Oct. 17-21: Diocesan priests’ convocation

Oct. 22: (Morning) Gabriel Project welcome, Cathedral

       (Morning) Youth Pro Life Boot Camp welcome, Cathedral

       (Morning) Jesuit ordinations, Cathedral

Oct. 23: 10 a.m. Stational Mass, Cathedral

Oct. 25-26: California Catholic Conference annual meeting, Burbank

Oct. 27: (Morning) Bishop’s Administrative Council, Chancery

Oct. 30: 10 a.m. Stational Mass, Cathedral

Oct. 31: (Afternoon) Ecumenical Officers Committee retreat, Los Altos

Nov. 2: (Morning) Operation Rice Bowl breakfast, Cathedral

       (Afternoon) Catholic Telemedia Network Board, Menlo Park

       (Afternoon) Catholic Charities quarterly briefing, Chancery

       (Evening) Oakland Police Foundation Board

Nov. 3: (Morning) Bishop’s Administrative Council, Chancery

       (Afternoon) Presbyteral Council and Diocesan Consultors, Chancery

Nov. 4: (Morning) New pastors workshop, Chancery

Nov. 5: (Morning) Diocesan Pastoral Council, Chancery

Nov. 5-7: Parish Visitation, St. Michael parish, Livermore

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Festival invites participants

Staff report

Schools and parishes throughout the Diocese of Oakland are invited to display a crèche at the second annual Crèche Festival, which is planned for Dec. 9-11, at the Cathedral of Christ the Light.

Last year, more than 1,000 visitors saw the display that included 17 crèches from schools and parishes.

This year’s Crèche Festival will include three concerts, including performances by Chanticleer and the San Francisco Girls Chorus, as well as a Christmas jazz concert. On the afternoon of Dec. 10, a family crèche-making activity is planned.

St. Columba Parish in Oakland has plans to display a very special crèche, made by the 170 students in Haiti whose education is supported by the parish.

Elena Gaudet of the parish’s Hope for Haiti: Education, said funds are raised through a series of events and raffles year-round to support the children, who attend kindergarten through ninth grade in five Christian schools, including one Catholic school.

The children live with their families in tents, Gaudet said. The schools, in the Grand Rabine area of Port-au-Prince, offer one nutritious meal a day.

Their monthly tuition totals $3,000.

After a year of support, the group remains “even more determined” to maintain the level of support, Gaudet said.

Plans had been in the works to support children in Haiti before the earthquake struck in January 2010. Through a human rights program in Haiti, Gaudet said, the parish had asked what was the most important way it could help. Education, was the reply.

Pilgrimage, Mass

The Sixth annual Our Lady of Guadalupe Diocesan Pilgrimage begins at 9 a.m. Dec. 3 at St. Louis Bertrand Church, 1410 100th Ave., Oakland. The eight-mile pilgrimage to the Cathedral of Christ the Light will be followed by Mass with Bishop Salvatore J. Cordileone presiding. The Cathedral is located at 2121 Harrison St. For more information contact Hector Medina at Latino Ministries, (510) 496-7224 or hmedina@oakdiocese.org

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‘Faithful Citizenship’

WASHINGTON — A new introduction to the U.S. bishops’ document on political responsibility reminds Catholics that some issues “involve the clear obligation to oppose intrinsic evils which can never be justified,” while others “require action to pursue justice and promote the common good.” The brief Introductory Note to the 2011 reissue of “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship” was signed by the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the chairmen of nine USCCB committees. It was approved by the bishops’ Administrative Committee at its mid-September meeting and made public Oct. 4. The introduction says that “Faithful Citizenship,” one in a series of documents that have been issued before every presidential election for nearly 35 years, “has at times been misused to present an incomplete or distorted view of the demands of faith in politics” but “remains a faithful and challenging call to discipleship in the world of politics.

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Solitude for ‘agitated’ world

VATICAN CITY — Endless news, noise and crowds have made people afraid of silence and solitude, which are essential for finding God’s love and love for others, Pope Benedict XVI said. Progress in communications and transportation has made life more comfortable, as well as more “agitated, sometimes frantic,” he said, especially in cities, where there is a constant din, even all night. Young people seem to want to fill every moment with music and video, and there is a growing risk that people are more immersed in a virtual world rather than in reality because of the constant stream of “audiovisual messages that accompany their lives from morning to night,” he said during a visit to an Italian monastery Oct. 9.“

Everyone has an angel

VATICAN CITY — Guardian angels exist to protect every human life from its beginning to end, Pope Benedict XVI said. “The Lord is always near and active in human history, and he also accompanies us with the unique presence of his angels, which the Church today venerates” on feast of the Guardian Angels Oct. 2, he said before reciting the Angelus. Guardian angels are “ministers of divine care for every person,” he said. “From the beginning to the time of death, human life is surrounded by their unceasing protection,” the pope told pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square.

God will guide, protect

VATICAN CITY — God will always guide, protect and nourish those intent on following him, Pope Benedict XVI said. “Following Jesus, the good shepherd, we will be certain we are on the right path and that the Lord will always guide us, be with us and we will lack nothing,” the pope said Oct. 5 during his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square.

—Catholic News Service

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