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BEIJING – China’s one-child policy, begun nearly 30 years ago, still provides pastoral challenges and is taking a toll on vocations, said some Chinese church leaders. Auxiliary Bishop Paul Pei Junmin of Liaoning said that, in the past, the diocese used to have 20 young men and women enter the seminary and convent each year, but that has changed because of the one-child policy and “the influence of materialism.” “Here the church in China is very traditional, conservative,” said Bishop Pei. “It’s very difficult to reconcile with the government regulations and church teachings,” especially when people can lose their jobs for having a second child.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Catholic Church’s relationship with younger adults is problematic, says a newly published study by four leading sociologists of religion. In one recent survey “just over half of American Catholics said that young adults’ lack of participation in the church is a serious problem,” the 205-page book says. That concern was reflected not just by older Catholics, but even by nearly half of the younger adult Catholics surveyed, it says. The new book is titled “American Catholics Today: New Realities of Their Faith and Their Church.” It was co-authored by William V. D’Antonio, James D. Davidson, Dean R. Hoge and Mary L. Gautier.

JOLIET, Ill. – In keeping with the springtime theme that celebrates the wealth of new life found throughout nature – blooming flowers, budding trees and newborn bunnies – the pro-life ministry at St. Patrick Parish in Joliet fits right in. For the fifth year in a row, St. Patrick Parish entered a respect-life float in Joliet’s Easter parade, held April 1. More than 90 entries in this year’s parade attracted several hundred onlookers along the route.

VATICAN CITY – It’s not every day a person gets a call from the Vatican, and most people would be bowled over when it happens. The late Mario Luzi, who as a prolific Italian poet shouldn’t have been at a loss for words, was “flabbergasted” when the Vatican called him up saying Pope John Paul II wanted him to pen the meditations for the pope’s 1999 Good Friday Way of the Cross, an event watched each year by millions of people around the world.

Among the many ways of communicating the good news of the Gospel is radio. A radio Mass brings the Gospel into many homes in the Baltimore area every Sunday. On March 18 I had the privilege of celebrating a radio Mass and preaching at St. Ignatius Church. The pastor, Father James Casciotti, S.J., welcomed me to the special studio which is the weekly scene of the Mass. The Gospel readings that day told the story of the Prodigal Son, although it really shows God as the Merciful Father, who forgives the failings of the son, embraces him, and has the fatted calf killed to celebrate his return.

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI encouraged today’s priests to be inspired by Christ’s sacrifice and love for others as they face their “tremendously heavy” burden of pastoral responsibilities. The pope made the comments April 5 at a chrism Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, where he led more than 1,000 priests and bishops in a renewal of their ordination promises. The pope, presiding over the first of two Holy Thursday liturgies, blessed the chrism and the oils used in the sacraments of baptism, confirmation, ordination and the anointing of the sick.

PERTH, Australia – The Catholic doctor who with his wife pioneered a revolutionary new church-backed method for couples to avoid or achieve conception died April 1 at a retirement home in the Melbourne suburb of Richmond. No cause of death was given for Dr. John Billings, who was 89.

SYDNEY, Australia – The earthquake and tsunami that struck the Solomon Islands have made many fearful of widespread disease and hunger among the coastal communities sheltered on high ground. Fresh-water tanks have spoiled, increasing the risk of water-borne diseases that could spread among the thousands of people who lost their homes in the April 2 tsunami. The Associated Press reported April 4 that aid workers already had reported cases of diarrhea, which they said could be a sign of more diseases to come.

The Monsignor O’Dwyer Retreat House, Sparks, was awarded $7,500 from the Koch Foundation in Florida to support 60 confirmation retreats for parish religious education programs. In turn, the retreat house awarded 20 retreats (an overnight stay and two meals) each to three parishes demonstrating a financial need: Our Lady of Hope, Dundalk; St. Bernardine, Baltimore; and St. Thomas Aquinas, Hampden, who are making a difference in the lives of young people, according to retreat house director Father Martin S. Nocchi.

In the bitter cold, Charlie Fink and volunteers from the South County Faith Network built a large ramp for an elderly man who was having trouble getting in and out of his house. About three years ago Father Mark Logue, pastor of Our Lady of Sorrows, Owensville, asked Mr. Fink, a retired nuclear engineer and active parishioner, to serve as chairman for the parish group that was becoming involved with the SCFN. SCFN is an organizatio