NEWS BRIEFS Mar-17-2009

By Catholic News Service

U.S.

Obama, president of US bishops hold private meeting

WASHINGTON (CNS) — President Barack Obama met for half an hour March 17 with Chicago Cardinal Francis E. George, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the White House and the USCCB announced. Brief statements issued by the White House and the USCCB said little more than that the two presidents had met for a private, 30-minute afternoon session in the Oval Office. “The president and Cardinal George discussed a wide range of issues, including important opportunities for the government and the Catholic Church to continue their long-standing partnership to tackle some of the nation’s most pressing challenges,” said the White House statement. “The president thanked Cardinal George for his leadership and for the contributions of the Catholic Church in America and around the world.” The statement from the USCCB said: “The meeting was private. Cardinal George and President Obama discussed the Catholic Church in the United States and its relation to the new administration. The meeting lasted approximately 30 minutes. At the conclusion, Cardinal George expressed his gratitude for the meeting and his hopes that it will foster fruitful dialogue for the sake of the common good,” the USCCB statement added.

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Cardinal warns of despotism if conscience rights aren’t protected

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Warning that a failure to protect conscience rights would move the country “from democracy to despotism,” Cardinal Francis E. George of Chicago urged U.S. Catholics to tell the Obama administration that they “want conscience protections to remain strongly in place.” “No government should come between an individual person and God — that’s what America is supposed to be about,” said the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in a videotaped message available on the USCCB Web site at www.usccb.org/conscienceprotection and on YouTube at www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NoCRwMqVzQ. “This is the true common ground for us as Americans,” he added. Cardinal George was urging public comment by April 9 on an effort to rescind a regulation of the Department of Health and Human Services. The rule codifies several existing federal statutes prohibiting discrimination against health professionals who decline to participate in abortions or other medical procedures because of their religious or other moral objections. HHS opened a 30-day comment period on the proposed rescission March 10. The regulation took effect two days before President Barack Obama took office.

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Former NFL star shares faith journey at Philadelphia men’s conference

SPRINGFIELD, Pa. (CNS) — Speaker Rich Gannon told participants at a Philadelphia archdiocesan Catholic men’s conference that he doesn’t claim “to be a preacher of any sort or even an expert in the faith.” He said, “I am really one of you, with faults, worries and handicaps but one who is constantly growing and learning about God’s extraordinary love for us.” Gannon, a hometown boy, is a former NFL star. He achieved college and professional football stardom, receiving both NFL and Pro Bowl MVP awards during his years with the Oakland Raiders. He retired in 2004. He was a speaker at a March 7 men’s spirituality conference held at Cardinal O’Hara High School in Springfield under the theme “Strengthen One Another.” The gathering, which was Philadelphia’s first archdiocesanwide men’s conference, drew an estimated 1,200 participants. Gannon spoke of his own faith journey, which was grounded in his Catholic education in Philadelphia and which blossomed during his athletic career. Catholic men’s conferences have become increasingly popular throughout the country. Dioceses with upcoming conferences include Cincinnati, March 21; Dubuque, Iowa, March 23; Saginaw, Mich., March 28; and Boston, April 18.

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Youth leaders say famine experience expands teens’ awareness of need

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Catholic youths involved in a hunger awareness project said the effort has made them more aware of the needs of others, according to a youth leader at an Arizona Catholic parish. “This event brought awareness to these teens who really had no idea how many young children are ill and die from hunger and poverty,” Eileen Kuns, a youth leader from Christ the King Church in Mesa, Ariz., told Catholic News Service through an e-mail. Christ the King Church was one of several churches and faith communities of all denominations nationwide that took part in a Lenten 30-hour famine involving teen participants at churches across the country to help the hungry. It was initiated by World Vision, a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice. According to World Vision, 14,000 adults and children die from hunger and malnutrition every day. Participants pledge to go without food for 30 hours and collect donations to help World Vision fight hunger.

