Father Leon Hutton, dean and faculty member at St. John's Graduate Seminary, will direct a Holy Week evening retreat March 19, 7-9:30 p.m. at Our Lady of Grace in Encino. All are invited to the adult retreat, titled "Can I Face the Face of Jesus?"

"During our Holy Week retreat evening, we will explore the face of Jesus as He faces us. We will gaze into the eyes of Jesus because we desire to experience Our Lord's unconditional love. We will seek to respond to Jesus' invitation to share deeply in his life," said Father Hutton.

The retreat, held in Room A, will include faith sharing, reflective prayer and story telling. Suggested donation is $10. Advance reservations are requested by March 17; call (818) 342-4505.

Immigrant advocates want to see a change in who controls the debate
WASHINGTON (CNS) --- After the failure last year of a bill that seemed so close to passing that people started planning how to implement it, supporters of comprehensive immigration reform are regrouping, preparing to take on their opponents who have been dominating public debate on the issue. Frank Sharry, a leader of the comprehensive reform movement and longtime director of the National Immigration Forum, is leaving that organization to launch a new one, America's Voice, with the goal of "taking off the gloves" in responding to opponents of comprehensive reform. "There is a concerted effort by the opponents of immigration to demonize immigrants," Sharry said at the annual gathering of Catholic social ministry workers in Washington in late February. "They use talk radio and distorted facts. Those who demonize don't have the facts, but they have had the upper hand in the debate." One oft-cited claim by those who want more restrictions on immigration, that immigrants are responsible for rising crime, was refuted by new reports by the Public Policy Institute of California and the Immigration Policy Center in Washington. The California study found that although people born outside the United States account for 35 percent of the state's adult population, immigrants make up only 17 percent of the prison population. Even among those most likely to be convicted of crimes, men ages 18-40, U.S. natives were 10 times more likely than immigrants to be jailed, it found.

Archbishop says Chavez boosts tensions with Colombia by moving troops
BOGOTA, Colombia (CNS) --- A Venezuelan archbishop criticized Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez for escalating tensions after Colombian soldiers killed guerrillas on Ecuadorean soil. Chavez "cannot carry the country into an armed conflict just because he feels like it," said Archbishop Roberto Luckert Leon of Coro, whose remarks were reported by Colombian media. "He has to consult with the country." Archbishop Luckert, vice president of the Venezuelan bishops' conference, criticized Chavez for moving troops to the border of Colombia after the March 1 incident. He said Chavez, who has clashed repeatedly with the Catholic Church leadership, was "exacerbating Venezuelan nationalism over a confrontation which is not our own." The Colombian military killed Luis Devia Silva, known as Raul Reyes, the second in command of Colombia's largest guerrilla group, together with 16 other guerrillas. It was the Colombian military's hardest blow against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, which has fought for more than four decades to overthrow Colombia's elected governments.

Man thought to have perished in Katrina is alive and kicking
NEW ORLEANS (CNS) --- First, the good news. Uriel Little, 76, is alive and kicking. What has Little scratching his head these days --- two and a half years after he was evacuated from St. Bernard Manor before Hurricane Katrina hit --- is a stately stone monument erected Aug. 29, 2007, by St. Bernard Parish, a civil entity, to honor the 137 St. Bernard residents who perished during the storm. The name "URIEL LITTLE" is chiseled into the stone. Displaying a wry sense of humor, Little said it just isn't so. Little, a former member of St. Louise de Marillac Parish in Arabi, was evacuated to Texas two days before the storm. He spent many months at the Wynhoven Apartments operated by Christopher Homes, the New Orleans archdiocesan housing agency, and is now living in an assisted living apartment at St. Margaret's Daughters Nursing Home in New Orleans. How did Little feel when relatives told him about his being memorialized on the stone monument on the banks of the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet at Shell Beach? "I didn't think it was too good --- but as long as it wasn't true, that's the main thing," Little said, smiling.