OCTOBER 24, 2025
mississippicatholic.com
Blues, BBQ and blessings: Homegrown Harvest strengthens support for seminarians By Joanna Puddister King
MADISON – The spirit of faith and generosity filled St. Francis of Assisi Parish on Saturday, Oct. 11, as nearly 300 guests gathered for the sixth annual Homegrown Harvest Festival – an evening of blues, barbecue and support for the future priests of the Diocese of Jackson. The event raised a record $189,000, with donations still coming in. Funds from the night directly support the diocese’s 12 seminarians and the Office of Vocations’ efforts to promote priesthood. For the first time, the event featured a live auction led by EJ Martin, who energized the crowd with a “raise your paddle” appeal. Guests pledged at various levels helping the live auction alone bring in $15,400. “It was a wonderful evening,” said Father Nick Adam, diocesan director of vocations. “We had a record number of guests and MADISON – Jo Ann Foret (center) waves with excitement as guests arrive for the raised a record amount for our Homegrown Harvest Festival at St. Francis of Assisi Parish on Oct. 11. The event
celebrated the diocese’s seminarians and future priests. (Photo by Joanna King)
seminarians. Every dollar supports our twelve current seminarians and our efforts to continue to promote the priesthood throughout the diocese.” Father Nick noted that three additional men are currently applying for seminary next fall. “We would love to hit $200,000, which was our goal heading into the night,” he said. “If we do, that amount would help educate four of our seminarians for a year.” The silent auction was another highlight of the evening, featuring dozens of donated items, including 12 themed baskets created by the families of each seminarian. The baskets reflected the personalities and favorite pastimes of the seminarians – from sports teams to snacks, and even a few with bottles of their favorite spirits. “One of the greatest gifts of the evening was seeing our seminarian parents having such a great time and working together in support of our men,” said Fa-
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Love for the poor is hallmark of faith, pope says in first exhortation By Cindy Wooden
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Many Christians “need to go back and re-read the Gospel” because they have forgotten that faith and love for the poor go hand in hand, Pope Leo XIV said in his first major papal document. “Love for the poor – whatever the form their poverty may take – is the evangelical hallmark of a Church faithful to the heart of God,” the pope wrote in “Dilexi Te” (“I Have Loved You”), an apostolic exhortation “to all Christians on love for the poor.” Pope Leo signed the document Oct. 4, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, and the Vatican released the text Oct. 9. The document was begun by Pope Francis, INSIDE THIS WEEK Pope Leo said, but he added to it and wanted FOLLOW US to issue it near the beginning of his papacy “since I share the desire of my beloved predecessor that all Christians come to ap@jacksondiocese preciate the close connection between Christ’s love DIGITAL EDITION and his summons to care for the poor.” Text The connection is not MSCATHOLIC new or modern and was not a Pope Francis invento 84576
tion, he said. In fact, throughout the Hebrew Scriptures “God’s love is vividly demonstrated by his protection of the weak and the poor, to the extent that he can be said to have a particular fondness for them.” “I am convinced that the preferential choice for the poor is a source of extraordinary renewal both for the Church and for society,” Pope Leo wrote, “if we can only set ourselves free of our self-centeredness and open our ears to their cry.” As he has done from the beginning of his papacy in May, the pope decried the increasing gap between the world’s wealthiest and poorest citizens and noted how women often are “doubly poor,” struggling to feed their children and doing so with few rights or possibilities.
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Pope Leo also affirmed church teaching since at least the 1960s that there are “structures of sin” that keep the poor in poverty and lead those who have sufficient resources to ignore the poor or think they are better than them. When the church speaks of God’s preferential option for the poor, he said, it does not exclude or discriminate against others, something “which would be impossible for God.” But the phrase is “meant to emphasize God’s actions, which are moved by compassion toward the poverty and weakness of all humanity,” he wrote. “Wanting to inaugurate a kingdom of justice, fra-
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From the archives 8 October is American Archives Month
Youth 11 Youth photos from around the diocese