Mississippi Catholic

APRIL 16, 2021

mississippicatholic.com

Beloved, 'larger than life' priest, Father Kaskie passes at age 57

BY JOANNA PUDDISTER KING

“You were the best boss. We always had fun. You can have all the Diet Coke, Double Stuffed Oreos and pizza you want. Your angel wing(s) will support you.” – Laura Tarbutton of the Cathedral of St. Peter in Jackson.

“I pray you know how much you were truly loved. I can’t imagine a world without your radiant smile and beautiful homilies ... your words touched countless souls over the years, and I feel humbly blessed to have grown up beneath a blanket of Father Brian blessings. – Ashley JACKSON – On March 30, priests from around the diocese gathered at St. Peter Hemleben, who first Cathedral to celebrate the life of Father Brian Kaskie. (Photo by Tereza Ma) met Father Brian at St. Therese Jackson and grew up have symbols” and the trivia fact that priests do have with him as chaplain of St. Joseph School. interests outside of church.

“I always appreciated his unique sense In the 90s, Father Joe and Father Brian were freof humor. When we realized we were quently together at youth retreats and CYO events birthday twins – at a CYO convention no around the diocese. Father Joe reminisced about the less – we figured out he was several hours time Father Brian was chaplain at St. Joseph School Madolder than me. His response was that he ison and he was responsible for doing the senior retreat. got here in time for three meals that day, “He gathered the students around a bonfire and celwhile I was only here in time for two.” – ebrated Mass outdoors with them. As part of his homily, Teresa Hayes of St. Therese Jackson. he decided that he would take each person in the class And the list of memories could fill and say something about that person. He was winging pages of a novel of the love and humor it. So, he would just look at a person and begin to euloFather Brian brought to those around the gize this kid and talk about what they meant to him and diocese. highlight some stories or qualities. As the stories dragged In the early 2000s, Father Joe Tonos, on into over 20 minutes, … if I remember (correctly), a who was in seminary with Father Brian in teacher gently asked him, during the homily, to ‘wrap the late 80s/early 90s, wrote a column for it up.’ I honest to goodness do not remember how that Mississippi Catholic and would occasional- ended. I don't even know if I stayed awake for it,” said ly have a cartoon in place of the column Father Joe. that would often feature Father Brian.

“But thinking now, … what a divine gift! To have a Some featured Father Brian as a “Kris chaplain of your school notice you and to be able to say Kringle,” another series was entitled “Fa- something about you. I know of hundreds of people but MCCOMB – Father Brian Kaskie speaks at the diaconate ordi- ther Brian’s Big Bucket O’ Catholic Triv- can't really give a ‘homily’ on each member of my connation of now, Father Andrew Nguyen on May 26, 2019 at St. ia,” that went through topics like, “who Alphonsus parish. (Photo courtesy of archives) is in hell?”, “why saints – Continued on page 7 –

JACKSON – Known for his ‘larger than life’ personality, Father Brian Kaskie was a gem of a priest to those around the Diocese of Jackson for almost 30 years.

Father Brian, 57, died Friday, March 26 after an extended bout with medical issues.

Brian David Kaskie was born Feb. 17, 1964 in Forest, Mississippi and attended St. Michael Catholic Church while growing up, assisting as an altar server and active in CYO. In high school, he was a multi-sport athlete, playing on the basketball, football, baseball and tennis teams for the Forest Bearcats.

He was a graduate of Mississippi State University earning his bachelor’s degree in geology. He received his Master’s in Divinity in 1992 and was ordained June 6 that year as the first native-born priest from Scott county.

After his ordination, presided over by Bishop William Houck, Father Brian said, “Many people have different demands and expectations of priests today. A priest has to be able to compromise and meet people where they are.”

That is something Father Brian was able to do well, with is zest for life, God, science, family and community.

His obituary read, “He never met a stranger and always engaged in friendly conversation.”

This was so true with the flood of comments to social

media after news of his death.

“You were always so funny and kind. We enjoyed your hunting adventures and stories of the pink bathroom at the rectory. I loved being your ‘ace in the hole’ as you called it because I would speak at Mass when you couldn’t find someone else. Heaven has gained a true angel. We will miss you here!” – Amy Hornback of St. Alphonsus parish.

“He made such a difference in the lives of the parishioners of St. Mary in Natchez, especially the youth there and at Cathedral School. To the CYO members in the 90s, he was just one of them!” – Betsy Pitchford of St. Mary Basilica, Natchez.

INSIDE THIS WEEK

From the archives 12 Exploring the SVDs and African American priests

Service Appeal 13 Parish update figures from the Catholic Service Appeal

Youth 14 Pictures of youth activities around the diocese

APRIL 16, 2021 MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC

Calendar of events SPIRITUAL ENRICHMENT NEW ORLEANS Our Lady of the Cenacle Retreat Center, Women’s Retreat, “Blessed are the Peacemakers,” April 30 – May 2. Preventing and Resolving Conflicts from our Christian Faith Perspective Jesus preached and lived love, forgiveness, peace and unity. In this retreat we will be offered a deeper understanding of and commitment to Christian peacemaking as well as practical and effective human relationship skills to prevent and resolve conflicts. Presenter: Father Doug Doussan, who is a retired priest of the Archdiocese of New Orleans and is serving as Chaplain of the Archdiocesan Retreat Center. He received a Masters’ Degree in Liturgy from Notre Dame University and special training in Conflict Resolution from Conrad Grebel College in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. He has given countless training workshops locally and nationally in inclusive parish organization, lay leadership formation, and consensus decision making. The retreat center’s capacity is limited due to COVID-19 and they are currently accepting registration on a first come first serve basis. A non-refundable deposit is required. Details: to register, contact the retreat office at (504) 267-9604 or www.neworleansretreats. org/retreats.

