Federal appeals court rules abuse case against Vatican can go forward

WASHINGTON – A federal appeals court ruled Nov. 24 that a lawsuit can move forward against the Vatican involving three men who claimed to have been sexually abused when they were children by priests in the Archdiocese of Louisville, Ky.

However, the lead counsel to the Vatican in this case said the ruling handed down by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also presents significant challenges for the attorneys representing the three men in proving the Vatican is liable for damages.

Louisville attorney William F. McMurry has brought what is believed to be the first clergy sexual abuse suit that names the Vatican as the sole defendant.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages, claiming a 1962 directive from the Vatican instructed church officials in Louisville to remain silent about sex abuse complaints against clergy in the archdiocese. The document became public in 2003 and the lawsuit asserts that it makes the Vatican responsible for crimes committed by clergy whose misdeeds were covered up because of the instruction.

Mr. McMurry was not available to comment to Catholic News Service Nov. 25, but told The Associated Press Nov. 24 that this ruling was a significant step forward in his case. “We’re finally going to get to the root of the problem.”

Mr. McMurry also represented 243 sex abuse victims who reached a settlement with the Louisville Archdiocese for $25.3 million in 2003.

Jeffrey S. Lena, the Berkeley, Calif., attorney representing the Holy See in this case, said the ruling also was in many respects a good decision for the Vatican.

“The plaintiffs can say they have prevailed, because they have survived to litigate another day,” Lena told CNS Nov. 25. “But the basis for their jurisdictional claims is significantly narrowed and they lost all of their constitutional challenges that were on appeal.” The appeals court upheld a 2007 ruling by U.S. District Court Judge John G. Heyburn II that allows the three men to pursue a claim that church officials should have issued warnings that members of the clergy had been accused of sexual abuse.

But the court dismissed the portion of the lawsuit that challenged the constitutionality of the U.S. Foreign Sovereign Immunity Act, which grants immunity to foreign nations from nearly all civil lawsuits. The lawsuit claimed the Holy See was a religious institution that was separate from the Vatican City State, which is recognized by the U.S. as a country. The ruling holds that the Vatican is a country and not a separate religious institution.

“Because, what they claimed happened in Kentucky, now the plaintiff has to find a way to place the Holy See in the U.S.,” Lena said.

The argument may be made that U.S. bishops who should have sounded the alarm about sexual abuse allegations are employees of the Vatican, but the defense could maintain they are employees of the Archdiocese of Louisville.

When he rendered his 2007 ruling, Heyburn acknowledged that whether the Holy See qualifies as an employer of U.S. clergy for the purposes of the case had not yet been fully tested.

“In (the Nov. 24) ruling the court adopted the ruling of the Supreme Court of Kentucky, that says sexual abuse is outside of the scope of the employment of the priest,” Lena said. “Now that becomes the law of the case. When a priest is committing sexual abuse, it’s outside of the scope of employment. That makes it difficult to move the case forward. The basis of the case is narrowed.”

Cecilia Price, spokeswoman for the Louisville Archdiocese, told CNS Nov. 25 the archdiocese had nothing more to add to what Lena had already said about the ruling.

McMurry told AP he suspected this case could end up being heard by the U.S. Supreme Court, but Lena told CNS it was premature for him to make such a prediction.

Vatican spokesman Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi told CNS in Rome Nov. 25 that he did not expect Vatican officials to have any comment on the ruling.

Study: Overseas aid needed to keep poor from falling further behind

WASHINGTON – Officials from a variety of nongovernmental organizations have urged the United States to continue overseas development assistance despite the current global financial crisis.

One official at a Nov. 24 press conference in Washington said relieving hunger in poor nations could be seen as a national security issue.

At the press conference, marking the release of the 19th annual hunger report by Bread for the World, speakers noted that 100 million more people went hungry earlier this year because of fuel and food price spikes, coupled with the growing of crops for fuel rather than for food – and an additional 100 million have gone hungry since the financial crisis started in September.

“Investing in food production in Africa is a security issue,” declared Peter McPherson, a former U.S. Agency for International Development director, during the press conference. “Food production, in my mind, is a security issue.”

“We started sensing that something was seriously wrong” a little over a year ago, said Ken Hackett, head of Catholic Relief Services, the U.S. bishops’ overseas relief and development agency.

