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Tristan Deppe acknowledges that then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger’s “Introduction to Christianity” was not exactly at the top of his reading list. But the text by the future Pope Benedict XVI was just one of several weighty theological works the 16-year-old parishioner of Immaculate Heart of Mary, Baynesville, read for the first time last semester as one of 23 students enrolled in the Pinkard Scholars Program of Youth Theological Studies at St. Mary’s Seminary and University, Roland Park.

When it comes to the worth of St. Ursula School volunteers, Sister Joan Kelly, S.N.D. de N., says she could never “put a dollar figure on it.” “They help as classroom volunteers, they work in the library, and they work in the lunchroom and schoolyard,” the principal of the Parkville school said. “They assist in the art room; they open car doors in the morning. They organize and run all fundraisers.” They also save the school money, the principal acknowledged. “Our whole building was wired for computers by a parent,” she noted.

VATICAN CITY – A recent sermon by the papal preacher, Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa, took aim at John Lennon’s famous line, “Imagine there’s no heaven,” saying it represented an empty, secularized vision of human destiny. But an Italian biblicist, Father Carlo Buzzetti, has approached the question from a different angle: The modern church, he said, does a lousy job imagining what heaven is like and communicating it to the faithful. Most Catholics, Father Buzzetti said, understand heaven as a vague place of eternal survival, where happiness can become monotonous and where the absence of human passions creates an “anemic” atmosphere.

WASHINGTON – Among four U.S. senators in Washington, there was optimistic talk of a bipartisan commitment to expand health coverage for the nation’s 9 million uninsured children. But 40 miles away at a Catholic hospital in Baltimore, there was more nitty-gritty talk of getting children into state and federal health programs – and keeping them there.

As Cathedral of Mary Our Queen, Homeland, parishioner Kelly Bradford was approaching her mid 30s, her mother wondered if her “bohemian” daughter was ever going to settle down and marry a “good Catholic boy.” The Mount Washington social worker had already tried meeting “the one” in a variety of venues, including Catholic organizations, church and bars, but a true match continually eluded her. Then about five years ago a nun she knew presented her with a Valentine’s Day Card containing an advertisement for a Catholic internet meeting place and suggested this site may provide an end to her single status.

Most couples preparing themselves for marriage begin to have doubts as the wedding date nears and it’s a state of mind St. Matthew, Northwood Pastor Father Joseph L. Muth believes is a good sign. “I would be worried if they didn’t get cold feet,” said Father Muth, who officiates at about 15 weddings a year. “It means they are taking the commitment seriously.”

ST. LOUIS – Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty is calling for the state’s General Assembly to enact a three-year moratorium on executions in the state and to create a commission to examine the death penalty system. Nearly 300 groups in the state, including the four Catholic dioceses and numerous parishes, have endorsed a moratorium. On Good Friday last year the Missouri bishops issued a pastoral letter opposing executions, stating that more violence “is not a solution to society’s problems.”

CAPE TOWN, South Africa – Africa’s Catholic bishops need a structure to enable them to speak and act as one unit, said Archbishop John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan of Abuja, Nigeria, president of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar. “The time is ripe for this, not only because of the many challenges Africa faces, but because the church has the resources to be able to tackle these problems,” he said in a Jan. 17 telephone interview from Dares Salaam, Tanzania, where the symposium met Jan. 15-22.

ATLANTA – Starting this January, students at Emory University in Atlanta have the chance to learn about famous Catholics as part of a new Catholic studies minor at the liberal arts university. The program is the only such minor in the country at a non-Catholic college or university, according to Emory officials.