Page 1812 – Archdiocese of Baltimore

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI has approved stricter guidelines for determining which saints will be remembered with mandatory feast days throughout the Latin-rite calendar of the Catholic Church. The General Roman Calendar, the universal schedule of holy days and feast days, is so packed that more selectivity is needed, according to new norms and a commentary published in the official bulletin of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments. The pope determines who makes the universal calendar based on recommendations from the congregation, the commentary said. And, according to the new norms published in the bulletin in mid-May, those recommendations will be more difficult to obtain.

‘Tsunami of pornography’ debases human dignity

SAN FRANCISCO – Describing what he sees as an “electronic tsunami of pornography,” Archbishop George H. Niederauer of San Francisco told a Utah-based anti-pornography organization that pornography “debases the priceless worth and dignity of each human being and (God’s) gift of human sexuality.” While pornography “is not a new challenge,” the archbishop told members of the Lighted Candle Society at its annual awards dinner in Salt Lake City May 8, “the explosive increase in the accessibility and availability of pornography is new and deeply troubling.” “Every computer terminal is its pipeline, and cell phones and other hand-held devices, many of them marketed to children and young people, literally deliver pornography everywhere, to anyone,” he said in his keynote address.

Flowers, fruits and vegetables flourish at Gallagher Services

Catonsville resident Jeanne Marie Hannon doesn’t mind getting her hands dirty if it means slowly watching the plants at Catholic Charities’ Gallagher Services in Timonium transform into colorful flowers or luscious vegetables. Cultivating plant life for the summer is an annual tradition for the St. Agnes, Catonsville, parishioner and client of the residential and day program for people with developmental disabilities, and she was proud to contribute to Gallagher Services’ two-day annual flower sale during the second weekend in May.

Sometimes actions are better than words

In the past 23 years, Bel Air resident Sean P. Tully experienced the deaths of both his father and a brother and noticed some people were more comfortable than others when dealing him during his initial time of mourning. In the days of viewings, prayer vigils and the eventual funeral and interment services, the 41-year-old St. Margaret, Bel Air, parishioner vividly recalls the ease some people had in comforting him and his family and the distress that others experienced. “It’s just one of those things,” said Mr. Tully, a financial planner and married father of two young daughters. “Some people just don’t know what to say and it’s very uncomfortable for them. It doesn’t necessarily reflect badly on them. It’s just hard to know what to say to someone who has just experienced that kind of loss.”

Angel Babies help parents deal with loss

Jennifer Schall was pregnant with her third child when she had a miscarriage. Although she was upset she still wanted to have more children. She became pregnant again and at 36 weeks her baby died suddenly in her womb. Mrs. Schall eventually had two more healthy babies, but the loss of her children stayed with her. She decided to start a support group called Angel Babies for anyone who has lost a child. The group meets at St. Margaret, Bel Air, each month.

Brazilians in need, physical or spiritual, seek St. Galvao’s pills

SAO PAULO, Brazil – The Brazilians stood quietly in a line, waiting for the nuns at the Monastery of the Immaculate Conception of Light to open the door and start handing out “Frei Galvao’s pills.”

Pope tells addicts that drug dealers will face God’s judgment

GUARATINGUETA, Brazil – In a meeting with recovering Brazilian drug addicts, Pope Benedict XVI said drug dealers will face God’s judgment for the damage they have inflicted on individuals and society.

Pope says Latin America needs ‘courageous, effective missionaries’

APARECIDA, Brazil – Celebrating Mass at Latin America’s biggest Marian shrine, Pope Benedict XVI said the church needs “courageous and effective missionaries” to revitalize the region’s Christian identity.

Pope tells Brazil’s bishops to be clear on family, faith, justice

SAO PAULO, Brazil – Pope Benedict XVI encouraged Brazilian bishops to resist attacks on marriage and the family, seek out fallen-away Catholics and defend the rights and dignity of the poor.

In a lengthy speech May 11, the pope laid out guidelines for what he termed a “methodical evangelization aimed at personal and communal fidelity to Christ.”

What is needed in Brazil, he said, is a “leap forward in the quality of people’s Christian lives … so that they can bear witness to their faith in a clear and transparent way.”

Brazil’s 446 bishops constitute the largest episcopate in the world. The papal encounter in the Sao Paulo cathedral came two days before the pope was to inaugurate a Latin American-wide conference to deal with similar pastoral challenges.

Pope tells enthusiastic Brazilian youths to live fully, responsibly

SAO PAULO, Brazil – Pope Benedict XVI addressed a stadium full of enthusiastic Brazilian young people, telling them that a life lived without moral responsibility is a life wasted. At a rally May 10 in Sao Paulo, the pope warned against sexual infidelity, drug use and unethical shortcuts to success and said the desire to build a more just society depends on following God’s law. “Stretching out in front of you, my dear friends, is a life that all of us hope will be long; yet it is only one life, it is unique; do not let it pass in vain; do not squander it,” the pope said. “Live it with enthusiasm and with joy, but most of all with a sense of responsibility,” he said.

Pope canonizes Brazilian friar renowned for charity, healings

SAO PAULO, Brazil – Pope Benedict XVI canonized Brazil’s first native-born saint, an 18th-century Franciscan friar renowned for his charity to the poor and his legacy of miraculous healings. At an outdoor Mass May 11, the pope read a decree proclaiming sainthood for Father Antonio Galvao, prompting a surge of applause among the hundreds of thousands of people who gathered at a Sao Paulo airfield for the liturgy. As the saint’s relics were brought in procession to the altar, the crowd sang and waved banners and flags in the sunshine. In the front row, wearing bright blue habits, were Conceptionist nuns, whose order used St. Galvao as a spiritual adviser in the late 1700s.

Casper Taylor reflects on hard decisions