One sign was when sisters who were Missionaries of Charity would come to CRS outposts. “When the Missionaries of Charity come to your door, they don’t leave,” Mr. Hackett said during the press conference. Their presence was an indication, he added, that “the poorest of the poor could no longer feed themselves.” Another sign came during his visit to CRS workers in Haiti.

“When you stand up before 200 of your workers in Haiti, and you give your speech and you thank them for all the good work that they’re doing, and the first hand that goes up says, ‘When are we going to get a salary adjustment?’ you know something’s wrong,” Mr. Hackett said. “It’s even affecting our own people on the ground.”

Concern for the poor and the vulnerable “must be at the foundation of any assistance,” he added. Overseas development assistance, as currently constituted, “is not responsive in any way to the needs of the poor,” according to Hackett.

A chart distributed at the press conference showed 50 foreign assistance objectives, 51 U.S. governmental foreign assistance organizations – Cabinet departments among them – and 48 presidential initiatives, pieces of legislation and strategy papers. McPherson called for an overhaul of the bureaucracy; the Obama transition team has been approached with the idea of a Cabinet-level Department of Global Assistance.

“There’s nothing like money to dictate where the control is,” Mr. McPherson said.

Foreign assistance “is not addressing the root causes of poverty,” Hackett said. It must integrate food aid and development aid, he added. “It’s imperative that the United States supply, even in tough times, adequate assistance.

The U.S. role in development aid has slipped over the past 20 years “because we’re now into immediate emergency relief,” Mr. McPherson said.

Joy Phumaphi, the World Bank’s vice president for human development, said the World Bank was prepared to give $6 billion in farm aid to developing countries, but added that the figure was 10 percent of what was needed worldwide.

The executive summary of the Bread for the World hunger report showed the inequality of aid and trade.

“In 2006, Bangladesh received $80 million in U.S. assistance, while the United States collected $487 million in tariffs on imports from Bangladesh,” it said. “The United States has been working to increase the competitiveness of Bangladeshi businesses, yet U.S. tariffs make exports from Bangladesh less competitive.”

Catholic co-sponsors of the Bread for the World hunger report included the Bon Secours Health System; Catholic Charities USA; the Catholic Health Association; SC Ministry Foundation, which is an agency of the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati; and the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange, Calif.

The full report can be seen at www.hungerreport.org.

Returning teacher finds new challenges

I recently returned to teaching high school in the Archdiocese of Baltimore after an absence of more than 30 years. The things that I have learned (and in some cases relearned) are as numerous as the challenges a teacher faces today.

I began my professional career teaching English and language arts at Archbishop Spalding High School – one of the stalwart educational institutions in our archdiocese. After 32 years as a copy editor and sometimes writer, primarily in the sports department at The Baltimore Sun, I returned last August to teaching English and journalism at Cardinal Gibbons School – one of the stalwart educational institutions in our archdiocese.

I guess what I have learned in my short time back teaching shouldn’t surprise me. As in all walks of life, some things change; others remain constant.

Many of the priorities have a familiar ring to them. Reading comprehension and critical writing skills could not be emphasized enough in the 1970s. Nor can they be emphasized enough today.

I began teaching thinking that I could teach Homer, Virgil and Dante the way that I had been taught as a student at Cardinal Gibbons a decade earlier, but I soon returned to graduate school so that I could acquire the skills to address my students’ more basic writing and reading needs.

It is just as vital, perhaps more so, to address those basic writing and reading needs today.

Other things, including names, have changed. Martin Spalding is now Archbishop Spalding; 32 years ago, it was Cardinal Gibbons High School.

Names and faces may change. Challenges remain constant.

The challenges a teacher faces today are new and sometimes more complex.

Three decades ago, we competed with movies and television for our students’ attention and creativity. Today, we still compete with movies and television but also vie with the Internet, iPods and cell phones.

The risks for the student, too, are more involved.

Thirty years ago, the temptation to cheat was just a library, textbook or encyclopedia away. Today, plagiarism is just a mouse click or Wikipedia away.

Impressing upon our students that intellectual property is a building block of society remains a priority in my classroom.

I try to proceed as would some of the parents of our students in their professional careers.

Like a good mason, I try to draw straight lines, keep the levels of learning plumb and construct a sound foundation for study.

Sometimes I succeed; sometimes I come up short. I still go for the occasional home run. (Please excuse the sports metaphor. It’s difficult to abandon old habits after 30 years and, besides, young men at an all-boys school usually relate better to athletic references.)

