Missionaries putting "Faith into Action" are
inspiration for teen short story contest
[Last year's winner Ryan Burch with Catholic Extension President Father Jack Wall, author and actor Carol Higgins Clark, and EXTENSION Magazine Editor Bradley Collins.]
EXTENSION Magazine, which celebrated its 100th anniversary last year with a short story contest inspired by best-selling author Mary Higgins Clark, is repeating the contest again this year to encourage high school students to think and write about their Catholic Faith and to acquaint them with the work of missionaries in our own country.
Clark, who had her own first short story published in EXTENSION in 1958, will again serve as honorary chair of the contest, which is open to all Catholic students of high school age.
Students are encouraged to visit the Catholic Extension website, www.catholicextension.org, to get contest guidelines and inspiration for their stories. The theme of this year's competition is "Faith in Action in the American Missions," and students are asked to to turn one of the inspiring stories of missionaries, mission programs, seminarians or mission churches supported by Catholic Extension into a fictional story of no more than 2,000 words. Deadline is January 15, 2008.
True stories about missionaries, dedicated priests, religious and laypersons working on behalf of the Catholic Church in poor or remote areas of our country can be found on the Catholic Extension website (www.catholicextension.org) and in current or past issues of EXTENSION Magazine. A monthly Catholic Extension website feature called "Hidden Heroes" recognizes missionaries who work hard every day and who are seldom brought to anyone's attention.
Examples include Sister Kathleen Mary Radich, OSF, who trains catechists, comforts the sick, and provides meals for poor Eskimo families in Alaska's Yukon. Or Fr. Julian Cassar, who must travel up icy switchback roads near Oregon's 6,151-foot Dooley Mountain to serve a small mission chapel. Or Brother Matt Connors, SVD, who shares the life-changing power that can be found in the love of Jesus in a truly dangerous, violent, gang-infested community in Clarksdale, Mississippi.
The first-place winner will receive $500 and have his or her winning story published in EXTENSION Magazine. Second- and third-place winners will receive $300 and $200, respectively, and have their stories published on the Catholic Extension website.
Any Catholic freshman through senior student in the United States or U.S. territory attending a Catholic, public or private high school or home school is eligible to enter Catholic Extension's 2008 short story contest.
"I'm delighted to be once again associated with this contest and to encourage prominsing young writers," Ms. Clark said. "I will never forget the thrill and excitement of my first short story sale to EXTENSION, and that first acceptance letter is framed in my study to this day. The moral values taught by our faith can be an integral part of a short story or novel and are elements of all my writings. I am glad that EXTENSION Magazine is sponsoring this short story contest again this year for students with the purpose of motivating budding writers to blend moral values into fiction."
From its earliest days, EXTENSION Magazine encouraged authors to write stories of people who manage under difficult circumstances to promulgate the Catholic Faith and demonstrate "faith in action" -- the Christian ideals of love, care, and compassion for their brothers and sisters.
Catholic Extension President Rev. John J. "Jack" Wall, said, "We are grateful to Mary Higgins Clark for her ongoing support of this venture, since her own writing expresses excellent moral standards. For young Catholic high school students, we hope that by developing a short work of fiction that demonstrates faith in action, it will encourage them to express their faith more fully in their everyday lives."
Complete information about the contest, including guidelines, entry forms, a downloadable promotional flyer for teachers and parishes, plus Mary Higgins Clark's original 1958 story published in EXTENSION Magazine, "Last Flight to Danubia," a re available on the web site: www.catholicextension.org. Partipating students and teachers are encouraged to sign up online to receive free issues of EXTENSION for their home or classroom.
For more than 100 years, the Chicago-based Catholic Church Extension Society has supported Catholic missions in the U.S. by funding church construction, religious education and seminary formation, campus and outreach ministries, evangelization, and salaries for missionaries. Catholic Extension is the leading supporter of Catholic missions in the U.S. and has distributed more than $450 million over its history. To receive a full year of EXTENSION Magazine free of charge, write to Catholic Extension, 150 S. Wacker Drive, 20th Floor, Chicago, IL 60606, call 1-800-842-7804, or fill out on online order form at www.catholicextension.org.
