New Orleans to close seven parishes, delay opening of 23 others
NEW ORLEANS (CNS) -- The Archdiocese of New Orleans issued a pastoral plan Feb. 9 that calls for the closing of seven parishes and delays the reopening of 23 others until there are enough parishioners in an area to warrant the resumption of pastoral ministry. It also calls for establishing six centralized elementary schools, which before the storm had served primarily as individual parish elementary schools. The archdiocese, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, is facing unknown projections regarding its future Catholic population and hundreds of its properties suffered extensive damage. New Orleans Archbishop Alfred C. Hughes projected that the archdiocese, which before Katrina was home to nearly a half-million Catholics in 142 parishes, might see its Catholic population return in the next two years to only 60 percent to 65 percent of its August 2005 levels, which would mean a Catholic population of about 295,000. The pastoral plan, which will take effect March 15, establishes a framework for pastoral ministry in the seven deaneries that sustained the greatest damage from the Aug. 29 storm.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Catholic college leaders examine strengths, discuss challenges ahead
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Catholic higher education leaders attending an annual gathering Feb. 4-6 in Washington were urged to take creative and confident approaches to their current and future challenges. "The challenges in higher education come to us, we don't have to look for them," Mary Lyons, president of the University of San Diego, told a group of about 200 Catholic university presidents, many of whom were nodding in agreement. Lyons, a panelist in a closing session at the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities meeting, urged her colleagues to face their challenges head-on. She likened the current mind-set in the nation and in Catholic higher education to a "hunker-down mentality" and the "21st-century equivalent of the duck-and-cover drills" of the 1950s in response to perceived security threats to the U.S. She said Catholic college presidents should not shrink back, even from "attacks within the family" and instead should "take up our mission with confidence."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Opponents of embryonic stem-cell research get good news, bad news
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The first weeks of 2006 brought good news and bad news for opponents of embryonic stem-cell research, as a bill that would have encouraged the research in Delaware got significant revisions but new proposals supporting it cropped up in New Jersey and Michigan. In Florida, competing initiatives on taxpayer funding for embryonic stem-cell research each failed to gain the 611,000 signatures needed to place it on the state's November ballot; the Florida bishops had backed a proposal to prohibit such research. The heads of Virginia's two Catholic dioceses also issued a joint pastoral letter on "Science at the Service of Life," in which they called embryonic stem-cell research both unethical and unproven. The Delaware effort to block a bill that would have given state sanction to embryonic stem-cell research was led by a grass-roots group called A Rose and a Prayer. After the House approved a drastically amended version of the bill in January, Stephen Jenkins, a Wilmington attorney who helped form the organization late last year, said it would now seek to ban all research on embryos in the state, along with all forms of human cloning.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The anti-Abramoff lobbyists: Speaking up for the poor in Washington
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The corruption investigation into lobbyist Jack Abramoff's dealings with government officials has opened a window into just one way lobbying works in Washington. Another type of lobbying that goes on every day bears about as much resemblance to Abramoff's high-finance wheeling and dealing as his gourmet restaurant business lunches have to the quick sandwiches lobbyists for nonprofit organizations might grab in the Senate cafeteria. Abramoff came to the attention of federal investigators because of the multimillions of dollars he and a partner earned from dealings with Indian tribes, which he has admitted to defrauding. In January, Abramoff pleaded guilty to fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy to bribe public officials in a scandal that is still reverberating through Congress and various investigative agencies. But the kind of money that routinely changed hands among Abramoff, his clients and those from whom they tried to buy favors would finance decades worth of the more down-to-earth lobbying work done by nonprofit organizations such as Catholic Charities USA, the Washington Office on Latin America, and Network, the Catholic social justice lobby.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Compendium of catechism goes on sale in paperback March 31
