Update

Marist goes co-ed
Marist High School will begin admitting girls in the fall of 2002.
The school received permission from Cardinal George to go co-ed June 5, after three years of study. Freshman girls will be admitted in 2002, starting a four-year transition. The school, which has educated boys for nearly 40 years, decided to make the change because of demand for a co-educational Catholic high school on the Southwest Side, said Marist Brother Richard Carey, the school’s president. “We are committed to providing our students with a college-preparatory curriculum in a Catholic, faith-based community imbued with the Marist tradition,” Carey said.

Hillside group joins pilgrims
A group of parishioners from Our Lady of Lebanon Parish in west suburban Hillside were among those attending the canonization of Lebanon’s first female saint in Rome on June 10. As Lebanese pilgrims cheered and waved their national flag, the pope prayed that St. Rafqa Pietra Choboq ar-Rayes, their new saint, a 20th-century monastic nun who died blind and paralyzed, would intercede to end the sufferings of the conflict-torn peoples of the Middle East. St. Rafqa, a member of the monastic Lebanese Maronite Order of St. Anthony, died in 1914 at the age of 82. After asking God to send her suffering, she spent the last 29 years of her life in physical torment. A painful infection in her eyes blinded her, most of her bones came unjointed and a deep sore covered her back.

Vatican selects Ukrainian sites
The church’s brick-red walls are unfinished; the edges are rough. Much of the church’s surrounding field has not been sown with seedlings. Inside, parishioners mustered a makeshift altar for Pope John Paul II’s visit to their homeland. The visit began June 23 and ends June 27. Despite the lack of grandeur, the Vatican selected Nativity of the Mother of God Church as one of two sites from which the pope will speak to the public in Lviv, the center of Ukrainian Catholicism.

Weakland meets on his cathedral
Archbishop Rembert G. Weakland said a Vatican official who asked that he halt the renovation of the Milwaukee cathedral did not question the project’s conformity to church and liturgical norms. Describing the June 13 Vatican meeting as “very cordial,” Archbishop Weakland said Cardinal Jorge Medina Estevez, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, “seemed satisfied with my explanation of the planned changes.”

News

U.S. bishops meet in Atlanta
The U.S. Catholic bishops tackled issues ranging from global warming to the Middle East crisis, from liturgy to doctrine to moral teaching at their spring meeting June 14-16 in Atlanta.

Bishops: stand for Communion
In new liturgical norms adopted June 15 the U.S. bishops declared that standing is the posture for reception of Communion in the United States. They prescribed a bow of the head as a sign of reverence before receiving Communion, with a second bow before receiving from the cup if Communion is given under both kinds.

Mandatum procedures approved by bishops
At their spring meeting in Atlanta, the U.S. bishops approved a recommended procedure for granting, withholding or withdrawing a Catholic theologian’s academic “mandatum.”

A ‘disturbing trend’ in refugee treatment
The U.S. bishops criticized a “disturbing trend” in U.S. treatment of refugees and called for reforms in a resolution approved unanimously June 15 at their spring meeting in Atlanta.
The resolution, called “Renewing U.S. Leadership in Refugee Protection,” passed on a voice vote.

Amo, amas, amat:
Lovers of Latin liturgy, Gregorian chant convene in Chicago
The members of the Latin Liturgy Association envision a future when Catholics around the world can go to the nearest Catholic church and hear something they haven’t heard in more than 30 years: the Mass celebrated in Latin, using the same words and prayers around the world. Leininger and about 100 of the association’s members are convening June 23 and 24 at St. John Cantius Church, 825 N. Carpenter St., which offers three Latin Masses every Sunday.

Not welcome?
Hispanics may feel pushed out
Spanish-speaking Catholics are often made to feel like unwelcome strangers in an Anglo-dominant American Catholic culture. And because they do not feel welcome, Spanish-speaking Catholics around the country—as many as 600,000 a year—are leaving the Roman Catholic Church in favor of evangelical Protestant churches.

‘Nun Study’ probes effect of culture on aging
“There is great promise in old age, as much as in adolescence or in any other stage of human development.”
That is just one piece of good news from David A. Snowdon, author of “Aging With Grace: What the Nun Study Teaches Us About Leading Longer, Healthier and More Meaningful Lives” ($24.95). It was published by Bantam this May.

Cardinal: Criticize, love U.S. culture
Cardinal George characterized American culture as both rocky and fertile ground for proclaiming the Gospel. Speaking June 8 at the Catholic Theological Society of America’s national convention in Milwaukee, Cardinal George said North American culture’s notions of justice and freedom and its resistance to authority add to the challenges of evangelization in the United States.

Local pediatrician offers guide to medical ethics
Dr. Eugene F. Diamond, who has been a pediatrician for 48 years and a professor in bio-ethics at Loyola University and Rush Medical School, has authored a book that is readable, reliable and, for the vast majority, very reassuring.

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