Ladies get away day at Our Lady of Perpetual Help

The ladies of the Magnificat Mom’s Club gathered 50 women at Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Edgewater, parish hall for a day of pampering and activities created just for them. Throughout the day the ladies were treated to pottery classes, Mary Kay Cosmetic representatives, jazzercise classes, scrapbook activities and a planting project. The ladies were treated to a continental breakfast, hors d ‘oeuvres from Tastefully Simple and lunch from Bayside Bull. A nutritionist and a doctor were invited to speak to the women about their physical and mental health and the importance of spirituality in their life.

“It went very well. It’s important for ladies to have a relaxing day because women do so much,” said Pat Dixon, the supervisor of religious education for the parish.

The women in the Magnificat Mom’s Club wanted to bring more mothers into their group and get the women in the parish more involved. They wanted to have a program that brought women together and lifted their spirits, said Michele Enzor who was one of the women behind the event.

“One day I felt like God was speaking to me about doing a spa day,” said Ms. Enzor. “It ended up completely different than expected. God was just so faithful through the whole process.”

The ladies, with a lot of hard work, planned the whole event in three months. She said it was the group’s way of evangelizing and opening the door for women in the parish and community to participate in the church.

“I think it’s important for women to have a day away to refresh themselves,” said Ashley Dray who is a member of the mom’s group. “It’s important for mothers especially because it helps them have their own time and be with other mothers.”

Ms. Enzor agreed with Ms. Dray and said women get so caught up with their families, work and everything else that they forget to take care of themselves. She said this was more of a social event but they prayed the rosary and kept the chapel open so the women could pray in silence.

“God really showed himself in an amazing way this weekend,” said Ms. Enzor. “You start off with this idea and God turns it into something greater than you could have imagined.”

The Magnificat Moms plan to have another ladies day out next year and Ms. Enzor said she would be willing to help other parishes put together this own women’s day.

Archdiocese collects scrap metal for statue of Pope John Paul

MEXICO CITY – The Archdiocese of Leon is collecting scrap metal to create a life- size statue of Pope John Paul II.

Archbishop Jose Martin Rabago has asked the archdiocese’s 2.5 million Catholics to bring old keys, coins and every kind of metal to parishes, which have set up collection bins.

“People have responded with a lot of enthusiasm,” Father Pasqual Lopez, archdiocesan chancellor, told Catholic News Service in a telephone interview. “They want to show their affection and their gratitude to this man whom they venerate as a role model for a true Christian life.”

The idea for some kind of recognition of the former pope was born two days after his death in 2005. The first plan was to name a major highway in this industrial city after him, but people wanted more than just a street name. They wanted something visible, touchable, said Father Lopez.

They planned the life-size bronze statue, but the project never got off the ground, so the archbishop launched his appeal for scrap metal. The collection is scheduled to last until July 31.

“It can be anything: old keys, coins, any kind of metal, as long as it is not contaminated or mixed with chemicals, and it cannot contain plastic or wood,” said the archbishop’s appeal.

Father Lopez said plans call for the statue to be more than 15 feet tall, including the pedestal and papal miter. He said it would be placed a prominent location inside the city’s cathedral.

Doing ads against obesity yet shilling for junk food: What the Shrek?

If advertising weren’t effective, it wouldn’t be so pervasive. Part of the pervasiveness of advertising lies in the fact that with so many ads out there – not only on TV but billboards, signs, online and other electronic media – some eye- catching gimmick has to be used to lure folks to the message.

When children are involved, though, it’s a delicate line that is too easily crossed.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has been using Shrek in public service announcements to help encourage children to lead a healthy lifestyle. Public service ads over the past 20 years have been pretty much consigned to the television graveyard as stations try to squeeze as much revenue as possible out of each programming day.

Shrek would seem to be a smart choice. The green-tinged ogre had already been featured in two highly successful movies, each of which raked in hundreds of millions of dollars in domestic box office alone, and a third “Shrek” installment hit cinemas nationwide in mid-May, just in time to rake in the dollars of schoolkids and parents alike thirsting for some half-decent entertainment at the movies.

But Shrek – or rather, his copyright holders – didn’t get limited to mere public service advertising.

A review by the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood found 16 separate food promotions for “Shrek the Third” featuring more than 70 different products:

– McDonald’s, for Happy Meals and TV ads with “Shrek the Third” characters.

– Pepsico, for Sierra Mist Free soft drinks and Cheetos that make the eater’s mouth turn green.

– Masterfoods, for Skittles, Snickers and three different varieties of M&Ms. – Pez Candy, for Shrek Pez dispensers.

– Kellogg’s, the biggest offender – exploiter? – of all, with more than 60 Shrek tie-ins on various brands owned by Kellogg’s, including Keebler cookies and crackers, Sunshine crackers, Eggo frozen breakfast foods, Yogos snack foods, and Kellogg’s Pop-Tarts and cereals.

As overbearing as some may think the federal government is, there is no way a Shrek anti-childhood-obesity public service ad can compete against the marketing muscle of these five food-producing and merchandising giants, each of which has global reach.

