach more than 13,000 students in 34 schools.

Sister Catherine Marie, a spokeswoman, says the current group of first-year students represents ten percent of the whole community. "There are 270 of us and our growth of late has been rather extensive. This year we had 27 young women enter. Last year, it was 23. Great blessings to us."

In addition, these women are young, with nearly one third of the community now under age 30. That fact is especially relevant considering a recent poll by the Pew Research Center which showed that participation in organized religion is falling among Americans under 30. A different group, the National Opinion Research Center, found that 17 percent of Americans do not identify with any faith, including almost 25 percent of first-year university students.

Sister Kelly Edmunds is a first-year postulant with the St. Cecilia community. She says she came to the order out of a desire to serve others. She had seen Dominican sisters serving at the University of Sydney.

"Just to watch them, walking down the main boulevard of campus wearing their habits—it was just such a powerful witness,” she said. “I had friends in engineering who were, like, they knew I was Catholic so they would say to me, ‘Who are these nuns on campus?’ And so it was a really great witness to me of the power of religious life."

Beloved, the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia's vocation video:

The Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help, a chapel and complex amidst dairy farms in Champion, Wisconsin, has become one of only about a dozen sites worldwide—and the first in the United States—where apparitions of Mary have been officially validated by the Roman Catholic Church.

In 1859, the year after Mary is said to have appeared at Lourdes in France, a Belgian immigrant in Champion named Adele Brise said she was visited three times by Mary, who hovered between two trees in a bright light, clothed in white with a yellow sash around her waist and a crown of stars above her head. As instructed by Our Lady, Brise devoted her life to teaching the Catholic faith to children. By all reports Brise was humble and honest and faithfully carried out Mary’s mandate to serve the church throughout her life.

On December 8, after a two-year investigation by theologians who found no evidence of fraud or heresy and a long history of shrine-related conversions, cures, and other signs of divine intervention, Bishop David L. Ricken of Green Bay declared “with moral certainty” that Brise did indeed have encounters “of a supernatural character” that are “worthy of belief.”

Catholic leaders described the decree as a piece of joy at a trying time for the church, “This is a gift to the believers,” said the Father Johann Roten, director of the International Marian Research Institute at the University of Dayton.

The Vatican gives primary responsibility for evaluating apparitions to local bishops. Wary of fraud, the church is generally reluctant to even investigate such claims. During the 20th century, Roten said, 386 major apparitions of Mary were reported at a level beyond local rumors. About 75 of those were studied, and at most a dozen were recognized as valid, he said.

Local officials may now have to ask themselves whether they thought too small when they designed the Shrine’s parking lot—planned well before the decree—to fit only 75 cars.

Bishop David Ricken reads the declaration approving the apparitions given to Adele Brise in 1859:

Dirty Vagabond Ministries, based in Steubenville, Ohio, is a Catholic apostolate to inner-city young people whose communities typically lack the resources to pay for religious youth workers and programs. The ministry seeks to mentor urban teens through Catholic incarnational theology: Its workers immerse themselves in the slang, fashion, and music of inner-city culture and give themselves to the pain, hopelessness, and anger of urban teens in order to bring Christ, and "be" Christ, with people.

Struck by the absence of visible urban youth ministries in service to Catholic youth, veteran youth ministers Bob and Kate Lesnefsky founded Dirty Vagabond in hope of bridging that gap. As a Christian hip-hop artist and speaker, Bob travels the country reaching out to contemporary teens through rap music and hip-hop culture, while Kate puts degrees in theology and catechetics to use mentoring teenage girls.

The ministry’s main approach is a one-on-one method in which relationships are developed on a personal level so that every individual who visits a Dirty Vagabond Ministries community center is personally heard, loved, and ministered. Dirty Vagabond does not organize large-scale youth events or even seek to draw large numbers of young people. Instead, their hope is to develop new leaders that will remain in the community to mentor others.

Rather than overlook the configuration of urban life, Bob and Kate lead Dirty Vagabond Ministries in addressing the unique challenges of inner-city communities, where the widespread single-parent family structure can lead to a lack of structure, motivation, and attention among the kids who live there.

Their ministry seeks to be a healthy classroom and youth group to a generation of teens who have grown up in a hostile time and environment. Dirty Vagabond Ministries provides resources and catechetical models to develop the faith, character, life skills, and knowledge that lead urban teens to the sacramental life of the church and pastoral leadership within their communities.

Dirty Vagabond Ministries’ How Much Can Be Done in a Year?:

A year after the earthquake in Haiti, Salesian Missions has launched a news site that focuses on disaster recovery efforts in the area of Port-au-Prince. With so much media attention focusing on the negative aspects of the post-earthquake situation, ProgressInHaiti.org hopes to provide information and insight about programs and progress in Haiti related to Salesian Missions activities and those of partner organizations as well as overall issues in the country.

Through a new Salesian University Network, for example, hundreds of university students who had been unable to return to school following the Jan. 12, 2010 quake will have a chance to continue their education through 13 computer labs or cybercafés throughout Haiti.

In the aftermath of the earthquake, Salesian Missions provided disaster relief to victims—many of them their own students and teachers. Early efforts focused on the basic human needs of food, water, medical supplies, survival kits, and tents for shelter. Thousands of refugees were housed within the confines of those facilities which were not destroyed, and thousands more were provided meals.

In addition to getting news, people can visit ProgressInHaiti.org to make donations for recovery work. To date about $2.5 million have been spent by Salesian Missions on relief efforts for the Haitian people, along with additional in-kind donations. More than 23,000 students and 1,200 teachers have returned to classes at 10 Salesian Missions educational facilities.

Salesian Missions "What's your mission?" video”:

The Salesians also have a YouTube channel.

Frank McCourt’s famous memoir Angela’s Ashes depicts life in Limerick, Ireland’s fourth-largest city, where for decades residents have struggled  to overcome poverty, unemployment, and other social problems Three years ago a trio of Franciscan Friars from the Bronx, New York moved to the Limerick suburb of Moyross to serve the needs of its residents.

Brothers Shawn O’Conner, Jason Grandell, and Thomas Joseph of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal established their friary there in 2007 by converting three abandoned houses into a simple residence and chapel. Shortly before they moved in, they got a reminder of how tough the neighborhood was. Two children were nearly burned to death when a group of teenagers firebombed the car they were sitting in. But O’Connor and the others saw a need, and over the last three years they have worked hard to get to know the community.

“Many of the young people here just have no real proper guidance, that’s one thing we found,” O’Connor says. “They’re very wild. They’re great and they’re wonderful kids but they don’t have any discipline, they don’t have any sense of right or wrong.”

The monks persist with the kids, not shying away from a bit of soccer or American football or some good-old-fashioned roughhousing. They do it all wearing their grey, hooded robes, beards, and shaved heads.

Among other projects, the monks have built a community garden and a youth center. They’ve endured the teasing, the jokes, and the rocks that were sometimes thrown through their windows.

“Anytime there is a new brother, too, the young people test him. You have to go through somewhat of a crucible and rightly so because you have to earn the peoples’ love and respect,” said Brother Joseph.

Earlier this year the monks organized a rap contest in the neighborhood. Though the area is still a troubled place—and the current economic crisis will not make life there any easier in the coming years—the contest and other efforts are the kind of small gestures they believe give people in Moyross a sense of pride and hope for the future.

The friars at work in Moyross:

The archaeological remains of an ancient Nestorian Christian monastery and church on Sri Bani Yas Island in the United Arab Emirates have been opened for public viewing, providing an important glimpse into the pre-Islamic history of the region.

The site was unearthed in the early 1990s and is believed to be the only permanent settlement ever established on the island, which is 160 miles southwest of Abu Dhabi. The complex includes monks’ cells, kitchens, and animal pens surrounding a courtyard dominated by a church. At least eight houses have been unearthed. The monastery is thought to have been an important destination for pilgrims traveling along a trade route to India.

TOURISTS visiting the excavation site of the monastery on Sir Bani Yas Island off Abu Dhabi.

"Twenty years ago, we had no idea that Christians came this far south and east in the Arabian Gulf," said Dr. Joseph Elders, the archaeological director of the excavation project. “This shows that Christianity had penetrated far further than we thought before. . . . We don't have many monasteries from this period."

Christianity spread throughout the Persian Gulf between 50 and 350 A.D. The inhabitants of the settlement were probably part of the Nestorian Church, also known as the Church of the East. Nestorianism denied Mary the title of “Theotokos” or “Mother of God” and was considered heretical by the early orthodox Christian Church because of differences between the two groups regarding beliefs about the true nature of the person of Jesus Christ.

A mixture of people from along the Gulf and local residents who spoke Syriac and Arabic made up the community on Sri Bani Yas. Artifacts at the site suggest the monks had ties to the regions of modern-day Iraq, India, and Bahrain.

The settlement appears to have been peacefully abandoned in about 750 A.D. The spread of Islamic influence probably diminished the monks’ ability to find new recruits, Archaeology Daily suggests.

Lectio divina, a meditative way to read scripture which members of religious orders have been practicing for centuries, is an ideal way for contemporary Catholics to unplug from worldly distractions and establish holy intimacy, permanent friendship, and fruitful companionship with Jesus Christ, says Trappist Brother Simeon Leiva.

Lectio divina—"sacred reading" or "divine reading"—dates from the 2nd century. It uses a pattern of reading, reflection, prayer, contemplation, and action to meditate on short scriptural passages.

Leiva addressed priests of the Archdiocese of New York Dec. 9 at the American Bible Society's launch of two books devoted to the practice: The Catholic Prayer Bible: “Lectio Divina” Edition and Pray With the Bible, Meditate With the Word: A Manual for the Prayerful Reading of the Bible.

Leiva said lectio cultivates the human heart to activate to its highest potential and helps bring Christian souls to their natural state with Jesus Christ at the center of their being. "Union with Jesus is the whole of my life, and my relationship with him is the primal relationship that invigorates all others," he said.

Lectio is a "Catholic way to decompress and pray at the same time. For whatever reason you practice it, it requires you to slow down and unplug yourself,” Leiva said. “It's healthy, and it's very doable.”

In the Archdiocese of New York, lectio training began last year and will be offered twice in 2011. Capuchin Franciscan Father Brendan Buckley, parochial vicar at St. John the Evangelist in Goshen, N.Y., said he plans to work with two neighboring parishes to introduce the practice to Spanish-speaking groups in Lent "to promote the sense that the Bible is the living word of God.”

The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. is the largest Roman Catholic Church in North America. This year, in a way, it may also be the most delicious. Charles Froke, executive pastry chef at the Four Seasons Hotel in Georgetown, has created a massive gingerbread replica of the Shrine.

CHEF FROKE and his gingerbread National Shrine

"I've made a lot of cool buildings [out of gingerbread] in the past, but nothing like this," Froke told The Catholic Standard, Washington's archdiocesan newspaper. "In the past I've done the National Cathedral, the Smithsonian Castle, the White House, the Capitol, and Healy Hall at Georgetown University, but this is the most ambitious one to date."

Froke, a Catholic who attends St. Ann Church in Washington, crafted the gingerbread Shrine out of more than 125 pounds of specially prepared gingerbread dough. "It is a little more sturdy and not as sweet as regular gingerbread," he said.

The creation also includes about 55 pounds of icing and 20 pounds of sugar. Froke used dyes to create the Shrine's blue dome. The stained-glass windows—which are illuminated by electric lighting—are made from colored liquid sugar. He said it took him about 70 hours to create the gingerbread likeness.

Before he started baking, Froke spent hours at the Shrine, taking photos and making blueprints. Hundreds of individual gingerbread pieces were baked and then put together with "mortar" made of icing. Froke said it was his hope that his gingerbread National Shrine "earns me some brownie points in heaven."

As college freshmen struggle to balance faith and other priorities—and even contemplate opting out of their Catholic faith altogether—campus ministries and other Catholic organizations are working to bridge the faith gap between high school and college by inviting more students to live their faith through the sacraments, relationships, activities, prayer groups, and even a TV show.

The need for strong ministries is clear. A recent study by Georgetown University's Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) indicates that during the freshman year students make friendships and join the organizations they’ll be part of for their whole college career, according to Judy Cozzens, chairwoman of the USA Council of Serra International’s program College Connection for Catholics.

Besides helping students grow in faith by involvement in a Christian community, a goal of campus ministry is to offer a better alternative to negative activities, said Brother Joe Donovan, a member of the Brotherhood of Hope community and a Catholic chaplain at Northeastern University in Boston. It’s one of four ministries the Brotherhood of Hope operates on campuses in the eastern United States. Attendance at Mass and programs continues to increase every year, possibly because of outreach efforts, he said.

Freshmen are experiencing a new kind of freedom for the first time, and many students stop practicing their faith, said Gordy DeMarais, founder and executive of St. Paul’s Outreach, adding that only 15 percent of 18- to 25-year-olds attend Mass every Sunday. “It is the case that if freshmen don’t get connected with a strong set of relationships and strong Catholic involvement, then after a year chances are pretty high that they’ll be abandoning the practice of faith in adult life,” he said. St. Paul’s Outreach also offers student households—homes where students live and share faith together.

Reaching out to freshmen and helping them get or stay connected to their faith through relationships with other students involved in the ministry is a primary goal of the Brotherhood of Hope’s work, as is encouraging students to move into leadership, Brother Joe said. In addition to welcoming events, prayer meetings, and liturgies, Brother Joe sometimes recommends that freshmen watch segments of the Brotherhood’s TV show Hope on Campus.

Father Stephen Langridge, chairman of the vocations directors of England and Wales, saw the number of men entering English seminaries to become Catholic priests rise to its highest level in a decade. According to Langridge, 56 men began their journey to priesthood this year. "The number of people responding to the call of Christ to be priests and religious has been rising slowly but surely, and may rise further as people respond to the visit of Pope Benedict."

