Archdiocese Ends Lease to Homosexual Church

THE TIMES-PICAYUNE, Aug. 18 — An independent church that meets at an Archdiocese of New Orleans-owned hospice center was asked to leave after the archdiocese learned it supported same-sex “marriage.”

The 45-member Metropolitan Community Church of Greater New Orleans, which was founded a few decades ago to serve homosexuals, thought it had found a home for the next year when it moved into the Project Lazarus complex in the spring, the Times-Picayune reported. Project Lazarus provides hospice and palliative care to AIDS patients, many of whom are homosexual.

“This particular group blesses gay unions, which we do not support,” said Father William Maestri, a spokesman for the archdiocese.

He said the archdiocese had to act after it learned of the Metropolitan Community Church's teachings. Continuing to lease to the church might give the impression the Catholic Church is in support of same-sex “marriage,” which, he said, “we are not.”

St. Joseph and the Real Estate Bubble

NEWHOUSE NEWS SERVICE, Aug. 22 — Does St. Joseph know something we don't about the future of the real estate market? Some in the field think he might.

Sellers of St. Joseph statues and “St. Joseph kits” — which typically include a 4-inch plastic statue, a burial bag for the statue, prayers and other instructions — say sales of the kits are up by as much as 50% this year.

“People who are having a harder time selling their home are resorting to the statue,” said Phil Cates, owner of Modesto, Calif.-based stjosephstatue.com. “It is an indicator of what's out there.”

Cates, who is also a real estate broker, said the increase in statue sales is an early indicator of cracks in the residential real estate market.

Many Catholics and non-Catholics swear by the practice of burying a statue of the saint head-down in a plastic bag in the ground near their “For Sale” sign to help sell their homes.

However, Thomas Farrell, owner of Our Daily Bread Catholic supply store in Sayville, N.Y., said he frowns upon the practice because it has crossed the line into superstition and mysticism. Instead, he counsels customers to recite a heartfelt prayer asking St. Joseph's intercession in selling their homes.

In a ‘Loving Relationship With Christ’

DETROIT FREE PRESS, Aug. 23 — At a time when being a virgin is poked fun at by Hollywood — the movie The 40-Year-Old Virgin earned $20.6 million its opening weekend — at least one woman wants to bring back the connotation of beauty and integrity to the word.

Judith Stegman, 49, of Haslett, Mich., is one of at least 160 women in the United States who are consecrated virgins in the Catholic Church, the Detroit Free Press reported.

“I'm not remaining a virgin because I'm repressing some part of sexuality, or giving everything to my work, or refraining from loving relationships,” Stegman told the paper. “I'm invited to a loving relationship with Christ.”

Consecrated virgins pursue a spiritual vocation but are not part of any religious order. They must support themselves financially, the newspaper noted. They follow a life of prayer and are “mystically betrothed to Christ,” in the words of canon law.