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It was disheartening to read the Catholic News Service report of the Pope’s visit to the Holy Land (CR, May 21). The Pope was inspirational when he spoke of the terrible plight of Palestinians, Christians and Muslims alike. He offered that the Palestinians must have their own state. That is a pipe dream. By Israel’s behavior we know that was never possible.

On behalf of the directors, staff and members of The Cardinal Newman Society and the more than 367,000 people who signed our petition opposing Notre Dame’s honor for President Barack Obama, I would like to publicly thank Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien for his prayerful witness for a strong Catholic identity on Catholic campuses. In anticipation of Pentecost, Archbishop O’Brien was sent a spiritual bouquet from the petition’s signers which included 116,741 Mass intentions, 146,944 rosaries, 57,728 aspirations, 236,615 general prayers, 74,974 Divine Mercy chaplets, 28,862 days of fasting, 19,877 Novenas, 37,125 Eucharistic Holy Hours and 3,272 Masses offered by priests. As the battle for the souls of Catholic campuses continues, the Church is blessed to have shepherds like Archbishop O’Brien – and they will need our prayers more than ever!

WASHINGTON – The National Institutes of Health’s draft guidelines for embryonic stem-cell research support “a course of action that is both morally objectionable and, increasingly, scientifically obsolete,” the general secretary of the U.S. bishops’ conference said in comments to NIH.

Richard J. Dowling, the former executive director of the Maryland Catholic Conference, will receive the Della Strada Award from the Ignatian Volunteer Corps June 11.