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, a 200-page synthesis of the 1992 catechism, will be available in paperback March 31 from USCCB Publishing, the publishing office of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. A hardcover edition will follow shortly after. Both versions will be published in English and Spanish. The compendium, made up of 598 questions and answers, echoes to some degree the format of the Baltimore Catechism, which was standard in many U.S. Catholic parishes and schools from 1885 to the 1960s. It also includes two appendices -- a list of Catholic prayers in English or Spanish, side by side with the Latin versions, and a list of "formulas of Catholic doctrine," including the Ten Commandments, the beatitudes, the theological and cardinal virtues, and the spiritual and corporal works of mercy. The paperback version of the compendium, in English or Spanish, will cost $14.95; the price for the hardcover book will be $24.95. The compendium may be ordered online at:
www.usccbpublishing.org, or by phone at: (800) 235-8722.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WORLD
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Turkish troubles: Vatican works to reinforce Christian-Muslim harmony
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The killing of an Italian missionary priest has raised fears that Turkey, long one of the more moderate Muslim countries, could become a new home for Islamic fanaticism. Father Andrea Santoro, 60, was murdered in his church by a youth who yelled "Allahu akbar" ("Allah is great") before firing his gun, according to church officials in Turkey. The slaying deeply troubled Vatican officials, including Pope Benedict XVI, who will travel to Turkey Nov. 28-30 on what was originally designed as a visit to the Orthodox Christian community. Now, the pope has additional tasks on his agenda: reinforcing Christian-Muslim harmony in the country and explaining to the Turkish people why Christian evangelization does not pose a threat to their culture. It was unclear whether the priest's accused killer was influenced by the widespread outrage and demonstrations by Muslims over publication of European newspaper cartoons that satirize the prophet Mohammed.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No conflict: Truths of faith, science have God as source, pope says
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The truths of faith cannot be in conflict with the truths of science because God is the source of faith and creator of the world, Pope Benedict XVI said. The pope met Feb. 10 with 98 officials, members and consultants of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the office he led for more than 20 years before being elected pope. The congregation, he said, "is called, in a spirit of collegiality, to promote and recall the centrality of the Catholic faith in its authentic expression." When "the truth of faith is placed at the center of Christian existence with simplicity and decisiveness, people's lives are energized by a love that knows neither breaks nor boundaries," Pope Benedict said. Love for the truth, he said, pushes the human intellect to explore new horizons.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New breach in Vatican walls gives access to parking garage
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- U.S. Cardinal Edmund C. Szoka formally blessed a new breach in the Vatican walls, opening a gate to a new 240-space underground parking garage. The cardinal, president of the commission governing Vatican City State, said the work on the walls involved not only destruction, but also the restoration of a segment built during the 1559-1565 pontificate of Pope Pius IV. The Feb. 10 ceremony included unveiling a new gate inscribed in Latin with the year, the name of Pope Benedict XVI and the fact that it is the first year of his pontificate. The new bronze-covered steel gate was sculpted by Gino Giannetti and scraped with a steel brush to "obtain various degrees of brightness" as the metal ages to a natural variety of colors, the Vatican said.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In Scotland, move to make Catholic school Muslim sparks controversy
GLASGOW, Scotland (CNS) -- St. Albert's Primary School in Pollokshields, a south Glasgow suburb, is a Catholic school where the day starts with the Lord's Prayer and once a month Mass is celebrated -- and three-quarters of its students are Muslim. At 3 p.m., when the school doors burst open and children swarm out, most are met by mothers swathed in black, their heads, and even their faces, veiled. In January, the Campaign for Muslim Schools -- a coalition of Glasgow mosques and Islamic organizations -- called for the school to switch religions, sparking controversy. While England has five state-funded Muslim schools and the government plans to bring another 100 private schools into the state sector, Scotland has no Muslim schools, either state-funded or private. The Glasgow City Council and the Scottish Catholic Education Service, established by the Bishops' Conference of Scotland, said there is no prospect of St. Albert's ceasing to be a Catholic school. But Osama Saeed, spokesman for the campaign, said there is strong support among parents for the proposal, and the campaign will continue.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vatican official says pope will fix liturgical abuses firmly, gently
