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 At their annual convention in Saint Louis this
summer, the Knights of Peter Claver elected a new Supreme Knight, 33-year old F.
DeKarlos Blackmon of Huntsville, Alabama. Mr. Blackmon is the youngest leader
ever of the African American Catholic fraternal organization founded just over a
century ago. Full bio at:
http://home.catholicweb.com/kofpc/index.cfm/NewsItem?ID=296303&from=home
"It is simply unimaginable that the court could now
claim a conflict between marriage and the Constitution," said Archbishop Joseph
Kurtz, Chair of the Ad Hoc Committee for the Defense of Marriage. Archbishop
Kurtz was responding to a federal judge's decision in August to overturn a
California law protecting a traditional understanding of marriage. Cardinal
Francis George, President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops,
also decried the decision. 'Marriage between a man and a woman is the bedrock of
any society. It is tragic that a federal judge would overturn the clear and
expressed will of the people in their support for the institution of marriage."
For Catholic resources on marriage, see:
http://www.usccb.org/defenseofmarriage/.
Circuit boards in cell phones, video games, and
other electronics are built with tin and colton mined in some of the poorest
countries on earth. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, competition over this
resource both motivates and finances horrific violence that has killed three to
five million people already. Millions more have been raped, maimed or displaced.
Working in the region, Catholic Relief Services saw the tragic impact of the
metals trade and got involved advocating changes in U.S. law. Provisions in the
financial reform package enacted in July of this year require publicly traded
companies to audit their supply chains to avoid contributing to armed conflicts
in central Africa. Learn more at:
http://crs.org/newsroom/releases/release.cfm?id=1983.
Catholics around the country are urging their
senators to support the DREAM Act--bi-partisan legislation providing a path
forward for immigrant teens stranded under current laws. Due to parental
decisions made long ago, an estimated 700,000 immigrant youth, who have grown up
in the United States and graduated from high school here, find themselves
without the legal documents required to work or to continue their educations.
Under the DREAM Act, a youth could earn citizenship by proving good character
and spending two years in college or the military. The proposed legislation is
just one part of the comprehensive reform of American immigration laws that the
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops advocates, based on Catholic Social Teaching
on human dignity and labor. Learn more on the Catholic perspective on
immigration at: www.justiceforimmigrants.org.
A delegation from the U.S. Conference of Catholic
Bishops and other national Catholic organizations visited Haiti in late July and
early August to assess progress in recuperating from the January earthquake
there. The conditions for women and children in camps was particularly dire. The
report and recommended U.S. policies to support the people of Haiti are outlined
at:
http://www.usccb.org/comm/archives/2010/10-146.shtml.
Please click on the video below and see an
incredible proof of Our Lord's presence in the Eucharist in a modern-day
Eucharistic miracle.
Watch Video
The National Museum of African American History and
Culture is working to collect artifacts that preserve our history through a
"national collections initiative." For more information about this effort, as
well as to add your family's story to the museum's Memory Book, go to:
http://nmaahc.si.edu/section/collections/view/100
The latest Pew Research Center surveys show
Americans now evenly divided about whether or not abortion should be legal. A
series of questions in the survey all showed declining support for abortion
compared to polls in 2007 and 2008. The survey found no change in the abortion
stance of African Americans, but the report does not disaggregate Black
Catholics' views. Among Catholics who are white, non-Hispanic, and weekly
Mass-goers, the 2009 survey showed a substantial (10 point) pro-life shift. For
the full report, see
http://pewforum.org/docs/?DocID=441.
Respect for human life and dignity, affordability,
and the inclusion of legal immigrants are three fundamental criteria for
assessing the justice of any health care reform, according to a September 30
letter to the U.S. Senate from three leading bishops. More information at:
http://www.usccb.org/comm/archives/2009/09-190.shtml.
A study of 4,000 men and women in the early
years of their vocations to religious life finds growing demographic
diversity among those in formation. While 94% of men and women
finally-professed are white, among those in formation, 6% are African or
African American, 21% are Hispanic, and 14% are Asian or Pacific
Islander. The study of religious did not include diocesan priests. The
Center for the Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown
University conducted the for the National Religious Vocation Conference
(NRVC) in order to identify effective practices for attracting and
retaining members. For the full report, see
http://www.nrvc.net/
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