Catholic Connection December 2014

Vol. 24, No. 5 December 2014

Outreach Ministries Stepping Out Into the Community to Help Those in Need December 2014 1

Publisher Bishop Michael G. Duca Editor Jessica Rinaudo Contributors Shelly Bole Sr. Mary Coleman Bishop Michael Duca Gary Guinigundo Kim Long Lucy Medvec Theresa Mormino Kevin Mues Ka'Lani O'Shea

Fr. Rothell Price Jessica Rinaudo Rosalba Quiroz Katie Sciba Mike Van Vranken Fr. Mark Watson Bro. Mike Ward John Mark Willcox

Editorial Board Kim Long Fr. Matthew Long Kelly Phelan Powell Dianne Rachal Christine Rivers Deacon Mike Whitehead John Mark Willcox Mission Statement The Catholic Connection is a monthly publication funded by your Diocesan Service Appeal; mailed to every known Catholic household in the Diocese of Shreveport.

Our Mission is to advance knowledge and understanding of our Catholic Faith among the faithful. We seek to foster the application of Christ’s teachings and our Church’s mission in our daily lives and to encourage our sense of Catholic identity within our family, parish, and diocesan faith community.

Subscriptions & Address Changes Contact: Jessica Rinaudo, Editor Email: jrinaudo@dioshpt.org Write: Catholic Connection 3500 Fairfield Avenue Shreveport, LA 71104 Call: 318-868-4441 Fax: 318-868-4609 Website: www.thecatholicconnection.org

The Catholic Connection is a member of the Catholic Press Association.

The Diocese of Shreveport complies with Virtus’s Protecting God’s Children program. Classes are offered every second Wednesday of the month at the Catholic Center in Shreveport. To report child sexual abuse by a cleric or church worker in the Diocese of Shreveport, call Glennda Lawson.

Hotline is 318-294-1031 and your local law enforcement agency.

2 Catholic Connection

Advent

Reconciliation Services

St. Jude Parish

Tues., December 2 6:30 p.m.

St. Pius X Parish

Wed., December 3

6:30 p.m.

St. Mary of the Pines Parish

Fri., December 5

6:30 p.m.

Christ the King Parish

Sat., December 6

10:00 a.m.

Cathedral of St. John Berchmans

Wed., December 10

5:30 p.m.

Mary, Queen of Peace Parish

Thurs., December 11

6:00 p.m.

Holy Trinity Parish

Mon., December 15

5:00 p.m.

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish

Tues., December 16

6:30 p.m.

St. Joseph Parish, Shreveport

Thurs., December 18

6:30 p.m.

bishop’s december calendar DECEMBER 1 Visit Loyola College Prep Religion Classes; Shreveport DECEMBER 3-5 Visit Bishop William B. Friend; Coral Springs, Florida DECEMBER 6 Mass of Thanksgiving Celebrating the 25th Anniversary of Consecrated Life: Sr. Margaret Mitchell, OLS and Sr. Cristina Angelini, OLS; St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church, Shreveport; 4:00 p.m.

DECEMBER 7 Society of St. Vincent de Paul Annual Mass; Cathedral of St. John Berchmans; 11:00 a.m.; followed by luncheon at the Catholic Center DECEMBER 9 Annual Business/Clergy meeting; Catholic Center, Shreveport Vespers; Cathedral of St. John Berchmans, Shreveport; 4:30 p.m.

DECEMBER 11 Bishop Desmond Assembly - 4th Degree Knights of Columbus Annual Christmas Dinner; 6:30 p.m.

DECEMBER 14 Mass; Cathedral of St.

John Berchmans, Shreveport; 5:30 p.m.

DECEMBER 16 Advent Lessons & Carols; Cathedral of St. John Berchmans, Shreveport; 6:30 p.m.

DECEMBER 17 Mass of Thanksgiving celebrating the Canonization of Kuriakose Elias Chavara, Founder of the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate; Our Lady of Fatima Church, Monroe; 5:00 p.m.

DECEMBER 21 Mass; Cathedral of St. John Berchmans, Shreveport; 11:00 a.m.

Seminarians & Prospects Advent Luncheon; Cathedral of St. John Berchmans, Shreveport; 12:30 p.m.

DECEMBER 25 Midnight Mass; Cathedral of St. John Berchmans, Shreveport; 12:00 a.m.

DECEMBER 31 Mass; Cathedral of St. John Berchmans, Shreveport; 5:30 p.m.

contents

december 2014

columns Stop Blaming and Start Living for Christ

by Bishop Michael G. Duca........................................................................................... 4-5

Mike’s Meditations: On What or Whom Do You Focus Your Thoughts?

by Mike Van Vranken.................................................................................................6 Second Collections: Retirement for Religious & Diocesan Infirm Priests

by Fr. Rothell Price .....................................................................................................6 From the Pope: The Dignity of the Person Must Prevail Over Bureaucracy

by Vatican Information Services..................................................................................7 In the Words of Pope Francis by Vatican Information Services...............................7 Catholic Food: The Right Time by Kim Long...........................................................8 Domestic Church: The Christmas Presence by Katie Sciba................................9 Ways to Focus on the Presence by Katie Sciba ....................................................9 Book Review: Faith Positive in a Negative World by Jessica Rinaudo ...............10 Meet the Author: Mike Van Vranken by Jessica Rinaudo ...................................10 Navigating the Faith: Our Lady of Guadalupe by Fr. Mark Watson.....................11 Vocations Corner: Our Lady of Sorrows Sisters Celebrate 175 Years

by Sr. Mary Coleman, OLS...........................................................................................17 Vocations Corner: Seminarian Reflection: Advent and Expectation

by Kevin Mues............................................................................................................17

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12

feature Outreach Ministries: Stepping Out Into the Community to Help Those in Need

by Jessica Rinaudo ................................................................................................... 12-14

news 20th Anniversary for St. Joseph Perpetual Adoration Chapel

by Ka’Lani O’Shea......................................................................................................8 LaTech Students Head to Guatemala Again! by Bro. Mark Ward.......................14 Student Works to Help Revitalize Neighborhood by Lucy Medvec ....................15 Catholic Charities Programs Bolster Local Community by Theresa Mormino ....15 Teaching Children About the Nativity by Shelly Bole............................................16 Parish Support Makes 2014 Appeal a Success! byJohn Mark Willcox .................16 Hispanic Corner by Rosalba Quiroz ........................................................................18 Around the Globe Pope Francis to Visit Philadelphia World Meeting of Families in 2015; Bishops Approve Items on Liturgy, Ethical & Religious Directives, Cause for Canonization at General Assembly by the USCCB...............................................19 School News ...........................................................................................................20 Around the Diocese ...............................................................................................21 Upcoming Events....................................................................................................22 December Calendar .............................................................................................23 Picture of the Month by Gary Guinigundo..............................................................24

14 on the cover

Parishioners from St. Joseph Parish in Shreveport serve warm meals to the homeless at Hope Connections.

(Photo by Jessica Rinaudo)

December 2014 3

LA REFLEXIÓN del obispo

por Obispo Michael G. Duca

Deja de Culpar y Comienza a vivir por Cristo

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ntes de ser Obispo de Shreveport, fui el Rector de un seminario en Dallas. Cada año daba la bienvenida a seminaristas nuevos que querían discernir su vocación al sacerdocio. Por lo regular, todos llegaban con ideas refrescantes y a veces idealistas, comprometidos pero también con algunas ideas ingenuas sobre la formación del seminario. Una de estas ideas era que como el seminario es un lugar santo y solo por ser ya seminaristas viviendo en el seminario que no tendrían ya ninguno de los problemas de tentaciones que los molestaban en su vida anterior. Es verdad que el seminario es un lugar santo, igual que lo es la Iglesia, por la presencia de Cristo en la Eucaristía en el tabernáculo, pero su entendimiento de lugar santo era diferente, rodeado de magia. Con frecuencia necesitaba enseñarles que el seminario sería un verdadero lugar santo solo cuando nosotros, los seminaristas y la facultad fuéramos santos en la manera de vivir nuestras vidas. Cuando luchamos cada día por pensar como Cristo y vivir el amor de Cristo en nuestra comunidad del seminario, entonces el seminario se convierte en un verdadero lugar santo.

Ya hemos entrado a la Cristiana temporada del Adviento y estamos esperando con ansias la celebración de la Navidad, el Nacimiento del Señor.

Esta temporada del año es única porque nuestra observación sobre lo religioso de la temporada de Adviento y la Navidad corresponde también a una observación seglar de la Navidad y la temporada de vacaciones.

Al enfrentar las tensiones entre lo seglar y lo religioso sabemos que tratamos de 4 Catholic Connection

mantenernos espiritualmente enfocados.

Solo que aunque queramos mantener a Jesús como la “razón de la temporada,” somos continuamente jalados a las actividades más mundanas y seglares.

Culpamos a tantas cosas por esta tensión.

Decimos que estamos tratando de vivir las exigencias de nuestro “ideal” individual de lo que debería ser la Navidad, formada por nuestra historia, etnias, tradiciones, experiencias de niñez, nuestros hijos, las ansiedades de dar el mejor regalo y así nos seguimos. Culpamos nuestra sociedad consumista que nos dice que necesitamos gastar más. Lamentamos que nuestros hijos son muy materialistas. Hasta culpamos al mismo Presidente Barack Obama. Basta.

Basta. No encontraremos respuestas a nuestro estrés existencial culpando algo o alguien. La respuesta a nuestra búsqueda de redescubrir el gozo y la esperanza de las temporadas de Adviento y Navidad es la misma de siempre, Jesús, Luz del Mundo.

Cada una de estas cosas son verdaderas para nosotros, excepto tal vez la de culpar al Presidente Obama, pero esto no es lo que nos causan estrés. Lo que nos causa estrés es el saber que hemos fallado en poner a Cristo como el centro de nuestras temporadas de Adviento y Navidad. No todo lo de nuestra idea de una “Navidad ideal” es malo. De hecho, todos los aspectos peculiares de nuestra Navidad “ideal” contienen tradiciones maravillosas de la familia, chistes de familia y calor familiar en un mundo donde tanto está siempre cambiando. En nuestra oración deberíamos ver que todo el esfuerzo en crear estas tradiciones familiares es un acto de amor y reflejan el amor de Cristo para nuestra familia.