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Vatican's top liturgy official said he expects Pope Benedict XVI to move against liturgical abuse with firm teaching and a gentle manner, recognizing that such mistakes often reflect ignorance, not ill will. At the same time, the pope wants to offer reconciliation to followers of the late French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre -- but not at the cost of "disowning" the Second Vatican Council, said Cardinal Francis Arinze, the Nigerian who heads the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments. Cardinal Arinze spoke about the direction of the new papacy in an interview with Catholic News Service in early February. He said he expected important moves -- but not a purge -- to improve liturgy under Pope Benedict. "I do not expect an aggressive correction of abuses. I don't think the pope is going to use the ecclesiastical hammer," Cardinal Arinze said. "Pope Benedict has very clear doctrine and convictions. What many people may not know is that he is not rough. He is gentlemanly, in the sense of what the prophet Isaiah said: 'A bruised reed he will not break,'" he said.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PEOPLE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rome cardinal says he will open sainthood cause for murdered priest
ROME (CNS) -- Cardinal Camillo Ruini, papal vicar for Rome, said he intends to open a cause for the sainthood of Father Andrea Santoro, a Rome missionary murdered in Turkey. "In the process for beatification and canonization I intend to open, we will respect fully all of the rules and times of the church, but already I am internally persuaded that all of the elements of Christian martyrdom are present in the sacrifice of Father Andrea," Cardinal Ruini said Feb. 10 as he celebrated the priest's funeral. Father Santoro, a priest of the Diocese of Rome who had worked in Turkey since 2000, was shot and killed Feb. 5 as he prayed in St. Mary Church in the Black Sea coastal city of Trebizond. Turkish police arrested a 16-year-old male in connection with the murder. Church rules would require Cardinal Ruini to wait five years before opening the official process to have Father Santoro declared a martyr, a formal recognition that he was killed out of hatred for his faith.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Texas Catholic family featured on 'Extreme Makeover: Home Edition'
VICTORIA, Texas (CNS) -- Seven-year-old twin sisters Tara and Sara Kubena, diagnosed with leukemia when they were 3, received a big surprise when they found out their family had been selected to receive a new home designed by the team of ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition." The show's host, Ty Pennington, and others from the series announced the surprise to the family Jan. 17. A week later John and Monica Kubena and their four children -- Tara and Sara have two other siblings, Brady and Kelly -- were presented with a 4,200-square-foot home on the same property of the two-bedroom trailer home where they had been living. The home is equipped with special features to help the girls' medical conditions. The episode featuring the Kubenas, who are members of Holy Cross Parish in East Bernard, is scheduled to air Feb. 19, 8-9 p.m. EST.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jazzman relocated to Kansas by Katrina thanks community with concert
TOPEKA, Kan. (CNS) -- Holy Name School and Parish in Topeka extended a helping hand last fall to a New Orleans jazz musician and his family whose home was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. On Feb. 3, Carlos Martinez said thank you in the way he knows best -- by bringing a jazz concert to the school free of charge. Martinez, a percussion drummer, said he worked in the 1990s with the Neville Brothers on "Valence Street," an album that was nominated as best rhythm and blues vocal performance in 2000. Valence is an uptown street in New Orleans, and the Neville Brothers are one of New Orleans' most famous and popular music groups. After his arrival in Topeka, Martinez won a grant from the Jazz Foundation to put displaced New Orleans musicians back to work. He assembled a six-piece band made up of fellow jazz musicians from the Big Easy, as New Orleans is known, and it's now touring schools and nursing homes in the area. Before the concert, Martinez thanked the more than 400 people assembled in the gymnasium for their help in relocating his family to Topeka.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright ©2006 Catholic News Service, U.S. Catholic Conference. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service.
