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News Digest

Issue of April 27 – May 10, 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

Cardinal George to ordain priests

Cardinal George is expected to ordain 11 men to the priesthood at 10 a.m. May 17 at St. Juliana Parish, 7201 N. Oketo on the Northwest Side.

The liturgy was planned for Holy Name Cathedral but had to be moved because of the ongoing repairs to the cathedral's roof.

The cardinal also will ordain two new priests for the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius at St. John Cantius Church at 7:30 p.m. May 29.

Six protesters indicted here

The six protesters who were arrested after throwing fake blood and disrupting Holy Name Cathedral's 11 a.m. Easter Mass March 23 were indicted April 16.

Each of the three men and three women were indicted for one count of criminal defacement of property.

The group includes Ephran Ramirez, Ryane Ziemba, Regan Maher, Mercedes Phinaih, Angela Haban and Donte Smith. They said they were members of Catholic Schoolgirls Against the War.

In March, all six were charged with criminal damage to property in a place of worship, which is a felony. They are scheduled to appear at hearing April 29.

If convicted, they face sentences ranging from probation to five years in prison.

News Digest

Supreme Court upholds lethal injections

The U.S. Supreme Court in a 7-2 vote April 16 upheld Kentucky's use of lethal injection as a method of execution. In the Baze v. Rees ruling the court rejected a challenge by two Kentucky death-row inmates on the constitutionality of the threedrug lethal combination used in executions.

Church role in politics: Make people think, Dionne says

Has the United States "souled out"? That's what E.J. Dionne Jr., Washington Post columnist, National Public Radio political analyst and author of the recently published book "Souled Out: Reclaiming Faith and Politics After the Religious Right," explored along with the search for the common good, on April 15 at Dominican University, River Forest. Dionne, a Catholic who reported on the Vatican for The New York Times during the 1980s, spoke as part of the ongoing spring lecture series at the university's St. Catherine of Siena Center.

Area Knights: Move toward sainthood ?long overdue'

Father Michael McGivney needs at least one more miracle to be seriously considered for canonization, which would make him the first American-born priest to achieve sainthood. But as far as Ron Banko, Mike Schumachyer and Bill Kugelman are concerned, the Knights of Columbus he founded back in 1882 is a miracle in itself.

Bush convenes summit for inner-city Catholic schools

President George W. Bush said his concern about the growing loss of urban Catholic schools was a prime reason he was convening a summit on inner-city and faith-based schools the week of April 21. Speaking to the fifth annual National Catholic Prayer Breakfast April 18, Bush said the summit would highlight the lack of educational options low-income urban students are facing.

Gang problems here similar to El Salvador

When Rick Jones considers the linked problems of youth violence, gangs and lack of economic opportunity in El Salvador, he sees similarities to the problems in American inner cities. That's one reason Jones, Catholic Relief Services' regional deputy director for Latin America and the Caribbean, visited Chicago recently: to share insights from San Salvador in helping young people find an identity separate from the gang and to learn from Chicago's efforts in community policing and in Project CeaseFire.

Breaking down the Catholic catechism

True or false: If you are divorced you cannot receive Communion in the Catholic Church. (False.) Angels are the spirits of those who have died and gone to heaven. (False.) These are some of the questions readers can learn the answers to through "The Complete Idiot's Guide to The Catholic Catechism," by Mary DeTurris Poust and theological advisor Msgr. David Fulton.