Is giving up desserts for Lent so last year? Apparently.  A new trend in modern sacrificing is to give up on time-consuming things such as frequently reading or adding postings to Facebook.

The Arlington Catholic Herald, diocesan newspaper of Arlington, Va., did a story on this, quoting Catholics who might even continue this Facebook fast after Easter. One priest told the paper, “We’ve become so connected that we’re disconnected. …  We’re oversaturated with information. I know for myself I’m not going to go back to being that connected.”

Bishop Jaime Soto of Sacramento, Calif., also plugged the idea of easing up on Facebook during Lent in a column in the diocesan newspaper, The Catholic Herald.

As he puts it: ”The holy days of Lent are a good time for all of us to re-examine how we use technology to make better connections with our families, our friends, our God, and ourselves. That may mean less time on Facebook and more face time with our family and friends. It could also mean exploring how these technologies can help us learn about our Catholic faith, study Scripture, engage in fellowship, and even pray.”

Filed under: clients, CNS

During Lent, The Michigan Catholic, Detroit’s archdiocesan newspaper, is giving its readers space to tell personal stories of faith-changing moments. Writers to date have talked about difficult experiences — losing a job, an illness, an unexpected pregnancy – where they experienced grace and grew stronger in their faith.

Editor Marylynn Hewitt said the paper tried this approach a few years ago but it did not generate the same response as it has this time when the paper has a story for every week of Lent – primarily written by writers younger than 40.

Her take on the series is that “as Catholics, we’re to evangelize and what better way than to tell others what God has done in our life — helps us see him moving, breathing and being there for us.”

She also told Catholic News Service that the younger writers contributing to this series are “well versed in living out loud,” telling people about their lives through social networking, blogging and Twitter. “This, then, is a way to tie it into their faith,” she added.

Check these stories about job loss, sickness and unexpected pregnancy and keep an eye out for other upcoming pieces as Lent continues.

Filed under: clients, CNS

Editor’s Note: Barb Fraze, CNS international editor, is traveling in Asia as part of the 2010 Senior Journalists Seminar sponsored by the East-West Center in Honolulu.

MUMBAI, India — Mumbai, India’s financial capital, is home to at least eight of the world’s religions. Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, Zoroastrians, Sikhs, Jews, Jains and Christians — including Catholics — coexist here.

Scriptures in English, Tamil and Hindi are seen at a Church of North India cathedral in Mumbai.

Included in this blog post are just a few photos from some of Mumbai’s religious places of worship. They reflect the diversity of religions in India, a country that is about 80 percent Hindu. This is not an all-inclusive list. It also does not include cricket, which, as one tour guide indicated, “is almost like a religion for us in this country.”

The Church of North India is a Protestant denomination resulting from the merger of multiple churches. At St. Thomas the Apostle Cathedral in Mumbai, visitors can find Bibles in English and New Testaments in Hindi and Tamil. St. Thomas church has many plaques and sculptures commemorating Indians — often young — who gave service to their country or church.

India’s Catholic Church has three different rites. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India has approximately 160 dioceses, including 128 Latin dioceses, six Syro-Malankara dioceses and 26 Syro-Malabar dioceses.

Of India’s approximately 24 million Christians, more than 17 million are Catholic. Christianity is India’s third-largest religion.

Minara Mosque is seen from a street in Mumbai.

At right is Minara Mosque in Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay. Islam is India’s second-largest religion. The country’s nearly 161 million Muslims make up just 13.4 percent of India’s population, yet India has the world’s third-largest Muslim population, after Indonesia and Pakistan. Approximately 10-15 percent of India’s Muslim population is Shiite, according to an October study released by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.

To realize how many Muslims are in India, compare it to Iran, with a population that is 99.4 percent Muslim. India has more than twice as many Muslims as Iran’s nearly 74 million adherents to Islam. The United States has nearly 2.5 million Muslims, or less than 1 percent of the population.

