DECEMBER 3, 2021
mississippicatholic.com
U.S. bishops spotlight programs on Eucharist, young people, moms in need BY CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE
wider limits on where money would be invested. The guidelines advance a polBALTIMORE – The U.S. bishops icy of engagement on corporate practicspotlighted two major initiatives foes that impact human dignity. cused on the central role of the EuchaThe prelates, meeting in person for rist Nov. 17, the second of two days of a national gathering for the first time public sessions of their fall general assince 2019, also approved guidelines sembly. for the exposition of the Eucharist and The U.S. Conference of Catholic Benediction, affirmed sainthood causes Bishops approved a 26-page statement, for three U.S. laypeople, approve revi"The Mystery of the Eucharist in the sions of statutes for the catechumenate Life of the Church," with 222 "yes" and voted for revised English- and votes, and also OK'd plans for a threeSpanish-language editions of the Order year National Eucharistic Revival that of Christian Initiation of Adults. will culminate with the National EuchaThe bishops assigned a feast date ristic Congress 2024 in Indianapolis. to St. Teresa of Kolkata – Sept. 5, the On other matters, they were invitdeath date in 1997 for the founder of ed to take a multicultural journey with the Missionaries of Charity. It will be an young Catholics to Chicago next June; optional memorial on the U.S. liturgical were urged to implement a framework calendar. for marriage and family ministry that Their vote on the Eucharist statethey had approved at their spring assembly in June; agreed to begin review Bishops attend a Nov. 16, 2021, session of the fall general assembly of the U.S. ment came a day after their discussion of the "Charter for the Protection of Conference of Catholic Bishops in Baltimore. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is of the document – a discussion that was markedly different than their debate in Children and Young People" earlier the first in-person bishops' meeting since 2019. (CNS photo/Bob Roller) June about what it could potentially than planned; and heard how the pandemic may have slowed but not stopped a pro-life initiative called "Walking With contain, namely a call for President Joe Biden and Catholic politicians who support abortion to be denied Communion. But the final document had nothing like that and Moms in Need." They approved guidelines governing the USCCB's financial investments that include – Continued on page 6 –
The U.S. has no Black Catholic saints. Could a future one be buried in Memphis? BY KATHERINE BURGESS MEMPHIS COMMERCIAL APPEAL
MEMPHIS – She wore African dress, began by singing, preached on what it meant to be Black and Catholic in America — and Sister Thea Bowman ended her 1989 speech to the U.S. Catholic Bishops by convincing the bishops to stand and sing with her. “They always say that was her first miracle. She got the bishops to dance,” said Sister Charlene Smith, a member of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration who was friends with Bowman for 35 years. There are currently no Black U.S. saints in the Catholic Church, although six are being considered for canonization. Bowman is one of those six, and if she’s canonized, a Black Catholic saint known for her radiant personality and her advocacy for racial reconciliation will be buried in Memphis, less than three hours from her childhood home in Canton, Mississippi. In 2018, Bowman was declared a “Servant of God,” the title given to a candidate for sainthood whose cause is still under investigation, prior to being declared “Venerable.” Born in 1937 in Canton, Mississippi, to a physician and a teacher, Bertha Elizabeth Bowman converted to
Catholicism at nine years old after being taught by the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration and the Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity. At 15 years old she told her parents she wanted to go to Wisconsin to join the Franciscan Sisters — and started a hunger strike when her parents told her she wasn’t going. She won the argument, and soon became the first Black member of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration. It was there that she met Smith, who entered the convent about the same time. Both wanted to be teachers and majored in English,
taking classes together. Today, Smith has written a book about Bowman. Entering religious life, Bowman was given the name “Sister Mary Thea” in honor of the Virgin Mary and Bowman’s father, Theon Bowman. Embracing 'Blackness and Catholicism as gifts from God' Later, Bowman would work as a teacher, becoming “a highly acclaimed evangelizer, teacher, writer, and singer sharing the joy of the Gospel and her rich cultural – Continued on page 7 –
INSIDE THIS WEEK
Quo Vadis II 4 Father Nick Adam reflects on the latest retreat
From the archives 13 Journey into diocese history with Mary Woodward
Youth 14 Youth pictures from around the diocese
DECEMBER 3, 2021 MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC
Calendar of events SPIRITUAL ENRICHMENT
JACKSON St. Richard Bereavement Support Group will again hold a special Candle-light Remembrance Celebration on Thursday, Dec. 9, at 6:30 p.m. in Foley Hall. There will be a discussion of various ways to honor our deceased loved ones followed by a brief candle-light prayer service. Each couple or person will be given a candle to light in honor of as many loved ones as they wish to remember by name. You may then take your candle home to light again on Christmas Day. A social time follows the service. It is a very beautiful and comforting time for all. Please RSVP, so that we will know how many to plan for and the number of candles needed. Event is open to all, regardless of how long ago the death occurred or your church affiliation. Details: please call Suzie Cranston (601) 573-3347, Nancy McGhee (601) 942-2078 or email ncmcghee@bellsouth.net. NATCHEZ St. Mary Basilica, Second printing of Father David O’Connor’s book – A Priestly Pilgrimage, now available. The book is described as “an autobiographical narrative told through the sub-stories of an evolving theology, ministry skills development, cultural transitions, and programs that are responsive to the pastoral needs of God’s people.” Details: His book is available at the parish offices of St. Mary, Assumption and Holy Family churches, at the Natchez Coffee Company (Franklin Street), at Locus Benedictus Retreat Center (Greenwood) or by contacting the author, doconnor.natchez@gmail. com. For a book to be shipped call (601) 442-7250. Cost: $20/plus shipping. PEARL St. Jude, Sung Mass in Extraordinary Form, first and third Sundays of each month at 6 p.m. Details: church office (601) 939-3181.
PARISH, FAMILY AND SCHOOL EVENTS
CANTON Sacred Heart, Ladies Stretch Classes, Thursdays, Dec. 2-23 at 10 a.m. led by Teresa Speer in the Sacred Heart Parish Center. Details: Jo Lynn at (601)
FEATURED PHOTO
941-0821 or Teresa at (769) 233-1989. FLOWOOD St. Paul, Mississippi Association of Returning Citizens (MARC) will be resuming re-entry classes in prisons in January 2022. If you are interested in serving in this ministry and helping incarcerated men and women “Get Ahead While Getting Out,” make plans to attend a training session in the Family Life Center on Saturday, Dec. 11 from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Details: Bob Pavolini at (334) 717-0890. MADISON St. Francis, Ring in Your Faith 10k/5k, Jan. 1, 2022 at 8 a.m. at Old Trace Park in Ridgeland. Finisher medals for all and t-shirts for everyone who registers by Dec. 16. Also will serve New Year’s meal of corned beef, black-eyed peas and cabbage! Cost: $30. Details: register at https://bit.ly/RingInYourFaith. NATCHEZ Assumption of BVM, Bingo, Sunday, Dec. 12 in Tutie Hall beginning 10 a.m. They will play 10 games and break for a burger lunch, then resume for another 10 games. To donate prizes, bring items or gifts before Dec. 12. Details: (601) 442-7250. OLIVE BRANCH Queen of Peace, Manger Lighting, Tuesday, Dec. 7 at 7 p.m. In union with Knights of Columbus through out the world, there will be prayer, a ceremonial blessing and lighting of the manger. Details: church office (662) 895-5007. Queen of Peace, Annual Women’s Club Bake Sale, Saturday/Sunday, Dec. 11-12. Parishioners are asked to donate a baked item. Please sign up in the Commons area. Details: church office (662) 895-5007.
YOUTH BRIEFS
TUPELO St. James, Disciple Now – Rhythms, Jan. 14-16, for 7-12 graders. Cost: $50. Details: email Cara at carambristow@gmail.com. St. James, Christmas VBS – Follow the Star, Saturday, Dec. 18 from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m for ages three through sixth grade at the St. James Catholic Life Center. Register by Dec. 8. Details: Lora Beth at (662) 213-7959 or lorabethb@gmail.com.
SAVE THE DATE
JACKSON Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle, World Day Marriage on Sunday, Feb. 13, 2022 at 3 p.m., there will be Mass celebrated by Bishop Joseph Kopacz. The Mass honors all married couples, but especially invites those celebrating their 25th, 50th and 60th anniversaries. Details: to have your anniversary recognized, call your parish office or email charlene.bearden@jacksondiocese.org. JACKSON St. Richard School, Krewe de Cardinal, Friday, Feb. 25, 2022. This festive evening features a brass band, silent and live auctions, a cash drawing, and cocktails and cuisine. Tickets are $50/per person or $100/per couple in advance. Sponsorships are available and come with reserved seating and an invitation to the pre-event VIP Cocktail Hour. Details: development@ strichardschool.org. MADISON St. Joseph School, Jeans, Jazz & Bruin Blues $10,000 Draw Down, Saturday, Jan. 29, 2022 at the Country Club of Jackson. To sponsor or purchase a draw down ticket visit www.stjoedrawdown.com.
