Registration ongoing for 'Summer with the Benedicts' classes
LOS ANGELES --- The International Institute of Tribunal Studies, in collaboration with the Angelicum in Rome, Italy, and the Graduate Theological Foundation in Indiana, is offering "Summer with the Benedicts," a collection of summer classes that can be taken toward degrees in canon law or tribunal studies as well as for personal enrichment.

Courses will be held at the Immaculate Heart Retreat Center in Los Angeles, where housing and meal plans are available until filled (early registration is advised). Classes are one to two weeks in length and include: Latin; Italian; Creating a Catholic Culture with a Deep Respect for Other Religious Traditions; Rights and Obligations of the Laity; Authority in the Church; the Challenge of Ministering to Divorced Person in Light of Catholic Values; and more.

Tuition varies by course, ranging from $125 for personal enrichment for some courses to $1,000 for credit at the Angelicum for canon law classes. The course catalog is accessible on-line: www.archdiocese.la/news/story.php?newsid=1086. For more information, or to receive a course catalog via U.S. mail, contact Sr. Rita Stuckey, I.H.M., D.Min., at (213) 637-7275 or mailto:srrjstuckey@la-archdiocese.org.

Majority of Americans rely on faith in economic downturn, poll says
HUNTINGTON, Ind. (CNS) --- In a recent poll, a majority of adults said their faith will help them weather the country's continued economic downturn and more than half said they believe personal actions can play a strong role in helping to turn around the economy. The survey, for which results were made public May 4, was conducted online in March by Harris Interactive, a national polling company, on behalf of Our Sunday Visitor, a Catholic publishing company in Huntington. The survey polled 2,315 adults 18 and older. In the poll, 70 percent of respondents agreed with the statement: "Strong faith is one of the most important elements to help one persevere through an economic crisis." When asked how the economy has impacted their spirituality or their personal lives, less than 10 percent said they changed the amount of time they attended religious services, sought counsel from church leaders or read more spiritual or self-help books. Only 2 percent said they had lost faith in God or a higher power during the economic downturn.

Catholic universities put potential speakers through vetting process
WASHINGTON (CNS) --- Commencement season has arrived and the controversy over President Barack Obama's scheduled address at the University of Notre Dame's May 17 graduation ceremony has drawn a spotlight onto the end-of-the-year festivities at Catholic colleges nationwide. Officials at some U.S. Catholic colleges and universities have said Obama would not have made it through their selection process to receive an honorary degree or serve as commencement speaker; others said he probably would. All interviewed by Catholic News Service said candidates considered to deliver the commencement address at their college --- or to receive an honorary degree --- must meet specific criteria. "We do respect President Obama for the position he is in, and if he would be so inclined to come here to discuss issues of the day, we would love to have him here for an academic exercise," said Rosalie Mirenda, president of Neumann University, a Catholic institution in Aston, Pa., that recently achieved university status. "But he probably wouldn't make it through the vetting process we have for selecting a commencement speaker." Meanwhile, most Catholic college students interviewed by Catholic News Service said they would be thrilled if he spoke at their graduation. "I'd be honored to have the first black president deliver the commencement speech at my graduation," said Christopher Ward, an 18-year-old Catholic freshman at St. Peter's College in Jersey City, N.J. "I don't agree with Obama's position on abortion, but he is a trailblazer who has accomplished so much. He'd be a real inspiration."

A year later, suicide risk remains high among Chinese quake survivors
SHIJIAZHUANG, China (CNS) --- One year after the deadly Sichuan earthquake, Catholic workers are focusing on the psychological needs of tens of thousands of survivors at risk of suicide. The church-run Jinde Charities in Shijiazhuang --- which sent the first group of medically trained nuns to the disaster area after the May 12, 2008, quake --- is counseling survivors and helping them to rebuild their homes, reported the Asian church news agency UCA News. Psychologists believe the quake's first anniversary could trigger more suicides than traditional celebrations of Chinese festivals that remind survivors of their families. Up to 10 percent of survivors would have suicidal tendencies, according to psychologists.