Cuando estamos frustrados con la

manera que el mercado parece no respetar el verdadero significado la de Navidad, deberíamos tomar un respiro profundo en oración y recordar que el mercado no abriría las tiendas en Día de Gracias si no fuéramos nosotros a comprar. Las tiendas y centros comerciales crean el horario que nosotros buscamos y si queremos que la manera de nuestra sociedad seglar cambie y trate la Navidad diferente, necesitamos vivir como creyentes en Jesús que nació en Navidad.

Cristo cambió el mundo viviendo y enseñando Su Buena Nueva de amor de Dios. Nos ordenó que nos amáramos los unos a los otros así como Él nos amó.

Jesús fue testimonio del amor que él predicó, o sea el amor que se da por el pobre, por el hambriento, el abandonado el prisionero, el inmigrante, el marginado y el amor que siempre busca servir y no ser servido. Él nos dejó esta maravillosa revelación proponiendo no imponiendo.

En efecto, la manera en que la Palabra de Dios entró en el mundo no fue en una exhibición de poder soberano, sino como un niño, sin ningún poder, invitando a todos a ir a verlo. La manera que como creyentes encontramos nuestro camino en este mundo lleno de confusión es invitando a la Luz del Mundo, el Niño de María a nuestros corazones y renovando nuestro compromiso con nosotros mismos a ser Sus discípulos de amor. No es la responsabilidad del mundo seglar de traernos el verdadero espíritu de Navidad al mundo; sino que es nuestra responsabilidad de llevar el verdadero espíritu Navideño, siendo testimonios de Cristo, que es la Luz del Mundo. Como les decía yo a mis seminaristas, la Iglesia, nuestra parroquia, nuestro mundo será verdaderamente santo cuando, nosotros, los discípulos de Jesús estemos viviendo en santo compromiso, tomando la mente y el corazón de Jesús.

Que la paz de Cristo reine en sus corazones esta Navidad y traiga consigo gozo renovado y esperanza en sus vidas. ¡Feliz Navidad!

bishop’s reflection

by Bishop Michael G. Duca

Stop Blaming and Start Living for Christ

B

efore I was Bishop of Shreveport, I was Rector of a college seminary in Dallas. Every year I welcomed new seminarians who wanted to discern their vocation to the priesthood. The new seminarians were usually refreshingly idealistic and committed, but also brought some naïve ideas with them about seminary formation.

Bishop Duca One idea was that seminary was such a holy place that simply because they were now seminarians and living in the seminary they would not have any more problems with the temptations that bothered them in their previous lives. It is true that seminary is a holy place, just like a church, because of the presence of Christ in the Eucharist in the tabernacle, but their understanding of a holy place was different and bordered on magic. I often needed to teach them that the seminary became a truly holy place when we, the seminarians and faculty, were holy in the way we lived our lives. When we strived each day to take on the mind of Christ and lived the love of Christ in our seminary community, then the seminary became a truly holy place.

We have entered the Christian season of Advent and are waiting with hopeful expectations for the celebration of Christmas, the Nativity of the Lord. This time of year is unique because our religious observance of the seasons of Advent and Christmas correspond with a secular observance of the Christmas holiday season.

As we face the tensions between the secular and religious I know we all try to stay spiritually focused. But as much as we want to keep Jesus as the “reason for the season,” we are continually pulled into more mundane and secular activities. We blame so many things for this tension. We say we are trying to live up to the demands of our individual “ideal” of what Christmas

should be shaped by our history, ethnicity, our childhood experiences, our hang ups, our traditions, our children’s pleas, our worries about getting the right gift...and on and on.

We blame our consumer society that tells us we need to spend more. We lament that our children are too materialistic.

We might even blame President Obama.

Enough.

Enough. We will not find the answer to our existential stress in blaming anyone or thing. The answer to our search to rediscover the joy and hope of Advent and Christmas season is the same as it has always been: Jesus, the light of the World.

Every one of these things is real for us, except maybe for blaming President Obama, but they do not cause our stress.

What causes our stress is that we have failed to put Christ at the center of our Advent and Christmas seasons. Not everything about our “Christmas ideal” is bad.

In fact all those quirky aspects of our “ideal” Christmas contain wonderful family traditions, fun inside jokes and comforting familiarity in a world where so much is always changing. In our prayer we should see that all the effort in creating these familial traditions are an act of love and reflect the love of Christ to our family.

When we are frustrated with the way the marketplace seems not to respect the real meaning of Christmas, we should take a prayerful breath and remember that the

stores would not open on Thanksgiving Day if we did not shop. The stores and malls create the schedule that we want and if we want to change the way our secular society treats Christmas, then we need to live as believers in Jesus who was born on Christmas morn.

Christ changed the world by living and teaching His Good News of the love of God. He directed us to love one another as he has first loved us.

Jesus witnessed that the love he preached was a love that cares for the hungry, the lonely, the prisoner, the immigrant, the marginalized and always seeks to serve and not be served.

He handed on this wondrous revelation by proposing not imposing. In fact the way the Word of God entered the world was not in a display of power meant to overcome, but as a baby, powerless, inviting all to come and see. The way we as believers find our way in this confused world is to invite the Light of the World, the Child of Mary, into our hearts and recommit ourselves to being His disciples of love. It is not the secular world’s responsibility to bring the true Christmas spirit into the world; it is our responsibility to bear witness to Christ, the Light of the World. It is like I told my seminarians, the Church, our parish, our world will be truly holy, when we, the disciples of Jesus, are living holy committed lives taking on the mind and heart of Jesus.

May the peace of Christ reign in your hearts this Christmas and bring with it a renewed joy and hope in your lives. Merry Christmas!

December 2014 5

Meditations MM Mike's

by Mike Van Vranken

Collections SC Second

by Fr. Rothell Price

On what or whom do you Retirement for Religious & Diocesan Infirm Priests focus your thoughts?

Focus your time and energy on God

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s believers, we know this life is temporary and there is an eternal home that follows. And how important is it to dwell on our everlasting lives? Jesus looked at Peter and told Satan to get behind him because he had become a stumbling block. How? Jesus said Peter’s mind was not on the divine but on human things (Mt 16:23).

Paul continues Jesus’ teaching saying to set our minds on the flesh is death; yet to set our minds on the Spirit is life and peace (Rom 8:6).

What are we to make of this? My simple-minded analysis tells me when I think about carnal or worldly or temporal things, I become a stumbling block to Jesus. Hmmm. Not a pleasant thought.

As we reminisce about Jesus’ first coming during this month, it’s easy to also contemplate his return. But, at his first coming, some were so ill prepared that they didn’t even recognize him.

How can we be sure we are ready in our mind, body and spirit for his next coming?

1. Consider offering a full hour of conversation with and prayer to God each day. If an hour is too much at one time, maybe divide it into four 15-minute sessions throughout the day. Or, perhaps it makes sense to retreat to Jesus during twelve 5-minute prayer episodes. These intimate conversations take our minds off of the worldly noise so we are able to hear the whispers of the Holy Spirit.

2. Try to experience God in everything around you at all times. See Him in the sunshine, a fresh breeze, plants, animals, and of course, other sons and daughters of the world’s Creator.

It becomes difficult to focus on worldly interests when we see Jesus in everything around us.

3. Allow every thing in your day to be done solely for the building of the kingdom and the glory of God. Do it all from the heart as if for the Lord and not for man (Col. 3:23).

Besides the above, what are some of your current strategies for having the mind of Christ? Write them down, pray over them and ask for the grace for new and even stronger ways to help you focus on the eternal and put temporal things behind you.

Mike is a writer and teacher, and co-author of the book: Faith Positive in a Negative World. You can contact him at www. mikevanvrankenministries.org 6 Catholic Connection

NATIONAL RETIREMENT FUND FOR RELIGIOUS Collection Dates: December 13 & 14 Announcement Dates: November 30 & December 7

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he theme for this collection to assist with the medical care of our 35,000 plus retired nuns, brothers and religious order priests is, “Please give to those who have given a lifetime.”

Senior Catholic sisters, brothers and religious order priests have spent their lives ministering to others, often for little, if any, pay.

Their sacrifices now leave their religious communities without adequate savings for their retirement and health care. Your gift to the collection for the Retirement Fund for Religious supports the day-to-day care of roughly 35,000 senior religious, providing necessities such as prescription medications and nursing care.

Please give to those who have given a lifetime.

DIOCESAN INFIRM PRIESTS’ FUND Collection Dates: December 24 & 25 Announcement Dates: December 14 & 21

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his fall, in September, Bishop Duca asked me to visit each of our retired priests in their homes. The bishop asked me to personally represent him and give them the following message from his heart to theirs on his behalf and that of the people of the Diocese. Bishop Duca asked me to convey to each of them that: 1. He and the people of the diocese have not forgotten them; 2. He will personally visit each of them as soon as is possible; 3. He wanted them to know with certainty, through this visitation, that they were being cared for and assisted as deserving of their many years of service in and to the people of the diocese.

I had the most amazing visits with Fr. Walter Ebarb, Msgr.

Franz Graef, Fr. Murray Clayton, Fr. Roger McMullen, Fr. Patrick Scully, Bishop William Friend, Msgr. Edmund Moore, Fr. John Kennedy, Fr. Joe Puthuppally and Fr. Ken Williams. These retired priests and bishop are doing well in their senior years. They were deeply moved that the bishop and people of the diocese remember them and visited them, and are concerned about and committed to their on-going care. This was my grand “second joyful mysteries of the Rosary” experience this year, “The Visitation.” Please give to the care of these servants of God who have fruitfully served us.

Fr. Rothell Price, Vicar General, is the Director of Special Collections.

from the

from Vatican Information Services

The Dignity of the PErson Must Prevail over Bureaucracy

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atican City, November 14, 2014 (VIS) – “From your professional observatory, you are well aware of the dramatic situation faced by many people who are precariously employed or have lost their jobs; of the many families who pay the consequences; of the many young people in search of a Pope Francis first occupation and dignified work. They are many, especially immigrants, who are compelled to work illegally, and lack the most basic legal and economic guarantees”, said the pope that morning in his address to the 7,000 participants at the World Congress of Accountants, held in Rome from November 10 to 13.

In this economic context, there is a “strong temptation to defend one’s own interests without worrying about the common good, without paying too much attention to justice and legality.

