FEBRUARY 28, 2025
mississippicatholic.com
Flanagan Center reimagined: Expanded space, greater impact By Laura Grisham
WALLS – The renovations at the Father John Flanagan Catholic Center in Walls, commonly known as the Flanagan Center, are finally complete – and the facility is now open for business. On Jan. 15, the final client files were transferred, and new office furniture was moved in, marking the completion of a much-needed overhaul. Plans for the remodel began in 2021, with more than 20 layout changes carefully finalized over two years before construction commenced in May 2023. Over the years, the Flanagan Center has served many purposes, including operating as a thrift store, locker rooms for Sacred Heart High School, office spaces, and a food pantry. Today, it houses Sacred Heart Southern Mission’s main food pantry operations, the Volunteer Program staff, Walls Social Services, and the HIV/AIDS program. The ever-growing demand for food assistance made increased cold storage a necessity. Since 2016, SHSM’s annual food distribution has surged from 280,068 pounds to nearly 1.4 million pounds by
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WALLS – Renovations at the Father John Flanagan Catholic Center in Walls, Mississippi has been recently completed. Remodeling and renovations took approximately two years to complete and reimagined the existing footprint of the Center and transformed to better serve clients in need through a variety of programs. (Photo courtesy of Laura Grisham)
Bishops sue Trump administration, say halting refugee resettlement funds will cause harm By Maria-Pia Chin
(OSV News) – The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops sued the Trump administration Feb. 18 over the suspension of funding of refugee resettlement assistance. In the lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the bishops called this suspension “unlawful and harmful to newly arrived refugees,” The Associated Press first reported. A USCCB spokesperson told OSV News that the lawsuit urges the government “to uphold its legal and moral obligations” to refugees and to restore the funding needed to ensure that faith-based and commuINSIDE THIS WEEK nity organizations can continue their work with refugees. FOLLOW US The USCCB’s Migration and Refugee Services is one of 10 national resettlement agencies that @jacksondiocese work with the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, which was established DIGITAL EDITION by Congress in 1980, forText malizing the process by which refugees are legalMSCATHOLIC ly resettled in the United to 84576 States.
USRAP was suspended through executive order signed by President Donald Trump Jan. 20 and is being evaluated to see whether refugee resettlement “is in the national interest.” The State Department issued suspension notices to domestic resettlement agencies, including the USCCB, on Jan. 24, which has impacted resettlement agencies’ ability to carry out services for refugees, including those under the Reception and Placement Program, according to an alert to support refugee resettlement seen in USCCB’s Action Alert Center. The R&P program is a domestic effort that provides assistance to newly arrived refugees to meet
Pope Francis Pope Francis diagnosed with pneumonia
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initial needs such as housing and job placement during the first 90 days that they are in the country. According to AP’s reporting on the lawsuit, the USCCB’s president, Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services, said that “the conference suddenly finds itself unable to sustain its work to care for the thousands of refugees who were welcomed into our country and assigned to the care of the USCCB by the government after being granted legal status.” Chieko Noguchi, USCCB spokesperson, told OSV News Feb. 18 that the lawsuit filed by the USCCB
Lent Read about 10 tips for a Christ-centered Lent
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Eucharistic Congress 11 The next Eucharistic Congress will take place in 2029