Salina — In six weeks, the Diocese of Salina will launch the first wave of a $15 million capital campaign to fund four critical missions.

Priests, parish life coordinators and parish leaders in the 10 eastern counties that make up the “first wave” have completed orientation, and parish volunteers will begin training on Sept. 27.

Since announcing the “Yesterday, Today and Forever” fund drive in April, Bishop Paul Coakley has been visiting personally with key contributors, and the results of that early silent phase will be announced in mid-October when the campaign officially begins.

The $15 million goal primarily will fund endowments for key ministries and help launch the diocese’s new pastoral plan, which the bishop promulgated in June.

The four goals:

• Priest retirement, $1 million for current needs and $7 million for an endowment.

• Seminarian education, $3 million for an endowment.

• Catholic Charities, $250,000 to renovate its headquarters and $1 million for an endowment.

• “Stewards of Hope: A Pastoral Plan for the Diocese of Salina,” $750,000 to implement the plan over the next four years.

• The annual Catholic Community Annual Appeal for this year only will be included in this drive, with a goal of $1 million. The CCAA traditionally has raised that amount to help pay for the annual expenses of about a dozen diocesan ministries.

Washington — Catholics in the United States will begin using the long-awaited English translation of the Roman Missal on the first Sunday of Advent in 2011, Cardinal Francis George of Chicago said Aug. 20.

The cardinal’s announcement as president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops marks the formal beginning of a more than 15-month period of education and training leading to the first use on Nov. 27, 2011, of the “third typical edition” of the Roman Missal at English-language Masses in the United States.

The missal, announced by Pope John Paul II in 2000 and first published in Latin in 2002, has undergone a lengthy and rigorous translation process through the International Commission on English in the Liturgy.

In a decree of proclamation sent to the U.S. bishops Aug. 20, Cardinal George said, “The use of the third edition of the Roman Missal enters into use in the dioceses of the United States of America as of the first Sunday of Advent, Nov. 27, 2011. From that date forward, no other edition of the Roman Missal may be used in the dioceses of the United States of America.”

He added that the U.S. Catholic Church “can now move forward and continue with our important catechetical efforts as we prepare the text for publication.”

Bishop Arthur Serratelli of Paterson, N.J., chairman of the USCCB Committee on Divine Worship, expressed gratitude about the final Vatican approval.

The changes to be implemented in late 2011 include new responses by the people in about a dozen sections of the Mass, although changes in the words used by the celebrant are much more extensive.

Hays — More than 350 couples and guests attended the first of two Jubilee Celebrations of Marriage on Saturday at St. Joseph’s Church.

Couples celebrating milestone wedding anniversaries each year are invited by the Office of Family Life to the annual Mass and reception and receive a certificate from Bishop Paul Coakley.

The Hays event covered the western part of the Diocese of Salina. A second gathering takes place this Saturday at St. Mary, Queen of the Universe Church in Salina for the eastern part of the diocese.

Salina — Deacon Charles Awotwi’s calling to the priesthood has spanned several years and two hemispheres, so his ordination Saturday was particularly eventful, said Bishop Paul Coakley.

“For many years, Charles discerned the mysterious call of the Lord in his life. It led him farm from his native land to the plains of central and northwest Kansas to offer himself in response to God’s call and God’s prompting.

“It is with gratitude that we rejoice today,” he said.

Deacon Awotwi was ordained as a transitional deacon Aug. 14 at Sacred Heart Cathedral and is scheduled to be ordained to the priesthood in late spring 2011. He has a year of studies remaining at the University of St. Mary of the Lake and Mundelein Seminary in Chicago before he begins his ministry as a priest for the diocese.

A native of Ghana, West Africa, Deacon Awotwi, 37, began his seminary studies 11 years ago with the religious order, Missionaries of Africa, in East Africa. He continued his theology studies after leaving the order, then was recommended to contact the Diocese of Salina about becoming a priest here.

Bishop Coakley likened Deacon Awotwi’s calling to the two Scripture readings at the ordination Mass.

