MAY 27, 2022
mississippicatholic.com
Bishop ordains Bowden to priesthood
JACKSON – Attendees witness the Priestly Ordination of Father Andrew Bowden on Saturday, May 14 at the Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle. Bowden is pictured as he lays prostrate on the floor for the Litany of Supplication. This symbolizes his unworthiness for the office he is about to assume and his dependence upon God and the prayers of the Christian community. The Litany of Saints is sung, which is a great reminder that we are all connected with the body of saints in heaven. (Photo by Tereza Ma)
BY JOANNA PUDDISTER KING
JACKSON – Family, friends and supporters gathered on Saturday, May 14 at the Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle in Jackson for the priestly ordination of Andrew Bowden, who set his sights on the priesthood from the time he was a kindergartener. Father Bowden was the first seminarian welcomed into the program by Bishop Joseph Kopacz in 2014, after Bowden graduated from high school. Bishop Kopacz said that eight years ago “seems like a lifetime age,” something that vocation director Father Nick Adam concurred with. In 2014, Father Nick was still in seminary formation when Bowden was accepted to the program. “It’s great to see the growth ... from 18-years-old to now 26, but also the growth in his identity as a future priest of the church,” said Father Nick. At the joyful celebration, Bishop Kopacz was joined by many other priests in the diocese, seminarians and Father James Wehner, STD, rector of Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans. Bishop Kopacz gave special acknowledgement to Fa-
ther Wehner, who is leaving his position as rector after a 10 year “tour of duty,” returning to his home diocese of Pittsburg. Wehner was a huge part in the lives of our recent generation of priests in the diocese. Bishop Kopacz acknowledged, while running through the lists of “characters” that have entered the priesthood under Father
Wehner’s tenure. “Twelve seems to be the number ... we have truly been blessed in our diocese,” said Bishop Kopacz. The Solemn Mass of Ordination featured the election of the candidate with Father Nick Adam proclaiming Bowden’s worthiness; the promise of the elect, where – Continued on page 20 –
INSIDE THIS WEEK
Health and Wellness 6 Sr. Dorothea would rather 'wear out than rust out'
School closing 7 St. Francis school in Greenwood closes doors
From the archives 10 Bishop Gunn gives glimpse into Mississippi summers
MAY 27, 2022 MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC
SPIRITUAL ENRICHMENT
NATCHEZ St. Joseph Monastery, Spiritual Exercises for Men, June 23-26. Silent retreat for men preached on location at St. Joseph Monastery, 31 Airport Road. There will be a preaching of topics for reflection and meditation. Suggested donation for retreat, $200, includes meals and housing. Details: To register email mon. saintjoseph@ive.org or call (601) 653-0914.
PARISH, FAMILY AND SCHOOL EVENTS
FLOWOOD St. Paul, Homecoming outdoor celebration, Saturday, June 4, Mass at 4:30 p.m., food and fellowship follow. Celebration will take place on the hill behind the church. Details: church office (601) 992-9547. FOREST St. Michael, Installation of Father Adolfo Suarez Pasillas as pastor. Tri-lingual celebration with Bishop Joseph Kopacz on Friday, June 3 at Hope Welle Pointe, Hwy 1183 Hwy 13 S, in Morton. Details: church office (601) 469-1916. GREENVILLE St. Joseph, St. Joe School Central Grocery Muffaletta Sale, pick-up June 16 from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at St. Joseph Parish Hall. Muffaletta’s are $25 each. Details: Tickets are available at school office at (662) 378-9711 or church office at (662) 335-5251. MERIDIAN St. Patrick, Youth Wednesday Fun Days, June 1, 15, 29 and July 13 from 5:30-6:30 p.m. in the Family Life Center. Enjoy praise and worship music, fun activities and finish up with snacks. Details: church office (601) 693-1321. St. Patrick, Knights of Peter Claver Dinner plate event, Saturday, June 4 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Fried fish, grilled chicken, BBQ Rib plates and slabs of ribs available. Dinners are $12 each and slabs of ribs are $25 each. (advance purchase of slabs preferred) Plates include baked beans, coleslaw and bread. Tickets may be purchased in advance from any member of the knights or at the event. Details: call (601) 938-5757 to purchase tickets for dinners or rib slabs.
FEATURED PHOTO
NATCHEZ St. Mary Basilica, Thursday Nights at the Movies at 6:30 p.m. in the youth wing of the Family Life Center. Classic Catholic movies suitable for older children through adults will be shown. Snacks and drinks available for purchase. Donations accepted with proceeds going to new Miss-Lou Pregnancy Resource Center. June 16 – The Bells of St. Mary’s (1945); June 30 – The 13th Day (2009); July 7 – Brother Sun, Sister Moon (1972); July 21 – The Way (2010). Details: church office (601) 445-5616. OLIVE BRANCH Queen of Peace, Knights of Columbus Indoor Yard Sale, Saturday, June 4 at 8 a.m. Details: Leonard (901) 606-1959.
VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL
CLARKSDALE St. Elizabeth, VBS 2022, Monumental: Celebrating God’s Greatness, June 20-24 at St. Elizabeth School. Details: Catelin at (662) 902-6478. GLUCKSTADT St. Joseph, VBS – Circus of Stars: Spotlight on the Father for K5 through fourth grade, June 13-15. Adult volunteers and youth helpers needed. Details: Karen at kworrellcre@hotmail.com. HERNANDO Holy Spirit, Monumental: Celebrating God’s Greatness VBS, June 13-17 from 6:15-8 p.m. Look for table in the Narthex with registration forms. Details: church office (662) 429-7851. NATCHEZ St. Mary Basilica, VBS, July 11-15, Evening hours. More information to be announced soon. OLIVE BRANCH VBS for 6th-8th grades, Wednesday June 15 from 6-9 p.m. VBS for K-5th grade, June 20-24, 9 a.m. till 12 p.m., volunteers are needed. Details: Kelly at (662) 216-9896. PEARL St. Jude, Family Style VBS Wednesday evenings, June 8, 15, 22 and 29 starts at 6:30 p.m. following Mass. Join us family style for a picnic supper, Bible story, Saint of the week and games. All activities will be outdoors, weather permitting. Registration coming soon. Details: church office (601) 939-3181.
MADISON St. Francis, VBS 2022: The Jesus Expedition, June 20-23 for all children going into Pre-K4 through fourth grades. Registration is limited to 25 per grade level. For more details and to register visit https:// bit.ly/StFrancisVBS2022 before June 12. Details: Mary Catherine at mc.george@stfrancismadison.org. MERIDIAN St. Patrick, Vacation Bible School, July 18-22. More information coming soon.
YOUTH
SEARCH RETREAT July 22-24 at Camp Wesley Pines in Gallman. Also accepting staff applications. This retreat is open to those who are just completing their sophomore, junior or senior year of high school. Graduating seniors will have priority registration. Registration deadline is June 12. Details: https://bit.ly/37wUAcA or abbey.schuhmann@jacksondiocese.org.
JOB OPENINGS
JACKSON The Diocese Department of Faith Formation is looking for a full-time Coordinator of the Office of Young Adults and Campus Ministry. The coordinator supervises and participates in the diocesan efforts for ministry to young adults, college students, youth and the various staff and volunteers who assist with these ministries from parishes and schools. Please contact fran.lavelle@ jacksondiocese.org if you have questions. Please send a cover letter and resume to by June 3 to be considered.
We need grad your photos!...
VICKSBURG – St. Aloysius 2022 graduates have some fun! (Photo by Lindsey Bradley) APPLIANCE AUDIO VIDEO BEDDING FURNITURE SUPERSTORE
Please, share your graduation pictures with us! Mississippi Catholic will publish our annual Graduation edition soon. Please send photos in actual size and include the following: full names of those pictured by row (left to right, top to bottom) and name of photographer. Candid photos also welcome. Please email photos and information to editor@jacksondiocese.org.
Jackson Flowood R dgeland Pearl Cl nton V cksburg Tupelo Columbus Laurel Oxford Hatt esburg
let there be light
MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC MAY 27, 2022
Rally around the call to accompany expectant mothers BY BISHOP JOSEPH R. KOPACZ, D.D.
As Catholics we are in the midst of a nine-day Novena undertaken by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in preparation for the great feast of the Visitation on May 31. This second joyful mystery of the rosary recalls that tender scene when Mary and Elizabeth, two of the most well-known pregnant women in world history, encountered one another with unbounded joy in God their Savior. Even the “baby stirred in my womb for joy” Elizabeth exclaimed to her younger cousin who had arrived at Zachariah and Elizabeth’s doorstep to assist her who was in her sixth month with the unborn John the Baptist. Women helping women in preparation for birth and in the months following the emergence of new life from the womb into the light of day, is fundamental for family life, community, and civilization. The need for caring support around a pregnancy and the earliest stage of life is fundamental for mothers and their infants, for family life, communities, and ultimately civilization. There are many in our churches and in our communities in Mississippi who rally around the call to accompany expectant mothers, and in the time following the birth of their children. We can only rejoice to see such loving support. For the Catholic Church, as the whole world knows, the right to life is fundamental because we are made in the image and likeness of God (Imago Dei). The dignity of the human person is rooted in this fundamental belief. What the whole world may not know, or chooses to ignore, is that the church commits herself, in season and out of season, to the well-being of the human person at every stage of life. This is evident in our social teachings that foster the common good, serve the poor, marginalized and vulnerable, champion health care, sponsor education, and support life’s basic needs: food, shelter and clothing and gainful employment. Moreover, in recent years, care for our common home, the earth, has become more urgent. Pope Francis’ masterpiece, Laudato Si, rejoices in God the creator, and addresses
Se unen en torno al llamado de acompañar a las futuras madres POR OBISPO JOSEPH R. KOPACZ, D.D.