However, we are all, especially those who exercise a profession associated with the good functioning of the economic life of a country, required to play a positive and constructive role in carrying out our work on a daily basis, aware that behind every piece of paper there is a story, and there are faces. In this task … the Christian professional draws strength every day from prayer and the Word of God to carry out his or her own duties well, with skill and wisdom; and then, to go further than this, which means reaching towards those in difficulty; exercising that creativity that allows solutions to be found in situations of impasse; to make the reason of human dignity prevail over the rigidity of bureaucracy.”

Francis affirmed that the economy and finance are “dimensions of human activity and may be opportunities for encounters, dialogue, cooperation, the recognition of rights and the rendering of services,

Words

In the

of dignity affirmed in work. But it is therefore necessary always to place man and his dignity at the center, opposing those dynamics that tend to homogenize everything and place money at the summit.

When money becomes the aim and reason for every activity and initiative, this leads to the prevalence of a utilitarian perspective and the untrammelled logic of profit that does not respect people, with the consequent widespread decline in the values of solidarity and respect for the human person. Those who work in various roles in economics and finance are required to make decisions that favor the social and economic well-being of humanity as a whole, offering everyone the opportunity to realize their own development.”

“You, in your profession,” he said, addressing the accountants, “work alongside companies, but also families and individuals, to offer economic and financial advice. I encourage you always to work responsibly, favoring relationships of loyalty, justice and, if possible, fraternity, courageously facing, above all, the problems faced by the weakest and poorest. It is not enough to give concrete answers to economic and material questions; it is necessary to promote and cultivate the ethics of the economy, finance and work; it is necessary to keep alive the value of solidarity as a moral attitude, an expression of attention to others and all their legitimate needs.

If we wish to hand our environmental, economic, cultural and social patrimony to future generations in a better condition than that in which we have inherited it, we must assume the responsibility of working for a globalization of solidarity. … And the social doctrine of the Church teaches us that the principle of solidarity works in harmony with that of subsidiarity. Thanks to the effect of these two principles, processes are placed at the services of humanity and enable the growth of justice, without which there cannot be true and lasting peace.”

of

Pope Francis

“Holy priests are sinners who have been forgiven, and instruments of forgiveness. Their existence speaks the language of patience and perseverance; they are not tourists of the spirit, eternally undecided and unsatisfied, as they know that they are in the hands of He who never fails in His promises, and whose Providence ensures that nothing can ever separate them from their belonging. … Yes, it is still the time for priests of this substance, ‘bridges’ enabling the encounter between God and the world.” (To the Italian Episcopal Conference 11/11/14) “It is useful for laypeople to receive a solid doctrinal and spiritual formation, and continual support so that they are able to become witnesses of Christ in all areas of their lives, and to imbue society with the principles of the Gospel, avoiding the marginalization of faith in public life. The pastoral care of families, as shown in the recent Synod of Bishops, must receive special attention since the family... is the place where the foundations of faith are laid, where the basic principles of community life are learned, and frequently where the priestly and religious vocations are nurtured – vocations your churches need.” (To bishops of Senegal, Mauritania, Cape Verde and GuineaBissau 11/10/14) “By virtue of Baptism, every Christian forms part of God’s edifice, or rather, becomes God’s Church.

The spiritual edifice, the Church that is the community of men and women sanctified by Christ’s blood and the Spirit of the Risen Lord, asks each one of us to be consistent with the gift of faith and to take the path of Christian witness.” (Angelus 11/9/14) December 2014 7

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20th Anniversary for St. Joseph Perpetual Adoration Chapel

Catholic Food

by Kim Long

The Right Time

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don’t know if you have experienced the feeling of panic rising in your chest as you look at a calendar and realize you don’t have the extra week, weekend or day, until Christmas. It is a feeling unmatched! Being a list maker from childhood I was seldom caught up short until I took a hiatus from list making and decided to “wing it.” That worked for a while then I decided I needed more order in my life and so I am back to lists; but even with that the calendar can appear a bit slippery.

As I sit here I think of the variety of lists; gifts, food to be purchased, food to be cooked, cards, novenas to remember to pray (there are several great ones from Advent through Epiphany). In truth they can become overwhelming. I have a ritual that works really well for me and I wanted to share it with you.

In the middle of Advent I schedule a day when I am unavailable to everyone and I have a morning or afternoon with my spiral notebook and my lists. This isn’t as difficult as it sounds, but does take commitment and planning. I cannot enter this ritual, though, without some tools.

I put on the kettle and reach for my favorite Christmas mug, while the water is heating I put on some non-manic, usually Gregorian chant, Christmas music and I breathe. When the water is hot I spoon

Spice Tea Mix Ingredients: • 1 pound jar of Tang (you are free to substitute but it isn’t as good, I have tried it) • 2 to 3 cups of sugar (I use two but some like it sweet) • 1 cup Instant Tea (no lemon, just plain) • ½ package Lemon Jello (the smaller one, not family size) • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon • 1 teaspoon cloves Directions: 1) Stir ingredients until well blended and immediately pour into clean dry airtight containers (I usually use mason jars).

2) Add two to three heaping spoons of mix to a cup and add hot water, stir and enjoy.

8 Catholic Connection

three or four generous spoons of an ancient family spiced tea recipe into my cup, then I sit quietly and tackle the lists crossing off completed tasks and combining others.

The tea soothes me and pictures fill my head of my grandmother mixing up this treat which we only had at Christmas time.

I have tried it prior to Thanksgiving before, and something wasn’t right – the timing was off and timing is a big part of every ritual!

So I make the tea with some peaceful music playing, the sound of my pen scratching across the blank page creating possibilities and assuring success, and the scent of the tea enveloping me, cocooning me in all the possibilities the season offers. As I write and think and go through this last minute planning, my thoughts turn to Mary and Joseph and the almost ironclad assurance that their faith was in God as they traveled the distance to Bethlehem. She didn’t have all the modern conveniences many of us consider absolute requirements; she and Joseph leaned on one another and on God. I try to take a lesson from this reality.

Christmas can become a financial nightmare as well as an emotional mess, so lean on your husband, your wife, your children and discuss what Christmas means. In most cases I believe we will discover that celebrating the Divine Love is our only absolute. Everything else, as we say in Louisiana, is “lagniappe.”

Letting go of a picture perfect outcome was my first step in really living the holiday season which is charged with expectations.

How can we help it with magazines, television and department stores pummeling us with the message of consumerism gone crazy? So as I drain the tea from my cup, I rise restored and hopeful that rather than slouching toward Bethlehem weighted down by all of these unnecessary expectations, this year I will accompany Mary and Joseph and be present in the Advent journey, proclaiming, when the time is right, “Unto us a child is born.”

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he St. Joseph Perpetual Adoration Chapel is celebrating its 20th Anniversary. The chapel originally began simply as a prayer chapel and then in 1994, named the Year of the Eucharist by Pope John Paul II, was converted into the Adoration Chapel.

In March of 1994 the chapel opened its doors with the hours of 10:00 a.m.

– 6:00 p.m. In December 1994 it was changed into a Perpetual Adoration Chapel, the only one in the Diocese of Shreveport at the time. Volunteers were in charge of different sections of hours each day. With many willing parishioners these committees were able to fill nearly all the hours throughout the week.

The chapel has come a long way in the past 20 years. There are currently over 200 dedicated adorers covering 87 hours each week with at least one adorer. The chapel is still available 24 hours day throughout the year, except during the Triduum. We are currently working on updating our list of adorers and gaining new adorers to fill the empty hours throughout the week.

The chapel is available to anyone in the diocese. The open hours may be viewed on the St. Joseph Parish website at www. stjosephchurch.net.

If you would like to become an adorer or if you would like more information, please contact the St. Joseph Parish office at 318-865-3581 or koshea@stjosephchurch.net. Please consider becoming a part of this wonderful ministry!

by Ka’Lani O’Shea

Church DC Domestic

by Katie Sciba

The Christmas Presence Pack away stress and focus on Christ and family during Christmas

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start my Christmas shopping early every year. I thrill in getting ahead of the game and being prepared, trying to be totally finished by the beginning of December. I’ll be honest though, shopping for family and friends months in advance has not made me immune to holiday stress. Annually caught up in celebratory details, it’s easy to be fixed on my to-do list more so than my family and even Christ Himself; if I’m not careful, that is. And so my plan this year is to relish in the joy of Christ’s birth without losing focus on faith. Try the following to maintain your own Christmas presence to God and loved ones.

1) Celebrate Advent! In a society that begins its Christmas push in October, it’s a challenge to hold back on premature celebrations; but observing the liturgical season of Advent with a Jesse Tree or reflecting on the daily Mass readings builds the soulful anticipation for Christmas Day. Nothing helps me appreciate the context and glory of Christ’s coming like exploring salvation history. Imitate your parish’s liturgical decorations in your own domestic church – your house!

2) We Catholics love our novenas and praying one for Christmas is both powerful and moving. Beginning December 16th and ending the 24th, pray a Christmas novena (found on EWTN. com) in spiritual preparation for the Holy Birth. Offer your novena for your family or for worldwide reverence for Christ.

3) Plan with good company. Don’t charge ahead deciding menus, gifts, and get-togethers on your own. Ask your spouse for his or her favorite Christmas dish. Ask for your kids’ input on gifts for family and neighbors. Ask your in-laws when

they want to celebrate and how. Planning together only fuels the excited anticipation, and getting others involved puts them above any perfect plan in your mind.

4) Celebrate for the sake of Christ instead of the sake of celebration.

Christmas is the designated time for cheerful detail and picturesque presentation.

While yuletide embellishment stirs eagerness for December 25th, it’s easy to become preoccupied with too many details, making Christ’s birthday a stressful event instead of a joyful feast. If you find an elective task or two is inhibiting your ability to celebrate the Reason for the Season, then consider letting it go. Relaxing will allow you to keep your eyes and soul on Jesus.

5) But if you’re absolutely set on presenting your signature desserts and décor, remember that Christmas spans well beyond one day! The Christmas season begins the afternoon of Christmas Eve and lasts through the Baptism of the Lord, January 11, 2015. One of the biggest stress relievers came when I realized I could make eggnog Christmas Eve and my favorite hot cocoa recipe the following week when it was still Christmas. Whether you’re mailing Christmas cards, decorating, baking or hosting a party, don’t let it end December 26th! Enjoy the entire Christmas season one celebration at a time!

