More than 300 young adult leaders from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles were recognized for their service at the 11th annual Celebrating Young Adults in Ministry liturgy.

Ministers from the five pastoral regions gathered Feb. 11 at St. Monica Church in Santa Monica to be honored for serving in various ministries, including Theology on Tap, Grupo de Jovenes, Pastoral Juvenil and numerous parish ministries. s

In his homily, Cardinal Roger Mahony advised the ministers to "step across boundaries" in their service to others.

"Keep your eyes and ears open, and look for opportunities to cross boundaries, as Jesus did," he said. "Be Jesus to those you service, and you will have a freedom and peace that no one can take from you."

Immigration reform advocates rally Senator Feinstein's office
LOS ANGELES --- Nearly 300 advocates of comprehensive immigration reform rallied outside the West Los Angeles office of Senator Dianne Feinstein Feb. 15. The rally was conducted in English, Spanish and Korean.

"We want Senator Feinstein to assume public, active and vocal leadership in the area of comprehensive immigration reform, both in the Judiciary Committee and in the Senate," said Jesuit Father Sean Carroll, associate pastor of Dolores Mission Church in Boyle Heights.

The priest was part of a small delegation who presented Senator Feinstein's staff with some 3,000 signed cards. The senator has indicated her opposition to H.R. 4437, a bill passed by the House of Representatives that would make "unlawful presence" in the United States an aggravated felony, instead of a civil violation, punishable by up to a year in prison, deportation and disqualification from being able to return legally. The bill also would criminalize the actions of doctors, teachers, social workers and ministers who aid undocumented immigrants at Catholic social agencies, hospitals, schools and parishes.

Advocates of comprehensive immigration reform seek to balance border security with legal pathways for migrant workers and their families, labor protections, and family reunification provisions. In early March the Senate Committee on the Judiciary is scheduled to begin debating various immigration reform proposals and present one to the Senate later that month.

---Ellie Hidalgo

Vatican says number of priests increases,
but varies by continent
VATICAN CITY (CNS) --- The number of priests and seminarians in the world continues to increase, but the situation varies widely from continent to continent, the Vatican said.

he most positive signs come from Asia and Africa, while Europe has shown a marked decline in priestly vocations, according to a Feb. 18 statement from the Vatican press office. The statistics were released in connection with the presentation of the 2006 edition of the Vatican yearbook, known as the Annuario Pontificio, which catalogs the church's pastoral presence diocese-by-diocese.

Pope Benedict XVI met with editors of the volume and praised them for their work. It was the first edition of the yearbook issued under his pontificate.

In its statement, the press office referred to data on church population, priests and seminarians through 2004, the last year for which statistics are available. It said the number of priests in the world was 405,891 at the end of 2004, an increase of 441 from 2003. About two-thirds were diocesan priests and one-third members of religious orders.

More than 100,000 gather at Fatima to watch
reburial of Sister Lucia
FATIMA, Portugal (CNS) --- Despite a persistent rain, more than 100,000 people gathered at the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima to pray and witness the reburial of Carmelite Sister Lucia dos Santos, the last of three Fatima visionaries.

Sister Lucia died Feb. 13, 2005, in her cloistered convent in Coimbra, Portugal, at the age of 97. She had been buried temporarily at the Carmelite convent while preparations were made for final burial alongside her two cousins, Blesseds Francisco and Jacinta Marto, at the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima.

On May 13, 1917 --- when Lucia was 10 years old, Francisco was 9 and Jacinta was 7 --- the children claimed to have seen the Blessed Virgin Mary at Fatima, near their home. The apparitions continued once a month until October 1917 and later were declared worthy of belief by the Catholic Church. In 2000 Pope John Paul II beatified Sister Lucia's cousins, who died as children.

New Orleans priests rethink future ministry
in post-Katrina plan
NEW ORLEANS (CNS) --- Priests who have served under trying conditions since Hurricane Katrina are being asked to rethink the ways in which they will conduct future ministry, and that will require them to remain open to change, said several pastors whose parishes will not be reopened immediately under the New Orleans archdiocesan pastoral plan announced Feb. 9.

In announcing the archdiocese's plan for the next 18 months at a priests' convocation, New Orleans Archbishop Alfred C. Hughes called for the closing of seven parishes and for postponing the reopening of 23 other parishes until the population returns sufficiently to warrant such a move.

There are 107 parishes now open in the archdiocese. That means more than two dozen priests who currently serve as pastors may receive new assignments in the archdiocese by the time the plan takes effect March 15.

Vatican says pope saddened about
violence against Nigerian Christians
VATICAN CITY (CNS) --- Pope Benedict XVI urged security officers to restore peace and the rule of law in Nigeria after violence against Christians left up to 50 people dead, including a Catholic priest.

Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican's secretary of state, said in a telegram sent to church and government officials in Nigeria that the pope was "saddened to learn of the tragic consequences of the recent violent protests in northern Nigeria."

A Muslim protest against a series of European cartoons offensive to Islam, originally published in Denmark, proceeded peacefully Feb. 18 in the city of Maiduguri, capital of Nigeria's Borno state. But after the demonstration, armed men took to the streets, setting afire churches, homes and businesses owned by Christians. Some 50 people, reportedly all Christians, were killed in the blazes or by their attackers, said Bishop Matthew Ndagoso of Maiduguri.