Local educator to receive national award

Sharon Urbaniak, associate director of Lifelong Faith Formation for persons with special needs for the Diocese of Buffalo, will receive the Edward M. Shaughnessy III Serving All God’s Children Inclusion Award for Religious Education in Louisville , Ky.   Urbaniak’s dedication to those who face profound mental and physical difficulties was instrumental in her receiving this national award.  Her work with the innovative “God’s Family” program is highlighted in this recognition.

Sponsored by the Shaughnessy family, the award began in 2006 and was named in honor of their brother, Edward III, to honor outstanding educators and supporters of inclusion in Catholic schools. 

A lifelong supporter of the education and care of persons with special needs, Urbaniak is responsible for the creation of the “God’s Family” program, a unique diocesan faith formation program for people with special needs and their families using an intergenerational model of faith formation and an events centered approach.

“ Sharon has been a pioneer in adapting this model of faith formation and has successfully developed a core team to assist in the implementation,” said Mary Beth Coates, director of the Office of Lifelong Faith Formation for the Diocese of Buffalo.  “The benefits of this program,” explained Coates, “have been that families, previously disconnected from parish life, have found their way back, the sacrament of initiation has been celebrated with children who may have otherwise missed these opportunities for grace, and other parish leaders have learned from these gatherings how to adapt programming to meet a variety of special needs.”

Urbaniak, who has been with the diocese nine years, will receive the Shaughnessy award on July 11 at a Education Law Symposium sponsored jointly by the National Catholic Education Association and St. Catharine College in Kentucky.

Diocesan vicariates restructured

Bishop Edward U. Kmiec, bishop of Buffalo , has announced that the number of territorial vicariates in the Diocese of Buffalo has been reduced from 16 to 12.  Vicariates are territorial in nature and consist of six to 23 parishes.  As part of the restructuring, the following vicariates have been combined:           

• Eastern Niagara and Orleans are now known as the Vicariate of Eastern Niagara-Orleans
• Genesee and Wyoming are now known as the Vicariate of Genesee-Wyoming
• Northern and Southern Chautauqua are now known as the Vicariate of Chautauqua
• Northwest and Central Buffalo are now known as the Vicariate of Northwest-Central Buffalo 

The Vicariate of Western Erie has been renamed the Vicariate of Southern Erie.  The following vicariates will remain the same:

• Tri-County Vicariate
• Vicariate of Allegany
• Vicariate of Eastern Erie
• Vicariate of Northern Erie
• Vicariate of Southeast Buffalo  
• Vicariate of Southern Cattaraugus
• Vicariate of Western Niagara

“This new vicariate structure will allow for improved collaboration among our parishes,” Bishop Kmiec said.  “Members of our vicariates work together, sharing ideas, experience and resources.  The recommendation to reduce the number of vicariates is in line with other reconfiguration that has been ongoing here in the diocese for the past several years.”

The bishop’s decree to restructure the vicariates took effect June 23 and was based on the recommendation of the Ad Hoc Committee on Vicariates of the Priests’ Council, the entire Priests’ Council and the Episcopal Vicars of the Diocese of Buffalo.

Priests who are currently serving as episcopal vicars will continue to do so within the limits of their former territories until Bishop Kmiec appoints new episcopal vicars.  Those appointments are expected to be made in July.

An episcopal vicar is the bishop’s representative in a vicariate.

State’s new cloning policy will exploit women

The Empire State Stem Cell Board, which is charged with overseeing $600 million in state taxpayer funds for stem cell research, has recommended that state funds be paid to women who allow for the extraction of their eggs for research purposes. Kathleen M. Gallagher, director of pro-life activities for the New York State Catholic Conference, made the following statement:

“The New York State Stem Cell Board is facilitating the exploitation of low-income women by using taxpayer funds to pay for the retrieval of eggs. This is a grossly unethical, dangerous and exploitative move that treats women’s body parts as commodities. It must be rejected. If the Stem Cell Board itself moves forward with this proposal, then the state Legislature must act to prevent it.

“No other state in the union allows eggs-for-research payments, and for good reason. The Board is considering up to $10,000 per retrieval, which, in the current economic climate, will induce low-income women who are struggling to put food on their table to undergo this painful and dangerous procedure. Such women face serious health risks and loss of fertility. Vulnerable women should not be coerced into risking their health and their lives for speculative science with speculative benefits.

“A compelling case cannot even be made that the medical benefits somehow mitigate the ethical lapse. Scientists are seeking these eggs to clone human embryos, which will be subsequently destroyed for their stem cells. Yet the science of stem cell research is moving in the opposite direction, toward research involving adult stem cells and the reprogramming of ordinary skin cells to act identical to embryonic cells. This type of research bears none of the ethical burdens of embryonic research.

“Payments to women for the extraction of their eggs crosses an ethical line that New Yorkers should not be forced to finance. Regardless of one’s position on embryonic stem cell research, we can all agree that women should not be exploited by researchers, with state approval. The Legislature should step in now to ban payments for eggs.”

The Catholic Conference represents New York State ’s Bishops in matters of public policy.

Camp Turner open house planned for July 4  

Camp Turner , operated by the Diocese of Buffalo, will hold an open house on Saturday, July 4, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.  The camp is located one mile past Quaker Lake, in the Quaker Area of Allegany State Park (exit 18 off I-86), near Salamanca .

