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VATICAN CITY – It’s not every day a person gets a call from the Vatican, and most people would be bowled over when it happens. The late Mario Luzi, who as a prolific Italian poet shouldn’t have been at a loss for words, was “flabbergasted” when the Vatican called him up saying Pope John Paul II wanted him to pen the meditations for the pope’s 1999 Good Friday Way of the Cross, an event watched each year by millions of people around the world.

Among the many ways of communicating the good news of the Gospel is radio. A radio Mass brings the Gospel into many homes in the Baltimore area every Sunday. On March 18 I had the privilege of celebrating a radio Mass and preaching at St. Ignatius Church. The pastor, Father James Casciotti, S.J., welcomed me to the special studio which is the weekly scene of the Mass. The Gospel readings that day told the story of the Prodigal Son, although it really shows God as the Merciful Father, who forgives the failings of the son, embraces him, and has the fatted calf killed to celebrate his return.

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI encouraged today’s priests to be inspired by Christ’s sacrifice and love for others as they face their “tremendously heavy” burden of pastoral responsibilities. The pope made the comments April 5 at a chrism Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, where he led more than 1,000 priests and bishops in a renewal of their ordination promises. The pope, presiding over the first of two Holy Thursday liturgies, blessed the chrism and the oils used in the sacraments of baptism, confirmation, ordination and the anointing of the sick.

PERTH, Australia – The Catholic doctor who with his wife pioneered a revolutionary new church-backed method for couples to avoid or achieve conception died April 1 at a retirement home in the Melbourne suburb of Richmond. No cause of death was given for Dr. John Billings, who was 89.

SYDNEY, Australia – The earthquake and tsunami that struck the Solomon Islands have made many fearful of widespread disease and hunger among the coastal communities sheltered on high ground. Fresh-water tanks have spoiled, increasing the risk of water-borne diseases that could spread among the thousands of people who lost their homes in the April 2 tsunami. The Associated Press reported April 4 that aid workers already had reported cases of diarrhea, which they said could be a sign of more diseases to come.

The Monsignor O’Dwyer Retreat House, Sparks, was awarded $7,500 from the Koch Foundation in Florida to support 60 confirmation retreats for parish religious education programs. In turn, the retreat house awarded 20 retreats (an overnight stay and two meals) each to three parishes demonstrating a financial need: Our Lady of Hope, Dundalk; St. Bernardine, Baltimore; and St. Thomas Aquinas, Hampden, who are making a difference in the lives of young people, according to retreat house director Father Martin S. Nocchi.

In the bitter cold, Charlie Fink and volunteers from the South County Faith Network built a large ramp for an elderly man who was having trouble getting in and out of his house. About three years ago Father Mark Logue, pastor of Our Lady of Sorrows, Owensville, asked Mr. Fink, a retired nuclear engineer and active parishioner, to serve as chairman for the parish group that was becoming involved with the SCFN. SCFN is an organizatio

The Office of the Propagation of the Faith is inviting teens ages 16 to 18 to apply for a service journey to El Salvador, July 22-29. “I want to expose the youth of the archdiocese to another culture while assessing the needs both spiritually and physically of the people of the Diocese of Chalatenango,” said Deacon Rodrigue Mortel, M.D., director of the Office of the Propagation of the Faith and the Baltimore-Haiti Solidarity Project.

Chris Cook’s grandfather and uncle both thought about becoming priests. Each joined the seminary before falling in love and getting married. Now at the age of 13, Chris feels a calling to the priesthood and he thinks the third time could be a charm.

Third-grade teacher aide and lunchroom monitor Maureen Bodensteiner can still do splits and cartwheels, talents leftover from her days as a cheerleading squad captain. Wearing a 1960’s flip-styled hair and sporting pom-poms, she played cheerleader along with 11 other teachers during the first annual Resurrection/St. Paul School, Ellicott City, student and faculty/staff basketball game held at Mount Hebron High School March 29. Thirty-five eighth graders and 20 faculty/staff members put sneakers to the court in front of 650 spectators to raise more than $2,700 to benefit The Believe In Tomorrow House at St. Casimir, Baltimore, affiliated with John’s Hopkins Children’s Center (visit www.believeintomorrow.org).

VATICAN CITY – The working world must not just be about competition and productivity; today’s workers must also make room for charity and defending human dignity, said Pope Benedict XVI. “Today more than ever it’s urgent and necessary” to live as Christians in the workplace and to become “apostles among workers,” the pope said. “Becoming more competitive and productive is not the only thing that matters,” he said in a message to young people. “Paying charitable witness” in the workplace and elsewhere is necessary, he said.