Page 1862 – Archdiocese of Baltimore

WASHINGTON – Hanley Denning, known in Guatemala as “the angel of the garbage dump” because she helped poor children escape garbage picking as a livelihood, died in a car crash in Guatemala. Five days after her Jan. 18 death at age 36, a documentary featuring Ms. Denning was nominated for an Oscar. Ms. Denning died from injuries suffered when the car she was in collided with a bus on a mountain road outside of Guatemala City. She was a native of Yarmouth, Maine.

St. Vincent de Paul Society backs anti-poverty effort

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.

Postcards, school support help student fight his cancer

LIGONIER, Pa. – While sixth-grader Chad Scanlon has been battling a cancerous brain tumor he has kept his focus on other things, including collecting postcards from all 50 states and every country around the world. The student at Holy Trinity School in Ligonier became intrigued with atlases and geography, so much so that he created his own atlas last summer. He and his family, parishioners of St. Boniface Parish in Chestnut Ridge, traveled to Belgium and several states before he became ill. “I’m a big geography person and I like postcards because I can see the scenery,” said Chad, the son of James and Marie Paule Scanlon.

Christian infighting escalates

BEIRUT, Lebanon – When clashes broke out during a nationwide strike in Lebanon, some of the worst fighting rocked Christian areas, where rival factions live cheek by jowl. Some Lebanese Christians support the Syrian-backed Hezbollah movement and its Shiite Muslim allies, whose strike aimed to topple the country’s U.S.-supported Cabinet. Others have aligned themselves with the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, a Sunni Muslim.

A million reasons to celebrate

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.

Notre Dame task force issues report on schools

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.

Students create calendars for computers

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.

U.S. urged to improve relations with Cuba

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.

Schools find priceless help in volunteers

When it comes to the worth of St. Ursula School volunteers, Sister Joan Kelly, S.N.D. de N., says she could never “put a dollar figure on it.” “They help as classroom volunteers, they work in the library, and they work in the lunchroom and schoolyard,” the principal of the Parkville school said. “They assist in the art room; they open car doors in the morning. They organize and run all fundraisers.” They also save the school money, the principal acknowledged. “Our whole building was wired for computers by a parent,” she noted.

Culture of life means changing hearts

WASHINGTON – “A true culture of life cannot be built by changing laws alone. We’ve all got to work to change hearts,” President George W. Bush told tens of thousands of participants in the 34th annual March for Life Jan. 22. President Bush spoke by phone at the beginning of a two-hour rally on the National Mall preceding the marchers’ slow, peaceful trek around the Capitol to the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court. With temperatures hovering right around freezing, the marchers packing several square blocks of the Mall and overflowing onto side streets turned the previous day’s snowfall into acres of muddy slush.

New book offers inside glimpse of John Paul II’s life

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.

Bishop leaves parish, urges ongoing peace, justice work