Priest removed from parish and radio ministries over tabloid photos
MIAMI (CNS) --- The Miami priest suspended from his parish and Catholic radio posts after photos of him with a woman on the beach were released by a tabloid magazine said he has had a romantic relationship with the woman for about two years and is in love with her. Father Alberto Cutie, who had been administrator of St. Francis de Sales Parish in Miami Beach and general director and president of Pax Catholic Communications, spoke about the unnamed woman in a May 11 interview with "The Early Show" on CBS television. The photos of the Cuban-American priest --- dubbed "Father Oprah" because of the advice he gives to couples on Spanish radio and television --- were published in the Spanish-language magazine TVNotas May 5. Father Cutie opened the "Early Show" interview with apologies to the Catholic community, Miami Archbishop John Favalora and his fellow priests for his actions, which he called "imprudent" and "stupid." "I don't support the breaking of the celibacy promise," he said. "I understand fully that this is wrong."

Obama proposal seen as beginning of end for school voucher program
WASHINGTON (CNS) --- President Barack Obama's May 6 budget proposal to allow 1,700 poor children in the District of Columbia to keep their federally funded scholarships but bar any more students from entering the program means a slow death for an initiative that works, said a Washington archdiocesan official. "This proposal might help children who are now in the program," said Patricia Weitzel-O'Neill, superintendent for schools. "But what about the many other children in the city who will never have this opportunity?" She was referring to the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, a federally funded voucher program launched as a pilot program five years ago that has to be reauthorized by Congress. It allocates $14 million annually in individual scholarships of up to $7,500 to 1,700 children from low-income families, which allows them to attend private schools in the District of Columbia. About half of the scholarship recipients attend Catholic schools.

Priest who represented Wisconsin district in Congress dies at 89
DE PERE, Wis. (CNS) --- Norbertine Father Robert J. Cornell, one of only three priests ever to serve in the U.S. Congress, died May 10 at St. Norbert Abbey in De Pere. He was 89. A Democrat, Father Cornell represented Wisconsin's 8th District from 1975 to 1979, serving at the same time as Jesuit Father Robert F. Drinan, who represented Massachusetts' 3rd District from 1971 to 1981. A third Catholic priest, Father Gabriel Richard, was a nonvoting delegate from the Michigan Territory from 1823 to 1825. A funeral Mass for Father Cornell was to be celebrated May 14 in the abbey church, with Abbot Gary Neville of St. Norbert Abbey presiding and Norbertine Father Alfred McBride serving as homilist. Burial was to follow in the St. Norbert Abbey Cemetery. During his two terms in Congress, Father Cornell served on what is now the Veterans Affairs Committee and the Education and Labor committees, working particularly to reform the welfare system and to get more educational benefits for Vietnam veterans.

Irish cardinal attends Anglican synod, preaches in Trinity chapel
DUBLIN, Ireland (CNS) --- An Irish cardinal has made an unprecedented ecumenical gesture by attending a Church of Ireland service and by preaching in a once-forbidden Anglican chapel. Cardinal Sean Brady of Armagh, Northern Ireland, became the first Catholic Irish primate or cardinal to attend a Communion service at the Church of Ireland General Synod and to preach in the chapel of Trinity College Dublin. At the service marking the close of the Anglican Church's synod in Armagh May 10, he told the congregation: "We live in remarkable times." The following day, speaking in the 18th-century chapel in Dublin, Cardinal Brady said: "I suspect it would have been almost unimaginable at that time (of its construction) to foresee a Catholic archbishop of Armagh preaching in this chapel at something called an ecumenical service. I thank God this morning for the immense progress we have made on the journey of mutual respect and Christian solidarity between the Christian traditions of Ireland," he said. Trinity College was founded by Queen Elizabeth I in 1592 as Ireland's first university, and for nearly four centuries it was one of the key institutions of the Protestant Ascendancy under British rule.