PARISH AND SCHOOL EVENTS CLARKSDALE St. Elizabeth School, 21st Annual Draw Down, Friday, April 30 from 7-10 p.m. It will be held at the Norman Brown Building and Courtyard at the Cutrer Mansion, 109 Clark Street. One ticket admits two people to come and have dinner, beverages, and a chance to win $10,000. There will be a silent auction

and live music by Gramm Phillips. Indoor and outdoor space for gathering so hopefully everyone will feel comfortable and safe attending. Tickets available from the school or church office or any St. Elizabeth School student. Details: school office (662) 624-4239.

MERIDIAN St. Patrick, Please join Father Augustine on Wednesdays from 6:30-7:30 p.m. in the Family Life Center for “A Biblical Walk Through The Mass.” All are welcomed! Details: church office (601) 693-1321.

JACKSON St. Richard, Small Faith Communities Spring Season. Several of our small faith communities are watching “No Greater Love,” the biblical walk through Christ’s Passion, from Ascension Press. There are a few groups that are meeting in person, but this is also something that you can do remotely. Details: If you are interested in joining a group or questions on accessing remotely, contact Debbie Tubertini at (601) 366-2335 ext. 107 or email tubertini@saintrichard.com St. Richard School, Krewe de Cardinal, Friday, April 30 from 7-11 p.m. at The South Warehouse, 627 East Silas Brown Street. The event will be at 50% of the venue capacity. Details: email development@strichardschool.org to reserve your spot or call the school office (601) 366-1157.

JACKSON Sister Thea Bowman School, 15th Annual Virtual Draw Down, Saturday, April 24 at 3:30 p.m. at the Multi-Purpose Building (will be live streamed).

Grand prize: $5,000; Ticket cost: $100; Second chance insurance: $20. Proceeds will be used for instructional materials and operational expenses. Details: Shae Robinson at (601) 352-5441 or http://christthekingjackson. org/draw-down/ for tickets.

YOUTH BRIEFS MADISON St. Francis of Assisi, “God’s Wonder Lab” Vacation Bible School is scheduled for the week of June 21. Planning committee members and volunteer teachers are needed now so they can begin organized a modified in-person VBS that is enjoyable but safe. Details: Mary Catherine at mc.george@stfrancismadison.org.

MERIDIAN Catholic Community of St. Joseph & St. Patrick, Vacation Bible School, Volunteers are needed. Scheduled dates are July 19-23 from 8-11:30 a.m.

Please consider donating time to creating fun, faith-filled memories for our children. Details: If you have any questions, call (601) 917-4566.

SAVE THE DATE The Center for Pregnancy Choices One Mile Life Walk, Saturday, May 1 at Flowood Nature Park, 4077 Flowood Drive. Walk begins at 9 a.m. with registration from 8-9 a.m. The CPC is a nonprofit medical clinic that is here to encourage and equip those facing pregnancy decisions. Their two clinics serve Hinds, Madison and Rankin counties, offering real choices through their free professional medical services and Christ-centered support. Details: Register at www.cpcmetrofriends.org/ LifeWalk or (601) 487-1063.

FEATURED PHOTO Preparing Chrism oils ...

JACKSON – On March 30, volunteers prepared Holy Oils for priests to take back to their home parishes, in the Community Center at the Cathedral of St. Peter. The oils were blessed by Bishop Joseph Kopacz the day before. This year, no Chrism Mass was held due to holding a Funeral Mass for Father Brian Kaskie. Pictured in front are chancery employees, Vickie Carollo and Fabvienen Taylor. (Photo by Tereza Ma)

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MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC APRIL 16, 2021

The Water, the Spirit and the Blood

BY BISHOP JOSEPH R. KOPACZ, D.D. “God of everlasting mercy, who in the very recurrence of the paschal feast kindle the faith of the people you have made your own, increase, we pray, the grace you have bestowed, that all may grasp and rightly understand in what Font they have been washed, by whose Spirit they have been reborn, by whose Blood they have been redeemed.”

This opening Collect of the Second Sunday of Easter (or of Divine Mercy) is the profound prayer of the priest celebrant on behalf of all gathered that all may grasp and rightly understand the mystery of God’s plan of salvation as disciples baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is the Water, the Blood, and the Spirit of which St. John eloquently speaks in his first letter. This is the hope of Easter that St. Augustine shared in one of his Easter Octave Sermons. “This is the octave day of your new birth. ... When the Lord rose he put off the mortality of the flesh; His risen body was still the same body, but it was no longer subject to death. By His resurrection He consecrated Sunday as the Lord’s day.”

As Catholics we are a people of tradition reaching back nearly 2000 years into the font of Sacred Scripture.

This is evident in the link between the Gospel on Divine

Mercy Sunday and the Sacrament of Confirmation now under-

way throughout the Diocese of Jackson.