The profound meaning and hope in Christmas calls for more presence than presents. Ask God to reveal the real wonder of Christmas to you, and in doing so, all other celebrations will be rooted in love, peace and good will toward men.

Katie Sciba is the author of thecatholicwife.net. She lives in Shreveport with her husband, Andrew, and four children, Liam,Thomas, Peter and Jane.

Ways to Focus on the Presence Christmas will make anyone giddy from kids to grown-ups. Be open to Christ and loved ones by investing more in Christmas presence than Christmas presents.

Celebrate Advent Too often we lose appreciation and contextual understanding of just how amazing Christ’s birth is. Keep focus by celebrating Advent in your home alongside your parish.

Christmas Novena Praying a novena for your family, the Church, or the world at large will afford a very holy perspective for the Feast of the Nativity. Find one on EWTN.com.

Plan with Loved Ones Place loved ones above your plans by asking them what they want to eat, give and how they want to celebrate.

Focus on Jesus as the Cause Keep Christ as the foundation for décor, parties and menus. Let go of the tasks that prevent you from experiencing the joy of the Nativity.

Remember the Whole Season Remember that Christmas is a whole season… not just a day! Keep celebrating through the Baptism of the Lord, knowing you don’t have to pull out all the stops in a panic for December 25th. Give gifts, send cards, and praise God all season long!

December 2014 9

BR

Meet the Author:

Book Review

by Jessica Rinaudo, Editor

Faith Positive in a Negative World

Mike Van Vranken

Written by Dr. Joey Faucette and Mike Van Vranken

I

should start this review by being up front with you. Mike Van Vranken is a columnist and long time supporter of the Catholic Connection and the Diocese of Shreveport. But, as the editor of this publication, I would not have reviewed his book if I didn’t think it was worth sharing.

Faith Positive in a Negative World is for Christian business professionals in any and all career paths. The focus of the book is not on your specific career, but on ways to change your own mindset and the influences around you to transform a negative working experience into a positive one based on biblical scripture and faith in God and Jesus Christ.

That may sound like a mighty undertaking, but Mike and his co-author Dr. Joey break this concept up into five core values that build on one another in each section. Transforming your mindset and surroundings from negative ones to positive ones is no easy task, and the book’s writers don’t pretend that it is. Over and over they emphasize that some of these steps will be difficult – retraining your mind, especially as an adult, takes constant vigilance and dedication.

From the beginning of the book, the authors present a concept one section at a time for making your work more “faith positive,” then follow up with concrete ways to make those changes, as well as with scripture that supports these ideals for what God wants for us in our own lives. They provide anecdotes from their own lives that are often funny and always entertaining as examples of how these principles have helped them personally.

Throughout each section of Faith Positive in a Negative World, the authors explain the different kinds of negativity we face in our careers. Sometimes that negativity comes from other people – their attitudes affect our attitude. Oftentimes that negativity comes from within ourselves through fear, self-doubt, our unwillingness to let go and collaborate with others and our inability to trust in God. Mike and Dr. Joey push for 10 Catholic Connection

life changes that often go against societal norms like stepping away from controlling technology, refusing to participate in negative office gossip and avoiding multi-tasking all together. Instead, they urge us to focus first on prayer, to set our priorities and schedule everything else around them, and use tools they provide to deflect negative conversation and people.

This book emphasizes building up a community of “faith positive” people around you. And while that task may seem impossible at times, they ask you to trust in God. Mike and Dr. Joey also encourage you to stay in contact with them and others via various forms of social media with Faith Positive groups, pages and hashtags.

It’s a great way, they say, to meet others who are trying to create their own faith positive lifestyles.

Each chapter of this book ends with a brief summary of their points in “grab and go” bites that can be easily bookmarked or copied down for later review.

I suggest taking this book one chapter at a time and really focusing on each value: both how you are currently doing in your career relative to that value and how you can better improve your life, the people around you and your faith by implementing them in your life.

There are many books out there about ways to positively transform your life and ways of thinking, some are even mentioned by name in this book, but what Faith Positive has that most do not is its strong anchor in scripture and faith. You can’t miss the scriptures that begin each section and chapter, or the overt use of parables and biblical stories to illustrate their points. They often use word-for-word quotes from the Bible to explain how to positively transform your life. This element of the book is what sets it above others in the genre, and what makes their core principles successful.

Faith Positive in a Negative World can be found in Slattery Library at the Catholic Center, as well as Amazon.com.

Mike Van Vranken is the co-author of Faith Positive in a Negative World. He is a columnist for the Catholic Connection who resides in Shreveport.

Q: When did you first get the idea to write a book?

A: I wanted to write a book not just on how to run a business, but how to run an ethical business, and to use faith throughout it. Sometimes God’s working when you’re not looking – when you’re panicking, He’s got your back. That’s been in my mind the last 25 years.

Q: What made you team up with Dr. Joey?

A: I was talking with my co-author, who lives in Virginia. He is a business consultant, but he’s also an ordained Baptist minister. After a couple of months, he said, “I’ve been wanting to write a book about bringing faith to work,” and he had already developed the five core principles in this book. He said, “Do you want to do it together?” After some consideration, I said, “Yea, let’s do it.”

Q: What makes your book unique?

A: You can find 1,000 books on positive thinking, and they’re all out there and they’re all good. There’s nothing new in this book in terms of that. But what we hoped people would see is that there’s a scriptural base to every one of those books and the people that wrote those positive books in the past might think they wrote those thoughts on their own, but they are all God-given. So that’s what we really wanted to say. So we found foundational scriptures that would support those ideas. We hope that as people read it, those scriptures will become something that is internal for them from now on.

Q: Who is your book written for?

A: Anybody that does any kind of work at all – from washing clothes to doing yard work. Work is ordained by God and God has a very positive attitude about work.

In particular, [it was written for] the Christian business professional because out in that world you face sometimes insurmountable obstacles to say, “I know I’m doing the right thing.” And it’s not easy.

Navigating the Faith Our Lady of Guadalupe

by Fr. Mark Watson, Pastor, St. Patrick Parish and Sacred Heart Parish

C

entral to the spiritual lives of Mexican Catholics is Our Lady of Guadalupe. In my Hispanic ministry I have experienced both the love that Mexican people have for Our Lady of Guadalupe and the devotion which flows from this love.

THE APPARITION OF OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE The story of Our Lady of Guadalupe began in 1517 when the Spanish explorer Cortez discovered the Yucatan, and on Good Friday of 1519 when he landed in Mexico. He brought with him Spanish culture which was centered on Catholicism and its call to bring pagans to the faith.

Cortez and his men encountered Mexican native tribes which had their own world of scientific advancements, religious beliefs, political and economic practices and educational processes. The Aztecs believed their culture was coming to an end. This would come about as a result of their encounter with the Spanish. The fighting began in April of 1521 and the tribes were finally defeated on August 13, 1521. After the defeat, there was a sense of despair among the natives and a lack of interest in converting to Catholicism.

The apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe took place on Saturday, December 9, 1531, early in the morning on the hill of Tepeyac, on the outskirts of Mexico City.

Tepeyac was the place where the virgin mother of the gods was venerated by the native people. Our Lady appeared to Juan Diego, a poor Christian Indian of middle age. At the top of the hill he saw a lady of glowing beauty. She was also a native who spoke a native language. She revealed that she was “the ever holy Virgin Mary, Mother of the true God� and told Juan Diego that she desired that he ask the bishop to build a temple to her below the hill. The bishop told Juan Diego that he would only believe him if Juan Diego would bring a sign from the Lady.

When Juan Diego next saw the Lady she told him to go to the top of the hill where he would find flowers, which he was to cut

and bring to her. He found roses of Castile and brought them to the Lady who rearranged them in his tilma or outer garment. She told him to open the tilma in front of the bishop and afterwards he would agree to her request. Juan Diego opened his tilma and the roses fell to the floor in front of the bishop.

The bishop recognized them as roses from Castile, his homeland, and ordered that a Cathedral be built in honor of Our Lady.

On the tilma was the exact representation or image of the Lady who had appeared to Juan Diego.

THE MEANING OF HER IMAGE The following is the meaning of the various parts of the image.

Her dress was of a pale red color.

Red symbolized the East, the area from which the sun arises at the beginning of a new day. Thus red was the sign of a new beginning, of the continuation of new life and of life through death.

The predominant color of the painting is the blue-green of the mantle. This turquoise was the royal color of the gods and its use was reserved to the deities and royalty showing that she must be of divine, or at least royal origin. It was also the color which signified fecundity and life which comes out of opposing tensions.

The stars on the mantle of the Lady announced, in the native concept of time, the beginning of a new civilization.

In the image, the Lady is being carried by an angel. Only royalty and the representatives of the gods were carried by others. Being carried by an angel also represented the beginning of a new era.

The Lady hides the sun but does not extinguish it. The sun was the greatest of the gods in the native pantheon. Our Lady is shown to be greater than the greatest god.

She stands upon the moon. One of the greatest gods was the moon god. She is shown to be greater than the moon god but she does not do away with it or crush it.

Around her waist is a black maternity band which shows that she is with child.

Over her navel is found an Indian cross which shows that the child she carries in her womb marks the center of the universe.

She wears a broach close to her neck with a Christian cross showing that she is both a bearer and follower of Christ.

CONCLUSION When all seemed lost, Our Lady of Guadalupe brought Christ to the sufferings of the natives of Mexico. Six years after the conquest, nine million Mexicans had converted to Christianity. From her intervention a whole new civilization was created from two different cultures. She continues to be a model of protection for the oppressed and of bringing together ethnic and racial groups. May Our Lady of Guadalupe be our model of Evangelization as we bring others to her Son, Jesus Christ.

(This article is based on the book La Morenita: Evangelizer of the Americas by Virgilio Elizondo.)

December 2014 11

Outreach Left to right: Amy Adams serves food to the homeless at Hope Connections; Jane Snyder shows off donated supplies and funds.

t’s easy to look at all the hurt in the world, the homelessness, the shut-ins, the working poor, the disabled veterans, and think, “I am but one person, there is nothing I can do to ease this hurt or change the world.”

