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News Digest

Issue of December 7 – December 20, 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

Guadalupe events planned

The Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe at Maryville Academy in Des Plaines once again will host festivities Dec. 11 and 12. The schedule begins with the rosary and music in the gym at 6 p.m. Dec. 11. Auxiliary Bishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller will offer the opening Mass at 8 p.m. Dec. 11. Mananaitas will be sung at midnight, and two simultaneous Masses will be celebrated at 12:30 a.m. Six more Masses will be celebrated before the end of the festivities, with the closing Mass set for 8 p.m. Dec. 12.

In addition, there will be fireworks at 10 p.m. Dec. 11 and torchbearers will set off on foot and bicycles in several directions after a blessing at 10:30 p.m. For a complete schedule, visit www.motherofamerica.org or call (847) 294-1806.

Immigration posada planned

The Catholic Campaign for Immigration Reform, Priests for Justice and Sisters and Brothers of Immigrants will host a posada at the Broadview Detention Center Dec. 19.

Participants will gather at 7 a.m. at St. Eulalia Parish, 1851 S. Ninth Ave., Maywood, to start a pilgrimage to the detention center, 1930 S. Beach Ave., Broadview. Organizers expect to arrive at the center at 8 a.m. for an Advent message, before returning to St. Eulalia at 8:45 a.m. for refreshments.

A posada is a Mexican tradition in which participants act out Mary and Joseph's search for shelter. The CCIR event is a symbolic search for shelter that offers hope, justice and human dignity for all immigrants. For more information contact CCIR at (312) 751-7991 or jjacoby@ archchicago.org.

News Digest

Brother Olallo beatified in first Cuban ceremony

Brother Jose Olallo Valdes, a member of the Hospitaller Brothers of St. John of God who worked among Cuba's poor and sick in the 19th century, was beatified at an outdoor Mass attended by thousands of joyous people and broadcast nationwide. Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, former prefect of the Vatican Congregation for Saints' Causes, beatified the Cuban brother during a three-hour Mass Nov. 29 in the Plaza of Our Lady of Charity in Camaguey. It was the first beatification ceremony held in Cuba.

Vatican has confirmed tentative plans for Pope Benedict to visit Holy Land in 2009

Israeli sources said the most likely time for the visit would be in May, with stops in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

The pope was invited to visit Israel by Israeli President Shimon Peres in 2007. At that time, the pope made it clear he hoped to make the trip, but Vatican diplomats said the timing would depend in large part on efforts to calm the simmering Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Bioethics document expected this month

The Vatican plans to issue a new document on bioethics that addresses human cloning, stem-cell research and other issues, informed sources said.

The Vatican instruction, prepared by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, was scheduled to be published Dec. 12, the sources said. A Vatican press conference is planned for its release. The document was designed to examine ethical issues in biological research and health care that have emerged in recent years.

New Orleans religious communities receive grant to restore ministries

Catholic Charities USA has awarded more than $2 million to congregations of women religious based in the New Orleans area to help them restore ministries to the poor that were destroyed or severely diminished by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Next phase of 'Rosary Priest' Peyton's sainthood cause opened in Baltimore

Archbishop Edwin O'Brien of Baltimore Nov. 20 presided over the opening of a new phase in the sainthood cause for Father Patrick Peyton during Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Peyton is best known as the "Rosary Priest," who encouraged families through his radio and television programs in the 1940s and 1950s to pray together daily, especially by praying the rosary.