The crucified and resurrected Lord appeared to the 11 disciples huddled in fear in the upper room with his gift of peace and the breath of the Holy Spirit. Confirmation is conferred with the Invocation of the Holy Spirit sealed in Sacred Chrism, and the Lord’s own greeting, “peace be with you.” The Holy Spirit is ceaselessly at work in whom we have been reborn as new creations to serve God’s divine plan of mercy. It is gift and mystery that reconcile and raise up those under the yoke of sin and shame.

“As the Father has sent me, so I send you,” so Jesus instructs his adopted brothers. They rightly could have asked, “where are you sending us, Lord?” Their marching orders were clear, yet shrouded in mystery.

Go, preach a Baptism of Repentance for the forgiveness of sins, and make disciples of all the nations while you’re at it. The Baptism of Repentance for the forgiveness of sin is the Font in which we have been washed, our covenant with God renewed on Easter Sunday.

The joy with which St. Augustine addressed the newly baptized at Easter is the fruit of the Holy Spirit, and the Lord’s gift of peace. “I speak to you who have just been reborn in baptism, my little children in Christ, you who are the new offspring of the Church, gift of the Father, proof of Mother Church’s fruitfulness. All of you who stand fast in the Lord are a holy seed, a new colony of bees, the very flower of our ministry, and fruit of our toil, my joy and my crown.”

El Agua, el Espíritu y la Sangre POR OBISPO JOSEPH R. KOPACZ, D.D. “Dios de eterna misericordia, que en el mismo momento de la fiesta pascual enciendes la fe del pueblo que has hecho tuyo, aumenta, te rogamos, la gracia que has concedido, para que todos capten y comprendan correctamente en qué Fuente han sido lavados, por cual Espíritu han renacido, por cuya Sangre han sido redimidos.”

Esta colecta de apertura del segundo domingo de Pascua (o de la Divina Misericordia) es la oración profunda del sacerdote celebrante en nombre de todos los reunidos para que todos puedan captar y comprendan correctamente el misterio del plan de salvación de Dios como discípulos bautizados en la muerte y la resurrección de Jesucristo. Éste es el Agua, la Sangre y el Espíritu de los que habla San Juan, elocuentemente en su primera carta. Esta es la esperanza de la Pascua que compartió San Agustín en uno de sus Sermones de la Octava de Pascua. “Este es el día de la octava de tu nuevo nacimiento. ... Cuando el Señor resucitó, se despojó de la mortalidad de la carne; su Volume 67 Number 9 (ISSN 1529-1693)

P.O. Box 2130 Jackson, MS 39225-2130 Phone: 601-969-3581 E-mail: editor@jacksondiocese.org Publisher ........................................................................................... Bishop Joseph R. Kopacz

The Water, the Spirit and the Blood are the cord of three strands that cannot be easily undone. The Blood, the third element, was splattered everywhere during the Lord’s passion and along with water flowed from the side of the expired Savior on the Cross. In that moment of divine mercy, we see the flowing waters of Baptism and the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of the Lord.

For the first time during the Easter season, the Eucharistic Banquet is now open to the newly baptized who can partake fully of the mysteries of God’s love, the fruit of full initiation.

In another lifetime before the pandemic, we were reading about surveys revealing that many Catholics no longer believe in the real presence of the Body and Blood of the Lord under the appearance of bread and wine. This central dogma of our faith has been a stumbling block for many since our Lord’s Bread of Life Discourse in John’s Gospel. (Chapter 6) The following is taken from the Catechetical Lectures of St. Cyril of Jerusalem to those about to be baptized in the 4th century. “Since Christ himself has declared the bread to be his body, who can have any further doubt?

Since he himself has said quite categorically, this is my blood, who would dare to question it and say that it is not his blood? Therefore, it is with complete assurance that we receive the bread and wine as the body and blood of Christ. ... Do not then regard the Eucharistic elements as ordinary bread and wine. They are in fact the body and blood of the Lord, as he himself declared.

Whatever your senses may tell you; be strong in faith.”

As a people of tradition, by God’s grace, may we grasp and rightly understand the length and breath, height and depth of our Easter faith.

cuerpo resucitado seguía siendo el mismo cuerpo, pero ya no estaba sujeto a la muerte.

Por su resurrección, El consagró el domingo como el día del Señor.”

Como católicos somos un pueblo de una tradición que se remonta a casi 2000 años en la fuente de la Sagrada Escritura. Esto es evidente en el vínculo entre el Evangelio del Domingo de la Divina Misericordia y el Sacramento de la Confirmación ahora en curso en toda la Diócesis de Jackson.

El Señor crucificado y resucitado se apareció en el aposento alto, con su don de paz y el soplo del Espíritu Santo, a los 11 discípulos, acurrucados por miedo. La Confirmación se confiere con la Invocación del Espíritu Santo sellada en el Sagrado Crisma, y el propio saludo del Señor, “la paz sea contigo”. El Espíritu Santo está trabajando incesantemente en quien hemos renacido como nuevas creaciones para servir al plan divino de misericordia de Dios. Es un don y un misterio que reconcilia y levanta a los que están bajo el yugo del pecado y la vergüenza.

“Como el Padre me envió a mí, así también yo os envío”, así instruye Jesús a sus hermanos adoptivos. Ellos, con razón, podrían haber preguntado ¿a dónde nos envías, Señor? Sus órdenes de marcha eran claras, pero envueltas en misterio. Vaya, predique un Bautismo de arrepentimiento para el perdón de los pecados y haga discípulos de todas las naciones. El Bautismo de Arrepentimiento para el perdón de los pecados es la Fuente en la que hemos sido lavados, nuestra alianza con Dios renovada el Domingo de Resurrección.