The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood started an online petition campaign to get Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt to “fire” Shrek as the department’s, er, spokesogre. “There is a conflict of interest inherent in simultaneously promoting junk food and public health,” the campaign asserted in a sample letter it hopes citizens will send to Leavitt. “Why would young children follow Shrek’s advice about healthy living and ignore his entreaties to eat Happy Meals and Pop-Tarts?”

The market for products aimed at children ages 3 and under is worth an estimated $20 billion. So it’s little surprise TV stations skirt the rules to tap into that market. In May, the Federal Communications Commission proposed a total of $36,000 in fines against TV stations for violations of the rules governing children’s TV, including advertising.

The biggest fine, $20,000, was aimed at WRBL in Columbus, Ga., for what the FCC called “willful and repeated” violations of rules requiring it to file reports on compliance with children’s TV ad limits, failure to publicize the existence of its children’s programming reports, and for not reporting its FCC-friendly kids programming to the publishers of program guides.

WQRF in Rockford, Ill., faces a $10,000 fine for not publicizing its children’s programming reports, while KTVK in Phoenix faces a $6,000 fine for failing to publish those reports.

The fines are a relative drop in the bucket compared to the continued windfall of ad revenue.

One possible solution is a bill sponsored by Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, that would give the Federal Trade Commission the authority to restrict unfair advertising to children.

Mark Pattison is media editor for Catholic News Service.

Efforts to protect religious freedom around world mark 10th year

WASHINGTON – With the daily news from Capitol Hill focused on the often- combative process of passing legislation to reform immigration, fund the war in Iraq or even reauthorize the farm bill, it’s refreshing to look back at another carefully negotiated bill that took a less contentious course. Ten years ago a diverse coalition of religious and human rights organizations and a bipartisan group in Congress worked together to create a system for addressing religious freedom abuses internationally that arguably is doing what it set out to accomplish.

The International Religious Freedom Act, passed by vast majorities in both houses of Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton in October 1998, created a multipronged system for promoting religious freedom, including establishing the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.

Nearly 10 years later, some of the people involved in passing the measure point to flaws in how it has worked, but said it has improved the U.S. government’s interest in and ability to respond to abuses of religious rights.

Said Tom Farr, a former director of the State Department office charged with implementing the law, “There are probably hundreds, maybe thousands of people walking the earth free today because of this law.”

But Farr, now an author and vice chair of the board of Christian Solidarity Worldwide-USA, an international nongovernmental organization that advocates religious freedom, quickly added a caution.

“But has it perceptibly reduced religious freedom abuses in the past 10 years?” he asked. “The answer is it has not.”

Nina Shea, vice chair of the commission, told Catholic News Service important work is clearly being accomplished. But she also ticked off ways U.S. actions and responses abroad fall short of the ideals she and others had 10 years ago as they worked to pass the law.

Beginning in 1997, over a year or so of working on the bill behind the scenes and in congressional hearings and conferences, imams, Catholic bishops and evangelical Protestant ministers reached common ground. The Family Research Council, the Eagle Forum and the Prison Fellowship worked alongside Amnesty International, the Anti-Defamation League, the AFL-CIO, Human Rights Watch and the National Council of Churches. The organizations and the bill’s congressional sponsors worked out differences of opinion over such points as which religious groups it covered and how specifically the administration’s role should be defined.

Ms. Shea said important work is being accomplished, such as focusing on fundamentalists in southern Sudan who were targeting non-Muslims for elimination. Bringing international attention to that situation helped resolve the problem in that corner of Sudan, she said.

In other places, success is not the rule. Ms. Shea gave the example of an ongoing battle to persuade Saudi Arabia’s government to stop using official textbooks that promote violence in support of the notion that the Wahabi strain of Islam is superior to all other religions.

She also criticized as uneven the way some U.S. embassies treat religious rights issues in their dealings with a country, and the lack of administration attention to “Christians being eradicated from Iraq.”

The religious freedom commission is an independent federal organization of part- time volunteers from different faith backgrounds with expertise on the subject of religious rights. Its members monitor religious freedom issues – frequently traveling to trouble spots – and advising the administration. Ms. Shea, a human rights lawyer who heads the Center for Religious Freedom at the Hudson Institute, is the only commission member who has been on it since the beginning.

The commission’s work complements that done by an office established within the State Department to promote religious freedom as an objective of U.S. foreign policy. The Office of International Religious Freedom, headed by an ambassador-at- large, monitors religious persecution and discrimination, recommends and implements policies to promote religious freedom.

The law formally set as U.S. policy the practice of condemning religious freedom abuses and defined steps the administration should follow, ranging from diplomatic pressure to trade and financial sanctions. At an early May panel discussion hosted by the Pew Research Center, John Hanford III, the current ambassador-at-large for the office, said among the Religious Freedom Act’s accomplishments are laws in some countries that have been changed and people have been released from prison as a result of U.S. intervention.

He said his office’s influence in affecting foreign policy is “about as strong as any office in the State Department.”

In some countries, the office’s annual report on religious freedom is posted at U.S. embassies in the local language, said Mr. Hanford. But another panelist said religious rights are still not in the mainstream of foreign policy.

John Shattuck, president of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, in the mid-1990s headed the State Department’s Office of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, which now oversees staffing of the Office of International Religious Freedom.

