Around the diocese Teaching as Jesus Croatian prelate to visit PITTSBURGH — Cardinal Franjo Kuharic, archbishop of Zagreb, Yugoslavia and primate of Croatia, will make a pastoral visit to the diocese Tuesday, Sept. 25. The stop will be sponsored by Croatian parishes of the diocese and the Croatian Fraternal Union of America. ‘Theological Cardinal Kuharic will offer a Mass at 7 p.m. that day in St. Paul Cathedral. Bishop Donald Wuerl will preside and formally welcome the cardinal. Music will be provided by a combined choir from several Croatian parishes and will feature use of the tamburitza. which is nonsense traditionally associated with the Croatian people. An open reception will follow at Duranti’s Park Plaza Restaurant. All By REV. PATRICK O BRIEN, STD, M.S. Ed. are welcome. A ssistant Professor of Humanities, La Roche College Cardinal Kuharic is president of the Bishops’ Conference of Several weeks ago after Sunday Mass. a young boy who seem­ Yugoslavia and chairman of the national commission reviewing the ed to be about 8 or 9 years old and who was rather excited stood alleged apparitions at Medjugorje. Yugoslavia. He also is a member of at the door of the sacristy and called, “Father. Father, can I ask several Vatican congregations. you something?" I told him I would try to answer his question The cardinal will visit area Croatian parishes on Sept. 25 and also and inquired what it was he wanted to know. He said he wanted stop at the Croatian Fraternal Union in Monroeville. He will be guest of to ask about "the deal God made with the devil, that in the year honor at a special luncheon hosted by the union and Croatian clergy..j 2000 the devil would get all the people left alive and then the Cardinal Kuharic was a seminary classmate of Father Romildo. world would end." Hrboka. TOR, STD, pastor of St. Nicholas in Millvale. I assured him that there was no such “deal," and that he needn't worry about the devil "getting him " in the year 2000 or any other year. I then asked him who had told him such a thing. He responded that it was his grandmother. Craft show in Robinson Twp. I mention this because I suspect it is not simply an isolated in­ PITTSBURGH — Holy Trinity Church. Robinson Twp. will hold a cident of one person passing on theological nonsense to another, Fall and Early Christmas Craft Show on Saturday, Sept. 22 from 10 but is probably reflective of the thinking of a whole group of peo­ a.m. to 5 p.m. ple who believe that the year 2000 will mark the end of the More than 100 cral'ters will attend, displaying decorative itemsj world. As a m atter of fact, mistaken ideas about the date of the needlework, ceramics and wood crafts. Food specialties will also be end of the world have been held by individuals and groups featured. 4 within Christianity since its beginnings. The show will be held in the Holy Trinity social hall and auditorium St. Paul, for example, seem s to have expected the world to end at the intersection of Rt. 60 and Beaver Grade Road. The show is free in his lifetime (cf. I Thess. 4:15,17: 1 Cor. 15:15-52). and with and open to the public, and there is free parking. For more informa­ the destruction of the city of Jerusalem by the Romans in the tion, call 787-2656. year 70 some Jewish Christians thought that that was a sign of the imminent end of the world. But by the time Matthew and Luke were writing their Gospels for second generation Chris­ tians some 30 years later, they felt the need to explain that while Benedetti named to K of C board the world was not likely to end in the immediate future,, people NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Albert Benedetti of West Mifflin, former Pen­ should live their lives in such a m anner that they were prepared nsylvania state deputy for the Knights of Columbus, has been elected at each and every moment to stand before the judgm ent seat of to the board of directors for the Knights on the international level. The G od. ‘Columbus Day Honoree’ action occurred at the group's recent convention in San Antonio. With the beginning of the fall of the Roman Empire, St. The Knights of Columbus of Western Pennsylvania have selected Augustine reassured the Christians that no one knew when the Morn's House, the support center for single, low-income student world was going to end. and that the Bible offered no timetable parents, as its Columbus Day Honoree. The Knights of Columbus for determining the date. As the year 1000 in the Christian will honor Mom’s House at the Greentree Marriott on Oct. 7. Accep­ WINDOWS UNLIMITED calendar drew near, there were those who