La alegría con la que san Agustín se dirigió a los recién bautizados en Pascua es fruto del Espíritu Santo y un don de la paz del Señor. “Les hablo a ustedes – Continúa en la pág. 15 –

BISHOP’S SCHEDULE

Communications Director ...................................................................... Joanna Puddister King Production Manager ...................................................................................................Tereza Ma Contributors ......................................................................................................... Berta Mexidor ............................................................................................................ Cindy Wood MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC LV DQ Rႈ FLDO SXEOLFDWLRQ RI WKH 'LRFHVH RI -DFNVRQ ( $PLWH 6W -DFNVRQ 06 3XEOLVKHG WZLFH SHU PRQWK -DQXDU\ $SULO DQG 6HSWHPEHU 'HFHPEHU RQH SHU PRQWK -XQH -XO\ DQG $XJXVW 6XEVFULSWLRQ UDWH D \HDU LQ 0LVVLVVLSSL RXW RI VWDWH 3HULRGLFDO SRVWDJH DW -DFNVRQ 06 DQG DGGLWLRQDO HQWU\ Rႈ FHV POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Mississippi Catholic, P.O. Box 2130, Jackson, MS 39225-2130.

Website: www.mississippicatholic.com www.jacksondiocese.org

Saturday, April 24, 10:30 a.m. ² &RQÀ UPDWLRQ 0DVV $QQXQFLDWLRQ &ROXPEXV Saturday, April 24, 2:30 p.m. ² &RQÀ UPDWLRQ 0DVV 6W +HOHQ SDULVK $PRU\ Tuesday, April 24, 6 p.m. ² &RQÀ UPDWLRQ 0DVV 6W 0DU\ %DVLOLFD 1DW FKH] All events are subject to change.

Please check with local parishes or schools for further details.

APRIL 16, 2021 MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC

4 VOCATIONS CALLED BY NAME

The longer I walk with discerners the more I realize that I need to stop rushing. It took two-and-a-half years from the time I heard the Lord’s call to the priesthood until I ultimately enrolled in seminary. Sometimes I am tempted to forget that fact as I witness the journey of the men who are treading that same path today. It is easy to try to rush. It is easy to try to push, prod, and pull men through the door to the seminary. Discernment in a seminary or religious house really is wonderful, and I want as many good young Catholics as possible to experience it, but God’s time is not my time and I cannot rush it!

I know that there are many young men who are being called to the priesthood in our midst, and it is my job to help guide them along the path, but I also believe that they often know the trajectory of their journey much better than I do. A young man has to have the desire and the maturity to enter into formation fruitfully, but he also has to pick the right time. In my case, I had a contract that I needed to honor with my employer. I could have cut and run I suppose, but that course of action would not have brought the same peace as leaving the right way did. It also would not have set a great example to my employer! I began to really seriously consider entering the seminary about a year after I heard God’s call, but it took another year and a half for me to be able to leave the right way. And it was worth the wait, every minute of it.

I see this process being born out with the men and women that I work with here in the diocese. I wish I could bring about that perfect timing myself, but this is not my task. My task is to trust that the Lord is working, and to empower our discerners to trust their prayer and the path that the Lord has put them on. I thank you for your continued prayers. I assure you that they are working in the lives of men and women who know that the Lord has called them to something great.

I also want to take this space to let you know how hard our current seminarians are working. The six men that are studying for the priesthood ULJKW QRZ DUH WUXO\ VHHNLQJ DIWHU *RG·V ZLOO DQG , DP YHU\ JUDWHIXO WKDW WKLV LV WKH À UVW ´FURSµ RI VHPLQDULDQV WKDW , KDYH KDG WKH RSSRUWXQLW\ WR OHDG as Vocation Director. I know that many of you got to see our seminarians in action as they served at the altar and in parishes during their Easter break, and many of you told me how wonderful it was to have those men sharing their gifts back at home. I agree with you!

– Father Nick Adam Prediscernment Prayer Nights: Each event is from 6-7 p.m. unless otherwise noted.

Tuesday, Aprill 27 at Catholic Community of Meridian; 6-7 p.m. at St. Patrick

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Spirituality 5

MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC APRIL 16, 2021

The power of beauty IN EXILE

BY FATHER RON ROLHEISER, OMI The world will be saved by beauty! Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote that, Dorothy Day quoted it, and centuries before Jesus, Confucius made it central to his pedagogy. They were on to something. Beauty is a special language that cuts through and sidelines all the things that divide us – history, race, language, creed, ideology, politics, economic disparity, gender, sexual identity, and personal wounds. Beauty melts down all differences. Its speech, like that of a newborn, has no explicit words, but is a language so perfect that it can only be soiled by violating oneself. Two things in this world cannot be argued with, beauty and a baby.

They also cannot defend themselves, and have only their own vulnerability as protection.

In classical Western philosophy, beauty is seen as one of the transcendental properties of being, and therefore as one of the properties of God. God is understood as having four transcendental qualities, namely, as being One, True, Good and Beautiful.

Hence, beauty possesses a divine, sacred quality. Artists and everyone sensitive to aesthetics have always recognized this, not necessarily in that they affirm explicitly that beauty is a property of God, but that they recognize a godly quality in beauty; they sense a “blaspheme” whenever it is defaced, and feel the energy to create as divine.