According to India’s 2001 census, Sikhs make up nearly 2 percent of India’s population, and Buddhists make up 0.8 percent. Jains make up 0.4 percent of the population.

The final photo, below, is from a Jain temple in Mumbai. Almost all of the world’s 4 million Jains live in India. The religion has some similarities to Hinduism and Buddhism. However, Jains do not believe in the Hindu caste system, but believe in equality for all. Walking into a temple, a visitor might hear bells ringing — the bells are to awaken the deities.

A Jain makes an offering to a deity at a temple in Mumbai.

Filed under: CNS

On this Lenten Friday, enjoy this video of a parish fish fry posted today by The Catholic Spirit of St. Paul, Minn.

Filed under: clients

VATICAN CITY — Regarding the beatification of Pope John Paul II, one thing is certain: no date will be set until the pope formally approves a miracle attributed to his intercession.

Many people were expecting Pope Benedict XVI to approve a miracle in December when he issued the decree recognizing that Pope John Paul had heroically lived the Christian virtues. And there was widespread expectation that the beatification would take place Oct. 17, the Sunday after the anniversary of Pope John Paul’s election in 1979.

When the miracle wasn’t recognized and the Oct. 17 date was set aside for a canonization ceremony for six saints instead, stories started circulating about Pope John Paul’s cause being derailed.

Sister Marie-Simon-Pierre (CNS/Reuters)

The story that has received the most attention so far was a Polish newspaper report Wednesday saying Pope John Paul’s beatification would be delayed, potentially for years, because a Vatican-appointed board of physicians cast doubt on the proposed miracle they were asked to study. The case involved the healing of a French nun who believed she had been healed of Parkinson’s disease, the same disease that afflicted Pope John Paul. The paper said the doctors were not convinced that the nun, Sister Marie-Simon-Pierre, had had Parkinson’s, but that she may have been cured medically of another nervous system disorder.

But a Vatican official told ANSA, the Italian news agency, that the Polish newspaper report was “absolutely without foundation” and that the physicians’ board was not expected to meet until April.

At the same time, the Vatican is not saying that approval of the miracle is automatic. Far from it. It is one thing for symptoms to disappear and another to be cured.

The church also insists that the cure be unexpected and instantaneous, as well as complete and lasting. If Sister Marie-Simon-Pierre is still symptom-free, the physicians will have to determine whether the five years that have passed since she experienced healing are enough to certify the cure as lasting.

Then a panel of theologians must certify that the healing was related to prayers for Pope John Paul’s intercession. Then members of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes must vote to recommend that Pope Benedict recognize the miracle. In other words, it may be a while longer.

Filed under: CNS, Vatican

"St. John of the Cross" sculpture on exhibit at the National Gallery of Art. (CNS /Peter Lockley)

The current exhibit at Washington’s National Gallery of Art – ”The Sacred Made Real” —  would likely please St. Teresa of Avila if she were alive today. The 16th-century Spanish mystic who reportedly liked to pray before images of Christ’s passion would find much to contemplate among the 22 sculptures and paintings from the Spanish golden age that portray Jesus, Mary and some  saints with intensely precise detail.

Her contemporary,  St. John of the Cross, also from Spain, would most likely appreciate the exhibit too, and not just because it includes a sculpture of him. The saint, who received some sculpture training, also seemed to get one of the main ideas of the current exhibit — that sculptors and painters at that time worked together and also influenced each other.

As he once said: “Not everyone who can hew a block of wood is able to carve an image; nor is everyone who can carve it able to outline and polish it; nor is he that can polish it able to paint it.”

But everyone that can get to Washington (until May 31) can at least appreciate the work that went into this artistry.  And the exhibit’s curator, Xavier Bray from London’s National Gallery,  is hoping the art that was created to “shock the senses and stir the soul” will have a similar impact on the modern museum-goers. When he appealed to church officials to loan some of these works, he stressed that since they would be on display during Lent they could still be “incredibly powerful even out of context.”