Sometimes I connect. Sometimes, like Rick Dempsey in his hilarious pantomime of Babe Ruth, I fall flat on my face.

I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Michael Reeb is one of 14 faculty members at Cardinal Gibbons to have graduated from the school.

Making use of your ‘last time’

It happened several years ago, but the thought continues to bother me. John had made the comment at one of our group get-togethers. “Don’t mention those words ‘last time’ to me,” he said.

John was our next-door neighbor, and ever since he and Marie moved, several of us would still get together to discuss old times. John continued his conversation.

“The words ‘last time’ always remind me of that day we moved away from the neighborhood,” he said. “I was in the shower getting ready for our settlement that morning and I suddenly realized that this would be the last time I would be taking a shower in this house. Nostalgia flooded my memory.”

John’s words stayed with me too, because my wife, Pat and I are slowly coming to that time when we had better be thinking of our own future. Will we be prepared for what is next when that inevitable last day arrives? But most of all, will we be ready?

One day last summer I took my annual walk around our gym’s outdoor swimming pool, sat on a lounge chair and reminisced about that time a few days after I retired when I went there and did the same thing. I was happy then. No cares in the world. Life was still ahead of me. Little did I know I’d be around to reminisce about it 18 years later. I couldn’t help but wonder, as I sat there recently, when that last time will be. Will I be back next year, next month … tomorrow? Try it yourself the next time you think about a recurring event. When will be the last time? We never know when each event in our lives will be the last. An even more important question: Will we have another opportunity to change if we need it?

With the holy season of Advent upon us, perhaps now might be the time for us to reflect on where we are now and where we will be in the future. Advent is the time designated by the church for us to prepare for the coming of the Christ child at Christmas. It is also the time for preparation in our own lives, for our own future. We never know when our “last time” will be … for anything. Maybe that last time has already occurred, and we can only hope that we did our best with it.

Makes one wonder, doesn’t it? For instance, when was the last time you went to confession? Would you be satisfied if you were to find out that it was your last?

William F. Eckert is a parishioner at St. Paul in Ellicott City.

PEOPLE, PLACES, THINGS

Two evenings of fun, fellowship and blanket-making in the parish center ofSt. Mark, Catonsville, resulted in sending more than 130 fleece blankets to Soldier’s Angels (www.soldiersangels.org), an organization distributing blankets before Christmas to 180,000 deployed soldiers.

“We want them to know they are remembered,” saidMary Scavilla, who coordinated the Blankets of Belief effort at St. Mark’s, “that we are thinking of them during the winter holiday season, and that we are grateful for their service.”

Each blanket included a card, and blanket makers prayed over their handiwork in progress.

Besides St. Mark parishioners and students, helpers included members of the Mother’s Club of Mount St. Joseph High School, Irvington, and students and moms from Mount de Sales Academy, Catonsville.

Gerard E. Holthaus was presented with the 2008 Business Leader of the Year award by Loyola College in Maryland’s Joseph A. Sellinger, S.J., School of Business and Management, at the annual award dinner Nov. 19. Mr. Holthaus is a graduate of Loyola and Archbishop Curley High School, Baltimore. He is the chairman and chief executive officer of Algeco Scotsman, the leading global provider of modular space solutions.

The Sellinger School has honored a Business Leader of the Year since 1983.

A Nov. 8 football game betweenLoyola Blakefield, Towson, and Georgetown Preparatory school in Bethesda featured an extra winning component as players from Georgetown presented Father Thomas A. Pesci with a $5,000 check for the Dennis Woolford Memorial Fund. Dennis was a junior who died in a car accident on his way to school Sept. 26. The funds were raised through the sale of a T-shirt Georgetown had designed to honor Dennis.

Blakefield students Michael Packo and Michael Smith also designed a Dennis T- shirt which they sell during lunch periods and at sports games, also to benefit the memorial fund.

Teachers and staff at St. Margaret School, Bel Air, dressed in costume to help raise money for St. Rose of Lima School in Haiti. Grades K-5 attended an assembly carting coins from their piggy banks, plus parent donations, to cast votes for their favorite costumed characters.

The winner was Janet McAdory, a fifth-grade math teacher emulating an oompaloompa, a “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” movie character. The real winner, however, is the small Catholic school in Haiti who received $1,227 from this outreach event. Students at Mother Seton School, Emmitsburg, collected 2,173 cans of food for the Make a Difference Day organized by the Thurmont Lions Club. Also donated was $160 in gift cards. Volunteers transported the goods to the Emmitsburg Food Bank who reported they were delighted with the effort because of the growing number of families needing assistance.