Beauty, as we know, takes many forms. Who of us has not at times felt the stunning power of physical beauty? Who has not been momentarily transfixed by the beauty of a sunset, an ocean, a mountain range, the stars, a full moon, a desert landscape, a particular tree, a thunderstorm, fresh snow, a gentle rain, an animal in the wild, a work of art or architecture, or a human body? Physical beauty is self-justifying. It cannot be argued with and may never be denigrated by an appeal to something higher and more spiritual. It is unequivocally real and thus needs to be recognized, affirmed, and blessed.

For most of us, when we hear the word beauty, physical beauty is what comes to mind. Now, while that beauty is real, powerful, and can transform the heart, there are other kinds of beauty equally as powerful and transforming. I am not sure what language works in terms of what I am about to describe, so forgive me if my expression here is amateur and awkward, but we can speak, and need to, of beauty in the emotional and moral realm. There is something we might call emotional beauty or moral beauty.

Emotional beauty is not the beauty of a sunset or a great painting, but is the beauty of a particular expression of love, of empathy, or of compassion that, like a beautiful sunset, we are occasionally graced to witness. For example, we can be transfixed when seeing the miraculous rescue of a child, when seeing a helpless animal saved by rescuers, when seeing an elderly couple affectionately holding hands, or when hearing of a generous response by the public to a plea for help by a poor family. As with physical beauty, there is a divine quality here and, as with physical beauty, there is something here that only the most boorish of persons would dare smudge. However, whenever our emotions are involved there is always the danger of an unhealthy sentimentality also being present; but, that danger notwithstanding, our emotions, like our eyes, are also an opening to beauty.

Finally, not least, there is moral beauty, beauty of

soul. The salient example here is martyrdom and every other kind of love that sacrifices its own wishes, desires, and life for something higher. While this does not always make for a beautiful body, it does make for a beautiful soul. In affirming this, I am not thinking, first, of its most salient examples, the religious martyrs who gave up their lives rather than deny their faith, or even of persons like Mohandas Gandhi, Albert Schweitzer, Martin Luther King, Dorothy Day, Maximillian Kolbe, Oscar Romero, and the many today who give up their lives for others. These are powerful examples of moral beauty, but many of us see this first-hand in our own families and circle of friends. For example, I look at my own mother and dad who for most of their lives sacrificed to provide for a large family and, especially, to provide that fami-

ly with what is more important than food and clothing, namely, faith and moral guidance. There was a moral beauty in their sacrifice, though sometimes during those years, by Hollywood standards, my mom and dad looked more haggard than beautiful. Moral beauty, though, is measured by a different standard. That being said, there is also the need to be cautious here: while emotional beauty carries the risk of sentimentality, moral beauty carries the risk of fanaticism. Fanatics, serial killers, and snipers are also highly focused morally. Morality, like anything else, can be misguided.

The world will be saved by beauty! True, though I would employ the present tense, the world is being saved by beauty.

(Oblate Father Ron Rolheiser is a theologian, teacher and award-winning author. He can be contacted through his website www.ronrolheiser.com.)

The Pope’s Corner

Saints accompany, intercede for Christians in prayer

BY JUNNO AROCHO ESTEVES

long or short, or in an instant, but always a witness” of VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Christians are never alone God’s love.

The pope also highlighted the need for Christians to in prayer but instead are accompanied by myriad saints who protect them and seek God’s intercession, Pope pray for one another, which is “the first way of loving” others.

Francis said.

In times of tension, he said, “one way to dissolve the Whenever men or women open their hearts to God, they will always be in the “company of anonymous and conflict, to soften it, is to pray for the person with whom recognized saints who pray with us and who intercede I am in conflict. Something changes with prayer; the first for us as older brothers and sisters who have preceded thing that changes is my heart, my attitude. The Lord us on this same human adventure,” the pope said April changes it to make an encounter possible, a new encounter, and prevents the conflict from becoming a war 7 during his weekly general audience.

Continuing his series of talks on prayer, the pope re- without end.”

Pope Francis said the first thing people must do in flected on the connection between prayer and the communion of saints who are “not far from us” and are a times of anguish is to ask “our brothers and sisters, the reminder of Jesus Christ because they have also “walked saints above all, to pray for us” because they will “give us hand to obtain from God the graces we need most.” the path of life” as Christians.

Christians who “have not reached the breaking “In the church, there is no mourning that remains solitary, no tear that is shed in oblivion, because every- point” and persevere in times of trial perhaps owe it to thing breathes and participates in a common grace,” he the intercession of the saints who are not only in heaven, but also the holy men and women here on earth, the said.

The tradition of having graveyards around churches pope added.

“They don’t know it, neither do we, but there are is a sign of that sharing, he said. It is “as if to say that every Eucharist is attended in some way by those who saints, everyday saints, hidden saints or as I like to say have preceded us. There are our parents and grandpar- the ‘saints next door,’ those who live in life with us, who ents, our godfathers and godmothers, our catechists and work with us, and lead a life of holiness,” he said. other educators,” who have not only transmitted faith but also “the way of praying.”

The saints, he explained, are “witnesses that we do not adore – that is understood, we do not worship these saints – but whom we venerate and who in thousands of different ways bring us to Jesus Christ, the only Lord and mediator between God and human beings.”

