Living Our Faith

When Archbishop Robert J. Carlson ordains five new priests for the Archdiocese of St. Louis next week, no one will be happier than Jesuit Father John Horn, president-rector of Kenrick-Glennon Seminary.

"I'm very proud of these men," Father Horn said. "I regard them as younger brothers and as spiritual sons, all at the same time. I am joy-filled to see them go to the altar and be ordained."

Bullying is not cool at John F. Kennedy Catholic High School.

The archdiocesan high school in Manchester is proactive in preventing bullying behavior, according to associate principal Patty McMullen-Hellwig. "If we hear any rumblings or anything, we try to reach out to the students before it starts," she said.

But it's more than official policy. The school culture at Kennedy, from the students on up, does not look kindly on bullying behavior.

Rita French may need to take a deep breath from time to time, but then she'll pull a new trick out of her bag -- anything to reach the children in her third-grade class at St. Louis Catholic Academy in north St. Louis.

A portion of the students are from stable families, though they struggle financially. Others have had rougher lives and ever rougher times financially.

HAVANA -- The Cuba that Pope Benedict XVI visited March 26-28 is a country where the Catholic Church enjoys significantly more freedom and official recognition than it did when Blessed John Paul II made the first papal visit to the island in 1998.

VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican spokesman praised Cuba's decision to accept Pope Benedict XVI's request to make Good Friday a national holiday this year.

"It is certainly a very positive sign," Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, said April 1.

Good Friday, the commemoration of Jesus' passion and death, falls on April 6 this year.

During the pope's private meeting with Cuban President Raul Castro in Havana March 27, the pope asked for further freedoms for the Catholic Church in the communist nation, including the declaration of Good Friday as a holiday.

SANTIAGO DE CUBA, Cuba -- In this Caribbean nation of 11.3 million, one of the greatest challenges to Catholic evangelization comes from Cubans who practice traditional African religions.

The fusion of diverse spiritual currents was occurring even before the Catholic Church began expanding throughout the world. When colonizers brought Christianity to the New World, it was expected that other religious systems would adhere to the mother Church.