believed that that ting the award for Mom's House will be Mary Winter (left), Western date would inaugurate the end, but 1000 came and went, and Pennsylvania Administrator. With her is John J. Land, chairman of the world continued on. In 1512. the Fifth Lateran Council (the the Knights of Columbus. ninth Ecumenical Council) forbade preachers to describe the — Photo by John C. Keenan end of the world as imminent. In the 19th century, two movements originated in the United States that were based on the belief that the world was soon CDA slates St. Emma retreat about to end. The first was begun by a Baptist named William PITTSBURGH — Court Allegheny No. 664 of the Catholic Daughters j $90 off per window for the first 90 callers Miller. Miller was a farmer who began to preach in 1831 that the of the Americas will hold its annual retreat at St. Emma Retreat House j world would end in 1843. He based his calculation on the Book in Greensburg the weekend of Sept. 28-30. For reservations at $75 j of Daniel in the Old Testament. As 1843 passed without the (including bus fare) call Marion W eingartner, 761-6229. world ending, he recalculated that the correct date was Oct. 22, 1844. About 50.000 followers of Miller anxiously awaited the appointed day. ‘Witness for Peace’ speaKers When that too passed without the world ending, most of the PITTSBURGH — Lourdes Garcia, Mid-Atlantic regional coordinator Millerites, as they were known, either abandoned religion of W itness for Peace, and Gary Martinez, long term W itness for Peace altogether or returned to their former congregations, although volunteer, will speak in Pittsburgh on Wednesday, Sept. 26 at 7:30 some chose to join with the followers of a self-proclaimed vi­ p.m. at the Friends Meeting House, 4836 Ellsworth Ave. sionary from Portland, Maine, by the name of Elen White. This Witness for Peace is a faith-based organization pledged to non­ group became known as the Seventh Day Adventists, and violence that started in 1983 to maintain a presence in Nicaragua and presently has about five million members. document the effects of the contra war. Pittsburgh was the home of the founder of another well- Martinez and Garcia will address political, social, economic and ( known group who have long been expecting the imminent end religious dimensions of the new Nicaraguan government. They will of the world. A haberdashet named Charles Taze Russell began also discuss the role of Witness for Peace in changing Nicaragua, and preaching in 1872, and the movement he founded became the organization's new work in El Salvador and Guatemala. known as the Jehovah's Witnesses. Russell predicted the end of A community potluck meal will precede the program at 6:30 p.m. the world in 1914. His successor, Joseph Rutherford, picked Both are open to the public. For more information, call 361-3022. 1925 as the date for the end, and most recently many Jehovah's W itnesses expected that 1975 would be the final year. Natural family planning course Two years ago, a former NASA scientist, Edgar Whisenant, a u th o re d a book, 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988, NEW BRIGHTON — The Beaver County Family Life Center, 525 in which he predicted that the end would come between Sept. Seventh Ave., New Brighton (St. Joseph Church Hall Library) has 11-13. scheduled a free course in the natural methods of family planning for Probably the greatest current popularizer of the notion of the Friday, Sept. 28 from 7:30-11:30 p.m. Call For Free Advice and Estimate from Trained instructor couples, one of whom is a doctor/nurse team, imminent end of the world is Hal Lindsey, a former evangelist the Tri-States Most Trusted Name in Windows for the Campus Crusade for Christ whose 1970 book The Late teach participants ovulation and basal body temperature methods — Great Planet Earth has sold over 1.5 million copies. safe, highly accurate and accepted by the Church. Engaged, married • In Business Since 1963 • Company Insured Installers There have been countless other groups and individuals in the couples of all faiths are welcome. To register, call the center at • 5 Convenient Locations • Transferable Lifetime Warranty history of Christianity who have mistakenly predicted either the 8 4 6 -1 9 4 8 . • Custom Styles and Colors • Low Payments-Financing Available] imminent end of the world or a precise date for the end. As we CALL OR STOP IN THE STORE NEAREST YOU come nearer to the year 2000,1 expect that more and more peo­ Program on self-esteem SOUTH HILLS NORTH HILLS ple will fasten on that date as the likely end of the world.