It's been an eventful couple of Sundays at St. Malachi's.

Two weeks ago, the high school Christian Formation group presented its review of music from "Godspell" to a near capacity crowd in the church. A lot of work and prayer went into the effort, and it showed in the high-quality, high-energy performance that made parents and others quite proud. Even more important was the sense of community that has developed among these students that came through as an example to us all. It truly was a Malachi Moment.

The Sunday before that was the Community's Annual Meeting where we elected George Eterovich, Marc Giguere and Mike Pelegrino to two-year terms as at-large Council members. Committee chairs (and co-chairs) were elected for one-year terms: Luis Gutierrez, Mike May and Joe Pulizzi for Communications; Bill McLaughlin for Finance; Rosemary Gray for Hospitality; Jeanette Shemo for Liturgy; Paul Wingenfeld and Francine Cutura for Membership; Fred Leonard for Social Action; and Carol Dlouhy for Spiritual Development.

As always, we thank all who came forward as candidates in the election. We also thank Fred Leonard, Angelo Privitera and Gary Pritts for serving on the Nomination Committee, and thank Rosemary Gray, Bill McLaughlin, Paul Kunkel and Peter Toomey for being on the Annual Meeting Committee, and thank the Christian Formation students who helped serve us brunch. Peter got rave reviews for his job of emceeing the proceedings. He is second to none in his ability to get people's attention by banging on a pan.

A big part of the meeting was devoted to a discussion of Bishop Pilla's pastoral letter, "Vibrant Parish Life," following a presentation by Gary Pritts. I highly recommend that everyone read this document which we have been serializing in Communio - the last of 3 parts appears in this month's issue. You can catch up with the previous segments in the Communio section of the Community web site, www.stmalachi.org, or find a link to the entire letter at the top of the Diocese's web site, www.clevelanddiocese.org.

To me, this is a remarkable document as the Bishop rejects a top-down solution to the increasing shortage of priests, and urges neighboring parishes to dialog and work together towards solutions. His trust in the people of God, and in the Holy Spirit, is a refreshing, and almost shocking, change from what we've come to expect from Church leadership. My sense of Community Council members who have read it is that we want to cooperate with the Bishop as much as possible.

At the same time, many in the Community believe this is also the time to renew our call for changes in the Church's ordination practices. That is, that ordination should be opened to women and married people. It's no secret that sometime in the near future, a new Pope will be elected. At that time, church leaders, no matter how conservative, will not be able to ignore the sincere voices of many Catholics calling for change that directly impacts our ability to worship together and receive the Eucharist.

The reality is that this will not happen quickly. Therefore, we must work together with other parishes to prepare to make do with fewer priests, as the Bishop has asked us to do. But it is also the time to speak out as a Parish in hope that our voice will be heard.

So it was gratifying that during the Annual Meeting, a motion was made from the floor that we send a respectful letter to the Bishop, cardinals and National Council of Bishops urging the consideration of married and women priests. With considerable enthusiasm, the motion passed overwhelmingly; there was one abstention. This was clearly the consensus of the meeting, and therefore of the Community of St. Malachi, a recognized parish of the Diocese of Cleveland. Hopefully, some other parishes will do the same.

Thanks to Bishop Pilla, Gary Pritts, Peter Toomey, Linda Rae Savage, Katie Alaimo, Rebecca Graham, Anita Fox, Mike Graham, and Frank Schiros for this month's material. The next issue will be June 9th with a deadline of May 26th.

The goals and convictions I have stated [in parts 1 and 2] will come alive on an area-by-area basis. Before I can encourage local parish communities to begin such a renewal, I believe a comprehensive preparation is essential.

A Diocesan Task Force will be appointed in February of 2001 to coordinate the preparation and implementation of a collaborative process. This group will develop and refine resources and instruments, building upon work we have already done in the Diocese. To assist the work of the Task Force, I invite further discussion in the Spring of 2001 within our parish staffs and parish pastoral councils, districts, and consultative groups in order to suggest the practical means for implementing this initiative. It is essential that we provide steps and resources that will be genuinely helpful and relevant to every part of our Diocese. I hope to present the recommended implementation steps and resources to be developed by the Task Force at meetings of our priests and parish leaders by the beginning of 2002.

My charge to every pastor, pastoral staff, and parish pastoral council in every parish of the entire Diocese will then be to initiate a two-step process over a twenty-four month period, beginning in the Spring of 2002.