St. Mary’s School, Annapolis, reported it had 44 out of 99 seventh-graders qualify for the 2009 Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Talented Youth talent search. This requires students to have scored in the 95th percentile or higher in one of the subtests for verbal or mathematical reasoning on a standardized achievement test.

St. Agnes Hospital, Baltimore, has named Dr. James P. Richardson as the new chief of geriatric medicine; he will devote the majority of his time to outpatient and inpatient consultations for geriatric patients.

Students of Trinity School, Ellicott City, celebrated Veterans Day with a special ceremony including the Missing Man Table tradition celebrated throughout U.S. dining rooms since the Vietnam War ended. Those men and women who served in the armed forces and are missing in action or held as prisoners are honored.

The table is set symbolically with a white tablecloth, a red ribbon tied to a vase, a slice of lemon on the plate as a reminder of their bitter fate, and a pinch of salt on the plate for the families’ tears. An inverted glass means the soldiers are not able to toast the meal, and an empty chair is self-explanatory.

Trinity’s remembrance included patriotic music, song and dance, and the presentation of the American flag to relatives of students who served in the armed forces. Baskets with the names of veterans were carried to the chapel and placed on the altar. The flag used for the ceremony – and the one flown daily on school property – once covered the casket of a student’s grandfather, donated to the school after he died. He was a Veterans Day visitor last year.

Mercy Medical Center, Baltimore, named the two recipients of this year’s Spirit Awards, those chosen who best demonstrate and personify the values of foundress Catherine McAuley and the Sisters of Mercy.

Michael Cavaretta, a registered nurse in post-anaesthetic care unit, andDr. Albert Polito of The Lung Center, were recognized with a plaque and $1,000 each. Dr. Polito is a parishioner of St. Leo, Little Italy.

News items for consideration in People, Places, Things should be emailed to [email protected].

Basilica gift shop thrives during holiday season

Black Friday isn’t just a lucrative day for shopping malls.

Christmas-minded consumers make the gift shop of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Blessed Virgin Mary a must-stop the day after Thanksgiving in Baltimore.

When they enter the Charles Street store, which is located in the historic Sexton’s Lodge on the left side of the front of the basilica, shoppers will see a Catholic marketplace. The shop is ushering out many of its Thanksgiving-themed decorations for a pine tree, garland, white lights and poinsettias

“We have every corner utilized,” said Angela Gillies, the manager of the shop. “It’s more tasteful. It’s very elegant.”

In order to meet the needs of visitors, Ms. Gillies and her small staff minimize many of the year-round staples, like First Communion gifts, to make room for seasonal merchandise, which tends to be scooped up off the shelves.

The most popular item in the store is often the Nativity scenes from the century-old Fontanini brand. Ms. Gillies said her shop is one of the few authorized dealers of the line of collectors’ pieces.

“So many of the visitors are local, and it’s not available where they live,” Ms. Gillies said. “That’s really a big focal point (for shoppers).”

Many people scramble during the holiday season to find “the right card.” Often, people are left picking apart the straggler cards that don’t touch the right reverent note. Ms. Gillies said the store offers those hard to find, attractive Christmas notes for loved ones.

While many stores are fretting the economic swoon plaguing the country, Ms. Gillies said her shop is thriving thanks to the hundreds of thousands of visitors who flock to the basilica each year.

“With the economy the way it is, people are looking for something unique that they don’t have,” she said. “They’re trying to find pieces they aren’t going to get elsewhere.”

In fact, she said people did not wait for the post-Thanksgiving rush. The store is seeing an uptick in walk-in traffic now.

“Seventy-five percent of the people are already buying Christmas gifts,” she said.

The gift shop does not sell items through the shop’s Web site, but people can phone orders to 410-727-3565, ext. 44. The shop is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Christ’s birth: Love made visible

I had a rather rotund friend in college who loved life, loved God and definitely loved food. He would often say as we ate in our cafeteria, “Food is God’s love made edible.” In fact, he even wrote his senior thesis on the relationship between food and theology (Banquet Feast of the Lamb, for example). One might say he was a little in love with food, but I think he was on to something there.

What does this have to do with the upcoming feast of Christmas? Well, I was thinking one day, that if food is God’s love made edible, then certainly Jesus Christ Incarnate is God’s love made visible.

