CT -Local Briefs

COURTESY PHOTO

A next step: Kevin Scalf stands with his parents, Hal and Phyllis Scalf, after being ordained a transitional deacon for the Missionaries of the Precious Blood. A Cincinnati native, Deacon Scalf, 32, grew up as a parishioner in Our Lady of Victory Parish in Delhi Township. The former high school teacher will serve for six months at St. John the Baptist in Whiting, near Chicago, and is also teaching theology at nearby Calumet College of St. Joseph, which is sponsored by the community. In December, he departs for a six-month stay at a Precious Blood seminary in Tanzania, where he will teach at a seminary.

Rabbi Abie Ingber is leading a new initiative at Xavier University effective July 1. It must be beshert — the rabbi’s favorite Yiddish word, which means destiny.

Rabbi Ingber will take the lead at Xavier as the founding director of Interfaith Community Engagement (ICE). The mission is to impact and create community among diverse faith individuals at Xavier, and though interfaith dialogue engage the larger Cincinnati and national community. He assumes his duties after retiring as the executive director of the Hillel Jewish Student Center of Cincinnati, a position he’s held for more than 30 years. One of the projects ICE will undertake is a Jewish cemetery restoration project in Poland next summer. Called "Living Memory," the project is a partnership between Xavier and Hillel of Cincinnati.

Rabbi Ingber cites the worldwide success of Xavier’s Brueggeman Center for Dialogue in the area of interreligious dialogue and Xavier’s Community Building

Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk and the Advisory Board of the Catholic Inner-City Schools Education(CISE) Fund have announced that James B. (Rick) Reynolds will serve as chairman of the 2008 CISE Campaign, and James B. Hagerty will serve as vice-chairman. The CISE Campaign is the major source of funding for CISE and is crucial in the fund’s efforts to provide scholarships, operating support and enrichment programs for the eight CISE K-8 schools.

"The commitment of these gentlemen to the CISE Campaign is commendable," said Archbishop Pilarczyk. "The CISE Advisory Board and I are grateful for their dedication to Catholic education as a means to improving the lives of God’s children." Reynolds and Hagerty are senior portfolio managers at Bartlett & Company. Reynolds is a member of the boards of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Hebrew Union College Ethics Center, and the Fine Arts Fund. Hagerty serves on the executive committee of the CISE Advisory Board and on the Board of Trustees of St. Margaret Hall.

The CISE Campaign will officially begin on Sept. 11 with a kick-off event at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. The CISE schools are St. Francis Seraph in Over-the-Rhine, St. Francis de Sales in Walnut Hills, St. Boniface in Northside, St. Joseph in the West End, Corryville Catholic, Resurrection and Holy Family in Price Hill, and Prince of Peace in Madisonville.

The National Diaconate Institute for Continuing Education, in collaboration with the Pontifical College Josephinum, will hold its annual conference July 20-23 at Xavier University.

The theme of the meeting is "Deacon as Servant Leader: In Justice to a Wider World."

Among the speakers/presenters will be Bishop William Skylstad of Spokane, former president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops; Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Jack Jezreel, the founder of JustFaith Ministries, Father Rob Waller, pastor of St. Andrew Church in Milford, and Deacon Tim Schutte of St. Andrew Church and Deacon Royce Winters, director of the Office of African-American Ministries of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.

CT/E.L. HUBBARD

Celebrating identity: Catholic Charities recently celebrated its new name and reinforced its mission with a visit to Fountain Square to provide information to area lunchtime visitors. Human Resources manager Penelope Orr and office manager Stephanie Slack, above, were among those on hand to answer questions.