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WORLD

In Africa, pope says Gospel is answer to continent’s problems

YAOUNDE, Cameroon (CNS) — Arriving in Africa, Pope Benedict XVI said the church’s message of hope and reconciliation was sorely needed by a continent suffering disproportionately from poverty, conflict and disease. At a welcoming ceremony March 17 in Yaounde, the pope said he was making his first visit to Africa to respond to the many men and woman who “long to hear a word of hope and comfort.” In Africans’ fight against injustice, he said, the church is their natural ally. “In the face of suffering or violence, poverty or hunger, corruption or abuse of power, a Christian can never remain silent,” the pope said. The 81-year-old pontiff stood on a platform at Yaounde’s airport next to Cameroonian President Paul Biya, who welcomed the pope on a hot, humid afternoon. Groups of schoolchildren sang and cheered, waving paper flags with the Vatican’s colors. The pope said he came to Africa as a pastor, not a politician, to a continent where the saving message of the Gospel needs to be “proclaimed loud and clear.” The encounter with Christianity, he said, can transform situations of hardship or injustice.

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Pope’s condom comments latest chapter in sensitive church discussion

YAOUNDE, Cameroon (CNS) — Pope Benedict XVI’s declaration that distribution of condoms only increases the problem of AIDS is the latest and one of the strongest statements in a simmering debate inside the church. The pope was speaking to journalists aboard his flight to Cameroon March 17, and he was asked whether the church’s approach to AIDS prevention — which focuses primarily on sexual responsibility and rejects condom campaigns — was unrealistic and ineffective. The pope framed his answer in terms of the church’s service to those with AIDS and its efforts to promote what he called a “humanization of sexuality” that includes the elements of fidelity and self-sacrifice. The pope did not get into the specific question of whether in certain circumstances condom use was morally licit or illicit in AIDS prevention, an issue that is still under study by Vatican theologians.

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Pope, on plane, says church can help Africa address its problems

ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT TO CAMEROON (CNS) — Making his first trip to Africa, Pope Benedict XVI said the Catholic Church can help bring answers to the continent’s chronic problems, including poverty, AIDS and tribalism. Speaking to reporters aboard his Alitalia chartered jet March 17, the pope strongly defended the church’s efforts to fight AIDS and said condom distribution only made the problem worse. “One cannot overcome the problem with the distribution of condoms. On the contrary, they increase the problem,” the pope said. Nor can the AIDS pandemic be confronted only with aid programs, he said. What the church teaches, he said, is “humanization of sexuality” and sexual responsibility on the one hand, and a willingness to be present with those who are suffering, on the other hand. He pointed to the many church programs currently helping AIDS victims and said the church’s contribution had led to real and visible progress.

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Freedom of religion helps prevent hate speech, says Vatican official

GENEVA (CNS) — Safeguarding and implementing freedom of religion offer the best protection against hate speech, said a Vatican official. “Though the question concerning limitations to the right to freedom of expression with a view to respecting the religious feelings of persons is a legitimate one — many states have those limitations in their laws, including Western states — the Holy See does not think that another international instrument is the right answer,” said Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, Vatican representative to U.N. agencies in Geneva. The archbishop made his remarks March 16 during the 10th session of the U.N. Human Rights Council. The Vatican supports better implementation of the universal principle of freedom of religion as the best protection against hate speech, he said. He added that “each state should look into its own national legislation and should consider how it can encourage a frank but respectful discussion between members of the same religion, between representatives of different religions and persons who have no religious belief.”

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Canadian bishops hope reproduction act passes Supreme Court test

OTTAWA (CNS) — Canada’s Assisted Human Reproduction Act faces an important test before the Supreme Court — and Canada’s Catholic bishops want to make sure it passes. The act prohibits or limits such activities as human cloning, surrogacy, sex selection, the sale of human eggs or sperm, animal-human hybrids, and in vitro fertilization while promoting health, safety and human dignity. “The legislation that has been put in place attempts to draw our country together in one particular vision of who we are,” said Archbishop V. James Weisgerber of Winnipeg, Manitoba, president of the bishops’ conference. “If we are to be a country, a society, we need common values.” Archbishop Weisgerber said the act’s values “express what is good for the whole country.” He said, “It’s an area of our common life that touches on the value of life.” On April 24, the Supreme Court of Canada will hear an appeal of last June’s Quebec Court of Appeal ruling that put human reproduction under provincial jurisdiction. In that case the judge ruled that “only the individual safety of the participants in assisted reproduction and the children that result from it require protection.”