As a first step, I ask that each parish, using the resources to be developed, assess its vitality and vibrancy as a manifestation of "parish life," which the universal Church and our Diocese have envisioned. Discover and proclaim what most gives life in your parish. Identify your best resources and your greatest examples of vibrancy. Discern those areas where you hope to enhance parish vitality. During this time of review and assessment, adequate catechesis will be essential to help our people to understand the vision of parish life that is at the heart of 'why' we are undertaking this process.

Second, when the self-study and catechetical steps are complete, I ask you to turn to at least one parish, ideally one that touches your parish boundaries. Enter into study and dialogue with them. Look at your various ministries and share the results of your self-studies. Recall the history and founding of each parish. Examine the rich ethnic, racial, liturgical, and spiritual variety. Identify the similarities, the duplications, and even the contradictions that exist between the parishes. The goal of this shared consultation is for each parish to identify the parishes (typically no more than three) with whom they can cooperate most naturally and begin to develop collaborative initiatives. In some cases, these clusters will simply build upon existing relationships and successful collaboration already in place. In other cases, new relationships will be formed. It will be helpful to discuss the formation and ongoing development of clusters within each district.

Parishes now engaged in The Church in the City partnerships with non-adjacent parishes are asked to participate in this clustering process in ways that can sustain the present partnership and build new opportunities with neighboring parishes. I would like this two-step process to be completed by the Spring of 2004.

I hope you recognize my stated convictions in this preparatory call for clustering. I envision this self-selected clustering effort as the beginning phase of a larger discernment process that will renew parish life in every area of our Diocese. We each must do our part to plant the seeds and lay the foundation for collaboration and unity that will deepen with time. If the future of ministry is to be vibrant and viable into the next Millennium, it will take a stated vision, a thoughtful and prayerful discernment, a conversion of hearts and minds, and most especially courageous and cooperative parish leaders. I am confident that the Spirit is moving among us and will renew our local Church.

To address the challenges that we will continue to face, I believe that the initiatives coming forth from parish clusters will need to respond to the following criteria:

• Enhance vibrancy and more effective ministry in all of the cluster parishes.
• Better serve important needs and more people than would otherwise be served by separate parish activities.
• Use parish staff personnel and material resources more collaboratively, creatively and effectively, and reduce the overall staffing burden for priests and other parish ministers that was previously necessitated by separate efforts.
• Increase shared leadership, collaboration and the fullest use of gifts among laity as well as clergy and religious.

I also recognize that the diocesan administration will need to take action not only to provide resources and staffing support for this process, but also to respond to the issues that are most appropriately addressed on a diocesan level. For example, in the future assignment of priests, we will continue to carefully assess the sacramental and priestly responsibilities needed within a parish and cluster area, and consider different alternatives, based upon both pastoral needs and the gifts and readiness of priests to be assigned. These alternatives may include shared assignments that include parish ministry as well other ministries (e.g. chaplaincy, diocesan ministry); assigning a pastor or priest to more than one parish; placement of a deacon, religious, or lay person to serve as Parish Life Coordinator; or the assignment of a pastoral team (priests, deacons, religious, lay persons) for two or more parishes. I welcome proposals from parishes and parish clusters regarding new and creative ways of addressing parish-staffing configurations in your area, within the present discipline of the Church.

Recognizing that vibrant parish life is facilitated by vibrant ministerial life, I also believe that we need continued dialogue within the Diocese with our priests, deacons, religious and lay ecclesial ministers regarding diocesan policies, practices and related expectations that make an impact upon ministerial life. This dialogue will need to explore areas that we need to sustain, change, or initiate in order to support greater vibrancy in the life of the parish minister.

In addition to working with the Diocesan Task Force to support the implementation process, the Diocesan Pastoral Planning Office will coordinate this effort in collaboration with members of the Secretariats for Parish Life and Development, Clergy and Religious, and Education, and the Delegate for Future Parish Staffing. These offices will be available to assist you in this process. Their insights and experiences will serve the Church well as we undergo this re-visioning of vibrant parish life with renewed unity and collaboration.

This statement is intended to offer a vision and a call for the renewal of parish life through our unity and collaboration. I ask our parish leaders, especially my brother priests, to give me your support in leading this endeavor. We must love the Church and help our people to participate fully in its life. Our discernment and dialogue need to be rooted in love - the love of God, love for each other, love for the Church. We must recognize and embrace the unifying power the Church has for all of us. I look forward to continuing our conversations within the Church as we discern the path to which the Spirit calls us.

As my time as president of Community Council draws to a close, I wanted to share my gratitude for the opportunity to serve. Looking back, the year seems very short.