FULL STORY: Spanish religious art exhibit portrays Mary, Christ, saints in detail

Filed under: CNS

By Basilian Father Chris Valka

In response to my previous post, “Responding to the pope’s challenge on ‘new media’,” I have been asked to share a little more about my own efforts in the “new media.”

My hope is to provide a few practical applications and reasons for using blogs and podcasts, in addition to offering a little technical expertise as to how one might get started.

The Blogs

Currently, I administer two blogs:

• “reVerb” features my own homilies and retreat talks in an audio format (complete with RSS feed for iTunes) and is located at:  http://www.reverbhomilies.wordpress.com.
• “Attuned” is a sort of “greatest hits” collection of inspirational and captivating interviews designed to give people an introduction into the world of podcasts.  Also available as an RSS feed, it may be found at www.attunededinterviews.wordpress.com.

Attuned is actually a remake of a different blog I began as a campus minister. I often spoke to many students who wanted to learn more about their faith, but few of them had the time or concentration for additional reading.  Thus, I created the blog now known as Attuned so that students could listen to something “on-the-go” during the week.  Once a week, we would gather at a coffee shop on campus to discuss the interview and their thoughts.  More or less, it was a book club without the books – perfect for college students and busy people.

My hope has always been that Attuned would not only give parishioners and students a place to go for quality interviews, but more importantly to advertise those podcasts that are worth the listen.  You will notice that not all are Catholic or religious, but each one makes for quality conversation, which I believe is the purpose of mass media.  As I understand it, the media is a means to an end; a way to build community, if we let it.

reVerb came about in response to the family members of the sick and homebound who do not have an opportunity to get to Mass every Sunday.  While these individuals receive the Eucharist, and could read the readings at home, they missed the homily — until now.  In addition, some parents of young children explained the difficulty of concentrating during Mass while “entertaining” their little ones.  Humbled by the requests, I decided it was time to put my technical knowledge to use.

As for a little technical know-how. . . .

Blogs are fairly easy to create, and free, using sites like WordPress or Blogger, and I find are the best way to post ideas on the Web.  Recording one’s homily or presentation requires a digital recorder (which can be purchased at just about any electronics store for around $50) and a lapel microphone, which I found at Radio Shack for roughly $10.

In order to minimize edit-time, I turn on the microphone just before I read the Gospel and turn it off just after the homily.  Once I get home, I plug it into the audio input of my computer, edit the file and upload it to a server.  (At this point, one has to have some simple audio-editing program, such as Apple’s Garageband.)

The Harvest

When all is said and done, the online aspect takes an additional 30 minutes of time, but I can attest, it is well worth the time.  Not only do those who were not present have the opportunity to hear your thoughts, but so do those who wish to hear again in the middle of the week, or those who want to share it with friends.

Now, there are people coming to church who never came before; people scheduling appointments that I have never met; people asking really good questions and engaging in wonderful discussions about their faith.  I have found the key is keeping the audio fairly short and concise – and it doesn’t hurt to be a bit provocative from time to time.

Certainly, these new forms of evangelization are daunting, but then again, so is any form of evangelization.  We are called by Jesus and challenged by the pope to take the Gospel to all who are willing to listen, and if we are to do so, then we must learn to utilize our own energies through the media and each other.

Father Chris Valka, CSB, was ordained a priest for the Congregation of St. Basil last May and is teaching at Detroit Catholic Central High School in Michigan.

