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News Digest

Issue of July 5 – July 18, 2009The 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

Racial justice pilgrimage

The Office for Racial Justice will host pilgrimages for "Catholics Praying for Racial Justice" in each of the archdiocese's six vicariates in late summer and the autumn.

Each pilgrimage will include stops for prayer at three or four parishes. Participants are welcome to come to one stop or all stops.

Pilgrimages are scheduled for:

  • Aug. 30 in Vicariate I with stops at St. Colette, Rolling Meadows; St. Edna and St. James, Arlington Heights; and St. Raymond, Mount Prospect.
  • Sept. 13 in Vicariate II with stops at St. Gertrude, 6200 N. Glenwood; St. Mary of the Woods, 7033 N. Moselle; and Queen of All Saints Basilica, 6280 N. Sauganash.
  • Sept. 27 in Vicariate III at Holy Family, 1080 W. Roosevelt Road; St. Adalbert, 1650 W. 17th St; and St. Agatha, 3147 W. Douglas Blvd.
  • Sept. 20 in Vicariate IV at St. Eulalia, Maywood; St. Bernardine, Forest Park; St. Catherine/St. Lucy, Oak Park; and St. Frances of Rome, Cicero.
  • Oct. 4 in Vicariate V at St. Denis, 3456 W. 83rd Place; St. John Fisher, 10235 S. Fairfield; and St. Linus, Oak Lawn.
  • Oct. 11 in Vicariate VI at St. Jude, South Holland; St. Victor, Calumet City; Our Lady of Guadalupe, 3200 E. 91st St.; and St. Ailbe, 9015 S. Harper Ave.

All pilgrimages begin at 2 p.m. Participants will spend about 20 minutes at each stop. For information, call the Office for Racial Justice at (312) 534-8336.

St. Helen School honored

St. Helen School, 2347 W. Augusta Blvd., has received the 2009 Cardinal's Award in recognition of its students' performance on the Terra Nova standardized tests.

The award came with $95,000, half to fund bonuses for teachers and half to fund three-year scholarships for individual students.

The award was established in 1993 by John and Rosemary Croghan to reward schools that receive money from the Big Shoulders Fund and show a large increase in test scores. The Big Shoulders Fund helps support 93 schools with high percentages of low-income students.

News Digest

Closing Pauline year, Pope Benedict reveals results of tests on apostle's tomb

Closing the year of St. Paul, Pope Benedict XVI announced that tests done on the presumed tomb of the Apostle revealed the presence of bone fragments from a human who lived between the first and second century.

"This seems to confirm the unanimous and uncontested tradition that they are the mortal remains of the Apostle Paul," the pope said during an evening prayer service June 28 at Rome's Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls.

The basilica has long been held to be the burial site of St. Paul, but because of the destruction and rebuilding of the basilica, the exact location of the tomb was unknown for centuries. Vatican officials announced in December 2006 that several feet below the basilica's main altar and behind a smaller altar, they had found a roughly cut marble sarcophagus beneath an inscription that reads: "Paul Apostle Martyr."

Obama to meet pope July 10

Pope Benedict XVI will welcome U.S. President Barack Obama to the Vatican July 10 for an audience scheduled to begin at 4 p.m.

Obama will visit Italy July 8-10 to participate in the Group of Eight summit, a meeting of leaders of the world's wealthiest nations. The meeting will be held in L'Aquila, site of a devastating earthquake in April.

Liturgy, immigration, marriage among issues worked on at U.S. bishops' spring meeting

Liturgical matters, immigration reform and same-sex marriage were among the topics discussed by the U.S. bishops in public sessions at their June 17-19 spring meeting in San Antonio. But the bishops also devoted time - in executive session - to the recent controversy over the University of Notre Dame's decision to award an honorary degree to U.S. President Barack Obama. They emerged from the meeting with a two-sentence affirmation of Bishop John M. D'Arcy of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Ind., for his "pastoral concern" for the university.