Como católicos, estamos en medio de una Novena de nueve días emprendida por la Conferencia de Obispos Católicos de los Estados Unidos en preparación para la gran fiesta de la Visitación el 31 de mayo. Este segundo misterio gozoso del rosario recuerda esa tierna escena cuando María y Isabel, dos de las mujeres embarazadas más conocidas de la historia mundial, se encontraron con un gozo ilimitado en Dios su Salvador. Incluso el “bebé se agitó de alegría en mi vientre”, exclamó Isabel a su prima más joven que había llegado a la puerta de Zacarías e Isabel para ayudarla, que estaba en su sexto mes con el nonato Juan Bautista. Las mujeres ayudando a mujeres, en la preparación – Continúa en la pág. 11 – Volume 68 Number 12 (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 Contributors ......................................................................................................... Berta Mexidor
MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC is an official publication of the Diocese of Jackson, 601-969-1880, 237 E. Amite St., Jackson, MS 39201. Published twice per month January - April and September December; once per month June, July and August. Subscription rate: $20 a year in Mississippi, $21 out-of-state. Periodical postage at Jackson, MS 39201 and additional entry offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Mississippi Catholic, P.O. Box 2130, Jackson, MS 39225-2130. Website: www.mississippicatholic.com www.jacksondiocese.org
this God-given obligation. When we add it all up it is all about what St. Paul eloquently states in his letter to the Romans. “The Kingdom of God is not about eating and drinking, but about justice and peace, and the joy of the Holy Spirit. (14:17) Now back to the Visitation and the gift of unborn life that opened this column. The decision of the Supreme Court of the United States over the Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization is imminent and the prospect of overturning of Roe v. Wade is sending shock waves across the land from the White House to all points on the compass. There is no doubt that this is an historic moment for our nation. The passion surrounding this life issue burns no less intensely than nearly 50 years ago when Roe v. Wade became the law of the land in 1973. There has been a creeping shadow ever since because at the core of our collective consciousness is a tortured conscience that is unable to reconcile a self-image of inherent goodness with the blood of the innocents. But whether Roe v Wade is overturned or rolled back, abortions will not cease, as we know. The political onus will return to the legislatures of the 50 states to enact laws going forward, and as we have already experienced, these laws will vary greatly. Like the fires engulfing our western states, there will be widespread conflagrations that burn at the fault lines of our fractured society. The personal onus is another dimension, the terrain of conscience and conversion, challenging every individual to safeguard the gift of sexuality knowing there is freedom through boundaries, to cherish the gift of life, one’ own and the vulnerable in our midst, and to realize that violence against the unborn is at the root of the violence that roils our nation and world. What can one person or one church do? “The light shone in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it,” (John 1:5) is the promise that our labors with God will always matter. Praying, serving, empowering and advocating are always relevant. Pope Francis encourages encounter with the other and accompaniment, and a recent project worthy of praise in every Catholic diocese is “Walking with Moms in Need.” Whatever the ruling on Roe v Wade, the church in league with other networks is redoubling its efforts to accompany mothers, their preborn and children in the early stages of development so that they and we, like Mary and Elisabeth, can rejoice in the gift of life and in God our Savior.
BISHOP’S SCHEDULE Wednesday, June 1, 6 p.m. – Confirmation, St. Jude, Pearl Friday, June 3, 6 p.m. – Installation of Father Adolfo Suarez, Hope Well Pointe, Morton Saturday, June 4, 10:30 a.m. – Ordination of Carlisle Beggerly to Diaconate, Immaculate Conception, West Point Saturday, June 4, 4 p.m. – Confirmation, Immaculate Conception, West Point Sunday, June 5, 10:30 a.m. – Confirmation, Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle, Jackson Monday, June 6-10 – Visit to Saltillo Mexico Mission Saturday, June 11, 6 p.m. – Catholic Charities Bishop’s Ball, Country Club of Jackson Sunday, June 12, 10:30 a.m. – Mass of Thanksgiving for Father McGing and New Building Dedication, Holy Savior, Clinton Monday, June 12-17 – USCCB 2022 Special Assembly, San Diego, California Sunday, June 12, 10:30 a.m. – Mass of Thanksgiving for Father Mike O’Brien, Sacred Heart, Canton Friday, June 24, 4:30 p.m – Feast of the Sacred Heart, Christ the King, Southaven Saturday, July 9, 5 p.m. – Confirmation, St. James, Corinth Sunday, Aug. 28, 10:30 a.m. – Confirmation, St. Elizabeth, Clarksdale All events are subject to change. Check with parishes and schools for further details.
MAY 27, 2022 MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC
4 VOCATIONS CALLED BY NAME
I am happy to report that we not only have a new priest, Father Andrew Bowden, but we also have a new seminarian, Mr. John Le. John was born in Vietnam but had to flee the country as a teenager after the communist takeover. He settled in Houston, Texas and attended high school there before enrolling at Texas A&M. John studied engineering and worked as a microelectronics engineer in Houston and Dallas before entering the Jesuits. After over a decade as a Jesuit brother, John began to discern diocesan priesthood. He has lived and worked with his brother in Brookhaven for the last year or so, and that’s when I started to get to know him. John will be enrolling at Sacred Heart Seminary in Hales Corners, Wisconsin this August. Sacred Heart specializes in educating second-career seminarians, and recent graduates from Sacred Heart in our diocese include Father Lincoln Dall. Carlisle Beggerly enjoyed two years at Sacred Heart even more recently as he did his pre-theology studies at Hales Corners before coming to Notre Dame in New Orleans for theology. I was heartened to hear Bishop Kopacz announce at Father Andrew’s ordination that he has now ordained 12 priests since being consecrated as Bishop of Jackson in February of 2014. That is a great blessing, and we are seeing great work done by our recently ordained men. It is encouraging for me to see my classmates and former seminary brothers become pasFather Nick Adam tors. Father Aaron Williams is now pastor at St. Mary Basilica and Assumption Parishes in Natchez, Father Mark Shoffner is now pastor at St. John in Oxford, and Father Adolfo Suarez is pastor in Forest. Also, Father Andrew Nguyen will be pastor soon at Immaculate Heart of Mary in Greenwood, and I am excited to be rector at St. Peter Cathedral beginning this July. The good news is that this is not the end; it is only the beginning. God willing, we will have four new priests entering the fold in the next three years. Carlisle Beggerly’s diaconate ordination is coming up on June 4 at his home parish in West Point, and so next year we will get to see him ordained a priest, followed John Le the next year by Ryan Stoer and Tristan Stovall. Our prayers for a “Homegrown Harvest” continue to be answered, and I ask that you continue to ask the Lord for more laborers for His harvest. I would like to thank our current seminarians for their dedication to their formation. And remember — we are about quality, not necessarily quantity! I’m so happy with our current group of men because I believe they are dedicated to being formed well, and so even if they do not ultimately present themselves for ordination, they will be great husbands and fathers in our parishes. Please pray for our men in formation, and continue your great work of praying for vocations, and encouraging more young men to consider whether the Lord is calling them to shepherd his people as a priest of Jesus Christ. – Father Nick Adam If you are interested in learning more about religious orders or vocations to the priesthood and religious life, please email nick.adam@jacksondiocese.org.
CATHOLIC SERVICE APPEAL 2022 Our retired priests have served our parishes for many years, and they continue to serve our diocese even in retirement. The diocese has 19 retired priests that the appeal helps to support, as well as our clergy who may need assistance during the year.
csa.jacksondiocese.org
SCAN TO GIVE OR MAIL IN: PO BOX 2248, JACKSON, MS 39225
Spirituality 5
MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC MAY 27, 2022
Managing an ascension IN EXILE By Father Ron Rolheiser, OMI
A friend of mine, somewhat cynical about the church, recently remarked: “What the institutional church today is trying to do is to put its best face on the fact that it’s dying. Basically, it’s trying to manage a death.” What he’s suggesting is that the church today, like a person struggling to accept a terminal diagnosis, is trying to reshape its imagination to eventually accommodate itself to the unthinkable, its own dying. He’s right in suggesting that the church today is trying to reshape its imagination, but he’s wrong about what it’s trying to manage. What the church is trying to manage today is not a death, but an ascension. What needs reshaping in our imagination today is the same thing that needed reshaping in the imagination of the first disciples in the forty days between the resurrection and the ascension. We need to understand again how to let go of one body of Christ so that it can ascend and we can again experience Pentecost. What’s at stake here? Among the elements within the paschal mystery, the ascension is the least understood. We are clearer about the meaning of the death and resurrection of Christ and the descent of the Spirit at Pentecost. We have less understanding of the ascension. The forty days between the resurrection and the ascension were not a time of unadulterated joy for the first disciples. It was a time of some joy, but also of considerable confusion, despondency and loss of faith. In the days before the ascension, the disciples were overjoyed whenever they recognized again their risen Lord, but most of the time they were confused, despondent, and full of doubt because they were unable to recognize the new presence of Christ in what was happening around them. At one point, they gave up completely and as John put it, went back to their former way of life, fishing and the sea. However, during that time Jesus slowly reshaped their imaginations. Eventually they grasped the fact that something had died but that something else, far richer, had been born and that now they needed to give up clinging to the way Jesus had formerly been present to them so that he could be present to them in a new way. The theology and spirituality of the ascension is essentially contained in these words: Refuse to cling to what once was, let it go so that you can now recognize the new life you are already living and receive its spirit. The synoptic gospels teach this to us in their pictorial rendering of the ascension, where a bodily Jesus blesses everyone and then rises physically out of their sight. John gives us the same theology but in a different picture. He does this in his description of the encounter on Easter morning between Jesus and Mary Magdala when Jesus says, “Mary don’t cling to me!” Today, the church is trying to manage an ascension, not a death. I can easily see where my friend can be confused because every ascension presupposes a death and a birth, and that can be confusing. So where, really, is the church today? Edward Schillebeeckx once suggested that we are living in that same despondency that was felt by the early disciples between Jesus’ death and their realization of his resurrection. We are feeling what they felt, doubt and confusion on the road to Emmaus. The Christ we once knew has been crucified and we
cannot yet recognize the Christ who is walking with us, more alive than before, though in a new way. Hence, just as those first disciples on the road to Emmaus, we also frequently walk with faces downcast, in a confused faith, needing Christ to appear in a new guise to reshape our imaginations so that we can recognize him as he is now present to us. I think Schillebeeckx is right about this, except that I would put it in another way. The church today is in that time between the resurrection and the ascension, feeling considerable despondency, with its imagination attuned to a former understanding of Christ, unable to recognize Christ clearly in the present moment. For many of us who grew up in a particular understanding of the faith, our former understanding of Christ has been crucified. But Christ is not dead. The church is not dead. Both
Jesus and the church are very much alive, walking with us, slowly reshaping our imaginations, reinterpreting the scriptures for us, telling us again: Wasn’t it necessary that the Christ (and the church) should so suffer. ... For many of us today, to live in faith is to be in that time between the death of Christ and the ascension, vacillating between joy and despondency, trying to manage an ascension. On the road of faith, there’s always bad news and good news. The bad news is that invariably our understanding of Christ gets crucified. The good news is that Christ is always very much alive, present to us still, and in a deeper way. (Oblate Father Ron Rolheiser is a theologian, teacher and award-winning author. He can be contacted through his website www.ronrolheiser.com.)
