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When third-grader Tabitha Gregory considered selections for a biography project at Mother Seton School, Emmitsburg, her mother helped her decide on first lady Laura Bush. Tabitha said she found it interesting that the first lady grew up in Texas, worked at a library, liked reading, attended the funeral of Pope John Paul II, and has the president of the United States for a husband. On the day of her oral presentation, Tabitha dressed as Mrs. Bush as she reported facts and photos to the class. Tabitha again chose the first lady several months later in art class when she was required to create a plaster sculpture.

ST. LOUIS – The new Campaign to Reduce Poverty in America launched by Catholic Charities USA is getting support from the public policy agency of the Missouri bishops and from the Society of St. Vincent de Paul’s national council. “Any way Catholic Charities and others can bring their direct experience of working with the poor to the Capitol building both here and in Washington, D.C., that’s all the better,” said Mike Hoey of the Missouri Catholic Conference, based in Jefferson City. Too often discussions of economic policy focus solely on numbers, Mr. Hoey said. The right question is how the policy will affect people and how they can be protected, he added.

Woodmont Academy, Cooksville, met and exceeded a fundraising challenge issued by The Cunningham Family Foundation. Thomas C. Cunningham, a parent of four Woodmont students, committed to donate at least $900,000 to the school’s capital campaign, Building Faith … Forming Leaders, reliant upon the school raising $1 million on its own by the end of 2006.

WASHINGTON – For today’s Catholic schools to thrive, school officials must rethink traditional ways of operating and try innovative approaches, said a report highlighting the current challenges facing Catholic schools. The report also calls on the Catholic community at large to play a key role in restoring its schools. The 32-page report, “Making God Known, Loved, and Served: The Future of Catholic Primary and Secondary Schools in the United States,” was prepared by the University of Notre Dame Task Force on Catholic Education – a group of educators, administrators, diocesan representatives, philanthropists and investment specialists.

Seventh grader Cecelia Cellini was concerned with more than playing during recess one weekday afternoon. Instead, she busily collected students’ signatures who were as frustrated as she with the quality of the computers in their school’s computer lab. The result culminated in a “St. John 2007 Calendar” which has raised more than $10,000 to date for St. John Catholic School, Westminster.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. government should emulate the Catholic Church and look for a dramatic way to improve relations with Cuba, said a U.S. lawmaker after returning from a fact-finding trip to the Caribbean island. Rep. James McGovern, D-Mass., cited the 1998 trip to Cuba by Pope John Paul II and said it had a “dramatic impact” on improving the church’s situation in the communist-ruled country. “The pope’s visit opened things up for the church,” said Rep. McGovern at a Jan. 23 panel discussion in Washington on U.S.-Cuban relations. “We should learn by that example,” he said.

ROME – Pope John Paul II consulted with top aides about possibly resigning in 2000 and set up a “specific procedure” for papal resignation, says a new book by the pope’s former secretary. The pope eventually decided that it was God’s will that he stay in office, despite the illness that left him more and more debilitated, wrote Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz of Krakow, Poland, the late pope’s closest aide. In the book, “A Life With Karol,” Cardinal Dziwisz offers an inside glimpse at key moments of Pope John Paul’s life in Poland and his 26-year pontificate. The book was being published in Polish and Italian in late January.