Departing from his prepared remarks, the pope said the lives of saints also serve as a reminder that “even in our lives, though weak and marked by sin, holiness can blossom.”

“In the Gospels, we read that the first ‘canonized’ saint was a thief and he was ‘canonized’ not Pope Francis leads his general audience in the library of the Apostolic by a pope, but by Jesus himself,” Palace at the Vatican April 7, 2021. The pope said Christians are never he said. “Holiness is a path of life, alone in prayer but instead are accompanied by countless saints who of encounter with Jesus, whether have preceded them. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

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APRIL 16, 2021 MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC

JACKSON – Father Joe Tonos, now of St. John Oxford, and Father Brian Kaskie had a close relationship over the years going back to their seminary days.

Above Father Brian was featured in one of many cartoon's Father Joe prepared for his column space in Mississippi Catholic in the early 2000s.

Father David Buell (Maria) Knight Obituary MEMPHIS – Father David Knight, beloved priest, writer and friend to many across the world, died of congestive heart failure on March 21, 2021, at the Poor Clare Monastery in Huehuetenango, Guatemala, a religious community of cloistered sisters that he helped establish 40 years ago. He celebrated his 90th birthday just days before his death and was proud to be the oldest priest in the Catholic Diocese of Memphis.

Born on March 16, 1931, to the late Marion and Elizabeth (Buell) Knight in Dallas, Texas, Father Knight was one of three brothers raised in the Catholic faith. Another brother passed away as an infant. Father Knight entered the Jesuit Novitiate in France in 1948. He earned a master’s degree in philosophy from Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash., in 1952. He was ordained a Catholic priest at the Cathedral of Saint Jean in Lyon, France, on September 2, 1961.

After ordination, Father Knight served as a Catholic missionary in the African nation of Chad for three years. Upon his return to the United States, he pursued a doctorate in theology from Catholic University in Washington, D.C. Throughout his life, he taught at various universities including Catholic University, Loyola University in New Orleans, where he served as spiritual director of the Jesuit community, Christian Brothers University (CBU) in Memphis, and Memphis Theological Seminary.

Father Knight co-founded the House of the Lord in Memphis, a religious community, in 1979. He spent the remainder of his life as a priest serving the faithful in Catholic Diocese of Memphis in various roles. During his active ministry, he served as Diocesan Director of the Cursillo movement, Diocesan Spiritual Director of the Hispanic Catholic community and campus minister at CBU. He served as Pastor of Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Memphis for 14 years before he retired from active ministry on July 26, 2002. He resided at the Monastery of St. Clare, a contemplative community of cloistered sisters, in the Memphis community of Frayser until December 2019 when the monastery closed. While he lived there, he served as Chaplain to five different Women’s religious communities. Upon the monastery’s closure, Cardinal Alvaro Rammacini invited Father Knight to assist the Poor Clare community in Guatemala, where he is now buried.

A prolific writer, Father Knight published more than 40 books on the Catholic

faith and teachings, which inspired both lay people and theologians. His first book, His Way: An Everyday Plan for Following Jesus, which is a collection of reflections on the spirituality of the laity, sold more than 150,000 copies. The book was a catalyst in creating parish missions, retreats and discussion groups across the world. His book, Reaching Jesus: 5 Steps to a Fuller Life, led to his creation of the non-profit organization, Immersed in Christ, which encourages people to respond to the call to live a Christian life. In addition to writing, Father Knight conducted more than 500 missions, retreats and workshops across the U.S. and in 20 countries during his lifetime, including Australia, Canada, England, Ecuador, Germany, Guam, Guatemala, Haiti, Ireland, Japan, Korea and Spain.

Father Knight spent his religious life focused on helping people understand God’s love. He often told people during his spiritual retreats at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, “Our happiness is not dependent on anything on this earth.” He leaves behind his brother, Robert, of West Tisbury, Mass., Manuela Knight, the widow of his brother, Mickey, and many nieces, nephews and cousins.

After Easter, the Catholic Diocese of Memphis will look to offer a Mass in remembrance of Father David Buell (Maria) Knight. More details on the Mass will be forthcoming on the CDOM.org. ( Father David Knight Courtesy of the Diocese of Memphis)

MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC APRIL 16, 2021

DIOCESE 7

...There is no song, no lyric, there's no book that is going to sum up Brian...

– Continued from page 1 – well read he was, and you could hear it in his homilies. He had this masterful ability to find the good in all sorts of things in the culture – in books, movies and music and to gregation. … The shepherd knows his sheep.”

In his 29 years as a priest, Father Brian served parishes in Natchez, Madison and use that to explain the love of God.” Daniel Kaskie mentioned something similar at the close of Mass, saying “I’m sure Jackson, where he was rector of the Cathedral. He also served as director of seminarians and vocations for the diocese, as well as chaplain to St. Joseph School in Madison. he’s thinking ‘Quote the Beatles! Quote the Beatles, Daniel’” “But there is no song, no lyric, there’s no book that is going to sum up Brian. But I In 2009, Father Brian made his way to Pike County with assignment as pastor of St. think the shared experience y’all have is one bond that I think binds us all together,” Alphonsus parish in McComb, St. Teresa Chatawa and St. James Magnolia.

Daniel Kaskie, Father Brian’s brother, spoke of the love his brother had for St. said Kaskie.

That experience surely must be love.

