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SALT LAKE CITY – The April 16 shooting rampage on the campus of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., was felt by alumni who live far from the university. Daniel O. Adams, a Virginia Tech alumnus who is director of the composite mechanics laboratory at the University of Utah, was shocked by the events that took place at the school where he met and married his wife, Cate. His wife was a campus minister at the time. She currently teaches theology at Judge Memorial Catholic High School in Salt Lake City.

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI accepted an invitation to visit U.N. headquarters in New York City, but Vatican sources said the trip looked unlikely for this year.

The Baltimore Archdiocesan Holy Name Union annual convention was held at the Basilica of the National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Conference and Retreat Center, Emmitsburg, on April 15. Some 80 members were in attendance, from a total of 24 different parishes. Father Joseph Breighner had planned to be the conference moderator but was ill and unable to participate. Concelebrants at the Mass in the basilica were Father Michael Kennedy, C.M., chaplain for the Daughters of Charity at the basilica, and Father Michael Carrion, spiritual director for the AHNU and pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary, Baynesville.

A funeral Mass for James P. Lazzati, a founder of the Monsignor Clare J. O’Dwyer Youth Retreat House in Sparks, was offered April 21 at St. Leo, Little Italy. Mr. Lazzati died at Good Samaritan Hospital, Baltimore, April 17. He was 90 and the last living founder of the retreat house.

A funeral mass was offered April 21 at St. Joseph Manor in Baltimore for Father Henry Dickson, S.S.J. Father Dickson, 73, died April 17 at St Joseph Manor in Baltimore, Maryland.

A funeral Mass for Sister M. Patrice Conlon, I.H.M, was offered April 14 at Our Lady of Peace Residence in Scranton, Pa. Sister Conlon died April 11. She was 85.

MANCHESTER, N.H. – Despite the objections of Catholic officials, New Hampshire moved a step closer to legalizing same-sex civil unions when Gov. John Lynch said that he would sign such legislation if the state Senate passes it. Bishop John B. McCormack of Manchester said the issue is not one of rights but of keeping “the meaning and the reality of marriage intact.”

Bishop Mitchell T. Rozanski, eastern vicar for the archdiocese and Cardinal William H. Keeler’s delegate to Hispanic ministry, told a group of some 15 Hispanic clergy and lay people there is a commitment among the local Catholic leadership to reach out to the Spanish-speaking community, but said they rely on input from them. The meeting produced a catalog of requests that include integrating parish Hispanic ministries with the English-speaking population, educating all Catholics about immigration issues, offering more Catholic school scholarships to Hispanic youths, and recruiting more Latino representatives in pastoral councils.