Filed under: CNS, Year for Priests blog

Make sure you didn’t miss any of these stories from our monthly list of most-viewed items for February on www.catholicnews.com:

1. Vatican official says religious orders are in modern ‘crisis’ (Feb. 4)

2. Sainthood scoop: Book on the “real” John Paul II snubbed at Vatican (Feb. 12)

3. Bishop says Oregon hospital can no longer be called Catholic (Feb. 16)

4. Shroud of Turin: Image provokes prayer, curiosity, scholarly disputes (Feb. 5)

5. Nun says Australian’s sainthood cause delayed by unfounded claims (Feb. 22)

6. Cardinal: Catholics, Mormons must defend religious freedom together (Feb. 23)

7. Bishop says king will not be sanctioned for signing abortion law (Feb. 26)

8. New missal not here yet, but Catholics urged to start talking about it (Feb. 9)

9. Cardinal: Group’s support of gay marriage not authentic church teaching (Feb. 11)

10. Cardinal asks dialogue partners if an ecumenical catechism might work (Feb. 8)

Filed under: CNS

By Basilian Father Chris Valka
One in a series

Five days a week, I stand before six classes of teenage boys in 45-minute intervals.  After attendance and the usual exchange of assignments and questions and answers, I have 40 minutes to convey a lesson, allow for in-class practice or discussion, assign the evening’s work, and then rush out the door to do it all over again in another classroom.

It is the life of any teacher at Catholic Central High School, where I teach literature, computers and public speaking, but my difficulty concerns the priestly role I have to the students and staff.  I often ask myself, “When do I get to be a priest and not just a teacher?  When do I get to talk about the God who has called me forth, given me purpose, joy, and more than I could have ever known on my own?”

Certainly, this question is not unique to myself or to my role as a teacher.  My friends who work in parishes ask the same question, only exchanging “teacher” with “administrator.”  They are equally challenged by the time constraints of their members, who often have no more than 15 seconds of available time after Sunday Mass.

It is because of these obstacles that I found the pope’s recent challenge to priests all too appropriate.  In case you missed it, the Holy Father released his message for the 44th World Communications Day in which he challenged priests to utilize “new media” in order to “discover new possibilities for carrying out their ministry to and for the Word of God.”

These days, just about everyone I know has an iPod, especially if they are a high school or college student.  I have found podcasts (a downloadable talk-radio-style interview) to be a potent “response” to the pope’s challenge.

A case in point:

Several months ago, the parents of one of my students, who I will call Sam, found me after Sunday Mass.  During that 30-second exchange, they conveyed their concerns about their son’s lack of faith.  Since then, Sam and I have had a few conversations about it, but there was never enough time to really discuss his objections and questions.

Two weeks ago, I heard a podcast that I thought Sam might appreciate.  As he passed me after class, I pulled him aside and gave him the name and location of the interview on a piece of paper.  Sam agreed to listen to the 50-minute interview with an open mind, and seemed quite pleased about the possibility of answering some of his questions.

A few days later, Sam asked to meet me after school to discuss the interview.  He came well-prepared with crumbled-up piece of paper full of notes and questions.  Additionally, Sam had already arranged a ride home a full hour later than usual.

So over two pops in the school cafeteria, Sam and I discussed all his reasons for disbelief as well as their consequences.  In the end, it was one of the best discussions I have ever had with a student about the existence of God and the role of faith in our world.  Before he left, I gave him more interviews on the subject of faith and reason and have no doubt that he will come again with more questions.

These days, time is one of the greatest obstacles to ministry.  As ministers, we have to find ways to overcome that obstacle.  I believe this often requires us to have those first conversations through the words of another, whether it be a movie, podcast, good book or article.  Thirty seconds is not enough time to have a conversation, but it is plenty of time to make a recommendation.  Most of the time, I find those recommendations lead to more time for us to discuss what is really important – the presence of God in our lives and our need to discuss it.

As I close, I wonder if those who use “new media” to comment with their favorite sources so others may benefit as well.

Father Chris Valka, CSB, was ordained a priest for the Congregation of St. Basil last May and is teaching at Detroit Catholic Central High School in Michigan.

Click here for more in this series.