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Transfer of power confuses Madagascans, says church official

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (CNS) — People in Madagascar’s capital of Antananarivo are worried and confused about the sudden and violent transfer of power to the military, said a Catholic official. “The situation is not clear and we are waiting to see what happens,” Msgr. Joseph Arshad told Catholic News Service in a March 17 telephone interview from Antananarivo, shortly after President Marc Ravalomanana resigned and transferred power to the military. “We are praying for a good solution” to the political crisis, said Msgr. Arshad, secretary to Archbishop Augustine Kasujja, papal nuncio to Madagascar. He said the Catholic bishops’ conference of Madagascar twice has called on Catholics to pray for the country, where at least 100 people have died in the turmoil that began in January. Opposition leader Andry Rajoelina, 34, took control from Ravalomanana March 17 with the support of the army. The French news agency Agence France-Presse reported that Ravalomanana, who was president of the Indian Ocean island for seven years, signed away his power in a presidential decree hours after the army blasted its way into his offices.

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Nigerian bishops lament past, express concern for country’s future

LAGOS, Nigeria (CNS) — The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria lamented Nigeria’s checkered political journey to nationhood and warned that the country still has a long way to go to reach stability. “We are yet to build a nation where people dwell in security, but we have a country where life and property are constantly exposed to danger,” the bishops said in a statement released in mid-March, after their weeklong plenary session. “The Niger Delta crisis in the South, the religious conflicts in the North and ethnic conflicts in different parts of the country” are part of the insecurity Nigerians face, the bishops said. They recalled that corruption and the theft of public funds, which largely have remained unabated despite their call for prayers, had brought Nigeria to its knees. The bishops said they regretted “the collapse of infrastructure, the lack of basic amenities … the increasing number of unemployed in the ever-rising crime wave in the land.”

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Vatican allows southern Africa to continue use of Mass translations

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (CNS) — The Vatican has allowed parishes in South Africa, Botswana and Swaziland that have started using Vatican-approved Mass translations to continue to do so, after the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference said it mistakenly gave them the go-ahead. The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments “has accepted the explanation” by Archbishop Buti Tlhagale of Johannesburg, conference president, “regarding the early implementation of the new translation,” said a mid-March statement issued by Father Vincent Brennan, general secretary of the bishops’ conference and a member of the Society of African Missions. “The congregation has agreed that the implementation continue, along with continued catechesis explaining the changes,” the statement said, noting that “this catechesis should include preparation of music for singing the new texts.” The other approved texts of the Mass, such as the eucharistic prayers, “will be implemented when the rest of the English-speaking world implements the changes,” it said.

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PEOPLE

Book focuses on Pope John Paul II as communicator

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope John Paul II’s ability to communicate was not primarily a result of his experience as an amateur actor, but was an expression of his theology, said the authors of a new book. In his speeches and writings, whether the audience was religious or not, the late pope continually emphasized the role of Jesus Christ as both the creator of words and as the embodiment of the Word, the authors said at a round-table discussion launching the book in February. Sister Christine Mugridge, a member of the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity, and Salesian Sister Marie Gannon wrote “John Paul II: Development of a Theology of Communications,” which was published by the Vatican publishing house. In his almost 27-year pontificate, Pope John Paul “was known for his communicative gifts,” the authors wrote. After analyzing both the pope’s work and his communication style, the authors concluded that a principal theme of Pope John Paul’s pontificate was “the person of Christ, who not only reveals/communicates the salvific plan of the Father, but reveals/communicates man to himself in the light of this divine revelation.”

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Franciscan nun in Raleigh, N.C., is CCHD diocesan director of year

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Franciscan Sister Joan Jurski was named the Catholic Campaign for Human Development’s 2009 director of the year. Sister Joan has been the CCHD director in the Diocese of Raleigh, N.C., since 1991. Also coordinator of the diocesan Office of Peace and Justice, she addresses the social concerns of a diocese that is more rural than urban, with 96 Catholic churches spread over 54 counties. The annual award honors the daily and “often unsung efforts of the men and women” who serve their dioceses as local campaign directors, an announcement said. Sister Joan received the award in February during the annual Catholic Social Ministry Gathering in Washington. In her acceptance remarks, she said CCHD, the U.S. bishops’ domestic anti-poverty program, is one of the most effective evangelization efforts in the Raleigh Diocese.

