David Zapfel, executive director Gerard Place, receives donations from Patricia Millemaci, director of central services at the Catholic Center, and Sister Shawn Czyzycki, CSSF, director of human resources for the Diocese of Buffalo. Donations from the Catholic Center "Something Warm Tree"  were presented on Dec. 23, 2008. The donations from Catholic Center employees will be given to the mothers at Gerard Place who will in turn pass the gifts onto their children.

Gerard Place, located at the former St. Gerard Parish in Buffalo, provides transitional housing and supportive services for homeless, single parent families.

Governor David Paterson’s Executive Budget released yesterday would devastate the state’s Mandated Services Reimbursement program for independent and religious schools, cutting funding by 44 percent, most of which comes from the elimination of the Comprehensive Attendance Policy program for these schools.   

The Comprehensive Attendance Policy program is a state mandate on all schools requiring taking and reporting of attendance as children move about throughout the day. It is designed to ensure safety by eliminating class cutting and keeping children on school grounds. The governor’s budget continues this critical program only in public schools.    

“We understand the difficult situation the state finds itself in, but the fact is that public schools are receiving a 3.3 percent temporary cut in funding, while Catholic and other non-public schools will be receiving a 44 percent permanent cut,” said Richard E. Barnes, executive director of the New York State Catholic Conference. “This will have a devastating impact on Catholic schools that are on the bubble, and will no doubt cause tuition increases or program cuts. Our families cannot absorb any more strain, and the state cannot afford to continue allowing our schools to close – which will only exacerbate the financial crisis lawmakers are desperately trying to solve.  

 “By defunding an important safety-related mandate for our schools, while keeping the program in public schools, the budget unfairly targets the families of Catholic school children and those in other tuition-paying non-public schools, who will save the state more than $8 billion this year alone.”    

Independent and religious schools educate some 500,000 students in New York State , representing 15 percent of the state’s school children. Of that nearly 300,000 are in Catholic schools.  

The Catholic Conference represents New York State ’s Bishops in matters of public policy.

Students from Rainbow Pre-K in downtown Buffalo sang Christmas carols in several languages for Bishop Edward U. Kmiec and employees of the Catholic Center on Dec. 17. The school, located in downtown Buffalo, is operated by the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy.

Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J., the Laurence J. McGinley Professor of Religion andSociety at Fordham University since 1988, an internationally renowned author and lecturer on theological topics, and the first American to be named a cardinal who was not a bishop, died at the age of 90 on December 12.

Revered by colleagues and students alike for his work ethic, modesty, gentility and sense of humor, Cardinal Dulles was referred to by fellow theologians as "the grand old man of Catholic theology today in the United States." Cardinal Dulles began his connection with Fordham in 1951, while still a Jesuit in training, when he was appointed an instructor in philosophy. He left Fordham in 1953 to pursue theological studies in preparation for ordination in 1956. After graduate studies in theology in Europe, he undertook an academic and priestly career that spanned five decades and included professorships at the Jesuit school of theology at Woodstock College, the Catholic University of America, and several visiting posts at the world’s top universities and seminaries. In 1988, when he reached the retirement age of 70 in his post as professor of systematic theology at Catholic University, he returned to Fordham–35 years after he had left–to take up the McGinley Chair. Cardinal Dulles referred to his years in the McGinley Chair as the happiest and most satisfying of his life, pleased with the freedom that the position gave him to teach, to lecture and to assume visiting appointments all over the world. (Read complete story)

Patricia A. O’Hara, The Joseph A. Matson Dean and Professor of Law at the University of Notre Dame will be the keynote speaker for the 2009 “Making a Difference – A Celebration of Catholic Education” dinner to be held on Thursday, Jan. 29 at the Adam’s Mark in downtown Buffalo.

Dean O’Hara was named the ninth dean of the Notre Dame Law School in 1999. Prior to her appointment, she served the university as its vice-president for student affairs. She is also a member of the board of directors of the Indiana Catholic Conference. In 1974, she earned her law degree from Notre Dame and was admitted to the California Bar that same year. Her areas of academic interest involve business-law subjects including agency and partnership, business planning, corporate finance, corporations and securities regulation.

Also at the dinner, Bishop Edward U. Kmiec, bishop of Buffalo, will present the bishop’s medal to Msgr. Francis Braun, pastor of St. Mark Parish in Buffalo, and to Sister Jeanne Eberle, SSJ, principal of St. Mark’s School. The late Paul Koessler will also be honored posthumously. The bishop’s medal is awarded to individuals who have made significant contributions to Catholic education in the diocese.

Lyn Rezabek, a music teacher at Ambrose Catholic Academy of South Buffalo, will receive the 2009 Sister Lucille Socciarelli/Father John Sturm “Making a Difference” award which was started in 2001 by the late Tim Russert of NBC News.

The lead sponsors of the dinner are Schneider Design Architects, PC, Kathie Schneider Photography and Ronald P. and Mary Clare Smith. The event sponsor is the Maid of the Mist and platinum sponsors are Lawley, the John and Betsy Sullivan Family, Richard C. and Karen E. Penfold and Mrs. Arthur J. Schaefer and The William E. and Ann L. Swan Foundation.

For ticket information, please contact the Foundation of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Buffalo at 847-8373.

The Catholic Diocese of Buffalo, established on April 23, 1847, comprises the westernmost counties of New York State, which include: Erie, Niagara, Genesee, Orleans, Chautauqua, Wyoming, Cattaraugus and Allegany. The Diocese covers 6,455 square miles and has a Catholic population of  702,884.