Catholic New World - News Digest

News Update

Jerusalem lecture set for March 26

Jon D. Levenson will offer the 2009 Joseph Cardinal Bernardin Jerusalem Lecture at 7 p.m. March 26 at De- Paul University's Lincoln Park Student Center, 2250 N. Sheffield Ave. Levenson, the Albert A. List Professor of Jewish Studies at Harvard University, will speak on "Monotheism and Chosenness: The Abrahamic Foundation of Judaism and Roman Catholicism."

The Jerusalem lecture is sponsored annually by the Archdiocese of Chicago and the American Jewish Committee, Chicago Board of Rabbis, Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago and Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies. A co-sponsor for the 2009 lecture is the DePaul University Office of Institutional Diversity and Equity.

It commemorates Cardinal Bernardin's 1995 lecture in the Senate Hall of Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

Admission is free, but reservations are requested. Please contact the Office for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs at (312) 534-5325 or [email protected] for reservations.

Group for sex-abuse victims

Men and women who were sexually abused as minors are invited to participate in three 12-week support groups sponsored by the Archdiocese of Chicago's Office of Assistance Ministry.

Each group will be led by a licensed professional contracted by the archdiocese. The professional will have experience working with people in vulnerable situations who want to move forward and take charge of their lives.

Participation in the groups is not limited to those who were sexually abused as minors by a priest or deacon. The abuse may have been perpetrated by a family member, friend, or stranger.

The groups will meet for 12 weeks beginning in early March. In order to provide for maximum comfort, two of the groups will be divided on the basis of gender. There is no fee for participating in the groups.

For information, please contact Kathleen Leggdas at (312) 534-5268 or [email protected] or Matt Hunnicutt at (312) 534-8267 or [email protected].

News Digest

Dolan appointed to New York post

Like his predecessor, Cardinal Edward Egan, Archbishop Timothy Dolan is very familiar with the workings of the church in Rome.

The new head of the New York archdiocese served for seven years as rector of the Pontifical North American College, the U.S. national seminary in Rome, and was a student there himself in the 1970s. In addition, he was assigned for two years to the staff of the apostolic nunciature, or Vatican embassy, in Washington.

Catholic legislators must protect life, pope tells Speaker Pelosi Pope Benedict

XVI met privately with U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the House of Representatives, and told her that all Catholics, especially those who are lawmakers, must work to protect human life at every stage.

Pelosi, a Catholic Democrat from California, has been criticized by many Catholics for her support for keeping abortion legal.

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