LOS ANGELES --- More than 200 adult learners were to be honored at a certificate graduation ceremony May 28 at Loyola Marymount University after completing courses with the Center for Religion and Spirituality in LMU Extension. Bishop Joseph Sartoris, auxiliary bishop of Archdiocese of Los Angeles, retired, will be among the dignitaries present for the ceremony.

The graduates finished coursework in one of four fields: African American Ministry, Parish Business Administration, or Pastoral Care in English or Spanish. Often lay ministers work toward the certifications in order to perform their work in parishes, but the Center is open to all and offers a multitude of opportunities for spiritual or theological study, retreat, and workshops as well as study in world religions.

"The Center for Religion and Spirituality," stated director Robert Hurteau, "seeks to work in cooperation with local Catholic dioceses. We endeavor to support the mission of the Church by providing specialized training for pastoral ministry."

For more information on the courses open this summer and fall at the Center for Religion and Spirituality, whether for professional development credit or personal enrichment, go to: http://extension.lmu.edu/crs or call 310-338-2799.

Fewer youths will attend World Youth Day than in previous years
WASHINGTON (CNS) ---- World Youth Day events typically draw hundreds of thousands of youths and in some countries they have reached or surpassed the 1 million mark. This year's event in Sydney, Australia, July 15-20 will be on a much smaller scale. The largest World Youth Day turnout was 4 million in Manila, Philippines, in 1995. Other big crowds include: 2 million in Rome in 2000; 1.6 million in Czestochowa, Poland, in 1991; 1.2 million in Paris in 1997; and 1 million in Cologne, Germany, in 2005. World Youth Day officials have been saying they expect 225,000 pilgrims to take part in this year's events, including 100,000 Australians. But local news reports have questioned if the projected figure is accurate, stating the final count may be significantly lower. Danny Casey, chief operating officer of World Youth Day 2008, said in a statement that World Youth Day officials have "always expected there would be high demand from young Catholics around the world to come to Australia for World Youth Day." He also noted that the World Youth Day office has received more than 168,000 international registration queries. "But we always anticipated that a proportion of those were unlikely to follow through with an actual registration because of a range of factors including distance and cost," he added.

Second column clarifies archbishop's stand on Communion for governor
WASHINGTON (CNS) ---- Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City, Kan., has reiterated his request that Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius not receive Communion until she publicly repudiates her support for abortion, but said he will not ask eucharistic ministers to refuse to give her Communion. The archbishop answered questions about his stand in the May 23 issue of The Leaven, archdiocesan newspaper, saying he had received "a significant number of pro and con communications" about his column in the newspaper two weeks earlier. "In my request to Gov. Sebelius, I have made clear that it is her responsibility not to present herself for reception of holy Communion," he wrote. "I am hopeful that she will comply with this request." But Archbishop Naumann also said that "pastorally, it is certainly preferable not to burden ministers of the Eucharist with the responsibility to refuse Communion to someone," although such ministers "do have an obligation to protect the sacrament from misuse or abuse." "I have, at this moment, not asked the ministers of the Eucharist not to give holy Communion to the governor," he added. He said he made his initial request to the governor before she vetoed the Comprehensive Abortion Reform Act, which would have placed new requirements on abortion providers. An attempt to override the veto failed by two votes in the Kansas Senate.

Religious leaders support reworked U.S. Senate climate-change bill
WASHINGTON (CNS) --- Christian and Jewish religious leaders May 21 formally threw their support behind a reworked U.S. Senate bill that addresses environmental climate change. During a media briefing on Capitol Hill, Bishop Thomas G. Wenski --- chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on International Justice and Peace --- joined bill co-sponsors Sens. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., Joseph I. Lieberman, I-Conn., and John W. Warner, R-Va., and other Christian and Jewish religious leaders to discuss what he called "ground-breaking legislation" that also takes the poor into consideration when combating global warming. "We welcome and support the leadership of these senators in lifting up and seriously addressing how climate change will disproportionately affect the poor and vulnerable in our country and around the world," said Bishop Wenski, who heads the Diocese of Orlando, Fla. "This represents a significant advance on previous proposals." The bill --- set to be debated on the Senate floor June 2 --- calls for reductions in U.S. carbon emissions and the development of clean energy technology. It also establishes an International Climate Change Adaptation and National Security Fund expected to generate more than $342 billion over the life of the bill to help developing countries.