At their annual conference held recently at Oscott seminary in Birmingham, the vocation directors discussed the approaches to vocations work that have contributed to this increase. Many dioceses and religious orders now run discernment groups for young men and women, where all vocations are discussed. Such groups encourage lay, religious, and priestly vocations.

Father Christopher Jamison, director of the National Office of Vocation, said: “When everybody in the church takes seriously [Blessed John Henry] Newman's insight that 'God has created me to do him some definite service,' then a greater number discover their call to the priesthood and religious life."

Vocations directors also discussed new ways to promote a culture of vocation. Some 300 young people attended the "Invocation"  festival held in Birmingham in July 2010 for Catholics aged 16-35 who are discerning their vocation. This event was so popular that it is being held again on the weekend of June 17-19, 2011.

Schools are now being provided with high-quality online materials, and youth ministers are developing new approaches to bringing the gospel to life for the young. Attending events such as World Youth Day is an important experience that opens the eyes of many people to the richness of life in church service, and plans for English and Welsh participation in such convocations have been developed.

These British vocation leaders recommend the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops video Fishers of Men (also available with lots of other resources on the a vocation to be priest? website):

Part 1 . . .

. . . and Part 2:

On World AIDS Day, December 1, Caritas Internationalis, a federation of 164 Roman Catholic relief, development, and social service organizations operating in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, urged governments and pharmaceutical companies to invest more in HIV prevention and care for children and reducing mother-to-child transmission.

“We need to give children with HIV the chance to live,” said Cardinal Oscar Rodríguez Maradiaga, president of Caritas Internationalis. “Caritas asks governments and drug companies to support better and earlier testing and treatment for these children. This is a life or death situation.”

Caritas says many children and women are still being left behind in the fight against AIDS, despite welcome advances in HIV testing and treatment.

The UNAIDS Global Report for 2010 says 2.5 million children are living with HIV. The report also says 90 percent of HIV-positive children live in Africa, but only 26 percent of them are receiving life-saving treatment. Fifty percent of untreated children with HIV die before their second birthday.

Caritas launched the “HAART for Children” campaign in 2009. HAART stands for “Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Treatment.” The campaign argues that cheaper and more sophisticated HIV and tuberculosis and “child friendly” medicines are required in poor countries.

Though these medicines are available at low cost in many parts of the world, a number of mothers avoid testing because of the fear of stigma and discrimination. Ninety percent of HIV-infected infants are born to mothers who were never tested and never received medicines to prevent transmission.

During 2011 Caritas will focus on advocacy for lower prices with an expanded range of HIV medications; on making accurate pediatric HIV and TB testing tools available at local clinics rather than concentrating them in urban centers; and on promoting greater access to prevention of mother-to-child transmission programs.

A video on the work of Caritas Internationalis:

The Vatican will join the move to high-definition TV later this year thanks to a donation from the Knights of Columbus and a discount from Sony. Just in time for the pope’s Christmas Mass, the Vatican will unveil a multimillion-dollar HD mobile television studio, which will be located in a 45-feet-long 18 wheeler and have 16 workstations.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican television center and the Vatican press office, told reporters the mobile studio and its all-HD equipment were worth a little more than $6 million. Sony Italy gave the Vatican a discount of more than $1 million; the Knights of Columbus contributed over $1 million; and the television center, CTV, covered the rest.

Lombardi said he knows people may think the project is too extravagant or expensive, but with television broadcasters around the world moving to high definition, "The image of the pope would gradually disappear from the world of television over the coming years."

CTV is responsible for all video images of the pope taken at the Vatican. The television center provides those images to broadcasters and filmmakers around the world.

If the Vatican's production values do not meet the standards of broadcasters, he said, "we, in fact, would be blocking the broadcast of the image and, therefore, the message of the pope."

Lombardi said there is a continuing dialogue at the Vatican between communications professionals and papal liturgists to find ways to meet the needs of both. For example, the main altar at St. Peter’s Basilica often has high candlesticks and a crucifix that block camera shots, and the pope has insisted on having moments of silence during the Mass.

The silences make television directors nervous and can send radio producers into a panic because it can appear they've lost their signal, Lombardi said. To deal with the silences, television people add cameras to provide a variety of images, but it is still a challenge for radio, he said.

Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, also announced that the Vatican is developing its own multimedia aggregated news site. The site will be an internet portal for news and features from CTV, Vatican Radio, the Vatican newspaper, the Vatican press office, and Fides, the news agency of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

A short video about the new Vatican HD truck:

According to a “snapshot survey” released November 23 by Catholic Charities USA, the U.S. workforce is “still waiting for a recovery.” According to the same news release, there has been a “steady increase” in the number of working poor seeking help for basic needs, especially emergency financial assistance.

LOCAL CATHOLIC Charities affiliates cite unemployment as one of the reasons for rising aid requests.

In the second quarter of 2010, over 70 percent of Catholic Charities agencies reported an increase in aid requests from the working poor. In the third quarter, 81 percent reported an increase. Asked how the recession has affected clients, about 84 percent of agencies blamed increased unemployment, 65 percent named increased underemployment, and 58 percent indicated increased foreclosures. An extension for federal unemployment benefits expires on Nov. 30 and could push more Americans to seek assistance.

In response to the increased demand for serving basic needs like food, the Chicago Catholic Charities affiliate’s food bank serves more than 32,000 individuals and works as a distribution center for more than 75 member agencies such as food pantries, soup kitchens, and emergency shelters which provide food directly to those in need. In addition to a food bank, Catholic Charities of Terre Haute, Indiana operates a homeless shelter, a youth center and household exchange, and a clothes closet.

“Each of these programs has seen an increase in the number of individuals seeking assistance,” the report said. “More and more individuals are seeking assistance with clothing, especially for children; rent assistance because they are facing eviction; utilities (electric and heat) assistance; and even gas for their vehicles to get to work.”

Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services made an appeal to fellow bishops to allow more of their priests to serve as military chaplains.

In a brief talk on the opening day of the U.S. bishops' November 15-18 fall meeting, Broglio said his flock—which includes Catholics serving in all branches of the military, their families, and those at Veterans Affairs hospitals nationwide—is ministered to by only 275 priests, a number that will decline in coming years.

Broglio said that most people serving in the military are between the ages of 18 and 28, and studies have shown that most of those who abandon the faith they were raised in do so before the age of 24.

After their service, members of the military and their families will return to the U.S. dioceses and archdioceses from which they came, "and I would like to be able to return them to you as Catholics," Broglio said.

A CATHOLIC chaplain presides at a Mass for military personnel

Unlike a Catholic family in the U.S. who does not have a priest in their parish, the archbishop said, "military personnel cannot drive to another parish."

He also appealed to the pragmatic side of his fellow bishops, noting that about 10 percent of all priests ordained in the United States in an average year have prior service in the military and another 10 percent belong to families in which someone was in the military.

"More priest chaplains [to nurture vocations in the military] will mean more candidates for the priesthood," he said.

See one and another related posts on the military and vocations.

The Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul recently received the Van Thuân Prize for Solidarity and Development. The award, instituted three years ago by the St. Matthew Foundation of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, recognizes institutions, associations, and other entities that carry out humanitarian and work projects in developing countries to defend human rights through the promotion and diffusion of evangelical principles, following the directives of the social doctrine of the Catholic Church.

The award recognized the work of sisters in Haiti following the January 12 earthquake as well as the recent cholera outbreak that has left 284 dead and another 3,600 infected.

Sister Maria Teresa Tapia, provincial of the Daughters of Charity in Haiti, said that her communities have been working for 30 years in Haiti "on the level of instruction as well as health, in the promotion of women and in the struggle against malnutrition."

The congregation lost its provincial house and a school in the quake, but the sisters rallied nonetheless to go to the largest hospital in Port-au-Prince and aid the wounded.

"So many sisters then arrived from Spain, from France, from England, from the United States, and from South and Central America to help the victims of the catastrophe, taking care of them and helping them in the refugee camps, in the clinics, in the districts of Port-au-Prince and in the Petit Goave campaign," Tapia said.

She noted that millions of Haitians are still living in tents and "have urgent need of dwellings, food, water, care and health services, school resources, and structures for children."

A short video on the sisters' work in Haiti:

Rio de Janeiro’s Christ the Redeemer will soon lose its title as the world’s largest statue

RAISING OF head on Swiebodzin statue

of Christ. At the end of November, Divine Mercy Parish in Swiebodzin, Poland will dedicate the world’s largest statue of Christ in what Poland's Zielona Gora-Gorzow diocesan spokesman Father Adrzek Sapieha describes as a “show of devotion” by local Catholics.

The statue in Swiebodzin stands on a 52-foot-high mound. It is

118 feet tall, topped by a 11-foot-tall crown of thorns, has an arm span of 79 feet, and weighs nearly 363 tons. The statue will be just taller than Christ the Redeemer, which stands at 128 feet tall.

"The fact that the biggest Christ figure in the world is being set up here shows the strength of Polish belief and will encourage Catholics to have trust in Christ and renew their faith," Sapieha said.

In Swiebodzin, after strong winds caused delays earlier last Saturday, cranes first lifted the outstretched arms onto the body, then the head, complete with gilded steel crown, was lowered onto the shoulders.

The priest behind the statue’s planning, Sylwester Zawadzki, now retired, is said to have initially decided upon "a small garden sculpture," but his ambitions grew into a project he hoped would make his economically depressed village a magnet for Catholic pilgrims from across Poland.

Instead, he split the country. Some supported him, but others thought his project ridiculous, and many Catholics called for the statue to be abandoned. Ridiculous or not, it is set to be unveiled later this month.

Regardless of how you feel about the role of women in the Catholic Church, the fact is that many Catholics would like to see women become priests. Although leaders in the Roman Catholic Church have made it clear that only men may serve in the priesthood, a suburban Chicago pastor is raising the question of whether women can become deacons.

Father Bill Tkachuk, pastor of St. Nicholas Church in Evanston, has been thinking about the topic for months after a longtime female parishioner expressed interest in becoming a deacon should the Vatican open up the option to women.

Experts say that's unlikely to happen any time soon. In the 16th century the Council of Trent recommended restoring deacons as a distinct permanent ministry, as it was in the early Western Church, but they weren't reestablished until the 1960s and another church reform council, Vatican II.

Like bishops and priests, deacons are ordained through the sacrament of Holy Orders, which is available only to men in the Catholic Church. Their ministry centers on the word, the sacraments, and service. Though they aren't allowed to consecrate the Eucharist or hear confessions, they can preside at baptisms and weddings. They often help priests with other liturgical and administrative duties.

There are transitional deacons who are on the road to the priesthood and permanent deacons who are not studying for the priesthood and, unlike most Catholic priests, may be married and have children. (In the Archdiocese of Chicago, for example, there are perhaps 500 active permanent deacons.)

Pope John Paul II closed off internal debate on allowing women priests. Among the arguments against ordaining women is that Jesus selected only male apostles. But there's no such ban on talking about the deaconate, which was clearly established by the early church. Supporters of the concept of women deacons note that the New Testament makes reference female deacons, though the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops indicates "there is no conclusive evidence that this office or the persons who fulfilled these roles were truly 'ordained' like the male deacons."

Tkachuk said he’d like to see women also serve in that role, and he is pushing for a “broader conversation” on the issue. St. Nicholas has hosted parish events centered on the topic, and Tkachuk has used the parish bulletin to further discussion.

Eventually he plans to reach out to the top Catholic cleric in the region, Cardinal Francis George, to see if he'll take up the issue. In recent months several Chicago-area priests have signaled their support for women in the priesthood—an idea George batted down in a recent column in the archdiocesan publication the Catholic New World.

"Whether women can be ordained priests has been discussed regularly since the 2nd century," George wrote. "Each time over the centuries, the church has said she is not free to change the gift that comes to us from Christ himself. The argument is with Jesus, not the church."

The Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion and Public Life’s analysis of last week’s National Election Pool exit poll reported by CNN revealed Catholics to be the biggest “swing faith” in this year’s election. The poll showed Catholics voted 44 percent Democratic to 54 percent Republican, compared to 2008, when 55 percent of Catholics voted Democratic while 44 percent voted Republican.

Catholics were not the only group that experienced a significant shift in voting. According to the poll, Protestants, a group which traditionally votes Republican, managed to increase their support for the Republicans to 60 percent, up from 53 percent in 2008.

Even atheists and the unaffiliated, who normally vote Democratic, shifted 6 percent of their vote toward the Republicans, as they voted 66 percent Democratic as opposed to 32 percent Republican. In 2008 atheists and unaffiliated citizens voted 72 percent Democratic compared to 25 percent Republican.

This data raises a number of interesting questions, and major ones for Democratic strategists: Was the Catholic vote the big one that got away? And how can they reel those voters back in for 2012?

The Chicago-based Catholic Church Extension Society is allocating more than $1 million in grants to 59 under-resourced campus ministry programs in 30 under-resourced dioceses around the country.

The president of Catholic Extension, Father Jack Wall, issued a statement saying: “We are determined to reach young Catholics, not only because they need our support during these critical years when they are emerging as adults, but because we need their spirit and innate sense of hope if we are to continue to grow the dynamic presence of the Catholic faith in our country.

"Strong, well-funded, and well-run campus ministry programs for our college students are the best way to fuel our faith's bright future in under-resourced regions of America," Wall said.

Among the universities receiving money, the University of Wyoming in Laramie will be awarded $45,000 to help finance its St. Paul Newman Center. Florida State University in Tallahassee will receive $20,000 to subsidize the salary of two ministers who run the university’s conferences, retreats, Bible studies, and catechetical programs. The University of Texas at El Paso will be given $16,000 to support similar programs.

Catholic Extension is also providing more than $29,000 to the Catholic Volunteer Network, one of the organization's partner groups. The network, based in the Washington suburb of Takoma Park, Md., promotes faith-based volunteer service opportunities to mission dioceses in the United States and abroad. The grant will help expand its outreach and create leadership positions for students on campuses in U.S. mission territory, including Boise State University, Diocese of Boise, Idaho; St. Mary's University in the Archdiocese of San Antonio; Jesuit-run Spring Hill College, Diocese of Mobile, Ala.; and the University of Wyoming in the Cheyenne Diocese. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops defines mission dioceses as those unable to provide their people with the basic pastoral ministries of word, worship, and service without outside help.