It has been a year marked by the St. Malachi Looks to the Future process, a process that can transform St. Malachi. Our work now is implementation, bringing to life our vision of communion with St. Malachi Parish, vibrant liturgy, service to the poor, spirit of hospitality, and spiritual growth.

Spiritual growth, among other things, calls us to pray over scripture and respond to the call of the Spirit. During the Easter season we draw on the Acts of the Apostles for our daily and Sunday readings. One famous passage in Chapter 2 (Acts 2:43-47 NRSV) describes the life of the early Christian Community:

I invite all of you to pray with me over this passage, and to ask for guidance from the Spirit about how it applies to our life at St. Malachi. Should we strive to follow it closely, adopt a communal lifestyle, and merge our personal bank accounts? Or, perhaps we choose the Old Testament model of tithing, each contributing 10% of our income to the Church? Or, perhaps we come up with yet another way, which works for us, to follow this call in our modern times.

About a year and a half ago, we established the Personal Needs Fund, a fund whose purpose is to take care of Community members who have unusual financial needs - due to illness, loss of employment, or the like. This fund is administered by Fr. Tony. Several thousand dollars have been raised, and Fr. Tony has distributed some of the funds. This is a wonderful first step, taken in the spirit of Acts.

How could we expand the Special Needs Fund concept? What other needs do our Community Members have which are unmet? How about Catholic education? We certainly have families who would like their children to have Catholic education but cannot afford it. St. Francis of Assisi Parish, a Catholic parish in Kansas City, provides Catholic education for all members, through high school. St. Francis decided that Catholic education was a priority - so they pooled their resources and distributed them, turning their vision into reality.

Catholic education is but one example. Do all of our members receive the pastoral counseling and spiritual direction they need? As our economy slips, will our members need help finding jobs? And what about our service to the poor - how could that be expanded? Do we expand our support of existing Malachi Ministries, or do we branch into new areas?

As we move into the next 5 years of St. Malachi Looks to the Future, we as a community can pray over, consider, and act on these opportunities. We have shared together 25 years as the Community of St. Malachi. The message of scripture is challenging. My hope and my dream is that we can move toward the life of the early Christian Community, and that we will discover that the best years of St. Malachi are ahead of us.

The government recently calculated the cost of raising a child from birth to 18 and came up with $160,140 for a middle income family. Talk about sticker shock. That doesn't even touch college tuition. For those with kids, that figure leads to wild fantasies about all the things we could have bought, all the places we could have traveled, all the money we could have banked if not for (insert child's name here). For others, that number might confirm the decision to remain childless.

But $160,140 isn't so bad if you break it down. It translates into $8,896.66 a year, $741.38 a month or $171.08 a week. That's a mere $24.44 a day. Just over a dollar an hour. Still, you might think the best financial advice says don't have children if you want to be rich. It's just the opposite.

There's no way to put a price tag on:

• Feeling a new life move for the first time and seeing the bump of a knee rippling across your skin.
• Having someone cry, "It's a boy!" or shout, "It's a girl!" then hearing the baby wail and knowing all that matters is it's healthy.
• Counting all 10 fingers and toes for the first time.
• Feeling the warmth of fat cheeks against your breast.
• Cupping an entire head in the palm of your hand.
• Making out da da or ma ma from all the cooing and gurgling.

What do you get for your $160,140?

Naming rights. First, middle, and last. Glimpses of God every day. Giggles under the covers every night. More love than your heart can hold. Butterfly kisses and Velcro hugs.

Endless wonder over rocks, ants, clouds, and warm cookies. A hand to hold, usually covered with jam. A partner for blowing bubbles, flying kites, building sandcastles, and skipping down the sidewalk in the pouring rain. Someone to laugh yourself silly with no matter what the boss said or how your stocks performed that day.

For $160,140, you never have to grow up. You get to finger-paint, carve pumpkins, play hide-and-seek, catch lightning bugs, and never stop believing in Santa Claus. You have an excuse to keep reading the adventures of Piglet and Pooh, watching Saturday morning cartoons, going to Disney movies, and wishing on stars.

You get to frame rainbows, hearts, and flowers under refrigerator magnets and collect spray painted noodle wreaths for Christmas, hand prints set in clay for Mother's Day, and cards with backwards letters for Father's Day.

