Page 1843 – Archdiocese of Baltimore

TUMON, Guam – Thousands of Catholic youths and young adults opened their arms to welcome the World Youth Day cross and a Marian icon to Guam March 8-11. Guam was the first stop in the Mariana Islands for the symbols of the world’s largest youth event which have traveled tens of thousands of miles around the world. The symbols will travel through 20 nations in Asia and Oceania and then through 28 Australian dioceses before they arrive at the World Youth Day opening Mass July 15, 2008, in Sydney. In Guam, at Blessed Diego Luis de San Vitores Church in Tumon, Archbishop Anthony Apuron of Agana hailed the arrival of the cross and icon as a great blessing for the island. They were brought to the church directly from the airport. It was fitting their first stop was Blessed Diego Church, named for the Jesuit martyr who established the Catholic Church on Guam about 400 years ago. “Welcome to this blessed ground which our forefather Blessed Diego Luis de San Vitores paved for us here on our island,” Archbishop Apuron said.

Bishop, victims have spirited talk about child sex abuse

WASHINGTON – In a spirited exchange with victims of child sex abuse, the head of the U.S. bishops’ child protection committee said March 20 that bishops must work together to prevent cover-ups of clergy child sex abuse. Cover-ups cannot be condoned and several bishops and priests have resigned over cover-ups, some after being told to do so by the Vatican, said Bishop Gregory M. Aymond of Austin, Texas. “We can’t hold each other responsible. We are responsible to the pope,” he said of U.S. church leaders’ efforts to prevent cover-ups.

Archbishop explains why he barred Mass

ST. PAUL. Minn. – Archbishop Harry J. Flynn of St. Paul-Minneapolis said he barred celebration of Mass at a national meeting on homosexuality and Catholicism because the sponsoring organization dissents from aspects of church teaching. People with homosexual orientation “are children of God, not outcasts,” but the truths of the Catholic Church need to be respected, he said in a March 19 statement given to The Catholic Spirit, archdiocesan newspaper.

Good Friday Collection has been helping for 120 years

Parishioners throughout the Archdiocese of Baltimore will have an opportunity to participate in a 120-year-old tradition when the second collection basket comes their way Good Friday (April 6). As it has for more than a century, the Good Friday collection will help the church persevere in the Holy Land. The need for support for the Holy Land is just as urgent as it was when Pope Leo XIII established the annual Pontifical Collection in 1887, according to Holy Land Franciscans in Washington, D.C.

Brother John Edward Fick, S.M.

A funeral Mass for Baltimore native Brother John Edward Fick, S.M., was held March 22 at St. Joseph, Sykesville. He died March 10 at Mercy-Siena Woods Retirement Community in Dayton, Ohio. He was 90.

Peers with disabilities present priceless lesson

As the mother of a son with a disability who attends religious education classes at St. John, Westminster, I was heartened to read about other children with disabilities who attend religious education classes in the archdiocese (CR, March 15). All of the teachers and aides should be recognized for their selfless volunteerism.

Words on church mysteries must be carefully chosen

Isn’t it ironical that in the article announcing the Holy Father’s exhortation on the Eucharist, the writer includes this line: “Christ, ‘who is present in the bread and wine through the power of the Holy Spirit.’ The teaching of the Church is that when Christ is present in the Eucharist, bread and wine no longer exist.”

Response to ICE raids ongoing

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has conducted raids in recent weeks at workplaces across the U.S. to round up workers who are in the country illegally. In two communities where raids took place March 6 – South Bend, Ind., and New Bedford, Mass. – members of the Catholic community and the wider community continue to help families torn apart by the federal action, especially children left in limbo. A majority of the detainees in both places were women, many of them single parents with babies or toddlers.

Freedom must reflect divine will

VATICAN CITY – Human freedom must be exercised in accordance with God’s law, including the obligation to protect human life, said members of a dialogue commission representing the Vatican and the Chief Rabbinate of Israel. “Freedom of choice is derived from God and therefore is not absolute, but must reflect divine will and law,” said members of the Catholic-Jewish commission at the end of their mid-March meeting in Jerusalem.

Harvard to return collection of historic bells

MOSCOW – Harvard University will return a collection of historic bells to the Russian Orthodox Church more than seven decades after they were seized and sold by the regime of Josef Stalin. “These bells are not only a witness, but also a victim of history, a symbol of the independence, greatness and identity of the people,” Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow said March 21. “I’m happy our guests from Harvard University could feel this part of the Russian soul, conveyed through the tolling of church bells.” Orthodox and Harvard representatives signed an agreement to return the 18 bells to Moscow’s Danilov Monastery, which has housed the Moscow Patriarchate since being reopened in 1988.

Destroyed by fire, Grantsville parish to rebuild

Local News, News

The fire that devastated St. Ann in Grantsville two days before Christmas may have taken the tiny faith community’s church building but it failed to claim the parish’s spirit. Parishioners now worship in the chapel at Newman Funeral Home in Grantsville and the religious education program has adopted a home-based approach under the direction of Camilla Rawe.

James Upchurch honored