And it is precisely this incarnate love that was so needed at the time of Jesus’ birth. Praying the Psalms has given me a whole new understanding of the desperation that the chosen people must have experienced, after having been oppressed for so many years. They cry out to the Lord, “How long? When will you judge our foes?” (Psalm 6) At the point that Jesus was born, it had been about 900 years since the Jews had a unified kingdom under one monarch, with peace and prosperity all around. Those past 900 years had been a succession of wars, famines, exiles, oppression and suffering. The Jewish community had been persecuted, dispersed all across the known world and been under the rule of several successive pagan empires. Where was the fulfillment of the original covenant, where God had promised that he would give them the promised land and be with them forever? “O God, the nations have invaded our land!” they cried (Psalm 79). They must have been wondering, why is our God silent? Why is he so distant? Where were “his mercies of old”?

No one could even imagine that he was closer than ever.

In the middle of the night, in humility and without fanfare, the long-awaited king came to fulfill the covenant promised to their forefathers more than a thousand years prior. This new king, a king like David, was to be the Redeemer of Israel, to unite and increase the people of God to encompass the whole world in a new covenant of love. God hadn’t deserted his people – no, he had drawn closer than before. Our Lord had done something new, something unexpected, a profound act of generosity and self-sacrificing love that the world dared not even hope for. For who knew that our God could love us so much to become one of us?

Christmas. ’Tis the season for gift-giving. But first, let’s receive a gift – the gift of the new covenant extended to us through Jesus Christ. It’s only through him, love made visible, that we have learned the meaning of love. Because God became man – he initiated the sacred wedding between humanity and the Trinity. We can now become swept up in this relationship – even closer than friendship – we can become so imbued with God that we become filled with his very life, through grace, all because of a free gift of God.

Now that’s love made visible.

Joseph Gill is a seminarian at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg.

Priests find extra sense of joy in Christmas

The weeks leading up to Christmas are among the busiest of the year for parish priests. There are Masses to celebrate, reconciliation services to hold, missions to give, decorations to coordinate, homilies to prepare and countless other duties to attend.

That’s why many clergymen find an extra sense of joy in the Christmas liturgies that culminate a frantic season of business.

“We are really rushed with preparing parish Christmas baskets and all kinds of things,” said Monsignor Damien Nalepa, pastor of St. Gregory the Great in West Baltimore, “but I always find a great sense of peace when we celebrate the Incarnation at Christmas midnight Mass.”

One of the highlights of the midnight Mass is hearing the choir sing “Go Tell it on the Mountain,” Monsignor Nalepa said.

“It speaks to what our ministry is about all through the year,” he explained. “That’s our whole thrust of evangelization – to spread the good news that Christ is among us.”

Monsignor Nalepa is always struck that the often-mean streets of West Baltimore seem a little calmer on Christmas.

“Hopefully that will last,” he said.

Midnight Mass is also special to Father John B. Ward, pastor of Our Lady of Hope in Dundalk.

“It’s always nice to see all the poinsettias around the altar and pulpit and the Christmas trees,” he said.

Our Lady of Hope has a tradition of placing the figures of the magi far away from the Nativity scene on Christmas Eve. As the Christmas season progresses, the figures are slowly moved closer to the crib until the magi make their arrival on the feast of the Epiphany.

Father Ward said he has traditionally also celebrated the Christmas children’s Mass. Santa Claus always makes an appearance at Christ’s crib, he said.

“It’s exciting to see the kids excited about Christmas,” he said. “You can see the happiness in their eyes.”

Celebrating the children’s Mass is a highlight for Father Steven Hook, pastor of St. Augustine in Williamsport and St. James in Boonsboro. The pastor encourages the children to come to the front of the church while he delivers the homily – often asking them questions about the meaning of Christmas.

“Some of the things they say are hysterical,” he said. Father Hook said Christmas is a special time for priests because it’s an opportunity to invite people back into the church.

“I try to make them feel welcome,” he said.

South Baltimore has ingredients for a faith-filled Christmas

As they stood in the warm, comfortably cluttered kitchen of Holy Cross Church in Federal Hill, filling parchment-paper-covered trays with thick, creamy oatmeal-raisin cookie batter, the four “60-something” women laughed about days gone by.