HERNANDO Holy Spirit, Wednesday night “Open Gym” 5:30-6:30 p.m. in the Family Life Center. Make plans to come Wednesdays and enjoy food, fun and games. Details: church office (662) 429-7851. NATCHEZ St. Mary Basilica, Santa Breakfast, Saturday, Dec. 11 from 8:30-10:30 a.m. at the Family Life Center. Details: Carrie Lambert at (601) 920-9538.
Vietnamese Mass...
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JACKSON – On Oct. 24, Bishop Kopacz and Father Anthony Quyet greet parishioners at Holy Ghost parish after a Vietnamese Mass, explaning the upcoming Synod. (Photo by Tereza Ma)
Jackson Flowood R dgeland Pearl Cl nton V cksburg Tupelo Columbus Laurel Oxford Hatt esburg
let there be light
MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC DECEMBER 3, 2021
Let us prepare our hearts and minds By BiSHoP JoSePH R. KoPACZ, d.d.
Following the great Solemnity of Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, the culmination of the church year, we seamlessly flow into the season of Advent when the Word of God directs our gaze beyond time and space to eternal life. It is the season of light in the midst of darkness, when we prepare for the coming of the Lord at the end, at every moment and at Christmas. Come, Lord Jesus, for you are our hope and peace, the way and the truth who can shepherd us through uncertainty and vulnerability by the light of faith. The pandemic, along with other threats to the dignified well-being of humanity, continues to intensify personal and social woes, as well as inspire amazing resiliency and loving concern for others. It’s a reality that places before me the timeless words of Charles Dickens that are quite fitting for the season of Advent, and for the times in which we live. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was a time of light, it was a time of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way.” How each of us chooses wisely and justly in the circumstances and trials of our lives while caring for one another makes all the difference in the world. Our God of salvation calls us to pursue the best of what this world has to offer: wisdom, belief, light, hope and a vision for eternal life when indeed we will have everything. It’s not easy on some days, but in the midst of the whirlwind we recall that all things are possible with God. Advent is a sacred season, inviting us to recommit ourselves to reconciliation and hope, justice and peace. The last half of my column this week is a substantial part of my annual Advent/
Christmas letter sent to the folks back home and in the diocese. “I hope y’all have experienced far more blessings than burdens this past year. In the great Magnolia State throughout the Diocese of Jackson, as with many organizations and events, there has been a steady return to our churches, and greater participation in various ministries, with our schools at the forefront well into the second year of the pandemic. In the time ahead, we are looking forward to the Year of the Eucharist as parishioners return to church in greater numbers, and over the next four months to gatherings throughout the diocese in response to Pope Francis’ challenge to the church to allow the Holy Spirit to speak through all baptized Catholics.” “In the personal sphere, my dear dog of 14 years, Amigo, took his last breath on Easter Monday, April 5. He lived 14 years almost to the day, seven as a northerner, and seven as a southerner, truly a charmed life. No explanation is needed regarding the void from his passing.” “On the other hand, later in the year in October, when my sister Mary Ellen was here on vacation, we made an astonishing discovery among my father’s courtship letters to my mother during the World War II years. Within the pack of his correspondence from Italy where he served during the war were several postmarked letters from, guess where – the Air Force Base in Columbus, Mississippi.” “Surprise, surprise! Right up to that moment of discovery, I had always stated that ‘I’ve never known anyone personally who had lived or lives in Mississippi before my assignment here.’ I began my service here toward the end of 2013; Pop began his service here toward the beginning of 1943. My roots in Mississippi are quite deep after all, going back nearly 80 years. As providence and fate would have it, I was consecrated and installed as the 11th bishop of the Diocese of Jackson on February 6, my father’s birthday. Golly, I never saw that coming!” May the season of Advent that has opened up before us allow the Lord to prepare our hearts and minds to await his coming so that on Christmas our voices will cry out full throated and unsparingly with the choirs of angels, “Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth.”
Permita al Señor preparar nuestros corazones y mentes PoR oBiSPo JoSePH R. KoPACZ, d.d.
Después de la gran solemnidad de Nuestro Señor Jesucristo, Rey del Universo y la culminación de otro año de la iglesia, fluimos sin problemas hacia la temporada de Adviento cuando la Palabra de Dios dirige nuestra mirada hacia la vida eterna, más allá del tiempo y del espacio. Es la temporada de luz en medio de las tinieblas, cuando nos preparamos para la venida final del Señor, en todo momento y en Navidad. Ven, Señor Jesús, porque tú eres nuestra esperanza y paz, el camino y la verdad que puede guiarnos a la luz de la fe, a través de la incertidumbre y la vulnerabilidad. La pandemia, junto con otras amenazas al bienestar digno de la humanidad, continúa intensificando los
P.O. Box 2130 Jackson, MS 39225-2130 Phone: 601-969-3581 E-mail: editor@jacksondiocese.org
problemas personales y sociales, además de inspirar una resistencia asombrosa y una preocupación amorosa por los demás. Es una realidad que pone ante mí las atemporales palabras de Charles Dickens, en Historia de Dos Ciudades, muy adecuadas para la temporada de Adviento y para la época en que vivimos: “Era el mejor de los tiempos, era el peor de los tiempos, la edad de la sabiduría, y también de la locura; la época de las creencias y de la incredulidad; la era de la luz y de las tinieblas; la primavera de la esperanza y el invierno de la desesperación. Todo lo poseíamos, pero no teníamos nada; caminábamos en derechura al cielo y nos extraviábamos por el camino opuesto.” Cómo cada uno de nosotros, sabia y justamente, elige en las circunstancias y Volume 68 pruebas de nuestra vida, Number 1 mientras nos cuidamos (ISSN 1529-1693) unos a otros, esto hace toda la diferencia en el mundo. Nuestro Dios de
Publisher ........................................................................................... Bishop Joseph R. Kopacz
salvación nos llama a buscar lo mejor de lo que este mundo tiene para ofrecer: sabiduría, fe, luz, esperanza y una visión para la vida eterna cuando, en verdad, lo tendremos todo. En algunos días no es fácil, pero en medio del torbellino recordamos que todo es posible para Dios. El Adviento es una temporada sagrada que nos invita a renovar nuestro compromiso con la reconciliación, la esperanza, la justicia y la paz. La última mitad de mi columna de esta semana es una parte sustancial de mi carta anual de Adviento / Navidad, enviada a toda la gente en casa y en la diócesis: “Espero que hayan experimentado muchas más bendiciones que cargas el año pasado. En el gran estado de la Magnolia, en toda la Diócesis de Jackson y al igual que en muchas organizaciones y eventos, ha habido un regreso constante a nuestras iglesias y una mayor participación en varios ministerios, con nuestras escuelas a la vanguardia hasta bien entrado el segundo año de la pandemia. – Continúa en la pág. 11 –
BISHOP’S SCHEDULE
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; one 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
Saturday, Dec. 18, 7 p.m. – MFCC (Movimiento Familiar Cristiano Catolico) Posada, St. Jude, Pearl Sunday, Dec. 19, 9 a.m. and 11:15 a.m. (Spanish) – Closing Mass of Year of Saint Joseph, Immaculate Heart of Mary, Greenwood Friday, Dec. 24, 7 p.m. – Mass, Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle, Jackson All events are subject to change. Check with local parishes for further details.
DECEMBER 3, 2021 MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC
4 VOCATIONS CALLED BY NAME
From Nov. 19-21, about 20 young men, open to the possibility of a call to the priesthood, gathered at Camp Abbey in Covington, Louisiana to learn more about discernment, at Quo Vadis II retreat. The event was a big success! This series of retreats that we are offering as a diocese are opportunities for young men to build community with others who take their faith seriously. After having a diocese-only event this past summer at Our Lady of Hope in Chatawa, this latest event included youth and young adults as well as leadership from our diocese and the Diocese of Baton Rouge. Father Josh Johnson, Vocation Director for Baton Rouge, contacted me over the summer about the possibility of collaborating, and I was very excited to do so. The weekend included talks on vocations, prayer and discernment by yours truly, as well as Father Josh and some of the seminarians from each diocese. The participants also were able to have a Q&A session with all the seminarians of Jackson and Baton Rouge. As usual, the most important time was spent having fun and praying as a community of believers and seekers. I thought that it really helped having another diocese participate as it increased the number of participants and also brought new ideas and talents to the forefront in planning and executing the weekend. Father Nick Adam
I was also grateful that Father Aaron Williams and several youth ministers from our diocese joined me in leading our young men through the weekend. We had a beautiful Sunday Mass for Christ the King along with a Eucharistic procession which kicked off the Year of the Eucharist in moving fashion. I left that weekend with some ideas about how to continue helping young people discern throughout the year. I know that those who participated would jump at the chance to build community and pray together on a more regular basis, and not just on retreat every few months, and so this Advent is an opportunity for me to prepare for more regular offerings in the New Year. Even during a year of pandemic, we have been able to offer our young church discernment opportunities that have invigorated their faith and helped them understand the importance of following the Lord’s will for their life. I trust that eventually this will bear fruit in priestly vocations and vocations to religious life. As always please keep this COVINGTON, La. – Retreatants went on a hike to “Ranger’s Point” near intention in mind when you pray and thank you for your support of the Camp Abbey at the recent Quo Vadis Discernment Retreat. (Photo courtesy of Father Nick Adam) Department of Vocations. – Father Nick Adam If you are interested in learning more about religious orders or vocations to the priesthood and religious life, visit www.jacksonpriests.com or email nick.adam@jacksondiocese.org.