Advertise | Donate | Contact Us | Sitemap
An AmericanCatholic.org Web Site from the Franciscans and
St. Anthony Messenger Press ©1996-2006 Copyright
return to top
New Orleans to close seven parishes, delay opening of 23 others
NEW ORLEANS (CNS) -- The Archdiocese of New Orleans issued a pastoral plan Feb. 9 that calls for the closing of seven parishes and delays the reopening of 23 others until there are enough parishioners in an area to warrant the resumption of pastoral ministry. It also calls for establishing six centralized elementary schools, which before the storm had served primarily as individual parish elementary schools. The archdiocese, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, is facing unknown projections regarding its future Catholic population and hundreds of its properties suffered extensive damage. New Orleans Archbishop Alfred C. Hughes projected that the archdiocese, which before Katrina was home to nearly a half-million Catholics in 142 parishes, might see its Catholic population return in the next two years to only 60 percent to 65 percent of its August 2005 levels, which would mean a Catholic population of about 295,000. The pastoral plan, which will take effect March 15, establishes a framework for pastoral ministry in the seven deaneries that sustained the greatest damage from the Aug. 29 storm.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Catholic college leaders examine strengths, discuss challenges ahead
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Catholic higher education leaders attending an annual gathering Feb. 4-6 in Washington were urged to take creative and confident approaches to their current and future challenges. "The challenges in higher education come to us, we don't have to look for them," Mary Lyons, president of the University of San Diego, told a group of about 200 Catholic university presidents, many of whom were nodding in agreement. Lyons, a panelist in a closing session at the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities meeting, urged her colleagues to face their challenges head-on. She likened the current mind-set in the nation and in Catholic higher education to a "hunker-down mentality" and the "21st-century equivalent of the duck-and-cover drills" of the 1950s in response to perceived security threats to the U.S. She said Catholic college presidents should not shrink back, even from "attacks within the family" and instead should "take up our mission with confidence."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Opponents of embryonic stem-cell research get good news, bad news
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The first weeks of 2006 brought good news and bad news for opponents of embryonic stem-cell research, as a bill that would have encouraged the research in Delaware got significant revisions but new proposals supporting it cropped up in New Jersey and Michigan. In Florida, competing initiatives on taxpayer funding for embryonic stem-cell research each failed to gain the 611,000 signatures needed to place it on the state's November ballot; the Florida bishops had backed a proposal to prohibit such research. The heads of Virginia's two Catholic dioceses also issued a joint pastoral letter on "Science at the Service of Life," in which they called embryonic stem-cell research both unethical and unproven. The Delaware effort to block a bill that would have given state sanction to embryonic stem-cell research was led by a grass-roots group called A Rose and a Prayer. After the House approved a drastically amended version of the bill in January, Stephen Jenkins, a Wilmington attorney who helped form the organization late last year, said it would now seek to ban all research on embryos in the state, along with all forms of human cloning.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The anti-Abramoff lobbyists: Speaking up for the poor in Washington
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The corruption investigation into lobbyist Jack Abramoff's dealings with government officials has opened a window into just one way lobbying works in Washington. Another type of lobbying that goes on every day bears about as much resemblance to Abramoff's high-finance wheeling and dealing as his gourmet restaurant business lunches have to the quick sandwiches lobbyists for nonprofit organizations might grab in the Senate cafeteria. Abramoff came to the attention of federal investigators because of the multimillions of dollars he and a partner earned from dealings with Indian tribes, which he has admitted to defrauding. In January, Abramoff pleaded guilty to fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy to bribe public officials in a scandal that is still reverberating through Congress and various investigative agencies. But the kind of money that routinely changed hands among Abramoff, his clients and those from whom they tried to buy favors would finance decades worth of the more down-to-earth lobbying work done by nonprofit organizations such as Catholic Charities USA, the Washington Office on Latin America, and Network, the Catholic social justice lobby.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Compendium of catechism goes on sale in paperback March 31