See videos featuring highlights from visits to mission dioceses with interviews from clergy, laity, and mission parishioners.

The movie Waiting for "Superman" has been garnering a good deal of attention since its release on September 24. The movie takes a look at the education gap in the United States and the problems involved in education policy. I thought I would use this blog post to talk about a couple of Catholic schools that have been leading innovators in providing an education to people from low-income urban communities at an affordable tuition.

Cristo Rey Jesuit High School was founded in 1996 in a low-income Latino neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago. The school places students at entry-level jobs, which cover roughly 65 percent of tuition costs. Cristo Rey students work five days a month and attend classes four days a week. Today around 575 students attend this high school. The Cristo Rey Network comprises 24 high schools around the United States.

The San Miguel Schools offer low-income middle-school students in Chicago two campus locations. The first San Miguel School opened in 1995 in the Back of the Yards area on the South Side and serves 80 Latino students in grades 6 through 8. In 2002 the Gary Comer Campus was established in the Austin neighborhood on the West Side and serves 110 African American students in grades 5 through 8. The San Miguel schools base their approach on the following formula:

Small classes: A 10:1 student to teacher ratio ensures small classes. Teachers are enabled to provide students with more individual attention and instruction.

More class time: San Miguel students have an 8.5- hour school day and attend school on a year-round calendar. They spend 53 percent more time in class than required by the state of Illinois.

A focus on reading and language arts: San Miguel students read an average of 120 books a year. Each day includes 80 minutes of reading.

San Miguel is not tuition-driven: San Miguel is accessible to children most in need.

A committed staff: Half of teachers are volunteers who receive only a monthly stipend and live together in the neighborhood where they teach. They live as a community dedicated to their students. Some are experienced educators; others are college graduates who wish to bring opportunity through education.

Parental involvement: San Miguel parents are expected to attend parent-teacher meetings every three weeks.

Experiential learning: San Miguel students travel to Washington, D.C. to learn about democratic traditions, to Minnesota to investigate the natural environment, and to college campuses.

Family and graduate support program: San Miguel graduates receive continual support throughout their high school years, including tutoring and mentoring sessions and various other youth development activities. Families receive educational opportunities and clinical counseling services

These schools accept donations and offer many volunteer opportunities.

In North America and Europe the church has relied for decades on the Catholic press to provide the faithful with news, information, and the perspective they need to understand the church's position on a variety of current political, social, and ethical issues.

But the Catholic press faces the same challenges of falling subscriptions, a drop in ad revenues, and the competition from internet sites that most newspapers are facing. It also faces challenges tied directly to the identity and mission of the Catholic press itself, said Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, at a gathering of Catholic journalists and communications professionals from 85 countries on October 4-7 at the Vatican

Speaking to the meeting, Pope Benedict XVI said that despite the "multiplication of antennas, dishes, and satellites" the printed word is still essential for communication, especially for a church community that draws its inspiration from scripture. "The search for truth must be pursued by Catholic journalists with passionate minds and hearts, but also with the professionalism of competent workers with sufficient and effective instruments," he said.

For Benedict, the job of a journalist is to help people make sense of information and evaluate events in the context of church teaching. The pope said that while new media can help spread information, often they are focused on attention-grabbing images and make little or no attempt to help people understand what is happening or what it means for their lives.

For their part, Catholic journalists, mostly laypeople, said that church officials need to recognize how communications works in the internet age. The World Wide Web, for example, isn't simply an electronic slate where a newspaper can be posted instead of being printed. The internet, especially blogs and social media such as Facebook, have created a new style of communications that is interactive—something most institutional church efforts, from homilies to the Vatican website, have not strongly encouraged.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, said the almost infinite number of "Catholic" voices in the media today means church officials and Catholic communicators must strengthen their conviction that "for us communications is and must be to promote communion, dialogue, and mutual understanding.”

Running and vocations seem to be a hot topic on this blog (see previous item below). The latest installment: About 200 men and women from the Archdiocese of Washington will participate in the Marine Corps Marathon and 10K run to raise money for seminarians.

The archdiocese’s “Run for Vocations” team will seek to heighten awareness of the need for priestly vocations as well as bring in funds for seminarians. The marathon is slated for October 31 in Arlington, Virginia. The Marine Corps Marathon, now in its 35th year, claims to be the fourth largest marathon in the United States.

Among the archdiocesan runners, 49 are running the full 26.2-mile marathon while 138 are participating in the 10K. Funds raised through the team will help cover unexpected expenses for seminarians, including medical costs, travel expenses for family emergencies, and spiritual enrichment.

Follow the Marine Corps Marathon on Facebook and Twitter. For donations and registration information, visit the Run for Vocations website.

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles will undertake a unique approach to ministry. In accord with Catholic social teaching, parishioners and students will learn about their responsibilities in promoting a clean environment.

"We show our respect for the Creator by our stewardship of creation. Care for the earth is not just an Earth Day slogan; it is a requirement of our faith," states the website for the U.S. bishops' environmental justice program, "Caring for God's Creation."

"We are called to protect people and the planet, living our faith in relationship with all of God's creation," it says. "This environmental challenge has fundamental moral and ethical dimensions that cannot be ignored."

At certain churches and five high schools in Los Angeles, this effort will assist parishioners in reflecting on God's creation and in starting a dialogue with the community about contributing to environmental sustainability.

The creation-sustainability ministry will help people and parishes learn how to conserve resources by making better choices, such as using energy-efficient tools and appliances. "From our perspective, creation is a statement of faith," said Ramon Posada, ministry chairman and professor of philosophy and religion at East Los Angeles College. "It implies that there is a loving Creator from which we came . . . and who calls us to participate in this loving action in the world we live in."

The program includes three subcommittees:

• Justice: Assists people in finding solutions to their own environmental problems through networking with established organizations already working in the field.
• Formation: Provides information on the environment and empowers and helps nurture parishioners so they can become aware of and open to the call to be loving stewards of God's creation.
• Development: Finds ways to help parishes deal with practical concerns, such as energy efficiency or gas and water conservation.

"So the very nature of this ministry is community-building," said Posada, "because not just one person can come up with the solution; it has to be the action of the community.

Dozens of vowed religious and Catholic lay leaders gathered in Chicago recently to discuss the next steps needed to attract young people to religious life.

"Together we are seeking to discover a truth of how we may effectively promote religious life to a new generation in a new century," said Holy Cross Brother Paul Bednarczyk, C.S.C. executive director of the National Religious Vocation Conference, as he opened the invitation-only symposium called "Moving Forward in Hope."

SISTER Joan Scanlon, O.P., facilitator of the symposium.

The gathering, which was funded by a foundation that wished to remain anonymous, included vocations directors, Catholic educators, major superiors, diocesan personnel, parents, young adult and campus ministers, younger men and women religious, media and communications experts, and church researchers and statisticians.