Parishioners of the Catholic Community of South Baltimore, which includes Holy Cross, Our Lady of Good Counsel and St. Mary Star of the Sea, the women have been baking and selling hundreds of dozens of cookies for the last four years to support the church they love.

“Besides my family, this is my life,” said Margaret Storey, who has been working at the church since she was 9 and started the small group known as “Women of the Cross.”

Faith and commitment run deep at the Catholic Community of South Baltimore – especially around Christmas time.

A former teacher of 28 years, parishioner Pete Bianca has been helping to run the Our Lady of Good Counsel Christmas Bazaar for 26 years.

“A highlight for me is all the people who come and bring their families,” said Mr. Bianca. “We have lots of good food, and Santa makes an appearance.”

The Women of the Cross, who make 3,000 Simon sugar cookies – a recipe from member Mary Jane Simon’s husband, George, whose family ran the former Simon’s Bakery – sell cookies at the bazaar and take special orders. Using real butter – an ingredient they say is a must – the women bake 150 dozen chocolate chip cookies, 55 dozen peanut butter cookies, 50 dozen Italian cookies, as well as an untold number of Pizzelles, oatmeal raisin cookies and chocolate chip cookies with nuts. They even created a “Joseph cookie” in honor of the gentleman who requested that they make a cookie with coconut. The women go through 70-90 pounds of flour, 50 pounds of sugar, at least 40 dozen eggs and use 5-pound boxes of sugar sprinkles.

“We had no idea what we were in for – and not only did it work – but it took off like gangbusters,” said Ms. Simon, who noted that “the key to a good sugar cookie is – the thinner the better.”

Judy Fyffe says she does it for the love of the people who buy them.

“It’s the pleasure of seeing people, from the very young to the very old, eat them, especially around this time of the year,” said Ms. Fyffe. “It doesn’t feel like work because we’re enjoying it.”

She said that she, Ms. Storey and Ms. Simon also clean the church weekly and help with the parish gardens, among other projects.

“For being older ladies, I think it’s through the grace of God that we have the energy to get so much done,” she said.

Crosses are lovingly placed on the top of each $8 tin of cookies, and the women also distribute rosary “survival” kits.

“I think the Blessed Mother would be pleased with our apostolate,” said Ms. Simon.

Remembering Baltimore’s black Catholic history

The 1843 death of Sulpician Father James Joubert, co-founder of the Oblate Sisters of Providence, was painfully felt in the black community. Archbishop Samuel Eccleston had no use for religious women of color and suggested that the Oblates return to the world and find employment in the better households of Maryland. The women opted to remain women religious. Archbishop Eccleston offered no religious assistance to the sisters. Again, black Catholics were required to sit in the balcony or the rear of the churches. The sisters walked from Richmond and Park Avenue to the Redemptorist church, St. James on Aisquith and Eager, for services. When St. John’s German Church was renovated and renamed St. Alphonsus, the sisters walked to Park Avenue and Saratoga. St. John Neumann noticed the sisters walking to church and decided to send some Redemptorists to say Mass and give retreats when possible. When Thaddeus Anwander was ordained, Neumann asked him to become the director of the Oblates. Archbishop Eccleston said, “What’s the use?” Father Anwander got down on his knees and begged to assume direction of the sisters. In the end, the archbishop granted the request.

In the 1850s under the direction of the Redemptorists, the convent chapel was enlarged to seat 500 persons. A school was built on Tyson Street to educate young black Catholic boys. A hall was added to the school so that the black Catholics could have a meeting place of their own. Property was bought in St. Michael’s parish for a school for black boys in East Baltimore. The Oblates conducted this school for the young men. The school enrollment grew, the number of black Catholics increased, sodalities were started and the number of Oblate Sisters increased. In 1857, Father Anwander was transferred to New Orleans, a very sad day for the black Catholic community. The Redemptorist Fathers served the community until 1860, when Archbishop Martin Spalding assigned the ministry to the Jesuit Fathers at St. Ignatius.

When the Jesuits took over the care of the black Catholic community, they converted the basement of St. Ignatius to a church for the new congregation. They called the facility “the Chapel of St. Peter Claver.” Jesuit Father Miller was the newly appointed pastor. In addition to ministering to the congregation, Father Miller was most interested in education. This priest did a lot to fund educational opportunities for black children. In the meantime, the former bishop of Pittsburgh, Rev. Michael O’Connor decided to become a Jesuit and was stationed in Baltimore. Father O’Connor began a campaign to raise funds to buy a building for black Catholics. The Universalist Church on the corner of Calvert and Pleasant was purchased and at last the black Catholics of Baltimore had a church they could call their own. The church, St. Francis Xavier, was dedicated in 1863.