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, a 200-page synthesis of the 1992 catechism, will be available in paperback March 31 from USCCB Publishing, the publishing office of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. A hardcover edition will follow shortly after. Both versions will be published in English and Spanish. The compendium, made up of 598 questions and answers, echoes to some degree the format of the Baltimore Catechism, which was standard in many U.S. Catholic parishes and schools from 1885 to the 1960s. It also includes two appendices -- a list of Catholic prayers in English or Spanish, side by side with the Latin versions, and a list of "formulas of Catholic doctrine," including the Ten Commandments, the beatitudes, the theological and cardinal virtues, and the spiritual and corporal works of mercy. The paperback version of the compendium, in English or Spanish, will cost $14.95; the price for the hardcover book will be $24.95. The compendium may be ordered online at:
www.usccbpublishing.org, or by phone at: (800) 235-8722.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WORLD
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Turkish troubles: Vatican works to reinforce Christian-Muslim harmony
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The killing of an Italian missionary priest has raised fears that Turkey, long one of the more moderate Muslim countries, could become a new home for Islamic fanaticism. Father Andrea Santoro, 60, was murdered in his church by a youth who yelled "Allahu akbar" ("Allah is great") before firing his gun, according to church officials in Turkey. The slaying deeply troubled Vatican officials, including Pope Benedict XVI, who will travel to Turkey Nov. 28-30 on what was originally designed as a visit to the Orthodox Christian community. Now, the pope has additional tasks on his agenda: reinforcing Christian-Muslim harmony in the country and explaining to the Turkish people why Christian evangelization does not pose a threat to their culture. It was unclear whether the priest's accused killer was influenced by the widespread outrage and demonstrations by Muslims over publication of European newspaper cartoons that satirize the prophet Mohammed.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No conflict: Truths of faith, science have God as source, pope says
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The truths of faith cannot be in conflict with the truths of science because God is the source of faith and creator of the world, Pope Benedict XVI said. The pope met Feb. 10 with 98 officials, members and consultants of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the office he led for more than 20 years before being elected pope. The congregation, he said, "is called, in a spirit of collegiality, to promote and recall the centrality of the Catholic faith in its authentic expression." When "the truth of faith is placed at the center of Christian existence with simplicity and decisiveness, people's lives are energized by a love that knows neither breaks nor boundaries," Pope Benedict said. Love for the truth, he said, pushes the human intellect to explore new horizons.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New breach in Vatican walls gives access to parking garage
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- U.S. Cardinal Edmund C. Szoka formally blessed a new breach in the Vatican walls, opening a gate to a new 240-space underground parking garage. The cardinal, president of the commission governing Vatican City State, said the work on the walls involved not only destruction, but also the restoration of a segment built during the 1559-1565 pontificate of Pope Pius IV. The Feb. 10 ceremony included unveiling a new gate inscribed in Latin with the year, the name of Pope Benedict XVI and the fact that it is the first year of his pontificate. The new bronze-covered steel gate was sculpted by Gino Giannetti and scraped with a steel brush to "obtain various degrees of brightness" as the metal ages to a natural variety of colors, the Vatican said.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In Scotland, move to make Catholic school Muslim sparks controversy
GLASGOW, Scotland (CNS) -- St. Albert's Primary School in Pollokshields, a south Glasgow suburb, is a Catholic school where the day starts with the Lord's Prayer and once a month Mass is celebrated -- and three-quarters of its students are Muslim. At 3 p.m., when the school doors burst open and children swarm out, most are met by mothers swathed in black, their heads, and even their faces, veiled. In January, the Campaign for Muslim Schools -- a coalition of Glasgow mosques and Islamic organizations -- called for the school to switch religions, sparking controversy. While England has five state-funded Muslim schools and the government plans to bring another 100 private schools into the state sector, Scotland has no Muslim schools, either state-funded or private. The Glasgow City Council and the Scottish Catholic Education Service, established by the Bishops' Conference of Scotland, said there is no prospect of St. Albert's ceasing to be a Catholic school. But Osama Saeed, spokesman for the campaign, said there is strong support among parents for the proposal, and the campaign will continue.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vatican official says pope will fix liturgical abuses firmly, gently
