Despite numerous academic studies showing negative outcomes for young children who spend extended time in daycare and pre-school programs, five Alaska legislators have introduced a bill to launch universal state-run pre-kindergarten. If passed, House Bill 36 would launch a voluntary state-run program for Alaskan parents of children as young as four years old.
On Saturday, Jan. 24 at 2 p.m., the 14th annual Anchorage Interdenominational Prayer Service marking the anniversary of Roe v. Wade takes place at the Anchorage Memorial Park Cemetery on 9th Street and Cordova. The event marks the anniversary of the 1973 Supreme Court decision, Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion in the U.S. Under Roe and its companion case, Doe v. Bolton, abortion is legal through the ninth month of pregnancy for virtually whatever reason.
Holy Rosary Academy is presenting two performances of their annual high school play, Jan. 23-24. This year students will perform Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s “The School for Scandal,” a comedy of manners set in the 1920s. Performances will be on Friday at 7 p.m. and Saturday at 6 p.m. at St. Patrick Church’s Deacons’ Hall. The Saturday evening show will begin with dinner served at 6 p.m. and the play starting at 7 p.m.
Catholic schools across the Anchorage Archdiocese will join in the annual National Catholic Schools Week this month to celebrate Catholic education in the United States. The theme for this year’s Jan. 23-31 celebration is “Catholic Schools: Communities of Faith, Knowledge and Service.” Area schools will mark the weeklong observance with Masses, open houses and outreach for students, families, parishioners and the wider community.
Christ teaches that the church is to live in this created world, but in such a way that it does not embrace or accept sin. Instead the church embraces the world and heals it by proclaiming the kingdom of God. The world, you see, is broken and needs healing. Our call is not to condemn the world but to save it. God has chosen us for this very task. He has chosen us to live during this time and in this culture with all its flaws.
The result: the little parish church, home to 25 families, was devastated. Flooring, crawlspace, wiring, the boiler -— everything was ruined. Fortunately, insurance covered the damage, and a repaired church emerged from the old. But two things were apparent. According to the Army Corps of Engineers, the rivers’ flow had been permanently changed, and unless the church, which sat lower than the nearby road, was elevated, a similar or even worse flood wasn’t far in the offing.
About a year ago, I suggested to one of the top editors of a major American newspaper that his journal’s coverage of things papal left something to be desired, as it seemed based on the assumption that Pope Francis was some kind of radical wild-man, eager to toss into the garbage bin of history all those aspects of Catholic faith and practice that mainstream western culture finds distasteful. My friend replied, in so many words, look, you know how these media narratives are: they’re like bamboo. Once they get started, there’s no stopping them. They just keep growing.
New Year’s resolutions are a renewed focus on areas of our lives we want to improve. For some it is dieting or increased exercise. The stories at CSS have inspired me — and I ask you join me — to focus on a different kind of renewal. This year, let’s try to consciously give and connect with our community. It will not be easy.
Personally, I like the Catholic idea that the New Year starts with the new liturgical year, Advent, a time of waiting. And instead of making all kinds of soon-to-be-forgotten resolutions, we commit ourselves to the exercise of waiting — conscious, prayerful waiting.
At any event, Jesus, like many others, came to the Jordan River on that memorable day to receive the penitential washing offered by John. He came, like many of his fellow Jews, to heed once again the warnings of the ancient prophets and to be reminded that they and their nation stood in dire need of purification.