YEAR OF THE EUCHARIST Feast of Christ the King
Nov. 21, 2021 through Nov. 20, 2022
Watch for events in the coming year
Spirituality 5
MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC DECEMBER 3, 2021
The notion of a vocation IN EXILE By Father Ron Rolheiser, OMI
I was raised in a generation that taught that God gave each of us a vocation to live out. In the religious ethos of that time, particularly in Roman Catholic spirituality, we believed that we were put on this earth with a divine plan for us, that God gave us each a special vocation to live out. Moreover, this was not something we were free to choose for ourselves; it was God-given. Our task was to discern that vocation and give ourselves over to it, even at the price of having to renounce our own dreams. We remained free to accept or not, but at a peril. To be unfaithful to your vocation meant a misguided life. There’s an important truth in that notion, though it needs some critical nuances. First, in that spirituality, they thought of vocations in a very restrictive sense, essentially envisaging only four basic vocations: priesthood, religious life, marriage, and single life. Further, they tended to put too much gravity on the choice, namely, if you chose wrong or if you resisted your God-given vocation, it might endanger your eternal salvation. There were some unhealthy fears connected to the choice. I saw that first-hand when I served as the provincial superior for our religious order for six years. One of my tasks was to apply to Rome for the laicization of priests leaving the priesthood. I saw how many of those leaving the priesthood had chosen that vocation under undue pressure and false fear. Their choice had not been a free one. That being said, the old notion of vocation is essentially still true and is too easily lost in a world and culture that generally puts personal freedom above all else. We need to learn again the importance of finding one’s vocation and giving oneself over to it. Admittedly, vocation needs to be defined more widely than choosing between priesthood, religious life, marriage, and single life. Instead, it needs to be defined as an obedience to the inner dictates of our soul, our gifts, our talents, and the non-negotiable mandate inside us to put ourselves in service to others and the world. James Hollis, a Jungian therapist writing from a purely secular viewpoint, highlights precisely this point. “Our real desires and our destiny are not chosen for us by our ego, but by our nature and ‘the divinities.’ ... Something within us knows what is right for us and its insistence on expression is what keeps us awake at night, nudges us from within during our busiest hours, or causes us to envy others. Vocation is a summons of the soul. ... It’s as if we were sent to this land with a royal assignment, and if we have only dithered about and forgotten the task, then we have violated our reason for being here.” How true. Columnist David Brooks, also speaking from a secular place, strongly agrees. A vocation, he writes, is an irrational factor wherein you hear an inner voice that is so strong that it becomes unthinkable to turn away and where you intuitively know that you don’t have a choice, but can only ask yourself, what is my responsibility here? As well, the summons to a vocation is a holy thing, something mystical, a call from the deep. Thus, discerning your vocation is not a matter of asking what you expect from life but rather what life expects from you. What would Jesus say? As we know, Jesus was fond of teaching in parables and his parable of talents
(Matthew 25 and Luke 19) is ultimately about living out one’s God-given vocation. In that parable, those who use their talents thrive and are given even more talents. Conversely, those who hide their talents are punished. In essence, the message is this: If we use our God-given talents, we will find meaning and blessing in our lives; on the other hand, if we don’t use our talents, those very gifts will snakebite us, poison our happiness, and generally embitter our spirits. Show me a man who is bitter and envious, and most times you will see a gifted man who, consciously or unconsciously, is frustrated because he has not used his talents or has used them in a manner that doesn’t serve others. Bitterness and envy are often the unhappy residue from being snake-bitten by our own unused or
misused intelligence and gifts. There’s a voice inside us issuing forth from the depths of our souls that speaks for our talents, our temperament, our unique circumstance in life, our moral and religious sensitivities, and even for our wounds. This voice is gentle, but firm and unrelenting, as it tells us that we are not free to do anything we want with our lives. We need to surrender them to something higher than ourselves. And indeed, there’s a peril in not listening, though what’s at stake in not our eternal salvation, but our happiness and generativity on this side of eternity. (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
Advent during pandemic remains a season of compassion, pope says By Carol Glatz
The pope thanked the groups who came up with the ROME (CNS) – With Advent coming during an on- idea for the contest, “which gives voice to the young, going pandemic, Christians are called to hold on to hope inviting them to create new songs inspired by Christmas and foster a season of compassion and tenderness, Pope and its values.” “The beauty of Christmas shines through in the sharFrancis said. During Advent this year, too, “its lights will be ing of small gestures of genuine love. It is not alienating, dimmed by the consequences of the pandemic, which it is not superficial, it is not evasive,” he said. The beauty of Christmas “expands the heart, openstill weighs heavily on our time,” he said Nov. 22. “All ing it up to gratuthe more reason itousness – gratuwhy we are itousness, a word called to question artists understand ourselves and not well! – to the givto lose hope.” ing of self,” and “The feast it can also foster of the birth of cultural, social Christ is not out and educational of tune with the life and activities, trial we are going he added. through because Pope Francis it is the quintesquoted what St. sential feast of Paul VI told artcompassion, the ists during Adfeast of tendervent in 1965: ness. Its beauty “This world in is humble and which we live full of human needs beauty in warmth,” the order not to sink pope said during into despair.” an audience with It must not be organizers and the false beauty participants in a “made of appearChristmas music contest. The con- Pope Francis leaves after celebrating Mass for the feast of Christ ances and earthtest was proposed the King in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican Nov. 21, 2021. (CNS ly riches, which are hollow and and promoted photo/Remo Casilli, Reuters) a generator of by the Pontifical emptiness,” Pope Foundation Gravissimum Educationis and Don Bosco Francis said. It must be the real beauty “of a God made Valdocco Missions association, based in Turin. The contest invited people between the ages of 16 flesh, the one of faces -- the beauty of faces, the beauty and 35 to produce new songs inspired by Christmas and of stories” and the beauty of “creatures that make up our its values: life, love, peace and light, according to the common home.” He thanked the young people, artists and other parinitiative’s website, christmascontest.it/en/. Contestants were competing in three categories: lyrics, music and in- ticipants “for not forgetting to be custodians of this beauterpretation, and the best three pieces will be performed ty that the nativity of the Lord makes shine in every during the 2021 edition of the annual Christmas con- daily gesture of love, sharing and service. cert at the Vatican.