Filed under: Year for Priests blog

Victor Ingalls (in red) takes possession of the ball during the North American College's second match of the Clericus Cup. (CNS photo by Paul Haring)

VATICAN CITY — The North American College’s soccer team, the Martyrs, won 2-0 against the College of St. Paul on Saturday. It was their second game and their second victory since the Clericus Cup priestly soccer series kicked off Feb. 20.

Victor Ingalls, a second-year seminarian from Montgomery, Ala., plays stopper for the Martyrs. He and fellow seminarian/teammate, David Santos, spoke with Catholic News Service at a news event launching the cup’s fourth season. Read about it here.

Filed under: Vatican

As February draws to a close,  so does Catholic Press Month, but you can and should appreciate the Catholic press, which, year-round, in season and out,  gives you news of  not only your local Catholic community but of the church in the world — in print or online. 

We try to routinely highlight great stories in Catholic publications, and I could easily fill up this space with the mention of even a couple. But here’s just a random sampling to check out:

– Using social networks to spread the good news, The Catholic Herald, newspaper of the Diocese of Sacramento, Calif.

– Priest earns national honor as a police chaplain, Florida Catholic, newspaper of the Diocese of Orlando, Fla.

– A meal without meat  … can be pretty delicious, Hawaii Catholic Herald, newspaper of the Diocese of Honolulu.

– Martha Williamson and “Touched by an Angel” still touching lives, Today’s Catholic, newspaper of the Archdiocese of San Antonio.

– A slide show on Haitian relief, The Compass, newspaper of the Diocese of Green Bay, Wis.

– E-mails from the front, The B.C. Catholic, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Vancouver.

Filed under: clients, CNS

What? Yet another reality show on network  television?

This one is on CBS and called “Undercover Boss.” Each week the head of some major U.S. company exchanges business attire for the uniform the company’s employees wear and goes “undercover,” using a different name and working in the trenches and taking direction from a superviser as the new kid on the block. The identity of the boss is revealed at the end during a meeting in the board room with the workers featured during the episode.

Some reviewers have panned it. I watched just the first episode, so can’t speak to quality of any of the others. But I felt the the boss featured in the one I watched – Larry O’Donnell, chief operating officer of Waste Management — really took to heart a lot of what he saw that his employers had to endure and was sincere in saying it would make him a better leader. He took what he learned to improve how the company runs its operation and treats its workers, even taking into consideration how job stress can affect a person’s family life. Who could pan that outcome?

I am not writing to tout the show but really to draw attention to what prompted me to even mention it — an Feb. 14 editorial by Tom Dermody, editor of  The Catholic Post, newspaper of the Diocese of Peoria, Ill., headlined “Pleasing the most important undercover Boss.”

He cleverly used the show as a jumping off point to discuss a first for his diocese: a Feb. 27 faith-based seminar for Catholic business leaders and managers. “The topics to be presented,” he writes, are “as real as it gets for Catholic managers who take their faith seriously: What is the role of faith in the workplace? How do I integrate my faith into my work? What role do ethics and morality play in my work life?

“Important questions indeed,” Dermody continues, “because we all work for an undercover Boss who routinely takes the guise of co-workers, especially those the world sees ‘as least.’ Do we recognize Christ in everyone? Does our faith make a difference in our decisions?”

We’ll stay tuned for a Catholic Post follow-up on the seminar.

Filed under: clients, CNS

St. Gerard Parish and its elementary school in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, were among dozens of church buildings destroyed or made unusable during the Jan. 12 earthquake. (CNS/Bob Roller)

Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of San Antonio will lead a small team of U.S. bishops to Haiti March 1-3 to assess how the Jan. 12 earthquake affected the local church.

The archbishop, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Subcommittee on the Church in Latin America, formed a Haiti Advisory Group to focus on the needs of the church in the poor Caribbean nation.

Others joining the advisory group are Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley of Boston, Bishop Thomas G. Wenski of Orlando, Fla., and Auxiliary Bishop Guy Sansaricq of Brooklyn, N.Y. Bishop Sansaricq is the only Haitian-American bishop in the U.S.

