The Mabee Foundation has offered a half-million-dollar grant if we can raise the balance needed to renovate St. Joseph Pastoral Center by Dec. 31. And for a limited time you can make a one-time gift online at www.TOGETHERvision.org or www.OurWichitaCathedral.org.

By Christopher M. Riggs
Steven W. Mosher says God has not rescinded the first commandment given to our first parents, “be fertile and multiply and fill the earth.”
And we’re a long way from filling the earth, he said in an interview from his office in Front Royal, Va.
Mosher, an anthropologist and president of the Population Research Institute, said the problem in most countries of the world is not overpopulation but underpopulation.
That was the same message he delivered Oct. 31 to the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., in response to the United Nation’s announcement of the birth of the seven billionth person in the world.
“We are grateful that Baby Seven Billion will come into this world,” Mosher said. “The attitude of the anti-people types is arrogant and elitist. They say, in effect, to Africans, Asians and Latin Americans: ‘There are just enough of us, but there are way too many of you.’”
In the 1960s and 1970s many governments bought into the idea that a population time bomb was set to explode, he said, adding that when facing such situations “governments either tend to do nothing or they tend to overreact.”
One result of governmental overreaction is that the world’s population will peak in about 30 years.
“We don’t know the exact number, but we do know that the birth rates are falling everywhere. We do know that in half of the countries of the world people are having too few children to maintain their current populations.”
Many countries face a demographic crisis as a result, he said. “In Germany, for example, and Italy and Japan, they fill more coffins each year than cradles.”
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia was left with a population of about 148 million. Today Russia has about 144 million people. As a result of the decline, the government declared a demographic crisis.
“If you lose two-thirds of a million people a year out of a population of 144 million and if you don’t get your birthrate up, you better decide who you want to give your country to,” he said, “because someone else is going to inherit those lands in the future.”

By Christopher M. Riggs
Judith Leonard says women are not getting the whole truth when it comes to the risks they incur by taking estrogen-progestagen containing drugs.
Leonard, director of the diocesan Family Life and Natural Family Planning Office, said the medical community heavily promoted the connection between hormone replacement therapy and breast, cervical, and liver cancer.
“But they haven’t been as open about the connection between cancer and oral contraceptives,” she said last week. “October was Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but I’ll bet you didn’t read any articles about the well-documented connection between birth control pills and breast cancer.”
It’s actually old news, Leonard said. “The World Health Organization in 2005 classified combined estrogen-progestogen oral contraceptives as carcinogenic. And the next year four researchers published an analysis in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings stating that oral contraceptives “are associated with an increase in premenopausal breast cancer risk, especially among women who use OCs before FFTP” (first full-term pregnancy).
According to LifeNews.com, one of the physicians involved in the Mayo Clinic study, Dr. Chris Kahlenborn, said, “These women incurred a 44 percent increased risk, which rose to 52 percent if they took them for at least four years prior to the birth of their first child.”
Leonard asks, “Who is the single most important person protecting a woman from breast cancer? Her BABY! Long before birth, her baby’s chemical signals began the process of breast growth and maturation that make breastfeeding possible. And it is only through a full-term pregnancy and lactation that a woman acquires her greatest protection against breast cancer.”
Many women are buying organic vegetables, hormone-free meats, and products that won’t damage the environment, out of concern for their families, she said, but those same women will then take massive doses of hormones that may increase their risk of cancer.
“Even if they don’t believe it will cause breast cancer,” she said, “why take large doses of hormones that change the way a healthy body is supposed to work?”

The Diocese of Wichita will host a one-day bus pilgrimage for life to Topeka Monday, Jan. 23.
Bonnie Toombs, director of the Respect Life and Social Justice Office, said the pilgrims will be in solidarity with hundreds of youth and their chaperones from our diocese who will be Marching for Life in Washington, D.C., at the same time.
“The faithful of the diocese are invited to join together in Topeka to be that voice and presence for those who cannot speak for themselves. In speaking up for the unborn, the youth of our diocese are also speaking up for themselves. We need you to speak up for the unborn too!”
The pilgrimage is a one-day trip open for all ages. Buses will leave from St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and Church of the Magdalen parishes, both in Wichita, at about 7:30 p.m. and arrive in Topeka at the Ramada Inn around 10 a.m. A bus from Southeast Kansas is also planned.
]]> noemail.mcclaned@cdowk.org (Don McClane) Frontpage News Thu, 03 Nov 2011 18:23:44 +0000 http://catholicdioceseofwichita.org/diocese-recent-news-a-events/14810-diocese-seeking-entries-for-pro-life-poster http://catholicdioceseofwichita.org/diocese-recent-news-a-events/14810-diocese-seeking-entries-for-pro-life-poster

Winning entry will be printed in the Catholic Advance this January
The diocesan Respect Life & Social Justice Office is sponsoring its second annual Rose Poster Contest. The winning entry will be printed in the Catholic Advance in January.
Bonnie Toombs, director of the office, said the contest was opened to the faithful of the Diocese of Wichita to bring attention to the church’s teachings about the sanctity of life and to involve more people in the effort to protect life.
“This is another outlet for stewardship, a way for the faithful to return the gifts they have received from God to help the church,” Toombs said.
“We hope amateur and professional artists will give of their time and talent so that they can catechize their brothers and sisters in Christ.”