And it is overwhelming. Even in our own diocese, there are so many in need, so many who can’t get out of the cycle of poverty, homelessness or can’t leave their own homes. As Catholics though, social outreach is an integral part of our faith, a part that Pope Francis consistently brings to the forefront of our minds through his speech and actions.

And while we may feel inadequate standing alone against this onslaught of need, when we band together, help happens and lives change.

Jane Snyder is the Outreach Coordinator for St. Joseph Parish in Shreveport. When she originally took her post over nine years ago, she was the first paid Outreach Coordinator in the Diocese of Shreveport. Recently rekindled with her Catholic faith, she was on fire for social justice, but didn’t know where or how to begin.

“I showed up every day and said, ‘Ok God, here I am. Put the people in my path,’” said Jane.

“Three months after I started to work, the hurricanes hit in New Orleans, and suddenly we had 90 new families at St. Joseph Church and School, and they had lost everything,” she continued. “There were all these opportunities for people to volunteer, take them into their homes, help them get clothing, food and jobs. The parish really stepped up. So, that’s how I initially met the people in the parish who were interested in doing outreach things.”

This initial outreach effort pulled together people from all over the parish and together they began to reach out into the local community. The Meals on Wheels program, an outreach ministry to people who are over 60-years-old and homebound, 12 Catholic Connection

by the Caddo Council on Aging, was one of the first ministries with which Jane became involved.

The Meals on Wheels program needed volunteer drivers so they could put more of their funds towards feeding people. The drivers deliver 1,000 meals four days a week, every month.

“I wasn’t sure I would be able to get enough volunteers to cover the route,” said Jane. “I spoke to someone at Broadmoor Presbyterian, and they said they could take one day of the week, so they took Monday. And then we did Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. And then all of a sudden I had more volunteers than I could possibly imagine!”

“We now have three routes at St. Joseph’s. And then I started talking to people I knew in other parishes. So St. Elizabeth Ann Seton drives Meals on Wheels and St. Mary of the Pines drives Meals on Wheels and there’s a route at St. John’s that St. Vincent de Paul drives,” she added.

One of the most surprising and wonderful things about the program was how much the volunteers enjoy serving.

“I really thought people would sign up for six months, and then go on to do something else and it’s been about six years and most of those people who signed up in the beginning are still doing it,” Jane said. “They get attached to the clients. They take treats to the pets. We take poinsettias to them at Christmas time. For some of the clients it’s the only social interaction they have during the day and so they want to tell you about their grandchildren and their doctors’ appointments.”

Catholics are only 4% of the population in the Diocese of Shreveport, yet they are 40% of the Meals on Wheels drivers.

One of the best outcomes of this project was that it helped five local Shreveport-Bossier Catholic parishes form a bond and work as a cohesive team to help those in need in the area. To this day, St. Joseph Parish, St. Mary of the Pines Parish, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish, the Cathedral of St. John Berchmans and

Ministries

by Jessica Rinaudo, Editor

Tookie Barr provides entertainment at the Highland Center while a meal is served; Catholics serve meals to the homeless at Hope Connections.

St. Jude Parish all work together to assist in various outreach ministries in the Shreveport-Bossier area.

Perhaps one of their greatest collaborative efforts has been the Hope House Meals, which is now called Hope Connections – an organization supported by churches of many denominations in Shreveport-Bossier that began by feeding the homeless. Jane knew that St. Joseph could not cover a meal every week, but she worked to get those five parishes together to help and the program has bloomed so that it now encompasses more than just providing meals. The Catholic Community now serves dinner every Wednesday evening at Hope Connections.

“In February of this year we moved to the Hope Connections on Levy Street. Hope Connections is a day shelter for homeless people. It’s where they go to take showers, wash their clothes and there are 12 non-profits who support homeless services there. In the evening, different churches provide a meal,” said Jane.

“The priests go with us sometimes and bless the food and talk to people and they seem really appreciative,” added Jane.

Together those same five churches collaborated to adopt the shower section of Hope Connections, raising $4,000 to build four bathrooms where homeless people can shower in privacy.

Those five churches continue to supply the shower area with all its needs, such as towels, body wash, toothbrushes, toothpaste and deodorant for the 30 people per day who take showers at Hope Connections.

Another area of important outreach in our area is to local veterans. The VOA is a refuge for many local veterans and our Catholic parishes and the Catholic Chapel at Barksdale Air Force Base both work to serve the men and women who have worked so faithfully to serve us.

Donna Seal, the Outreach Coordinator for the Cathedral of St. John Berchmans in Shreveport, saw that the VOA Veterans

Home down the street was looking for churches to help prepare meals for local veterans. She reached out to them, and as a result, parishioners now prepare meals in their homes, then take them to the Veterans home and serve about 50 men the last Sunday of every month. The types of meals vary, with the occasional BBQ and Knights of Columbus fish fry thrown in for good measure.

Both the veterans and the men and women who serve the meals get so much joy out of the program. “Our volunteers get to know the veterans by first name and they thank them for their service.

The guys just light up – old and young alike!” said Donna.

Our Holy Family Catholic Community at Barksdale Air Force Base provides regular entertainment throughout the year at the Northwest Louisiana War Veterans Home, as well as a Christmas Party each year with Christmas gifts for the veterans that are presented by Santa Claus.

Donna and Cathedral parishioners also serve with the Greater Blessings program at the Highland Center. Every third Thursday of the month, they provide a free meal at the Highland Center in conjunction with other area churches. It is open to anyone in the Highland neighborhood from 6:00 – 7:00 p.m. What makes this meal special is that it is served “family style,” where seven guests sit down with a table host who engages them in conversation. The Highland Center provides their guests with resources, often pointing them to Catholic Charities or Hope Connections for more help.

These wonderful outreach efforts are happening in the Monroe area as well. Tess Cash, a member of St. Paschal Parish in West Monroe, has been actively involved with the Family Promise program for nine years. This interfaith program is a collaborative effort across many denominations of churches to help house, feed and educate homeless families and get them back on their feet.

December 2014 13

Outreach NEWS Each quarter a church or group of churches is assigned a group of families in need.

“The parishes actually house and feed these families in their buildings,” said Tess. “St. Paschal is the place that houses them and then all the other Catholic churches participate by providing food, entertainment, treats for the kids during their stay.”

Families can stay one week in the parish, but can be in the program for up to 90 days. Family Promise has a day center where they work with the adults while the children are in school, or house the adults with the small children while they work. At the end of the day, families go to the parish around 5:30 for the evening. In addition to shelter, the participating churches provide the families with all their meals during their stay.

“The last big function I went to for Family Promise, I learned they had an 85% success rate with families maintaining their jobs and their homes. Family Promise helps them find jobs and homes and continues to follow up with the families in three month and six month visits,” said Tess.

The programs mentioned in this article are some of the many going on in our area that are assisted by local Catholics. The Society of St. Vincent de Paul continues to be a major force for change in all three of our deaneries. They feed the poor, help them with their utilities, and in the Eastern Deanery, they have a pharmacy to provide affordable prescriptions to the poor who could not afford them otherwise.

Catholic Charities of North Louisiana is a growing organization that started small in Shreveport four years ago, but has now spread into the Lake Providence area and has a number of programs, including financial planning, Gabriel’s Closet for new mothers, English as a Second Language courses and many wonderful immigration resources (see pg. 15).

Little Flower of Jesus Parish in Monroe distributes around 100 bags of food to impoverished adults each month and just received a grant to increase the number of donations they will be able to make. They expand their efforts during the holidays by providing Thanksgiving meals to families in need and, during Christmas, many parishioners volunteer at a local restaurant to help prepare and deliver dinner plates to the poor and elderly on Christmas Day. Even our local Catholic hospitals work to help others in the community. Christus Health has School Based Health Centers, the Cara Center and Gingerbread House for neglected and abused children.

In his address at St. Francis of Assisi of the Providence of God Hospital, Pope Francis said, “In the Gospel, we read the parable of the Good Samaritan, that speaks of a man assaulted and left half dead at the side of the road. People pass by him and look at him. But they do not stop, they just continue on their journey, indifferent to him: it is none of their business!

How often do we say: it’s not my problem! How often do we turn the other way and pretend not to see! Only a Samaritan, a stranger, sees him, stops, lifts him up, takes him by the hand, and cares for him (cf. Lk 10:29-35).”

There are so many wonderful outreach programs going on in the Diocese of Shreveport, and December is often the time these programs come to our attention. Now is the perfect time to be the Good Samaritan and check out one of these programs mentioned in this article, or contact your local parish or St. Vincent de Paul Society to learn how you can begin to help change the world for the better. • 14 Catholic Connection

LaTech Students Head to Guatemala again!

T

hree years ago, led by Catholic student Rachel Hanks, four ACTS (Association of Catholic Tech Students) members ventured into the unknown to serve the young people of Valley of the Angels Orphanage located near Guatemala City.

The ACTS Guatemala Mission Program has now grown so that this year 12 students made the trip to spend two weeks 6,000 feet up in the mountains of Central Guatemala in August.

This mission trip is completely planned and orchestrated by ACTS members. This year’s leaders, Grant Reddoch, Zoe Martinez and Jessica Houte, organized the team in such a way that the children of the valley received hours of attention from the college students. The program is structured so that students are totally immersed in the culture of the native children – they live in the same housing, eat the same food and follow the same schedule.

Franciscan Friar, Fr. Michael Della Penna, OFM, the Director of Valley of the Angels Orphanage, is thrilled to have the ACTS members come to the boarding school. Because of their efforts and organizational skills, other groups are now sending missionaries to “The Valley.”

Each year the staff of the Valley and the mission team from Louisiana Tech make improvements that enhance the experiences of both the children of the Valley and the staff and members of ACTS. This year, they introduced a “mission intern,” Bethany Eppling, to the program with the hope that the person in this position would be able to oversee this quickly growing and very popular mission opportunity and add others.

Not only are the college students involved, but the entire parish of St. Thomas Aquinas in Ruston lends time and resources to this worthwhile cause. This year the Women’s Guild hosted a bake sale for the trip and a “Burgers and Bingo” night to help cover expenses. Additionally, the Quilting Group spearheaded a “Sweet Dreams Project” where parishioners were encouraged to donate and /or make pillowcases for the young children of the Valley of the Angels. The project collected over 300 pillowcases.