Archbishop Gomez said in a statement that the visit will help the subcommittee determine how to best meet the needs of Haitians affected by the magnitude 7 earthquake.

The advisory group will focus on long-term development of the Haitian church.

The move is the latest action by the U.S. bishops in their response to what some analysts are now calling the worst natural disaster of recent time. The death toll has climbed to more than 200,000. More than 1 million people remain homeless in the area around the capital of Port-au-Prince.

Soon after the earthquake, the U.S. bishops asked local dioceses to take up a special collection. To date, more than $30 million has been raised in 110 dioceses.

CNS will report on the bishops’ visit next week.
Filed under: CNS

For a noncommercial take on the Winter Olympics, check out the Olympics blog of Clayton Imoo, director of the Youth Ministry Office for the Archdiocese of Vancouver, British Columbia.

Imoo creates videos documenting each day’s events. His low-key, humorous approach offsets his occasional lack of footage.  He peppers his videos with references to Lent, and he often includes his family. In his Feb. 14 video, the family goes to downtown Vancouver and has photos taken with a 1976 skiing gold medalist; Feb. 16 they investigate the sport of curling .

Be patient; sometimes the best footage is a minute or two in. My favorite: Feb. 17 he teaches viewers the actual words to the Olympic theme song.

Filed under: CNS, sports

(CNS/Nancy Wiechec)

UPDATE: Click here for full story.

VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI announced this morning that he would canonize Blessed Mary MacKillop of Australia and Blessed Andre Bessette of Canada, along with four others, at the Vatican Oct. 17.

The announcement came at the end of a “public ordinary consistory,” a very formal ceremony attended by cardinals present in Rome.

(CNS/St. Joseph's Oratory)

Archbishop Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes, read brief biographies of the soon-to-be saints in Latin. And, still in Latin, he asked the pope to formally inscribe the six in the “album of saints.”

The pope responded in Latin, asking for the consensus of the cardinals present. Then he proclaimed — still in Latin — that the canonization ceremony would be Oct. 17.

Filed under: Vatican

The Clericus Cup trophy. The team of priests and seminarians who win the final match May 15 will take home the coveted prize. (photo courtesy of Centro Sportivo Italiano)

VATICAN CITY — Seminarians and priests studying in Rome are lacing up their cleats, ready to kick off the fourth season of the Clericus Cup soccer tournament.

The starting matches begin this Saturday when the U.S. seminary in Rome — the North American College — plays against the Brazilian College.

This year 16 teams made up of 373 seminarians and religious from 65 nations will vie for the championship title.

The NAC Martyrs have high hopes this season after running undefeated last year until the final match when they came in second behind the team from the Neocatechumenal Way’s Redemptoris Mater seminary.

Folks who want to keep track of stats, photos and even video footage of the matches can click on the tournament’s new website www.clericuscup.it.

Die hard fans can now “friend” the Clericus Cup on Facebook this year by joining its fan page which will post photos, news and status updates from players and fans.

Filed under: CNS, Vatican

Nineteen Catholic scholars of theology and history are asking Pope Benedict XVI to slow the process of the sainthood cause of Pope Pius XII.

Saying that much more research needs to be done on the papacy of the mid-20th century pope, the scholars said in a Feb. 16 letter to Pope Benedict that “history needs distance and perspective” before definitive conclusions can be reached on the role of Pope Pius during World War II and the Holocaust.

Leading the effort are Servite Father John Pawlikowski, professor of ethics at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, and Holy Cross Father Kevin Spicer, associate professor of history at Stonehill College in Easton, Mass.

In an e-mail to CNS last night, Father Pawlikowski told Catholic News Service the scholars are not opposed to Pope Pius’ canonization.