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Irish Columban priest devotes life to ‘greening’ the earth

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (CNS) — In the 40 years he has worked for justice, Columban Father Sean McDonagh has never seen a challenge like the one facing the earth today. He believes environmental degradation, the excessive use of fossil fuels that results in ever higher levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and the drive for short-term profits at the expense of long-term planning and preservation are leading to a global disaster that may prove impossible to reverse if the world fails to act soon. “We are not the last generation to live on this planet,” he told Catholic News Service during a break March 14 at the seventh annual Ecumenical Advocacy Days conference in Alexandria. “We’re living as if we are.” Often blunt and to the point, Father McDonagh travels the world as the justice and peace coordinator for the Columbans. Based in Ireland, but rarely staying anywhere for very long, the 64-year-old former missionary priest in the Philippines is a global citizen, spreading a green Gospel message.

NEWS BRIEFS Jul-23-2008

By Catholic News Service

U.S.

CRS official urges Congress to respond to food crisis facing Africans

WASHINGTON (CNS) — A Catholic Relief Services official urged Congress to reinforce recent supplemental funding with $1.6 billion in additional resources for food and security programs in Africa. Mounting global food and fuel prices have created grim circumstances for thousands of hungry families throughout Africa, said Sean Callahan, CRS executive vice president for overseas operations. Callahan recently returned from a trip to east Africa and testified July 16 before a subcommittee of the House Agriculture Committee. “I visited a feeding site run by the Ethiopian Catholic Church and the Missionaries of Charity in a largely Muslim area where, over the previous five weeks, 28 children had died of malnutrition,” he told members of the subcommittee. “The conditions there are already dire.” The United States contributes more total food aid than any other country, providing more than $1.78 billion in fiscal year 2007, which is about 58 percent of the total spent globally for food assistance, said April Demert Slayton, a spokeswoman for the Subcommittee on Specialty Crops, Rural Development and Foreign Agriculture. For fiscal 2008, $1.53 billion was provided for food aid through regular appropriations, which was increased by an additional $1.2 billion for global food assistance in the supplemental appropriations bill recently passed by Congress, Slayton said.

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Bishop says weapons of war must be abolished ‘before they abolish us’

WORCESTER, Mass. (CNS) — War has evolved to mean nothing but indiscriminate destruction, retired Auxiliary Bishop Thomas J. Gumbleton of Detroit told the crowd gathered for the Catholic Worker Movement’s 75th anniversary celebration in Worcester. He said the U.S. government teaches that there are no innocent civilians and preparations are being made to use conventional or nuclear weapons even at the hint of threat. “The weapons of war must be abolished before they abolish us,” he said. Organizers said the national Catholic Worker gathering, held July 9-12, drew more than 500 Catholic Workers and other interested individuals from around the United States and Germany and included morning prayer, talks, workshops, a play, music and dancing. Worcester Bishop Robert J. McManus celebrated Mass for the group July 12. In his remarks Bishop Gumbleton talked about President John F. Kennedy’s speech to the United Nations in 1961 and how he wanted a peace race with the Soviet Union. “John Kennedy would have led us on this waging of peace,” the bishop concluded. “He was not able to do it, but we are.”

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In prison, no bars to Holy Spirit as bishop confirms inmates

CHESTER, Pa. (CNS) — The Holy Spirit filled the walls of the state prison in Chester when Auxiliary Bishop Robert P. Maginnis of Philadelphia confirmed four inmates. “These men made a real, conscious decision to pursue this reception of the sacrament. They were very serious,” Bishop Maginnis said in an interview with The Catholic Standard & Times, newspaper of the Philadelphia Archdiocese. “The people who are in prison, by and large, are looking for ways to improve themselves. In many cases, religion is a factor for them to see that if they have a better relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ — if and when they are paroled — they will become better citizens,” he said. Bishop Maginnis marveled at the spontaneous round of applause the men received from their fellow Catholic inmates at the conclusion of the recent confirmation ceremony. “That’s a real statement of their faith — of what they believe,” he said. The grace of the Holy Spirit that the inmates received at their confirmation is certain to make them stronger and “better able to live better lives,” Bishop Maginnis said. At the same time, it demonstrated to the prison staff that “these men are willing to make strides to improve themselves,” he said.