For $160,140, there's no greater bang for your buck. You get to be a hero just for retrieving a Frisbee off the garage roof, taking the training wheels off the bike, removing a sliver, filling the wading pool, coaxing a wad of gum out of bangs, and coaching a baseball team that never wins but always gets treated to ice cream regardless. You get a front row seat in history to witness the first step, first word, first bra, first date, first time behind the wheel. You get to be immortal. You get another branch added to your family tree, and if you're lucky, a long list of limbs in your obituary called grandchildren.

You get an education in psychology, nursing, criminal justice, communications, and human sexuality no college can match. In the eyes of a child, you rank right up there with God. You have the power to heal a boo-boo, scare away monsters under the bed, patch a broken heart, police a slumber party, ground them forever, and love them without limits, so one day they will, like you, love without counting the cost.

Balderdash: a rapidly receding hairline.

Dopeler effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

Flabbergasted: appalled over how much weight you have gained.

Frisbeetarianism: The belief that, when you die, your soul goes up on the roof and gets stuck there.

Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a refund from the IRS, which lasts until

you realize it was your money to start with.

Karmageddon: It's like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like a serious bummer.

Rectitude: The formal, dignified demeanor assumed by a proctologist immediately before he examines you.

Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.

Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the reader who doesn't get it.

Semantics: Pranks conducted by young men studying for the priesthood, including such things as gluing the pages of the priest's prayer book together just before vespers.

I remember back in seventh grade I went on my first Christian Formation retreat. My parents said I had to go and I was dreading it. When I was there, a couple of the high schoolers who planned it got up in front of everyone and told us how much fun it would be and they were right, it was fun. I got to know the people in my youth group a little better, I learned the chair game and I learned a little more about my faith. The next year, I looked forward to another retreat and another weekend of even more fun.

A couple of weeks ago, I was on the Christian Formation Spirit retreat. We left on Friday, April 6th at 6 p.m. and returned for the 11 a.m. Palm Sunday mass on April 8th. The retreat was at the Cedar Hills Conference Center in Painesville, about a 40-minute car ride from Malachi's.

The retreat was planned by Karen Duffy, Rick Zimmerman, Jan Leitch, John Retar, Ron Perger, Jen DeJohn and team members from the Sr. High youth group, Margaret Rose Aylward, Chad Garven, Bryan Kennard, Gary Pritts Jr., Rachel and Sarah Schiros, who took time to meet several times to put it all together. It was attended by everyone at St. Malachi's making their confirmation this year.

When we got to Cedar Hills, after settling in, we went into the chapel, which was where we spent most of the retreat. We were split into groups and bonded immediately. One of the things we did in these groups was a trust activity, where you lean back and your group stands around you in a circle to keep you from falling. That led to falling off of chairs and tables, and your group caught you. Then, someone got the idea of everyone standing in a line and passing the person across the room. That took a lot of trust and if we could trust each other enough to do that, how could we not trust God?

Crowd surfing wasn't the only thing we did that weekend. We did meditations, had deep discussions about our faith, wrote prayers using objects to symbolize our faith, wrote notes to each other, we played the chair game, we stayed up late talking and dancing (at least the girls did, I don't know about the guys), and of course, we prayed.

One of the most powerful experiences of the retreat, at least for me, was praying in our groups. It was my first time doing anything like that and it was really touching. Father Tony even came so we could all go to reconciliation. We watched "Forrest Gump" and stayed up late just talking. The next morning, before we left, we met in the chapel one last time to reflect on the weekend. Then we sang "Lean on Me," swaying back and forth in a circle and took a group picture.

What a weekend! It really brought everyone closer together. Right now, I feel so much closer to the youth group and more importantly, closer to God. As the confirmation team shared their faith with us, I discovered more about my own. Now I have a better understanding of why I am making my confirmation. This weekend was very special for me and I hope it was for everyone else who was there.

(By the way, the chair game is something we play every year on the retreats where every person but one sits in chairs in a circle. The person left standing is in the middle. When that person names a characteristic anybody with that characteristic has to run to another chair.)

I'm in eighth grade at Emerson Middle School in Lakewood and I'm a part of the seventh and eighth grade youth group. April

6-8 was the weekend of our retreat with some of the high school youth group members as part of the team that took care of us. In just the first few hours the Friday night we arrived, we had already started bonding, trusting, working, and having fun together as a group. Last year we had a little problem with cliques, but this year we all bonded as one unit. It was one of the best weekends my friends and I have had in a while.

When we were in our separate groups we learned a lot about prayer, God, and church. During the whole weekend all of us felt that there was a real presence of the Spirit with us. Everyone was comfortable trusting, able to share their thoughts, ideas and/or feelings with other people in the group.

