Teenage schoolgirl killed in suspected Mafia bomb is named as Melissa Bassi

Ms Bassi, a fashion student who hoped to work in Milan, had travelled into the
school by bus that morning from her home in the nearby town of Mesagne. Her
friend, Veronica Capodieci, was also injured and is now fighting for her
life.

“They are beasts, whoever did this,” said one of Ms Bassi’s aunts. “Melissa’s
parents have lost the only thing they ever had. What wrong did these kids
ever do?”

The attack targeted the Morvillo-Falcone vocational institute, which is named
after an anti-Mafia prosecutor, Giovanni Falcone, and his wife, Francesca
Morvillo, a judge, who were blown up by Sicily’s Cosa Nostra Mafia almost
exactly 20 years near Palermo airport.

The fact that the bomb went off just days before the 20th anniversary of the
assassinations, on Wednesday, may have been a coincidence, given that Cosa
Nostra and Sacra Corona Unita are quite separate Mafia groups.

Sacra Corona Unita, based in the region of Puglia, the heel of the Italian
boot, is the least known of Italy’s four Mafia groups.

It was founded in the 1970s and has made huge profits from gun-running,
smuggling and extortion, although its power is believed to have waned in
recent years as a result of police crackdowns.

But it has ready access to explosives through its links with organised crime
in the Balkans, just across the Adriatic.

While the Italian government cautioned against jumping to conclusions about
who might be behind the attack, local officials had little doubt, blaming it
on the group and saying it may have been a reprisal for recent police
operations.

“It was a Mafia attack,” said Nicola Fratoianni, a regional official. “A bomb
placed in front of a school bearing the Falcone name is a clear message from
the clans — a reprisal to recent police operations.”

Ten days ago police conducted a raid in which they arrested 16 alleged members
of Sacra Corona Unita, charging them with extortion, illegal weapons
ownership and Mafia association.

Many of the pupils at the school, including the teenager who was killed, were
from the nearby town of Mesagne, one of the strongholds of the Mafia group.

The attack may also have been timed to coincide with an anti-Mafia procession
that was due to have been held in Brindisi on Saturday.

According to another theory being pursued by police, it may have been
connected to a failed attempt by godfathers a few days ago to blow up the
head of an anti-Mafia association in Mesagne with a car bomb.

“We have seen a resumption of criminal Mafia activity in and around Brindisi
recently after leaders of Sacra Corona Unita were released from jail,” said
Alfredo Mantovano, an MP from the conservative People of Freedom party of
Silvio Berlusconi, the former prime minister.

Prosecutors pointed out, however, that Mafia gangsters normally carry out
attacks against rival mobsters, prosecutors, police and courthouses, and
that it was unusual for them to hit such a soft “civilian” target.

The bombing was “an anomaly”, said Annamaria Cancellieri, the interior
minister. “We don’t yet have elements to suggest this was a Mafia attack, we
need to be cautious. But it is striking that the bomb went off in front of a
school with the name Falcone.”

The bomb, believed to have been planted on a low wall in front of the school,
went off around 7.50am local time, when students were arriving for Saturday
morning lessons.

The force of the explosion blew out the windows of surrounding buildings and
left several victims severely burnt. Surgeons said one teenage girl might
lose both her legs.

The casualties could have been far worse had the bomb detonated a little
later, when the majority of students arrived at the school, said Mr
Fratoianni.

“I was opening the window and the blast wave hit me. I saw kids on the ground.
All blackened. Their books on fire. It was terrifying,” said an employee at
the prosecutor’s office next to the school.

The last major bomb attack by the Mafia was in Florence in 1993, when a
powerful car bomb was detonated behind the Uffizi Gallery, killing five
people and wounding more than 20 others, and destroying or damaging dozens
of works in the gallery’s art collection.

Mr Monti, appointed as the head of an unelected government of technocrats in
November, is pushing through a sweeping programme of austerity measures,
including spending cuts and tax increases, which have prompted a resurgence
of the political extremism which struck Italy in the seventies and eighties.

There have been bomb threats against tax offices and an attack on the head of
a nuclear engineering company owned by defence technology group
Finmeccanica, who was shot in the leg by an anarchist group.

Religion briefs

MAY PROCESSION IN QUINCY

The Friends of Star of the Sea Catholic faith community will hold a May Procession at 12:30 Sunday at 107 Bellevue Road, Quincy. Bring a flower to place under the statue of the Blessed Mother Mary. For information, contact Kate Monahan at 617-276-2108 or kmtmonahan@gmail.com, or Maureen Mazrimas at 617-257-8295 or maurmaz@aol.com.