6 DIOCESE
DECEMBER 3, 2021 MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC
'... Endeavors to explain the centrality of the Eucharist ...' – Continued from page 1 –
is addressed to all Catholics in the themselves using the labels of 'pro-life' or 'social justice,'" he said. "The vision of WWUnited States. MIN is that a pregnant or parenting mother in need can turn to any local Catholic It "endeavors to explain the centrality of the Eucharist in the life of the church," parish and be connected with the life-affirming assistance and accompaniment that said Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana, chairman of the she needs." bishops' doctrine committee, in a short presentation on the statement Nov. 16. It "adThe initiative's website is WalkingWithMoms.com. dresses the fundamental doctrine about the Eucharist that the church needs to retrieve In presentations at end of the Nov. 17 public session: and revive." – Anna Gallagher, executive director of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Even bigger than the statement is the plan for the three-year eucharistic revival, told the bishops 3 million to 11 million people in the U.S. could soon benefit from some ending with the National Eucharistic Congress 2024 in Indianapolis. The bishops ap- type of immigration reform. proved it 201-17, with five abstentions. – Auxiliary Bishop Mario E. Dorsonville of Washington, chairman of the USCCB's The revival will officially start on the feast of Corpus Christi, June 16, 2022, with a migration committee, asked his fellow prelates to advocate, pray and walk with immidiocesan focus that will include eucharistic processions and other events of adoration grants in their respective dioceses. and prayer around the country. In 2023, the emphasis will be on parishes and resourc– From Haiti to Afghanistan, the work of Catholic Relief Services has focused on es aimed at increasing Catholics' understanding of what the Eucharist really means. responding to the impact of climate change, natural disasters such as earthquakes, hunAs chairman of the bishops' Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis, Auxilia- ger, meager farm production and developing education for children, reported Bishop ry Bishop Andrew H. Cozzens of St. Paul and Minneapolis, who was recently named Frank J. Caggiano of Bridgeport, Connecticut, president of the CRS board of directors. bishop of Crookston, Minnesota, gave the bishops details about this planned revival just He gave the presentation with Sean Callahan, CRS president and CEO. before they voted on it. – Dominican Sister Donna Markham, president and CEO of Catholic Charities The revival could be a time of healing for the entire church, he said, as well as a USA, told the bishops the national network of Catholic Charities agencies had provided movement of evangelization and a reawakening of understanding of the sacrament of $5.1 billion in assistance in the last year, much of it connected to the economic fallout the Eucharist for Catholics across the country. caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Philadelphia Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez invited fellow bishops to a national gathering in Chicago in June to participate with young Catholics in a dialogue about issues of culture, racism and inclusion through the prism of faith. "Perhaps it was the Holy Spirit's way of telling us bishops that we really needed to take time to listen to young people, those who minister to them and, especially, those who are in the peripheries, feeling unimportant and unloved, and often alienated from the church," Archbishop Pérez said Nov. 17. He is chairman of the bishops' Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church. He detailed the opportunity the coronavirus pandemic has provided in facilitating virtual gatherings between young Catholics and bishops over the last year and a half. More than 60 bishops have joined virtual gatherings as part of a process called "Journeying Together," he said. The gatherings have taken place online in the midst of a pandemic, under "social unrest, racial reckoning, and the polarization affecting U.S. society," he said. The process created "an opportunity for bishops, young adults, youth ministers and campus ministers, and leaders of various other ministries with young people, to engage in respectful yet honest dialogue in matters of faith, culture, racism, inclusion and the issues that affect them as young people," he explained. The chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth called on his fellow bishops to work "in every way possible" to implement the national pastoral framework for marriage and family ministry that they approved in June. Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco said that addressing marriage and family life is vital in a time when families are under increasing threats from "sweeping A bishop looks over paperwork Nov. 16, 2021, during a session of the fall general assembly of the U.S. ideological currents that destroy and undermine our sexual Conference of Catholic Bishops in Baltimore. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is the first in-person identity as man and woman and God-given vocations as bishops' meeting since 2019. (CNS photo/Bob Roller) father and mother, son or daughter." Bolstering marriage and family ministry is an appropriate undertaking to start during the "Amoris Laetitia Family Year," declared by Pope Francis, the archbishop – The synodal process the church is entering into is meant to show that "no one said. is unimportant in this time of listening," said Bishop Daniel E. Flores of Brownsville, Titled "Called to the Joy of Love: A Pastoral Framework for Marriage and Family Texas. The bishop, a member of the USCCB's Committee on Doctrine and voted its Life Ministry," the document can serve as a practical guidebook to serve couples and chairman-elect during the assembly, said the process over the next seven months must families because it offers an adaptable set of principles and strategies for pastoral care, involve the participation of the whole church "listening together, praying together, he said. discerning together." Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas, chairman of the bishops' At sunrise Nov. 18 outside the hotel where the bishops held their assembly, CarCommittee on Pro-Life Activities, told his fellow bishops that the Secretariat for Pro- dinal Joseph W. Tobin of Newark, New Jersey, Boston Cardinal Seán P. O'Malley and Life Activities' "Walking with Moms in Need" initiative may have been slowed by the six other Catholic prelates joined survivors of sex abuse, some the victims of clergy in coronavirus pandemic, but it has by no means stopped helping expectant mothers from an invitation-only walk to pray for an end to the "evil" of abuse and call for a day of any walk of life. It was launched March 25, 2020, just as the pandemic began to take prayer for survivors and an end to the abuse. hold. This initiative "has the capacity to take what is often seen as a partisan divide and (Contributing to this story were Carol Zimmermann, Dennis Sadowski, Rhina Guidos transform it into pastoral unity, bridging the divide between Catholics who describe and Mark Pattison.)
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'... She encouraged us to own our own ancestry and heritage ...' – Continued from page 1 – heritage throughout the nation,” according to a biography at her cause for canonization website. In 1978, Bowman received the position of director of the Office of Intercultural Affairs for the Diocese of Jackson, Mississippi, where she “continued to assail racial prejudice and promote cultural awareness and sensitivity,” according to the biography. “Sister Thea’s legacy would be she equipped Black Catholics with knowledge of their history, culture and spiritually of African Americans within the Catholic Church,” said the Rev. Maurice Nutt, redemptorist priest in the Archdiocese of New Orleans, who was charged with researching Bowman’s life in the cause for canonization. “She encouraged us to own our own ancestry and heritage and to bring that as gifts to the Catholic Church, that the Catholic Church could not be complete without our presence. That’s what makes the Catholic Church truly universal. We came as people bringing gifts to the church so the church might be totally whole and complete.” A former student of Bowman, Nutt knew her for the last six years of her life and has also written a book about her. Bowman traveled the country, delivering public lectures as a critic of racism and an advocate for the full inclusion of Black Catholics in the church. She often interspersed her talks with singing, with a voice “like an angel,” said Smith. She also was excellent with children, Smith said, sometimes telling them to look at their hands: “You have five fingers and there are five different colors of skin,” Bowman would tell the children. “There’s black and there’s brown and there’s yellow MEMPHIS – Bishop Joseph Kopacz visited Sister Thea Bowman's gravesite in October 2018, in and there’s red and there’s white, just remember we are all one preparation for taking her cause before the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in November 2018. (Photo by Deacon Ted Schreck) family.” Her favorite song was “This Little Light of Mine.” She had souls to a richer level of spiritual ascension and called us to embrace our Blackness her own light, but also “had the uncanny ability to see the light and Catholicism as gifts from God. This dance of cultural and spiritual awakening was in the souls of everybody she met,” Smith said. In 1984, Bowman was diagnosed with breast cancer. She continued to speak, ar- refreshing and appealing to Black Catholics. Sister Thea challenged us to be authenriving in a wheelchair and dressed in customary African clothing until her death in tically Black and Catholic and called the Church to celebrate this diversity as (a) gift.” A contemporary Black Catholic saint? Canton in 1990. Today, there’s an effort out of Baltimore to have an expedited canonization process Smith said she for Bowman and the five other Black U.S. Catholics currently being considered for considers it “one of canonization. the greatest treasures The reason, said Ralph Moore, a member of the social justice committee at St. of my life” that she Ann’s Catholic Church in Baltimore, is because there are currently no Black U.S. Cathwas able to spend olic Saints. time in Bowman’s “We’ve remained faithful despite the history of enslavement and mass incarceration orbit. and mass poverty,” Moore said. “But as you sit in a Catholic Church and look up, you Although Bowdon’t see anything that looks like us. It’s all white. And that’s the way it’s always been.” man had never lived The church’s social justice committee has organized a letter writing campaign to in Memphis, her Pope Francis, urging immediate canonization. uncle moved to the south side of the city to work as a pharmacist and purchased a plot at Elmwood Cemetery. Both of The Diocese of Jackson Tribunal Office Manager is the primary adBowman’s parents were buried there, so ministrative staff member who works closely with the Judicial Vicar she was laid to rest to assure a compassionate and equitable application of church law next to them. On her and the protection of the rights and dignity of each person. tombstone are the words she requested: • Full Time Position with Benefits “She tried.” • Chancery Office in Jackson, Mississippi "Sister Thea Bow• Salary based upon experience man was a spiritual • Healthy interpersonal skills to interact positively with others mystic, civil rights • Keen sense of confidentiality Sister Thea Bowman, was nationally known for her work activist, teacher and to advance the life of her fellow black Catholics in the • Ability to become acquainted with and adapt to religious law propreacher among us,” church. She was 52 when she died of cancer on March cedures said Therese Wilson 30, 1990, but her legacy as an educator, evangelist and Favors, who worked gospel singer lives on. She is pictured in an undated phoTo request a copy of the Job Description or to submit your resume, on Black Catholic to in her early years as a Franciscan Sister of Perpetual please email john.mcgregor@jacksondiocese.org. initiatives with BowAdoration. (Photo courtesy of the Franciscan Sisters of All resumes must be submitted no later than December 12, 2021. man. “She raised our Perpetual Adoration, www.fspa.org)
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DECEMBER 3, 2021 MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC
8 DIOCESE
Papal nuncio urges U.S. bishops to closely listen to the church By Carol Zimmermann
BALTIMORE (CNS) – Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the apostolic nuncio to the United States, spoke to the U.S. bishops Nov. 16 about the importance of listening to people in the church and being open to the work of the Holy Spirit. He addressed the bishops on the first day of two days of public sessions at their fall general assembly Nov. 15-18 in Baltimore. The archbishop noted that he has been in the role of apostolic nuncio for five years and has been on a journey with the U.S. bishops through challenges of religious disaffiliation, the sexual abuse crisis, increasing secularization, polarization within the nation and the church, and most recently the global pandemic. He quickly jumped into discussing a topic fresh on the bishops’ minds from hearing about it the previous night at their opening Mass and one they will continue discussing in preparation for an upcoming world Synod of Bishops: synodality. “I believe that synodality is an answer to the challenges of our time and to the confrontation, which is threatening to divide this country, and which also has its echoes in the church,” Archbishop Pierre said. “It seems that many are unaware they are engaged in this confrontation, staking out positions, rooted in certain truths but which are isolated in the world of ideas and not applied to the reality of the lived faith experience of the people of God in their concrete situations,” he said. To define this often-repeated word in church circles today, the nuncio explained what it is not. He said synodality is not “a meeting about meetings” and went a step further to jokingly say: “If that were the case, we would certainly be in one of the lower rings of hell in Dante’s ‘Inferno.’” He stressed that the term – and what the church is engaged in right now in the listening phase in preparation for the 2023 synod – goes beyond the physical act of hearing people to actually being close to them. For the bishops, he said, this process should start at home by listening to each other. “The church needs this attentive listening now more than ever if she is to overcome the polarization facing this country,” he said. The bishops’ act of listening also is a means of leading by example to help U.S. Catholics be missionary disciples engaged in their own listening and discernment that he said should be a “way of life” in families, parishes, dioceses and on the periphery. But for all this to happen, there also has to be overall unity because, he said, “a divided church will never lead people to where it should be.” Throughout his half-hour address to the bishops, the nuncio continued to drive home the message that more needs to be done to bring the church to where it should be. For example, when he mentioned that the church “should be unapologetically pro-life,” he stressed the need
to look at causes and factors that lead women to seek abortions and then to reach out in practical ways to mothers in need. Along that same line, he said the church needs to address racism and should go further with that by acknowledging “the lived reality” many in the church experience each day. Also, regarding the Eucharist, he said people can have theological ideas about the Eucharist, which are important, but “none of these ideas compare with the reality of the eucharistic mystery, which needs to be discovered and rediscovered through the practical experience of the church, living in communion, particularly in this time of pandemic.” The nuncio, hinting at a topic the bishops planned to address in their discussion of their proposed statement on the Eucharist, said many can “miss the true encounter” of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. He also noted that there is “the temptation to treat the Eucharist as something to be offered to the privileged few rather than to seek to walk with those whose theology or discipleship is falling short, assisting them to understand and appreciate the gift of the Eucharist, and helping them to overcome their difficulties.” Looking back and ahead, the archbishop, who was appointed U.S. nuncio Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolin April 2016, reiterated that he and the ic nuncio to the United States, speaks bishops had “been on the road together Nov. 16, 2021, during a session of for more than five years” and that they the fall general assembly of the U.S. would journey forward, in unity, by “lisConference of Catholic Bishops in tening to one another and to the Spirit Baltimore. Due to the COVID-19 panand walking with our brothers and sisdemic, it is the first in-person bishops’ ters.” meeting since 2019. (CNS photo/Bob “We will emerge from the present Roller) crises together,” he said, “as the church Christ has called us to be.”
