Catholic Transcript Online

WATERBURY – The founders of three successful pro-life organizations will speak at Connecticut Right to Life’s 36th annual convention on Oct. 2. The event begins at 11 a.m. at the Holiday Inn at Coco Key.

Featured speakers will be Margaret (Peggy) Hartshorn, president of Heartbeat International, based in Tampa, Fla.; Jim Sedlak, vice president of American Life League, based in Stafford, Va.; and Damon Owens, founder of Joy Filled Marriage NJ.

WASHINGTON (CNS) – Catholics in the United States will begin using the long-awaited English translation of the Roman Missal on the first Sunday of Advent in 2011, Cardinal Francis E. George of Chicago said Aug. 20.

The Cardinal's announcement as president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops marks the formal beginning of a more than 15-month period of education and training leading to the first use of the "third typical edition" of the Roman Missal at English-language Masses in the United States on Nov. 27, 2011.

LONG BEACH, Calif. (CNS) – The clergy sexual abuse scandal, diminishing numbers of priests and an overemphasis on professionalism may be coloring how the leaders of religious orders think about the priesthood, said a U.S. Redemptorist who has been named to a Vatican post overseeing religious life.

Archbishop-designate Joseph W. Tobin, recently appointed secretary of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, made the remarks in a speech at the annual assembly of the Conference of Major Superiors of Men.

Deacon Mark Coudrain and Benedictine Abbot Justin Brown examine a prototype of the simple cypress casket to be offered for sale in this 2007 photo in New Orleans. Abbot Brown of St. Joseph Abbey asked a federal court in New Orleans Aug. 12 to overturn a Louisiana law that lets only licensed funeral homes sell caskets to the public. (CNS photo/Frank J Methe, Clarion Herald)

NEW ORLEANS (CNS) – Standing behind a simple, cypress casket handcrafted by the monks of St. Joseph Abbey, Benedictine Abbot Justin Brown asked a federal court in New Orleans Aug. 12 to bury a Louisiana law allowing only licensed funeral homes to sell caskets to the public.

DERBY – When parents from St. Mary-St. Michael School learned that the Archdiocese of Hartford planned to close their school last February, they went into action.

After forming a five-member parent task force, they moved quickly to develop a two-pronged financial advancement plan focused on enrollment and development. The Archdiocese accepted it in April and it was put in place July 1. Now, they’re putting the plan into action.

ROME (CNA/EWTN News) – A gold reliquary containing Padre Pio relics was the apparent object of thieves' interest on Aug. 8. Sacrilege has been ruled out by a Capuchin spokesperson, as the attempt was likely for the gold, not the relics themselves.

Embedded in the altar of a chapel in the San Giovanni Rotondo cemetery in Italy is a glass and gold reliquary that contains some hair, wrappings that would have covered the saint's pierced side, and a pair of gloves, reported Italy's La Repubblica newspaper.

From left, Curtis D. Robinson, board member at St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center; Dr. Ben Carson, neurosurgeon and author, Johns Hopkins Craniofacial Center; Rev. Marcus McKinney, director of community outreach and pastoral counseling at St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center; Christopher M. Dadlez, president and CEO of St. Francis; Alan Kalter, announcer, David Letterman Show; Clifton Davis, actor, singer, song-writer; Dr. Jeffrey Steinberg, chief of surgery at St. Francis. (Photo submitted)