CONCERT AT FORT SQUARE CHURCH

Soprano Angie Carr will sing at 7 p.m. Sunday at Fort Square Presbyterian Church. A free-will offering will be taken. The church is at 16 Pleasant St. in Quincy. For more information, call 617-471-6806.

TEMPLE BETH SHOLOM CELEBRATING YOM YERUSHALAYIM

Temple Beth Sholom in Hull will celebrate Yom Yerushalayim, Jerusalem Independence Day, with a Klezmer band and a light supper on Sunday at the temple, 600 Nantasket Ave. Tickets are $18 for members, $25 for nonmembers and $12 for children 12 and younger. For information, call 781-925-0091, or email templebethhull@comcast.net.

CHILDREN’S CONCERT TO BENEFIT ORGAN RESTORATION FUND

First Parish Church of Norwell will present a children’s concert at 3 p.m. Sunday at the church, 24 River St. Children’s choruses to perform include First Parish Norwell Junior Choir; The Studio Chorus from the James Library in Norwell; the A Cappella Men’s Chorus from North Quincy High School; and Pure Treble and Pure Harmony from South Shore Conservatory. A reception will follow. Proceeds will support the First Parish Organ Restoration Fund. The suggested donation is $10 for adults and $5 for children and seniors. For information, call Peg Carpenter at 781-826-8553.

PRAYER CENACLE IN WEYMOUTH

The Apostles of Peace, A Marian Community, will hold a prayer cenacle at 4 p.m. Sunday in the convent at Immaculate Conception Parish, 1199-R Commercial St., Weymouth. The service will include eucharistic adoration, the rosary and reflection on peace. For information, call 781-812-1603.

NEW BETHLEHEM COFFEE HOUSE TO HOLD COOKOUT

The New Bethlehem Coffee House will end its season with its annual cookout from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday, at Lutheran Church of the Cross, 77 Rockland St., Route 139, in Hanover. The coffeehouse is for adults with intellectual disabilities. The cost is $3. For information, call 781-826-5121.

HINGHAM CONGREGATION serves up ICE CREAM SOCIAL

Congregation Sha’aray Shalom will hold Sundaes on Sunday, a prospective-member ice cream social, from 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday. Tours of the temple and meeting the staff are part of the event. The temple is at 1112 Main St., Hingham. For information, call 781-749-8103 or go to www.shaaray.org.

MEMORIAL DAY MASS AT CEDAR GROVE CEMETERY

A Memorial Day Mass in membory of the deceased will be held at 11 a.m. Sunday, May 27 in the GIlman Chapel at Cedar Grove Cemetery, 920 Adams St., Dorchester. Historian Robert Bayard Severy will conduct a walking tour of the cemetery following the Mass. For information, call 617-825-1360.

TEEN CHALLENGE CONCERT IN SCITUATE

The Men’s Choir of Teen Challenge New England will give a concert at 10 a.m Sunday, June 3 at First Baptist, 660 Country Way, Scituate. For more information, call 781-545-0058.

CHURCH YARD SALE IN PEMBROKE

Bryantville United Methodist Church in Pembroke will hold a yard and craft sale and silent auction from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, June 16. Tables to rent are available. The deadline is May 15. For information, call 781-293-2025 or email Bryantvilleumc@gmail.com.

FAMILY FUN FEST IN MILTON

First Congregational Church of Milton is hosting its third annual Family Fun Fest and Yard Sale from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, June 23 at 495 Canton Ave. The event will feature more than 50 vendors and exhibitors, children’s activities, live entertainment, a silent auction, a yard sale and refreshments. Vendor and exhibitor space is available. For information, go to www.TheFamilyFunFest.org.

Shift: Diocese will allow boy with Down Syndrome to receive communion

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Exorcise DeGioia and Company From Georgetown

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William Peter Blatty is the author of the deeply thoughtful
novel The Exorcist. (The movie tried, but didn’t quite,
capture the depth of theology in the novel; the movie is now
remembered mostly as a rather graphic horror flick, but it really
was far better than that.) Now Blatty has taken up a
massive cudgel against his (and my) alma mater,
Georgetown University, for its repeated affronts to people of
Christian and particularly Catholic faith which — after including
the draping of the Jesuit cross in order for President Obama to
speak on campus — has culminated in yesterday’s featured
speaking role for HHS Secretary and religious-freedom assault queen
Kathleen Sebelius. As Jenna Johnson reported in the Washington
Post, “An invitation to be seated on the commencement stage is
one of the highest honors a university can bestow. Especially
coveted is the opportunity to address the graduating class.” Yet
Georgetown’s increasingly radical President Jack DeGioia, in direct

defiance of the
Archdiocese of Washington, has defended the
Sebelius invitation and basically thumbed his nose at every
Catholic bishop in the country and at all the faithful
following.

