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COLUMBUS, Ohio – Pope Benedict XVI’s top diplomat at the United Nations said the Vatican wants to normalize relations with China, which it sees as a major way of advancing religious freedom and fostering unity among Chinese Catholics. Archbishop Celestino Migliore, the Vatican’s U.N. nuncio, expressed hope that a papal letter to Chinese Catholics to be released around Easter will be seen as proof of the Vatican’s good will and pave the way for Vatican talks with Chinese officials that could lead to diplomatic relations and resolution of differences over the church’s status in the Asian nation.

WASHINGTON – “School choice is becoming less and less a partisan issue,” Morgan Brown, an assistant deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Education, told a group of Catholic education leaders gathered in Washington for congressional advocacy days. The Bush administration “is the most pro-school-choice administration we’ve ever had at the federal level,” said Mr. Brown, who heads the Education Department’s Office of Innovation and Improvement.

The recent article, “Christian leaders call for change in Iraq war policies,” (CR, March 1) urging Maryland Christians to “travel to Washington March 16 and surround the White House” to protest Bush’s “immoral Iraq war policies” is amazingly ill-informed and politically charged.

PHILADELPHIA – Who’s that you’re seeing on YouTube? Yes, it is really Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia. The cardinal is providing video reflections for each Sunday of Lent, as well as for Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter on the free, video-sharing Web site, which allows users to upload, view and share video clips. Once on the site, www.youtube.com, visitors can easily find the reflections by typing “Cardinal Rigali” into the search area.

WASHINGTON – The damage caused by embryonic stem-cell research goes far beyond the embryos destroyed by treating “a great many women as egg factories, at great risk to their health and safety,” according to the U.S. bishops’ pro-life spokeswoman. Deirdre A. McQuade, director of planning and information for the bishops’ Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities, was commenting on a congressional briefing at which scientists, ethicists and a grieving mother presented evidence about the dangers to women posed by egg harvesting.

ANNAPOLIS – When Dr. Mary Ellen Hrutka attended a Catholic elementary school in Yonkers, N.Y., there were 86 students in her class and the faculty was made up almost entirely of Franciscan Sisters of Baltimore. Some five decades later, Catholic education has changed dramatically. Religious sisters, priests and brothers now make up a small minority of faculty in Catholic schools across the country. Class sizes have shrunk and costs have increased significantly as school leaders struggle to pay for lay teacher salaries, modern technology and enhanced curriculum – all while maintaining their buildings and trying to keep tuition from spiraling out of reach. To meet the challenges of a changing educational environment, Dr. Hrutka has been named executive director of the newly formed Mid-Atlantic Catholic Schools Consortium.

Steve Spurrier has been a member of St. Pius X, Rodgers Forge, since the day he was baptized, some 44 years ago. Now married with three children he is active in marriage preparatory classes, coaching sports teams in the parish and school and playing the drums for the group “40 more days” which helps celebrate Sunday Masses. This parish and the people who fill it have become like family to him. “We are there all the time,” said Mr. Spurrier who is a lector at the parish “It’s basically our life.” On March 11, the parishioners of St. Pius X with Bishop Mitchell T. Rozanski, eastern vicar, will celebrate 50 years as a parish and faith community. Carol Pacione, pastoral life director for the some 1,325 registered parishioners, said the first Mass at St. Pius X was celebrated in the middle of a snow storm and people walked to get to the dedication.