Bishops approve plans for three-year National Eucharistic Revival
By Carol Zimmermann
BALTIMORE (CNS) – The U.S. bishops’ focus on the significance of the Eucharist in the life of the church isn’t just about on the statement they approved at their fall meeting. It also is about something bigger: a three-year eucharistic revival that will culminate with the National Eucharistic Congress 2024 in Indianapolis. The bishops approved a motion Nov. 17 during their general assembly in Baltimore to host this congress with 201 votes in favor, 17 against and five abstentions. Auxiliary Bishop Andrew H. Cozzens of St. Paul and Minneapolis, who was recently named bishop of Crookston, Minnesota, gave the bishops details about this planned revival just before they voted on it. The bishop, who is chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis, said the revival could be a time of healing for the entire church as well as a movement of evangelization and a reawakening of understanding of the sacrament of the Eucharist for Catholics across the country. The revival will officially start on the feast of Corpus Christi June 16, 2022, with a diocesan focus that will include eucharistic processions and other events of adoration and prayer around the country. In 2023, the emphasis will be on parishes and resources aimed at increasing Catholics’ understanding of what the Eucharist really means.
Part of the impetus prompting this effort was a Pew study in the fall of 2019 that showed just 30% of Catholics understand the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Bishop Cozzens noted the price tag for the National Eucharistic Congress – $28 million – is expensive, but said it is worth it and can be doable with fundraising. He said many apostolates and ministries are donating time and resources to help make the eucharistic revival a reality. Some bishops questioned the cost of the congress that wraps up this venture, but others spoke about the potential this will have to bring Catholics back to the church and bring those in the church to a deeper sense of devotion and a stronger faith. Bishop Cozzens pointed out that such large-scale church events can be transformative and said the National Eucharistic Congress may end up being something the Catholic Church revisits 10 years from now. Blessed Carlo Acutis will be the patron for the first year of the revival. The Italian teen, who was beatified in October 2020, died of leukemia in 2006 at age 15. He was a programmer who used social media to unite many people and spread Christian values. In his apostolic letter proclaiming the youth “blessed,” Pope Francis said he “cultivated a friendship with our Lord Jesus, placing the Eucharist and the witness of charity at the center of his life.”
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Please, be generous December 11 & 12, 2021
DECEMBER 3, 2021 MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC
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NATION
BALTIMORE (CNS) – A funeral Mass was offered Nov. 23 at St. Peter Claver Church in West Baltimore for Beverly A. Carroll, a social justice advocate who spent her life raising her voice for African American Catholics in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, the United States and the world. Carroll, the founding director of the U.S. Con-
lages, or venues, in the convention hall that have traditional exhibits as well as interactive educational and recreational activities for attendees. “The saints stepped out of line and took extraordinary actions to inspire others,” Hansen told The Criterion, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis.
VATICAN
given way to the Ankawa Mall, where people can food shop at the French Carrefour supermarket, eat in a Turkish restaurant or buy Hello Kitty accessories at a Japanese import shop. In 2017, the Iraqi military and U.S.-led coalition troops forced out Islamic State fighters. Since then, Catholic churches and organizations have been working hard to address challenges faced by Iraq’s historic Christian community and other religious minorities. “People have faced tremendous difficulties and wounding by the Islamic State. We are still experiencing the practical effects of loss and trauma,” said Fadi, an Armenian Christian worshipping at a local church. Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Bashar Warda of Irbil stewarded the building of four schools, a university and a hospital, providing local people with badly needed employment, with assistance from Stephen Rasche, who is counsel to the Chaldean Archdiocese of Irbil. VANCOUVER, British Columbia (CNS) – When Father Francis Galvan left Sacred Heart Church in Delta Nov. 15, he did not expect to find himself at the center of a catastrophic flood and what is being called the storm of the century. But within hours, the Augustinian priest was at ground zero of rescue efforts and witnessing humanity at its best, joining with Agassiz residents in responding to the needs of stranded travelers. “There I saw and realized how the human heart in the worst situations comes out its best – eyes looking only at those in need of help,” he told The B.C. Catholic, newspaper of the Vancouver Archdiocese, by email. Father Galvan arrived in Harrison Hot Springs only to find the study week canceled due to torrential rains, so he headed over to St. Anthony of Padua Church in Agassiz to check in with pastor Father Dennis Flores. There, the two priests saw rescue helicopters flying overhead and decided to head to the town’s community center. They found themselves in the middle of a massive rescue and relief effort. “Strong winds were blowing along with heavy rains, and I watched rescue helicopters landing, one after another,” Father Galvan said. Evacuees who had been stranded by highway mudslides emerged from the helicopters.