Blatty is justifiably incensed. He offers a petition drive against
Georgetown, asks those who ordinarily donate to the school to
withhold contributions for at least a year, and promises a canon
lawsuit against the university. Among the potential outcomes from
the lawsuit would be “relief that may include a declaration by the
appropriate ecclesiastical authority that Georgetown University is
no longer entitled to call itself a Catholic or Jesuit university.”
This would be big stuff. Frankly, my understanding is that it is
within the Pope’s authority to order the Jesuits out of Georgetown
entirely.

In addition to these potential actions, I would suggest
consideration — not a conclusion yet, but definite consideration
– of another one: Fire Jack DeGioia.

I write this with heavy heart. Jack and I have always been
friendly, ever since my first day on campus as a resident of the
building he then served as Resident Director. In many ways he has
served Georgetown well in various capacities for something like 35
years. But he has gone well beyond the pale. His defiance is
outrageous.

Despite an
absurd editorial by the increasingly
anti-Catholic-leaning Washington Post, the Sebelius
speech has nothing to do with “the free exchange of ideas.” It is
patent dishonesty to somehow suggest that a speech at a diploma
ceremony does not carry with it a rather explicit honorific. This
is not an in-semester speech sponsored by the College
Democrats or by an on-campus debating society. This is a university
sponsored and sanctioned event — as Johnson wrote, “one of the
highest honors a university can bestow.” DeGioia knows this. The
Post knows this. To suggest otherwise is errant nonsense,
so much a prevarication as to be beneath contempt.

As the Archdiocese noted, DeGioia is being deliberately and
flagrantly misdirectional by making the excuse that the invitation
to Sebelius went out before the January announcement of the final
decision on abortifacient mandate. The fact is, as the statement
indicates, that ”the mandate was published last August” as a
near-final draft rule for public comment. In fact, it was
way back in September that the bishops objected and called
it “an unprecedented threat to individual and
institutional religious freedom.” That was long before the
invitation from Georgetown was issued. DeGioia knows this.

It is not just the defense of the invitation by DeGioia that
raises the issue of his fitness to continue as president; it is the
intellectuall dishonesty represented by the above-described
evasions of the truth.

Again, this isn’t just some debate about contraception or even
about abortifacients. This mandate is a direct frontal assault on
religious liberty — and not just that of Catholics, but of every
faith and denomination in the country. It is the very essence of
tyranny to force somebody to financially support that which his
faith teaches is among the gravest of all sins.

When I was at Georgetown and writing 200 articles for the
Georgetown HOYA newspaper, the single biggest feature I did was on
the role of the Jesuits at Georgetown. I was/am a Catholic-leaning
Anglican, but I was fascinated by the additional moral seriousness
at GU that seemed to stem from its Catholic identity. I wish I had
the story in front of me, but one of the interviews I did has stuck
with me until this day. The legendary Fr. Joseph Durkin, S.J.,
founder of the school’s American Studies program, author of a
multi-volume history of the university, and beloved, active member
of the campus community until his death two weeks after his 100th
birthday, told me in words that I can repeat almost verbatim from
memory even a quarter-century later:

“We are a Catholic and Jesuit University. Because we are a
university, we welcome and encourage freedom of thought and of
speech. Because we are Catholic and Jesuit, we take specific
positions on certain issues. You have every right to speak up
against those positions of ours, openly and without fear of
repercussion. But we reserve the right to explain to you why
you are wrong, and to insist that while you are perfectly free
to keep being wrong, we will continue to say publicly why we are
right. An example of this is the Communist philosophy, which
teaches atheism. It is wrong, and we will say so.”

Jack DeGioia not only is failing to step up and say that
Kathleen Sebelius is wrong, but is going in the other direction by
providing her a speaking slot that carries with it a widely
understood honor (even if not officially an honorary degree).
DeGioia thus has moved nearly 180 degrees away from Father Durkin’s
wisdom. Shame on him. And shame on the university’s board if it
lets him get away with it.

