Year of the Dragon is open season for Catholic Bashing as a sinister stench seeps out of Kansas City    In this weekend's editorial we rebut the ridiculous survey results claimed by the Kansas City Star in which this major publication impugned priests as having four times as many AIDS related cases than the entire population. Those are scary claims and through research we show it is all a smokescreen masqueraded in the fog of assumption with the intent of demonizing the Church and her ministers and destroying confidence in the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church which remains the only target that has a bullseye on it for anyone to take potshots at without consequence. For today's editorial Everything is not up-to-date in Kansas City!, see CATHOLIC PewPOINT

To further education in both Catholic and public schools there is a simple answer: Don't just allow, but encourage students to pray!    In her column this week, Sister Mary Lucy Astuto brings us the words of Darrell Scott, father of Rachel Scott who was gunned down at Columbine High School in Denver last year. In addressing politicians and the civic authorities and others in assembly, he didn't point the finger at guns or even the murderers, but rather at the concept that we have lost our soul, that we have turned away from God and the only way to resolve it is to turn back to Him and to return prayer to the schools. Sister shows through his words that the only way for America to survive is not through gun laws and further restrictions, but freedom - freedom to pray to the One Who can and will make a difference For her column, A father with wisdom, see GETTING TO THE HEART OF THE MATTER Appreciation of the Book of Apocalypse/Revelation     Today we continue with our new series in the search to uncover the wonderful treasures of the Church contained in the great Deposit of Faith. We complete the Books of the New Testament today with the introduction to Peter's Second Epistle. For the ninety-eight installment, see APPRECIATING THE PRECIOUS GIFT OF OUR FAITH Down under the Archbishop of Wellington Cardinal Thomas Stafford has the souls of New Zealanders as his main concern     We continue with this special series introducing you to the Princes of the Church. Our one-hundred-fifty-fourth red-hat we feature, in alphabetical order is nearly 70 year-old Cardinal Thomas Stafford Williams, the Archbishop of Wellington, New Zealand for the past twenty years. He was elevated to the cardinalate during the Consistory of February 2, 1983 by Pope John Paul II. For more on Cardinal Williams, see COLLEGE OF CARDINALS COLLECTION Events that happened this Weekend in Church History     On Sunday 78 years ago Cardinal Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti had to resign his post as Archbishop of Milan for he had been chosen by his fellow College of Cardinals as the 259th successor of Peter. He took the name Pope Pius IX and besides signing the Lateran Treaty with Benito Mussolini in 1929 which essentially made Vatican City State a sovereign nation, he canonized Saint Therese of the Child Jesus and Saint Bernadette as well as proclaiming Saint John of the Cross, Saint Albert the Great, Saint Robert Bellarmine, and Saint Peter Canisius Doctors of the Church. His pontificate lasted seventeen years bridging two wars. For other time capsule events that happened in Church history on this date, see MILLENNIUM MILESTONES AND MEMORIES Where there's a will, there's a way to educate goodness!     They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but the words of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen have been known to launch a thousand images in one's mind, one of the ways this late luminary did so much to evangelize the faith. Because of the urgency of the times and because few there are today who possess the wisdom, simplicity and insight than the late Archbishop who touched millions, we are bringing you daily gems from his writings. The good bishop makes it so simple that we have dubbed this daily series: "SIMPLY SHEEN". "Knowledge is in the mind, character is in the will. To pour knowledge into the mind of a child, without disciplining his will to goodness, is like putting a rifle into the hands of a child. Without education of sthe mind a child could be a stupid devil. With education of the mind, but without love of goodness, a child could grow up to be a clever devil." Last week's top film proves beauty is not in the "Eye of the Beholder" Top Ten Films for Last Week of January    Predictably, movie audiences fell off dramatically over Super Bowl week with the top film last week "Eye of the Beholder" garnering a measely six million and all others way down in attendance. Despite the mediocre fare, "Toy Story 2" jumped back into the Top Ten and the two worthwhile films "Stewart Little" and "The Green Mile" maintained their consistency along with the harmless, humorous "Galaxy Quest" continuing to surprise. Word of mouth has greatly helped these flicks as well as Denzel Washington's masterful performance in "The Hurricane". All else other fare in the Top Ten are chaff. For the Top Ten reviews for the 4th week of the third millennium, prepared by the NCCB, see MOVIES AND MORALS