The Pope’s Corner
Pope: Christian politics must be marked by love, respect By Cindy Wooden
and our compass for elaborating this common project VATICAN CITY (CNS) – For politics to be “the is the Gospel, which brings to the world a profoundly highest form of charity,” as Catholic social teaching pro- positive vision of the human person loved by God.” Pope Francis praised the Chemin Neuf project and motes, it must be exercised with full respect and even its participants for recognizing that prayer, dialogue and love for those who disagree, Pope Francis said. “We are called to live the political encounter as a fra- reflection are not enough. A politics grounded in reality and aiming to make ternal encounter, especially with those who least agree with us; and this means seeing in the one with whom concrete contributions to people’s lives must include the we dialogue a true brother or sister, a beloved child of experience of serving the poor, he said, like the group God,” the pope told an international group of young does with its work with migrants, its care of creation and the small community of young adults who have chosen adults May 16. The young people, ages 18-35, are part of the lay to live in one of the poorer neighborhoods of Paris. At the end of the audience, Chemin Neuf members Chemin Neuf community’s “Politics Fraternity,” which brings together prayer, direct service to the poor and a gathered around Pope Francis, who was seated in a commitment to the common good and to political activ- wheelchair because of ongoing knee pain, and prayed ity “according to the heart of God,” the group’s website for him while laying hands on him. “In prayer let us all ask God to bless us,” he said. said. “Encounter, reflection, action: This is a program for “Lord Jesus, bless all of us who work close to you. Bless our ideas. Bless our hearts. Bless our hands.” politics in the Christian sense,” the pope told them. For a Christian, a political encounter and debate must go beyond “respectful dialogue,” he said. “Since the Gospel asks us to love our enemies, I cannot settle for a superficial and formal dialogue, like those often-hostile negotiations between political parties.” Instead, the pope said, with mutual respect and a solid commitment to finding common ground, political adversaries must listen to each other and seek the good of all rather than the promotion of their pet project or position. Virtuous politics also involves “common reflection in search of this general good, and not simply by the confrontation of conflicting and often op- Pope Francis waves to members of the “Political Fraternity” project of the posing interests,” the pope Chemin Neuf lay movement at the end of an audience May 16, 2022, in the said. “In short, ‘the whole Clementine Hall of the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican. (CNS photo/Vatican is superior to the part,’ Media)
MAY 27, 2022 MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC
6 DIOCESE
Sister Dorothea, rather ‘wear out than rust out’ By Joe Lee
MADISON – Growing up an hour from Chicago, Illinois, long, cold winters were a way of life for Sister Dorothea Sondgeroth as well as an opportunity to enjoy sports that most Mississippians may never experience. “We went ice skating, sledding and snowmobiling,” said Sister Dorothea, a registered dietician and a 2017 recipient of the Catholic Health Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award for her ministry at St. Dominic Health Services. “Later, I snow skied in Utah and Colorado when meetings would take me to that part of the country. I’ve gone dog sledding out there.” The broken neck Sister Dorothea suf- MADISON – Sister Dorothea Sondfered on Palm Sunday in 2015 brought an geroth and Bishop Joseph Kopacz end to the sledding and snowmobiling the share a laugh at the opening of beloved Dominican Sister still enjoyed by the Clarence and Sue Smith Rehab then, but in no way did it put a stop to her Center and Tuscany Skilled Nursing Center at St. Catherines Village in desire to remain active. “My broken neck wasn’t from skiing or July 2019. (Photo by Joanna King) dog sledding,” she said. “I was at the chapel at St. Catherine’s Village. I got out of a chair, lost my balance, fell back and hit my neck on the back of a padded chair. I had no pain when I stood, but as I drove back to the convent, I felt a lump in my throat and decided to go to the E.R. and have it checked out.” Sister Dorothea, as she would learn, had torn a ligament in her neck. She had surgery that night and left the hospital the next morning wearing a neck brace. “I didn’t need rehab, and I thank God and the doctor for the surgery,” she said. “It was a miracle. I had an assistant whose mother is a paraplegic after being injured in a tornado. Another assistant, when I was a dietician, was broadsided in a car accident and died from a broken neck. I said, ‘The Lord has something for me to do.’”
Knights award Family of the Year
MADISON – The late Mart Bisek of Madison was not present to receive the award for Family of the Year with his wife Ginger at the Annual Knights of Columbus State Convention in Robinsonville on April 23. Mart lost his battle to cancer before the convention, but he left behind a dedicated spouse, two grown children and grandchildren, and a legacy of service and dedication to faith, family, life and community that will live on forever. As this year’s recipients of the State Knights of Columbus Family of the Year, Mart and Ginger served the Lord in four local parishes over the years and led ministries that provided for many of the people of God. Mart served in many leadership roles in the Knights through the years while Ginger served as officer and charter member of the KC Ladies Auxiliary and chaired the Giving Tree Ministry for many years. Together, they helped many in the community. Mart also served as CEO of Gleaners for 12 years and Ginger volunteered for 10 years at Our Daily Bread in Canton and Hope Hollow for 12 years. “The Bisek family are truly role models of how a family should use their time, talent and treasure in support of the church and the community,” said Ned Darbonne of Grand Knight Council 11934 Gluckstadt. Pictured left to right, David Madere, Ginger Bisek and Ned Darbonne. (Photo courtesy Ned Darbonne)
There would be no more snowmobiling, no more daydreams of skydiving. But Sister Dorothea remains active to this day, walking often and gardening the lovely expanse behind the convent every chance she gets. She’s quick to offer gentle encouragement to those who find it difficult to cope with the aging process. “I was not depressed. It was the reality of it,” she said of the Palm Sunday fall. “I knew God had intervened. God has plans. There’s a reason for everything. We’re not as young as we used to be, and when I’m asked by people, ‘You’re really still working?’, I say, ‘I’d rather wear out than rust out.’ “My mantra is to have everything in your life in balance, everything in moderation. Good exercise, good nutrition, good rest and prayer.”
Senior Wellness Resources St. Catherine’s Village believes that health and wellness is promoted through a holistic approach that encompasses physical health plus emotional, social and spiritual well-being. In addition to healthy, nutritious dining options throughout the day, there are many supervised and unsupervised fitness activities available. These include daily exercise classes including aerobics and water aerobics, a large indoor heated swimming pool, a walking path and biking trails, and an on-site fitness facility with rowing machines, elliptical, stationary bikes, treadmills, weights, and resistance bands. “There is nice scenery as (residents) walk or ride their bikes, a nice big pond, bird houses, and geese surrounding it,” said Lakeisha Love, assistant activity coordinator for Independent Living at St. Catherine’s Village. “We also take group walks around the lake sometimes. “A lot of residents are not confident in their abilities, so we will basically challenge them to do things they do not think they are able to do. They always thank us the next day for giving them the extra push, (and) always say they feel better physically.” “There is not personal consultation to get residents involved in different activities,” Love said. “It is up to the individual unless we have a resident ask what they could do to strengthen a certain part of their body, and our answer is always come to stretch class, or we will give them the specific exercise that will work for them.” There’s also an emphasis at St. Catherine’s on the heart, brain, healthy eating, chronic diseases and more, with support groups for specific illnesses, medical conditions, and caregivers. To learn more, call (601) 856-0123 or email LaKeisha.Love@fmolhs.org. “Realizing that our population is an aging one, St. Dominic’s created a wellness program to meet the unique needs of mature adults,” said LeAnn Henderson, manager of New Directions for Over 55. “Built on the premise that social interaction, enrichment opportunities and wellness education help promote healthy, active lifestyles among seniors, New Directions over 55 brings all these and numerous benefits together in a membership-based program.” The program offers chair yoga, ballroom dance, an exercise class called Be-Fit, hiking groups known as the Trailblazers, the Live Well program (which focuses on the seven aspects of wellness), and classes accessible by cellphone. Pickle ball classes are even coming soon. To learn more, call (601) 200-6698 or email newdirections@stdom.com. “A lot of people are hesitant to join a facility and exercise in a group because they fear not knowing how to use the equipment,” said Amy Batson, manager of The Club at St. Dominic Hospital. “We give prospective members a tour as well as an explanation of how to use the equipment. Also, we’re on the medical fitness side, as opposed to some clubs and gyms that don’t emphasize that side of it as much, and we’re all degreed staff members when it comes to training and fitness. “We have water aerobics classes, a Seniorcise class that combines cardio, stretching and strength training, equipment such as treadmills, bikes and weights, and a fitness instructor you’ll meet when you join who will help craft a plan that best fits your needs. We also offer a reduced membership rate for hospital employees.” To learn more, call (601) 519-8197 or email Amy.Batson@fmolhs.org.
MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC MAY 27, 2022
DIOCESE 7
St. Francis of Assisi School in Greenwood closing doors permanently By Franciscan Friars of the Assumption the Blessed Virgin Mary Province
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GREENWOOD – The doors to St. Francis of Assisi School closed permanently when the academic year concluded on Friday, May 20, bringing an end to an institution that has been part of the Greenwood community for nearly three-quarters of a century. The announcement was made on May 13 by the Franklin, Wisconsin-based Franciscan Friars of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Province. The Franciscan friars will continue serving St. Francis Parish in Greenwood, an association that began some 70 years ago when Assumption Province was invited by the bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Jackson to begin pastoral ministry among the African American community. The school was opened in 1951. Assumption Province officials cited a combination of factors that led to the decision, including years of: • Steadily declining student enrollment – which plummeted to its current level of 50 total students and was projected to drop even further in the 2022/23 academic year, with only 41 students registered to date. Three of the six grade levels have single-digit student populations – the 1st grade the lowest with two students. The 3rd grade class has the most with 13 students. • Increasing operating budget deficits – whose gap has widened from a $35,000 shortfall in 2016/17, to the current school year deficit that’s approaching $100,000. The 2022/23 deficit was projected to be $173,950. • Diminishing funding and financial resources – which has steadily tumbled, from $168,000 in combined donations in 2017/18 to cover tuition assistance, building operations, and educational-related costs, to
$30,000 in 2021/22. Despite the support of generous donors to St. Francis of Assisi Mission, the school’s fundraising arm, donations have decreased dramatically due to death and other life-changing events among donors, predominantly an elder population. • Deteriorating building infrastructure – which a recent independent site survey recommended addressing before the new school session with capital project upgrades, renovations and replacement to outdated electrical, plumbing, windows, parking lot, and other major systems at an estimated cost of nearly a half-million dollars. A drop in student enrollment in 2017 – when the projection of 105 students plunged to a “crisis level” of 89, the first time in more than 50 years that its enrollment fell below 100 – prompted Assumption Province to begin a series of emergency meetings with faculty, parents, the school’s advisory board, parish leadership – including the pastoral council and finance council – diocesan officials and the Franciscan Sisters. During these meetings, which continued into 2018, the Province presented the alarming trends of declining enrollment, increasing budget deficits and other mounting financial issues – and engaged with all stakeholders in brainstorming about the school’s future. Enrollment has plummeted 60% since 2015/16, when the school had 123 students, compared to 50 today. “We had been grappling with this decision for several years, during which we had to plan each new academic year without knowing if we would have the financial resources to actually open the school at the start of each fall semester,” said Father James Gannon, OFM, Provincial Minister of Assumption Province. “We friars are saddened and disappointed to close down an institution that
has been vital to the education and faith development of thousands of students in our Greenwood community. But steadily declining enrollment and diminishing resources – coupled with growing budget deficits and deteriorating conditions of an aging physical plant – have made it abundantly clear that the long-term operational viability of St. Francis of Assisi School is no longer a sustainable reality. Our assessment to close the school was a painfully difficult, yet necessary decision.” He added, “The support of our parent community, and the dedication and perseverance of the administration, faculty, staff, Franciscan Sisters, and friars have been nothing short of amazing during these very challenging years. Our students must also be commended for their numerous achievements during this time. It’s human nature to lay blame, but no one is at fault. This decision is the result of conditions beyond everyone’s control.” While the school received what is considered extraordinary funding that temporarily kept the doors open – for example, monies from the pandemic-related federal Paycheck Protection Program, which mitigated a fraction of the operating deficit for a short period – Province officials likened this one-time funding assistance, although a blessing, to covering a gaping wound with a band aid. Projected budget deficits had also been mitigated through the years by funding from the Mission, the parish and Assumption Province. “We are grateful for the prayers and support of our school and parish families, and to those who have provided financial support through the years,” said Father Joachim Studwell, OFM, pastor of St. Francis of Assisi Parish.
