136th Year of Service to the Cleveland Diocese
VIBRANT PARISH LIFE: Newly-formed, merged parishes listing

Sports

Canadian snowboarder to have hopes of parish, country riding in Olympic slalom
RICHMOND, BRITISH COLUMBIA-St. Joseph the Worker parishioner Alexa Loo will have the hopes of her Richmond parish and the entire country riding with her when she goes for a snowboarding gold in the parallel giant slalom in the Olympics.

Catholic comic actor helps bankroll U.S. Olympic speedskating team
Mark Pattison
WASHINGTON-Stephen Colbert, the Catholic comic actor best known for "The Colbert Report" on cable's Comedy Central, stepped up to help sponsor the U.S. Olympic speedskating team after its original sponsor, a Dutch bank, went under during the global financial slump, leaving the U.S. team $300,000 in the red.
The gesture even garnered Colbert a photo with some of the speedskaters on the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine in December.

At Olympic venues, chaplains prepare to serve faiths and see events
Malin Jordan
HUDSON-The CYO Division 1 girls’ soccer tournament featuring for the first time the top teams from Summit and Cuyahoga counties came together exactly the way most would have predicted in the championship game.
The two top seeded teams—Seton Catholic of Hudson and St. Gregory the Great of South Euclid—took center stage in a battle of the unbeatens October 25 at NC Soccer Club field in Hudson.

Pope Benedict hopes Winter Olympics will produce more than medals
Joeun Lee
VATICAN CITY-Pope Benedict XVI said he hopes the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, British Columbia, will bring more than gold to everyone involved in the event.
Sports can contribute to "peaceful understanding between peoples and to establishing the new civilization of love," the pope said in a message to Archbishop J. Michael Miller of Vancouver.

Former Canuck, seminarian among Olympic torch bearers in Vancouver

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA-A longtime professional hockey player and a seminarian were among those chosen to carry the Olympic torch around Vancouver in the days leading up to the Feb. 12 opening of the Olympics.