Federal court criticized for upholding 'gruesome' abortion method
WASHINGTON (CNS) --- A federal appeals court's May 20 decision overturning Virginia's ban on partial-birth abortion thwarts "the clear and common sense of our state's citizens that a child who is almost entirely born should never be the victim of this brutal practice," according to the executive director of the Virginia Catholic Conference. Speaking on behalf of the state's two Catholic bishops, Jeff Caruso said he hoped a higher court would "remedy the grave harm done" by a panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Richmond, Va. By a 2-1 majority, the panel said Virginia's Partial-Birth Infanticide Act of 2003 "imposes an undue burden upon a woman's right to choose a pre-viability second-trimester abortion" and is therefore unconstitutional. "I cannot imagine that protecting the gruesome practice of partial-birth abortion is what our country's forefathers had in mind when they crafted our Constitution over 200 years ago," Caruso told Catholic News Service May 21 by e-mail. "Yet somehow two judges have found a way to declare Virginia's ban on the procedure unconstitutional."

Supreme Court lifts stay of execution in Virginia man's case
WASHINGTON (CNS) --- The commonwealth of Virginia ranks second to Texas when it comes to the number of executions carried out since 1976, the year the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty. Now, after a Supreme Court ruling May 19, Virginia will have three more executions in the near future, raising concern from the Catholic community. The first two were previously scheduled, one for May 27 and another for June 10. Christopher Scott Emmett was added to that list when the Supreme Court lifted a stay on his execution, though Virginia officials have not set the date. Emmett challenged Virginia's lethal injection method, claiming that the commonwealth failed to supply enough anesthetic prior to injecting the lethal drugs. In 2001 Emmett was charged with capital murder and robbery for attacking and killing his former co-worker in Danville, Va. Jeff Caruso, executive director of the Virginia Catholic Conference, said the court's ruling prompted his concern about "the bigger picture." Caruso said Virginia has had 98 executions since 1976, which is second only to Texas' 405.

Catholic leaders pray accord will improve conditions for farmworkers
WASHINGTON (CNS) ---- Catholic and U.S. Senate leaders applauded an agreement between Burger King Corp. and a farmworkers' organization signed May 23 to raise the price paid to laborers, which they hope will lead to an industrywide revolution in social responsibility. Following a week at the negotiating table with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, Burger King officials agreed to pay an additional penny per pound to the Florida farmworkers who harvest their tomatoes. The company also will pay incremental payroll taxes and administrative costs the growers will incur as a result of the increased wages for the farmworkers, making the total boost 1.5 cents per pound, said Amy E. Wagner, a senior vice president for Burger King Corp., based in Miami. This increase will translate collectively to about $250,000 in the paychecks of tomato farm laborers, Wagner said. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops had urged Burger King officials to join companies like McDonald's, Pizza Hut, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Taco Bell, which signed similar agreements with the Florida farmworkers coalition, and hopes more corporations in the food industry will follow suit, said John L. Carr, executive director for the USCCB's Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development.

Vatican rep says rise in food prices threatens lives of 1 billion
VATICAN CITY (CNS) --- A Vatican representative said the recent rise in global food prices threatens the lives of the 1 billion people who spend most of their daily income in search of food. The current food crisis shines "a red light of alarm" on structural injustices in the agricultural economy worldwide, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi told the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva May 22. It was the second strong statement in less than a week by Vatican officials on the food crisis, which has sparked riots in several countries in recent months. The Vatican released a copy of the text May 23. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome reported food prices have risen 45 percent over the last nine months, with the price of rice increasing 83 percent since December. Much of the increase has been blamed on higher fuel costs. Archbishop Tomasi, who addressed a special session of the council on the right to food, said the surge in food prices threatens the stability of developing countries and calls for urgent international action.

Lawmakers override Bush veto of farm bill
WASHINGTON (CNS) --- Not long after President George W. Bush vetoed the farm bill May 21, the House overrode his veto by a 3-to-1 margin. But, unbeknownst to House leaders at the time, about 24 pages of the legislation were not included in the version of the bill delivered to the White House. After the mistake came to light, the House and the Senate voted May 22 to pass it again with veto-proof majorities. Known officially as the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008, the bill is the principal piece of farm legislation to be considered by Congress every six years, although even the farm provisions of the bill are now overshadowed by food stamps and other nutrition provisions. Farm and rural provisions account for less than one-fourth of the $300 billion bill, while nutrition programs, including food stamps, account for two-thirds. The rest of the bill includes such items as conservation programs and renewable energy programs, including biofuels production. Rural life advocates, including the National Catholic Rural Life Conference, lost their bid in Congress to sharply reduce the crop subsidy limits given to farmers, with the wealthiest farmers getting the lion's share of the subsidies.