MAY 27, 2022 MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC
8 DIOCESE
Sister LeClaire celebrates Jubilee
Sister Noel LeClaire
By Michael O’Loughlin
MILWAUKEE, Wis. – More than three dozen School Sisters of St. Francis of the United States Province will celebrate milestone anniversaries of service as women religious in 2022. A Mass to honor the Jubilarians will be held Saturday, June 11, at Alverno College in Milwaukee. Among those being honored is Sister Noel Le Claire, whose 75 years of consecrated life include ministry in the Diocese of Jackson. Sister Noel was born in Escanaba, Michigan. She received her bachelor’s degree in education from Alverno College; her licentiate of theology degree from Regina Mundi College in Rome; her master’s
in theology from Marquette University; and her master’s in religious education from Regis College. In the Diocese of Jackson, Sister Noel served as a social service worker at Sacred Heart Southern Missions in Holly Springs (1992-1994) and at a Holly Springs social services agency (1994-2005). In the Diocese of Lexington, Kentucky, she served in religious education and social work at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in Williamsburg (19701983). Sister worked in the Appalachian Ministry at Queen of All Saints School in Beattyville (19701983). In Booneville, Sister was a regional peace and justice worker (1986-1989); a diocesan peace and justice coordinator (1989-1991); and Workers of Rural Kentucky liaison (1991-1992). In the Archdiocese of Chicago, Sister Noel served as a teacher at Our Lady of Charity School in Cicero (1951-1957). In the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, Sister served as a teacher at Alverno Elementary School (19601961); St. Rita School in West Allis (1963-1965); Alverno College (1965-1968); and St. Therese Little Flower School in Milwaukee (1968-1970). She served as an assistant mistress at St. Joseph Convent High School in Milwaukee (1961-1963). Sister volunteered in Milwaukee at Penfield Children’s Center (2006-2008); St. Ben’s Prison Ministry (20082010); Clare House (2010-2012); Clare Terrace Homes (2012-2014); and in outreach (2014-2017). Sister serves in the ministry of prayer and presence at Our Lady of the Angels in Greenfield, Wisconsin. Cards and donations in honor of Sister Noel’s years of service may be mailed to Sister’s attention, c/o Jubilee Committee, School Sisters of St. Francis, 1545 S. Layton Blvd., Milwaukee, WI 53215.
Holy Ghost celebrates 113 years of mission By Dorothy Ashley
JACKSON – Holy Ghost the Comforter Catholic Church will celebrate their feast day on June 5, Pentecost Sunday, along with their 113th anniversary of mission and presence in Midtown Jackson. Holy Ghost was founded in 1909 by Father Aloysius Heick, SVD, a German priest who traveled to America as a missionary. With the financial help of St. Mother Katherine Drexel, the foundress of the Blessed Sacrament Sisters of Philadelphia, Father JACKSON – Holy Ghost parish, located at Heick was given $16,000 to buy two acres of pas- 1151 Cloister Street, will celebrate 113 years tureland in Midtown Jackson. on June 5, Pentecost Sunday. All are invited. The mission school broke ground on June 25, 1909, and the following September, three Holy Spirit Missionary Sisters came from Techny, Illinois to serve at the two-story brick mission school dedicated in October 1909. Holy Ghost Mission School opened the following day with an enrollment of 111. It began as a grammar school. A high school program was added and in 1918, it became the first high school for African American students in Jackson. Holy Ghost Catholic School was instrumental in graduating many African American students with a first-rate education. A convent was built and dedicated in 1911. Two years later, old St. Peter’s Church (now Cathedral) downtown was dismantled, and the material was used to build Holy Ghost Catholic Church on what today is Cloister Street. Since then, a new parish church was built in 1970. The original parish church was dismantled and the Father George Artis Family Life Center was erected many years later where the original church stood. Father Heick worked 21 years at Holy Ghost. He retired in 1929 and died the following September. In 1969, the high school merged with St. Joseph Catholic High School. The elementary school has since closed, but the building is being leased to Hinds County Project Headstart. Holy Ghost Catholic Church continues its mission of evangelization in the heart of Midtown Jackson. All are invited to attend the Pentecost Mass at the parish on June 5 at 9 a.m.
ticket price
$100 per person
27 de mayo de 2022
Mississippicatholic.com
“Sirviendo a los Católicos Hispanos de la Diócesis de Jackson desde 1997”
Tenemos nuevo sacerdote: Padre Andrew Bowden Por Joanna PuddisTer KinG
JACKSON – Familiares, amigos y simpatizantes se reunieron el sábado 14 de mayo en la Catedral de San Pedro Apóstol para la ordenación sacerdotal de Andrew Bowden, quien puso su mirada en el sacerdocio desde que era un niño en el jardín de infantes. El padre Bowden fue el primer seminarista recibido en el programa por el obispo Joseph Kopacz en 2014 después de que Bowden se graduara de la escuela secundaria. El obispo Kopacz dijo que hace ocho años “parece la edad de toda una vida”, algo con lo que estuvo de acuerdo el director de vocaciones, el padre Nick Adam. En la alegre celebración, al obispo Kopacz se unieron muchos otros sacerdotes de la diócesis, seminaristas y el padre James Wehner, STD, rector del Seminario de Notre Dame en Nueva Orleans. El obispo Kopacz dio un reconocimiento especial al padre Weh-
JACKSON – La Misa Solemne de Ordenación contó la oración de ordenación sobre Bowden por el obispo Kopacz; investidura del Padre Matthew Simmons; la promesa de los elegidos, donde Bowden se comprometió; la unción de manos con aceite sagrado; presentación del cáliz y la patena como símbolos del oficio sacerdotal; y el beso fraterno, donde el Obispo y todos los hermanos sacerdotes presentes intercambian un signo de paz. (Photo by Tereza Ma)
ner, quien deja su puesto como rector después de un “período de servicio” de 10 años y regresa a su diócesis natal de Pittsburg. Wehner fue una gran parte de la vida de nuestra reciente generación de sacerdotes en la diócesis. El obispo Kopacz reconoció mientras revisaba las listas de "personajes" que ingresaron al sacerdocio bajo el mandato del padre Wehner. “Doce parece ser el número ... verdaderamente hemos sido bendecidos en nuestra diócesis”, dijo el obispo Kopacz. En su homilía, el obispo Kopacz habló sobre la tradición del sacerdocio durante 2000 años. “Vamos de Jerusalén a Jackson. El mismo trabajo; la misma fe; la misma Santa Palabra de Dios; y este gran regalo de la presencia del Señor en medio de nosotros.” Después de la Misa, muchos de los asistentes viajaron hasta los Dos Museos de Mississippi para una recepción en honor al Padre Bowden y recibir las primeras bendiciones sacerdotales de su parte.
Líderes Hispanos reciben premio Kairos Por berTa MeXidor
NEW ORLEANS – Yolanda Chávez; Luis Gordillo; Magaly Heredia; María de Jesús Hernández; Mariano Hernández; Maria León; Alejandro López; Eduardo Padilla; Teresa Pena; Luis Rosales; Bernardo Sorcia y Raquel Thompson posan después de recibir el premio Kairos del Instituto del Ministerio, de la Universidad Loyola acompañados por el Dr. Thomas Ryan, director of LIMEX, su coordinadora Danna Johnson, la hermana Carol Ann Prenger, SSND de Ripley, la hermana Jane Wand, SSND de Boonville y el Padre Mario Solórzano de Corinth. (Foto de Danna Johnson)
JACKSON – Doce estudiantes del Programa del Instituto Loyola para la Extensión del Ministerio (LIMEX) recibieron el Preimo Kairos, del Instituto Loyola para el Ministerio el sábado 14 de mayo. Cada año, en la graduación de Honores de la Facultad de Enfermería y Salud de Loyola Colegio, el Instituto otorga el premio derivado de la palabra griega Kairos y que significa un ‘...espíritu pleno, cuando las personas y circunstancias se unen de forma extraordinaria para cumplir la voluntad de Dios en el mundo.” El alto reconocimiento ha caído este año en las manos de 12 estudiantes del grupo LIMEX en español, provenientes del decanato V de la diócesis de Jackson, por la “gran resistencia demostrada al completar el programa de sus estudios durante el tiempo del COVID” Todos ellos pertenecen a St. James de Tupelo, St. James de Corinth, St. Christopher de Pontotoc, St. Matthew de Ripley y St. Helen de Amory y han sido auspiciados por la oficina diocesana de Formación de Fe. Ahora, recién graduados, encontrarán en discernimiento la mejor vía para usar sus conocimientos en sus comunidades.”
27 de mayo de 2022 MISSISSIPPI CATÓLICO
La toalla: modelo de teología práctica Por Yolanda Chavez
TUPELO – Debo confesar que cuando entre en aquel cuarto, observándolo todo a mi alrededor, velas, toallas y agua pensé que nos iban a lavar los pies, o las manos, ... !Jajajaja!!, o la cabeza, ... pasaron tantas cosas en mi mente, hasta que mire el tabernáculo y me di cuenta que era una capilla; ¿qué hacía Jesús ahí?, cuando la iglesia estaba a otro lado de nosotros. El ritual de la "Toalla de Teología Práctica" se ha usado o creado desde 1989, la base de la imagen de esta toalla fue producida y usada desde 1991, haciendo eco en las palabras de Jesús en el evangelio de Juan, capítulo 13. ‘Has lo que you he hecho! Las toallas son instrumentos de servicio, sirven para limpiar, secar los trastes y cuerpos, etc. La toalla es, en esencia, sostener el significado de la indulgencia de Jesús. Como una llamada, diría yo, y ¡que llamada!, para, no solo intelectualmente sino también en unión con Él, ¡entrar en acción “has lo que yo he hecho!” El liderazgo que Jesús modela es el liderazgo de servicio, algo en que LIMEX ha preparado a los graduados, en sumar acción y servicio. También me llamó la atención cuando dijeron que otras características de la teología práctica son inspiradas por el papa Francisco en La Alegría del Evangelio, una de sus principales obras “En lugar de parecer imponer nuevas obligaciones, deben aparecer como personas que desean compartir su alegría, que apuntan a un horizonte de belleza y que invitan a los demás a un delicioso banquete.” Por último, nos despidieron con esta frase “mi esperanza es que la toalla viaje contigo, espero que te recuerde de tus estudios con Lim, una llamada a actuar, servir y asombrarte alegre y hermosamente, una transformación en curso, en el mundo y en la iglesia.” En el evangelio de Juan 13, Jesús les hace esta pregunta: ¿Comprenden lo que he hecho con ustedes? Tal vez mis compañeros, los otros once, no se han dado cuenta de la pregunta de Jesús. De mi parte estoy en shock, todavía digiriendo todo lo que pasamos en la universidad durante viernes y sábado. Y en particular es como cuando Jesús le dice a Pedro, “tú no puedes comprender ahora lo que estoy haciendo, lo comprenderás más tarde.” Estas palabras me han sacudido, cuando al principio comenzaba las clases de LIMEX, me decía "qué estoy haciendo aquí, esto es más de lo que yo pensaba," y sabía, pero en realidad no sabía nada, porque parecía que hablaban en chino, no entendía nada, y pensé: “o me esfuerzo y llevo el ritmo de los demás o dejo el lugar que alguien más quiera ocupar.”Ahora, leyendo cuatro años más tarde, es como si Jesus me lo hubiera di-
cho a mí, “lo comprenderás más tarde.” Has lo que yo he hecho!!! estas palabras resuenan en mi mente y con la explicación de la teología práctica, el día de hoy puedo responderle a Jesús, sin faltarme la toalla en mi mano, para ayudar, con la toalla en mi hombro cuando alguien necesite llorar o apoyarse, tal vez amarrada en mi cabeza, cuando el cansancio y la fatiga se presenten, secarme el sudor y continuar o amarrada a mi cintura para prepararme y esforzarme cada día más, paso a paso cada día un poquito más.
