CNEWA’s Magazine Wins Awards
The Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada has bestowed CNEWA’s magazine with seven awards, including first place for general excellence.
The agency’s editorial staff received the awards during the association’s annual convention in late May in Washington, D.C.
In awarding the magazine with first place for general excellence for a mission magazine, one judge said the magazine was “first class all the way.”
In categories for individual articles and photographs, the magazine garnered another first-place award, two second-place awards, two third-place awards and an honorable mention.
Better Housing in India
The Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, under the leadership of Archbishop Cyril Mar Baselios, has continued its success in providing needy Indians with housing in the Trivandrum area.
The effort, dubbed the Mar Baselios Housing Project, includes 25 houses, 15 of which CNEWA has already funded, for needy residents, many of whom are migrant workers without access to adequate housing, drinking water and modern sewage facilities.
With its success in moving the poor in the area from unhygienic huts into single model houses, the program has spurred proposals for additional houses, a large drinking water project and better waste management facilities.
Donors Host Fund-raiser
CNEWA benefactors William and Jana Doty hosted a reception at their home in Rye, New York, in support of the agency’s work in the Holy Land.
Msgr. Robert L. Stern, Secretary General, briefed attendees on the challenges facing the troubled region and CNEWA’s efforts to support families and communities there. Joining the Dotys were Mr. Doty’s father, George, a longtime CNEWA donor, and some 20 other friends of the family and the agency.
The June event raised more than $70,000, which will support CNEWA’s efforts in Palestine.
Giving Back to Lebanon
James Alwan of Peoria, Illinois, left his native Lebanon more than 50 years ago, but his homeland and the needs of its youth have never been far from his heart.
In addition to making regular visits to his village of Aitou in northern Lebanon, Mr. Alwan has generously supported its Catholic school, the Rif School.
A former pupil, he has worked through CNEWA and enlisted his Lebanese friends in Peoria to help provide tuition for needy students.
Holy Land in Focus
The myths of the Holy Land’s Christian community and their impact on the church and its work there were the subject of a workshop given by Jesuit Father Drew Christiansen and CNEWA Associate Secretary General Msgr. Denis J. Madden at the annual convention of the Catholic Press Association.
Father Christiansen, Associate Editor of America magazine and counselor for international affairs of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, spoke of changing Christian demographics in the Middle East and the living standards of Israel’s Arab Christian minority.
Msgr. Madden focused on the church’s ability to engage in its humanitarian and pastoral activities in Israel and Palestine. He discussed the impact of the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict – particularly the erection of Israel’s barrier separating Israel and Palestine – on the church’s many works benefiting the entire community, Christian, Muslim and Jewish.
Aid Planning
The pastoral and humanitarian needs of the church in the Holy Land, Iraq and Romania were the focus of the semiannual meeting of the Catholic funding agencies of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches.
Msgr. Stern joined CNEWA senior staff and regional directors in participating in the June meeting in Rome to discuss aid priorities for the next year.