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The Southern Cross, Page 2
Major study of
Catholicism’s role in
PUBLIC LIFE LAUNCHED
Washington (CNS)
ith a $1.5 million grant from
The Pew Charitable Trusts,
two independent Catholic organiza
tions are undertaking a three-year
study of “American Catholics in the
Public Square.” The study will seek
to identify distinctive elements in the
approach of Catholics to civic life
and find ways the Catholic presence
in the public arena—in politics, busi
ness, economics and other fields—
might become more robust and effec
tive. Catholics, numbering more than
60 million, form America’s largest
single religious group. Of particular
interest to the researchers will be
analysis of whether, and how, distinc
tively Catholic traditions of civic
involvement are or are not being
passed on to new generations.
Cincinnati priest
NAMED AUXILIARY BISHOP
IN MILITARY ARCHDIOCESE
Washington (CNS)
onsignor John J. Raising of
Cincinnati, who served as an
Army chaplain for 28 years, has been
named an auxiliary bishop for the
Archdiocese for the Military Services
by Pope John Paul II. The appoint
ment was announced February 21 in
Washington by Monsignor Nicola
Girasoli, charge d’affaires at the
apostolic nunciature. Bishop-elect
Headline
Raising, 63, was an Army chaplain
from 1970 to 1998, serving from
1994 to 1998 as executive assistant to
the Army chief of chaplains with the
rank of colonel. Since then he has
been pastor of Saint Dominic Church
in Cincinnati.
Priest beaten with
CROSS, STABBED IN HIS
Buffalo church
Buffalo, NY (CNS)
parish priest in the Buffalo Dio
cese was beaten with a cross and
stabbed with a holy water sprinkler
February 14 by a man who told po
lice he wanted to kill the clergyman.
Father Arthur J. Mattulke, 30, was
attacked at about 6:30 a.m. on Valen
tine’s Day at Saint Margaret’s
Church. He was hospitalized over
night with a puncture wound to the
back, and contusions and abrasions to
the head. He was released February
15. The priest was assaulted not long
after the front doors of the church
were opened for morning Mass, ac
cording to police.
Pope to lead
“mental pilgrimage”
to Abraham’s
BIRTHPLACE
Vatican City (CNS)
nable to visit Iraq, Pope John
Paul II said he will lead a spe
cial mental pilgrimage to the land of
Abraham’s birth. “This will be the
beginning of my jubilee pilgrimage
to the places linked to the biblical
account of God's interventions in his
tory,” the pope said February 16 at
his weekly general audience. The
pope said he would lead a special
reflection on the life and faith of
Abraham February 23 at the Vatican.
Pope John Paul was scheduled to
travel to holy sites in Egypt February
24-26 and in Jordan, Israel and the
Palestinian territories March 20-26.
Melkite patriarch
PARTIALLY PARALYZED
AFTER STROKE
Jerusalem (CNS)
elkite Catholic Patriarch
Maximos V Hakim, 91, was
hospitalized and his condition was
worsening. Melkite Archbishop
Loutfi Laham of Jerusalem said the
patriarch, who was hospitalized
February 16 in Beirut, Lebanon, suf
fered a stroke and is paralyzed on
one side. The patriarch has been ill
since November, he said. “He is a
real patriarch; he has reached a bibli
cal age,” said Archbishop Laham.
“We pray and console each other to
see what we can do for the good of
the church in this world and the Arab
world.”
Diocese reaches out
to Hispanic couples
MARRIED OUTSIDE
CHURCH
Arlington, VA (CNS)
he Arlington Diocese has begun
a marriage program inviting
Hispanic Catholic couples who have
Thursday, February 24, 2000
married outside the Catholic Church
to have their unions validated by the
church. Father Ovidio Pecharroman,
director of the diocesan Spanish
Apostolate, calls it “a much-needed
re-evangelization effort.” He esti
mates that only eight out of every
100 Hispanic couples in the Northern
Virginia diocese are married in the
church, even though most say they
are Catholic. Analysts estimate there
are about 200,000 Hispanics in the
diocese. They regularly send their
children to local parishes to learn
basic Catholic teachings, but a vast
majority of their parents were mar
ried in a civil ceremony or are not
married.
Dallas high school
SOCCER TEAMMATES MAKE
MAJOR LEAGUE
Dallas (CNS)
t was a dream come true February
5 when Major League Soccer
teams drafted two young men who
were soccer standouts together while
students at a Dallas Catholic high
school. Nick Garcia and Dominic
Schell, who played together at
Bishop Lynch High School in the
mid-1990s, were drafted by the
Kansas City Wizards and the Colum
bus Crew, respectively. Both players
won the Texas Association of Private
and Parochial Schools state title in
1995. Garcia led the Lynch Friars to
the state title again in 1996.
Diocese receives $25,000 in disaster relief from Catholic Extension Society
Camilla
hough on a mission trip to Samoa, Monsignor
Kenneth Velo, president of Catholic Extension,
was quick to issue a check for $25,000 to the
Diocese of Savannah, following last Monday’s
devastating tornados. “Word of the devastation
traveled quickly,” said Monsignor Velo. “We sim
ply need to help these people. Catholic Extension,
for many decades, has supported missionary work
in America. We will also continue to be responsive
to people who fall victim to natural disaster.”
“A local trailer park was completely devastated,”
said Savannah Diocese director of communications
Barbara King. “This series of tornadoes—five
miles wide in some instances—killed 18 people
and injured 100 or more. People need our help and
we are grateful to Catholic Extension for such a
prompt response.”
The twisters were powerful, leaving four counties
flattened. Up to 1,000 relief workers and local vol
unteers continue to clear wreckage, restore power,
and provide food and water to survivors of the
deadliest tornados to hit this region since 1944.
“For more than 50 years, Catholic Extension has
contributed to the growth of Catholicism in south
Georgia by funding the construction of mission
churches,” Bishop J. Kevin Boland said. “Now in
the aftermath of the horrendous tornado that ripped
through the southwest portion of our diocese,
Catholic Extension has once again stepped in to
offer a helping hand.
“We are grateful that our churches and parish
ioners in the area were not in the path of the
storm,” he added. “This generous grant will allow
Catholics in the Camilla and Moultrie areas to
reach out to their neighbors who have lost family
members, suffered injuries, and experienced loss of
their homes and job sites.”
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