Page 1839 – Archdiocese of Baltimore

VATICAN CITY – Sometime soon, Pope Benedict XVI is expected to broaden permission to use the Tridentine Mass, a long-standing request of traditionalists who favor the rite used before the Second Vatican Council. The move is aimed at ending a liturgical dispute which has simmered for more than 20 years. In the process, it could clarify how the pope intends to implement what he once described as a “liturgical reconciliation” in the modern church.

‘Grandma’ Dixon keeps on moving

Although the entire room calls Dorothy Dixon “Grandma,” she has no grandchildren. The 91-year-old soup kitchen coordinator answers to the pet name from some 100 community members who visit St. Cecilia, Baltimore, on Thursdays to eat a hot supper. The lively Ms. Dixon, dressed from neck to foot in red including blazer, sweater, skirt and slouch boots, walks three blocks daily from her home that she shares with her 86-year-old sister, Lucille Talley, to serve her parish of 53 years. Her first self-appointed duty is to feed the birds. “They’re Father Sy’s birds,” she said about St. Cecilia’s pastor, Father Sylvester Peterka, C.M. “He’s a country boy. I’ve been feeding birds since I was 5 years old.”

Many sessions available to convention participants

Attendees sometimes find themselves standing in the hallway outside Sister Carol Cimino’s, S.S.J., meeting room as she delivers engaging sessions to packed audiences during the annual National Catholic Educational Association convention. The Clifton Park, N.Y., educational consultant “always draws a huge crowd,” said Brian Gray, editor of NCEA’s Momentum Magazine and part of the communication department at NCEA headquarters in Washington, D.C. “She’s on target and very entertaining.”

French nun says life has changed since healing

AIX-EN-PROVENCE, France – The French nun who believes she was healed of Parkinson’s disease thanks to Pope John Paul II said her life had “totally changed” since that night two months after the pope’s death. Sister Marie-Simon-Pierre, 46, is working again, now in Paris at a maternity hospital run by her order, the Little Sisters of Catholic Motherhood. She met reporters March 30 in Aix-en-Provence during a press conference with Archbishop Claude Feidt of Aix, the archdiocese where the cure took place. “I was sick and now I am cured,” she told reporters. “I am cured, but it is up to the church to say whether it was a miracle or not.”

Ranger rosary coordinator flooded with help

Not a day goes by when Pat Evans doesn’t receive phone calls and e-mails about ranger rosaries. Ever since the parishioner of St. Mary in Annapolis made a public plea for help crafting the military-style prayer beads, Ms. Evans has been flooded with inquiries from just about every state and several countries including Italy and England. The Catholic Review published a Nov. 28 story about the shortage of ranger rosaries for American servicemen. The story was picked up by Catholic Online, a news Web site, where it spent many weeks as one of the site’s most viewed and e-mailed articles.

Baltimore is cradle of U.S. Catholic education

Though Catholic groups formed educational instruction in Baltimore in the 1790s, most educators consider a city school on Paca Street founded by St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in 1806 as the cradle of U.S. Catholic education. In founding St. Frances Academy in Baltimore in 1828, Mother Mary Lange officially offered Catholic education to children of color and that tradition continues on as the co-educational high school on Chase and Eager streets strives for a superior learning experience.

Convention aims to keep Catholic education vibrant

For more than 100 years the National Catholic Educational Association has dedicated itself to handing Catholic educators the tools to provide stellar learning environments and moral enrichment for the thousands of students enrolled in member schools. As the NCEA prepares for its national convention and exposition April 10-13 in Baltimore – its third gathering in the city since 1916 – organizers are eager to offer ideas and materials to the thousands of participating educators that will allow them to get their students ready for future challenges.

Sister promotes wellness among School Sisters

From her experience working side-by-side with women religious, Sister Peggy Mattare, S.S.N.D., has discovered that most sisters are “workaholics.” Always putting the needs of others first, she said, many in the consecrated life don’t make time to take care of themselves.
As the new wellness coordinator for the Atlantic-Midwest Province of the School Sisters of Notre Dame, Sister Peggy is determined to help sisters stay healthy in body, mind and spirit. Her goal is to foster healthy lifestyles so when sisters reach their senior years, they can live to their “full potential.”

Israel postpones negotiating session with Vatican

VATICAN CITY – Israel postponed a major negotiating session with Vatican officials on questions regarding the church’s legal and financial status in the Holy Land. The Vatican expressed disappointment at yet another delay in the on-again, off-again talks, which began 15 years ago. The meeting of the joint commission on church-state issues had been scheduled for March 29 at the Vatican and would have been the first plenary session of the commission since 2002.

Cardinal says government is ‘legislating for intolerance’

LONDON – A British cardinal has said that by sponsoring legislation for gay rights, the government is “legislating for intolerance.” Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor of Westminster also questioned “whether the threads holding together democracy have begun to unravel.” “My fear is that, under the guise of legislating for what is said to be tolerance, we are legislating for intolerance,” he said during a March 28 lecture in London a week after the government forced through new gay rights legislation with minimal debate in the House of Commons.

Archdiocese welcomes more than 800 new Catholics

As more than 800 catechumens and candidates from the Archdiocese of Baltimore prepare to enter the Catholic Church during the Easter Vigil, April 7, Holy Saturday morning will provide an opportunity for prayer and reflection.
The elect, whose February ceremonies were cancelled because of snow, will make one final preparation at 10 a.m. during Preparation Rites, which will be held at three sites across the archdiocese on April 7.

Rights for gay, unmarried couples at odds with faith