He said there are misunderstandings especially abroad about the law’s intent, such as assumptions held by some that it exists to make it easier to “export a U.S. brand of religion” or is intended to protect only “missionary religions” that proselytize abroad. Others see the law as “another example of U.S. unilateralism,” he said.

While it’s true that some of the early motivation for the law came from evangelical Christians whose members were targeted in some countries, the legislative process and the diversity of those involved turned it into a much broader bill, he said.

Nevertheless, Mr. Shattuck said in many ways “we’re stuck in the same place the Human Rights Bureau was in the early 1990s – naming and shaming, focused on failures and fixes.”

Religion is a factor in economic, political, diplomatic and security concerns, he said.

At a time of “unprecedented diversity of religion and unprecedented contact with each other,” the federal government at all levels ought to have greater interest in understanding and protecting religious beliefs, he said. Diocese exploring how to develop a ministry to homosexuals

TUCSON, Ariz. – The Diocese of Tucson will develop a ministry to homosexuals, Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas said in a column in his diocesan newspaper, “The New Vision.”

In the May edition of the paper, Bishop Kicanas said he thinks the church should be doing more to minister to people with a same-sex orientation than the approach he and his priests’ council settled upon several years ago.

The consensus of those discussions was that ministry to homosexuals was best accomplished at the parish level, through spiritual direction and the sacrament of reconciliation.

“I thought then that was a sound approach to ministry,” he wrote. “I still think that but I also now believe we should be doing more.”

At recent meetings with pastoral leaders and parishioners, he said he heard “that in whatever ministry we ultimately may develop we must challenge any attitudes, language or actions in the church and in society that demean people of same-sex orientation.”

He said he also heard “that we need to be clear about the church’s moral teaching on homosexuality” and that “it is important that we articulate a positive vision of how a person of same-sex orientation can live in communion with the church and remain faithful in living as a Catholic.”

Bishop Kicanas told the Arizona Daily Star newspaper that part of the impetus for the discussion on ministry to homosexuals was criticism he heard after he and Arizona’s other two bishops – Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted of Phoenix and Bishop Donald E. Pelotte of Gallup, N.M., whose diocese includes northeastern Arizona – supported a state ban on same-sex marriage and on extending benefits to government employees’ domestic partners.

In his column, Bishop Kicanas wrote that among the issues raised in the discussions were the struggles of parents whose children disclose a same-sex orientation, how to relate to those sons and daughters, and how they might be treated by the church.

“We also explored ways that Catholics of same-sex orientation who want to live in communion with the church can find the personal and spiritual support they need,” he wrote.

Among suggestions from the group were that there be a parish “where Catholics of same-sex orientation could worship in an accepting environment that would help them in living faithfully as Catholics” and that priests, religious and lay parish employees be taught how to respond pastorally to people with same-sex orientation.

“While no final recommendations on a ministry plan resulted from our discussion, it is clear to me that our ministry plan must uphold Catholic teaching while it helps us to welcome people of same-sex orientation, to support them in living ‘authentic human integrity and holiness of life’ and to encourage ‘their full and active participation,’“ he said, quoting from a 1976 U.S. bishops’ document “To Live in Christ Jesus: A Pastoral Reflection on the Moral Life.”

He said the diocese’s plan must challenge any degradation and violence toward homosexuals.

“I am very sensitive to the concerns I have heard from people of same-sex orientation that they feel they have no place in our parishes or in the household of faith,” he wrote. “We need to consider how we as a diocese or how I as a bishop may be generating such misunderstanding.”

Bishop Kicanas noted that a 2006 document by the U.S. bishops, “Ministry to Persons with a Homosexual Inclination: Guidelines for Pastoral Care,” called for developing such ministries in dioceses. Papal honors presented to 19 in the archdiocese

A lawyer, a member of the second deacon class of the archdiocese, the president of a Catholic hospital and an administrator for Stella Maris in Timonium, are among 19 individuals in the Archdiocese of Baltimore who have been awarded papal honors.

Cardinal William H. Keeler will present the awards at a special ceremony June 24, at 6 p.m., at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen, Homeland.

The awards, for outstanding service to the archdiocese and the papacy, include Knight or Dame Commander of the Order of St. Gregroy the Great, the Cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice and the Benemerenti Medal. The new monsignors for the archdiocese, Monsignor Martin E. Feild, pastor of St. Joseph, Taneytown, Monsignor James P. Farmer, pastor of St. Ursula, Parkville, and Monsignor Richard H. Tillman, pastor of St. John the Evangelist, Columbia, will also be recognized. The rank and title of monsignor is the papal honor for a diocesan priest.

Knight Commander of the Order of St. Gregory the Great

The papal award, the Order of St. Gregory, was instituted in 1831 by Pope Gregory XVI, who named it after his holy predecessor Pope Gregory the Great. The Order of St. Gregory the Great was founded in two divisions, military and civil, as a reward for those outstanding citizens of the Papal States and for persons who defended the temporal territory of the Church. There are three classes within each division.

The classes of Knight Commander (or Dame Commander) and Knight (or Dame) are bestowed on the diocesan level as a special mark of favor of the Holy See for persons who diligently serve the Church on the local level. The Order of St. Gregory the Great can now be bestowed upon any individuals who serve the Catholic Church or who have distinguished themselves by their accomplishments benefiting society, regardless of their religion or gender.

