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Call to conversion not about making people feel bad, says pope
VATICAN CITY — The Lenten call to conversion is not an attempt to make people feel bad about themselves, but to promote their true good, which is eternal life, Pope Benedict XVI said.
Celebrating Mass March 7 at the Rome parish of St. John of the Cross and reciting the Angelus at the Vatican afterward, the pope focused on the day’s Gospel story in which Jesus tells his followers they must convert or they will perish. At the parish, which was founded in 1989, the pope said Lent is “an invitation to the conversion of our lives and to doing appropriate acts of penitence.”
The crowd Jesus was addressing in the day’s Gospel story thought that people who met a sudden and violent death were sinners, while the fact that members of Jesus’ audience were still alive meant they had nothing to worry about, the pope said. But Jesus warned them that by not recognizing their own sins and not setting out on the path to conversion, they would not be saved, he said.
“During Lent, each one of us is called by God to make a change, thinking and living according to the Gospel, correcting things in our way of praying, acting, working and relating to others,” he said. (CNS)
 
St. Louis seminary exceeds goal in first capital campaign
ST. LOUIS — The first capital campaign in the history of St. Louis’ Kenrick-Glennon Seminary exceeded its goal by 21.7 percent, with $60.8 million in pledges. The goal had been set at $50 million to provide repairs, updates and physical improvements to a building that dates to 1931, while increasing its endowment.
St. Louis Archbishop Robert J. Carlson, in a letter in the Feb. 26 issue of the St. Louis Review, archdiocesan newspaper, said donations to the “Faith for the Future” campaign are an expression of hope, especially during challenging economic times. The pledges are “a powerful statement of our hope in God’s providence,” he noted.
Archbishop Carlson also told the Review that the response to the campaign “shows the people’s belief that we have to form good priests for the future so we can be a eucharistic people.”
Frank Cognata, chief development officer of the archdiocese, said the seminary has formed more than 2,700 priests in the past, and the funds will help prepare even more in the future. He said it was especially noteworthy that the campaign was conducted in a down economy and that participation met expectations. More than 2,000 volunteers helped make the campaign possible, with many of them making personal visits to potential donors. (CNS)
 
Religious attacks by media must be rejected, say officials
VATICAN CITY — Anti-religious commentary distributed by media outlets can create tensions and incite violence and therefore must be rejected, said Vatican and Muslim representatives.
Attacking religion in the mass media especially via satellite television channels must be opposed considering “the dangerous effect” that these broadcasts can have on social cohesion and on peace between religious communities, said a statement issued after the annual meeting of officials from the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and from al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt. The Vatican released a copy of the statement to journalists March 2.
The Feb. 23-24 meeting in Cairo focused on the role religions can play in either causing or preventing religious violence. The al-Azhar meeting was chaired by Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the pontifical council, and by Sheik Mohammed Abd al-Aziz Wasil, president of al-Azhar’s permanent committee for dialogue with the monotheistic religions.
The meeting’s final statement said greater attention must be paid to the fact that manipulating religion or religious beliefs for political or other interests can lead to violence. (CNS)
 

Obituary - Sister Stephanie Stauder, OP

Sunday, 31 January 2010
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Sister Stephanie Stauder, OPSINSINAWA, Wis. — Sister Stephanie Stauder, OP, died Jan. 13 at St. Dominic Villa, Sinsinawa. The funeral Mass was held in Queen of the Rosary Chapel at Sinsinawa Jan. 18, followed by burial in the Motherhouse Cemetery.

She was born April 26, 1918, in New Rochelle, N.Y., the daughter of William and Margaret (Boll) Stauder. The family later moved to Decatur.

Sister Stephanie made her first religious profession as a Sinsinawa Dominican Jan. 26, 1937, and her final profession Aug. 5, 1940. She taught elementary school for three years, high school for 29 years, and college for 12 years. Sister Stephanie spent five years teaching and as artist-in-residence at Villa Schifanoia, Florence, Italy. She served as artist-in-residence at Edgewood College, Madison, Wis., and at the motherhouse, Sinsinawa, for 17 years. Her main focus in art was watercolor paintings. She served in Wisconsin, Wyoming, Illinois, Minnesota, and Italy.

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by one sister, Helen High; and two brothers, Father W. V. “Bill” Stauder, SJ, and R. L. “Bob” Stauder. She is survived by nieces, nephews, and her Dominican sisters with whom she shared life for 72 years.

Memorials may be made to the Sinsinawa Dominicans, 585 County Road Z, Sinsinawa, WI, 53824-9701 or online at www.sinsinawa.org by clicking on “Donate to Us,” then “Honors and Memorials.”

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