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Vatican's top liturgy official said he expects Pope Benedict XVI to move against liturgical abuse with firm teaching and a gentle manner, recognizing that such mistakes often reflect ignorance, not ill will. At the same time, the pope wants to offer reconciliation to followers of the late French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre -- but not at the cost of "disowning" the Second Vatican Council, said Cardinal Francis Arinze, the Nigerian who heads the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments. Cardinal Arinze spoke about the direction of the new papacy in an interview with Catholic News Service in early February. He said he expected important moves -- but not a purge -- to improve liturgy under Pope Benedict. "I do not expect an aggressive correction of abuses. I don't think the pope is going to use the ecclesiastical hammer," Cardinal Arinze said. "Pope Benedict has very clear doctrine and convictions. What many people may not know is that he is not rough. He is gentlemanly, in the sense of what the prophet Isaiah said: 'A bruised reed he will not break,'" he said.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PEOPLE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rome cardinal says he will open sainthood cause for murdered priest
ROME (CNS) -- Cardinal Camillo Ruini, papal vicar for Rome, said he intends to open a cause for the sainthood of Father Andrea Santoro, a Rome missionary murdered in Turkey. "In the process for beatification and canonization I intend to open, we will respect fully all of the rules and times of the church, but already I am internally persuaded that all of the elements of Christian martyrdom are present in the sacrifice of Father Andrea," Cardinal Ruini said Feb. 10 as he celebrated the priest's funeral. Father Santoro, a priest of the Diocese of Rome who had worked in Turkey since 2000, was shot and killed Feb. 5 as he prayed in St. Mary Church in the Black Sea coastal city of Trebizond. Turkish police arrested a 16-year-old male in connection with the murder. Church rules would require Cardinal Ruini to wait five years before opening the official process to have Father Santoro declared a martyr, a formal recognition that he was killed out of hatred for his faith.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Texas Catholic family featured on 'Extreme Makeover: Home Edition'
VICTORIA, Texas (CNS) -- Seven-year-old twin sisters Tara and Sara Kubena, diagnosed with leukemia when they were 3, received a big surprise when they found out their family had been selected to receive a new home designed by the team of ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition." The show's host, Ty Pennington, and others from the series announced the surprise to the family Jan. 17. A week later John and Monica Kubena and their four children -- Tara and Sara have two other siblings, Brady and Kelly -- were presented with a 4,200-square-foot home on the same property of the two-bedroom trailer home where they had been living. The home is equipped with special features to help the girls' medical conditions. The episode featuring the Kubenas, who are members of Holy Cross Parish in East Bernard, is scheduled to air Feb. 19, 8-9 p.m. EST.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jazzman relocated to Kansas by Katrina thanks community with concert
TOPEKA, Kan. (CNS) -- Holy Name School and Parish in Topeka extended a helping hand last fall to a New Orleans jazz musician and his family whose home was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. On Feb. 3, Carlos Martinez said thank you in the way he knows best -- by bringing a jazz concert to the school free of charge. Martinez, a percussion drummer, said he worked in the 1990s with the Neville Brothers on "Valence Street," an album that was nominated as best rhythm and blues vocal performance in 2000. Valence is an uptown street in New Orleans, and the Neville Brothers are one of New Orleans' most famous and popular music groups. After his arrival in Topeka, Martinez won a grant from the Jazz Foundation to put displaced New Orleans musicians back to work. He assembled a six-piece band made up of fellow jazz musicians from the Big Easy, as New Orleans is known, and it's now touring schools and nursing homes in the area. Before the concert, Martinez thanked the more than 400 people assembled in the gymnasium for their help in relocating his family to Topeka.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright ©2006 Catholic News Service, U.S. Catholic Conference. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service.
Advertise | Donate | Contact Us | Sitemap
An AmericanCatholic.org Web Site from the Franciscans and
St. Anthony Messenger Press ©1996-2006 Copyright
return to top
