FEBRUARY 12, 2021 MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC
let there be light
MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC FEBRUARY 12, 2021
Volume 67 Number 5 (ISSN 1529-1693)
P.O. Box 2130 Jackson, MS 39225-2130 Phone: 601-969-3581 E-mail: editor@jacksondiocese.org Publisher ........................................................................................... Bishop Joseph R. Kopacz Communications Director ...................................................................... Joanna Puddister King Production Manager ...................................................................................................Tereza Ma
BISHOP’S SCHEDULE Wednesday, Feb. 17, 7:30 p.m. – The Diaconate: Are you called?, Virtual Saturday, Feb. 20, 11:30 a.m. – Rite of Election, Christ the King, Southaven Tuesday, Feb. 23, 6 p.m. – Prediscernment Prayer Night, St. Alphonsus, McComb
Contributors ......................................................................................................... Berta Mexidor ............................................................................................................ Cindy Wood MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Mississippi Catholic, P. O. Box 2130, Jackson, MS 39225-2130. Website: www.mississippicatholic.com
www.jacksondiocese.org
Wednesday, Feb. 24, 6 p.m. – Prediscernement Prayer Night, St. Mary Basilica, Natchez Saturday, Feb. 27, 4 p.m. – Mass and Blessing of the Stations, St. Jude, Pearl
All events are subject to change. Please check with local parishes or schools for further details.
FEBRUARY 12, 2021 MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC
4 VOCATIONS CALLED BY NAME
The beginning of this month marked the start of our “Prediscernment Prayer Night” series. As I’ve explained in previous issues, these evenings give young men and women an opportunity to pray to the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament about their own call, whether that be to marriage, holy orders or consecrated life. These events will also help me network with people who need accompaniment on the journey and invite them to post-pandemic events like retreats and dinners for discernment. why I like to use that term when it comes to working out God’s will for our life. The seminary or the religious house of formation is where formal discernment happens. Often, we think that the decision to go to seminary means that we are completely sure that priesthood or religious life is our vocation, and this is not the church’s expectation. I want men and women who are serious about their faith and open to God’s call to seriously consider entering the seminary or other formation, and to let
into the program. I tell men and women that I work with who are considering entering formal discernment that they don’t need to wait until they are sure they are going to make it to the end, but to enter once they are willing to commit two years to that discernment process. During that two years they will be given the resources that they need to discern well whether or not God is calling them. If they go into the program with that intention and after two years they discern that they are not called, they will leave a better Catholic and they’ll be ready to bring the gifts that they developed back into their parishes and their life in the diocese. They will also have the peace of mind that they discerned well. This is why I am dedicated to this idea of “prediscernment,” which by the way, is a term I have happily borrowed from Father James Wehner, the Rector of Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans. About half of the men who enter seminary do not get ordained. Far from proving that the system is broken, I believe this proves that the system works. I do not take the gifts of the People of God for granted. I know that our seminaries and houses of formation have their doors open because of the generosity of people like you, and I want you to know that it is good that not evword prediscernment is really just a way I can start a conversation, I can tell a young man or woman what the church wants to provide for those who take their call from the Lord seriously, and I can invite them to discern well if they have a desire and the maturity to take the time to discern. Father Nick Adam Prediscernment Prayer Nights: Each event is from 6 - 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Tuesday, Feb. 23 at St. Alphonsus McComb; Wednesday, Feb. 24 at St. Mary Basilica Natchez; Tuesday, March 2nd at St. Joseph Greenville; TBA - Immaculate Heart of Mary Greenwood. Questions? Email nick.adam@jacksondiocese.org
MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC FEBRUARY 12, 2021
IN EXILE
Spirituality 5
6
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DIOCESE 7
8 DIOCESE
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FROM THE ARCHIVES
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dIOCESE 11
12 Columns
SPIRIT AND TRUTH
GUEST COLUMN
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MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC FEBRUARY 12, 2020
PLEASE, GIVE GENEROUSLY! FEBRUARY 20 & 21
DIOCESE 13
14 DIOCESE
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MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC FEBRUARY 12, 2021
YOUTH 15
16 DIOCESE
FEBRUARY 12, 2021 MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC