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DETROIT – Father Anton Kcira first began to notice the absence of more and more of his regular parishioners at St. Paul (Albanian) Church in suburban Rochester Hills back in 2005, and the loss due to deportations has escalated since then. “Last year we lost about 200 families, and Our Lady of Albanians lost 120,” said Father Kcira, pastor of St. Paul’s, of the situation in his parish and at the other Albanian ethnic parish in Beverly Hills, another Detroit suburb.

ROME – God’s mercy and love are great, but those who reject him should know that hell “exists and is eternal,” Pope Benedict XVI said. The pope made the comments during a visit March 25 to a Rome parish that serves a predominantly immigrant population, including the city’s Filipino community. In a sermon, the pope focused on what has become a running theme of his pontificate: the importance of divine love.

WASHINGTON – The “mistaken views” on contraception, abortion, same-sex marriage and other church teachings expressed in two 2006 pamphlets by Marquette University theology professor Daniel C. Maguire “should not be confused with the faith and moral teaching of the Catholic Church,” the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Doctrine said. The doctrine committee’s “Statement Concerning Two Pamphlets Published by Professor Daniel Mr. Maguire” was approved for publication by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Administrative Committee during the latter’s March 20-21 meeting in Washington.

A bill that would have provided business tax credits to businesses that support tuition scholarship programs was defeated on a 15-5 vote in the House of Delegates Ways and Means Committee March 22. The bill would have established a program called BOAST, “Building Opportunities for All Students and Teachers in Maryland,” allowing businesses to claim a 75 percent state tax credit for donations to organizations that support Maryland’s K-12 public and nonpublic school students and teachers. The program would have been capped at $25 million.

For Matt White and Kelsey Jones deciding on which college to attend is just one of the many choices they will have to face in the next four years. The youth group at St. Francis of Assisi, Fulton, is attempting to make the transition from high school to college a little smoother.

VATICAN CITY – On the fourth anniversary of the war in Iraq, three U.S. Catholic peace activists paid a discreet but significant visit to the Vatican. The officers of the Indiana-based Catholic Peace Fellowship were in Rome in mid-March to promote the issue of conscientious objection to war. They didn’t know what kind of reception they’d get from Vatican experts, but after a week of talks and meetings, they left feeling like they’d received a sympathetic hearing. “It’s been a miraculous trip,” said Joshua Casteel. “We’ve received great support and open ears here. It’s encouraging to see that we are part of a tradition that’s very sensitive to peace issues.”

VATICAN CITY – In the first two years of his pontificate, Pope Benedict XVI has focused on strengthening Christian values in a world disoriented by indifference, relativism and increasing secularism, said a top Vatican official. Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican secretary of state, made the comments in Milan, Italy, March 20 in a speech to Ethics and Finance, an Italian association of business people. The cardinal said Pope Benedict’s overall goal is to reclaim the authentic Christian identity as understood by the faithful and practiced in the world.