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WORLD

Neurologist calls withholding hydration ‘euthanasia by omission’

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Withholding artificial nutrition and hydration from a patient in a persistent vegetative state amounts to “euthanasia by omission,” said the former president of the World Federation of Catholic Medical Associations. Dr. Gianluigi Gigli, a professor of neurology at the University of Udine, Italy, spoke to the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, July 23 about the case of an Italian woman who has been in a vegetative state for 16 years. Eluana Englaro, 37, was injured in a car accident in 1992. Initially on a respirator for three months, she has been breathing on her own since then and opens her eyes in the morning and closes them at night. She shows no other signs of awareness. Her father, Beppino Englaro, has been waging an eight-year legal battle trying to convince a court to allow him to stop providing his daughter with food and water and let her die. Milan’s civil Court of Appeals ruled July 9 that he could withhold nutrition and hydration because of the “extraordinary duration” of her vegetative state and her own wishes for her life, which were “irreconcilable with the total and irreversible loss of her mental faculties.” However, July 22 the Milan procurator general announced he was taking the court’s ruling to the Supreme Court, which could block removal of the feeding tubes for up to one year.

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WYD official in New Zealand hopes Indians who defected will go home

AUCKLAND, New Zealand (CNS) — The chairman of Auckland’s World Youth Day committee said he hopes the Indian pilgrims who went missing from their host families’ homes will “do the right thing.” Two of the 40 Indians who came to New Zealand for the pre-World Youth Day program Days in the Diocese left for their home country July 20. Maurice Boland, the chairman, said it would be in their best interests if the others do the same thing, despite what people “who aren’t acting in their best interests” tell them. “As you know, you were warmly welcomed to New Zealand and that welcome still exists,” Boland said in a July 17 statement to the missing Indians. “However, every day you continue with your fruitless pretense of staying in our country is a further day closer to when your temporary stay will turn from being legal to being entirely illegal.” About 220 Indians came to New Zealand as part of Days in the Diocese. During the July 10-14 acclimation program, 40 Indians went missing at different times in what appears to be an orchestrated attempt to stay in New Zealand. Boland said the actions of the 40 Indians “caused considerable anguish to their families, their faith, their country, and have imposed an added burden to authorities in New Zealand, Australia and India.”

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Church leaders cautiously hopeful over Zimbabwe power-sharing deal

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (CNS) — Church leaders expressed cautious hope over a deal signed by Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai that lays the framework for negotiations aimed at forming a power-sharing government. “The immediate expectation is that it will bring an end to the violence,” said Father Frederick Chiromba, secretary-general of the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference, in a July 22 telephone interview from the capital, Harare. “Once peace has been established, meaningful dialogue can take place,” Father Chiromba told Catholic News Service, noting that the “parties need to enter into dialogue in good faith” and to not revert to violence “if things don’t go their way.” Human rights groups said opposition supporters have been the targets of brutal state-sponsored violence since March, leaving more than 80 dead and 200,000 displaced. The preliminary agreement, mediated by South African President Thabo Mbeki, was signed July 21. It sets a two-week deadline for the government and two factions of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change to discuss issues, including a unity government and how to hold new elections.

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Newly inaugurated Vatican agency regulates workers’ health, safety

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — A newly inaugurated Vatican agency is dedicated to regulating and overseeing workers’ health and safety. Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo, president of the commission governing Vatican territory, presided over a July 21 ceremony blessing the Vatican safety inspectors’ new headquarters. The offices are part of a total revamping of how the Vatican protects and safeguards the rights, health and safety of people who work on Vatican territory. In December the Vatican announced a new law to improve worker safety and rights. Most Vatican regulations follow Italian norms, but the Vatican wanted to cut bureaucracy and customize rules to take into account the Vatican’s unique situation, said Gianluigi Marrone, a Vatican City judge. The law called for the creation of a new agency specifically dedicated to worker safety, he said in an interview published July 23 in the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano. The agency was established this year and is staffed by a doctor, an engineer, an architect and an official from the Vatican’s fire brigade.