In the first reading, God calls out to Samuel, but Samuel does not understand and believes it is Eli asking for his assistance. Finally, Eli realizes that it is the Lord who is calling the young Samuel and instructs him to say, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

In the Gospel reading, Jesus calls to Peter, James and John, who fished all night and caught nothing, “to put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.”

Abilene — Dr. Ray Guarendi, a nationally known author, columnist, speaker and radio host, will be one of the featured speakers at the Salina Diocesan Council of Catholic Women’s bi-annual convention Aug. 28 at St. Andrew’s Parish Hall.

Guarendi will speak on “Back to the Family,” a three-year national search for strong families to help identify characteristics most common to strong families, as well as the struggles and difficulties most families face.

“ ‘Back to the Family’ is a great topic,” said Jolene Schuster, SDCCW president. “I’ve been telling all the young mothers to come to convention. Family helps us to be disciplined and less self-centered.”

Despite the serious topic, it will be an entertaining event.

“To paraphrase a wise person, parenting is too important to be taken seriously. So we’ll also relax and laugh, whenever and however we can,” Guarendi said.

“Whatever I can do to help you learn, laugh and stand strong as a parent, I’m willing,” he added. “We’ll cover parenting and families from every direction, from toddlers to teens, child discipline to parenting skills, and adoption to adolescence.”

Guarendi knows the real-life challenges of raising kids. He understands the daily frustration of parents and the hard work involved in raising a special-needs child.

Hays — The formal prom­ulgation of the Diocese of Salina’s new pastoral plan drew more than 1,000 Catholics here June 6.

They gathered first for inspirational music and talks, processed with the Eucharist across town and came together once again for Mass in the diocese’s newest church.

“This is a significant if not historical moment in our history,” a beaming Bishop Paul Coakley told the near-capacity crowd gathered in the 1,100-seat Beach/Schmidt Performing Arts Center at Fort Hays State University.

And he was smiling again when he welcomed an overflow crowd in the 1,000-seat Immaculate Heart of Mary Church for the closing liturgy.

“This has been a wonderful day,” he said, “a wonderful conclusion as we celebrate the feast of Corpus Christi.”

At the heart of the six-hour event was “Steward of Hope, a Pastoral Plan for the Diocese of Salina.”

“I should say at the outset that what I am proposing is not merely another new program, nor certainly not any magic formula for success. The program already exists — it is the plan found in the Gospel and in the living Tradition of the Church,” Bishop Coakley said at the opening of the diocesan assembly.

“Though we may adopt new initiatives to address the challenges of our secular culture at this moment in history and the changing circumstances in our various communities, the plan is in living continuity with the past. It has its center in Christ himself, who desires to be known, loved and imitated so that we might share in him the life of the Holy Trinity,” he said.

“We are not saved by a program, but by a person, Jesus Christ, who has given us his assurance, ‘I am with you always,’ ” the bishop said.

Hays — Becoming a “steward of hope” means becoming a holy person, but that’s not a terribly lofty ideal, Bishop Emeritus Joseph Charron told those gathered at the Diocesan Assembly on June 6.

Becoming holy, he said, is simply allowing God to lead your life.

“Every one of us is called to be a saint, that one day we will live with God,” he said. “God wants us to be holy, in whatever we are doing in our lives.”

Bishop Paul Coakley invited the retired bishop of the Diocese of Des Moines to speak to the faithful about the call to holiness, the first phase of the diocese’s new pastoral plan, “Stewards of Hope.”

Bishop Charron said the difficulty in heeding the call to holiness is not that we can’t be holy but that we create obstacles to becoming holy.

“Our ups and downs are not the problem. It happens to us all,” he said. “The problem is settling for less, when we no longer hear God calling us to be the holy person we are called to be.”

He cited four obstacles to heeding God’s call:

• A negative self-image, that we aren’t worthy to become holy.

• A “certain lukewarmness” that prevents us from fully accepting God’s call.

• An egotistical approach — “I want to do it my way” rather than God’s way.

• And the idea that God can wait: “I’ll do it later.”

Remove the obstacles, he said, and holiness happens.