Prayer and invitation can help kids’ faith more than pushing them

My mother thinks I look great in red. For years, I did not. We would go shopping, and she’d suggest different shirts or sweaters and if they were red, I’d give them an “ick” face and move on. As soon as I was old enough to start buying my own clothes, all colors were discarded in favor of khaki, denim and black. I thought it made me look sophisticated and intellectual.

Then I had a roommate named Anne who helped me see the light — and the oranges, reds and greens — that had been missing from my wardrobe. She wore color combinations I never would have considered, but she looked so great that I realized what I had thought was “sophisticated” was actually dull. You can imagine my mom’s surprise when I came home sporting red. To her credit, she never pointed out that she had been right. She was just glad someone had talked some sense into me. So was I.

While Mom never spent hours agonizing over my wardrobe choices or praying for my change of taste, there are decisions young adults make that cause parents much more angst, especially when it comes to their religious beliefs and practices. It is painful when children who have been brought to church and sent to religious schools and camps leave home and reject the beliefs of their parents, choosing to live their lives differently. All the power in the world can’t make someone believe, but for parents wanting to do something, prayer and invitations are the first steps.

The life of St. Augustine and his mother, St. Monica, offers a great example for parents of children who have strayed from the faith of their childhood. Born in North Africa in the year 332, St. Monica was a devout Christian who was married to a pagan who converted shortly before his death. Her son, Augustine, was more reluctant to adopt his mother’s faith. He was a brilliant scholar, but given to “carousing” and fathered a child with one of several mistresses he would have in his early days.

His mother prayed for him for years and when he finally accepted Christianity at the age of 33, he went on to become a bishop and one of the greatest teachers and writers in the history of the Catholic church. The example of Monica’s perseverance in prayer can serve as a reminder that when there is a crisis of faith in the lives of those we love, prayer should be the first and constant recourse.

When my mother’s suggestions were met by my “ick” face, she never nagged me. She never made me feel dumb and when I did show up with a red dress, it was met with a simple, “You look really nice.”

While spirituality is far more serious than fashion, this illustrates the truth that you catch more flies with honey than vinegar. For example, instead of constantly saying, “I wish you’d go to church on Sunday” — or asking, “Did you go to church last week?” — give specific invitations such as “your nephew is singing in the choir. Would you like to come with me on Sunday and hear him?” or “The church is giving a workshop on finances. I was going to go, would you like to come?”

It was Anne, not my mom, who convinced me to change my habits. In the same way, it may be a friend, someone they date or even their children that bring loved ones back to the church.

It’s hard to wait to see the effects of grace, but in the meantime, pray and invite.

And then pray some more.

Columnist Alison Griswold is the director of youth ministry at St. Francis By the Sea Catholic Church. Follow her at twitter.com/alisongriz. Read her blog at www.teamcatholic.blogspot.com.

I thought I was pro-life but God told me I had the ‘spirit of abortion’

PUEBLO, Colorado, May 18, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Sarah Nelson, 22, was going through a challenging chapter in her faith journey in 2001 as she served in leadership at a successful megachurch in Denver, Colorado. She and her fiancee Brennon loved their church and the fellowship it provided, but Sarah could not shake off the feeling there was something missing.

At her Christian church, one thing that was impressed upon her was that abortion was wrong. For as long as she can remember, Sarah had always considered herself “very pro-life and absolutely against abortion.”

One day, while praying for an end to abortion on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade which legalized the killing of babies in the womb in 1973, Sarah suddenly experienced the voice of God saying to her:

You have the spirit of abortion.

The young woman remembers being stunned. ‘How could this accusation be true,’ she remembers reasoning vehemently with God, when she was clearly against the horrible crime of ending an innocent life in a mother’s womb?

Again, Sarah experienced the convicting voice of God:

You have the spirit of abortion in you because you do not value children as you ought. You see them as a burden and something that would inconvenience your life.

As Sarah pondered the word she had received, it dawned on her that God was entirely right. She had believed that it was wrong to kill children through abortion, but she now realized that a deeply rooted contraceptive mentality within her had prejudiced her to not really value children or to even desire them.

“Up to that point, I had had no exposure to the perspective of contraception as a moral evil,” Sarah told LifeSiteNews. Growing up, I was extremely familiar with the fact that as couples were counseled for marriage in church, it was the assumption across the board that to be a ‘prudent newly wed couple’, you must contracept, and preferably for at least two years in order to establish a ‘stable marriage’.”

“Rarely were children talked about in terms of ‘abundance and overflowing joy’. In some circles it was strongly suggested that couples limit their family size for the good of God. Many couples saw two children as plenty.”

