Number 4:   The Culture-of-Life Fair 2005 is only nine days away, and there are still 100 spots remaining.  Register online today to reserve your spot.  Join Bishop Brom (keynote speaker) and several local and regional leaders (11 breakout sessions) to hear new ways to engage in building a culture of life in our region.

September 22, 2005, 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the Diocesan Pastoral Center, 3888 Paducah Drive.

To register online go to:
www.osmelink.org/colf. 

If any problems with online registration are encountered, please call the OSM at 858-490-8323.

To view and/or print out a pdf-format registration brochure go to:  www.osmelink.org/colf/pdf. 

Culture of Life Fair 2005 Workshops (you pick two):

Join us for this special event!

To register online go to: www.osmelink.org/colf. 

If any problems with online registration are encountered, please call the OSM at 858-490-8323.

To view and/or print out a pdf-format registration brochure go to:  www.osmelink.org/colf/pdf. 


Culture of Life Fair 2005
Thursday, September 22
6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Diocesan Pastoral Center
3888 Paducah Drive
San Diego, CA, 92117

For information on and a map to the Pastoral Center, please go to:

http://www.diocese-sdiego.org/set.asp?link=../PastoralCenter.htm&in=About

For more information call the OSM at 858-490-8323.
 

Number 1:   San Diego Catholics Join Mary in Prayer for Peace

By Denis Grasska

ALCALA PARK - Thousands gathered at the University of San Diego Aug. 14 for the 22nd Annual Rosaries for Peace Convocation.

San Diego Auxiliary Bishop Salvatore Cordileone presided over the event in USD's Jenny Craig Pavilion. The evening included blessings, scriptural readings, sacred music, recitation of the rosary and several colorful processions.

A Gospel reading recounted the story of the wedding feast at Cana, at which Christ miraculously turned water into wine at the request of his mother. In his homily, Bishop Cordileone said that while St. Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians warns Christians to receive the Eucharist worthily, it is the story of the wedding at Cana that tells us how to make ourselves worthy.

"The words, not surprisingly, [come] from the lips of Jesus' mother," he said. "She gives us the answer to how we worthily receive and, indeed, she gives us the answer to every question of life: 'Do whatever he tells you.'"

Quoting Pope John Paul II, the bishop went on to stress the close connection between Mary's recommendation to "do whatever he tells you" and Christ's command for his Church to "do this [Eucharist] in remembrance of me." There is also a "profound analogy," he said, between Mary's "fiat" before receiving Christ in her womb and a faithful Catholic's "Amen" before receiving Christ in the Eucharist.

The convocation opened with a lavish entrance procession, which included members of the Knights of Columbus and other Catholic organizations, local priests, women religious and others. After welcoming attendees to the event, Bishop Cordileone blessed the gathered crowd with holy water, winding his way row-by-row through the stadium.
During the event, the bishop also presented awards to the winners of this year's "Year of the Eucharist" essay contest, led a procession of the Blessed Sacrament and joined attendees in hymns honoring Mary and the Eucharistic Christ.

Among the convocation's defining moments was a coronation ceremony, in which a statue of Our Lady of Fatima was crowned "Queen of Peace." Following a benediction with the Blessed Sacrament, the evening concluded with attendees invited either to remain inside for a rosary procession, led by an assortment of ethnic groups in traditional dress, or to step outside the Pavilion doors for a candlelight procession.
For the first time in 22 years, and in honor of the Year of the Eucharist, a consecrated host in a monstrance remained exposed on the altar for much of the evening, from the end of the Eucharistic procession until the evening's conclusion.

The Southern Cross

Number 2:  Nikita Receives First Communion from Bishop Cordileone at the July 16, 2005, Respect Life Mass at Most Precious Blood Parish

Little Nikita Survives and Thrives, a Tiny Tower of Faith
By Denis Grasska

CHULA VISTA -- Eight year-old Nikita Foster has had a difficult life, but even if she wanted to cry about it, no one would hear her.

As a premature baby, who weighed less than a pound at birth, Nikita spent her first five months in the San Diego hospital where she was born. During the years of hospitalizations and surgeries that followed, countless tubes were inserted and removed from her throat, permanently paralyzing her right vocal cord and making it difficult to speak.

Her premature birth raised other health concerns, too. Breathing was a constant struggle for 15 months and early doctors' visits revealed a laundry list of health problems, such as cerebral palsy and some hearing loss. Eye surgery spared her from blindness, while emergency heart surgery saved her life.