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Francis signed a decree recognizing a miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed Titus Brandsma, clearing the way for the canonization of the 20th-century martyr murdered at the Dachau concentration camp. The Dutch Carmelite friar was sent to Dachau for treason – after defending Jews and press freedom – and was killed with a lethal injection. The Vatican announced Pope Francis’ decision in his case and a number of other sainthood causes Nov. 25. Dachau, the Alex Lindbergh, left, a freshman at Bishop Bruté College Seminary in Indianap- notorious Nazi concenolis, arm wrestles Asia Carmon of the Diocese of Raleigh, N.C., at the Indiana tration camp in Germany Convention Center in Indianapolis Nov. 20, 2021, during the National Catholic most associated with the genocide of thousands of Youth Conference. (CNS photo/Sean Gallagher, The Criterion) Jews during World War ference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat for Black Catho- II, also held more than 2,700 clergy – 2,400 of them lics, died Nov. 13. She was 75. Bishop John H. Ricard, a Catholic priests. Blessed Brandsma was sent there afformer auxiliary bishop of Baltimore and current superi- ter urging editors of the Dutch Catholic press to violate or general of the Baltimore-based Josephites, celebrated a new law of the Third Reich and not print any Nazi the Mass for his friend. Carroll worked for many years propaganda. He also denounced Nazism as “a sewer of with Bishop Ricard, who also is the retired bishop of falsehood that must not be tolerated,” said DiPensacola-Tallahassee. “She was a great advocate for the anne Traflet, an assistant professor of pastoral The Diocese of Jackson has launched a third-parcommunity, for the church, for African Americans in the theology and the associate dean of graduate ty reporting system that will enable all diocesan emchurch,” said Josephite Father Ray P. Bomberger, pastor studies at Seton Hall University in South Orployees, volunteers and parishioners to anonymousof St. Peter Claver Parish, to which Carroll belonged her ange, New Jersey, during a talk at the national ly (or named if preferred) make reports. Examples whole life. “She was interested in the church, the people World War II Museum in 2018. Pope Francis of this activity include fraud, misconduct, safety vioof the church, what was going on, (and) how we could also recognized a miracle attributed to the lations, harassment or substance abuse occurring at do it better,” he said. Father Bomberger praised Carroll’s intercession of Blessed Carolina Santocanadevotion to her church, both in her home community le, also known as Blessed Mary of Jesus, an a Catholic parish, Catholic school or at the diocesan and around the country, as well as her interest in educa- Italian nun born in 1852, who founded the level. tion and social justice. Carroll was a lifelong parishioner Congregation of the Capuchin Sisters of the The system is operated by Lighthouse Services. of St. Peter Claver, where she served as a corporator and Immaculate of Lourdes. The Vatican did not Based in Deerfield, Illinois, Lighthouse Services immediately announce dates for the canonparish council member. maintains ethics, safety and fraud hotlines for over INDIANAPOLIS (CNS) – “Follow me to arm-wres- ization ceremonies. 4,100 organizations between the U.S. and abroad. tle a seminarian! See if you can beat a man who receives Communion every day!” Holding a chalk board with To make a report visit www.lighthouse-services.com/ “Arm Wrestle a Seminarian” written on it, seminarian jacksondiocese or call 888-830-0004 (English) or Samuel Hansen barked his invitation while walking 800-216-1288 (Spanish). ANKAWA, Iraq (CNS) – Walking through the halls of the Indiana Convention Center Nov. through this mainly Christian town outside of 20, the final day of the National Catholic Youth ConferIrbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, it’s easy to ence. “It was incredibly fun,” said Hansen, a senior at see many changes since the victims of IslamThe Association of Priests of the Dioceses of Bishop Simon Bruté College Seminary and a member of ic State militants fled here for safety seven Jackson and Biloxi provide a small pension to our St. Roch Parish, both in Indianapolis. “Just walking with years ago. Gone are the tents and caravans the sign made a lot of people laugh. I felt like a ballpark retired priests. As you consider your estate plans, that dotted church yards and open fields to food salesman. But it energized the convention center please remember these faithful servants by making house those escaping forced conversion to Isquite a bit.” In response to Hansen’s hawking, a steady a donation or leaving a bequest to the Association lam or death at the hands of the Islamic State group of challengers gathered around a table promoting of Priests. Our parish priests dedicate their lives to militants in 2014. Colorful laundry once hung vocations to the diocesan priesthood that had earlier atcaring for us, their flocks. Let us now care for them from balconies, while some people slept on tracted fewer visitors when the seminarians manning it church pews. The cavernous concrete skelein their retirement. Donations can be made payable waited for NCYC participants to come to them on their ton of a shopping mall then sheltered 2,500 to the Association of Priests and can be mailed to: own. As lighthearted and winsome as his strategy to atdisplaced people. Support from Catholic and tract attention was, Hansen saw it as following in the other churches built and cordoned off rooms tradition of the saints. St. John Bosco, for example, did Diocese of Jackson, Attn: Cathy Pendleton, on three-stories; each room housed a single sleight-of-hand tricks and juggling acts for kids in his vilP.O. Box 2248, Jackson, MS 39225-2248 family, and all shared basic cooking and bathlage to get them to listen to his catechesis lesson. The room facilities. The unfinished structure has NCYC always includes a thematic area made up of vil-
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MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC DECEMBER 3, 2021
In memoriam: Paula Daly Fulton LOUISVILLE – Louisville lost a beloved mother, sister and friend on Nov. 18, 2021. She loved being called GP (otherwise know as) Grandma Paula. She raised her children and grandchildren in love and devotion; always showing them how to be generous to others. Paula had a wonderful and kind soul with a great spirit. She was a member of Sacred Heart Catholic Church where she played the piano starting at the age of 16 and played for many years afterwards. She was involved in the ministry of Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA), a teacher for the Sacrament of Confirmation and eventually, a Lay Ecclesial Minister (LEM). Paula graduated from Louisville High School and continued a higher education at Mississippi University for Women and finished her specialist degree at Mississippi State University. She started her teaching career in
special education then went on to be a 5th grade teacher and later special education director after retiring as principal of Fair Elementary. Her colleagues knew her as a fun and spunky soul, always willing to cheer up everybody. To say Paula was a lady of service is an understatement. She was heavily involved in the local Prairie Girl Scout Council where she shaped many young girls’ lives and taught them to be leaders in the community. She enjoyed her time as the Louisville High Athletic Booster President and Miss. University for Women alumnae officer. Paula was also involved in the Louisville Pilot Club and served as president. She was also a member of the local Retired Teachers’ Group. Another of Paula’s favorite places to spend time was the Cornerstone Clinic and she was on the board at the Louisville Housing Authority. Paula loved her heritage of the Daly and Plummer family with fun reunions from Hammond, Louisiana to Philadelphia, Mississippi to Bennettsville, South Carolina. She was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) where she served as Regent for the Nanih Waiya Chapter. Paula enjoyed learning to play bridge; however, she preferred the comradery with friends most of all. She remained good friends with her childhood classmates and they later became known as the Sugar Bells. She was preceded in death by her parents, Jimmie Plummer Daly and James Paul Daly. She is survived by her daughter, Stephanie Horan of Mooresville, NC; her son, Greg Fulton of Louisville; two sisters, Theresa (T.F.) Bridges of Louisville and Mary Elizabeth Haley of Grenada; two brothers, Mike (Dorothy) Daly of Brandon and Barney (Patti) Daly of Madison; five grandchildren, Brandon Fulton, Sarah Horan, Bryce Horan, Daly Horan, and Savannah Horan; and three great grandchildren, Aubree, Cooper and Bailee Ann Fulton.
Change bad habits, protect the earth, help others, pope says in new book By Cindy Wooden
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Despite the disappointing outcome of the COP26 summit on climate change, Pope Francis said he knows it is not too late for humanity to act to combat environment destruction and increasing poverty. The ecological crisis, the social crisis of poverty and exclusion and the health care crisis provoked by the COVID-19 pandemic are calling out “for us to change gear, to change bad habits in order to be able to dream, co-create, and act together to realize just and equitable futures,” the pope wrote in the preface to the “Laudato Si’ Reader.” The book, available in print and as a free e-book from the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, includes the preface from Pope Francis, a message from António Guterres, secretary-general of the United Nations, and reflections by dozens of people involved in Catholic environmental, peace or charitable agencies, ambassadors, scientists, academics, young people, farmers and Indigenous people. The reader, published Nov. 23, comes just over six years after the publication of Pope Francis’ encyclical, “Laudato Si’, on Care for Our Common Home.” In his preface, Pope Francis wrote that the pandemic makes it clearer than ever that “it is time to develop a new form of universal solidarity that is grounded in fraternity, love and mutual understanding: one that values people over profit, one that seeks new ways to understand development and progress. And so, it is my hope and prayer that we do not come out of this crisis the same way we entered it!”
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With so many young people so committed to fighting climate change and advocating for a more human way of organizing social and economic life, he said, “we must listen to them with open hearts. We must follow their lead, for they are wise beyond their years.” “This is a moment to dream big, to rethink our priorities – what we value, what we want, what we seek – and re-plan our future, committing to act in our daily life on what we have dreamed of,” the pope wrote. “The time to act, and to act together, is now!” In his message, Guterres wrote that people tend to overlook “the spiritual dimensions of the work of the United Nations,” but the values that it promotes – “peace, justice, equality, the dignity and worth of the human person – echo the teachings of the world’s religious traditions and summon us all to reduce human suffering.” The message of Pope Francis’ encyclical is even more compelling today, he said. “Climate change has accelerated, giving the world a new normal of fires, floods and storms of epic proportions. The COVID-19 pandemic has been a grievous blow, upending lives, damaging economies and plunging families and communities into suffering and sorrow.” “Humanity is waging war on nature,” he said, but “nature always strikes back – and is doing so with gathering fury and force.” “Making peace with nature must be a priority for the 21st century,” Guterres wrote, and while that is an “epic policy test,” it is even more “a moral test.” “This is a moment of truth,” he said. “If we persist with the old ways of inequality, injustice, hatred and heedless dominion over the Earth, we face disaster.”
‘... Mis raíces en Mississippi ...’ – Viene de la pág. 3 – En el tiempo que se avecina, esperamos con ansias el Año de la Eucaristía a medida que los feligreses regresen a la iglesia en mayor número, y durante los próximos cuatro meses a reuniones en toda la diócesis en respuesta al desafío del Papa Francisco a la iglesia de permitir que el Santo Espíritu hable a través de todos los católicos bautizados. En el ámbito personal, mi querido perro de 14 años, Amigo, tomó su último aliento el 5 de abril, lunes de Pascua. Vivió 14 años, siete como norteño y siete como sureño, una vida verdaderamente encantadora. No se necesita explicación con respecto al vacío que dejó su fallecimiento. Por otro lado, más tarde en octubre, estando mi hermana Mary Ellen aquí de vacaciones, hicimos un descubrimiento asombroso entre las cartas de cortejo de mi padre a mi madre durante los años de la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Dentro del paquete de su correspondencia de Italia, donde sirvió durante la guerra, había varias cartas con matasellos de, ¡adivinen de dónde!; ... la Base de la Fuerza Aérea en Columbus, Mississippi.” ¡Sorpresa, sorpresa! Justo hasta ese momento del descubrimiento, siempre había dicho que ‘nunca había conocido a nadie personalmente que hubiera vivido o viviera en Mississippi antes de mi asignación aquí.’ Comencé mi servicio aquí hacia fines de 2013; Papa (Pop) comenzó su servicio aquí a principios de 1943. Mis raíces en Mississippi son bastante profundas, se remontan a casi 70 años después. Según la providencia y el destino, fui consagrado e instalado como el undécimo obispo de la Diócesis de Jackson el 6 de febrero, el mismo día del cumpleaños de mi padre. ¡Caramba, eso nunca lo vi venir!“ Que el tiempo de Adviento que se ha abierto ante nosotros permita al Señor preparar nuestros corazones y mentes para esperar su venida, para que en Navidad nuestras voces griten sin tregua y a pleno pulmón con el coro de los ángeles: “Gloria a Dios en las alturas y paz en la tierra.”