Rev. Bro. Michael Ward, OFM, the Campus Minister at St. Thomas could not be more proud of the dedicated and faith-filled college students. Each student is responsible for covering their own expenses and the group conducts fundraisers to cover general expenses such as ground transportation and food for the group.

The key to this program is that the college students themselves are completely in charge of what happens!

by Rev. Bro. Michael Ward

Student Works to Help Catholic CHarities Programs Revitalize Neighborhood Bolster Local Community

W

hen Catholic Charities of North Louisiana opened its doors in late summer

S

t. John Berchmans eighth grader Jake Watts is a quiet and polite young man, but ask him about his passion for local architecture and he comes alive with enthusiasm. “When my family travels to New Orleans, we see so many historic buildings that have been preserved. Whether it is French Creole architecture or your typical shotgun-style house, the city has embraced these buildings and made them architectural treasures,” said Watts. “When I first came to Shreveport and saw the state of some of our houses and neighborhoods, I wanted to work to preserve similar styles that reflect our local history.”

The area that Jake is focused on is known as the Blue Goose area located near Fairfield Avenue and Sam Fertitta Drive. The neighborhood formerly contained rows of shotgun houses that have since become dilapidated and torn down. It is now mostly overgrown, but there are plans in development to revitalize the area by creating a Blue Goose Blues district which would have restaurants, retail stores, a community park and museums, all surrounded by affordable housing.

Jake took several years to develop a preservation proposal titled “Rebirth of the French Creole Architecture” that would work to restore and preserve current historic architecture and enact design standards to give downtown Shreveport an “1800s Louisiana feel.” He sent the proposal to City of Shreveport officials and is eager to work with local organizations to preserve local architecture. He has also researched past city plans including the Cross Bayou project and other local areas.

It is rare for someone to show such vision and maturity at a young age, but this future architect sees the benefits of revitalizing our local neighborhoods.

Jake feels that it is never too early to get involved in preserving local heritage. “By creating a district of shops, restaurants and affordable housing, it helps create energy in downtown Shreveport and makes our residents feel safe,” said Watts. “Shreveport needs a rebirth project in place in order to distinguish ourselves as a major Louisiana city.”

by Lucy Medvec

of 2010, it was with one program and one employee.

Executive Director, Jean Dresley, was charged with getting the agency up and running. By January we moved to the former St. Catherine of Siena Church building. In just four years, we have grown to six programs of assistance and nine employees. We have an outstanding group of volunteers every week as well who help us accomplish our goals of making a difference in the lives of our clients.

Along with the help of many, Jean began reaching out to the most vulnerable in our community. That first program, Emergency Assistance, provides financial assistance for things like rent and utilities. We also have a small food pantry to help tide people over until they can visit a larger facility. An important element of every program at Catholic Charities is education. We require any client seeking financial assistance to attend our financial education course, The Money School, with a goal of helping them learn to better manage their money and become more independent.

Often this information is life-changing for them and their families.

Our Immigration Integration program assists families in overcoming the legal and social barriers that hinder their full participation in the community. With this program, we have several goals: to raise awareness in our community about immigrant families and help them obtain needed legal papers, improve their living conditions and promote the welfare of their children. This program focuses on issues directly impacting quality

of life, like housing and education and the family’s acceptance into our community. We are the only Board of Immigration Appeals accredited agency in North Louisiana. We help resident low-income immigrant families obtain the paperwork they need for legal status and also offer English as Second Language classes at Christ the King Parish and citizenship classes as needed.

Gabriel’s Closet, our program for low-income moms and their babies gives young mothers a place to “shop” for everything their little ones need.

We offer classes in infant and child care and safety, but there are many other ways these mothers can earn points so they may shop in the closet, like attending school, seeing their doctor when pregnant, taking the Money School class and others. The closet is 100% staffed and run by our incredible volunteers and is a place where these young women can find everything they need for baby from a bed to strollers, diapers, clothing and much more. Many of them now enjoy the sewing class, taught by a volunteer.

Our newest program, Benefits Assistance, helps our clients to complete state applications for benefits like SNAP (formerly food stamps) and other government programs that aid in the well-being and safety of families.

In addition, we offer a Healthy Eating on a Budget class that teaches good nutrition and economy with hands on demonstrations and a store tour.

All that we offer is designed to give a hand up and to move individuals and families toward a life more hope-filled, safer and with a promise of a better future.

by Theresa Mormino, Catholic Charities of North Louisiana December 2014 15

NEWS

Teaching Children about the Nativity

Parish Support Makes 2014 Appeal a Success!

appy Birthday Jesus?

Christmas isn’t just another birthday – it’s the Incarnation of our Savior, God made Man, the Word become flesh – the ultimate mystery of our Faith! From the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “God transcends all creatures. We must therefore continually purify our language of everything in it that is limited, image-bound or imperfect, if we are not to confuse our image of God – ‘the inexpressible, the incomprehensible, the invisible, the ungraspable’ – with our human representations. Our human words always fall short of the mystery of God.” (CCC 42).

We must be careful not to inadvertently reduce the Christmas Miracle to something very common and routine, something which every single person on the planet experiences once a year, every year of their life. While this is unintentional we must be cautious when trying to explain this Mystery to our children.

My mom wanted my nieces to know the Christmas songs “Away in a Manger,” “Silent Night,” etc., but the girls only knew secular carols, so we went back to the basics of the Christmas story. Now, every year, I create a new way of telling the story. Sometimes I write a script and each person has a part; or we tell the story with Christmas hymns scattered throughout. Last year each person got a matchbox with a number on it. In each matchbox was a part of the nativity story. As each person opened their matchbox in order, the story was told with the final box holding a baby Jesus. This has now become one of our family traditions.

Consider trying out one or more of these ideas to celebrate the birth of Jesus: 1. Use age appropriate language. Pick out the simple details from the birth of Jesus that children can understand and relate to. These might include Mary and Joseph traveling to Bethlehem, staying at the inn with the animals and the wise men who visited Jesus.

2. Tell the story first so the children know the basics. Keep this brief using pictures and other visuals to help them learn. Picture books are helpful.

3. Ask the children to draw what they believe the nativity looked like. This helps them remember where Jesus was born, the setting and who visited.

4. Let the children/family members act out the nativity scene.

There are plenty of parts – Mary, Joseph, shepherds, innkeeper and wise men and, if your family is really big, include the animals!

5. Play a game where the children each provide a sentence in order about what happened during the nativity.

6. Reinforce the reason for the season. Many children already know the secular way to celebrate the holidays.

Challenge yourself and your family to develop a tradition that is special to Advent and Christmas – something that will honor the Incarnation while attempting to explain the sacredness of the season.

by Shelly Bole, Director of Catechesis

ur 2014 Annual Diocesan Stewardship Appeal is nearing its conclusion with a real chance to be the most successful on record. As of the printing of this issue of, our Appeal has enjoyed $1,374,000 in pledges with nearly $1,300,000 (95%) of that pledge amount already honored by our faithful Appeal donors. The Diocese of Shreveport also continues to have one of the highest Appeal pledge averages among nearly 200 dioceses and archdioceses throughout the nation. This year, donors provide our Appeal with an average gift of nearly $450 dollars! Thank you! Below are those worship locations that either achieved their pledge goal or ran a successful Appeal effort in support of the programs and ministries available through no other source. Thank you for your hard work and this wonderful success.

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PARISHES ACHIEVING 2014 APPEAL PLEDGE GOAL Western Deanery Pledged % of Goal Donor % St. Joseph – Shreveport $221,489 117% 23% St. John Berchmans $160,366 115% 29% St. Elizabeth Ann Seton $138,792 111% 28% St. Mary of the Pines $57,010 104% 37% St. Pius X $49,485 104% 33% Mary, Queen of Peace $48,540 100% 41% St. Paul $25,340 153% 36% St. Margaret $6,540 119% 53% Eastern Deanery St. Paschal St. Patrick Our Lady of Perpetual Help St. Theresa Sacred Heart – Oak Grove

Pledged % of Goal $34,988 103% $10,796 103% $8,912 137% $7,500 107% $7,605 109%

Donor % 27% 54% 36% 27% 36%

Southern Deanery St. Joseph – Mansfield St. Joseph – Zwolle St. John the Baptist St. Ann – Ebarb

Pledged % of Goal $72,113 144% $58,144 103% $17,955 101% $16,287 112%

Donor % 23% 22% 30% 35%

Western Deanery: 8 Eastern Deanery: 5 Southern Deanery: 4 Number of Parishes at Goal: 17/38 (45%) PARISHES AT 85-93% OF GOAL All Deaneries Pledged % of Goal Jesus the Good Shepherd $76,840 85% Holy Trinity $65,560 91% Christ the King $41,464 92% St. Lucy $13,172 88% St. George $9,255 93% St. Joseph – Bastrop $6,340 85%

Donor % 29% 41% 61% 55% 76% 35%

PARISHES AT 70-82% OF GOAL All Deaneries Pledged % of Goal St. Jude $81,203 71% Our Lady of Fatima $27,149 82% Sacred Heart – Shreveport $16,550 81% St. Ann – Stonewall $8,885 74% Little Flower of Jesus $8,835 77% St. Clement $8,045 70% Sacred Heart – Rayville $6,915 73%

Donor % 16% 27% 29% 32% 26% 34% 30%

Successful Appeal Efforts: 30/38 (79%)

Corner VC Vocations

by Sr. Mary Coleman, Ols

Vocations Corner

by Seminarian Kevin Mues

Our Lady of Sorrows Seminarian Reflection: Sisters Celebrate 175 Years Advent and Expectation

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n our 175 years as a congregation, we now look back on our history from our origins in Italy and Louisiana.

Blessed Elisabetta Renzi founded our congregation, the Sisters of Our Lady of Sorrows, in 1839 in Coriano, Italy. In the first school and boarding schools the girls were taught prayers, reading, religion, sewing, embroidery and other tasks that would help them become good mothers. The first schools were all in rural poor areas of Romagna and Marche regions.

Blessed Elisabetta also had a dream of her sisters becoming missionaries and leaving Italy to serve God and his people in different countries. Her dream did not happened until 1947 when Bishop Charles P. Greco invited the Sisters of Our Lady of Sorrows to his diocese in North Louisiana to staff parochial schools for African-American children: Our Lady of Sorrows in Moreauville, St. Anthony School in Cottonport and Our Lady of Sorrows in Pineville.

