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VATICAN CITY – Renewing their own spirituality and carefully studying the needs of others, women religious will be able to live the Gospel message and bring hope to the world, Pope Benedict XVI said. The pope, meeting May 7 with almost 800 superiors of women’s congregations, asked the religious to follow the biblical example of the prophets, who “first listen and contemplate and then speak, allowing themselves to be totally permeated by that love for God, which fears nothing and is stronger even than death.”

Nearly 200,000 people die each year from Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) – a condition in which a blood clot forms inside a deep vein – and surgeons at St. Joseph Medical Center, Towson, are using a procedure that basically vacuums the clot right out of the body. About 30 people were treated at St. Joseph with the new technology known as Angiojet last year and surgeons are thrilled with the results, said Dr. Mark Gonze, chief of vascular surgery at the hospital.

Every Thursday morning Doctor Charles Edwards II runs from his home in Ruxton to his office in the Maryland Spine Center at Mercy Medical Center, Baltimore. The route is about nine miles. Dr. Edwards has been running since his days of cross country and track in middle school. When he was just 10 years old he ran a 40-mile course, which was set up by his Boy Scout troop, from York, Pa., to Hunt Valley in one day. By the time he graduated from high school he had done the course seven times and even set the record at one and a half hours.

Three men will be ordained Jesuit priests by Cardinal William H. Keeler on June 9. Kurt Denk, Ralph Rivera and Ignatius Sasmita will be ordained at the Alumni Memorial Chapel of Loyola College in Maryland, Baltimore.

Dr. Norman Dy, a program director of the St. Agnes Hospital, Baltimore, Internal Medicine Residency who has his own private practice, uncovered the truth about medical myths in a recent interview.

VATICAN CITY – A group of diplomats from predominantly Muslim countries in the Middle East, North Africa and Europe will meet with top Vatican officials during an intensive three-week course on the Catholic Church. The aim of the May 7-27 course is to help Muslim governments understand how the Vatican works, especially in diplomacy, and to familiarize participants with the church and its network of social and humanitarian services.

HOPELAWN, N.J. – When young men are discerning the vocation of priesthood, it is important that they have a quiet place for prayer and reflection while learning about the life that would come with being a priest. Through the work and support of many individuals, the Metuchen Diocese has created such a setting for those seeking to decipher God’s call. In a building that was once an oversized and underutilized rectory for Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Parish now stands the St. John Vianney House of Discernment. The house is a place for men considering the priesthood who are serious about the vocation, yet not entirely certain that they are ready to pursue it.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. bishops are studying a draft curriculum guide for Catholic high school religion courses across the country. Prepared by the Committee on Catechesis of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the draft sets the framework for six core semesters plus five elective courses from which schools may choose two – preferably in the senior year or one each in the junior and senior years. The curriculum framework, developed at the request of publishers of catechetical materials, is intended as a guide for those publishers and for diocesan offices and Catholic high schools to help them develop their own curriculum guidelines and evaluate religion textbooks for use in their schools.