Michael J. Batza Jr. Papal Honor of Knight Commander of St. Gregory

Michael J. Batza Jr. is a very active Catholic. He and his wife Patricia have three daughters, all of whom have been educated in Catholic schools. He is a strong proponent of Catholic education and serves on the boards at St. Mary’s Seminary and University, Roland Park, and the College of Notre Dame of Maryland, Baltimore, in addition to supporting local high schools. He serves on the Archdiocesan Finance Council as vice chairman and is supportive of Catholic Charities. His management skills and personal integrity assist the church in many ways. He served with distinction on the special committee for the 1995 visit of Pope John Paul II to Baltimore. In 1996, he was named a Knight of Saint Gregory by Pope John Paul II.

Dr. Marie-Alberte Boursiquot Papal Honor of Dame Commander of St. Gregory

Dr. Marie-Alberte Boursiquot is the manager of a solo medical practice in internal medicine. She volunteers at Medical Alliance which provides free healthcare to the non-insured of Howard County. She serves on the Respect Life Committee for the Archdiocese of Baltimore, the medical advisory committee for a local pregnancy center and as Secretary of the Board for the Baltimore Guild of the Catholic Medical Association. She is an active parishioner of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption, Baltimore, volunteering in several capacities. She is a member of the Historic Trust of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption and chaired the Bicentennial Committee of the Historic Trust, which oversaw the many events and activities surrounding the re-opening of the basilica. In 2004 she was inducted into the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.

David W. Kinkopf Papal Honor of Knight of St. Gregory

David W. Kinkopf, a partner in the law firm of Gallagher Evelius and Jones, is the lead counsel for the Archdiocese of Baltimore. He and his wife, Kristen, parishioners of the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen, Homeland, have two children who are being educated in Catholic schools. Very generous with his time to both the Church and the civic community, he serves on the boards of the Maryland Catholic Conference, St. Mary’s Seminary and University, St. Ignatius Loyola Academy, and the Cathedral Foundation as well as the Sheppard Pratt Health System and Foundation. He has also served on the Baltimore City Board of Municipal and Zoning Appeals.

Michael J. Ruck Sr. Papal Honor of Knight of St. Gregory

Michael J. Ruck Sr., the Chair of the Basilica Historic Trust and a longtime member of the Basilica of the Assumption parish, is an ardent supporter of the basilica and a trusted advisor to Cardinal Keeler. He and his wife, Wendy, have two grown children who were educated in Catholic schools and he recently became a grandfather. He is President and Chief Executive Officer of the Ruck Family Corporations, the third generation of his family to be involved in funeral service. He has been recognized by both church and civic groups for his active participation and support. He also was elected to the Alumni Hall of Fame of the Calvert Hall College High School, Towson. He is a member of the Notre Dame Council of the Knights of Columbus. In 1997 he was accepted in the Equestrian Order of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre and has been very active in the Middle Atlantic Lieutenancy. In 2000 he was elevated to Knight Commander and in 2005 he was elevated again to the rank of Knight Commander with Star.

James R. Stojak Papal Honor of Knight of St. Gregory

James R. Stojak, an independent consultant to financial institutions and technology providers, has been instrumental in the foundation and growth of the Catholic Family Foundation where he currently serves as the vice chair. He and his wife, Darlene, have three daughters. He is committed to the local Catholic high school, St. Maria Goretti, Hagerstown, serving as the chair of the board. In addition, he has been as a trusted advisor to the last four pastors of his parish, St. Ann in Hagerstown, and oversaw the recent building campaign there. Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice

The Cross for the Church and Pontiff, or Cross Pro-Ecclesia et Pontifice, is a papal award founded by Pope Leo XIII in 1888, intended as an award to mark his 50th priestly jubilee. However, in present times the award is bestowed on persons, both laypersons and clergy, who have given service to the Church.

Deacon James L. Awalt Papal Honor of Pro Ecclesia Et Pontifice

Deacon James L. Awalt, a retired permanent deacon of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, was ordained a deacon in 1972 by Cardinal Lawrence Shehan. A member of the second deacon class of the archdiocese after the permanent diaconate was re- established after the Second Vatican Council, he worked to further the diaconal ministry in the archdiocese. He served on the personnel board for the archdiocese as the deacon representative, the first deacon to do so. In his more than 30 years of ministry he has served admirably and faithfully. He continues to serve in his retirement.

Lawrence M. Beck Papal Honor of Pro Ecclesia Et Pontifice

Lawrence M. Beck, President of Good Samaritan Hospital, Baltimore, has served in that capacity since 1994 when the hospital merged with Helix Health Care Systems. He has been very instrumental in helping to maintain the Catholic identity of the hospital while expanding its services in the community and increasing its level of quality care. He is an active parishioner at his parish, St. Pius X, Rodgers Forge, and is currently serving as the chair of the parish finance committee.

Therese Wilson Favors Papal Honor of Pro Ecclesia Et Pontifice

Therese Wilson Favors, director of the Office of African American Catholic Ministries for the Archdiocese of Baltimore, has worked tirelessly for the African American Community in Baltimore and throughout the United States. She serves on the National Black Catholic Congress, teaches at the Institute for Black Catholic Studies, lectures throughout the country, and prepares programs that focus on African- American issues surrounding catechesis, evangelization, and spirituality. She has contributed to several books, recently serving as editor for “What We Have Seen and Heard: Essays and Stories of Black Catholics in Baltimore,” which waspublished in 2006. She is also very active in her home parish of St. Cecilia, Baltimore.