Camp Turner is a resident summer camp for eight- to fifteen-year-olds.  It offers week-long summer camping experiences, but also may be reserved for conferences, parties or group gatherings.  Each week-long session has a theme, such as frontier week or survivor Hawaii .

During the open house, prospective campers may tour the facility and activity areas, as well as meet the Camp Turner staff.   A 45-minute tour of the camp includes the cabins, dining hall, arts and crafts areas, archery, games-in-the-woods, horses, and more. Or, visitors may stroll around and try the activities at their leisure.  Lunch and treats also will be available.

There are still openings for camp sessions this summer.  For more information about Camp Turner and the open house, call (716) 354-4555 or visit the camp Web site at www.CampTurner.com.

Diocese develops on-line map

Finding parishes in the Diocese of Buffalo is now a mouse click away.  A parish map of the diocese is available through Google Maps.

A project of the two diocesan offices, (Research & Planning and Communications), the site features 13 different maps.  One features all active worship sites in the eight counties of Western New York .  The others include all 12 diocesan vicariates which were recently re-aligned.  By clicking on a blue icon on the maps, you can get a great deal of detail parish information, including the address, phone number, the parish Web address and directions to the parish. 

Google maps also allows users to get a close up view of satellite images of churches or the terrain where individual parishes are located.

The on-line map project is part of ongoing diocesan efforts to utilize the latest technology to better reach Catholics and to enhance evangelization efforts.  

Grant to support  parish evangelization

The Office of Parish Life of the Diocese of Buffalo has received a $20,000 grant from Our Sunday Visitor Institute to fund a parish-based evangelization program.

Teams of four to six people are being trained and will then meet with parish leaders to determine what evangelization techniques work best in their parish.  The teams will also conduct evangelization workshops.

“This is a great beginning which should offer our parishes an opportunity to truly become vibrant, mission-driven parishes, recognizing always that our essential mission is evangelization,” said Kathleen Heffern, director of the Office of Parish Life.”

One rural parish, one small town parish, two urban parishes and one suburban parish have been selected to participate in the pilot project.  The parishes are St. Martin de Porres,  Buffalo , All Saints, Lockport , Holy Family, Albion, Blessed John XXIII, West Seneca and Immaculate Conception, Wellsville.

Phase one will see parish teams trained in evangelization.  In the second phase, teams will move into the parishes to determine local evangelization needs.  The third phase will see evangelization programs implemented in the parishes.  Upon completion of the pilot program, Heffern said the evangelization project will be gradually implemented in parishes interested in participating. 

“I am deeply grateful to the board at Our Sunday Visitor,” Heffern said.  “Their generosity will allow our parishes to enhance their evangelization efforts.”

Our Sunday Visitor Institute funds Catholic projects throughout the United States , particularly those that seek to address religious illiteracy, contribute to the evangelization of the culture, link faith and morality, especially to young people, and explain and promote the dignity of the human person.

Members of the diocesan Evangelization Advisory Board will help guide the project.  The members include Dennis Mahaney, Barbara Wyse, Lorene Duquin, Veronica Cavan, Sister Mary Laura Lesniak, SSMN and Sister Mary Ellen Twist, RSM.  

Catholic bishops of New York: “Help protect marriage”

We face today the prospect of a law in New York which would radically change the timeless institution of marriage.  As pastors of citizens from every corner of our great state, we stand unified in our strong opposition to such a drastic measure.

Throughout history, different cultures have had different customs regarding marriage. But the one constant has been the conviction that marriage is the union of a man and a woman in an enduring bond, ordered for the procreation and stable rearing of children.  Regrettably, the state Assembly has voted to redefine what nature and our common heritage long ago defined for us. We fervently pray that members of the state Senate will stand firm in opposition to this ill-advised legislation, and we call on Catholics and all New Yorkers to contact their Senators to make their voices heard.

Our opposition to this bill is based not only on Catholic teaching regarding human sexuality and the Sacrament of Marriage. Just as importantly, it is based on reason, sound public policy, and plain common sense, as we stated in our 2008 pastoral statement on same-sex “marriage.” (The statement can be found at www.nyscatholic.org.) To briefly reiterate, the state has a compelling legal interest in promoting marriage between men and women in order to create stable families and provide for the safety, health and well being of children.  The state has no such compelling legal interest in recognizing a relationship between two people of the same sex. 

If there are injustices against those in relationships other than marriage, those injustices can certainly be reformed and corrected in a way other than by drastically redefining marriage.

We close with a final point from our 2008 statement:

“(W)e want to make absolutely clear that our firm beliefs about marriage … must not be misconstrued to be in any way a condemnation of homosexual people or an attack on their human dignity. Our Church teaches, and we affirm, that we must treat our homosexual sisters and brothers with dignity and love, as we would all God’s children. Indeed the Catechism of the Catholic Church warns that any form of prejudice or hatred – “every sign of unjust discrimination” – against homosexual people should be avoided. (CCC 2358)

For more information on this important issue, visit the New York State Catholic Conference Web site.

The Catholic Diocese of Buffalo, established on April 23, 1847, comprises the westernmost counties of New York State, which include: Erie, Niagara, Genesee, Orleans, Chautauqua, Wyoming, Cattaraugus and Allegany. The Diocese covers 6,455 square miles and has a Catholic population of  702,884.