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A Christmas blessing from Bishop Kmiec
Gerard Place benefits from Catholic Center generosity
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’s budget fails Catholic school children
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.
Catholic Center carolers
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.
Church mourns passing of Cardinal Dulles
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)
Notre Dame Law School dean headlines Catholic education dinner
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.