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Cardinal to Anglicans: Ignoring Christian tradition like Alzheimer’s

LONDON (CNS) — A Vatican official told the world’s Anglican bishops that ignoring Christian tradition and making decisions apart from the wider church are like degenerative diseases. At the Lambeth Conference, where the Anglican bishops are struggling with such issues as the ordination of women, gay bishops and gay unions, Cardinal Ivan Dias appeared to allude to a “spiritual Alzheimer’s” threatening to destroy the historical memory of the Anglican churches. “Much is spoken today of diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s,” Cardinal Dias, prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, told the plenary session in Canterbury July 23. “By analogy, their symptoms can, at times, be found even in our own Christian communities,” he said. “For example, when we live myopically in the fleeting present, oblivious of our past heritage and apostolic traditions, we could well be suffering from spiritual Alzheimer’s. And when we behave in a disorderly manner, going whimsically our own way without any coordination with the head or the other members of our community, it could be ecclesial Parkinson’s,” the Indian-born cardinal said. He added that the joint efforts of Anglicans and Catholics to spread the Christian faith depended on their “unity and cohesion.”

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Cincinnati Archdiocese honored for service to Holy Land Christians

WASHINGTON (CNS) — The Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation has announced the Archdiocese of Cincinnati will be the recipient of the 2008 Living Stones Solidarity Award for supporting Christianity in the Holy Land. “The Cincinnati Archdiocese’s contributions of funds, time and resources … have made a significant difference in the lives of innumerable Palestinian Christians,” said a July 23 statement from the foundation, which is supported by American Christians dedicated to helping Palestinian Christians. Cincinnati Catholics have shown solidarity with Christians in the Holy Land by “opening their churches, homes and hearts to Palestinian Christian students and other visitors,” the statement said. They regularly support the foundation’s work and have welcomed four groups of Arab Christian eighth-graders through the Children’s Peace Project, which was designed to make personal connections between Western and Holy Land Christians, it said.

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PEOPLE

Father Witherup elected superior general of Sulpicians

BALTIMORE (CNS) — Sulpician Father Ronald D. Witherup, elected July 11 as the 26th superior general of the Sulpicians, said his top priorities will be promoting unity, communicating the society’s pedagogy and recruiting new members. He was elected by delegates from 11 countries during a meeting near Paris. Bishops want “to keep their own priests because they all have needs in ministry,” said Father Witherup, noting that priests must have the permission of their bishop to become Sulpicians. “So it’s a challenge to recruit new members.” Father Witherup most recently served for more than a decade as provincial of the religious community’s Baltimore-based U.S. province. The Sulpicians, formally known as the Society of the Priests of St. Sulpice, are an international society of diocesan priests focused on the education and formation of priests and future priests. Among their ministries in Baltimore, the Sulpicians operate St. Mary’s Seminary and University. Worldwide, there are 320 Sulpicians, 71 of whom serve in the society’s U.S. province. The priests minister in approximately 13 countries, with the society growing fastest in Africa and South America — areas where religious vocations are flourishing, Father Witherup said.

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Graduate of San Francisco Catholic high school bound for Beijing

SAN FRANCISCO (CNS) — Shannon Rowbury, who was a standout athlete when she attended San Francisco’s Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory High School, is bound for Beijing. She qualified for the 2008 Olympic track and field team by winning the 1,500-meter event at the Olympic trials in Eugene, Ore., July 6 with a time of 4 minutes, 5.48 seconds. In May Rowbury, 23, went from being off the radar in the sport to earning a championship title. Her time of 4:1.61in the 1,500-meter at an outdoor event in Carson, Calif., made her the fifth fastest American woman in that event in history. She was even faster July 18 in Paris, with a time of 4:0.33 in the 1,500-meter. A statement released by her alma mater said that “while many may be surprised by this 23-year old’s rapid ascent,” the Catholic high school community is “proud and excited to witness such success from an (alumna) of our school.” “In August, Beijing and the world will get to see this athlete who we were lucky enough to know up close and personal for her four years — 1998-2002 — of high school,” it said.

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