“I was not really open to having children, nor had I been encouraged to be so from my church leadership. From this flowed the natural conclusion that contraception was fine. And if contraception was fine, then I could see how the logic worked that allowed abortion (God forbid) to be fine because it got rid of an ‘inconvenience’”.

“I was horrified as I suddenly and instantly knew the horrible truth: being closed to life through contraception actually leads to the reality and horror of abortion.”

It was with sadness that Sarah realized that she had become a victim of the logic of contraception without even realizing it. “And sadly, this was where I had been up till that day,” she recounted.

As a consequence of her humbling experience with God, Sarah turned to the Catholic Church for answers and eventually became Catholic along with her now-husband Brennon. They now have two children and are hoping for more.

To this day, over a decade later, it fills Sarah with sadness that many of her friends cannot see what she calls the “real beauty of sexual union and the beauty of being totally open to the gift of life”. Nonetheless, she and her husband will hardly let an opportunity pass by to challenge their friends to think about the dimension of gift that is inherent in sexual union and that entails an openness to life.

“The gift God has given us, the ability to procreate with him, why would we not want to be part of that?,” the couple often asks their friends.

Sarah says that she will be forever grateful for the day that “God opened my eyes wide to this truth and I truly became pro-life. I’ll never forget that day. It is very much seared into my memory.”

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St. Martin Chapel ‘a little jewel’ under restoration

There’s not much that Sister Jane Frances Mullaney gets nostalgic about, but she admits that the historic St. Martin Chapel in Sturgis often leaves her a little teary-eyed.

“If I’m nostalgic for anything in Sturgis, I am for that chapel,” said the Benedictine nun, who professed final vows there in 1938. “The frescoes on the ceiling are just so beautiful. I don’t very often want to cry, but every time I go there, I’m moved by its beauty.”

The public will get a chance to see the chapel’s beauty, and its ongoing restoration project, during the ornate church’s annual Memorial Day open house on Monday, May 28. Bishop Robert Gruss of the Diocese of Rapid City celebrates Mass there at 8:30 a.m. on Memorial Day. The chapel will be open to the public until 2 p.m. that day.

Often described as “a little jewel,” the 1911 chapel has a simple exterior that belies its interior. It was completed and dedicated in 1912 to serve both the nuns of St. Martin’s Convent and students at St. Martin’s Academy, which were located in Sturgis from the time of the nuns’ arrival in 1889 until they moved their monastery and school to Rapid City in 1962. They shared the church with the community of St. Aloysius parish until 1950, when another Catholic church was built in Sturgis.

Sr. Jane Frances, who grew up in a Sturgis family, recalls how the monastic nuns were cloistered from the main congregation during parish masses. They worshipped in two private side chapels that were enclosed by lattice work walls.

As a member of the St. Martin Chapel Restoration Committee, Joanne Harmon works to preserve both a historic community building and a family memory.

“My grandfather built it,” Harmon said of the ornate Catholic chapel. Her grandfather, Henry Bruch, and Nick Keffeler constructed the church as the capstone of a Benedictine campus that included a convent, school and dormitory at the west end of Sherman Street. The chapel is the last remaining structure on the property that adjoins St. Aloysius Cemetery. The others were destroyed by fire or neglect, and the intervening decades weren’t kind to the chapel, either, which was owned and used by other organizations over the years. Since 1987, the historic chapel has been owned by the St. Aloysius Cemetery Association, which is part of the St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church parish.

“I look around and see so many old buildings destroyed or taken out. There’s not much left in our town. … And I think this is really important to the history of our community,” Harmon said.

Harmon was in the first graduating class of Rapid City’s St. Martin Academy. Keeping the memory alive of the St. Martin Academy years requires that the building be maintained and preserved, she said. “If you don’t have something to point to … how are you going to pass on that history to future generations?”

The restoration work began in 1989 with a new roof, restored exterior walls and extensive interior work. Half of the church’s stained glass windows are sealed with protective clear coverings, and the remainder will be paid for with about $20,000 in grant funds expected from the Deadwood Historical Preservation Foundation, Harmon said. In 2001, the committee spent about $15,000 to repair and restore a damaged stained-glass window. The rotted wood floor in the basement was removed, and a new concrete floor will be laid this summer.

“It’s beautifully restored,” Sr. Jane Frances said. “In my heart, I wanted to go back to that chapel in Sturgis.”