Saturday night Father Tony came to our retreat to talk to us about and share reconciliation. It was my first time to share reconciliation. I was nervous but Father Tony walked me through it and when it was over I felt real good, not just because I had gotten it over with, but because I had made another move to becoming an adult in the church. Plus, as a bonus, my friends were there to congratulate me. On Sunday my friends and I were sad for the retreat to end, but it was a great experience.

To anyone with kids, of any age, here's some advice Bill Gates recently dished at a high school speech about 11 things they did not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teaching has created a full generation of kids with no concept of reality and how they are set up for failure in the real world. Here are Bill's "Reality Rules":

Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it.

Rule 2: The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something before you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3: You will not make 50 thousand dollars a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice president with a car phone, until you earn both.

Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss. He doesn't have tenure.

Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping - they called it opportunity.

Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault; so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes, and listening to you talk about how cool you are. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life has not. In some schools they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as many times as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to anything in real life.

Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you find yourself. Do that on your own time.

Rule 10: Television is not real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

A little girl was talking to her teacher about whales. The teacher said it was physically impossible for a whale to swallow a human because even though they were a very large mammal their throat was very small.

The little girl stated that Jonah was swallowed by a whale. The teacher reiterated that a whale could not swallow a human; it was impossible.

The little girl said, "When I get to heaven I will ask Jonah."

The teacher asked, "What if Jonah went to hell?"

The little girl replied, "Then you ask him."

I had lunch with my banker awhile back. On that day he seemed all excited for some reason. He said to me, "Mike, I think what I'm about to share with you is something you'll understand."

My banker friend's first name is Steve. Steve told me his daughter Emmy was getting married June 8th of 2002. He told me she wanted to get married sooner but they could not get a hall. She was checking with him to be sure June 8th was okay.

You see June 8th was Steve's son Andrew's birthday and June 9th was the day Andrew had drowned off the shores of Rocky River at the age of 13.

Steve told Emmy that June 8th has and always will be a joyous day for him because of that being Andrew's birthday. June 9th would have been a different story. And he thought what better way to also celebrate the day but with a wedding. He was sure Andrew wouldn't mind.

Well, Emmy, who works in Columbus, had set up a day to come up to Cleveland and go shopping with her mom for a wedding dress. Her mom Elisabeth had set up appointments at four stores.

Well the first store and At the first store, the first dress Emmy tried on was all Emmy needed. She just loved the first dress. Yet her mom made her try on a total of 15 dresses that day. Emmy still went back to the first store and the first dress.

When they got home my friend Steve told me that Emmy wanted to look the dress up on the internet and be sure she got a good deal. So she asked her mom to tell her the name on the label inside the dress.

Her Mom yelled up to Emmy that the name on the label, the name of the manufacturer of the dress was "Andrew for Emmy."

Steve said I guess Andrew really did approve of his sister getting married on his birthday. He even provided the dress.

Steve knew I would understand. Seeing spirits and talking to them from time to time runs in our family going back at least three generations on my mother's side.

Blessings to you all.

Bridget Jones's Diary  %%%

Padre Franco's opinion is that movie viewers are conditioned to vulgarity.

Sure "Bridget" has a good story line and it's funny and witty; but older audiences can remember actors like Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn and Jimmy Stewart who could have carried the story with sophistication and without the "F" word. It must be that the bulk of moviegoers are under fifty and still titillated by naughty words, naughty behavior and sexy undies. But you have to grow up sometime.

So far Renee Zellweger's roles in "Bridget Jones" and "Nurse Betty" have her typecast as a distinctly eccentric character but I'm willing to bet she would be delicious in more serious roles. I hope so because she may have put on twenty pounds for this part but she was stunning at the Academy Awards nominations. Although "Bridget Jones" had a solid supporting cast, Renee was the whole picture.

The essentials of the movie are the yearning desires of singletons to connect with someone who accepts her/ him as they are. I'm sure this connects with a lot of singles in the same situation. The trouble is that it leaves one with the impression that the only place this can happen is in the company of friendly and solicitous bar-hoppers and not at a church singles meeting. Bridget hears the fearsome ticking of her biological clock and worries that she's destined to die alone only to be found three weeks later, half eaten by wild dogs.

With this in mind as an incentive, Bridget writes in her diary that, "this year I will take control of my life and will make resolutions and keep them" - which she doesn't; she continues to drink like a fish and smoke like a chimney.

