Saint Louis Review - All Articles

Pope says St. Hildegard of Bingen is model for today

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 13:28:35 +0000

Catholic News Service

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy — St. Hildegard of Bingen, the 12th-century German mystic, used her gifts to build up the Church at a time of trouble similar to today, Pope Benedict XVI said.

St. Hildegard is relevant today because of "her love for Christ and His Church, which was suffering in her time, too, and was wounded also then by the sins of priests and laypeople," the pope said.

Archdiocesan News Briefs | September 3, 2010

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 19:20:13 +0000

Backpack blessing Father Donald Henke of Kenrick-Glennon Seminary gave a blessing to children for “Blessing of the Backpacks Sunday” at Mass Aug. 22 at Immacolata Church in Richmond Heights. The event was intended to build a stronger relationship between the parish and the school. The blessing was given after two Masses, and afterward the congregation was invited to visit Immacolata School. Bringing school families, parishioners and grandparents to the school helped them gain a greater appreciation for the benefits of a Catholic education.

Anger management

Robert Furey, a professional counselor, will be the guest speaker at the First Tuesday Pro-Life Speaker Series at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 7, at St. Peter Parish, 215 N. Clay Ave. in Kirkwood. Furey will speak on the topic of anger management, how it can serve a greater good and how its destructive forces can be minimized. A reception will follow.

Festa di Santa Fara

Sr. B.M. Hackett, SSND

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 15:30:32 +0000

A funeral Mass was celebrated Sept. 2 for Sister Brigit Marie Hackett in the School Sisters of Notre Dame motherhouse chapel in South St. Louis County.

Sister Brigit Marie, a longtime educator, died Aug. 29 at Anna House-The Sarah Community in Bridgeton from dementia. She was 87.

A St. Louis native, she entered the School Sisters of Notre Dame in 1943 from St. Liborius Parish. She professed her first vows in 1946 and final vows in 1952. She earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Webster College in 1954 and a master's in education from St. Louis University in 1966.

"Blessing of the Backpacks" held at Immacolata Parish

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 21:09:05 +0000

Immacolata Parish held its first "Blessing Of The Backpacks Sunday" on Aug. 25. The event helped build a stronger relationship between the parish and the school. All parishioners, school families, grandparents and others were invited to attend either the 9:30 or 11:30 a.m. Masses that Sunday for a blessing. The church was full of families with children and their backpacks. At the end of Mass, Father Donald Henke of Kenrick-Glennon Seminary, filling in for the pastor who was out of town, asked all students to come forward for a blessing.

Ratings are

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 21:06:02 +0000

Ratings are supplied by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

For current reviews, see usccb.org

THE AMERICAN: Limited adult audience.

CHARLIE ST. CLOUD: Adults.

DESPICABLE ME: General patronage.

DINNER FOR SCHMUCKS: Limited adult audience.

EAT PRAY LOVE: Limited adult audience.

TV Reviews | CBS' new shows play it safe

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 21:05:22 +0000

By Maria Macina | Catholic News Service

NEW YORK — When you're on top, do you play it safe or do you take risks? CBS, which has more people watching it than any other network — especially older viewers — is doing both, resurrecting a chestnut of a police drama in "Hawaii Five-O" to play it safe, and taking a big chance introducing a sitcom with a title so profane it wouldn't be printed in newspapers. While success typically breeds success, one never knows when it brings a clunker.

"$#*! My Dad Says"

Thursdays, 7:30-8 p.m.,

Nation & World Briefs | September 3, 2010

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 20:51:02 +0000

Protect Earth's resources, says pope

40 Days for Life to return Sept. 22

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 20:31:22 +0000

The 40 Days for Life program is making a return to St. Louis this fall.

The campaign, which calls on participants to fast and pray for an end to abortion, will begin Wednesday, Sept. 22, and conclude on Sunday, Oct. 31.

Many archdiocesan parishes have participated in the program. It also receives the support of the archdiocesan Respect Life Apostolate. St. Louis is one 239 locations in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Northern Ireland and Denmark that are hosting the campaign. While the initiative is faith-based, it is considered nondenominational.

Anti-Christian bias cited in Pakistan aid distribution

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 20:18:23 +0000

Catholic News Service

Flood victims showed their identification cards to receive food rations at a distribution center in the Muzaffargarh district in the Pakistani province of Punjab Aug. 25.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Christians and other minorities affected by severe flooding in Pakistan are being discriminated against in government-run rescue and aid programs, said the director of pontifical missionary societies in Pakistan.

'Mother Teresa: Seeing the Face of Jesus' plays in film festival in India

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 19:51:00 +0000

Joseph Kenny | jkenny@stlouisreview.com

Children's video goes from St. Louis to India

Surprised, but definitely pleased.

David Mead of Creative Communications for the Parish in Fenton was awed by the news that a children's video he produced 12 years ago was chosen to be part of the Mother Teresa International Film Festival in India, Aug. 26-29.

"It's very exciting to know — my goodness, this made it into the hands of people on the other side of the world," Mead said last week. "You never know how these things are going to reach people."

Bishop Samuel Aquila to speak at Legatus Gospel of Life Prayer Breakfast

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 19:47:26 +0000

Jennifer Brinker | jbrinker@stlouisreview.com

Bishop Samuel Aquila of Fargo, N.D., will be the speaker at the inaugural Archbishop's Gospel of Life Prayer Breakfast this month.

The breakfast will take place Wednesday, Sept. 22, at the St. Louis Marriott West in West County. It is sponsored by the St. Louis chapter of Legatus, a lay organization of Catholic business and professional leaders and their spouses, all who are dedicated to living and spreading the faith in their professional and personal lives.

