ADDENDA

National Catholic Reporter, April 13, 2001 by Gill Donovan

THE WINNER of the Thomas Merton Prize for Poetry of the Sacred was announced March 23. The first prize of $500 was awarded to Kimberly Johnson for her poem "Pater Noster." Honorable mention prizes of $50 each went to Elinor Benedict for "A Wise Man's Gift of Birds"; Karen Craigo for "Self-Portrait as Woman Driving 80 mph"; and Moira Linehan for "On Inishmor." The contest, sponsored by the Thomas Merton Foundation, was judged by Robert Pinsky, recent U.S. poet laureate. The winning poems can be read on the foundation's Web site at www.mertonfoundation.org.

A UNITED METHODIST CHURCH in Ohio has received a gift of $600,000 to maintain its goal of being inclusive to gay and lesbian persons. The Rev. Grayson Atha, pastor of King Avenue United Methodist Church in Columbus, announced the gift at the March 18 worship service of the church, which has more than 500 members. The anonymous donor is described as a retired lawyer and member of the church.

THE U.S. BISHOPS' Catholic Communication Campaign is producing a new half-hour radio program called "Catholic Radio Weekly." Veteran radio broadcasters Johnny Holiday and Carol Lehan will co-host the program, which was launched April 1 and is being aired as a pilot in about 20 dioceses. It is being produced at Paulist Media Works and will be made available to dioceses and radio stations nationwide free of charge. Each show will feature media reviews and discussion of issues of faith with religious leaders.

THE POPE said Christianity offers ultimate answers to the people of Japan, where affluence and a consumerist mentality have been accompanied by a growing spiritual uneasiness. The pope, addressing Japanese bishops at the Vatican March 31, said the church must find a way to proclaim Christ in ways that the Japanese will accept and make their own. He invoked the spirit of Japanese martyrs, saying they had planted the "good seed" of the gospel in the country, which now must be developed by a church community that represents less than 1 percent of the population.

IN AN UNUSUAL SHOW of unity, the leaders of more than a dozen Christian churches in the Holy Land have issued a Lenten appeal to both Israelis and Palestinians, as well as to international leaders, calling for a halt in the escalating cycle of regional violence. The appeal came as casualties mounted in March among both Arabs and Jews, including children and youths, from a series of Islamic suicide bombings and Israeli shellings and shootings. The letter was signed by a broad array of church leaders representing all of the major Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant local church communities.

A CHARITABLE BUDDHIST ORGANIZATION in Sri Lanka has announced its intention of building a replica of one of the ancient Buddha statues destroyed earlier, this month by the Taliban movement, which controls most of Afghanistan. The Shanthi Foundation has teamed with the country's archaeology department to organize the re-creation of the 175-foot statue -- believed to have been the world's tallest standing Buddha -- which was destroyed two weeks ago in the Taliban's campaign of destruction against statues deemed offensive to Islam.

A NATIONAL GROUP of antiabortion Catholic priests is launching another in a series of large-scale media campaigns to promote the pro-life message on abortion. The $5 million blitz is partially designed to reach out to women who have had abortions. The campaign will feature billboard signs saying: "Hurting from abortion? The doors of the church are open to you." The group, Priests for Life, kicked off the campaign at the end of March. Priests for Life claims 6,000 Catholic priests and 40,000 lay people across the country as members.