“We sent this letter because we feel that too often the issue of Pius XII is portrayed as one of Jewish concern,” Father Pawlikowski wrote. “We wanted to make it clear that some Catholics who have worked on Holocaust issues have serious concerns about advancing the cause of Pius XII at this time.”

16 February 2010

His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, Apostolic Palace, 00120 Vatican City

Your Holiness,

As faithful, practicing Catholics, consecrated and lay, we urgently write to you concerning the cause of Pope Pius XII. We are educators who have conducted research and are currently carrying into effect more research on Catholicism under National Socialism and the Holocaust. The movement to press forward at this time the process of beatification of Pius XII greatly troubles us. Needless to say, the controversy over Pius XII’s actions during the Second World War and the Holocaust is long-standing. Numerous books and articles have been written on the topic. Nevertheless, the scholars still have a great deal of research to complete before final conclusions can be drawn about Pius XII’s behavior during the Holocaust. History needs distance and perspective to arrive at these conclusions. At the moment, scholars eagerly await the opening of papers from Pius XII’s pontificate that you, Holy Father, have so graciously arranged to be made available. At the same time, as researchers, we also realize that there are numerous archives, both secular and ecclesiastical, that scholars have yet to access or consult, many of which might shed more light on Pope Pius’s actions during the Holocaust. Currently, existing research leads us to the view that Pope Pius XII did not issue a clearly worded statement, unconditionally condemning the wholesale slaughter and murder of European Jews. At the same time, some evidence also compels us to see that Pius XII’s diplomatic background encouraged him as head of a neutral state, the Vatican, to assist Jews by means that were not made public during the war. It is essential that further research be conducted to resolve both these questions. As scholars of theology and history, we realize how important the historical critical method is to your own research and we implore you to ensure that such a historical investigation takes place before proceeding with the cause of Pope Pius XII.

A greater issue, of course, arises with the discussion of the beatification of Pius XII. For centuries the Christian churches, including the Roman Catholic Church, have propagated both religious anti-Judaism and religious anti-Semitism, however unintentionally or in ignorance. “Nostra Aetate,” however, ensured that Catholics’ views of Jews would be definitively changed. Your most recent comments, Holy Father, in the synagogue of Rome, endeavored to breach centuries of misunderstandings between Catholics and Jews. Your actions were moving and courageous. Still there is a great deal of work to be done in this area. Mistrust and apprehension still exist. For many Jews and Catholics, Pius XII takes on a role much larger than his historical papacy. In essence, Pius XII has become a symbol of centuries-old Christian anti-Judaism and anti-Semitism which, for example, the late Rev. Edward H. Flannery has documented and spelled out in his work “The Anguish of the Jews: Twenty-Three Centuries of Anti-Semitism.” It is challenging to separate Pope Pius XII from this legacy. Proceeding with the cause of Pope Pius XII, without an exhaustive study of his actions during the Holocaust, might harm Jewish-Catholic relations in a way that cannot be overcome in the foreseeable future.

Holy Father, we implore you, acting on your wisdom as a renowned scholar, professor and teacher, to be patient with the cause of Pope Pius XII. Patience is not passive, it is active; indeed it is condensed strength and courage to bring one forward in hope to a central conclusion and point. In this regard, we humbly ask that scholars be given the access and time to carefully and thoroughly examine the documents relating to the pontificate of Pius XII before embarking on the beatification process. We thank you for hearing us and reflecting upon the urgent concerns of our request. We have the honor to be, Your Holiness,

Rev. Dr. John Pawlikowski, O.S.M., professor of ethics, Catholic Theological Union

Rev. Dr. Kevin P. Spicer, C.S.C., Kenneally associate professor of history, Stonehill College

Rev. Dr. James Bernauer, S.J., Kraft professor of philosophy, Boston College, director, Center for Christian-Jewish Learning

Dr. Suzanne Brown-Fleming, independent scholar

Dr. John Connelly, associate professor of history, University of California, Berkeley

