A time for tea
 

The third annual Mother & Daughter Tea, sponsored by the diocesan Respect Life Office, attracted 160 participants June 30 to the St. Agnes Cathedral Parish Center, Rockville Centre.
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Secaucus, N.J. (CNS) — For most organizations, 40 wouldn’t be a big anniversary calling for special celebrations. In the Catholic charismatic renewal, however, 40 is taking on biblical importance.

As Bishop Sam G. Jacobs of Houma-Thibodaux, La., pointed out in a keynote address at a June 22-24 Conference of the Charismatic Renewal, the number 40 appears in the Bible nearly 200 times. For 40 years the Israelites wandered in search of the Promised Land; for 40 days Jesus prayed in the desert; Pentecost came 40 days after Jesus’ resurrection, he said.
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In a continuing feature, Catholic young people who attended the diocesan youthfest on May 19 share with our readers why they are Proud 2B Catholic.

“I am proud to say I believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, our savior and God. I am also glad to say I believe in Mary and the saints, who have helped those who are part of our faith. I believe in living a life like Christ, and loving as he does. I think this is an amazing religion and faith and I am proud to say it.”
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Msgr. Simmons recalls excitement of new diocese

By Pete Sheehan
Senior Reporter

Port Washington — When he was a young priest, Msgr. Walter Simmons recalls, he went to St. James Cathedral in Brooklyn on Holy Thursday, 1957, following the Chrism Mass.

“I was going to get the holy oils,” which are blessed each year at the Chrism Mass, for St. Anthony of Padua Church in East Northport, where he was an associate pastor, and some neighboring parishes.
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Commack — Deacon Kevin McCormack does not believe in the quest for junk food, literally or figuratively. If it has no lasting value, whether it is food or something to buy or a way to spend time, he tries to keep it out of his life.

“I’ve always been a big man,” Deacon McCormack explained to a roomful of young adults at Christ the King Church here on June 24. “My eating habits were very much a quest for junk food.” But what he really means when he uses that statement, he said, is “what people spend most of their life about.
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Port Jefferson — After placing first in the regional and state competition, seven students from Our Lady of Wisdom Regional Catholic School in Port Jefferson achieved a third-place finish in the 28th annual World Finals of the Odyssey of the Mind competition, held May 23-26 at Michigan State University.
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St William the Abbot has won the CYO sixth-grade Nassau baseball championship.
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Garden City — For the church to evangelize the growing Hispanic population, contends Oswald Sobrino, a Catholic scholar and blogger, “we first have to evangelize ourselves.”
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Released from diocesan assignment
Father James Atkins released to Franciscan Friars of the Renewal (effective June 27, 2007)
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Many priests grew up admiring and wanting to be like priests they knew, but for jubilarian Father James DeVita, growing up in San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy, his role model was a saint.

“I knew Padre Pio,” said Father DeVita, now a retired priest of the Rockville Centre Diocese living in Florida. “My mother used to bake the pizza for the Capuchin Franciscan Friars,” the community that Padre Pio belonged to. “As an altar boy, I once served Mass for Padre Pio. It was too long — two hours.
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Rockville Centre — Some of them were wheeling each other across the grass in wheelchairs. Others were acting as sighted guides for their blindfolded friends, and others were trying out crutches. None of the middle schoolers were actually physically handicapped; they were learning how to properly use the equipment as part of Molloy College’s Nurse Explorer program.
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Port Washington — For the fourth consecutive year, students from St. Peter of Alcantara School here have taken first place in the Nassau County Catholic Middle Schools Mock Trial competition sponsored by the Mock Trial Club at Our Lady of Mercy Academy, Syosset.
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Rockville Centre — The Ministry to Catholics of African Ancestry of the Diocese of Rockville Centre announced the recipients of the 2007 Albert Neal, Sr. Scholarship Award. They are Nathanael Augustin of Westbury, Michael Joseph Edwards Jr. of Central Islip, and Brianne Marie Hudson of West Hempstead.
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Vatican City (CNS) — Pope Benedict XVI spent about an hour with an international group of bishops June 27 discussing his decision to allow greater use of the Tridentine Mass.
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Rome (CNS) — Pope Benedict XVI announced a special jubilee year dedicated to St. Paul, saying the church needs modern Christians who will imitate the apostle’s missionary energy and spirit of sacrifice.
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