Letters to the editor | Islamic center debate | Other potential sites | Sad departure | Mass variations

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 19:24:56 +0000

Islamic center debate

Arguing against the Ground Zero mosque is not a matter of distrust of ordinary Muslims, many of whom also oppose the mosque, nor of intolerance of their faith. To compare the opposition to the mosque to historical opposition of Catholics as suggested in the article, "Islamic center debate is exercise in religious understanding" (Aug. 27), is likewise disingenuous.

Respect, mutual cooperation in the workplace

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 19:23:43 +0000

Tough times for the economy mean escalating unemployment and the consequent nervousness that makes everyone meticulously monitor the percentage of the American population without jobs. Often there is an air of crisis around the reporting of the growing numbers of the unemployed.

Those with jobs breathe sighs of relief that they still are working. Though there may be complaints about one's job, the employed generally consider themselves blessed.

‘Boomerang’ chalice returns to Soulard parish after 130 years

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 19:20:59 +0000

By Joseph Kenny | jkenny@stlouisreview.com

Father Bruce Forman, pastor of Sts. Peter and Paul Parish in Soulard, held the chalice that was presented to Father Franz Goller by the alumni association of Sts. Peter and Paul in 1880. Father Goller was pastor of the parish for more than 50 years, from 1858 to 1910. The chalice was recently restored and will be used for the first time at the parish festival on Sept. 26.

It was a boomerang that took only about 130 years to return.

In 1880, the alumni association of Sts. Peter and Paul Parish in the Soulard neighborhood presented a chalice to Father Franz Goller, pastor of the South St. Louis parish.

The chalice ended up at the School Sisters of Notre Dame motherhouse in Lemay, where it was used on special occasions such as anniversaries. In addition to his parish duties, Father Goller was chaplain to the sisters at the motherhouse from the mid-1880s until his death in 1910.

Before the cross | We must keep our Catholic schools growing

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 19:05:41 +0000

Archbishop Robert J. Carlson

Archbishop Robert J. Carlson greeted Sister Deloris of the Immaculate Heart before he celebrated Holy Mass Saturday in celebration of the 60th anniversary of the first profession of vows for Sister Deloris of the Immaculate Heart and Sister Magdalen of St. Jerome, both members of the Contemplative Sisters of the Good Shepherd in Florissant. In the background is Father Robert Szydlowski, senior associate at St. Martin de Porres Parish in Hazelwood.

In January when I published my vision for Catholic schools, I wrote: "We cannot be content with the status quo or, worse, with declining enrollments in our schools. To truly be Alive in Christ our schools must be vibrant centers of evangelization and missionary activity. Promoting growth is not optional — no matter how difficult the challenges."

The Catholic Difference | Pope John Paul II, Catholic social doctrine led to Solidarity revolution

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 18:52:22 +0000

George Weigel

Thirty years ago, on Aug. 31, 1980, an electrician named Lech Walesa signed the Gdansk Accords, ending a two-week-old strike at that Hanseatic city's Lenin Shipyards. Walesa signed with a giant souvenir pen featuring a portrait of Pope John Paul II. The choice of pen was not, as Marxists might have said, an accident. Neither was the distinctive revolution that unfolded in the wake of the Gdansk Accords, which were forged over two weeks of high drama on Poland's Baltic coast.

Twenty Something | Pain of being broken can bring us closer to our Good Shepherd

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 18:49:05 +0000

Christina Capecchi

I had relegated shepherds to the unicorn file, somewhere near the hunch-backed blacksmith and the whistling milk man. They were the stuff of Mother Goose lore. So it was surprising to discover actual shepherds when I visited the Holy Land.

I was riveted by the sloping landscape of Jesus' ministry. Two tones checkered our vistas: crusty white limestone and fluttering blue-green olive trees. And there, among the jagged hills, was a man tending sheep. He was dressed in brown and his head was covered. He appeared hot and lonely.

Faith for the Future: Kenrick-Glennon Seminary campaign on the move

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 18:33:31 +0000

By Joseph Kenny | jkenny@stlouisreview.com

Scott Scheiderer, a first-year pre-theology seminarian at Kenrick School of Theology, read a book by Pope Benedict XVI entitled "Church Fathers" in his room, which is part of a recent expansion of living spaces to accommodate the growing need for residential space at the seminary.

Progress as promised.

Pledges for the capital campaign for Kenrick-Glennon Seminary are being collected and are being put to use, including for building the endowment.

In February, the Archdiocese of St. Louis announced that the "Faith for the Future" campaign exceeded its goal. The effort raised more than $61 million, an amount that was $11 million more than the target.

After bankruptcy, Iowa diocese sets record in capital campaign

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 18:13:57 +0000

By Barb Arland-Fye | Catholic News Service

DAVENPORT, Iowa — Boosting morale in a diocese deeply wounded because of the abuse of children by some clergy in past decades, Catholics in the Davenport Diocese pledged $22 million in a capital campaign that succeeded despite the worst economic conditions in decades.

The campaign was the first in more than 20 years for the diocese and came at a time of rebuilding following bankruptcy.

Mother of Life Conference held

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 18:12:13 +0000

By Denis Grasska | Catholic News Service

SAN DIEGO — A lineup of high-profile presenters, including former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, headlined the first Mother of Life Conference.

About 1,800 people attended the conference held Aug. 14 at San Diego State University's Viejas Arena and sponsored by the San Diego chapter of the Knights of Columbus.

In a speech presented with his wife, Callista, Gingrich criticized the secularization of American society, which he said is occurring despite the opposition of a majority of Americans.