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Dominican sisters at St. Thomas the Apostle

The Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist are a young order that has seen explosive growth in the past few years. Local Catholics know the sisters who teach at schools throughout the Valley and live in a convent at St. Thomas the Apostle Parish.

Now, thanks to one of the most-watched shows in America, a great many more people will know about the nuns. Tomorrow, on the 13th anniversary of the order’s founding, four nuns will appear on the Oprah Winfrey Show. A correspondent for the show traveled to the order’s convent in Michigan for a behind-the-scenes look at religious life.

You can view a teaser for the piece at Oprah’s YouTube page.

Since working at The Catholic Sun, I’ve heard a lot of powerful testimonies from pro-life advocates. The most stirring have tended to be the testimonies from women who’ve had an abortion and regretted it.

Yvonne Florczak-Seeman will speak at 6 p.m. Feb. 20 at St. Joan of Arc Parish.

At 6 p.m. Feb. 20, St. Joan of Arc Parish will host Yvonne Florczak-Seeman, a popular author an lecturer, who will talk about her conversion to the pro-life movement.

When she was 16, Florczak-Seeman ran away with her boyfriend and got pregnant. She subsequently had an abortion. She turned to drugs to numb her regret and even tried to commit suicide. She stayed with her boyfriend, got pregnant four times and had four abortions.

Years later, she had a conversion.

Florczak-Seeman got married and had four children. Her desire to keep other women making the mistakes she made has led her to write books and become a pro-life speaker. She is the president and founder of Love from Above, Inc., which informs women about the consequences of abortion.

St. Joan of Arc and St. Joseph parishes are co-presenting the event, which will charge $10 a person and include a lasagna dinner at 6:30 p.m. For more information or to make a group reservation, call Joni at (602) 290-5026. You can also mail in a check to St. Joseph Sanctity of Life c/o St. Joseph Catholic Church, 11001 N. 40th Street, Phoenix, AZ 85028.

The dinner and talk will be at St. Joan of Arc’s Weidner Hall, 3801 E. Greenway Road in Phoenix.

Catholic agencies call for rigorous safeguards to protect Haitian children

The heads of five major Catholic agencies outlined measures that should be taken to protect unaccompanied Haitian Children.

Children cry as the crowd pushes during distribution of food in Cite Soleil, a densely populated shantytown in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Jan. 28. (CNS photo/Eduardo Munoz, Reuters)

These agencies, involved in the Haitian earthquake relief effort, detailed the steps in a Feb. 4 letter sent to three cabinet members, according to a press release from the U.S. bishops.

The leaders of Migration and Refugee Services of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Catholic Relief Services, Catholic Charities USA, the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc., and the International Catholic Migration Commission wrote on the topic of Haitian children, February 4, to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

“The compassion of the American people has been evident in their response to Haitian children who have been left alone after the earthquake,” the executives wrote.  “As social service providers with experience in handling unaccompanied children, we believe that certain processes should be established before such children are brought to the United States and placed in adoption proceedings.”

The letter outlined the following procedures to protect Haitian children:

• The establishment of safe havens in Haiti so children would have security and proper care;
• The assignment of child welfare experts to make best interest determinations for each child, including the best placements for children;
• Family tracing efforts so that children could be reunited with their parents and families;
• Placement in foster care with refugee benefits for those children whose best interest is served by relocation to the United States; and
• Expedited consular processing for U.S. citizens or permanent residents with minor children in Haiti, as well as for those with approved petitions for family reunification.

The agency heads stressed that Haitian children who are not already matched with adoptive parents in the United States should only be brought to the United States after it is determined that it is in the interest of the child.

“Family reunification is an important goal and must be protected to the greatest extent possible, while placement with a guardian within Haiti will sometimes prove to be the appropriate course,” they wrote.  “If no family or appropriate guardian is found, and if it is further determined that it is in the child’s best interest not to remain in Haiti, the child should be considered for international placement.”

Full text of the letter follows: Read the end of this entry …

From the Arizona Catholic Conference, the policy wing of the state’s three dioceses:

The Catholic Schools Rally was a huge success at the Capitol [Feb. 3]. Despite predictions of rain, the weather was perfect and the large crowd of Catholic students, teachers, and parents were treated to a great day of fun and learning.

Catholic students show their support of the Catholic Tuition Organization of the Diocese of Phoenix Feb. 3 at the state capitol.

The rally was not the only thing happening at the Capitol this week, however, as movement occurred on some very positive pieces of legislation relating to school choice.  In particular, the Senate Education Committee yesterday approved legislation that would allow donors to wait until April 15th of the following year to make their tuition tax credit contributions.

Additionally, it was announced that two important bills relating to tuition tax credits (HB 2663 and HB 2664) will be heard in the House Ways and Means Committee next Monday at 2 p.m. Both of these bills are meaningful efforts that will improve an already beneficial tax credit program by providing additional transparency and accountability.  HB 2664 also would increase the tuition tax credit limits to $750 for individuals and $1,500 for married couples. Read the end of this entry …

Last issue, we featured some local efforts to help Haitians after the devastating January earthquake rocked the Caribbean country.

Jean and Shella Michel, pastors of First Community Haitian Church in Mesa.

Today I received an email from Karen Kohl, who is featured in this week’s piece and is involved with Haitian Disaster Relief of Arizona. She reports 8,000 square feet of warehouse space were donated to the relief effort. The grand opening of the warehouse — which the relief effort has for six months — will be from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Feb. 11 at the warehouse, 3164 S. Country Club Drive, Suites 8 and 13, Mesa. That’s between Guadalupe and Elliot.

Haitian Disaster Relief or Arizona is a joint effort that began last month between St. Andrew Parish in Chandler and First Community Haitian Church in Mesa.

Kohl says she’s looking for volunteers to help at the new location.

“We have so much space, I am thinking of selling Haitian coffee and having a coffee station,” she said. They might even have a project area, a display area and a sewing area, along with the storage space, she added.

Kohl also noted the upcoming Gilbert Global Festival, April 17, at which folks can call attention to Haiti.

If you want to get in touch with Karen Kohl, drop me a line at jdlgarcia@catholicsun.org and I’ll pass along your information.