Sister Geraldine Harvie, L.S.P. Papal Honor of Pro Ecclesia Et Pontifice

Sister Geraldine Harvie, L.S.P., a member of the community of the Little Sisters of the Poor, serves as the Superior of the Community at St. Martin’s Home for the Aged in Catonsville. Sister Geraldine shows exemplary kindness in her service to the elderly poor and in the administration of the community. Sister Geraldine served in Baltimore for two years when she first came to the United States in 1999. After serving in Indianapolis, Sister Geraldine returned to Baltimore in 2005 as Superior.

Samuel S. Hoyle Papal Honor of Pro Ecclesia Et Pontifice

Samuel S. Hoyle, a prominent business and civic leader, is an active parishioner of the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen, Homeland. He serves on the Cathedral Finance Committee, an investment consultant to the Cathedral Preservation Trust, and is a trusted advisor to the rector, Monsignor Robert Armstrong. Together with his wife, Stephanie, he has helped to chair the Cathedral Parish Committee for the Cardinal’s Lenten Appeal. He also serves on the Board of the Catholic Family Foundation. He and his wife have two grown children.

Stephanie L. Hoyle Papal Honor of Pro Ecclesia Et Pontifice

Stephanie L. Hoyle is a very active parishioner at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen, Homeland. Together with her husband, Sam, she has helped to chair the Cathedral Parish Committee for the Cardinal’s Lenten Appeal. She helps to provide planning, direction, and hospitality for major archdiocesan events held at the Cathedral and is on the environment committee that decorates the Cathedral for holidays. Maria T. Johnson Papal Honor of Pro Ecclesia Et Pontifice

Maria T. Johnson, director of the Office of Hispanic Ministries for the Archdiocese of Baltimore, has worked vigorously to provide for Hispanics in the archdiocese. She has helped to establish an Institute of Pastoral Formation for the training of Hispanic leadership and a variety of other educational programs to provide assistance and information for the evangelization, pastoral and sacramental life of Hispanics. She is also active in her home parish of the Catholic Community of St. Michael and St. Patrick, Fells Point.

Mary Ellen Kaplan Papal Honor of Pro Ecclesia Et Pontifice

Mary Ellen Kaplan is a dedicated volunteer for Catholic and other causes in Baltimore. Together with her husband, Leon, she has four children. She and her husband have been very generous to Catholic Charities, serving on the leadership breakfast committee for the past 10 years, and she is a very active volunteer at Our Daily Bread serving both in the dining room and in fund-raising. She serves on the Board of Mother Seton Academy, a co-educational Catholic middle school for low- income families in Baltimore City. Since her daughter was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes, she has also been active with local and national organizations that assist in this area.

Father Michael T. Martin, O.F.M. Conv. Papal Honor of Pro Ecclesia Et Pontifice

Father Michael T. Martin, O.F.M. Conv., a member of the St. Anthony of Padua Province of the Conventual Franciscans, is the president of Archbishop Curley High School, an all-boys regional Catholic high school. A Baltimore native and a 1979 graduate of Archbishop Curley High School himself, he studied theology at the Pontifical Faculty of Saint Bonaventure in Rome. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1989. He returned to Archbishop Curley High School in 1994 as basketball coach, religion teacher and admissions director, then served as principal and, finally president in 2001. He also serves on the board of St. Thomas Aquinas School in Baltimore and is the president of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council. Sister M. Karen McNally, R.S.M. Papal Honor of Pro Ecclesia Et Pontifice

Sister M. Karen McNally, R.S.M., a member of the Religious Sisters of Mercy, serves as the Chief Administrative Officer of Stella Maris, a multi-service facility for older persons. Under her leadership, Stella Maris has expanded to three campuses providing in-home resident and hospice care as well as reaching out to residents in the Baltimore area with long-term care, rehabilitation, home care, hospice care and residential services. Currently she is also the Chair of Health Facilities of Maryland, the State’s leading long-term care association. In 2000, she was one of four experts on senior citizen issues that represented the United States bishops at the Jubilee year celebration in Rome.

Patricia A. Nadolny Papal Honor of Pro Ecclesia Et Pontifice

Patricia A. Nadolny is the Executive Secretary to Cardinal Keeler. She has served faithfully in that office since 1991 after serving in the Archdiocesan Communications Office. A widow, she has two sons and four grandchildren.

Camilla R. Rawe Papal Honor of Pro Ecclesia Et Pontifice

Camilla R. Rawe is the Coordinator of Religious Education for the parishes of St. Ann in Grantsville and St. Michael in Frostburg. She has been very active in the parish for many years also serving on the liturgy team and with her husband as musicians in the contemporary music group.