NEW ORLEANS – (Arriba –Izq.) Yolanda Chavez recibe su "Toalla de Teología Práctica" de las manos de la profesora Diane Blair; (Arriba – der.) Una de las toallas que los graduados recibieron en ceremonia, antes de recibir su diploma. (Debajo) Los graduados posan orgullosamente, después de recibir sus "Toallas de Teología Práctica" de la Universidad Loyola, acompañados por el Dr. Thomas Ryan, director of LIMEX; Danna Johnson, coordinadora del curso; la hermana Carol Ann Prenger, SSND de Ripley; la hermana Jane Wand, SSND de Boonville y el Padre Mario Solórzano de Corinth. (Fotos cortesía de Yolanda Chavez y Danna Johnson)
27 de mayo de 2022 MISSISSIPPI CATÓLICO
Las asignaciones abren la puerta a una “nueva vida” para los pastores Por Obispo Joseph R. Kopacz, D.D.
Con la imagen del Buen Pastor ante nosotros y con su voz resonando en nuestros corazones y mentes, al centro del tiempo Pascual, encomendemos los sacerdotes de nuestra diócesis a nuestro crucificado y resucitado Señor, aquellos que se esfuerzan por seguir sus pasos, especialmente aquellos que anticipan cambios en el tiempo que se avecina. En particular, pedimos la bendición de Dios sobre el Diácono Andrew Bowden, a quien ordenare al sacerdocio de Jesucristo para la Diócesis de Jackson, este sábado 14 de mayo en nuestra Catedral de San Pedro Apóstol. Durante el último fin de semana del cuarto domingo de Pascua, que siempre está dedicado al Buen Pastor, una cohorte de nuestros sacerdotes se dirigió a sus congregaciones para informarles que serían transferidos, para pastorear otros rebaños que necesitan un pastor ya sea por jubilaciones o salidas en la Diócesis de Jackson. Algunos están empacando y mudándose físicamente en una variedad de períodos de tiempo, mientras que otros permanecen en su lugar pero se es-
fuerzan generosamente para pastorear comunidades parroquiales adicionales. Como muchos saben, los cambios significativos en la vida no son fáciles y requieren mucho tiempo y energía. El fin de semana pasado, con la imagen del Buen Pastor ante mí, reflexioné sobre las transiciones, durante los últimos 45 años, en mi vida como sacerdote y pude recordar los sentimientos que me atravesaron durante los cambios de asignación, incluso después de muchos años.
Lo desconocido que aguarda puede evocar sentimientos de ansiedad e incertidumbre ... Es el ciclo de morir y resucitar que experimentamos en la muerte y resurrección del Buen Pastor. Hay un morir que ocurre, con cada cambio de lo que era, también con un sacerdote cuando deja una parroquia, donde conoce a muchos por su nombre y cuyas voces resuenan con los recuerdos de las experiencias pastorales del nacimiento y la muerte, y cada etapa intermedia. Lo desconocido que aguarda puede evocar sentimientos de ansiedad e incertidumbre. Recuerdo un cambio en una asignación en la que la gente me dio una gran despedida una noche y a la
mañana siguiente, el monaguillo de la Misa en la nueva parroquia me miró con curiosidad y me preguntó: “¿Cuál es tu nombre, por favor?” Sonreí interiormente en ese momento y dije: “sí, es un nuevo día.” Es el ciclo de morir y resucitar que experimentamos en la muerte y resurrección del Buen Pastor. Para el sacerdote trasladado puede haber duelo en la separación y sin embargo un cambio de destino parroquial abre la puerta a una nueva vida en el pastoreo de las personas, familias y comunidades de fe que el Señor nos confía. Con cada “dejarse llevar” y partir, aguarda una nueva vida. Aún así, no es fácil y lleva tiempo que todos se adapten, el nuevo pastor y la gente, para establecer relaciones de confianza, respeto y amor. Que nuestra oración se eleve al cielo por todos nuestros sacerdotes a quienes el Señor llama para ser buenos pastores. San Pedro exhortaba a los líderes pastorales de su época con las siguientes palabras: “Cuiden de las ovejas de Dios que han sido puestas a su cargo; háganlo de buena voluntad, como Dios quiere, y no forzadamente ni por ambición de dinero, sino de buena gana.” (1 Pedro 5:2) En cualquier parroquia y circunstancia que nuestros sacerdotes y líderes pastorales nos encontremos, que podamos servir con el corazón y la mente de Jesucristo. La voz del Señor es para todos los bautizados.
Obispos expresan pesar y condenan tiroteo por motivos raciales en Buffalo Por Por Rhina Guidos
jeres y niños inocentes debe llegar a su fin", dijo el obispo Michael WASHINGTON (CNS) – VariW. Fisher de Buffalo en un comuos obispos católicos de EE. UU. nicado publicado en Twitter poco expresaron su pesar y denunciaron después del ataque. Otros obispos el racismo y la violencia armada también se acercaron con mensajes luego de los informes de un tiroteo de solidaridad. masivo el 14 de mayo en Buffalo, El obispo Edward B. ScharfenNueva York, que dejó al menos tres berger de Albany, Nueva York, dijo: heridos y 10 muertos, un crimen "La noticia de los tiroteos en Bufque las autoridades clasificaron falo me produjo una gran tristeza como probable motivado por el y conmovió mi corazón para acerodio hacia los negros. carme a las personas que recuerdo En otro tiroteo en una iglesia tan bien y que he llegado a amar presbiteriana en Laguna Woods, durante el año en que estuve preCalifornia, el 15 de mayo, un homsente para les insto a que se unan a bre armado mató a una persona mí en oración". Fue administrador e hirió a cinco. El sospechoso de apostólico de la Diócesis de Buffaese tiroteo tenía como objetivo a lo desde diciembre de 2019 hasta miembros de la comunidad taiwanenero de 2021. esa, dijeron funcionarios del condaEl obispo Robert J. Brennan de do de Orange. En una de las declaraciones BUFFALO, NY – Los dolientes en Buffalo, N.Y., reaccionan el 15 de mayo de Brooklyn, Nueva York, quien dijo más poderosas que condenan la 2022, mientras asistían a una vigilia por las víctimas del tiroteo del día anteri- estar "horrorizado" por el ataque, violencia que tuvo lugar cuando or en un supermercado TOPS. Las autoridades dicen que el tiroteo masivo que dejó pidió oraciones por las víctimas, un hombre armado abrió fuego 10 muertos fue por motivos raciales. (Foto del CNS/Brendan McDermid, Reuters) sus familias y por el "fin del odio, la violencia y el racismo en nuestro un sábado por la tarde en un supaís y en el mundo". categorizado no solo como violencia, sino una voz constante a favor de formas rapermercado en Buffalo, el obispo El obispo de West Virginia, Brennan, Mark J. Seitz de El Paso, Texas, dijo el 15 teñida de un racismo escalofriante. En re- cionales pero efectivas de regulación de de mayo: "La fe nos obliga a decir no a las spuesta a ambos incidentes, Chieko No- armas peligrosas, y la USCCB continúa dijo que si bien las nuevas leyes pueden fuerzas podridas del racismo, no al terror guchi, directora de asuntos públicos de la abogando por el fin de la violencia y por ayudar, lo que más se necesita es "un very no al silenciamiento mortal de las voces Conferencia de Obispos Católicos de EE. el respeto y la dignidad de todas las vidas" dadero cambio de mentalidad y corazón UU., dijo que los obispos de EE. UU. es"El flagelo de la violencia armada sin que nos lleve a reconocer y afirmar el negras y marrones". El obispo Mark E. Brennan de Wheel- taban pidiendo un diálogo honesto "para sentido que ha cobrado la vida de tantas valor de cada vida humana, sin importar ing-Charleston, West Virginia, también abordar el mal persistente del racismo en personas en nuestra nación y ha cambia- cuán diferente sea la persona de mí". se pronunció en contra de lo que se ha nuestro país". "La Iglesia Católica ha sido do la vida de innumerables hombres, mu-
27 de mayo de 2022 MISSISSIPPI CATÓLICO
Virgen Coronada. Ministerio Musical. Primera Misa del Padre Bowden El día después de la ordenación del Padre Bowden, celebró su Misa de Acción de Gracias en su parroquia natal de St. Jude Pearl, con su familia, amigos y compañeros feligreses, quienes lo apoyaron durante su camino hacia el sacerdocio. Para la Misa, el Padre Bowden invitó al Padre Nick, como su director de vocaciones, a dar la homilía. “Como su director de vocaciones, ha sido un placer verlo convertirse en un hombre que va a ser un sacerdote fantástico”. Lo más sorprendente de la ordenación del Padre Bowden fue la cantidad de jóvenes que vinieron a mostrar su apoyo, señaló el Padre Nick. PEARL – (Izq.) El Padre Andrew Bowden, después de su primera Misa,dio la primera bendición sacerdotal en el salón parroquial, donde muchos parroquianos esperaban por él. (Debajo-Der.) El recién ordenado Padre Andrew Bowden celebra su primera Misa, concelebrada por el padre Nick Adam director de Vocaciones, el domingo 15 de mayo. (Fotos Tereza Ma)
CANTON – (Arriba- Izq.) La niña Denise Contreras se ve coronando a la virgen del altar de la iglesia Sacred Heart Canton, el 15 de mayo, junto a las niñas Nicole Contreras y María Fernanda Tibet, (debajo-Izq), quienes ayudaron con las flores. (Foto cortesía de Blanca Peralta)
TOME NOTA Vírgenes y Santos Dia del Corpus Christi. Junio 16 Dia de los Padres. Domingo, Junio 19 Natividad de San Juan Bautista. Junio 24 Fiesta del Inmaculado Corazón de María. Junio 25 Festividad del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús. Junio 27 Señora del Perpetuo Socorro. Junio 27 Solemnidad de San Pedro y San Pablo. Junio 29
CANTON – Después de Misa, celebrada por el Padre Mike O'Brien el 8 de mayo, se reconoció el trabajo de los miembros de Ministerio de Música, "Misioneros de Jesús" en su noveno aniversario de servicio a la Iglesia. (Foto cortesía de Blanca Peralta)
MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC MAY 27, 2022
BRIEFS 9 VATICAN
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Catholics of all ages are called to form strong faith communities, listen to and dialogue with others, reach out to share the Gospel and work to protect the environment, Pope Francis said in a series of speeches May 21. Still using a wheelchair because of ongoing pain in his knee, Pope Francis had a busy day, meeting four separate groups in addition to holding three private meetings. The pope’s public appointments began with an apology to several hundred adolescents preparing for confirmation in the Archdiocese of Genoa; they had gathered in the Pope Francis greets U2 singer Bono before a meeting of Scholas Occurentes small square between the in Rome May 19, 2022. The event was for the launch of the “Laudato Si’ pope’s residence and St. School,” a yearlong project of Scholas young people to develop projects to Peter’s Basilica. “I’ve made promote protection of the environment. (CNS photo/Vatican Media) you wait 35 minutes. I am sorry,” the pope told them. “I heard the noise but had not finished the things I had WASHINGTON (CNS) – How to make sense of to do first.” Pope Francis pleaded with the youngsters not Americans’ attitudes toward abortion? It isn’t easy. In to make their confirmation a “farewell sacrament” from polls, many respondents will give answers that contradict active parish life, but to treasure the grace they receive, each other. A Gallup poll in 2019 – Gallup has polled strengthen it with prayer and share it “because in the regularly on abortion since 1975 – found that 92% of church we are not ‘me alone,’ or just me and God; no, we Americans believed that using birth control was “morally are all of us, in community.” acceptable,” but their support for abortion, by contrast, ROME (CNS) – Celebrating the launch of the Schowas more mixed. (The Catholic Church teaches