In the most recent years, while continuing to work at St. Mary’s School, we opened three community homes that belong to us.

These are the OLS Community Homes in Alexandria for mentally challenged young men and women. There is an office building and the well known OLS Cooking Jar. Close to these homes is our St. Joseph convent.

We began the Elisabetta Renzi Child Development Center in Shreveport for early childhood education and the Renzi Education and Art Center in Shreveport to offer a safe environment, academic assistance and art education for at-risk youth. Our Lady of Sorrows Convent in Shreveport is the home for our retired and ill sisters as well as a place for preparing new vocations to our style of life.

Our latest call to serve Louisiana’s people came not long ago from Lafayette and we went to minister on campus at the University of Lafayette, working with the Our Lady of Wisdom Church and implementing vocation ministry to help young women and men discern their call from God to follow religious vocations.

These past few months have seen a new beginning in responding to a call from a school outside of Louisiana and now we have a new mission at Holy Cross School in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

In remembrance of these 175 years of service, we will make a pilgrimage to the places in Louisiana where our sisters offered and continue to offer their services. It will be one of the ways we express our gratitude and thanks to God’s call to be a religious family and for the services we were and are able to offer in the past and those we continue to do.

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dvent is a special time in our liturgical calendar that is supposed to draw us into the mystery of the coming of the Lord by filling us with a sense of expectation and anticipation. The season of Advent reminds us of the world’s longing for the messiah. The somber expectation of Advent helps us to better understand the joys of Christmas.

When I imagine the expectant joy that should be experienced during the season of Advent, I always remember the excitement that I had as a child when on Christmas Eve, the gifts would begin to appear under my family’s Christmas tree. I remember laying in bed, unable to sleep thinking about what I had waiting for me under the tree.

At the first light of day, my twin brother and I would spring out of bed and rush downstairs for the opening of gifts. The childish and simple way I looked forward to the material aspect of the holiday reminds me now of the way I should look towards the spiritual reality of Advent and Christmas. Advent should be something that excites the heart to one of the greatest mysteries that has ever taken place: God becoming man. It is an important time that gives life to the joyous experience of the Christmas season.

In many ways, our celebration of Advent can be overshadowed by the various social and family obligations that come with the holiday season. Instead of peaceful remembrance of the work of God that lead up to the nativity, we can easily get lost in an avalanche of tasks that must be completed in order to have the perfect Christmas. Advent can be lost in the excitement of the season or even replaced with the material side of our holiday experience. Advent needs to be more than a mad dash to the Christmas feast. Advent needs to be more than violet vestments and wreaths. It needs to be a spiritual awakening to the coming of Christ at a historical point in time and an awakening to the coming of Christ in our own hearts and minds.

For me as a seminarian, Advent also means the close of the semester and all of the stress that comes with final exams, papers and projects. I found myself so busy with the completion of the semester that my own season of Advent was quickly eaten up.

This season, I have resolved to do more to be focused on the “reason for the season” and spend more time in prayer. In order to keep Advent in my heart during the close of this academic semester, I am resolving to spend more time in expectation of the Christmas season and less time in preparation.

Kevin Mues is a seminarian for the Diocese of Shreveport in second year pre-theology at St. Joseph Seminary in St. Benedict, LA. December 2014 17

HISPANIC corner Creados para Ser Santos

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odos fuimos creados por Dios para ser santos. Dios quiere que todos se salven (1Tm 2,4), pero para salvarse es necesario renunciar al pecado y seguir a Cristo con fe.

Los primeros santos venerados fueron los discípulos de Jesús y los mártires (los que murieron por Cristo). Más tarde también se incluyó a los confesores (se les llama así porque con su vida "confesaron" su fe), las vírgenes y otros cristianos que demostraron amor y fidelidad a Cristo y a su Iglesia y vivieron con virtud heroica. La santidad consiste en la participación más íntima en la vida de Dios. Todos estamos llamados a la santidad: "vosotros, pues, sed perfectos como es perfecto vuestro Padre celestial", (Mt 5,48). Algunos cristianos han reflejado con mayor heroísmo y coherencia cómo se puede vivir en perfecta sintonía con el Dios de la vida.

Los santos, además de interceder por nosotros y concedernos favores, nos sirven como modelos a imitar en la vivencia de virtudes, como ejemplos de padres de familia, de misioneros, de católicos comprometidos, etc. Ellos no nos sobran, pero tampoco suplen a Dios. Son personas que han entregado su vida y que Dios nos los pone como puntos de referencia. Son nuestros hermanos mayores que nos ayudan con su ejemplo e intercesión hasta llegar a reunirnos con ellos. Por: P. Jordi Rivero | Fuente: Corazones.org. ¡Una manera más de vivir el Adviento…

Feliz Navidad!

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por Rosalba Quiroz 318-868-4441

Calendario del Mes de Diciembre 2014 2

Reunión del Consejo Ejecutivo del Ministerio Hispano.

5 Reunión de directores diocesanos 8 Fiesta de la Inmaculada Concepción. Día de Precepto 12 Celebraciones en las parroquias por la Virgen de Guadalupe 25 Natividad del Señor. Día de Precepto.

El Ministerio Hispano ofrecerá cursos de Formación Cristiana y Seguimiento.

Niveles Básico, Avanzado y Juvenil. Para TODOS los interesados (de 16 y hasta 80 años) que deseen aprender más sobre la Fe Católica y cómo servir a Dios.

Curso Fecha ¿Quién soy Yo y Porqué Estoy Aquí?

17 de Enero, 2015 ¿Ser Católico/Cristiano a la Luz de las Escrituras? 7 de Marzo, 2015 Historia de la Iglesia y Nuestra Responsabilidad 25 de Abril, 2015 Espiritualidad y Oración 6 de Junio, 2015 Documentos de la Iglesia 5 de Septiembre, 2015 ¡Da lo mejor de Ti! 7 de Noviembre, 2015 El horario de estas clases es en sábado de 9am a 4pm. Te ayudarán a seguir buscando la santidad. Pon este horario en tu lista de Regalos para tí e intenciones para el 2015.

Favor de comunicarse con su párroco, Coordinador de Comunidad o la diócesis para más información/registrarse. Clases gratis solo paga $5.00 para el almuerzo.

across the

by United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

Pope Francis to Visit Philadelphia World Meeting of Families in 2015

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ASHINGTON—The visit of Pope Francis to Philadelphia in September 2015 for the World Meeting of Families will be a “joyful moment,” said Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Pope Francis made his intention to travel to the United States public on November 17 in an address to the Colloquium on the Complementarity of Man and Woman at the Vatican.

“The presence of Pope Francis at the World Meeting of Families in our country will be a joyful moment for millions of Catholics and people of good will.

Our great hope has been that the Holy Father would visit us next year to inspire our families in their mission of love. It is a blessing to hear the pope himself

announce the much anticipated news,” said Archbishop Kurtz.

The World Meeting of Families, sponsored by the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for the Family, is the world’s largest Catholic gathering of families and is held every three years. World Meeting of Families 2015 will be September 2225, 2015, hosted by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, and will focus on the theme “Love is Our Mission: The Family Fully Alive,” emphasizing the impact of the love and life of families on society.

More information about the meeting, including open registration, is available online: www.worldmeeting2015.org The Vatican has not announced additional dates or cities for the 2015 papal visit at this time.

Bishops Approve Items on Liturgy, Ethical & Religious Directives, Cause for Canonization at General Assembly

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ALTIMORE—The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) approved several liturgical items, including revisions to the liturgy of the hours and a revision of guidelines for the celebration of the sacraments with persons with disabilities during their annual Fall General Assembly in Baltimore, November 11. The bishops also approved to pursue a revision of the section of the “Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services” on collaboration with nonCatholic health entities, and advanced a cause for canonization.

The bishops voted on the following five liturgical items presented by the Committee on Divine Worship: • A revised English translation of the ritual book, “Order of the Dedication of a Church and an Altar” was approved.

• The first official English translation of the ritual book, “Exorcisms and Related Supplications” was approved.

• The bishops also voted to approve modifications to the “Revised Grail Psalter” including improving the

translation to facilitate easier proclamation and singing.

• An English translation of the “Supplement to the Liturgy of the Hours” that includes prayers used for the feast days of saints who have been added to the General Calendar since 1984, was approved.

These items, passed by two thirds of the Latin-rite bishops, will be sent to Rome for approval.

• The bishops also approved to begin the work on updates and revisions to the 1995 document “Guidelines for the Celebration of the Sacraments with Persons with Disabilities.”

The bishops also voted in favor of pursuing a revision of Part Six of the “Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services” to incorporate guidance the USCCB received from the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith last February.

By a voice vote, the bishops also approved the cause for sainthood of Fr. Paul Wattson.

Vatican Information Services

VAtICAN news & notes • The third seminar of the CatholicMuslim Forum was held in Rome from November 11 to 13, on the theme “Working Together to Serve Others.” Three specific issues were considered: working together to serve young people, enhancing interreligious dialogue and service to society.

•A press conference was held in the Holy See Press Office on November 5, during which Archbishop Cesare Nosiglia of Turin, Italy, presented the next exhibition of the Holy Shroud, to be held in Turin from April 19 to June 24, on the theme “The Greatest Love.”

He also presented the initiatives for the celebration of the bicentenary of the birth of St. John Bosco and remarked that Pope Francis intends to visit Turin during this period.

• Archbishop Bernardito Auza, Holy See Permanent Observer at the United Nations in New York, spoke at the 69th Session of the General Assembly held on October 23, regarding the “Eradication of Poverty.” The nuncio expressed the Holy See delegation's belief that “countries should develop evidence-based policies and strategies to combat extreme poverty, rather than relying on preconceived one-size-fits-all solutions.

Analyses and suggested solutions need to be based on on-the-ground expertise and lived experience, rather than on imposed ready-made solutions from the outside, which are not always devoid of ideological colorings.”

• Following tradition, the morning of November 3, the Holy Father celebrated Mass in the Vatican Basilica in memory of all the cardinals and bishops deceased during the last 12 months, whom he remembered with gratitude and recalled their service to the Church.

“This celebration, thanks to the Word of God, is completely illuminated by faith in the Resurrection”, he affirmed.