The gathering was designed to develop an action plan for promoting vocations in the United States. Bednarczyk said a final report on the symposium and the proposed plans would be presented to the foundation by the end of the year and made public after a board meeting of the vocation conference in February.

Among the potential responses to this issue, said Brother Sean D. Sammon, former superior general of the Marist Brothers and former president of the Conference of Major Superiors of Men, a key ingredient in establishing "the necessary lines of communication between this population and our congregations" is the creation of a "culture of vocation promotion," including the appointment of at least one full-time vocation promoter in each of the congregation's provinces or districts.

"If General Motors or IBM faced the personnel crisis that we have had on our hands for the last few decades, they would have long ago had their best people in the work of recruiting men and women for a career with their corporations," he said. "At the same time, each of us must learn to take some responsibility for this work."

He also suggested taking advantage of "opportunities available to educate as wide a population as possible," such as with a parish adult education course on religious life yesterday and today.

"In so doing, we might consider targeting parents especially," Sammon said. "They were once one of the strongest allies of those encouraging vocations; they need to be brought into that same position again."

Another crucial factor is visibility, he said, noting that "a number of us from older generations of religious have, to a large extent, become invisible in the places in which we serve and the communities in which we live."

"If we are truly interested in improving the witness value of our way of life," he said, "a number of us will need to find some new and more effective ways to be more visible."

The Simpsons has been praised by many people from television critics to philosophy professors. Add the Vatican to the list. L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, said that the series reflects very modern notions—and confusions—about religion and spirituality.

"Rigid censors turn off the television [when the Fox program comes on], but the more serious analysts praise the realism and intelligence of its scripts, even if they often attack—and rightly so—the crude language and the violence of some episodes," the newspaper said Dec. 22.

Marking the 20th anniversary of The Simpsons, created by Matt Groening, the paper described the show as a "tender and irreverent, scandalous and ironic, boisterous and profound, philosophical—and sometimes even theological—nutty synthesis of pop culture and of the lukewarm and nihilistic American middle class."

Of the myriad themes treated in the show's almost 450 episodes, "one of the most important—and most serious" is that of God and the relationship between each person and God, done in a way that mirrors "the religious and spiritual confusion of our times," it said.

"Simultaneously reflecting modern people's indifference toward and great need for the sacred, Homer . . . finds his ultimate refuge in God"—even if he doesn't always get God's name right, it said.

The paper cited one episode in which Homer sort of prays: "I'm usually not a religious man, but if you're up there, save me, Superman."

Misnaming God actually is just a momentary lapse on Homer's part, the paper said, "because in reality the two know each other quite well.”

Homer Simpson on getting up for church:

On Sunday September 19, 2010, in Birmingham, England, Pope Benedict XVI beatified Cardinal John Henry Newman, officially recognizing him as “blessed.” In addition to his great significance for people in Great Britain and the world, Newman, writer, poet, and theologian, was particularly influential on campus ministers serving universities and colleges in the United States.

The theme for the pope's visit to the United Kingdom was Cor ad cor loquitur—“heart speaks unto heart.” Newman chose these words as the motto for his coat of arms when he became a cardinal in 1879. For Newman, true communication between people was a dialogue from heart to heart and represented the fruits of a moral life lived in communion with Christ. The relevance of that message is manifest for anyone engaged in campus ministry.

The Catholic Campus Ministry Association (CCMA) and the National Catholic Student Coalition (NCSC) are two groups that were originally founded as the U.S. Newman Foundation.

The first Newman Club in the United States was established in 1893 at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1906 Father Henry Hengells was appointed the first full-time chaplain of a Newman Club at a state university, the University of Wisconsin. Three other dioceses followed shortly thereafter.

Among the numerous Catholic student associations across the United States, many continue to carry the Newman Club name. Several campus ministries are also based in 476 Newman Houses/Centers.

“Cardinal Newman’s vision of a place on campus for integrating faith and intellectual study and creating a supportive community of Catholics guides Catholic campus ministries across our country,” said Father Martin Moran, executive director of the CCMA. “On this occasion, the members of the Catholic Campus Ministry Association join with the entire church in celebrating his life, his work, and his many legacies.”

A short report on Newman’s beatification:

For those who hoped to become a media star only to watch their dreams go unrealized when they pursued a religious vocation, there may now be hope. Father Robert Barron, a professor at the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary outside Chicago, will begin broadcasting a weekly national television show on WGN America to reach Catholics and others searching for faith and meaning in their lives. He will be the first Catholic priest since Archbishop Fulton Sheen in the 1950s and 60s to have a regular, national program on a commercial television network.

Barron runs a global media ministry called Word on Fire. His WGN America show will be called Word on Fire with Father Barron. It will premier at 8:30 a.m. Central on Sunday, October 3. It will also run on WGN Chicago at 9:30 a.m.

“Now is the time to reach out to Catholics and others who are searching for meaning in their lives or who have left the church because they are disillusioned,” Barron said. “In each episode, our mission will be to encourage believers to bring the transformative power of the gospel to the culture.”

The priest, who was ordained in 1986, has also been producing a ten-part documentary titled Catholicism, telling the story of the church through travels to 16 countries. He will preview highlights of the series in his weekly broadcasts.

“The faith of the church is our strength,” Barron said. “Our program will strive to show viewers the richness of the Catholic faith and how it is a treasure to be shared now and with future generations. The faith imbues our life with meaning and imparts to all a renewed sense of purpose.”

Funds for the WGN America program were raised through private donations. See the website for Word On Fire.

Here’s Father Barron from Word in Fire talking about the question, “Why do we believe in God?”

Last month the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University published statistics suggesting generational changes are underway within the Catholic Church that are transforming the demography of the U.S. Catholic population.

The CARA polls place Catholics into four generational groups: Pre-Vatican II (born before 1943); Vatican II (born between 1943 and 1960); Post-Vatican II (born between 1961 and 1981); and Millennial (born after 1982 and up to 1992 in order to be 18 in time for this year’s survey). The polls show some striking differences between the Pre-Vatican II group and now.

“Through a combination of immigration and different fertility rates among sub-groups of the population,” writes CARA, “racial and ethnic identities of the Catholic population now vary significantly by generation.”

By “significant” CARA means 25 percent, as in the approximate increase of Hispanic Catholics and the approximate decrease of non-Hispanic white Catholics between the Post-Vatican II and Millennial generations. Perhaps the most telling statistic in terms of how much the U.S. Catholic Church has changed is that among the Pre-Vatican II generation Hispanics account for only 15 percent of that population, while whites account for 75 percent. Among Millennials in the survey, Hispanics account for 54 percent of the U.S. Catholic population.

In the other races included in the survey—African American, Native American, and Asian/Pacific Islander—very negligible shifts were found, with those groups hovering between 1 to 4 percent of Catholics in the U.S.

Not many Hollywood directors or actors use films as a platform to examine their faith. On September 10, however, The Way, directed by Emilio Estevez and starring his father Martin Sheen, will premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.

