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Calling partial-birth abortion a “gruesome procedure virtually indistinguishable from infanticide,” Cardinal William H. Keeler hailed the U.S. Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision April 18 upholding a ban on the late-term abortion procedure. The cardinal, former head of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, said the court has “taken an important step in reorienting the moral culture of our country.”

As it did on most U.S. campuses, the American flag flew at half-staff on the grassy area of Doyle Circle on the campus of College of Notre Dame of Maryland, Baltimore, April 17 – one day after 32 people were gunned down some 300 miles away at Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, Va. Across the nation, learning institutions from elementary schools to colleges reacted to the tragedy and faced their own vulnerability.

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – God’s people need time to unwind the mystery of the liturgy, both during Mass and over time, said Cardinal Godfried Danneels during a lecture at Boston College April 17. Cardinal Danneels, the archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels, Belgium, was co-author of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (“Sacrosanctum Concilium”), approved by the Second Vatican Council. It called for the translation of the Mass from Latin to the vernacular.

CHICAGO – Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago has begun dismantling its foster care program after announcing that it will stop providing foster care services as of June 30. The decision, which Catholic and state welfare officials called “tragic,” came after Catholic Charities was unable to get liability insurance for its foster care program.

My family attended the Celebration of the Arts (CR, April 12) because I had an eighth- grade son who was performing with the Representation Band. This was my first experience with this evening and I was very amazed at the talent portrayed on the stage. I was blown away by how wonderful the young middle schoolers sounded. They didn’t play like children and having driven my son to many practices, I know how hard they worked.

I attended the Celebration of the Arts on Monday, and it was truly a wonderful opportunity for the students of our Catholic schools to display their talents. I was very happy to see the Catholic Review devote so much attention to the event.

Jumping into parish life at Ss. Philip and James in Baltimore helped convince Father Joseph Cosgrove he might be called to the priesthood. Whether it was bringing communion to the sick and shut-ins, serving on the pastoral council, reading the scriptures as a lector or reaching out to the poor through the St. Vincent de Paul Society, Father Cosgrove said he felt drawn to the priestly life. The personal relationships he cultivated in his ministry also helped steer him in the direction of the seminary, he said. “You begin to realize it’s something God’s calling you to and God will help you through it,” said Father Cosgrove, pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Edgewater. “I think there’s a point when you feel that this is the right thing. I realized that that was the kind of work that gave me happiness.”

ROME – Heightened security and military preparedness alone cannot prevent acts of terrorism, because terrorism is born of real grievances twisted by hatred, said Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Travelers. Cardinal Martino spoke at the opening of an April 23-27 seminar the council was holding with Catholic airport chaplains to discuss ways to promote dialogue and respond to terrorist threats and fears of terrorism among airport workers and passengers.

VATICAN CITY – After several years of study, the Vatican’s International Theological Commission said there are good reasons to hope that babies who die without being baptized go to heaven. In a document published April 20, the commission said the traditional concept of limbo – as a place where unbaptized infants spend eternity but without communion with God – seemed to reflect an “unduly restrictive view of salvation.”

BLACKSBURG, Va. – Words are not enough to comfort grieving parents, said a priest who spent time with the parents of several of the slain Virginia Tech students when they first learned their son or daughter was dead. In the early hours after the murder rampage on campus that left 33 dead, Father James Arsenault, pastor of St. Mary Parish in Blacksburg, was at Montgomery Regional Hospital with those who were wounded and their families.