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.