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CLEVELAND – Colleen Kempf of Olmsted Falls has been charged with stealing $525,000 from St. Joseph Academy, an all-girls Catholic high school in Cleveland where she worked until last fall. Kempf, 46, was charged with one count of theft and arraigned May 15 before Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Joseph D. Russo. Mary Ann Corrigan-Davis, St. Joseph Academy president, said the charges came about after the school’s director of finance, Moira McGreer, discovered irregularities in financial records last fall. The school immediately called in fraud examiners who worked with school officials. During the investigation Kempf admitted altering the ledgers, but at the time of arraignment it was not known whether she would face trial or reach a plea agreement. If found guilty, she could face up to five years in prison.

WASHINGTON – The problem that must be solved by immigration reform “is not the immigrants” but “the broken system,” the former chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Migration told a House subcommittee. In testimony May 22 before the House Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security and International Law, Bishop Thomas G. Wenski of Orlando, Fla., urged lawmakers to produce legislation that would reform the current immigration system and respect the dignity and rights of immigrants and migrant workers. He spoke on behalf of the U.S. bishops about comprehensive immigration reform, joining representatives of other religious denominations in giving testimony to the subcommittee.

KAMPALA, Uganda – Although no easy answers can be found in the suffering of people affected by HIV/AIDS, God is with them and their caregivers, said a South African bishop. “There are no easy answers to the suffering of the people, and those who tell the poor and the sick that there is a cure are hiding the truth,” said Bishop Kevin Dowling of Rustensburg, South Africa. “But the truth is that God is with us in all these suffering (people). “I am not a specialist in HIV/AIDS, but I am simply sharing my story – the story of my people,” Bishop Dowling said during a series of talks on HIV/AIDS care sponsored by Hospice Africa in Uganda, a home-care organization. “I want to share with you how I have found the God of love in this ministry, because I truly believe God is with us to help us do his work.”

Not long ago, Aminata Yattara sat at home on a stool in the dirt, pounding millet and dreaming about the day she could toss the pestle and pick up a pencil. School dominated her thoughts on her way to pull water from the well. She thought about it when she helped her mom wash dishes. But with four siblings and a poor family, Aminata’s chances for school seemed slim. And in this hot, dusty district in Mali where only about a third of girls go to school, the deck was stacked against her. So she pumped water and pounded millet, day after day, always jealous of her older brother who attended school. But Aminata was lucky. Her father, a rice and millet farmer, had once been to school, but quit. Fortunately, this 40-something father of five remembered the value of education. “Today, I regret that,” Haba Yattara says. “At that time, I did not know the importance, and I didn’t have someone behind me to make me go. So I dropped out. I want my girls to go to school so that they don’t take the same path as me.”

Each summer, thousands of vacationers descend on Deep Creek Lake to enjoy boating, skiing and fishing for bass or pickerel. They are also able to worship at special outdoor liturgies thanks to a ministry of St. Peter in Oakland that helps make sure God is a part of their vacation. “They come to Mass by car and by boat, and most bring their own chairs or blankets for the grass,” said Father Donald Parson, pastor of St. Peter, noting that an altar is set up in a the bandstand area of a patio for Mass at “St. Peter at the Lake.” When it’s too cold to be outside, the liturgy moves indoors to a local tavern. “The vistas are just breathtaking,” the priest said. “It’s an incredibly beautiful area.” Deep Creek Lake was built by the Youghiogheny Hydro-Electric Corporation when the Pennsylvania-based company acquired rights to build dams across Deep Creek and the Youghiogheny River.

OTTAWA – Tony Vella, the great-nephew of Father George Preca, said he hopes the charismatic Maltese priest’s life and virtues will be remembered long after his June 3 canonization. Vella called his mother’s uncle, whom he knows as “Dun Gorg,” a “pioneer of the lay apostolate.” Vella, 64, of Kingston, Ontario, served Blessed Preca as an altar boy in his native town of Hamrun, Malta, and “used to see him pretty well every day,” Vella said in a May telephone interview from Kingston. When Blessed Preca began his ministry, Malta, an island nation off the coast of Italy, was largely illiterate. Although Malta is Catholic, the faith there was mingled with superstition. As a deacon, Blessed Preca started “religious discussions” with sailors in the Grand Harbor area and began building relationships with local youths.

ROME – U.S. President George W. Bush has been invited to visit the Sant’Egidio Community, a Catholic lay community known for leading high-profile peace negotiations as well as being active in the fight against the death penalty and HIV/AIDS. The White House received the invitation but as of May 23 still had to decide if the president would visit with the community’s leaders, sources in Rome told Catholic News Service. Bush is scheduled to be in Rome June 8-9. Sant’Egidio spokesman Mario Marazziti told CNS that until the president’s schedule was finalized there was no comment on the proposed visit.