Father Miller continued as pastor of the black congregation. His parish, St. Francis Xavier, was most active in social as well as religious ministries. They were the primary sponsors in supporting the orphans at St. Francis. This vibrant parish ministered to all the black Catholics in east and west Baltimore. It was from this parish that the first black man was trained and ordained a priest in the United States – his name: Josephite Father Charles Uncles. St. Francis Xavier also had the first black pastor in the Archdiocese of Baltimore – Josephite Father John Dorsey.

Archbishop Spalding was most concerned about evangelizing the newly freed slaves. It was he who petitioned the Vatican to set up a plenary council to discuss the post Civil War problems. Advocating for evangelizing the 4 million freed slaves, Archbishop Spalding said, “It is a golden opportunity for reaping a harvest of souls, which if neglected, may not return.” In 1871, with the help of Jesuit Father Michael O’Connor, Archbishop Spalding was able to influence the newly established Mill Hill Fathers of England to come to the America to evangelize the newly freed slaves. They did and that will be the topic of next week’s column.

Sister Reginald Gerdes is a historical researcher and an Oblate Sister of Providence. Texas pilgrimage promotes church efforts to defend life at all stages

HUNTSVILLE, Texas – With nothing more to protect them from the elements than the “umbrella of life,” more than 800 Catholics gathered in Huntsville to take part in the first “Pilgrimage of Life” Nov. 24.

Dark skies and showers earlier in the morning didn’t dissuade those in attendance from participating in the mile-long rosary procession, which started at an abortion referral center and ended at Texas’ death-row facility.

The pilgrimage in the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston was hosted by the Texas Catholic Conference as an effort to promote efforts to defend life from its inception to its natural end. Members from dioceses throughout the state were present, including the Archdiocese of San Antonio and the dioceses of Tyler, Dallas and Fort Worth.

The day began with a special Mass celebrated at St. Thomas the Apostle Church by Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston and concelebrated by Auxiliary Bishop Oscar Cantu, of the Archdiocese of San Antonio, as well as about 10 priests.

“We are not here today to demonstrate. We are here to pray. We are not here to make slogans. We are here to fall to our knees in intercession,” Cardinal DiNardo said. “We are not here today to show off. We are here today in a poverty of spirit.”

Chief among all pro-life efforts are those to protect the unborn, Cardinal DiNardo explained.

“We know that the announcement of the good news that a child is born at the beginning of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke is not only a reflection on the birth of Jesus, though it is that,” Cardinal DiNardo said. “It is reflection on the conception and birth of every human being.

“There is nothing more innocent than innocent human life at its beginnings. Therefore a claim is made on us for the protection of all human life; most especially that most delicate, brilliant and yet frequently violated human life through the act of abortion,” Cardinal DiNardo continued.

The Catholic Church and its members are “absolutely committed” to the eradication of abortion, Cardinal DiNardo said. The way to show that commitment is through prayer, he added.

“(We must) beg the Lord to transform first our hearts and then the hearts of all this culture by prayer and persuasion to respect this human life,” Cardinal DiNardo said.

The Catholic Church also opposes the death penalty, because at the core of the issue is the same basic question as abortion: the dignity of the human person.

“We are also in Huntsville today in another dimension of the pro-life movement which is guilty human life,” Cardinal DiNardo said. “For the last 25 or 30 years the bishops of Texas have quietly tried to persuade, argue and explain to the people of this state and beyond that in fact what is exercised as the death penalty is frequently unjust.”

Cardinal DiNardo said that while every effort must be made to be attentive to the victims of violent crimes, we must “find means of justice” that are less vindictive and support the dignity of the human person in these situations, too.

Again, Cardinal DiNardo urged those present and all people of good will to pray.

“None of this is easy, friends. If we thought that we would do it by pure human means then we would be as St. Paul says the most pitiable of all,” Cardinal DiNardo added.

The sponsor of the day’s events, the Texas Catholic Conference, is the public policy arm of the state’s Catholic bishops.

