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The Southern Cross, Page 2 In Jordan, pope walks IN FOOTSTEPS OF SAINT John the Baptist Amman, Jordan (CNS) R eading from chapters of salva tion history in the Holy Land of Jordan, Pope John Paul II evoked Saint John the Baptist as a sure guide for Christians of all ages, then walked in his footsteps near the Jordan River. During a Mass in an Amman soccer stadium March 21 for 20,000 Jordanian Catholics, the pope recalled how John the Baptist, an itinerant preacher, had prepared Christ’s path throughout the river val ley more than 2,000 years ago. “We look for a guide to show us the way. And there comes to meet us the fig ure of John the Baptist, a voice that cries in the wilderness,” the pope said. Cardinal announces opening of Dorothy Day’s sainthood cause New York (CNS) C ardinal John J. O’Connor of New York announced “with great joy” that the Vatican had approved open ing the cause for canonization of Dorothy Day, the Catholic Worker leader who died in 1980. “With this approval comes the title Servant of God,” he wrote in his March 16 col umn in his archdiocesan weekly newspaper, Catholic New York. “What a gift to the church in New York and to the church universal this is!” On the same day, Bishop Joseph A. Fiorenza of Galveston-Houston, Texas, president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, issued a statement calling the Vatican approval “a blessed moment for the church in the United States.” Religious leaders laud PAPAL APOLOGY Washington (CNS) P ope John Paul II’s jubilee-year apology for wrongs committed by Catholics has drawn strong praise from U.S. religious leaders including two national rabbinical groups. In a joint statement the Central Conference of American Rabbis (Reform) and the Rabbinical Assembly (Conservative) hailed the pope’s “inspiring leadership” and “courageous strides in working to heal the historic breach that has sepa rated our communities.” In a separate statement the Executive Committee of the Rabbinic Committee for Interreligious Dialogue called the pope’s expression of sorrow a “revo lutionary and epic-making confes sion.” Prelate discusses steps TO BE TAKEN AFTER SEMINARY DEAN’S ARREST San Francisco (CNS) A rchbishop William J. Levada of San Francisco issued an open letter March 10 outlining steps to ad dress issues surrounding the arrest of a seminary official for alleged involvement in soliciting sex with minors over the Internet. Father Carl A. Schipper, 57, a priest of the San Francisco Archdiocese and the acade mic dean at Saint Patrick Seminary in Menlo Park, was arrested at his Santa Rosa home March 2. He also alleged ly used the Internet to distribute ille gal materials. The arrest followed a six-month investigation during which investigators in the San Jose Police Department’s sexual assault unit posed as young boys on the Internet and were allegedly in contact with the priest. Study shows private SCHOOL VOUCHERS HELP D.C. CHILDREN EXCEL Washington (CNS) A recent Harvard University study reveals that African American students in grades 2 to 5 attending private or Catholics schools in Wa shington with the help of financial aid scored higher in math and reading than their peers in public schools. The 810-student survey compared Washington Scholarship Fund recipi ents—who are students living in the District of Columbia randomly selec ted by lottery to receive tuition vou chers—with those students who did not get chosen and remained in pub lic schools. The students were tested about six to seven months after enter ing a private or Catholic school. Ap proximately 70 percent of all Wash ington Scholarship Fund recipients attend Catholic schools. Religion good for MARRIAGE, RESEARCHER SAYS Washington (CNS) 4 413 eligion is good for marriage,” JXj'esearcher Michael Lawler said at a meeting March 16 on min istry to interchurch marriages. “Churches have to be involved in marriage preparation as extensively as they can be,” said Lawler, a theol ogy professor at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, and director of the university’s Center for Marriage and Family. The meeting focused on a national study Lawler conducted comparing interchurch and same- church marriages. One of the study’s findings, Lawler said, was that joint involvement in religious activities was one of the “three greatest predic tors of marital stability.” The second predictor was, he said: the fewer reli gious differences a couple had, the less likely they were to end up sepa rated or divorced. He said the third biggest factor was whether the per son’s family approved of the spouse when they got married. Interview with priest’s KILLER CREATES STIR in Poland Warsaw (CNS) A Polish TV director resigned in the wake of an interview in which a former secret police agent joked about his role in the murder of a popular priest. Poland’s state TV chairman, Robert Kwiatkowski, said he had suspended the head of pro grams in the central city of Lodz for the March 9 interview, which was filmed while the ex-agent, Grzegorz Thursday, March 23, 2000 Piotrowski, was on leave from jail. The director later resigned. Piotrowski was jailed for 25 years for the 1984 kidnap and murder of Father Jerzy Popieluszko, a popular priest linked to the then-outlawed Solidarity movement. Piotrowski is due for release in August 2001 because of good-conduct reports. Florida judge OVERTURNS OPPORTUNITY Scholarship Program Tallahassee (CNS) A Florida judge’s ruling March 14 that the use of public funds in private schools is unconstitutional puts the Opportunity Scholarship Program supported by the Florida bishops and Gov. Jeb Bush on the path to higher courts. Michael McCarron, executive director of the Florida Catholic Conference, said the case will likely end up at the Florida Supreme Court. Larry D. Keough, associate for education at the confer ence, expressed disappointment at the ruling by Circuit Judge L. Ralph Smith of Tallahassee that struck down Florida’s less than year-old Opportunity Scholarship Program. Vatican criticizes European Parliament VOTE ON GAY RIGHTS Vatican City (CNS) T he Vatican strongly criticized a European Parliament vote recog nizing the legal rights of gay couples, calling it an attack on the institution of the family. “This resolution repre sents a serious and repeated attack against the family, which is founded on marriage,” said a March 17 state ment by the Pontifical Council for the Family. The European Parliament, in a 251-169 vote March 16, urged member states to extend the same legal status as married cou ples to couples who live together, whether heterosexual or homosexual. For more information call The Southern Cross (912)238-2320 Name. To Subscribe Send this in to your parish, together with your check for $15, made out to the parish. Address I Phone ( ) I ■ Parish I I : i O 1 ith (USPS 505 680) Deadline: All material for publication on Publisher: Thursday must be received at the latest by noon Most Rev. J. Kevin Boland, D.D. on the previous Friday. 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