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News Digest

Issue of February 3 – February 16, 2008
The following items are condensed. For the complete articles, please read the print edition of The Catholic New World. To subscribe, call (312) 534-7777.

News Update

Jerusalem lecture set for Feb. 26

Eugene Fisher will offer "Reflections on Jewish-Catholic Relations: Past, Present and Future" as the 13th annual Joseph Cardinal Bernardin Jerusalem Lecture.

Fisher, a consultor to the Holy See's Commission for Religious relations with the Jews and member of the International Catholic-Jewish Liaison Committee, will speak at 7 p.m. Feb. 26 at the Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies, 610 S. Michigan Ave.

The Cardinal Bernardin Jerusalem Lecture has been offered each year since the former Chicago cardinal spoke in the Senate Hall of Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 1995.

It is jointly sponsored by the archdiocese and the American Jewish Committee, the Chicago Board of Rabbis, the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago and the Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies.

The lecture is free, but reservations are requested. Call (773) 751-5325.

Pilgrimage to Lourdes open

It's not too late to register for the archdiocesan pilgrimage to Lourdes. About 200 pilgrims will accompany Cardinal George to the holy shrine, departing either Aug. 2 or 3 and returning either Aug. 9 or 10.

Pilgrims from the archdiocese will join pilgrims from around the world in penance, prayer and thanksgiving. The cardinal will lead the torchlight procession of the rosary, and he will preside at the eucharistic procession and Benediction where thousands of pilgrims (especially the "maladies" in need of healing) come to pray before the Blessed Sacrament.

The pilgrimage is in honor of the 150th anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady to St. Bernadette. For information, call (312) 751-2010 and leave a message or visit www.archchicago.org.

News Digest

Science can't help people discover their true identity, Benedict says

While the sciences may help people live better in many ways, there is no way they can ever help people discover who they really are, Pope Benedict XVI said.

"No science can say who man is, where he came from or where he is going," the pope said Jan. 28 in a speech to participants in a conference sponsored by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the French Academy of Sciences.

Pope: Almsgiving conquers temptation of wealth

Almsgiving helps Christians conquer the constant temptation to become slaves to wealth and material goods, Pope Benedict XVI said in his 2008 message for Lent.
The practice of almsgiving "represents a specific way to assist those in need and, at the same time, an exercise in self-denial to free us from attachment to worldly goods," the pope said in the message, released at the Vatican Jan. 29.

The theme of the message is "Christ Made Himself Poor for You." Lent begins Ash Wednesday, which this year is Feb. 6. Easter is March 23.

Praying for African-American families

Parishes around the United States are asked to pray Feb. 3 for the good of African-American families.

Franciscan Father James Goode created the National Day of Prayer for the African American Family in 1989 as a "a day set aside to give special thanks to God for our families and place our every care in the arms of Jesus," said Andrew Lyke, coordinator of marriage ministry in the Archdiocese of Chicago. It is traditionally celebrated the first Sunday in February, which is African-American History Month.

Catholic U students' design altar, chair for pope

When Pope Benedict XVI celebrates Mass April 17 at Nationals Park, he will use an altar and chair designed by two students at The Catholic University of America in Washington.

John-Paul Mikolajczyk and Ryan Mullen, first-year graduate students in the university's School of Architecture and Planning, designed the liturgical furniture as part of a competition jointly sponsored by the Archdiocese of Washington and the university's School of Architecture and Planning. Their designs were chosen from a field of 21 entrants in the competition.

'Arthur' creator says kids' TV should teach, not sell

In 1996, when PBS approached author Marc Brown about bringing his beloved aardvark "Arthur" to television, he demurred.

"I was approached three times to do commercial television," said Brown, who wrote and illustrated his first Arthur book in 1976. "I'd always said no. But they came back, and said their agenda was to use TV and animation in a positive way, to make children want to read, and also to model positive social behavior for kids."