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Issue of November 9 – November 22, 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
Relic going to Our Lady of Pompeii
A sacred, first-class relic of Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini will be transferred to the Shrine of Our Lady of Pompeii, with a Mass to welcome it at 11 a.m. Nov. 23. Retired Auxiliary Bishop Raymond Goedert will celebrate. The relic, an arm bone, is enclosed in a glass and gold reliquary and had been displayed at the former Columbus Hospital, which is being renovated.
The relic will remain at Our Lady of Pompeii, 1224 W. Lexington St., until renovations are complete in two or three years and the new National Shrine of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini is opened in the former hospital.
Our Lady of Pompeii will hold a novena with prayers and daily Masses to prepare for the transfer. Novena services will start on Nov. 13, Mother Cabrini's feast day. The shrine will hold regular Wednesday devotions on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month.
For information, visit www.ourladyofpompeii.org.
Remember clergy at Mass
Cardinal George will continue a tradition begun by Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, celebrating a memorial Mass for the deceased bishops and priests of the Archdiocese of Chicago at noon Nov. 14 at Holy Name Cathedral.
Worshippers will pray in a particular way for Cardinal Bernardin 12 years after his death, and for all the priests of the archdiocese who have died since last year's Mass. All priests of the archdiocese are invited to concelebrate.
News Digest
Vatican: some use of psychological testing for 'exceptional' cases recommended in seminaries
Vatican City - A Vatican document said seminary candidates should undergo psychological evaluations whenever there is a suspicion of personality disturbances or serious doubts about their ability to live a celibate life.
In assessing the capacity for celibacy, it said, the church needs to evaluate a seminarian's sexual orientation, and make sure that uncertain sexual identity or "deep-seated homosexual tendencies" are not present.
Pope meets privately with Cardinal, U.S. bishops' officials
Vatican City - Roughly six months after Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the United States, the pope met privately with the officers of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
After the Oct. 23 meeting, Cardinal George, conference president, told Catholic News Service he did not feel it was appropriate to discuss details of the private meeting.
Cardinal George appointed to new synod council
Before the world Synod of Bishops on the Bible ended, 12 members of the assembly were elected and three were appointed to the council that coordinates follow-up to the gathering and helps prepare the next Synod of Bishops.
The members of the Council of the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops also may assist Pope Benedict XVI in writing his post-synodal document.
What are indulgences? Rediscovery of an often misunderstood practice
Indulgences are making a welcome reappearance in the spiritual life of Catholics. After centuries of slow decline in their use, punctuated by decades of almost complete neglect after the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), the power of indulgences to enliven a sense of charity and sharpen a healthy sorrow for sin is finally being rediscovered.
In 1968, Pope Paul VI (1962- 1978) laid the foundations for this renewal by simplifying the rules on indulgences and redrafting the list of designated works and prayers. The pope's aim was to help Catholics see indulgences not as some sort of special projects to be performed apart from their daily life, but rather as ways to foster charity and a sense of repentance throughout an ordinary day.
Report aims to keep inner-city Catholic schools open
In the waning days of the Bush administration, the White House is sounding the alarm on a six-year loss of about 1,200 faith-based schools in the U.S. and has issued a report it believes will help stop the closures.
The report - "Preserving a Critical National Asset: America's Disadvantaged Students and the Crisis in Faith-Based Urban Schools" - shows about half of the faith-based schools that have closed since 2002 have been Catholic institutions and most are located in poor urban neighborhoods.
The election is over: Now what?
You just finished watching the greatest sporting event ever.
No, I'm not talking about the World Series, although if you're a fan of the Phillies I could see how you'd want to make that argument. The greatest sporting event ever is the election to determine the president of the United States.
Some people don't like it when politics is compared to sport. "How can something so frivolous be compared to something so important?" they ask, often vague about which is which.
YouTube messages offer church's view on marriage
As U.S. voters from coast to coast prepared to decide ballot questions related to same-sex marriage Nov. 4, the U.S. bishops took their campaign to keep the traditional definition of marriage as the union of a man and woman to a popular video-sharing Web site, YouTube.
