MARCH 10, 2023
mississippicatholic.com
Bishops urge state, legislative leaders to extend postpartum Medicaid as part of pro-life commitment BY JOANNA PUDDISTER KING
JACKSON – Action has been
wrote the bishops in their letter. “It is especially heartbreaking when healthcare is out of reach at the precious and vulnerable period when new life is created.” Just two days after the bishops’ letter was delivered to every state legislator and the Governor and Lt. Governor, Governor Tate Reeves publicly reversed his stance on extending Medicaid to new mothers. Reeves wrote on social media that if the legislature passes a law allowing for a year of postpartum Medicaid coverage, he “will sign it into law.” He continued writing that we live in “a post-Dobbs world” and was proud that Mississippi led the charge to end Roe v. Wade, but now we need to “love” Mississippi moms providing them more JACKSON – Bishop Joseph Kopacz reads a joint letter he wrote with Bishop Louis Kihneman support after giving birth. “It will be worth it, as more of Biloxi urging leaders to pass legislation to extend postpartum Medicaid coverage on Monchildren of God are brought into day, Feb. 27 on the steps of the Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle. Other faith leaders from the world,” wrote Reeves. Working Together Mississippi gathered at the press conference offering their support of the After Reeves change of heart,
taking place since Mississippi Catholic bishops issued a letter urging statewide and legislative leaders to hear and pass legislation to extend postpartum Medicaid coverage on Friday, Feb. 24. Bishop Joseph R. Kopacz of the Diocese of Jackson and Bishop Louis F. Kihneman, III of the Diocese of Biloxi hoped their letter would drive leaders to action to extend coverage to new mothers from two months, as currently provided by Federal law, to a period of one year, by appealing to the states pro-life stance in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. “Our faith affirms the value of every human life, and we have supported the legislature’s past action to protect the lives of unborn children. However, the commitment to life must not end at birth. We believe that access to affordable healthcare is a fundamental human right, one that is necessary for the flourishing bishops and the extention of postpartum coverage for Mississippi mothers. On March 7, legof families and communities,” islators passed the bill and it is now heading to the governors desk. (Photos by Tereza Ma)
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Thousands gather at funeral Mass for LA's Bishop O'Connell, recalled as 'soul friend' to all BY TOM HOFFARTH
LOS ANGELES (OSV News) – Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop David G. O'Connell was remembered as a man "gripped by grace" and "at ease with movers and shakers and also with the moved and shaken" as nearly 5,000 attended a funeral Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels March 3. The Mass was the conclusion of a three-day tribute to Bishop O'Connell, starting with a March 1 memorial Mass at St. John Vianney Church in Hacienda Heights. On March 2 at the cathedral, local Catholics said farewell to Bishop O'Connell in an all-day public viewing followed by a vigil Mass. In his homily at the funeral Mass, Msgr. Jarlath Cunnane, Bishop O'Connell's classmate and close friend from their seminary days in Ireland in 1971, called upon the phrase "Anam Cara," the Celtic concept of having a friend of the soul. "You're blessed if you have a soul friend," said Msgr. Cunnane, the pastor of St. Cornelius Church in Long Beach. "And I was blessed to have David. ... I was better for having known David O'Connell. Many of you were too, were you not?" The question drew a round of applause from the pews. Los Angeles Archbishop José H. Gomez presided over the Mass that not only filled the cathedral pews but had hundreds more standing in the aisles, ambulatories and seated on the outside plaza watching a livestream presentation.
Long, yellow school buses frequently pulled up to the curb outside the cathedral to drop off more mourners. Several streamed into the Cathedral Plaza as the two-hour Mass went on, using umbrellas as shade, clutching their young children, simply wanting to be present. Three cardinals – Roger M. Mahony, Blase J. Cupich of Chicago and Robert W. McElroy of San Diego – attended as well as 34 bishops and more than 50 priests at the altar. Local dignitaries included LA Police Chief Michel Moore, former Los Angeles mayors Eric Garcetti and Jim Hahn, former LA County Sheriff Jim McDonnell,
LA County Supervisor Janice Hahn, LA District Attorney George Gascón and several other civic leaders who called Bishop O'Connell a friend over the years. Cunnane noted that Bishop O'Connell "wasn't just my good friend. Friendship is something he was good at. He has friends young and old, far and wide ... he has friends up and down the social scale, at ease in the corridors of power and with the powerless." In calling him a man "gripped by grace," Msgr. Cunnane said Bishop O'Connell was "seized by the Lord, like Jeremiah (who) said: 'Lord, you seduced me, and I let myself be seduced; you were stronger and you triumphed.'"
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INSIDE THIS WEEK
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From the archives 9 20 years ago a bishop was ordained for the diocese