Bridget's problem is that she has a knack for saying the wrong thing in the wrong place at the worst possible moment. In spite of it all she manages to catch the eye of her randy boss (Hugh Grant) by wearing a skimpy skirt to work and it looks like she's not going to die alone after all. But, alas, it turns out that he's just playing the field.

Miserable, but supported by a faithful trio of friends, who cheer her on, she somehow manages to repeatedly meet up with successful but stiff and mirthless barrister Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) whom she hates. He finally finds that he has an interest in her and she in him.

The plot takes a convoluted turn when her boss returns and asks forgiveness and Bridget is forced to make a choice. The outcome is decided in a ludicrous free for all and I'll leave the readers to guess the outcome.

The real problem is that this movie is probably going to be as good as it gets for the summer because producers make real clunkers from here on until the fall. Either see "Bridget Jones's Diary" or buy videos for the summer doldrums with Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn and Jimmy Stewart. Oldies with class!

Blow   %%

The film's title is slang, for cool people in the know, for cocaine, but "blow" is definitely overblown! The revelation in this movie, based on the true story of George Jung, is that cocaine is a business as well as an addiction. What drives it all are the remorseless drug dealers and the unfortunates who get sucked in.

The film begins with typical scenes of a 50's boyhood, with a doting father (Ray Liotta) and a shrewish mother who makes divorce seem like a viable alternative. However, nothing revealing is offered to give us a sense of what made George Jung (Johnny Depp) a major dealer in the late 60's and early 70's.

George and a friend go to California and are living the high life. To pay expenses George's girlfriend introduces him to some marijuana dealers. It seemed life was just a ride in the fast lane to pleasure and dollar bills until George is caught with a marijuana consignment. Busted and in jail he meets - as fate would have it - a contact who has connections to Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar.

George's one dubious claim to fame was that he introduced cocaine into California but he never takes responsibility for the untold misery that plagues both California and the rest of the nation today.

It's claimed he made over $100,000,000 and one scene shows his apartment so crowded with money that he doesn't know where to put it. Twenty years later with millions in laundered money, a fleet of planes, living a life of luxury, he ends up where he started - in jail until 2014.

The producers would have us believe that he loved his father, loved his daughter and loved his wife. I can never understand why moviemakers produce apologias for unsympathetic characters such as George Jung. I can only assume that they are as crass as the people they're portraying are.

A major defect of the movie is that it presents with irresponsible abandon the easy life and exciting drama of the drug dealer but never addresses the effects cocaine can have on people's lives. "Blow" doesn't do for the viewer what the movie "Traffic" did - namely emphasize that drugs are bad and there's a million heartbreaks in its trade.

"Blow" is rated "R" for a lot of reasons - scenes depicting drug use; strong profanity; violence; sexual slang, and vulgar gestures; brief female nudity and a sex scene.

A philosophy professor stood before his class with some items in front of him. When class began, wordlessly he picked up a large empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with rocks -rocks about 2" in diameter. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles, of course, rolled into the open areas between the rocks. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was. The students laughed.

The professor picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up the rest of the jar.

"Now," said the professor, "I want you to recognize that this is your life. The rocks are the important things - your family, your partner, your health, your children - anything that is so important to you that if it were lost, you would be nearly destroyed. The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, your car. The sand is everything else. The small stuff.

"If you put the sand into the jar first, there is no room for the pebbles or the rocks. The same goes for your life. If you spend all your energy and time on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children - or borrow someone else's if you don't have your own. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out dancing. Or go with friends. There will always be time to go to work, clean the house, give a dinner party and fix the disposal. Take care of the rocks first - the things that really matter.

"The rest is just sand."

After a few of the usual Sunday evening hymns, the church's pastor slowly stood up, walked over to the pulpit and briefly introduced a guest minister who was at the service that evening. In the introduction, the pastor told the congregation that the guest minister was one of his dearest childhood friends and that he wanted him to have a few moments to greet the church and share whatever he felt would be appropriate for the service.

With that, an elderly man stepped up to the pulpit and began to speak: "A father, his son, and a friend of his son were sailing off the Pacific Coast," he began, "when a fast-approaching storm blocked any attempt to get back to shore. The waves were so high, that even though the father was an experienced sailor, he could not keep the boat upright and the three were swept into the ocean as the boat capsized."

The old man hesitated for a moment, making eye contact with two teenagers who were, for the first time since the service began, looking somewhat interested. The aged minister continued with his story, "Grabbing a rescue line, the father had to make the most excruciating decision of his life: to which boy would he throw the other end of the lifeline. He only had seconds to make the decision. The father knew that his son was a Christian and he also knew that his son's friend was not. The agony of his decision could not be matched by the torrent of waves. As the father yelled out, 'I love you, son!' he threw out the lifeline to his son's friend. By the time the father had pulled the friend back to the capsized boat, his son had disappeared beneath the raging swells into the black of night. His body was never recovered."

