ADDENDA - formation of Catholic Charities of Michigan; various papal news items - Brief Article

National Catholic Reporter, April 16, 1999

THE 18 CATHOLIC SOCIAL SERVICES agencies in Michigan have joined forces to help individuals and families with the formation of Catholic Charities of Michigan. Tom Conklin, executive director of Catholic Family Service for the Saginaw diocese, was elected president of the new statewide organization. Conklin said it will offer more collaboration and bargaining power for the agencies that serve all 83 counties of Michigan.

ARCHBISHOP DESMOND TUTU of South Africa will address Catholic Charities leaders from across the country at the Catholic Charities USA Annual Conference Oct. 3 in Rochester, N.Y. Benedictine Sr. Joan Chittister will also address the conference, which will run Oct. 2-4.

A MEMBER of the Poor Sisters of Nazareth, Marie Docherty, appeared in an Aberdeen Sheriff Court in Scotland, charged with cruelty against 23 girls at children's homes run by the order. The charges allege child abuse at Nazareth House facilities in Aberdeen and Midlothian between 1962 and 1980. Docherty, known as Sr. Alphonso, denies the allegations, which include beating girls with hairbrushes, toys and cutlery. A defense motion to postpone the case until later this year was granted.

MARKING ANOTHER MILESTONE in his papacy, Pope John Paul II entered the "Top 10' of longest pontificates in early April. At 20 years and five months, Pope John Paul's papacy became the 10th longest in history April 3, displacing that of Pope Leo III, who reigned from 795 to 816. By the end of 1999, Pope John Paul will have moved into the No. 7 spot on the list, surpassing Popes Sylvester I, Urban VIII and Leo I the Great. The longest certain pontificate was the 31-year reign of Pope Pius IX, from 1846 to 1878.

POPE JOHN PAUL II tapped church leaders from across the continent to lead the Synod of Bishops for Europe, scheduled for Oct. 1-23 at the Vatican. In a statement released April 6, the Vatican said Pope John Paul chose as the three synod presidents Cardinal Franciszek Macharski of Krakow, Poland; Cardinal Joachim Meisner of Cologne, Germany; and French Cardinal Paul Poupard, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture.

BISHOP CLEMENTE RIVA, the Catholic prelate who arranged Pope John Paul II's historic visit to the Rome Synagogue in 1986, died March 30 at age 76 after a long illness. In a letter of condolence to Cardinal Camillo Ruini, vicar general of Rome, the pope praised Riva for his commitment to "interreligious dialogue and [to dialogue] with the world of culture."