North Country Catholic - Official Newspaper of the Diocese of Ogdensburg

Jean Doell, a teacher at Immaculate Heart Central Elementary School in Watertown was honored June 23 as the 2009 Outstanding Catholic School Teacher for the Diocese of Ogdensburg. She is shown, third from left, with Gail Graham, principal of the school; St. Joseph Sister Ellen Rose Coughlin, superintendent of schools; Father Terry LaValley, diocesan administrator; St. Joseph Sister Shirley Anne Brown, assistant superintendent; Annette Connelly, vice-principal; and Msgr. Robert Aucoin, vicar for education.

Prayer for a New Bishop
Almighty Father,
for one hundred thirty-seven years you have sent
to the Church of Ogdensburg shepherds after your own heart.
Send forth the Holy Spirit upon Pope Benedict,
that he might choose for us a new Bishop,
full of courage in preaching the Gospel,
wisdom in governing the Church,
and zeal in leading us in the paths of holiness.
Grant to the man you will send to us
the protection of our Lady of the Immaculate Conception,
our Mother and our Patroness.
We make this prayer through her Son,
Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.

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At end of jubilee year, figure of St. Paul stands in clearer focus
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- After 12 months of special liturgies, conferences, Bible reflections, indulgences, concerts and pilgrimages, the Year of St. Paul has left the Apostle a more clearly defined figure on the Catholic landscape. Even before Pope Benedict XVI led final closing ceremonies in Rome June 29, Vatican officials declared the jubilee year a success. "The result has been positive, even beyond the most optimistic predictions," Cardinal Andrea Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo, archpriest of the Basilica of St. Paul's Outside the Walls, said at a Vatican press conference June 26. At the Pauline basilica, which had often been overlooked by pilgrims to Rome, overflow crowds came to visit and pray at the tomb of the Apostle, the cardinal said. Thanks to some architectural finessing, a portion of the tomb, a rough-hewn marble sarcophagus buried beneath the main altar, was for the first time made visible to visitors. It was Pope Benedict who almost single-handedly gave the jubilee its content. In weekly talks, homilies and liturgical celebrations, he sketched a detailed portrait of the man considered the model of Christian conversion and the archetypal missionary. St. Paul was the most prolific of the early Apostles, the man who took the Gospel of Christ into the world of non-Jews and helped set the church on a more universal path. The pope's main point was that this evangelizing spirit based on personal conversion needs to be rekindled among today's 1.1 billion Catholics.

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