"Every child should have a chance," said Lou Foster, who became Nikita's foster mother after the child's release from the hospital. "If my husband and I hadn't taken Nikita and decided to keep her as a long-term foster child, who knows what would have happened to her. We later adopted her."

Nikita still struggles with daily activities that most people take for granted, such as walking, talking and eating. Today, the young girl walks with the aid of leg braces. To the amazement of her doctors, she learned to talk -- despite her damaged vocal cord -- by inhaling rather than exhaling when she speaks. And, though she considers hamburgers one of her favorite foods, she only eats the bun because the meat patty is too difficult for her to chew and swallow.

Through all of her difficulties, Nikita has demonstrated faith, patience and quiet grace. For Foster and her husband, Robert, the girl is not only "a little miracle baby," but also "God's little angel." It's a perfect nickname for a little girl with an active interest in heavenly matters.

According to Foster, Nikita's personal struggles and triumphs have only increased her deep faith in the existence of God, heaven and angels. In recent years, when the Fosters mourned the deaths of several relatives, Nikita alone remained levelheaded, expressing her deep faith that their lives would continue in heaven.
 
For Foster's fellow parishioners at Most Precious Blood Parish, as well as Catholics throughout the Diocese of San Diego, Nikita became a symbol of the beauty and sanctity of every human life July 16, when she received her first Holy Communion from Bishop Salvatore Cordileone during a special pro-life Mass at the parish.

Wearing a white Communion dress, Nikita was seated in a wheelchair near the front of the church. In his homily, the bishop introduced her and shared her story with the congregation. Since receiving her first Communion, Nikita has meticulously kept track of each subsequent reception of the Eucharist.

"I was very grateful and honored that the bishop was there for her first Communion," Foster said. "That was something we never expected. There are really no words to describe my feelings, as far as having the honor of having him there."

The most touching moment in the Mass, she said, was when Bishop Cordileone told Nikita that the congregation's applause at the end of the Mass would be for her. Many parishioners congratulated Nikita after Mass. Several gave her gifts.

Born May 22, 1997, more than 13 weeks prematurely, doctors and nurses were convinced Nikita didn't have long to live. As the years passed, other medical professionals would make new dire predictions that, while she would live, she would never be able to walk or talk -- predictions that were soon disproved.

Foster didn't believe the nay-sayers for a second, having previously heard similar claims about another of her foster children. Several years before, she had been given custody of a three-month-old boy, which had been beaten almost to death. When social service workers suggested committing him to an institution, she refused.

"They told me he'd never walk, that he'd never do a thing," Foster said of the boy, who went on to play every sport offered at his high school, before graduating, entering college and holding two jobs. "If I hadn't fought for that one, he would be living in an institution and I don't feel that's the way these children should go."

Nikita is currently a third-grader at a Chula Vista public school, where she is enrolled in the special education program.

As lifelong Catholics, the Fosters wanted to have Nikita baptized into their faith, but several arrangements for the baptism fell through. At one point, Foster was tempted to take the girl to a nondenominational Christian center for baptism. But in May, Shirley Henry, a member of the Most Precious Blood Parish's Legion of Mary, knocked on the Fosters' door and, after speaking with the family, agreed to make preparations for Nikita to be baptized that month by the parish's pastor, Father Frank Wagner. A parish catechist came to their home to prepare Nikita for her first Communion.

"When Shirley came to the door, I believe she was sent to us, just like Nikita was sent here," Foster said. "Nikita was very happy to be baptized and excited about making her first Communion."

Lou and Robert Foster, parishioners at Most Precious Blood since 1965, have been married for 51 years. With three of their own children -- all adults -- and three adopted children, both are now retired and full-time foster parents. The couple picked up Nikita from the hospital on their 43rd wedding anniversary.

"You start off living your life and you don't have these children with all these medical problems," Foster said. "And then you get one of them and you have to adjust your life to theirs. But for us, the change hasn't been a problem, because we were willing to make the adjustments for Nikita."

From The Southern Cross

 

Life Response:

I called each of the California U.S. Senators to share my opposition to S. 471, the bill to federally fund embryonic research. 

The aide in Senator Feinstein's office was very respectful, even though I called to oppose S. 471.  She was quick to point out that Senator Bill Frist has come on board in support of S. 471 and thought that information might move me away from my position.  Sorry to say, it did not.  She did, however, agree to share my opposition to the bill with the Senator.

The call to Senator Boxer's office was quite short.  The aide quickly determined that Senator Boxer was in favor of federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, I shared my opposition to S. 471, and the aide promised to share my views with the Senator.  Would that tens of thousands of Catholics were making the same call.

Kent Peters
 

Dignity Response:

Linda Arreola