WORLDWIDE NEWS & VIEWS with a Catholic slant News Ticker from Catholic World News For more from CWN and other Catholic wire services, see stories below Holy Father can relate to the importance of the World Day of Prayer for the Sick next week     The Holy Father is no stranger to illness from earlier in his life in Poland and presently as he suffers from the early stages of Parkinson's Disease. Therefore, it is with special affection that he looks forward to the ceremonies for the World Day of Prayer for the Sick that begin next Wednesday and conclude on the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes where countless healings have taken place since the mid nineteenth century. continued inside Statisticians assail Kansas City Star survey as skewed, bias, and full of deceit    The president of the Center for Media and Public Affairs and the research director for Statistical Assessment Service have assailed a recent "sex" survey taken by the Kansas City Star as full of holes while we will go even further, joining Catholic League president William Donohue in asserting that the Star's intent is to "demonize the Catholic Church." For more on this see today's (CATHOLIC PewPOINT) continued inside. Secretary of State dedicates special dining room for homeless and poor folks as special charity project for Jubilee Year 2000   With all the celebrating going on, the Vatican is intent on bringing peace of mind to the poor and indigent pilgrims of Rome as well by providing a piece of bread along with an entree, drink and dessert for 100 to 500 daily at a new dining room officially opened and dedicated by Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Secretary of State on behalf of the Holy Father. While this one is located adjacent to St. Peter's Square, more dining rooms will be opened near the major basilicas as well over the next several days as part of a special project called "The Pope's Charity for the Jubilee." continued inside. China assailed for leading the world in capital punishment by a wide margin    The answer to America's crowded prisons is simple. Extradite the prisoners to China where capital punishment has increased in recent years that their judicial system has executed more people than all the other countries combined. Amnesty International bestowed the ingnominious title on Red China and the Chinese authorities immediately went into a state of denial as they have every time they've been accused. continued inside. Marriages and abstinence on the rise and pro-aborts in Canada want to know where they went wrong!    Advocates for the culture of death are appalled that 70% of French Canadians are abstaining from premarital sex and turning down condoms leaving the pro-abort advocates in a quandary. Rather than accepting that virtue is better than vice, Planned Parenthood and other organizations of that ilk are opting to encourage vice by convincing the Canadian government to relaunch a nationwide campaign to "reeducate" the young people that they can't be good because that would put them their organizations out of business. Talk about bizarre! continued inside. Britain's Bishops plead: "Reinstill the virtues of marriage and celibacy before it's too late!"    Meanwhile in Britain, Catholic and Anglican bishops jointly called for England's parliament to promote traditional Judeo-Christian teaching on marriage and the values and virtues of young couples saving themselves until after they have professed their wedding vows. This latest appeal revolves around the infamous Section 28 measure that would give credence to same-sex marriages and promote the homosexual lifestyle which Scotland's Cardinal Thomas Winning, our featured cardinal next Monday, has so vehemently been fighting. continued inside. Former Israeli Prime Minister's widow hails Holy Father's visit as great honor for Jews   Leah Rabin, the widow of Israel's late Prime Minister Yitshak Rabin revealed her people are excited and honored that Pope John Paul II will be coming to Israeli shores in late March for they consider him a great friend and recalled her husband's fond memories of his visit with the Holy Father. continued inside. Tiny El Salvador puts America to shame with righteous protest of film. Where was the outrage in the U.S?    In light of the massive protests by Catholics in El Salvador in decrying the blasphemous film "Stigmata", American Catholics should be ashamed of themselves for not speaking out strongly like their Central American neighbors who value values unlike their neighbors to the north who have become so apathetic or hard-hearted that the fact this terrible flick bashes the Catholic Church doesn't disturb them. That's disturbing. continued inside. For more headlines and articles, we suggest you go to the Catholic World News site at the CWN home page and Church News at Noticias Eclesiales and the Dossiers, features and Daily Dispatches from ZENIT International News Agency CWN, NE and ZENIT are not affiliated with the Daily CATHOLIC, but provide this service via e-mail to the Daily CATHOLIC Monday through Friday.