The conference “works on issues across the life spectrum,” explained Jennifer Carr- Allmon, the conference’s associate director. “Everything that we are here praying for today is the issues that we deal with on a daily basis in our advocacy efforts at the Capitol (in Austin).” Archbishop calls summit to plan successful future of Catholic schools

In the wake of declining enrollment and increasing financial challenges, Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien is convening a January education summit of priests to help strengthen Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

Parents and other supporters of Catholic education will also be invited to participate in the process, Archbishop O’Brien said.

The archbishop announced the summit in his weekly column in The Catholic Review (see page 4), while also outlining recent enrollment and financial trends in archdiocesan schools. He previously shared the data with his closest priest advisors during a November meeting of the Presbyteral Council.

In conjunction with the summit, the archbishop formed an education-related pastors advisory committee to help him plan for the future. Members of the advisory committee met twice among themselves and once with the Presbyteral Council.

In his column, Archbishop O’Brien reported that enrollment is down 5 percent this school year – twice the average rate of decline over the previous five years. The most recent enrollment loss represents approximately 1,200 students or the equivalent of four schools.

Forty-six elementary and secondary schools lost students, Archbishop O’Brien said, and each could experience an estimated average loss of $87,000 in revenue.

The archbishop also noted that by year’s end, Catholic schools will owe an estimated $9.3 million for insurance premiums they are unable to pay. Despite an estimated $3.8 million which archdiocesan Central Services will have extended to schools by the end of the year, Archbishop O’Brien said, well more than half of them will still be in serious financial trouble.

Noting that Catholic schools have long faced challenges with declining enrollment and increased tuition, the archbishop said the faltering national economy has compounded the problem – posing “an immediate threat to the sustainability of many of our Catholic schools.”

“We find ourselves at a critical juncture in the history of Catholic schools, one that offers us the exciting opportunity of dynamic innovation: to provide the same quality Catholic education of yesterday while responding to the changing challenges of today and tomorrow,” Archbishop O’Brien said.

Dr. Ronald J. Valenti, superintendent of Catholic schools, said the upcoming summit will provide an opportunity for continued strategic planning. Effectively dealing with the challenges will take an increased focus on collaboration, he said.

“We must impress on the entire archdiocese that this is really something for which we must share responsibility,” he said. “It just can’t be on the backs of parents who send their children to Catholic schools. We need everyone to help make sure that what we have in this great legacy is maintained.”

Dr. Valenti hopes Maryland will provide increased aid to nonpublic schools. He is particularly interested in passing a business tax credit called BOAST – “Building Opportunities for All Students and Teachers in Maryland.”

“It’s not a magic bullet,” he said, “but it can provide some of the support we need. It’s going to take persistence and tenacity to get it passed.”

Redemptorist Father Kevin Milton, pastor of Our Lady of Fatima in East Baltimore and a member of the pastors advisory committee, agreed that increased collaboration will be a hallmark of any successful strategy.

Our Lady of Fatima School was on the verge of closing last year, Father Milton said. Thanks to a partnership with The Johns Hopkins University, the school developed a plan to make improvements like increasing its focus on math and science. The plan worked and the school was able to maintain its enrollment at 151.

“We’re going to need more twinning with universities and higher education,” said Father Milton, who also cited the partnership between St. Mary of the Assumption School in Govans and Loyola College in Maryland as a success model for strengthening Catholic education.

Father Milton said there is a need for a comprehensive plan to determine where there is a need for Catholic education. It may require some reconfiguration of schools, he said, but he emphasized that it’s “not a time to panic.”

“It’s not the end of the schools,” he said.

Father Keith Boisvert, pastor of St. Katharine Drexel in Frederick and a member of the pastors advisory committee, said parents at the inter-parish St. John Regional Catholic School in Frederick are also faced with the challenge of high tuition. Both the mother and a father of one student recently lost their jobs, he said, requiring the school to work with the family to help keep the student enrolled.

“The impact of the economy goes all across the economic spectrum,” he said.

Father Boisvert said parishes work hard to provide financial aid, but the economy is putting increased burdens on the ability to offer assistance. In Frederick, which is experiencing explosive growth, many parishes are trying to build new churches, parish centers and other facilities.

“The parish budgets are really stretched,” he said.

Father Christopher Whatley, pastor of St. Mark in Catonsville and a member of the pastors advisory committee, said there is a need for increased cooperation between parishes with schools and those without.

“I think we have to have a sharing of resources and facilities,” he said. “We have to be able to provide as much quality Catholic education to as many children as possible across the archdiocese and understand that in the urban areas parents are hungry for more Catholic education.”