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VATICAN CITY – The hierarchical structure of the Catholic Church was willed by God to ensure unity in faith, Pope Benedict XVI said. The church “is not a place of confusion or anarchy where each person can do what he wants at the moment,” the pope said March 7 at his weekly general audience. The pope’s speech marked the beginning of a new series of audience talks on the “apostolic fathers,” the first and second generation of church leaders after the Twelve Apostles.

VATICAN CITY – Catholics, and especially Catholic communicators, must ask forgiveness for the times they have failed to share God’s love and compassion, said U.S. Archbishop John P. Foley. “Certainly, it is necessary to identify the evils in society and warn people against them, but our major effort should be in proclaiming the knowledge and love of our merciful savior, Jesus Christ,” said the archbishop, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications. The archbishop made his remarks in a March 5 homily during the opening Mass of the council’s annual plenary session at the Vatican.

ROME – A leading canon law expert said that in applying the Vatican’s directive against admission of homosexuals to the priesthood, seminary authorities should make use of psychological sciences to distinguish between “deep-seated” and transitory homosexual tendencies. Jesuit Father Gianfranco Ghirlanda, rector of the Pontifical Gregorian University and an adviser to several important Vatican agencies, said the use of psychology was a complex but necessary means of establishing the true nature of homosexual traits. Psychological evaluations alone can never substitute for the informed decisions of bishops and seminary authorities, but such testing must be taken into serious consideration, Father Ghirlanda said.

According to Katie McGuire, marketing and communications manager for the Greater Chesapeake and Potomac blood services region of the American Red Cross, giving blood is quick and simple. The 1995 graduate of The John Carroll School, Bel Air, said the actual process of giving blood lasts about 10 minutes, while the entire process takes just one hour. Before giving blood, donors should drink extra water and non-caffeinated, non-alchoholic beverages and eat plenty of iron-rich foods.

Doctors have long known of the connection between anemia and physical ailments like fatigue and muscle weakness. Now researchers at Johns Hopkins believe there is a relationship between anemia and mental health, too. Anemia is a condition in which blood is deficient in oxygen-rich red blood cells, hemoglobin or total volume.

As nearly 1,000 young Catholics take to the streets of Baltimore March 31 to celebrate the coming of Easter – a time of new life and new beginnings – the 14th annual Archdiocesan Youth and Young Adult Pilgrimage will be undergoing a conversion of its own. For the first time in two years, the youth and young adult participants will visit the recently restored Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Baltimore. The 2.8-mile route itself is also different, now beginning with a rally in Canton at 11:30 a.m. at O’Donnell Street Park, next to St. Casimir. After eucharistic adoration at St. Casimir, the procession will kick off at 1:30 p.m. with pilgrims carrying a 10-foot wooden cross through the streets.

Sen. James DeGrange of Anne Arundel County is trying again. For the second year in a row, the parishioner of Holy Trinity in Glen Burnie and Democratic state senator has introduced a bill that would provide significant business tax credits to corporations and small businesses that support tuition scholarship programs and other K-12 education initiatives. Known as BOAST, “Building Opportunities for All Students and Teachers in Maryland,” the proposed program is modeled on Pennsylvania’s Educational Improvement Tax Credit. It would allow corporations and small businesses to claim a 75 percent state tax credit for donations to organizations that support Maryland’s K-12 public and nonpublic school students and teachers.

By more than a 2-1 margin, Maryland voters support replacing the state’s death penalty with a life without parole prison sentence, according to the results of a poll commissioned by the Maryland Catholic Conference and released Feb. 28. While 56 percent of those surveyed said they support the death penalty, 61 percent said they believed life without parole was an acceptable substitute for capital punishment. Only 27 percent said it was not. The poll also found that legislators who vote for repeal would not likely face repercussions at election time. Nearly 30 percent of voters said they would be more likely to support such a legislator and 42 percent said it would not impact their vote.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The Syracuse Diocese made headlines when it denied former Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe an opportunity to speak at his alma mater, Bishop Ludden Junior/Senior High School. Mr. McAuliffe was initially scheduled to speak to about 100 fellow alumni at Ludden Feb. 24, and hold a signing for his new book, “What a Party! My Life Among Democrats, Presidents, Candidates, Donors, Activists, Alligators, and Other Wild Animals.” His appearance at the school was originally approved in January, but several days before the event the diocese withdrew permission for him to speak there.

SYDNEY, Australia – Australia has taken charge of the World Youth Day cross and Marian icon, symbols of the world’s largest youth event which have traveled tens of thousands of miles around the world. The cross and icon left Madagascar in February for Korea, where Australia’s stewardship began and will continue until the end of World Youth Day Sydney in July 2008.