Joseph A. Spadaro Papal Honor of Pro Ecclesia Et Pontifice

Joseph A. Spadaro is the Chief Financial Officer for the Archdiocese of Baltimore, serving his second term in that role. He has worked diligently to bring financial expertise and increased accountability to the archdiocesan offices and to the parishes and schools. He serves on the board of directors of a number of Catholic institutions. A daily communicant, he is also active in his home parish of St. Joseph in Cockeysville. He and his wife, Sandra, have two children and three grandchildren.

Benemerenti Medal

The term benemerenti literally translates to “good merit.” The Benemerenti Medal is awarded to individuals of both genders who have merited special recognition by the Holy See. The award seldom comes more than once during a pontificate.

The first Benemerenti Medal was bestowed by Pope Pius VI in 1791 as an award for military courage in the defense of the temporal Papal States. In 1925, the concept of awarding the medal as a mark of recognition of persons in service to the Church, both civil and military, lay and clergy alike, became acceptable.

Leon M. Kaplan Benemerenti Medal

Leon M. Kaplan, who is Jewish, is a prominent business leader in the health care field in Baltimore. Together with his wife, Mary Ellen, he has four children. He and his wife have been especially generous to Catholic Charities and causes surrounding Catholic education.

Cool under pressure: Papal guards handle many pilgrims discreetly

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI’s security guards are known for composure under pressure, and they showed it when a deranged German tried to jump onto the pope’s jeep at a general audience.

Within seconds, 11 Vatican plainclothes agents – Swiss Guards and policemen – subdued the 27-year-old man and pinned him to the ground. He was unarmed, and the pope was unharmed in the June 6 incident. The whole thing happened so quickly and quietly that it went unnoticed by most people in the square, including the pope. No guns were drawn and no alarms were sounded. The pope’s jeep never sped up, and most of the faithful, even those right in front of the scene, just kept snapping pictures of the pontiff.

It was a classic display of the Vatican’s elegant and understated approach to security, which relies more on intuitive alertness than a show of force. But despite the official sighs of relief, episodes like this inevitably raise apprehensions. With the pope passing through tens of thousands of people in an open jeep each Wednesday, it’s very difficult to prevent an overly enthusiastic or mentally unstable person from running toward him.

Except during bad weather, popes riding through St. Peter’s Square generally have not used the covered popemobile, which has bulletproof glass. Even after he was shot in the square in 1981, Pope John Paul II continued to use an open jeep for such appearances.

The whole idea, of course, is for the pope to get close to those who came to see him. The papal vehicle crisscrosses the lanes that divide seating sections in the square, about an arm’s length from the people in the crowd, so that everyone can get a good look and a photo.

Tickets are required to attend the pope’s general audience, but they are easily obtainable.

Since the pope insists on being out in the open, the Vatican relies on subtle layers of protection. Most importantly, before entering St. Peter’s Square all pilgrims now pass through airport-style metal detectors and have their bags searched, in an operation carried out by the Italian police force assigned to the area around the square.

The metal detectors and bag checks were introduced during the Holy Year 2000, but were used much more routinely after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The Italian police agents patrol St. Peter’s Square when it’s not being used for audiences, ceremonies or liturgies. But during papal events, the Vatican’s own security teams take over.

The Vatican’s uniformed gendarme agents and Swiss Guards are stationed throughout the crowd, and they are trained to notice potential troublemakers. The more elite security contingent that accompanies the pope’s jeep typically includes the head of the Vatican gendarme corps and Swiss Guards. Dressed in suits, this team of about 10 agents walks briskly alongside the moving vehicle, scanning the route and the crowd for potential problems.

Vatican security officials have hinted that on some occasions, sharpshooters keep vigilance over papal events from Vatican rooftops adjacent to the square.

Perhaps the biggest problem facing the pope’s “guardian angels” is distinguishing a real threat from a pilgrim’s overexuberance. Most of the people who have tried to rush the pope – and there have been many over the years – said they only wanted to be near the pontiff.

One of the best-remembered episodes was during World Youth Day ceremonies in 2000, when a young man broke through a buffer zone and “materialized” on the papal stage, as one security agent later described it. Pope John Paul reacted by giving him a big hug; then the youth was led away.

At a Vatican canonization Mass in 2002, a German man leaped barricades and was blocked near the altar. He said he wanted to hug the pope.

Such episodes are not infrequent on foreign trips. In Regensburg, Germany, last year, a young man wrapped in a Vatican flag was tackled as he tried to break through to a papal altar. During Pope Benedict’s previous trip to Spain, a man got close to the moving popemobile before he was stopped.

In 2002, as Pope John Paul celebrated a Mass in an Azerbaijani gym, a shouting refugee on crutches managed to hobble almost to the pope’s chair before he was blocked. The man said he wanted to have his picture taken with the pope and give him a booklet about Mount Ararat; at the end of the Mass, he was led back for a papal blessing.

If Vatican security seems low-profile during papal events, that is not true during visits by foreign dignitaries.

President George W. Bush, for example, was to see the pope June 9. The last time he came to the Vatican, his motorcade of armor-plated SUVs roared through St. Peter’s Square, which had been closed off for hours for the presidential passage.

U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services has new headquarters

WASHINGTON – When Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien approved plans in 2005 to move the military archdiocese’s headquarters from its location at The Catholic University of America’s Theological College, he and his staff hoped a new building would raise the profile of an archdiocese that serves one of the Catholic Church’s largest populations.