According to Estevez, The Way is about genuine American spirituality. What started as a brief outline became 40 or 50 pages of script and led Estevez to read as many books as possible about the Camino pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Journalist Jack Hitt's book Off the Road: A Modern-Day Walk Down the Pilgrim's Route into Spain captured Estevez's imagination and helped shape the story. By this time, Estevez had a full-fledged project he had never wanted to do.

Martin Sheen plays a 70-year-old American doctor who travels to Spain to claim the body of his son, who died halfway through the famous pilgrimage. The grieving father decides to complete the walk his son began and falls in with an oddball group of companions: an Irishman angry with the church; a cynical Canadian woman looking for some vague redemption; and a Dutchman who just seems lost.

Estevez' characters in The Way are all wondering about meaning in their lives. "None of these characters is in any way perfect. In fact they're all flawed, broken, and not particularly attractive. They're difficult to be around—for each other anyway," he said. "Ultimately, what they discover is that it is a community, a global community, and they are emblematic of that. And we can't do it alone. We can't walk this earth by ourselves. We need community. We need faith. We ultimately need each other."

A father burying his son and then walking for weeks through a foreign country may seem like a pretty grim premise for a movie, but Estevez said he believes he has made a film about American resilience.

"America will bounce back," he said. "Because of our resilience, because of our faith and our hope. I think faith plays an enormous part of it."

The movie's website. Also, the Spanish-language trailer:

I have visited the Sistine Chapel, and I’m glad I did. Those who have yet to make a trip there, however, may have to weigh the value of their personal experience with the efforts to maintain Michelangelo’s masterpiece.

After a summer-long project to remove four years of dust from the chapel’s walls and ceiling, Vatican Museum director Antonio Paolucci is cautioning that “excessive” traffic without sufficient countermeasures could lead to significant damage down the line.

Paolucci described the massive endeavor to the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, an undertaking that took 30 specialists working in rotation during the night nearly a month to complete. He also noted that the staff removed “unimaginable quantities of dust and sediment” that had collected on surfaces, the result of an average of 20,000 visitors per day.

Paolucci explained that there is "excessive anthropic pressure"—that is, too many visitors—for the climate and pollution control measures that are currently in place.

"If we want to conserve the Sistine in acceptable conditions for the next generations," Paolucci warned, "this is the challenge that we must defeat. . . ." This challenge is "more arduous," he added, than the one posed by the restoration.

Ironically, there was also an article in the same newspaper on another day announcing the extension of visiting hours on certain days in September to include evening visits.

Here’s what it’s like to visit the Sistine Chapel as a tourist. The video’s poster commented: “The Sistine Chapel is gorgeous but no one is very reverent. They pack in tons of people and it is very loud and very hot.”

According to the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, a number of contemplative communities in the Holy Land are now accepting e-mail prayer requests, says the Zenit news agency.

In a statement, the patriarchate—the diocese for about 70,000 Latin Rite Catholics in Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Jordan, and Cyprus—acknowledged these prayer intentions "may be very important to you and this is the reason why you want to entrust them to the people who have devoted their life to God and who live and pray in the Holy Land."

The statement also quoted the upcoming synod of bishops for the Middle East, which states that "the first mission of the monks and moniales [cloistered religious] is the prayer and intercession for society."

The patriarchate invited the faithful to send their prayer requests to one or several of the religious communities. It noted: "You can entrust them your prayers, specifying the details you want to communicate. All this will stay private and only be known by you and the community!"

Here are the communities' email addresses given by the patriarchate:
• Poor Clares, Nazareth: clairemarie1884@bezeqint.net
• Carmelites, Mount Carmel, Haifa: zanotiel@netvision.net.il
• Nuns of the Emmanuel, Bethlehem: community@emmanuelmonastery.org
• Bridgettine Sisters, Bethlehem: brigida@p-ol.com
• Silent Workers of the Cross, Mater Misericordiae, Jerusalem: betaniasilenziosi@yahoo.com
• Benedictines, Mount of Olives, Jerusalem: benetur@netvision.net.il
• Poor Clares, Jerusalem: mi.yesh@gmail.com
• Carmelites of the Pater, Jerusalem: edcarmelpn@live.com
• Nuns of Bethlehem, Bet Gemal, Bet Shemesh: midbar@gmail.com
• Little Family of the Resurrection, Jerusalem: pfrjer@alqudsnet.com

Hagia Maria Sion Abbey, a Benedictine abbey in Jerusalem just outside the walls of the Old City near the Zion Gate:

THE UNIVERSITY of Notre Dame was the top-ranked Catholic university in the recent U.S. News rankings

The U.S. News and World Report rankings of U.S. colleges for 2010 listed many Catholic universities and colleges in the highest level of schools for 2010. The University of Notre Dame was the top-ranked Catholic school at 19th on the overall list. Georgetown University came in at 21st. Boston College ranked 31st, and Fordham University took 56th. Marquette University ranked 75th, St. Louis University 86th, and the University of Dayton 99th.

Loyola University Chicago tied with the University of San Francisco at 117th. The Catholic University of America and Duquense University also tied at 120th. St. Thomas University (St. Paul, Minn.) followed at 124th. DePaul University and Seton Hall University tied at 136th, while St. John’s University (Jamaica, N.Y.) took the 143rd spot. Immaculata University ranked 176th, and St. Mary’s University of Minnesota at 183rd was the final Catholic school in the magazine’s tier-one listing. Others were listed among tier-two schools.

Among the best liberal arts schools, the College of Holy Cross ranked first among Catholic colleges at 32nd. St. John’s University (Collegeville, Minn.) followed at 62nd. Thomas Aquinas College (Santa Paula, Calif.) ranked 71st. The College of St. Benedict (St. Joseph, Minn.) came in at 81. St. Mary’s College (Notre Dame, Ind.) tied with St. Michael’s College for 93rd place. Siena College (Loudonville, N.Y.) took the 114th spot. St. Anselm College was 122th, St. Norbert College followed at 127th, and St. Vincent College (Latrobe, Pa.) ranked 152nd.

THE POPE'S chair under construction

Some teachers in Coventry, England are doing their part to give the beatification Mass of Cardinal John Henry Newman a sense of hometown flavor. During the Mass on September 9, Pope Benedict XVI will sit on a chair designed and crafted by Ian Hall, deputy head at Cardinal Newman School, who had the help of two other staff members. The team has been working for three months to build not only the chair but three altars and a lectern that will also be used for the Mass, says England’s catholicherald.co.uk.

Hall said he wanted people to understand that the project was “not just about making pieces of furniture. I’m a golf fanatic and for me it’s like being asked to play in the Ryder Cup," he said. It’s a way of giving something back to the faith. My children will be able to see it and say ‘my dad made that’.”

The eight-foot chair will be fitted with stained-glass panels depicting the images on the papal coat of arms: a bear, a Moor’s head, and the keys of Saint Peter. The scallop shell on the velour cover is also taken from the papal crest. The three altars, which will be finished next week, will be made out of white ash and also have stained glass. Side by side they will measure 18 feet across.

