The Dialog

By TheDialog

ST. LOUIS — Members of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious announced Aug. 10 at the close of their four-day assembly in St. Louis that they will continue to dialogue with church officials about the Vatican’s doctrinal assessment of their organization.

LCWR’s outgoing president, Franciscan Sister Pat Farrell, said the group’s leaders would begin dialogue with Seattle Archbishop J. Peter Sartain, who is charged with overseeing the group’s reform. He attended the organization’s board meeting the following day.

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By Mary Anne Castranio

Catholic News Service

ATLANTA — Because of a generous bequest from Joseph Mitchell, the late nephew of celebrated author Margaret Mitchell, the Atlanta archdiocese now owns 50 percent of the literary rights to her Pulitzer prize-winning, best-selling novel, “Gone With the Wind.”

But what does this mean for the Archdiocese of Atlanta? The short answer: continuing revenue from sales of books and merchandise and participation in protecting the copyright of Margaret Mitchell’s legacy.

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By Mark Pattison

Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON — Hopes to get a farm bill passed before Congress went on its summer recess dried up faster than the Midwest’s cornfields.

The House, though, did pass legislation to help drought-stricken ranchers get through a season in which corn has been plowed under and the second major crop, soybeans, has been taking a beating in the fields as well. The Senate is expected to act on the bill when it returns after Labor Day.

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By Catholic News Service

SPOKANE, Wash. — The Catholic Church opposes legalizing same-sex marriage but at the same time the church “has no tolerance for the misuse” of the issue “to incite hostility toward homosexuals,” said Bishop Blase J. Cupich of Spokane.

He made the comments in an Aug. 3 letter to Catholics of the diocese accompanied by reflections on a Washington state referendum on legalizing same-sex marriage.

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By Catholic News Service

HOUSTON — Positive dreams, humor and a return to the Second Vatican Council’s call for reading the signs of the times can help attract young people to religious orders today, several speakers told members of the Conference of Major Superiors of Men at their annual assembly in Houston.

Jesuit Father Thomas Smolich, outgoing CMSM president, said the theme of the Aug. 1-4 assembly, “The Dream I Have for You,” was “intended to give us, as leaders, some deeper insights into the experiences and perspectives of the dreamers among us … our current and future younger members.”

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By TheDialog

BETHESDA, Md. — Catholics of African descent — as well as all Catholics — are called to understand their faith, have confidence in what they believe and be willing to share the faith with others, Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl of Washington told participants at the second African National Eucharistic Congress.

That’s the response Pope Benedict XVI seeks from Catholics to his call for a new evangelization, the cardinal said.

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By Elisabeth Deffner

Catholic News Service

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson called the number of attendees at the Knights of Columbus 130th supreme convention in Anaheim “a testament to the growth and development” of the international fraternal organization.

More than 2,000 Knights from around the world, many of them with their wives and children, along with 12 cardinals and more than 70 bishops attended the Aug. 6-8 convention.

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By TheDialog

MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome E. Listecki joined other religious leaders in offering condolences and prayers to the people of the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in suburban Oak Creek following an Aug. 5 shooting spree that left six of the temple’s members dead and at least three others seriously wounded.

“Our prayers go out to the congregation at the temple and to the entire Sikh community. It is in times like these that we turn to God who is the consolation and hope for all of us,” he said in a brief statement.

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By Elisabeth Deffner

Catholic News Service

LOS ANGELES — Eileen Frutos has always been drawn to Mary.

A member of the World Apostolate of Fatima, she said she often prays with Mary and that her prayers have been answered.

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By Maureen Boyle

Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON — Katie Ledecky, a U.S. swimmer from Maryland who says she always prays the Hail Mary before races, won the Olympic gold medal in women’s 800 freestyle Aug. 3.

Ledecky, 15, who will be a sophomore at Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart in Bethesda, Md., this fall, said her strong Catholic faith keeps her focused on God and what matters most in life. She and her family are longtime parishioners of the Church of the Little Flower in Bethesda.

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