“We’ve been really blessed by generous donations from people who have gone to school there, and people just interested in preserving our heritage,” Harmon said. One of the project’s principal donors is former student V.J. Skutt, former chairman of the Mutual of Omaha Insurance Co.

Still, the restoration committee is always fundraising. “Fish suppers during Lent, an occasional Bingo game; church breakfasts. Anything we can do to raise a little money,” Harmon said.

Today, the chapel is used occasionally for weddings, funerals and an annual Christmas Eve mass by the St. Francis of Assisi parish. In addition to its religious art and stained glass, the chapel’s interior offers something else of beauty, says Gloria Takahashi, church secretary at St. Francis: Exceptional acoustics. “It’s one of those old churches that you don’t need a microphone to hear in. It has great acoustics,” Takahashi said.

Contact Mary Garrigan at 394-8424 or mary.garrigan@rapidcityjournal.com.

What the Arab Spring can learn from the history of the Catholic Church and …

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Staten Island Ministry helps youth make a radical choice of faith

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — The religious order of nuns that runs the St. Edward Food Pantry in Pleasant Plains has formed a ministry in the hopes of strengthening the Roman Catholic faith among young people.

The Franciscan Handmaids of the Most Pure Heart of Mary has formed a Catholic Youth for Radical Faith Ministry (CYRF) on Staten Island that operates out of the order’s convent in Pleasant Plains.

The worldwide CYRF ministry is a response to Pope Benedict’s call for youth to make a radical choice of faith within the “New Evangelization.” As part of their mission, the sisters have launched a fund-raising campaign in the hopes of sending 13 Staten Islanders to World Youth Day 2013, slated for July 23-28 of that year in Rio De Janeiro in Brazil.

The order already has earmarked $10,000 to cover the expenses of three attendees, and needs nearly $30,000 additional to sponsor all the candidates, said Sr. Gertrude Lilly Ihenacho, congregation minister. 

/subONE OF THE CHOSENRRGabriella Reyes, 22, a parishioner of Holy Child R.C. Church who aspires to become a medical doctor, was thrilled to be chosen as one of the WYD attendees.

“I went to World Youth Day when I was 11 and it had a huge impact on me,” the Huguenot resident said. “It was amazing to see so many young Roman Catholics coming together at one place at one time.”

Unfortunately, the St. Joseph by the Sea High School graduate, does not see that enthusiasm matched on Staten Island.

“It’s hard to find Catholic youth who are excited about their faith,” Ms. Reyes said, noting that some don’t even want to admit to their religion.

“Sometimes it’s seen as nonsensical to be religious,” she observed, speculating that negative media accounts about the Roman Catholic Church have fueled those sentiments.

“I am happy and excited to be a Catholic,” said Ms. Reyes, who earned a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering at Stevens Institute and is studying for her master’s degree in biomedical science at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.

The goals of the CYRF ministry are to generate youthful enthusiasm in and defense of their faith, to foster Gospel values and discipleship and to provide young people with the opportunity to interact with other Roman Catholics from throughout the world. The Franciscan Handmaids sponsors people to attend World Youth Day as a way of reaching these goals, according to the order’s literature. 

/SUBA GLOBAL EXPERIENCErR“World Youth Day is a global experience,” Sister Gertrude noted. “We want them to see knowledge and spirituality among Catholic Youth. We want the youth to really understand their faith, to be able to defend their faith.”

The ministry aims to give young people more information about their religion, especially with regard to issues of social justice.

“We want to empower the youth to make informed decisions,” Sister Gertrude said.The Staten Island ministry also provides ample opportunities to serve both on the Island and throughout the world, while trying to counterract powerful negative social forces, such as drugs and crime that are influencing today’s youth.

“You can’t get by stealing, by wanting somebody to bring it to you,” said Sister Gertrude, who was a public health physician prior to joining the order. “You can be anything you want to be as long as you identify what your skill is and go for it,” she said.

The CYRF ministry allows for real and web-based contact with other members throughout the world. The ministry is a global link to educational, financial, volunteer, internship, missionary and employment opportunities and resources with Catholic agencies, the United Nations and many other non-profit organizations.

Members of the ministry have opportunities to attend various conferences, retreats and pilgrimages. They have acces to Papal messages, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops newsletters and a wealth of educational information on the Roman Catholic faith and social justice issues.

Volunteers are needed to join a fund-raising committee. To make a donation or for additional information about the CYRF ministry, contact Anita Fein, administrator of the St. Edward Food Pantry, at 718-984-1625, or e-mail stedwardfoodpantry@hotmail.com.