Alphonsus at his Funeral Mass at the parish on Tuesday, April 6.

“Brian was one of those gifts that, I think, we all like to hold onto. I found out pretty quickly once he became a priest that he was in very capable hands in the communities he was in. Everyone loved and cared for him and when he found his home here in McComb, man, he loved McComb and McComb loved him right back, and it was a perfect fit I think for his last moments,” said Kaskie.

Father Aaron Williams, administrator of St. Joseph parish in Greenville, gave the homily and spoke of his years and experiences with Father Brian between third and eighth grade and then again entering seminary. He wanted to be a priest from a very young age and Father Brian encourage him through his journey to the priesthood.

“Do not pity the dead, Harry. Pity the living, and, above all those who live without love.”

Father Williams began his homily with an excerpt from J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, as he can’t help but think of Father Brian when he thinks about the Harry Potter series.

“For one thing,” he told family gathered for the funeral, “Brian borrowed and never returned more than one of my volumes,” joked Father Williams.

"Back in the day," Father Brian Kaskie and Father Joe Tonos share a laugh. The “My parents used cartoon piece on the left, drawn by Father Joe in the early 2000s, features Father to talk about how Brian as a "Kris Kringle." (Photo courtesy of Father Joe Tonos)

JACKSON – Bishop William Houck annoints Father Brian Kaskie's hands with Sacred Chrism at his ordination on June 6, 1992 at St. Richard Jackson. (Photo courtesy of archives)

8 DIOCESE

APRIL 16, 2021 MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC

PLEASE, GIVE GENEROUSLY! APRIL 24 & 25, 2021

MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC APRIL 16, 2021

DIOCESE 9

New document offers ways to foster Catholic-Methodist relationships

BY DENNIS SADOWSKI

cal prayer services for times of crisis, for people in need, including the poor, persecuted CLEVELAND (CNS) – A two-part publication emerging from the most recent and refugees, for Christian unity and for peace.

Bishop Johnson played a major role in developing the second part of the work. She round of dialogue between representatives of the U.S. Catholic bishops and the United told CNS that throughout her 40 years as an ordained minister, she “fell in love with Methodist Church offers practical helps and words of inspiration for day-to-day lives.

The work, “Catholics and Methodists Together,” reflects on commonly held beliefs, all the kinds of services we do and the congregations that are part of both bodies.”

“This is just the body of Christ,” Bishop Johnson said. identifies areas of theological agreement, and provides a guide to shared prayers and She also credited the collaboraworship services. tion between Methodist and Catholic Published in two parts, the dochumanitarian ministries in response ument “is really the spiritual fruit of to disasters, hunger, poverty and the the pilgrimage of faith that Catholics needs of prison inmates for helping and Methodists walk on together,” build bridges that strengthened the said Father Walter Kedjierski, execudialogues. tive director of the U.S. Conference of “The bridge keeps going further Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat of Ecuand further,” she said. menical and Interreligious Affairs.

Belcher, the theologian, said the “It’s people of faith coming togethdocument’s explanation of the comer and walking together,” Father Kedmon aspects and minor differences jierski said. found in prayers such as the Apostle’s The document emerged from the Creed and the Lord’s prayer between eighth round of a dialogue that was the two faith traditions can become a established in 1966 between United learning experience for Catholics and Methodists and Catholics. The most Methodists. She suggested that joint recent round began in 2015 and constudy groups can develop among concluded in 2020. gregations whereby each prayer can Bishop David P. Talley of Membe broken down into segments as litphis, Tennessee, and Bishop Peggy tle as two lines for discussion to help Johnson of the Eastern Pennsylvania understand the basic foundations of Conference of the United Methodist Christian faith.

Church co-chaired the dialogue.

“We want Catholics vested in the Participants included 10 Catholics flourishing of Methodists and vice and eight United Methodists who met versa,” Belcher said. twice a year in sessions hosted alterThe dialogues are expected to nately by each denomination. Each of Bishop David P. Talley of Memphis, Tenn., is seen in this 2019 file photo. He cothe earlier rounds of dialogue led to chaired the eighth round of the dialogue between the U.S. Conference of Catholic continue. Plans are underway for a publications that addressed the Eu- Bishops and the United Methodist Church. (CNS photo/Rick Musacchio, Tennessee ninth round, but its future will depend on how the coronavirus pandemic charist and ecology, common ecclesi- Register) evolves. Bishop Jeffrey M. Monforology, ethical issues regarding death ton of Steubenville, Ohio, and Bishop and dying, spirituality of the ordained ministry, sacramental theology and practice, and rights and responsibilities toward Kenneth H. Carter Jr. of the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church will be co-chairs. children’s education.

In the meantime, the United Methodist Church will be facing a major decision in Bishop Johnson told Catholic News Service the new work passes on “the tradition upcoming years as members around the world are expected to take up a proposal to and the goodwill and the understanding” between the two Christian denominations.

“It’s Christian. It’s Jesus. It’s based in God and the Holy Spirit. The things that we split the denomination over what it has called “fundamental differences” regarding its beliefs on same-sex marriage and LGBTQ clergy. disagree about are so much less compared to the things that we agree on,” she said.

Sixteen Methodist leaders from around the world signed a proposal in early 2020 The document’s first part, subtitled “We Believe, We Pray, We Act,” underscores the importance of the churches’ shared recognition of each other’s baptism. It includes that was to be voted on during the church’s general conference last May. However, the theological commentaries on the Apostles’ Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, the Ten Com- conference was delayed because of the pandemic.