Dr. Frank J. Coppa, professor of history, St. John’s University; associate editor, New Catholic Encyclopedia; currently working on biography of Pius XII

Dr. Donald J. Dietrich, professor of theology, Boston College

Dr. Audrey Doetzel, N.D.S., associate director, Center for Christian-Jewish Learning, Boston College

Dr. Lauren N. Faulkner, assistant professor of history, University of Notre Dame

Dr. Eugene J. Fisher, retired associate director, Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Relations, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

P. Elias H. Fullenbach, O.P., Dominikanerkloster Dusseldorf, Institut fur Kirchengeschichte der Universitat Bonn

Dr. Beth A. Griech-Polelle, Ph.D., associate professor of history, Bowling Green State University

Dr. Robert A. Krieg, professor of theology, University of Notre Dame

Dr. Martin Menke, associate professor of history, Rivier College

Dr. Paul O’Shea, senior religious education coordinator, St. Patrick’s College, Strathfield, NSW, Australia

Dr. Michael E. O’Sullivan, assistant professor of history, Marist College

Dr. Michael Phayer, professor emeritus of history, Marquette University

Dr. Carol Rittner, R.S.M., distinguished professor of Holocaust and genocide studies and the Dr. Marsha Raitcoff Grossmann professor of Holocaust Studies, Richard Stockton College of New Jersey

Dr. Jose Sanchez, professor emeritus of history, St. Louis University

Filed under: CNS

Patients at St. Francis de Sales Hospital in Port-au-Prince have been treated under tents and tarps since the Jan. 12 earthquake. (CNS/Bob Roller)

A Catholic hospital in the earthquake-ravaged capital of Haiti is getting a boost in its effort to rebuild from two U.S.-based health care systems with strong Catholic connections.

Catholic Health East in Newton Square, Pa., and BayCare Health Systems in Clearwater, Fla., this week donated $100,000 each toward the reconstruction of St. Francis de Sales Hospital in the center of Port-au-Prince.

The CEOs of the two health systems said in a press release that rebuilding the hospital as quickly as possible is crucial to the recovery of the country as well as the health and well being of the Haitian people.

Additional grants and contributions of neary $50,000 from various foundations within the Catholic Health East system also were made to the reconstruction effort.

Despite losing most of its facilities during the Jan. 12 earthquake — including operating rooms and a pediatrics wing where up to 100 people died — the hospital has set up makeshift treatment facilities for victims. About 70 beds were moved from unsafe parts of the hospital compound and placed under tents and tarps in a courtyard. Prior to the earthquake the hospital had about 120 beds available for patients.

Several teams of trauma specialists from the United States have ventured to Port-au-Prince to assist their Haitian counterparts during the five weeks since the earthquake hit.

The two hospital systems are providing the funds through Global Health Ministry, a charitable program of Catholic Health East which has sent teams of health care professionals to Latin American and Caribbean nations for more than 20 years.

Several Catholic hospitals in the Tampa Bay area, including St. Anthony’s, St. Joseph’s Children’s, St. Joseph’s Women’s and St. Joseph’s Hospital North, are part of the BayCare Health System.

Catholic Health East is a Catholic health system co-sponsored by nine religious congregations in 11 eastern states extending from Maine to Florida.

Filed under: CNS

Today is Ash Wednesday, and to help you get the season off to the right start we offer this reflection for the day by Basilian Father Tom Rosica, the head of  Salt + Light Television, Canada’s national Catholic television outlet.  Father Rosica recorded the series of Lenten and Easter reflections in 2008, beginning with this one, titled “It Took Forty Days.”

The entire series of reflections, which goes through the feast of the Ascension, is available here if you want to save them and come back during your Lenten and Easter journey this year.

Filed under: clients

Remember this from last year? Malassadas on Shrove Tuesday — yum!

Here in the eastern U.S. you still have a couple hours to enjoy them. Have at it!

Filed under: clients, CNS