Notes & News(Follow the bouncing ball.)

"Once upon a Mattress" promises to be a family fun night at Archbishop Riordan High School May 1,2,3,8,&9. The fractured fairy tale musical based on "The Princess and The Pea" plays Friday and Saturdays at 8:00pm and Sundays at 2:30pm. Phone (415)587-5866 for ticket information.

Holy Cross Cemetery, Colma, •invites you to the dedication of their newest Garden Crypt Building, Our Lady of Lourdes, Saturday, May 16 at 11:00a.m. Fr. Kirk Ullery, Pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, SF, will officiate with music by his parish choirs.

Fr. Robert DeGrandis, noted author and lecturer with the St. Joseph’s Society of the Sacred Heart, Galveston, Texas, will conduct three days of teaching and healing events starting with the First Friday Mass of the Sacred Heart, 7:30pm on June 5th at St. Cecilia’s Church, 17th Avenue at Vicente Street, San Francisco. Fr. DeGrandis will also celebrate a Healing Mass 7:30pm, Saturday, June 6 and conduct a seminar on Spiritual Healing, 2:00pm, Sunday June 7th followed by a Healing Mass at 4:00pm at St. Cecilia's Church.

Representatives from the 94 prayer groups comprising the Charismatic Renewal of the Archdiocese will hold their annual meeting on May 9, 1998 at 10:00am in the Auditorium of St. Cecilia’s School, 18th Ave. and Vicente Street, S.F. The meeting will be followed by a luncheon hosted by the Renewal Board.

Two hundred representatives from the Hispanic Charismatic Prayer Groups of Northern California will hold their regional meeting on May 9, 1998 starting at 8:30am in the Collins Center at St. Cecilia Church, 17th Ave. and Vicente Street, S.F. A luncheon will be hosted by the Renewal Board.

Archbishop John P. Foley, the Vatican’s leading communications official, said recently that the church should attract web browsers with a visually appealing message, but without falling into frivolity. The main challenge is to balance conciseness with completeness of the Catholic message.

May 30 March for Jesus will bring together Bay Area Christians for a march from Justin Hermann Plaza (10a.m) up Market St. to the Civic Center to pray.

Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver hosted a NewTech’98 Conference recently which focused on the opportunities and ethical implications of the digital information age "so we can fully use them for the church’s mission of evangelization." Over 50 cardinals, bishops and archbishops listened and consulted with some of the brightest thinkers in the communications revolution.

Cardinal Edward Cassidy, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, issued a document covering ecumenical formation guidelines. The new document on ecumenical formation outlines principles and specific course topics to be used in programs for future priests, religious and other pastoral workers. They recommend study of a wide range of issues, including the history of Christian divisions, theological points of agreement and disagreement, and main areas of potential dialogue with other churches.

A lay-sponsored forum held in Quezon City, Philippines, with laity, priests, bishops and religious from Asia, Australia and Europe, says that the church must re-examine the economic development model in Asia that has led to the ongoing financial crisis. The current model is based on "ruthless competition, greed for profit, human exploitation and high social cost on the poor" their report concluded.

Pope John Paul II’s Holy Thursday letter to priests encourages prayer to the Holy Spirit. His letter said he joined all of them in "imploring from the ‘Giver of Gifts’ the graces necessary to discern the signs of salvation and to respond with full fidelity to the call of God."

The Vatican’s 1998 yearbook indicates a continued increase in the number of priestly ordinations. The Vatican said the number of priests in the world stands at more than 404,300, about the same as the previous year. It said a positive development has been the increase in priestly ordinations, both diocesan and religious, which were up 2.1 percent.

Bishop Kenneth Angel of Burlington has urged Vermont Catholics to work and pray for the end of the Iraq embargo which he calls, "immoral". "Pope John Paul II has condemned the sanctions and every bishop in Iraq has pleaded for their end," he said in a pastoral letter to his diocese. "I join with my brother bishops in judging the sanctions to be in violation of Catholic moral teaching."

The California Catholic Conference of Bishops declared their support for strawberry farm workers in their dispute with growers. The bishops’ statement urged "justice for low-paid farm workers who have become among the lowest paid and poorest benefited laboring groups in America." The bishops also declared their support for a 1997 statement and mediation offer by Monterey Bishop Sylvester Ryan, in whose diocese are some of the largest strawberry farms in California.

"Pray American Back to God!" Pray USA is on the web at http://www.usprayertrack.org

United States Bishops’ web site offers answers to wide range of questions about the Catholic Church and practical information: http://www.nccbuscc.org . You can also check to see if a movie is appropriate for your children to see: http://www.nccbuscc.org/comm/archives/98-076.htm

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