By this time, the two teenagers were sitting up straight in the pew, anxiously waiting for the next words to come out of the old minister's mouth.

"The father," he continued, "knew his son would step into eternity with Jesus and he could not bear the thought of his son's friend stepping into an eternity without Jesus. Therefore, he sacrificed his son to save the son's friend. How great is the love of God that He should do the same for us.

"Our heavenly Father sacrificed His only begotten Son that we could be saved.

"I urge you to accept His offer to rescue you and take hold of the lifeline He is throwing out to you in this service." With that, the old man turned and sat back down in his chair as silence filled the room.

Within minutes after the service ended, the two teenagers were at the old man's side. "That was a nice story," politely started one of the boys, "but I don't think it was very realistic for a father to give up his only son's life in hopes that the other boy would become a Christian."

"Well, you've got a point there," the old man replied, glancing down at his worn Bible. A big smile broadened his narrow face, he once again looked up at the boys and said, "It sure isn't very realistic, is it? But I'm standing here today to tell you that story gives me a glimpse of what it must have been like for God to give up His Son for me. You see, I was that father and your pastor is my son's friend."

The internet landscape looked very different a year ago. The mantra of many companies was "free" as they sought to grow at any price. But for investors, that price proved too high and they pulled the plug on innumerable companies. The end of "free" seemed to come as fast is it started and with just as many headlines. Along the way, some viable businesses washed out and some very worthwhile internet companies, like Yahoo, lost much of the value they had accumulated.

Lots of free services remain, such as web-based e-mail services on Yahoo and Hotmail and many others, and internet software from Microsoft and Netscape still doesn't cost anything. But the many free internet service providers that proliferated a year or so ago are gone, and the ones that survive are looking for ways to cut their losses while increasing revenues.

To my knowledge, three are still standing: Netzero (www.netzero.com), Juno (www.juno.com) and Kmart's Bluelight (www.bluelight.com). All have tried to restrict the monthly hours people can use them for. When you use them, part of the screen is taken up by an advertising banner, and often connection speeds are slow. You can get improved versions of Juno and Netzero by paying for them. Juno has a long-standing paid service that costs about $15 a month, although some of us have received very attractive offers for much less, and Netzero just started offering a paid service for about $10 a month. In an interesting wrinkle, Netzero offers a version of its service where you only pay in the months you use it.

There is one local service available for about $10: NCCW (www.nccw.net or www.nccw.com). One community member uses NCCW and has been pleased with its service. Also, we use NCCW's web hosting capabilities for the St. Malachi web site (www.stmalachi.org). There are others advertised from time to time, but I don't have any knowledge of them. The former Stratos, which is now CoreComm (www.core.com), used to be $10 a month, but is now up to $20, with a discount for signing up for a year, which is common among internet service providers. However, CoreComm has a good deal, though, where if you use them as your local phone service, you get free unlimited internet access. If anyone has worked up the courage to leave Ameritech and try it, let me know how it works.

Which one to choose? The best guideline I can offer is the age-old wisdom: you get what you pay for. If you don't use the internet much, and when you do, your needs are not that great, the free services should be fine. You don't even need to pick one - get them all. It's not a bad idea to sign up for one as a back up for your paid service.

If your needs are slightly greater than the minimum, one of the under $20 services should suffice. But for medium to heavy use, I recommend getting one of the $20 a month services. I've been happy with AT&T for a long time now. It's a national service, which is important to me when I travel. Others I know have been happy with Earthlink, Ameritech and MSN. When it comes to America Online, it seems that as many swear by it as swear at it. I don't like it much and recommend against it, but AOL does make it very easy to get started.

Faster service is starting to become available. Many people in the area can get DSL from Ameritech, and satellite and cable services are coming. These cost much more, but those who have used them say they are worth the cost.

A kindergarten teacher was observing her classroom of children while they drew. She would occasionally walk around to see each child's artwork. As she got to one little girl who was working diligently, she asked what the drawing was. The girl replied, "I'm drawing God."
The teacher paused and said, "But no one knows what God looks like."
Without missing a beat, or looking up from her drawing the girl replied, "They will in a minute."