December 2014 19

school NEWS < St. John Berchmans School has selected two students for its annual Student of the Year award. Fifth grader Tiffany Siharath and eighth grader Sarah Siharath were honored at a recent awards ceremony and will go on to compete at the diocesan level in 2015. > St. Joseph School sixth graders research, build and program robots! They competed locally at the Bossier Civic Center. Pictured: Students John Shahrdar, Haley Meshell and Nathan Lirette work together to complete a mission with their robot in the Robotics Competition.

^ Jesus the Good Shepherd School is very proud of our boys in the JGS Cub Scout Pack 1 troop. The boys, along with their families, volunteered to serve 350 burgers at Restaurant Nonna to those without power and volunteers and Entergy employees that were cleaning up Monroe after it was hit by a tornado.

^ Our Lady of Fatima School honored the nations’ Veterans from all branches of the U.S. Armed Forces with songs of tribute and prayers. Special guests were Marine Sgt. Randall Rugg, a lifelong member of Fatima Church and School, who led the pledge, and the West Monroe High School JrROTC.

> In October St. Frederick Catholic High School returned to live theater with an impressive production of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” at the Strauss Youth Academy for the Arts. “It was exciting to see the talent and creativity that our students have, and we’re looking forward to more productions,” said Co-Director Cathy Airhart-Webb. Several schools, including Our Lady of Fatima, attended the school showings. The Art Department sponsored an art contest and incorporated their interpretations of the play. Pictured: Ichabod Crane (Senior Brandon Tramontana) and Hans Van Ripper (Sophomore Caroline Florsheim) perform a scene from “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.”

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^ The Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership Seminar (HOBY) develops leadership potential in young people. Participants get a look at their nation, its people and their role in the world while meeting peers from all over. Loyola College Prep has been invited to send two delegates. Congratulations to Carrigan English and Holly Heafner.

around the DIOCESE

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On Thursday, October. 30, the Louisiana Chapter of the March of Dimes and the Louisiana Hospital Association, joined by Kathy Kliebert, Secretary of the LA Department of Health and Hospitals, presented a recognition banner to St. Francis Medical Center for achievement in reducing the number of early elective deliveries and cesarean births performed before 39 completed weeks of pregnancy to help improve Louisiana's birth outcomes and reduce premature birth.

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Fr. Lijo Thomas welcomed priests from around the diocese as he hosted his second annual Priests Luncheon. The event, held on October 18 at St. Joseph Parish in Bastrop, provided an opportunity for those attending to enjoy fellowship with one another.

There were 11 priests in attendance. The group later enjoyed a meal prepared by committee members from St. Joseph Parish.

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Little Flower of Jesus Parish had an appreciation reception for Fr. Adrian Fischer, OFM on Oct. 26 and presented him with a Money Tree!

3 4

The youth group â&#x20AC;&#x153;Angeles Latinosâ&#x20AC;? from Christ the King Parish in Bossier City went bowling with Fr. Karl Daigle at Holiday Lanes!

The congregation at St. Ann Chapel in Ebarb bid a grand farewell to Deacon Jerry Daigle as he headed back to the seminary. The large group looks forward to attending his ordination to the priesthood on May 16, 2015.

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Recently the St. Joseph Parish in Bastrop family learned of a group of mentally and physically impaired Haitians who completely rely on donations from the U.S. They particularly needed diapers, which are quickly used up. They learned t-shirts could be made into reusable cloth diapers and collected t-shirts and turned them into about 500 diapers with pins. They were shipped with love to those families who needed them in Haiti.

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upcoming EVENTS December 12: Lessons & Carols at St. Joseph Parish, Shreveport St. Joseph Catholic Parish (204 Patton Ave, Shreveport, LA 71105) will host an evening of Lessons & Carols on Friday, December 12th at 7:00 p.m. Through short Bible readings, each accompanied by carols and hymns, the program presents the story of Christ, including the fall of Adam, the promise of a Messiah as told in the Old Testament and ultimately the birth of Jesus. This event is free of charge.

December 16: Festival of Lessons & Carols at the Cathedral of St. John Berchmans The Cathedral of St. John Berchmans choir presents a Festival of Lessons and Carols on Tuesday, December 16 at the Cathedral beginning at 6:30 p.m., located at 939 Jordan St. in Shreveport. There will be a special acoompaniment by St. Mark Cathedral. For more information, contact the parish office at 318-221-8076.

December 17: Thanksgiving Mass Honoring Canonization of Blessed Chavara It is with profound gratitude that we share our immense joy of the canonization of Kuriakose Elias Chavara, the founder of the religious order Carmelites of Mary Immaculate (CMI), held in Rome on November 23, 2014 by Pope Francis. The CMI priests working in the Diocese of Shreveport cordially invite you to a Thanksgiving Mass celebrating their founder's canonization. Bishop Michael Duca will be the the principal celebrant and Fr. Thomas Kalam, CMI, will be the homilist. The Mass will take place at Our Lady of Fatima Parish, 3205 Concordia Ave. in Monroe at 5:00 p.m. A meal will be served after Mass. For more information, contact Fr. Philip Pazhayakari at 318-7280009 or philippazhayakari@yahoo.com.

December 19: Live Nativity at St. Joseph Parish, Shreveport You are invited on an outdoor journey located in the field next to St. Joseph Catholic Church (204 Patton Ave, Shreveport, LA 71105) on Friday, December 19th from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.

The evening will consist of readings of the Christmas Story from the Holy Gospel according to Luke, living characters from the story, caroling and hot cocoa.

For more information please contact St. Joseph Parish Office at 318-865-3581. This event is free of charge.

January 22, 2105 : St. Frederick High School Open House St. Frederick Catholic

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High School will host an Open House for prospective parents on Thursday, January 22, 2015 from 6:00 - 8:00 pm.

January 23-25 12, 2015: Retrouvaille Returns to Maryhill “Is Your Marriage Tearing You Apart?” If you have experienced, or are experiencing the misery of an unhappy marriage, or if someone you know and love is having marriage problems, HELP IS ON THE WAY! After an absence of several years, Retrouvaille of Acadiana is again offering the relationship-saving program at Maryhill in Pineville, LA. The next available weekend will be January 23-25, 2015.

Retrouvaille, founded in 1977, is an international Catholic peer-to-peer ministry which offers a “lifeline to troubled marriages. “The word “Retrouvaille” means “reawakening” or “rediscovery,” referring to the experience that even the most hopeless couples can find the tools for renewing their love and commitment.

For more information, or to register for the upcoming weekend, please visit www. retrouvaille.org or call 337-873-3981. All inquiries and registrations are held in the strictest confidence. Can you save your marriage by attending and working the Retrouvaille program? You will never know until you try.

February 12, 2015: Shreveport-Bossier Pro-Life Oratory Contest The ShreveportBossier Pro-Life Oratory Contest is open to all high school juniors and seniors and

will be held Thursday, February 12, 2015, from 6:00 – 9:00 p.m. at the Catholic Center. The contest offers an opportunity for high school juniors and seniors to develop and express their pro-life views on one of four topics: the tragedy of abortion, the tragedy of euthanasia, the tragedy of infanticide or the tragedy of embryonic stem cell research. Talks must be five - seven minutes in length and do not have to be memorized. Cash prizes are awarded for first, second and third places. The winner of the local contest is invited to speak at Bishop Duca’s Pro-Life Banquet on March 11, 2015 at the Bossier Civic Center and advances to the state competition.

February 28, 2015: Living Christ in Your Marriage: A Day of Adult Formation in Your Marriage Covenant in Christ St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in Shreveport will host this event beginning at 9:00 a.m. Together couples will deepen their adult theological reflection skills on the remarkable covenant of Christian marriage; focus hopes, dreams and worries on Christ; learn how their experience of marriage is nurtured through the Church's foundational teachings on the sacrament; and develop spirituality around marriage as a vocation. The presenter will be Jim Schellman. Registration is $40 per couple.

Contact Anna Provenza at the church office to register: aprovenza@bellsouth. net or 318-798-1887.

calendar

december 2014

SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY

SATURDAY

30 1 2 3 4 5 6 First Sunday of Advent

St. Francis Xavier, priest

25th Anniversary of Religious Profession: Sr. Margaret Mitchell, OLS & Sr. Cristina Angelini, OLS, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, 4pm

St. John Damascene, priest & doctor of the Church

Advent Begins / NOV 30

St. Nicholas, bishop

7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Deadline for the Immaculate January Catholic Conception of Connection the Blessed Virgin Mary Society of St. Annual Business VIncent de Paul Clergy Meeting, Annual Mass, Holy Day of Catholic Center, Cathedral of St. Obligation Shreveport John Berchmans, 11am Catholic Center Closed St. Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin Second Sunday of Advent

Catholic Principals Meeting, Catholic Center, 6pm

Protecting God's Children, Catholic Center, 6pm

Catholic Principals Mass, Catholic Center, 8am

Our Lady of Guadalupe

St. Damasus I, pope

2nd Collection: Retirement Fund for Religious

St. Lucy, virgin & martyr

Immaculate Conception / DEC 8

14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Third Sunday of Advent

2nd Collection: Retirement Fund for Religious

Mass of Thanksgiving Celebrating the Canonization of Kuriakose Elias Chavara, Founder of CMI, Our Lady of Fatima Parish, 5pm

Mass for St. Chavara / DEC 17

21 22 23 24 25 26 27 Fourth Sunday of Advent

Seminarians & Prospects Advent Luncheon, Cathedral, 12:30pm

2nd Collection: Diocesan Infirm Priests Fund

CHRISTMAS DAY The Nativity of the Lord

St. Stephen, the First Martyr

St. John, apostle & evangelist

2nd Collection: Diocesan Infirm Priests Fund

Christmas Day/ DEC 25

28 29 30 31 1 2 3 The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph

NEW YEAR'S EVE

NEW YEAR'S DAY Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God

Sts. Basil the Great & Gregory Nazisnzen, bishops & doctors

The Most Holy Name of Jesus

HOly Family / DEC 28 December 2014 23

DIOCESE OF SHREVEPORT 3500 Fairfield Ave.

â&#x20AC;˘

Shreveport, LA 71104

Fairfield

Photo of the month by Gary Guinigundo

Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Lourdes, France.

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