Hall got involved in the project after Father Timothy Menezes, parish priest of St. Thomas More in Coventry, asked the school’s head teacher if she knew anyone who was up to the job. The designs were approved by officials at the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales.

Catholic sisters in India attend a continuing education program

Although India is an overwhelmingly Hindu and Islamic country, a recent report by Catholic Culture showed that the country led the world in the number of vocations to women’s life in the Catholic Church. India recorded an increase of 9,398 women religious from 2002-2007. In addition to India, the rest of Asia made considerable gains in the number of female religious since 2000. Vietnam saw an increase of 2,545 sisters, while South Korea and the Philippines had increases of about 500.

There was also an upward trend in Africa, where the numbers of sisters in Tanzania and the Congo grew by about 1,500. Nigeria, Madagascar, Kenya, and Angola added 500 to 800 sisters.

In Europe, the Americas, and Oceania, however, there was a downward trend. Overall, 99 nations have seen increases in women’s vocations since 2000. Unfortunately, these gains have not been able to offset the 4.6 percent decline among Western religious sisters. Italy, for example, lost 11,156 sisters from 2002-2007. The United States experienced a loss of 10,454 during the same period.

Currently there are about 750,000 religious sisters serving around the world.

On August 26 the iconic Peace Bridge near Niagara Falls will be lit in blue and white in honor of Mother Teresa, who died in 1997 and is currently under consideration for sainthood. The bridge is being lit as the result of a joint request from the Dioceses of Buffalo and Saint Catharine’s, Ontario.

"We get numerous requests such as this," said Ron Rienas, general manager of the Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority, which runs the Peace Bridge. "We did not take the view that this was a religious request. It's really commemorating the charitable works of Mother Teresa."

The request "seemed fitting," given that Mother Teresa was "certainly a woman of peace," said Kevin A. Keenan, spokesman for the Buffalo diocese. "This is symbolic in that Blessed Mother Teresa's light continues to shine around the world."

The Peace Bridge, which spans the Niagara River connecting Buffalo and Fort Erie, Ontario, received a lighting makeover in 2009 that allows for color-changing lights nightly. Nearly 700 light-emitting diode fixtures replaced floodlights on the 1927 steel arch bridge, creating a dramatic new look at night, typically between 9 p.m. and 1 a.m.

Rienas said the requested tribute for Mother Teresa did not appear to be controversial. "Regardless of anyone's religious background, I don't think anyone can argue with the good works that Mother Teresa did. That's the viewpoint we took," he said.

The manner in which this request was handled is in stark contrast to a similar one a few weeks ago to have the Empire State Building in New York City lit to commemorate Mother Teresa. The request was denied, which resulted in protests by some Catholics and eventually led to the joint request by Bishop Edward Kmiec of the Buffalo diocese and Monsignor Wayne Kirkpatrick of the St. Catharine’s diocese for the lighting of the Peace Bridge.

The Peace Bridge LED Lighting System:

 

 

 

FATHER DAVE Korth, executive director of St. Augustine Indian Mission in Winnebago, Nebraska, and senior associate pastor of four parishes in the Winnebago area, with his Priesthood Trading Card. Photo by Lisa Maxson and Shannon R.A. Tarvin/staff of the Omaha Catholic Voice.

Four mothers from Omaha are taking a unique approach to promoting vocations to the priesthood: collectible priest trading cards. Diane Anderson, one of the moms involved with the project, said, "We wanted to take something secular and put a holy twist to it. We wanted to make it personal, something fun, but something holy as well."

The cards will feature photos and statistics of priests serving in the Archdiocese of Omaha. Anderson, along with Lori Mellender, Cathy Hula, and Melia Vankat, said they thought the cards were a fun way for children, especially boys, to participate in a popular hobby and at the same time learn about local priests and possibly gain interest in the priesthood.

Both active and retired priests have been asked to provide information for the cards. The information includes ordination date, hobbies, favorite prayers and patron saints, and desired charism (blessing or talent the priest has to offer). Cards are published only with the permission of the priest.

Custom-TradingCards.com is printing and packaging the cards, which are being sold in packs of eight at local Catholic bookstores and through card-project coordinators. Packs sell for $1.Each pack includes a card with a picture of St. John Vianney, patron saint of priests, and a prayer for priests.

According to Mellender, the project's goal is to encourage children to collect every priest's card, as well as open their hearts to the call to the priesthood.” We want them to understand that God calls ordinary men to do something extraordinary," she said.

Anderson added that the idea of a vocation is somewhat philosophical, so making note of the humanity of each priest may help boys relate and aspire to be a priest. "We need more vocations within our archdiocese, and I personally think that the younger you start to talk to boys about the possibility of a vocation to the priesthood, the more open they are to it," Anderson said.

There is no word yet on what a complete set of the cards might be worth in 20 years.

 

As of May 2010 musician Lady Gaga has sold over 15 million records for Universal Music. Universal Music and its subsidiary label, Decca Records, are now hoping that an order of Benedictine nuns will be able to produce similar success. The women religious of the Abbaye de Notre-Dame de l'Annonciation in France won a global search of more than 70 convents across Europe, the U.S. and Africa. The order was chosen as the finest Gregorian chant singers in the world.

This order dates back to the 6th century and, staying true to their reclusive tradition, the nuns did not seek out a record contract. “We never sought this, it came looking for us,” said the Reverend Mother Abbess. "At first we were worried it would affect our cloistered life, so we asked Saint Joseph in prayer. Our prayers were answered, and we thought that this album would be a good thing if it touches people's lives and helps them find peace."

The order’s strict rules also meant that Decca Records managing director Dickon Stainer was unable to enter their cloister to sign the contract. "I passed the contract through the grille, they signed it and passed it back," he said.

The sisters' album, Voice: Chant From Avignon, will be released in November. Decca is hoping to repeat the sales of the Cistercian Monks of Stift Heiligenkreuz, whose 2008 album, Chant: Music for Paradise, has sold more than one million copies.

Pope Benedict XVI

This past April, Pope Benedict XVI became the seventh-oldest pope since reliable records began being collected in the year 1400. Benedict XVI, now 83, moved just behind John Paul II who died at 84 years of age. Anura Guruge, an IBM information systems expert, posted a table that ranked the oldest known popes on his website www.popes-and-papacy.com.

Guruge did not consider popes who were in office before 1400 as those records “are either unreliable or unavailable and as such are impractical for meaningful analysis.”

Should Benedict XVI remain pope until 2015, he will move into second place behind Clement XII who was 87 at the time of his death. The oldest modern pope, Leo XIII, lived to be 93.

Benedict XVI was elected pope April 15, 2005 three days after his 78th birthday. He was the fifth oldest pope ever to be elected and the oldest in the past 274 years.

During a 2008 homily, Benedict reflected on a passage from the Book of Wisdom on age: “The world reputes that he who lives a long life is fortunate, but God, more than at age, looks at the rectitude of the heart. God,” he said, “is the true wisdom that does not age, he is the genuine richness that does not spoil, he is the happiness to which the heart of every [person] aspires profoundly.”