The end result was moving in March to a renovated 30,000-square-foot building just blocks away from the Catholic University campus in Washington.

The U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services, headed by Archbishop O’Brien, serves the spiritual and pastoral needs of more than 1.2 million people. It serves military personnel and their families at 220 installations in 29 countries, patients at 172 Veterans Affairs Medical Centers and federal employees serving in 134 countries. Geographically, the archdiocese is the largest in the church.

Staffers hope having a new building will raise the profile of the archdiocese and give them an identity they say has eluded them since the headquarters moved from New York to the Washington area in 2001.

“It’s a major step forward for us,” Archbishop O’Brien said in an interview with Catholic News Service June 4. “It gives us a major identity and roots.” WASHINGTON – When Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien approved plans in 2005 to move the military archdiocese’s headquarters from its location at The Catholic University of America’s Theological College, he and his staff hoped a new building would raise the profile of an archdiocese that serves one of the Catholic Church’s largest populations.

The archdiocese’s staff spent years bouncing from one rented office space to another, finally ending up near Catholic University’s campus, tucked away in Theological College in tight quarters and unnoticed by the public.

“A lot of the Catholics in the military are not aware of the archdiocese,” said Julia Rota, its director of communications. She said that along with the new building, the military archdiocese has revamped its magazine, AMS News. As for the building, “it’s much more functional,” said Father James Dixon, vicar general. “We have room to grow and expand.”

The five-story building includes a chapel, living quarters and more than 20 offices for the staff of 30. The new space has been put to good use by the staff that oversees the archdiocese’s 1.4 million sacramental records. “The layout is better,” said Frank Calandra, director of the sacramental records. “I like the location, comfort and environment.”

When designing the building, Father Dixon said the archbishop decided not to splurge and focused only on remodeling an existing building. It is “bare bones,” he said.

“It’s not lavish,” said Bill Kirst, chief financial officer for the archdiocese. “You don’t see any fancy chandeliers,” he said.

Kirst said renovating the building cost $5.5 million. The archdiocese was able to purchase the building at a discount because it exchanged the property for another one it owned in Washington.

Funding came exclusively from gifts and donations, which were largely part of an $8 million fundraising campaign, Kirst said. The capital campaign has already raised $7.6 million of its goal.

Originally constructed in the 1960s, the building served as housing for members of the Society of the Divine Word who were taking classes at Catholic University.

“We literally gutted this building,” Kirst said. “It was like a college dorm.” Father Dixon said there are misconceptions as to how the archdiocese pays its bills: Many assume that it is supported by the military or the Catholic Church, but its ministries rely on donations.

He is hopeful that by raising the profile of the archdiocese with its news headquarters, people will better understand its work.

“This is a unique diocese” because it “covers the whole world,” he said.

Australian cardinal says he regrets vote for therapeutic cloning

SYDNEY, Australia – Cardinal George Pell of Sydney said he regrets the passage of a therapeutic cloning initiative by the New South Wales state parliament.

Noting that the church supports adult stem-cell research, especially for medical reasons, Cardinal Pell expressed hope that lawmakers would be better informed in the future.

“Certainly the Sydney Catholic Life Office is prepared to offer information and advice to any person who wishes to understand the pro-life position better,” he said in a statement June 7, the same day the state parliament passed the initiative.

At a June 5 press conference, Cardinal Pell said he did not think “any Catholic politician, any Christian politician, any pro-life politician who has properly informed his or her conscience should vote for these changes.”

The cardinal noted that there would be “consequences for their life in the church” for Catholic politicians who voted for legislation that would allow the use of therapeutic cloning in Australia’s most populous state.

Asked how their position in the church will change if they support the bill, Cardinal Pell would not specify, though he could not rule out denying them Holy Communion.

The premier of New South Wales is a practicing Catholic and member of the ruling Australian Labor Party.

“I don’t believe in crossing bridges before you get to them, and I am hoping all the Catholic politicians will do the right thing,” the cardinal said.

The initiative legalizes the creation of “human-animal hybrids” and opening “a perverse new direction in human experimentation,” he said.

German man sent for treatment after jumping toward papal jeep

VATICAN CITY – A 27-year-old German man was forced to undergo immediate psychiatric treatment June 6 after he jumped over a barrier in St. Peter’s Square and reached the back of the open jeep in which Pope Benedict XVI was riding.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, refused to release the man’s name but said he was in a Rome psychiatric facility by 2:30 p.m., about four hours after being tackled to the ground by Vatican police.

The man was first taken to the Vatican police station and questioned by Gianluigi Marrone, a Vatican judge, Father Lombardi said.

“The young man’s intention was not to make an attempt on the life of the pope, but to carry out a demonstrative act to attract attention to himself,” Father Lombardi said. Because the young man was “showing clear signs of mental imbalance, psychiatric doctors from the Vatican health service were called, and they arranged hospitalization for obligatory treatment in a protected, specialized health facility,” the spokesman said.

“The case is, therefore, considered closed,” Father Lombardi said. Pope Benedict was in St. Peter’s Square for his weekly general audience. The pope did not appear to have noticed the young man or the activity of Vatican security agents and police forcing the man to let go of the jeep.