that both las International Educational Movement and its environare morally wrong.) But the year before, Gallup found mental project, Pope Francis encouraged young people, that 65% of Americans believed abortion should gener- especially women, to lead the charge in fighting climate ally be illegal during the second trimester of pregnancy change. “Defending nature means defending the poet– but in the same survey, 69% said the Supreme Court ry of creation, it means defending harmony. It is a fight should not overturn Roe v. Wade. FiveThirtyEight, which for harmony. And women know more about harmony itself analyzed abortion polls, “found that a large major- than us men,” the pope said May 19 during an event ity of Americans support abortion in the first trimester, at Rome’s Pontifical Urban University. U2 but that support tends to drop in the second trimester.” frontman Bono, who joined the pope for In an ABC News-Washington Post poll conducted in late the launch, said he had been a supporter April, 54% of Americans want the court to uphold Roe, of Scholas for the past four years and was nearly twice as many as the 28% who want to see it “drawn to this idea of a ‘culture of encounstruck down. Also, an ABC poll offering only a yes-or- ter.’” Scholas began in Pope Francis’ Archno choice found that 57% of Americans opposed a ban diocese of Buenos Aires, supporting educaon abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy, while 58% tion in poor neighborhoods by pairing their opposed a ban after six weeks. schools with private schools and institutions WASHINGTON (CNS) – The chairman of the U.S. in wealthier neighborhoods. The organiConference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Inter- zation has spread to other countries and national Justice and Peace praised a May 16 statement supports a variety of exchange programs announcing the lifting of restrictions against Cuba by aimed at promoting education, encouraging the Biden administration, particularly those measures creativity and teaching young people about that will help family reunification. The Biden adminis- respect, tolerance and peace. tration said it will increase consular services on the island to help with visa processing “making it possible for more Cubans to join their families in the United States via regular migration channels.” The State Department MEXICO CITY (CNS) – A Nicaraguan also announced plans to allow more people from the bishop and priest accused police of harassU.S. to engage with Cubans via group travel, allowing ing them – the latest attempt by the govU.S. flights beyond Havana, and reinstating a remittance ernment to impede the work of the Catholic program for families in the U.S. to send up to $1,000 Church. Bishop Rolando José Álvarez Laper quarter to family members on the island. The move gos of Matagalpa, Nicaragua, started a hunreverses restrictions imposed by the Trump administrager strike May 19. He said he would have tion, which had taken a more punitive stance on Cuba. only water and electrolytes until police stop “We commend the administration’s renewed interest in the harassment – including harassment of restarting U.S. engagement with Cuba. Recognizing that his parents and family. In a video posted points of contention remain between our two countries, to the Facebook account of the Diocese of Cuba’s punitive isolation has not produced the economic Matagalpa, Bishop Álvarez said police foland social change that the United States has sought to lowed him all day and, when he asked to effect,” said Bishop David J. Malloy of Rockford, Illinois, speak with the chief of police, officers enwho chairs the USCCB’S international policy committee.
NATION
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tered the house where he was with his family. “I have been persecuted throughout the day by the Sandinista police, from morning until late at night, at all times, during all my movements of the day,” Bishop Álvarez said. “They came to my private, family, paternal, maternal home, putting the safety of my family at risk.” The Nicaraguan bishops’ conference issued a statement supporting Bishop Álvarez May 21. “We are experiencing difficult moments as a nation and our duty as a church is to announce the truth of the Gospel,” the statement said. SASKATOON, Saskatchewan (CNS) – Chief Cadmus Delorme of the Cowessess First Nation and Archbishop Donald Bolen of Regina, Saskatchewan, have been walking together for some time now – including through the work of ground-penetrating radar and finding 751 hits near a former Catholic-run residential school last summer. “It took the validation of unmarked graves (to) put us in this moment,” Delorme said at a recent “Walking With Your Neighbor” event in Saskatoon. He described how the discoveries of unmarked graves has led to millions of Canadians putting down their “shields” and admitting they did not know the truth about Indigenous peoples and Canada. “We are truly at a moment where all of us – Indigenous and not – must all reset our compass just a little bit – because our children and children yet unborn depend upon this moment. We could look the other way and stay with the status quo ... but the status quo doesn’t work,” said Delorme. “Walking Together” is the theme of Pope Francis’ July 24-29 visit to Canada’s Indigenous peoples. In the presentation at the Cathedral of the Holy Family, Archbishop Bolen stressed the importance of finding a new way of walking together and coming to a new understanding of the truth of Canadian history. “The conversation starts to open up between the church and Indigenous peoples when we acknowledge the profound suffering, the waves of suffering that so many Indigenous peoples have experienced in the context of residential schools, and more broadly in the context of the Indian Act and colonization,” said Archbishop Bolen. “We need to acknowledge our responsibility as church for our involvement in these schools, that took away language and culture and spirituality and suppressed so many good things.”
10 DIOCESE
MAY 27, 2022 MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC
Mississippi summers provided bishop with many challenges “July 25 – I gave Confirmation in Cuevas or Pineville. After the Mass and Confirmation and a sermon, I felt as if I had been pulled out of the ocean and it was then I was told that I had to see all the people.” “I was wet – the church itself was the reception room. The Protestant idea of using the church for everything obtains unfortunately in Mississippi when actual service is not going on. For a little while, I endured the handshaking and the heat, but I begged the priest to get me somewhere where I could get rid of my wet clothes and effect a change at least in parts.” “There was no available spot in the church nor in the sacristy, nor behind the altar – nor anywhere and I found my wet clothes now growing cold. Finally, the priest asked me if I would use a kind of closet that was in the sacristy. The closet was about three feet square and contained a barrel in which all the things the ladies of the Altar Society did not want the Bishop to see – old flowers, old candles, broken vases, etc., but I was glad to get even there to get out of my wet clothes.” “I was progressing rapidly and quickly, when I looked at a slit in the closet and there to my horror, I saw a snake looking right into my eyes. About four or five inches of him stuck to the wall and the rest of him hissed at me.” “I did not take long to beat a retreat and I never thought I could be such a coward. Irishmen and snakes don’t agree.” So, I sit here in my air-conditioned office, thinking of those mid-summer days growing up without this luxury and how we managed to endure it. Then I imagine the most likely wool-suited Bishop Gunn perspiring in buckets in his missions throughout the diocese – fending off DeLISLE – The interior of Our Lady of Good Hope parish is pictured in Christmas of 1920. creatures in the night and Bishop John Gunn takes readers on summer adventure at the parish when he visited in slithering snakes in closJuly of 1912. Established in 1872, the church was first destroyed by fire in 1905 and ets – to be shepherd to his rebuilt by Father René Sorin and ultimately destroyed beyond repair by Hurricane Camille sheep. God bless him. in August 1969. (Photos courtesy of archives) As we make the slide into the heat and humidity of Mississippi’s summer through the traditional doorway of MeBy Mary Woodward morial Day weekend, let us remember JACKSON – As we begin our journey into the lovely days of summer filled with to offer prayers and thanks for all who that heat and humidity we treasure so much, I thought I would share some more have served our country and paid the experiences of Bishop John Gunn’s adventures. These few entries detail his battles ultimate price on the battlefields of the with travelling in July on the Gulf Coast, which was once part of our diocese until the world. Bishop Gunn, who loved three Diocese of Biloxi was established in 1977. things – his Catholic faith, his Irish herThe 17 counties that make up the Diocese of Biloxi would have been Deanery VII itage, and his American citizenship – of this Diocese in Bishop Gunn’s time. It stretches up to Laurel and over to Tylertown. would expect that of us. Amen. Bishop Gunn enjoyed being on the Gulf and spent a lot of time in Pass Christian. He attributed it to the easier access to rail and road travel from the Coast than Natchez had. (Mary Woodward is Chancellor and The week of July 23, 1912, Bishop Gunn, who was only a few months into his Archivist for the Diocese of Jackson) tenure as bishop, spent a couple of days visiting DeLisle and its missions. Once again, the entries reflect Bishop Gunn’s dry wit and matter-of-fact demeanor. As a disclaimer, DeLISLE – Our Lady of Good Hope parish was served by Father René Sorin, the reader needs to remember this is 110 years ago and conditions would have been from 1896 until his death on Feb. 6, 1955. different in the state of communities and parishes. “July 23 – DeLisle and Missions: Big reception at the church – dinner in St. Joseph’s Hall. DeLisle has a long history and is connected with big men. The present Bishop of Oklahoma [Théophile Meerschaert] commenced his missionary career at DeLisle. Father [Alphonse] Ketels, now in Biloxi, followed him and Father [René] Sorin has spent nearly 20 years in the most abject poverty and isolation that it is possible to imagine a priest can have.” “July 24 – Gave Confirmation after Mass in DeLisle. Gave a lecture at Cuevas at eight o’clock on Wednesday night and got the scare of my life in the house to which I was assigned to sleep after the lecture. It was a little bungalow, and I got the best room in the house and I think I got the concentrated heat of the entire coast.” “I was wet and tired, and I fell asleep as soon as I could. ... In the middle of the night I thought my last hour had come as something got into the bed with me and fought me like a tiger. I had nothing but a sheet covering me and in my surprise, to get the bed all to myself I rolled the sheet round the visitor and we had an unequal tussle.” “It seems a big Scotch Collie had been accustomed to sleep in the bed and had not been notified of the change of occupants. I rolled the sheet ‘round the collie who objected to the familiarity and frightened me thoroughly before I let him loose.”