DECEMBER 3, 2021 MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC
12 Columns
Stay with us, Lord KNEADING FAITH BY FRAN LAVELLE
The Year of the Eucharist was inaugurated in our diocese on the Feast of Christ the King and will be celebrated through the 2022 liturgical year. Our theme, “Stay with us, Lord,” comes from Luke’s Gospel (24:1349) referred to as the Emmaus story. In it we hear about two disciples, on their way to Emmaus, talking about the recent events in Jerusalem. Jesus encountered the two on the road and talked with them as they continued their journey though they did not recognize him. As night approached, they urged Jesus to stay with them. While he was at table Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened, and they recognized Jesus in the breaking of the bread. Central to the Emmaus story is the journey of the two disciples. Not just the physical journey from Jerusalem to Emmaus, but the journey of faith and belief in the Risen Christ. There is an old saying attributed to the Sioux Indians, “The longest journey is from your head to your heart.” This is true especially when it comes to matters of faith. Our ability to believe in what we do not see and what we do not understand takes a lot of trust and faith. Believing in and understanding the Eucharist is one of those things that requires great faith and trust. If you have not considered your disposition at Mass when receiving Communion, I invite you to do so.
A favorite priest friend from Kentucky, would remind his congregants regularly that we need to check ourselves to make certain we are becoming more like that which we receive, that is Jesus. If our answer is no, we need to consider why not. If our answer is yes, we need to ask God for the grace to continue to be transformed by the Eucharist. To find greater meaning in the devotional aspects of the Year of the Eucharist it is timely to focus on our personal understanding of the Eucharist. No matter how old you may be or how many years you have been a communicant, make this the year you take a deeper dive. There are many great books written on the subject by many worthy theologians, from the Summa Theologiae, St. Thomas Aquinas to more modern studies like Alexander Schememann’s, The Eucharist: Sacrament of the Kingdom or Bishop Barron’s most recent book simply titled, Eucharist. The point is to read something that will help you to continue to be transformed by the Eucharist. Another idea is thinking about how we are present during the Mass. When I was working on my master’s degree, I took a course on the Eucharistic prayers. Prior to that course I had never read them independent of the Mass. We did a combination of exegesis and Lectio Divina of the text. In doing so I became aware of the text in a more comprehensive way and aware of what resonated most with me. It opened a whole new understanding and way of thinking about the Eucharist for me. I remember
Happy New Year! THINGS OLD AND NEW BY RUTH POWERS
Happy New Year! No, I’m not a month early: the first Sunday of Advent marks the beginning of the new liturgical year for the church and begins a new cycle of feasts and readings for the year. Advent comes from the Latin adventus, meaning “coming” or “arrival.” It is a time observed by several Christian denominations to anticipate the coming of Christ in three different ways. First, it prepares us to celebrate the physical coming of Christ into the world at Bethlehem. Second, it prepares us to receive Christ into our hearts as believers. Finally, it reminds us to be alert and prepare for the Second Coming of Christ at the end of time when he will return in power and glory. Many people observe Advent with such practices as keeping an Advent calendar, lighting an Advent wreath or praying an Advent devotional; but most Christians are unaware of how the practice of observing the season of Advent developed. There was no season of Advent until a definitive date for the celebration of the Nativity was set for Dec. 25, generally thought to be by Pope Julius I around 350 A.D. to correspond to and replace the pagan midwinter feast of Saturnalia. Earlier church fathers such as Clement of Alexandria placed the month of Jesus’ birth as April or May. The Dec. 25 date gradually spread throughout the Roman Empire and was brought to Northern Europe and the British Isles by Christian missionaries. In these areas, it often replaced other midwinter feasts such as Yule. Once the date of Christmas was established, the first mention we see of a period of preparation for the feast was at the Council of Saragossa in 380. A four-week period was mentioned, but this was apparently localized to Spain. The practice of observing a period of preparation for the Nativity spread and remained highly variable for a very long time. It also varied from place to place. In many places, especially France and Germany, the preparation took the form of a forty-day period called St. Martin’s Lent, which
that year wanting to use my new insights on anyone who would listen. So instead of sighing when the priest began the first Eucharist prayer thinking – dang! this is the long one – I came to appreciate the hope-filled message that each prayer uniquely conveys. The Year of the Eucharist will take on many different forms of observation. There will be the outward devotions like Eucharistic processions, exposition and adoration, and a diocesan Eucharistic Congress. All of these are exceptionally good expressions of faith and love. But we can also take on small and personal acts that draw us closer to Jesus in the Eucharist. For example, being aware of how we treat people in the parking lot after Mass. When I lived in Northern Virginia, I was always astounded that we needed the local police to help navigate traffic after Mass. I mean if we ever had the incentive to be kind to one another on the mean streets of Alexandria, Virginia it should have been minutes after several hundred people just received Jesus! It is fitting that we say, “Stay with us, Lord.” Stay with us beyond the dismissal rite. Stay with us in our cars, at the restaurant during brunch, and as we enter the new week be it at school, work or home. Stay with us, Lord when we are on social media, at sporting events and in the ordinary places we find ourselves each day. Stay with us, Lord and together we can become more like you. Let the Eucharist be the mirror we hold up to see ourselves growing to be more like Jesus. (Fran Lavelle is the Director of Faith Formation for the Diocese of Jackson.)
began on the feast of St. Martin of Tours (Nov. 11) and concluded on Dec. 24. In other places, it began on Dec. 1. In the 6th century, St. Gregory the Great wrote an office for clergy which was to be said on the five Sundays leading up to Christmas, so he is credited by some as the originator of Advent. In addition, in some places only the clergy and monastics observed Advent, while in other places the laity observed it as well. Practices for observing Advent were also highly variable. The first practice appears to be the preaching of special sermons in the weeks preceding the feast day. Some of these are still in existence, including ones attributed to St. Ambrose and St. Augustine in the late fourth and early fifth centuries. A little later, in the late fifth century, we begin to see mention of fasting as preparation for Christmas, with Advent becoming like a second Lent. Most of the practices many of us now associate with Advent, such as the Advent wreath or Advent calendars, did not develop until the seventeenth or eighteenth centuries. Even though the liturgical season of Advent was formalized in the liturgical reforms of the Council of Trent, the laity’s observing of the season fell in and out of practice for several centuries. St. Charles Borromeo worked to revive the observance of Advent in his diocese of Milan in the late sixteenth century. Pope Benedict XIV in the mid-eighteenth century led a revival in the observance of Advent for the whole church. Finally, the reforms of Vatican II led to our current emphasis on the 3-fold preparation we see in our liturgy now. So once again, Happy New Year! And let us remember to carve out time in the secular hustle and bustle of the season to prepare our hearts to welcome Jesus at the celebration of his birth and when he returns again. (Ruth Powers is the Program Coordinator for St. Mary Basilica Parish in Natchez.)
Mississippi Catholic
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DIOCESE 13
MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC DECEMBER 3, 2021
Bishop Gunn’s diary shares rich family history and experience being named bishop FROM THE ARCHIVES BY MARY WOODWARD
JACKSON – Since we focused on Bishop John Gunn’s surviving the arsenic attack in 1916, I thought I would share some more details about the bishop from the early pages of his diary. Bishop Gunn was born on March 15, 1863, in County Tyrone, Ireland. He was the oldest of 11 children. His family originally came from Scotland to County Tyrone as descendants of Olaf the Black, a Viking ruler of the Isles off the coast of Scotland in the 13th century. Hence, they called themselves the “Black Gunns of Caithness” and the family motto was aut pax aut bellum (either peace or war).