A Sunday school teacher was discussing the Ten Commandments with her 5 and 6 year-olds. After explaining the commandment "Honor thy Father and thy mother," she asked, "is there a commandment that teaches us how to treat our brothers and sisters?"
Instantly one little boy answered, "Thou shall not kill."

Finding one of her students making faces at others on the playground, Ms. Smith stopped to gently reprove the child. Smiling sweetly, the Sunday school teacher said, "Bobby, when I was a child I was told that if I made an ugly face, it would freeze and I would stay like that."
Bobby looked up and replied, "Well, Ms. Smith, you can't say you weren't warned."

An honest 7-year-old admitted calmly to her parents that Billy Brown had kissed her after class. "How did that happen?" gasped her mother.
"It wasn't easy," admitted the young lady, "but three girls helped me catch him."

On the first day of school, the Kindergarten teacher said, "If anyone has to go to the bathroom, hold up two fingers."
A little voice from the back of the room asked, "How will that help?"

The Community Council met on April 3 at St. Malachi Center. Gary Pritts opened with prayer. Mary Carol Lucic shared some thoughts about Lent and suggested people read "Fasting and Feasting" by William Arthur Ward.

PASTOR'S AND PRESIDENT'S REPORTS: Distributed. Missionary Support: Moved to support the social justice mission of Casey Stengle, in her May trip to Africa, with a stipend and prayerful commissioning at Mass.

ANNUAL MEETING: Committee Reports due to Paul Kunkel 4/8. Will serve full breakfast, without charge.

BISHOP'S LETTER: Extensive discussion of lack of priests, sharing priests, parish collaboration. Effects on both reality and perceptions of what it means to be Catholic, a Eucharistic community, the Body of Christ? Having accomplished much, often with little, CSM is uniquely qualified to lead. Demands that weddings and funerals place on already-stressed parish resources. Lay leadership is accomplishing non-sacramental tasks, freeing priests' time for sacraments. Could Lay Administrators relieve priests of

physical plant management issues? New cardinals' impact on the future of the church? Theological and political issues around celibate, male priesthood. Profound issues of the role of women in the church Should CSM take a formal stance on these issues? Suggesting other parishes do likewise? Pastoral ministers in paid positions increase effectiveness? Bishop needs concrete, practical suggestions and observations - Council to solicit members and draft.

CHRISTIAN FORMATION: Invited Councilors to write a note of encouragement to young adults who are being confirmed or are on retreat.

COMMUNICATIONS: Added to CSM Handbook an Electronic Messaging service. Respond to individuals' requests to provide notifications of death or serious illness of members and their families or issues or events sponsored or endorsed by CSM. Confirmed that the CSM Roster is not published on the Community Web Site.

FINANCE: Budget will be submitted in May for approval in June.

LITURGY: Report distributed by email.

MEMBERSHIP: Report distributed.

SOCIAL ACTION: Responded to Diocesan request for funds to support Sudanese refugees.

COUNCIL RETREAT: Being planned for June.

NOMINATING COMMITTEE: Four candidates for three positions, seeking one more. [ Subsequently elected George Eterovich, Marc Giguere, and Mike Pellegrino on 4/22 - editor. ]

The meeting took place on Sunday, April 22, 2001, in the school hall. The Annual

Report was circulated. George Eterovich, Marc Giguere, and Mike Pellegrino elected to two-year terms as at-large Council. Committee chairs (and co-chairs) elected for one-year terms: Luis Gutierrez (with Mike May and Joe Pulizzi co-chairs) - Communications; Bill McLaughlin - Treasurer; Rosemary Gray - Hospitality; Jeanette Shemo - Liturgy; Paul Wingenfeld (with Francine Cutura co-chair) - Membership; Fred Leonard - Social Action; Carol Dlouhy - Spiritual Development.

Presentation on the St. Malachi Looks to the Future project, about the various committees and the Core Values statement. Stressed the importance of putting all this into action. President's Report identified leadership development as a focus area for the year ahead.

Highlights from Bishop Pilla's pastoral letter, "Vibrant Parish Life." Council intends to cooperate fully with the Bishop's request that we start dialog with adjoining parishes. Spontaneous motion from the floor that we write the Bishop, cardinals and National Council of Bishops urging the consideration of married and women priests - passed overwhelmingly with one abstention.

Incarnation would then be the disclosure that God struggles carnally, thrashing in and through and with the length and breadth and depth of all space, moving toward being that fully self-conscious God whom Scripture identifies as All in all. The Christ-event then is the promise within time of the transforming consummation of space. In Christ as foretaste, we experience God as the Triune Source, Companion, and Goal of all things.