News & (Notes)

The Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church is sponsoring a play writing contest to mark the year 2000. The contest is open to Christian and non-Christian writers of every nation, culture and language. Sponsored in tandem with private financial backers, the competition is meant to encourage the creation of plays which express the spiritual significance of the Holy Year. Scripts may be sent to the commission at Vatican City. (A certain Italian who won a Pulitzer Prize need not submit...)

Catholic Theologians discussing Papacy reform during an American Academy of Religion seminar in San Francisco recently identified the way bishops are selected as one key issue on how the papacy might better serve Christian unity.

Many argued for the principal of subsidiarity—limited exercise of higher authority in local affairs—to the church’s internal life. Scott Appleby, from the University of Notre Dame's Cushwa Center, said a major problem today is "the Romanization of the American hierarchy..." (He soon will be teaching in a igloo in Alaska.)

On December 3, 1997, the new U.S. ambassador to the Holy See, Corinne "Lindy" Boggs, arrived in Rome to take up her assignment. She is the fifth U.S. ambassador to the Vatican since full diplomatic relations were established in 1984. Boggs said she intends to work with the Vatican on a wide range of international issues, including world peace, human rights, and scientific advances. (Dream on...)

18 Seminars of Spiritual Enlightenment start January 17 in the Collins Center at St. Cecilia Church, Vicente & 17th Avenue, San Francisco, sponsored by the Charismatic Renewal and the Archdiocese of San Francisco's School of Pastoral Leadership. Designed to help Christians grow in holiness through studying the faith, they are presented on Saturdays from 9:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. The Seminars continue to May 30th. Advance registration is $20.00 for the series and $30.00 at the door.

Topics and presenters include practical information and spiritual enlightenment. We start the year of the Holy Spirit and the opening seminar with God the Holy Spirit, presented by Fr. Joe Landi—the Archbishop’s Liaison to the Renewal and Celebration of Christian Mystery with Sr. Sharon McMillan, SND—Professor, St. Patrick’s Seminary, Menlo Park.

January 24 features Renew 2000 with Sr. Antonio Heaphy, PBVM—Office of Evangelization & Renew, and The Lord’s Prayer with Sr. Celeste Arbuckle, SSS—Director of Religious Education. Click here for the full schedule. (Classes on Saturdays taught by Sisters? Sounds like adult Catechism. )

More than 13,000 priests, religious and lay people went door-to-door through Rome to invite people to church after a commissioning ceremony at St. Peter’s Basilica. Pope John Paul II told the "citizen missionaries" to have a "strong love for the people and families you meet". The campaign of explaining who Jesus is and inviting people to Mass at their local parish is the second stage of the Diocese of Rome’s preparation for the year 2000. (Why do so few people in Rome attend church?)

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