FROM THE ARCHIVES
MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC MAY 27, 2022
dIOCESE 11
‘... la iglesia ... está redoblando sus esfuerzos para acompañar a las madres ...’ para el parto y en los meses posteriores a la salida de la nueva vida del útero a la luz del día, es fundamental para la vida familiar, comunitaria y de la civilización. La necesidad de apoyo cariñoso en torno al embarazo y la etapa más temprana de la vida es fundamental para las madres y sus bebés, la vida familiar, las comunidades y, en última instancia, la civilización. Hay muchos en nuestras iglesias y en nuestras comunidades en Mississippi que se unen en torno al llamado de acompañar a las futuras madres y en el tiempo posterior al nacimiento de sus hijos. Solo podemos regocijarnos al ver un apoyo tan amoroso. Para la Iglesia Católica, como todo el mundo sabe, el derecho a la vida es fundamental porque estamos hechos a imagen y semejanza de Dios (Imago Dei). La dignidad de la persona humana tiene sus raíces en esta creencia fundamental. El mundo entero puede no saber o elegir ignorar que la iglesia se compromete, a tiempo y fuera de tiempo, con el bienestar de la persona humana en cada etapa de la vida. Esto es evidente en nuestras enseñanzas sociales que fomentan el bien común, sirven a los pobres, marginados y vulnerables, defienden la atención médica, patrocinan la educación y apoyan las necesidades básicas de la vida: alimentación, vivienda y vestido, y empleo remunerado. Además, en los últimos años, el cuidado de nuestra casa común, la tierra, se ha vuelto más urgente. La obra maestra del Papa Francisco, Laudato Si, se regocija en Dios el creador y aborda esta obligación dada por Dios. Cuando sumamos todo, se trata de lo que San Pablo afirma con elocuencia en su carta a los Romanos. “Porque el reino de Dios no es cuestión de comer o beber determinadas cosas, sino de vivir en justicia, paz y alegría por medio del Espíritu Santo. (14:7) – Viene de la pág. 3 –
El mundo entero puede no saber o elegir ignorar que la iglesia se compromete, a tiempo y fuera de tiempo, con el bienestar de la persona humana en cada etapa de la vida. Ahora volvamos a la Visitación y al don de la vida no nacida que abrió esta columna. La decisión de la Corte Suprema de los Estados Unidos sobre Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization es inminente y la posibilidad de anular Roe v. Wade está enviando ondas de choque por todo el país, desde la Casa Blanca hasta todos los puntos de la brújula. No hay duda de que este es un momento histórico para nuestra nación. La pasión que rodea este tema de la vida arde no menos intensamente que hace casi 50 años cuando Roe v. Wade se convirtió en ley del país en 1973. Ha habido una sombra que se arrastra desde entonces porque en el centro de nuestra conciencia colectiva hay una conciencia torturada que es incapaz de reconciliar una imagen propia de bondad inherente con la sangre de los inocentes. Pero, ya sea que Roe v Wade sea anulado o revertido, los abortos no cesarán, como sabemos. La responsabilidad política volverá a las legislaturas de los 50 estados para promulgar leyes en el futuro y, como ya hemos experimentado, estas leyes variarán mucho. Al igual que los incendios que envuelven a nuestros estados del oeste, habrá conflagraciones generalizadas que arderán en las fallas de nuestra sociedad fracturada. La responsabilidad personal es otra dimensión, el terreno de la conciencia y la conversión, que desafía a cada individuo a salvaguardar el don de la sexualidad sabiendo que hay libertad a través de las fronteras, a apreciar el don de la vida, la propia y la de los vulnerables entre nosotros y a darse cuenta de que la violencia contra los no nacidos está en la raíz de la violencia que agita a nuestra nación y al mundo. ¿Qué puede hacer una persona o una iglesia? “Esta luz brilla en las tinieblas, y las tinieblas no han podido apagarla.” (Juan 1:5) es la promesa de que nuestro trabajo con Dios siempre importará. Orar, servir, empoderar y abogar son siempre relevantes. El Papa Francisco fomenta el encuentro con los demás y el acompañamiento y un proyecto reciente digno de elogio en todas las diócesis católicas como “Caminando con las mamás necesitadas.” Cualquiera que sea el fallo de Roe v Wade, la iglesia, en connivencia con otras redes, está redoblando sus esfuerzos para acompañar a las madres, sus bebés antes de nacer y sus niños en las primeras etapas de desarrollo para que ellos y nosotros, como Mary y Isabel, podamos regocijarnos en el regalo de vida y en Dios nuestro Salvador.
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The Diocese of Jackson has launched a third-party reporting system that will enable all diocesan employees, volunteers and parishioners to anonymously (or named if preferred) make reports. Examples of this activity include fraud, misconduct, safety violations, harassment or substance abuse occurring at a Catholic parish, Catholic school or at the diocesan level. The system is operated by Lighthouse Services. Based in Deerfield, Illinois, Lighthouse Services maintains ethics, safety and fraud hotlines for over 4,100 organizations between the U.S. and abroad.
To make a report visit www.lighthouse-services.com/jacksondiocese or call 888-830-0004 (English) or 800-216-1288 (Spanish). The Association of Priests of the Dioceses of Jackson and Biloxi provide a small pension to our retired priests. As you consider your estate plans, please remember these faithful servants by making a donation or leaving a bequest to the Association of Priests. Our parish priests dedicate their lives to caring for us, their flocks. Let us now care for them in their retirement. Donations can be made payable to the Association of Priests and can be mailed to:
Diocese of Jackson, Attn: Cathy Pendleton, P.O. Box 2248, Jackson, MS 39225-2248
MAY 27, 2022 MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC
12 Columns
Who’s listening to the women? AMID THE FRAY
By Greg Erlandson (CNS)
The leaked draft Supreme Court document that laid out the case for overturning Roe v. Wade making abortion a constitutional right has provoked an uproar. Abortion advocates are furious that the forthcoming ruling may toss abortion back to the legislatures. Abortion opponents are working furiously to have laws in place at the state level to ban abortions. In either case, the struggle won’t be ending. It will be punted to nearly level of government for the foreseeable future. As we wait for the high court’s final decision in June, we might do well to listen to Getty Israel, the founder and CEO of Sisters in Birth, located in Mississippi. Sisters in Birth exists to help poor and underserved women in the poorest state in the union to give birth to healthy babies and to help mothers find the care they need. In a recent interview, Israel sounded fed up with the swirling national debate. When interviewed on National Public Radio’s “Morning Edition,” Israel did not take the standard NPR line on abortion. She sounded ticked off at everybody. “When we get calls from women – and we do – who are looking for an abortion, the first question I ask is, ‘What’s going on?’” “Because, yes, I want to change her mind. Yes, I want to reduce the abortion rate. That’s a lot of Black lives lost in an era of Black Lives Matter,” she said. “Pro-choice people are willing to wage a war ... to protect (Roe v. Wade). But they’re not willing to help create any community-based interventions to address the various underlying risk factors that will lead a woman to look for an abortion,” Israel charged. What’s missing from the national debate, she added, are the voices of women who are considering abortion. “No one ever says, What do you need? What can we do to help improve your life so that you don’t find that you need to have an abortion?”
“When a woman is seeking abortion, 9 times out of 10, she is alone,” she continued. “Pro-choice people aren’t walking down the path with her, and neither are the pro-life people, beyond beating her over the head with a Bible and Scripture.” Almost 38% of Mississippians are Black, the highest in the nation. Yet they account for 68% of abortions. Women looking for abortion often work minimum-wage jobs without health insurance. They are beset by poverty and a torn social net. Mississippi also has the highest rate of infant deaths in the first 12 months of life. Sixty percent of those babies are Black, many of whom were born premature. Yet state medical care for pregnant women and for new mothers in poverty is minimal and underfunded. Banning abortion will not make Mississippi a pro-life state. The racist murder of Black shoppers in Buffalo, New York, has transfixed the nation, but Getty Israel is right: Hundreds of thousands of Black babies are being aborted or dying in their first year of life for lack of adequate health care and support. Nationwide there are bold pro-life efforts like the Women’s Care Centers that help expectant mothers, but so much more is needed. Passage of a new child tax credit program is one place to start. Catholic bishops are calling for all Catholic institutions to step up and support moms in need. In the words of the New York bishops, if “every Catholic parish, every Catholic Charities program, every Catholic health facility, every Catholic school, every Catholic college and university” were asking women how they could help, the impact could be culture changing. The challenge is, how do we make this more than just a slogan? (Erlandson, director and editor-in-chief of Catholic News Service, can be reached at gerlandson@catholicnews.com.)
May God go with you into ordinary time ON ORDINARY TIMES By Lucia A. Silecchia
As a teacher, I have mixed feelings about graduations. While commencements launch new beginnings for graduates, they are also bittersweet farewells. Each year, the basic formula of our graduation ceremonies remains the same. The setting, order of events and cherished traditions remain remarkably unchanged, reflecting the enduring desire to mark important passages with predictable rituals. In spite of their comforting sameness, however, each graduation ceremony heralds a significant change in my own life, not just in the lives of my students. Each year, I see my students’ joy and am happy for them. However, as a teacher left behind there is a certain sadness knowing that each year’s graduating class – as individuals and as a group – will no longer be part of my everyday life. Certainly, commencement day is about my students and not me. Yet, the day when this celebration no longer tugs at my heart may be the day I should start another path of work. The years I spend with my students are brief – only 3 or 4 years do we walk together. For that time, I am privileged to be part of their lives and to have them as part of mine. I am deeply grateful to my students for all they share with me during the time we travel together along the path of life. The class of 2022, in a particular way, crossed my path in a unique set of pandemic-provoked disruptions. Thus, in a special way, I am grateful for their good will through some challenging days. I am grateful for all the ways they shared their joys with me. Some of them knew great joy in the years we spent together as they welcomed children, became aunts or uncles, achieved academic success, or wore new rings
on their fingers. Some overcame great obstacles, were surprised at wonderful job offers, and learned that they had talents they did not know that they had. Some made life-long friends and I have celebrated at the weddings of those who sat together in my class. I am grateful for all the ways they also shared their sorrows with me. Some of them had loved ones who started the journey with them but are no longer at their sides to share the joy of graduation. Some had struggles with finances or health, watched plans disrupted and mourned dreams denied. Like life itself, the journey through school has its highs and lows. I am grateful for all the ways they shared their families with me. Those who teach young children rather than adults see far more of their students’ families than I do. Yet, my students tell me of their loved ones – their parents, children, spouses and siblings. Many tell me much about beloved grandparents because, often, it is in the years of young adulthood that their grandparents pass away. In particularly entertaining ways, my students share their families with me at graduation. I still feel a vague dread when someone’s proud dad says, “I’ve heard all about you!” because that is not necessarily a good thing. I sense that my students feel similar dread when a proud mom says, “How did he do in your class?” Fear not, students! I have a well-practiced repertoire of non-responsive answers to that question. I am grateful for the ways my students thank their loved ones, my colleagues and their classmates as we share our pride and common joy with them. As they receive their diplomas while wearing the strangest of hats and smiling the biggest of smiles at their cheering families, they remind me that few accomplishments are
achieved alone. I am grateful for the ways in which many students have shared their faith with me. Although much is said by many – myself included – criticizing Gen Z’s and Millennials, I have been inspired by them. In an age of shallow soundbites, some have asked me the big questions. In an age of secularism, some have prayed with me. In a time when faith is thought to be private, some have prayed for me. In a time when the world can seem thoughtless, they reach out with commitments to service, good-hearted kindnesses and traces of that idealism a cynical world so desperately needs. My students – soon to be my former students – were once strangers to me and to each other. Through many different paths, they and I came together for a time and shared a unique season of our lives. As May and June unfold, teachers like me will be saying our good-byes. “Good-bye,” however, is a comforting word of farewell – an ancient abbreviation of the phrase, “God go with you.” So, to all those whose diplomas say “2022,” I pray that God does, indeed, go with you as you embark into our fragile world. Bring that world your courage, your hope and your love. And, if you think of it, say a prayer for me – I’ll miss you. Thanks for sharing with me some of your ordinary times. Congratulations! May God go with you, Class of 2022. (Lucia A. Silecchia is a Professor of Law at the Columbus School of Law at the Catholic University of America.)
MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC MAY 27, 2022
NATION 13
Asian American Catholic woman takes pride in culture’s overlooked saints By Mark Pattison
hungry to know these stories,” Ku told Catholic News WASHINGTON – Asian Americans are a distinct Service during a May 13 phone interview. Recently, author Meg Hunter-Kilmer wrote “Saints minority in the United States. Those who are Catholic Around the World,” “which is great for kids,” Ku said, make them minority within a minority. Thus, when you see your heritage and faith reflect- and “Pray for Us,” geared toward young adults. “She’s really good about telling the stories of diverse ed, it really is a godsend. And when you don’t, you may not wait for someone else to do it and take up the task saints,” added Ku, who also has written a reflection for CNS’ catechetical and spirituality section. yourself. “When I discovered these books, I was so thrilled. It That’s what Sarah Hoyoung Ku has done, with a little was so meaningful,” Ku said. help from her friends. “I can’t tell you what it means to Ku, who is a Korean American, see the stories of saints from your and her Chinese American husband own ethnic culture, she added, “readlive in the San Francisco Bay area. ing Meg’s books ... and these ‘Pray for Despite there being more Americans Us’ books.” of Asian heritage there than in almost Ku has been reading the stories any other part of the country, there herself. “I still remember getting the were few representations of their book in the mail. I have three daughcommon Asian heritage to be found ters. I had Elise, my 6 year old, on my for themselves and their five children. lap. I went immediately to the Korean “It’s only by parenting that seeing saints’ stories.” Ku in particular likes yourself reflected in the books that the stories of St. Agatha and Blessed you read and the images and toys Columba. that you play with,” said Ku, who was “I was just taking it in. These were raised a Protestant and joined the new-to-me stories. I was proud to Catholic Church 12 years ago. “It was share these stories with my daughter,” hard to find a doll that looked Asian. That started with them as little kids ... This is an illustration from Ku told CNS. “They involve a lot of the book “Saints Around the suffering and persecution. The story even physical, facial features.” That also extends to Asians’ repre- World,” by Meg Hunter-Kilmer. of the Catholic Church in Korea and (CNS photo/courtesy Meg Hunt- Japan and Vietnam, there’s so much sentation in church, Ku found. It’s the reason she founded an Ins- er-Kilmer, Emmaus Road Press) distrust of government to leaders of the Catholic Church,” due to suptagram account called Asian Catholic Woman – @asiancatholicwoman – where she explores posed “foreign influence.” Ku said the stories Catholic faith through an Asian American lens. “We’re creating Asian space, in an Asian American “just involve such steadlens,” Ku said. She writes about one column a week for fastness to Jesus. And so the account, which has more than 2,300 followers and much bravery. It’s just incredible.” Her daughters has additional resources for those who visit the page. “When you ask about the Asian saints, I have been seem to have picked up
Bishops express sorrow, condemn racially motivated shooting in Buffalo By Rhina Guidos
WASHINGTON – Several U.S. Catholic bishops expressed sorrow and called out racism and gun violence after reports of a May 14 mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, that left at least three injured and 10 dead – a crime authorities categorized as likely motivated by hatred for Black people. In a separate shooting at a Presbyterian church in Laguna Woods, California, May 15, a gunman killed one person and wounded five. The suspect in that shooting was targeting members of the Taiwanese community, Orange County officials said. In one of the most powerful statements condemning the violence that took place when a gunman opened fire on a Saturday afternoon at a supermarket in Buffalo, Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas, said May 15, “Faith compels us to say no to the rotten forces of racism, no to terror, and no to the mortal silencing of Black and brown voices.” Bishop Mark E. Brennan of Wheeling-Charleston, West Virginia, also spoke up against what has been categorized not just as violence but one colored with chilling racism. “The tragedy in Buffalo is hardly the first such violence against African Americans,” he wrote shortly after the attack. “From the crossing of the ocean in slave ships, in which many Africans died, to their violent treatment by slave masters to the thousands of lynching of Blacks in the South to more recent killings of unarmed African Americans by police and civilians, even in their churches, this racism has claimed an inordinate number of Black lives simply because they were Black. When and how will it stop?” Responding to both incidents, Chieko Noguchi, director of public affairs for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said the U.S. bishops were calling for an honest dialogue “addressing the persistent evil of racism in our country.”
on this. “My three daughters recognize the bravery and such deep love for their faith. They (the saints) were tortured for their faith and killed for their faith. These are meaningful moments. “Afterward, I noticed that Elise in the days afterward, that she would pick up ‘Saints Around the World’ and look at the story of the Korean saints. It could be because they’re 6 and learning to read. I think there’s something in there that appeals to her spirit, just as it did to me.” More recently, Ku pitched a project with the Hallow app; “I love the app,” she confessed. “I had the idea: What if, in May, you were able to choose Asian saint stories that were read by Asian American Catholics? How crazy!” May also marks Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. “In January, I got on a call with the Hallow team: Asian saint stories read by Asian American voices. They were really supportive,” Ku said. “We got seven of the stories from Meg’s book. ... I got to read the stories for the Korean saints.” Other stories in the Hallow series are in Japanese and Hmong, an ethnic group in Laos. Ku was able to get the first American-born Hmong priest to do the recitation of Hunter-Kilmer’s story of a Hmong saint. The recordings have been up since the start of May. It still takes Ku a bit to wrap her head around the fact that “Pray for Us” stories are available for hearing in their native tongues. “I’d been waiting for that part. I find that part so incredibly powerful in particular, to hear the language the saint would have spoken in their lifetime.”
MAY 27, 2022 MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC
14 YOUTH
Catholic student life
JACKSON – On Friday, May 6, St. Richard fifth graders performed Fifty Nifty United States. Students showed what happens when the States decide to visit and swap spots with each other. (Photo by Tereza Ma)
WEST POINT – Confirmation candidates, left to right, Paola Garcia and Paulina Lemus, are pictured reaching out to prospective donors for the Confirmation students annual blood drive that took place on Wednesday, May 25. Other candidates also made calls, distributed posters and flyers, and worked on the day of the drive, welcoming prospective donors and offering snacks and assistance; as well as, setting up and cleaning up. (Photo by Cathy Johnson)
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FOR TEENS BY TEENS GREENVILLE – St. Joseph students Raymon Singh, John Maddox Hillman, Jerrian King and Lori Ann Hughes compete in a team building exercise at their Junior Retreat. Working together is a necessity. (Photo by Emily Thompson)
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MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC MAY 27, 2022
YOUTH 15
Crowning Mary
SOUTHAVEN – Sacred Heart students, Mac Collins and Izzy Viglietti serve as attendants as Gwyneth Michael crowns Mary during Mass on Wednesday, May 11. (Photo by Laura Grisham)
JACKSON – Sister Thea Bowman Elementary fifth grader, Ashleigh Mason accepts flowers from Kindergarteners, Karmen Davis and Kahlie Saleem, along with other Kindergarteners and Father Joe Dyer. The flowers were placed before the Mary statue during the Crowning Mary ceremony held after Mass on Friday, May 6. (Photo by Shae Goodman Robinson)
CANTON – Nicole Contreras, María Fernanda Tibet and Denise Contreras prepare to crown Mary at Sacred Heart Parish. (Photo by Blanca Peralta Zunigo)
MAY 27, 2022 MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC
16 DIOCESE
'... I could not have gotten here without all of you...'
– Continued from page 1 –
Bowden agreed rector, it has been a joy to see you being formed into a to live his priest- man who is going to be a fantastic priest.” hood in the imitation of Christ; the litany of supplication, Most striking about Father Bowden’s ordination where Bowden laid prostrate on the floor while those at was the number of young people who came to show the church prayed for the saints protection; the laying on their support, noted Father Nick. of hands by brother priests; the prayer of ordination over “That is a testament to the spiritual fatherhood Bowden by Bishop Kopacz; vestition by Father Matthew that you have already taken on,” said Father Nick to Simmons; the anointing of hands with sacred oil; presen- Bowden during his homily. tation of the chalice and paten as symbols of the priestly At the end of the Mass, the newly ordained Father office; and the fraternal kiss, where the Bishop and all Bowden did his best to recall all to thank for their supbrother priests present exchange a sign of peace. port of him and his journey to the priesthood. In his homily, Bishop Kopacz spoke on the tradition “St. Jude is a place where I first started to learn to of the priesthood over 2000 years. love the church, so it’s very special for me to come “We go from Jerusalem to Jackson. Same work; same back and ... celebrate this Mass,” said Father Bowden. faith; same Holy Word of God; and this great gift of the “I could not have gotten here with out all of you Lord’s presence in our midst.” and your prayers and support for me.” At the end of the liturgy, Bishop Kopacz thanked evFather Bowden was appointed parochial vicar of St. eryone who helped prepare for the ordination and all in Richard Jackson by Bishop Kopacz. He will begin his attendance for the celebration, mentioning the upcoming ministry at the parish on June 1. ordination of Carlisle Beggerly to the transitional diaconate on June 4 at his home parish of Immaculate Conception in West Point. After Mass, many in attendance traveled a few blocks from the Cathedral to the Two Mississippi Museums for a reception honoring Father Bowden and to receive first priestly blessings. The day after Father Bowden’s ordination, he celebrated his Mass of Thanksgiving at his home parish of St. Jude Pearl, with his family, friends and fellow parishioners, who supported him during his journey to the priesthood. For the Mass, Father Bowden invited Father Nick, as his vocation director to give the homily. Speaking directly to Father Above, Father Matthew Simmons assists with vesting Father AnBowden, Father Nick told him drew Bowden. The vestition symbolizes outwardly the inward that he had been waiting for this change in new priest. day a long time. On right, Father Nick Adam exchanges a sign of peace with the “But, probably not as long as newly ordained Bowden. you,” joked Father Nick. “As your vocation di-
JACKSON – Bishop Joseph Kopacz lays his hands on Bowden in silent prayer calling down Holy Spirit. Also pictured is Deacon John McGregor and Deacon Denzil Lobo.
PEARL – Father Andrew Bowden hosted his First Solemn Mass of Thanksgiving on Sunday, May 15 at his home parish of St. Jude. More pictures from both occassions can be found at mississippicatholic.com. (Photos by Tereza Ma)