ment came, I accused him a breaking his promise myself with some third deand he showed me letters from Cardinal Gibbons gree work, especially suited which explained my appointment to Natchez and to the Mutt and Jeff of the cleared Blenk. The Archbishop brought me to his Bishops of the Province. I friends in New Orleans and tried to give me the met most of these Bishops at necessary courage to face Mississippi.” my consecration, but I got to His next entry from Sept. 14, supports the know them on the 21st and previous: “Started for Natchez with Father Larif knowing is akin to loving, kin and my brother, Father Ed. I wanted Blenk I see my finish.” to come – he refused, telling me that I was old Having served in the dienough to face the music without a chaperone ocesan structure for more and that the Natchez spotlight was not brilliant than 30 years, and in a parenough for two. I think his advice was correct.” ticularly close way having A few months later on March 21, 1912, Bishserved the office of bishop, op Gunn gives us an interesting insight into his I have observed a lot about ministry as Bishop in describing a meeting of the the office and the men in it. Bishops of the Province of New Orleans. In 1912, I think often we forget that the then Diocese of Natchez was part of the Prov- Pictured is the Seventh Arch- these are men, not statues, ince of New Orleans. Dioceses are structurally ar- bishop of New Orleans, James and they have very real ranged according to provinces and then regions. Herbert Blenk. Bishop Gunn fears and trepidations in Provinces center around an archdiocese and arch- wrote in his diary about his accepting the office. Heavy appointment as the Bishop of is the head that wears the bishop, known as the metropolitan. Currently the Diocese of Jackson is part of the Natchez, detailing his interac- miter. Province of Mobile that was established in 1980 tions with Blenk, who was a During this Advent, I am when Mobile was elevated to an archdiocese. The great mentor to him. (Photo aiming some extra prayers dioceses of Jackson, Biloxi and Birmingham are public domain) for the bishops with whom I suffragan sees under the archdiocese of Mobile. Coinci- serve and have served. I encourage you to do the same. dentally, our own Bishop, Joseph Kopacz, is the senior They need it. suffragan of the province led by Archbishop Thomas Rodi. (Mary Woodward is Chancellor and Archivist for the Back to 1912 where we were a suffragan see of New Diocese of Jackson) Orleans. Bishop Gunn describes the March 21 meeting in this manner: “That was my first introduction to the Bishops of the Province of New Orleans and a more congenial The Diocese of Jackson is committed to ensuring that no one being served lovable lot of men I by the church be (is) at risk of sexual abuse or exploitation by clergy, relinever met. gious or lay church personnel. The spiritual well-being of all the victims, “I was born afraid their families and others in the community is of particular concern to the of Bishops. I ran and church. In accordance with our policy, all victims are offered counseling and hid from them when pastoral care. I could, feared them, and never met any of Anyone who has been a victim of abuse or exploitation by clergy, religious them that I thought or lay church personnel and has not yet reported it is encouraged to do so. worth knowing until I Our victim assistance coordinator, Erika Rojas, a licensed social worker, is met the Bishops of the New Orleans Province. available to assist in making a report. Please contact her at 601-326-3760. Such men as Gallagher For more information about diocesan policies and procedures and to learn of Galveston, Meerschaert of Oklahoma, what the diocese is doing to create a safe environment for everyone, please Morris of Little Rock, visit the diocesan website at www.jacksondiocese.org and click on “ProtecAllen of Mobile and tion of Children.” the younger crowd – Shaw of San AnTo report an allegation of abuse or mishandling of allegations of sexual abuse tonio and Lynch of by a bishop, please visit https://reportbishopabuse.org. Dallas, and of course, the greatest Roman of them all – the Archbishop of New Orleans [Blenk]. “The meeting was a serious one and a useful one, but it did not +Joseph R. Kopacz D.D., Ph.D. prevent Meerschaert Bishop of Jackson and Van de Ven from initiating Lynch and
Protection of
CHILDREN
Bishop John Edward Gunn, SM was the sixth Bishop of Natchez, serving from 1911-1924. His coat of arms features his heritage with a Viking ship. His episcopal motto Monstra Te Esse Matrem translates to “show thyself to be our mother.” (Photo from archives) Bishop Gunn honors this heritage on his coat of arms with a Viking ship, but wisely chose not to use the family motto for his episcopal motto. He instead chose Monstra Te Esse Matrem (show thyself to be our mother) which comes from his formation as Marist priest. He studied at the Gregorian University in Rome and was professed in 1884 and ordained a priest in 1890. He was ordained a bishop on August 29, 1911, at Sacred Heart Church in Atlanta where he had been serving for 13 years. Fellow Marist and Archbishop of New Orleans, James Hubert Herbert Blenk, was the principal consecrator. In reading through the early entries of Bishop Gunn’s diary, it is evident that Archbishop Blenk was a great friend and mentor to him. From Sept. 11, 1911, we read: “I went to Archbishop Blenk where the only misunderstanding I ever had with him was explained. I knew that I had been proposed for San Antonio and I made Archbishop Blenk promise he would oppose any and every effort to have me appointed a Bishop anywhere. When my appoint-
14 youth
DECEMBER 3, 2021 MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC
School sports
JACKSON – St. Richard fifth and sixth grader girls worked on their basketball skills on Saturday, Nov. 13 in the school gym. (Photo by Tereza Ma)
Feast time at St. Patrick parish MERIDIAN – Fourth grader, Ayden Rush takes aim in the Knights of Columbus Annual Soccer Challenge. (Photo by Emily Thompson)
Don't drop the chili!
MERIDIAN – St. Patrick and St. Joseph parishes had a Thanksgiving feast on Sunday, Nov. 21. Mrs. Teresa LaBiche makes dessert recommendations to Anariah Rue and Scarlett Cayer. (Photos by Tereza Ma)
GREENVILLE – Thomas Jones has a little fun while packing boxes for the annual food drive for St. Vincent de Paul. (Photo by Nikki Thompson)
MERIDIAN – Molly Corbitt Miles has a great conversation with Bishop Joseph Kopacz during the Thanksgiving feast at St. Patrick parish on Nov. 21.
MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC DECEMBER 3, 2021
Whodunit?
DIOCESE 15 Go forth and set the world on fire
NATCHEZ – Youth gather for a bonfire and closing prayer with Father Mark Shoffner at the "Go Forth and Set the World on Fire!" retreat. (Right) Ryker Atkins pets Hank the friendly goat. (Photos by Carrie Lambert) MADISON – St. Joseph staged the comedy-mystery "Clue" on Friday, Nov. 12 to a nearly, sold out auditorium. Cast: Red dress, Miss Scarlet–Conrad, Blue dress, Mrs. Peacock– Weisenberger, Mr. Green–Hall, Professor Plum–Brown, Wadsworth–Klopman, Mrs. White–Liberto and Colonel Mustard–Rosamond. (Photos by Tereza Ma)
Field trip fun
BRANDON/MAGEE – Religious Education students at St. Stephen took a field trip to St Peter’s Cathedral in Jackson. Father Antony Chakkalakkal along with catechists Leslie Taylor, Jeannie Breaux, Basil Breaux and Melanie Breaux provided a tour of the Cathedral and a grounds tour of the State Capitol followed by some fun at McClain Safari in Brandon. (Photo courtesy of Janie Wallace)
16 DIOCESE
DECEMBER 3, 2021 MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC
Let us give thanks
By Tereza Ma
MERIDIAN – Sunday, Nov. 21 was a special day for the parishes of St. Patrick and St. Joseph in Meridian. After two years the parishes were able to celebrate with their annual Thanksgiving feast and were joined by Bishop Joseph Kopacz, also celebrating the feast of Christ the King at Mass with Father Augustine Palimattam. Parishioners were thankful for many things. Here are a few of their responses: – Valeria Rangel is thankful for the Spanish and English speaking parishioners to get together as community. "Even though we have different Mass times, speak in different languages and have different cultures, it is wonderful to come together." – For Ken Woodward the dinner was a renewal of the community. "It leads us to Christ because we are the body of Christ. On this day as we honor him as King of Kings, what better way to do it than enjoying community with our brothers and sisters and enjoy a meal together." – Lucila Vargas, originally from Columbia, has been a member of St. Patrick for 46 years. She has enjoyed the tradition of the parish gathering to give thanks and enjoy a meal, as in her home country "they normally just go to church and give thanks to the Lord." – Dorethea Cole of St. Joseph parish loves the way that both parishes "get together as one Catholic community." – Tina Nadeau traveled 1,450 miles from South Dakota by motorcycle for the event to spend her mom's birthday with her and enjoy Thanksgiving together with her mother and stepdad, who cooked for the parish feast. "It is so special to be here and give thanks."
Gerry Cober who prepared many delicious items on the menu, visits with parishioners to see how they are enjoying the meal. He had family come visit from South Dakota for the event and Thanksgiving.
MERIDIAN – Bishop Joseph Kopacz and Father Augustine Palimattam celebrate Mass on Nov. 21 for Feast of Christ the King, prior to the huge Thanksgiving celebration for the St. Patrick and St. Joseph Catholic community. (Photos by Tereza Ma) Below: Father Augustine and Bishop Kopacz visit with parishioners before taking stroll to the parish center to enjoy the annual Thanksgiving meal.
Father Aaron shared a laugh with parishioners during the feast. Huge thanks goes to Debbie Hover who handled all the logistics behind the feast. She has faithfully worked at St. Patrick for 21 years. Hover is pictured taking a quick coffee break in the kitchen. Sandra Killen and Lucia Vargas (right) enjoyed each others company in line. Killen shared a story about her daughter-inlaw from Czechoslovakia who got shocked first time she was invited to Thanksgiving dinner. (Left) Valeria Rantel with her mom and two siblings head into the community center to share thanks and a meal.