Dressed in a red shirt, dark shorts and a baseball cap, the young man was in the third or fourth row of spectators behind a wooden barricade in the square. As the pope approached, a police officer moved directly in front of the young man’s section of the crowd, although it was not clear what had attracted the attention of the officer.

The young man jumped over the people in front of him and used the barricade to push himself farther, knocking over the police officer. He managed to hold onto the back railing of the jeep for a just a few seconds before being forced to let go.

Monsignor Georg Ganswein, the pope’s personal secretary, was in the jeep and also attempted to push the young man away.

Pope publicly calls on G-8 leaders to increase development aid

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI publicly called on the leaders of the world’s richest nations to keep their promises to increase development aid.

Speaking at the end of his general audience June 6, the day the Group of Eight summit opened in Heiligendamm, Germany, Pope Benedict called specifically for funding for education in the world’s developing nations and for recognition and support of Catholic schools, which play a leading role in many of the world’s poorest countries.

Pope Benedict told the estimated 30,000 people at his audience that he had written to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, encouraging her “to keep the theme of world poverty on the agenda of the G-8, with specific reference to Africa.”

He said Merkel assured him that the eight nations were committed to reaching the Millennium Development Goals for fighting poverty, disease and illiteracy by increasing foreign aid, promoting development and fighting corruption. The millennium goals are a plan that aims to cut global poverty in half by 2015.

“I should like to make a further appeal to the leaders meeting at Heiligendamm not to retreat from their promises to make a substantial increase in development aid,” the pope said. “Let us hope they work seriously to reach these objectives.”

In particular, the pope said, “special attention” should be given to the second millennium goal, which is “to ensure that all boys and girls complete a full course of primary schooling.”

Reaching the goal of universal primary education is an essential component in reaching and maintaining all the others goals and “is the starting point for autonomous and sustainable processes of development,” he said.

“It must not be forgotten that the Catholic Church has always been at the forefront in the field of education, reaching places, particularly in the poorest countries, that state structures often fail to reach,” the pope said.

He said the international community must recognize, value and support the work in education done locally by the Catholic and other religious groups and by nongovernmental organizations, including by providing adequate funding. State attorney general to review block on partial-birth abortion ban

DETROIT – Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox will study the June 4 federal appeals court decision blocking Michigan’s Legal Birth Definition Act, and consider an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“We’re in the process of reviewing the court’s opinion. Obviously, we will be considering it in light of the Supreme Court’s Gonzales ruling, which upheld the federal ban on partial-birth abortions,” Cox spokesman Rusty Hills said June 5.

He was referring to the U.S. Supreme Court’s April 18 ruling in the Gonzales v. Carhart and Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood cases. Analysts said Michigan’s law is more sweeping than the federal statute and might apply to abortions not covered by the federal law.

The decision by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was denounced by Cardinal Adam J. Maida of Detroit, who pledged that he and other Michigan bishops would redouble their efforts to end “this unthinkable procedure,” which he characterized as infanticide.

“As long as the most innocent and vulnerable in our society – the unborn – remain at risk, the issue is not going away, and neither are those of us who fought so hard to protect the dignity of all human life,” the cardinal said. Paul A. Long, vice president for public policy of the Michigan Catholic Conference, policy arm for the state’s bishops, said June 4: “Today’s ruling, which protects an ideology that has imposed upon our state and nation one of the must inhumane, sadistic and brutal acts of aggression that history will witness, is disappointing not only for women but also for the protection of innocent human life.

“Those who share a common interest in banning the unjust practice of partial-birth abortion will continue to work diligently until Michigan law reflects the will of the people,” he added.

Michigan Right to Life would be adding its voice to those urging Cox to defend the legislation by appealing to the high court, said Pam Sherstad, its director of public information.

The Legal Birth Definition Act takes a different approach to banning the procedure commonly known as partial-birth abortion than that of other legislative attempts, by declaring a baby to have been born – and therefore entitled to legal protection – at the point when any portion of his or her body has been vaginally delivered outside the mother’s body.

In partial-birth abortion, a live fetus is partially delivered and an incision is made at the base of the skull, through which the brain is removed, and then the dead body is delivered the rest of the way.

First adopted by the Michigan Legislature in 2003, the bill was vetoed by Gov. Jennifer Granholm. A successful petition drive – known as “The People’s Override” – brought the bill back before legislators in June 2004, and both the state House of Representatives and Senate enacted it into law. When legislators adopt a bill that was placed before them by petition, it cannot be vetoed by the governor.

The act would have gone into effect at the end of March 2005, but a suit filed on March 1 of that year challenged the law. U.S. District Judge Denise Page Hood put the law on hold pending her decision, then ruled it unconstitutional that September.

Cox appealed Hood’s decision, and the federal appeals court heard oral arguments last October, then June 4 issued its opinion upholding Hood’s permanent injunction.

Hills said it is Cox’s position that the Legal Birth Definition Act has been constitutional all along, but he declined to offer any prediction of when Cox would decide whether to appeal the decision, only that it would come after the attorney general and his staff had time to “prudently and thoroughly” review it.

He added, however, that there is a strong inclination on the part of the attorney general’s office to defend a law that was adopted by strong majorities in both houses of the state Legislature after being “supported by literally hundreds of thousands of Michigan voters” who petitioned for its passage.