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RAPID CITY, S.D. – Bishop Blase J. Cupich of Rapid City has announced that the diocese has been awarded $100,000 in grant funding to promote excellence in preaching in his diocese. The three-year project, called “To Preach the Good Word Well,” will focus on how the word of God transforms the lives of clergy and laity and forms their vision as people of God. The purpose of the project is to assist clergy and laity in more effectively preaching and listening to the word of God.

WASHINGTON – For people in Hong Kong, the first 10 years of Chinese rule has been “a long series of frustrations,” said Hong Kong Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun. “On the surface, everything is like before,” Cardinal Zen told Catholic News Service in Washington May 30. However, he added, Chinese government authorities “are not keeping their promises.”

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI encouraged the bishops of the Central African Republic to continue efforts to promote peace and reconciliation in their country. “Peace and national harmony are among the most urgent challenges to which the church in your country must respond,” the pope told the bishops June 1 at the end of their “ad limina” visits to the Vatican.

As top graduating seniors from high schools in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, Pat Terranova, Christine Basil and Kevin Ford seem to have one thing in common – their ability to earn superior grades while juggling a myriad of extracurricular activities.

VATICAN CITY – U.S. President George W. Bush is coming to the Vatican for his first formal audience with Pope Benedict XVI, a meeting seen on both sides as immensely important. Vatican officials said the June 9 encounter would give the pope and the president a chance to sit down for a survey of dramatic situations around the world, including Iraq, where thousands of Christians have been forced to flee. The Bush administration believes the audience will highlight the shared values and common objectives of the Vatican and the United States.

SCHUYLKILL HAVEN, Pa. – Retired Bishop Michael J. Dudick of the Byzantine Diocese of Passaic, N.J., died May 30 at the Rest Haven nursing facility in Schuylkill Haven. He was 91. He had previously been in residence at Holy Annunciation Monastery in Sugarloaf. Prior to his retirement in 1995, he had been the bishop of Passaic for 27 years.

LONDON – Britain’s two cardinals reminded Catholic politicians that it is unacceptable for them to vote for abortion rights. Cardinals Keith O’Brien of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, Scotland, and Cormac Murphy-O’Connor of Westminster, England, denounced the 1967 Abortion Act May 31 as the act approaches its 40th anniversary.

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI urged nations to protect religious freedom, the environment and the family in a speech to five new ambassadors to the Vatican. The pope welcomed the diplomats from Sudan, Burundi, Pakistan, Estonia and Iceland June 1 as they presented him with their credentials. While Catholics are a minority in the countries the ambassadors represent, the pope said the church promotes a “spirit of fraternal collaboration” among all people and is “anxious to pay witness to the Gospel.”

MANILA, Philippines – As votes for the May 14 midterm election are tabulated, Philippine bishops have called for the political killings to stop. Archbishop Paciano Aniceto of San Fernando said May 30 the election, “perceived as generally peaceful, orderly and credible,” was “shattered by the recent spate of violence and political killings.” UCA News, an Asian church news agency, obtained the appeal called, “Am I My Brother’s Keeper.”

WASHINGTON – The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate reports that in 2006-07 it identified more permanent deacon candidates and more students in U.S. lay ecclesial ministry programs than in the previous year.