Peace Vigil marking Iraq war anniversary set March 16 in Orange
ORANGE --- A Vigil for Peace marking four years of war in Iraq will take place March 16 in Orange. Hosted by the Sisters for St. Joseph of Orange, the vigil will begin at 5 p.m. on the corner of Batavia Avenue and La Veta Street. It will be followed by a prayer for peace and a film showing, "The Ground Truth," at 6:30 p.m. The Southern California vigil will be in solidarity with thousands of people who will convene at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., for worship and then a peace march to the White House. The war began March 19, 2003.
Immaculate Heart hosts talk on Divine Mercy message and devotion
LOS ANGELES --- A Lenten Day of Recollection themed "The Role of the Divine Mercy Message and Devotion in Christian Discipleship" will take place March 11, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, 4959 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles. Guest speakers include Father Seraphim Michalenko, who served as vice-postulator for the canonization of St. Faustina, and Benedictine Father Matther Rios, a Filipino native who completed his theological studies at St. John's Abbey in Minnesota. Free-will donation will be appreciated. Information: Purisima and Dario Navarez, (818) 543-1831.
Pope expresses hope new document on Eucharist would revitalize piety
VATICAN CITY (CNS) --- Pope Benedict XVI's new document on the Eucharist as the source and culmination of the life and mission of the church will be published March 13, the Vatican announced. The document, an apostolic exhortation reflecting on the results of the 2005 world Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist, is titled "Sacramentum Caritatis" or "Sacrament of Charity." Meeting pastors from the Diocese of Rome Feb. 22, Pope Benedict said he was about to sign the document, which he hoped would "help in liturgical celebrations, in personal reflection, in preparing homilies and in the celebration of the Eucharist." He also said he hoped it would "serve to guide, enlighten and revitalize popular piety," especially eucharistic adoration.
Ill-fated nomination only one piece of Eagleton's political legacy
WASHINGTON (CNS) --- Fated to be remembered principally as the vice presidential nominee who had to step down because of treatment for depression, Sen. Thomas Eagleton also made his mark in the Senate as a strong opponent of abortion and harsh critic of the war in Vietnam. Eagleton died March 4 at St. Mary's Health Center in the St. Louis suburb of Richmond Heights from a combination of heart, respiratory and other problems; he was 77. A former Missouri attorney general and three-term U.S. Senator, Eagleton was nominated in 1972 as the Democratic candidate for vice president, alongside presidential nominee Sen. George McGovern. When it was disclosed by the news media that Eagleton had been treated in the 1960s for depression with shock therapy, he stepped down, after little more than two weeks as nominee. In an interview days after being nominated, Eagleton said he found it particularly interesting how little was being made of his Catholicism only 12 years after being Catholic was treated as a liability during the campaign of President John F. Kennedy. "The thing that was important in getting me the nomination was such a liability in 1960," Eagleton said.
Study finds one-fourth of Catholics read their diocesan newspaper
WASHINGTON (CNS) --- One-fourth of U.S. Catholics contacted in a national survey by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate had read their diocesan newspaper at least once in the previous six months. By contrast, only 1 percent of the Catholics surveyed had tuned in to a diocesan radio station in the same six-month period and only 2 percent had watched diocesan television in that time, it said. Most dioceses do not have radio or TV stations. Nearly a quarter of those surveyed said they had read one or more national Catholic publications within the previous six months. Twenty-eight percent said they had watched a religious or spiritual TV program in that period, 28 percent said they had read a religious or spiritual magazine or newspaper, 12 percent said they had listened to a religious or spiritual radio program and 11 percent said they had visited a religious or spiritual Web site. Older Catholics and those who attended Mass more frequently were more likely to read their diocesan newspaper and other Catholic publications and were more likely to tune in to TV or radio programs of a religious or spiritual nature. Of the 25 percent of Catholics who said they had read their diocesan newspaper within the previous six months, nearly half said they typically read it weekly or several times a month. About one-fourth read it once a month and the rest more rarely.
At U.N., Vatican official discusses exploitation of women, girls
UNITED NATIONS (CNS) --- When women are considered inferior beings, they face increased risks of exploitation, abuse and even death, said the Vatican's permanent observer at the United Nations. "The inferior status bestowed upon women in certain places and upon female infants in particular" makes them particularly vulnerable, Archbishop Celestino Migliore told the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women March 2. "In some local traditions, they are thought of as a financial burden and are thus eliminated even before birth," he said. "In this way, abortion, often considered a tool of liberation, is ironically employed by women against women." Those who are allowed to live, he said, are often treated as a piece of property to be disposed of as soon as possible, contributing to a system in which marriage is simply a cover for "sexual exploitation and slave labor." The phenomenon of "mail-order brides" is similar, he said. Any circumstance in which a girl or woman is treated as property and given or sold is a violation of her basic rights to dignity, freedom, health and security, the archbishop said. |