Adopting parents work with Catholic Charities and get phone call day after paperwork is done
By Christopher M. Riggs
When Bobby and Paula Lloyd were engaged to be married they talked about the large family they hoped to have.
“But obviously it was up to God,” Bobby said in an interview last week. “We also talked about adoption. Ten would be a great number, but again, obviously, it was up to God, whether we adopted one, two, or all 10 of them.”
The Lloyds found out after they were married that they had some fertility issues, so they began their adoption investigation sooner than planned.
After exploring several avenues for adoption they settled with Catholic Charities. After meeting all the requirements and submitting a portfolio about themselves to Charities, Bobby and Paula went home and waited for a phone call.
They received one the next day.
]]> noemail.mcclaned@cdowk.org (Don McClane) Frontpage News Thu, 03 Nov 2011 17:58:28 +0000 http://catholicdioceseofwichita.org/diocese-recent-news-a-events/14812-office-of-worship-hosting-series-about-catechesis-on-the-mass http://catholicdioceseofwichita.org/diocese-recent-news-a-events/14812-office-of-worship-hosting-series-about-catechesis-on-the-mass The Office of Worship will offer its fourth workshop in the five-part series, Catechesis on the Mass, entitled “Text and Context” through Dec. 10.
The workshop will examine the new translation, the changes, and their meanings. It will also consider how we bring the text of our lives and the context of the world we live in to the offering made at Holy Mass. Our offering of bread and wine represents the offering of ourselves and all creation back to God Who has first given these gifts to us. They are united to the one offering of Jesus Christ.
Workshop dates and locations:
• Sunday, Nov. 6, 4-5:15 p.m., at Holy Name Parish, Winfield, Parish Hall
• Monday, Nov. 7, 7-8:15 p.m., at Church of the Holy Spirit, Goddard, Spirit Hall
• Wednesday, Nov. 16, 7:30-8:15 p.m., at St. Mary Parish, Moline, Parish Hall
• Monday, Nov. 28, 7-8:15 p.m., Church of the Magdalen, Wichita, Schmidt Hall
• Saturday, Dec. 10, 9-10:15 a.m., at St. Patrick Parish, Chanute, Parish Center
SLC workshop Nov. 8, 15
The Spiritual Life Center and the diocesan Office of Worship are offering a two-part workshop entitled “Roman Missal: Text for a Praying Church” on Tuesday nights, Nov. 8 and 15 from 7 to 8:30 p.m.
The workshop will look at the history and development of the Roman Missal and its place and function in the liturgy. The principles, principals, and changes in the current Missal translation will be examined and explained.
The workshop includes a Roman Missal 101 instruction on the parts and structure of the Missal, how to use it and how to coordinate it with other liturgical rites and texts (lectionary, gradual, etc.), and a suggested process for discerning the liturgical theology of a particular liturgical event or solemnity. There will also be a dry run to hear how the Mass will sound using the revised Missal.

Second ‘After the Gift’ retreat scheduled
Next birthmom retreat set for Feb. 3-5 at SLC
Because of the success of the recent After the Gift retreat for birthmothers, another is being scheduled for February at the Spiritual Life Center in Wichita.
Bonnie Toombs, director of the diocesan Respect Life and Social Justice office, said some of the women who attend the retreat in September had been waiting years for a chance to openly talk about their experience and pain of placing their child for adoption.
“All of those attending left feeling supported by the new connections made with other women, and they left with a renewed sense of support from the diocese,” she said.
Cheryl, a participant in the weekend retreat, said she had prayed for such an event for years so that she could meet other women who had made similar sacrifices.
]]> noemail.mcclaned@cdowk.org (Don McClane) Frontpage News Thu, 03 Nov 2011 16:10:43 +0000 http://catholicdioceseofwichita.org/diocese-recent-news-a-events/14803-youth-and-school-news-november-4-2011 http://catholicdioceseofwichita.org/diocese-recent-news-a-events/14803-youth-and-school-news-november-4-2011 CLAY retreat set for Dec. 3 at Holy Spirit in Goddard
A freshman and sophomore Christ’s Light in All Youth retreat will be held Saturday, Dec. 3, at the Church of the Holy Spirit Parish in Goddard.
CLAY is a spiritual retreat specifically for freshmen and sophomores in high school. The retreat starts on Saturday at 9:30 a.m. and ends at 8 p.m. The cost is $30, which includes two meals and all supplies.
Adults who work with youth are also welcome. CLAY uses video clips, hands on activities and creative forms of prayer to impact the spiritual lives of its candidates.
For an application or further information please contact the Office of Youth & Young Adult Ministries at (316) 269-3930 or go to http://catholicdioceseofwichita.org/youth/clay to download the CLAY application.
The priority deadline for applications is Nov. 14.

]]> noemail.mcclaned@cdowk.org (Don McClane) Frontpage News Thu, 03 Nov 2011 16:00:58 +0000