If passed, the proposal would permit a “traditionalist” denomination to separate mandments and the love of God and neighbor.

Through the exploration of prayer and common beliefs, the document is meant to from the United Methodist Church, the second largest Protestant denomination in the touch “people within their faith lives and their day-to-day lives,” Father Kedjierski said. U.S. The church’s Book of Discipline that outlines its law and doctrine does not allow Kimberly Belcher, associate professor theology at the University of Notre Dame, a participant in the dialogue and co-author of the first part, said the document was pastors to perform same-sex marriages and prohibits “practicing” LGBTQ people from becoming ordained pastors. If the new traditionalist denomination is formed, the exwritten largely with people in the pews in mind.

“What we are doing is trying to think about what matters for Catholics, for Method- isting United Methodist Church would be able to repeal the prohibition of same-sex marriages and LGBTQ clergy. ists in their ordinary lives about ecumenical relationships,” Belcher told CNS. Such an action would result in a major roadblock on the road to future unity beBelcher said it’s the day-to-day relationships – which she described as ecumenical in nature – that the document is meant to address to help people grow in understand- tween the Catholic Church and United Methodist Church. Catholic doctrine prohibits ing and appreciation of each other: marriage of a Methodist and Catholic, children of same-sex marriage and permits sexual relations only between a married man and such a marriage, Methodists who teach at Catholic schools and Catholics who teach at woman.

If the split occurs, as observers expect, it is unlikely to affect the dialogues, however.

Methodists schools and more.

“We remain committed to our relationship with the United Methodist Church and “The ecumenical relationships are much more on the ground more than we realize on a regular basis,” said Belcher, who was invited to join the dialogue as a younger pray for Methodists as they discern these important moral issues while upholding genuinely Catholic positions on them,” Father Kedjierski said. theologian.

Bishop Johnson said she expects the dialogues to continue.

Bishop Johnson, the first woman United Methodist bishop to participate in the dia“We’ll have to keep talking is all I can say, and we’ll have to talk with each other, logues said she came to realize through her work the dialogues are important “because and, with the grace of God, to help us through the different conversations,” Bishop there’s so much more to talk about, so much more to share.”

The document’s second part, subtitled “Shared Prayers and Resources,” is a prac- Johnson said of the decision facing Methodist leaders.

Regardless of the Methodist outcome, Bishop Johnson said, “I firmly believe that tical guide for Catholics and United Methodists to learn, pray and worship together, God will make us one in the long run.”

Father Kedjierski said.

It details shared traditional prayers, such as the Stations of the Cross, and includes (Follow Sadowski on Twitter: @DennisSadowski) examples of Scripture-center and everyday prayers. It includes templates for ecumeni-

12 DIOCESE

APRIL 16, 2021 MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC

SVDs, Jim Crow and growing a better future for African Americans FROM THE ARCHIVES

intimidation, fraud, and outright murder, and racial segregation became largely a matter of

BY MARY WOODWARD custom. According to historian Neil McMillen, JACKSON – Not many people are aware that ‘Mississippi seems to have had fewer Jim Crow the first seminary for African American candilaws during the entire segregation period than dates to the priesthood began in Greenville, Mismost southern states.’ Wherever they turned, sissippi at Sacred Heart Parish in 1920. A small black Mississippians faced segregation. More ofgroup of devoted young men were formed in ten than not, Jim Crow customs required both the attic of the original school building there. separation and exclusion. The state legislature In 1923, the seminary moved to Bay St. Loupassed laws segregating trains in 1888 and is to the newly established St. Augustine Semistreetcars in 1904. At weddings and funerals, nary built by the Society of the Divine Word in courtrooms, public facilities, and other places priests (SVD’s) after years of dialogue with Bishused for social gathering, habit kept the races op Thomas Heslin and after his death in 1911, apart. The code of racial etiquette prohibited Bishop John Gunn. any form of interracial activity that might have Bishops Heslin and Gunn had a strong desire even remotely implied equality. Nonetheless, and mission to evangelize and grow the faith in blacks were more concerned with having equal the African American communities of Mississipaccess to facilities than they were with integrapi. A large percentage of African Americans in tion per se.” those years were former slaves and children of “In 1890 the Mississippi legislature called slaves. A good number had been catechized in a constitutional convention expressly to disthe Catholic faith and baptized by the earlier franchise blacks. The Second Mississippi Plan Bishops of the diocese. emerged from this meeting, imposing literaBishop Heslin and his successor Bishop cy requirements, poll taxes, and laws denying Gunn saw a real need for this growing Cathothe vote to anyone convicted of bribery, arson, lic community to have priests from their own murder, theft, or burglary — crimes for which ranks. At the turn of the 20th century, Bishop African Americans were much more likely to Heslin invited the SVD’s to serve in the diocese be convicted than whites. Following Mississipand establish missions to specifically serve Afripi’s lead, other southern states began to enact can Americans. laws to deny blacks the franchise. The US SuThe SVD’s, founded in 1875 by Rev. Arpreme Court’s decision in Williams v. Mississipnold Janssens in the Netherlands, first arrived pi (1898) added to African Americans’ political in the U.S. in 1897 near Chicago. A few years JACKSON – 1936 ordination of Father Clarence Howard and Fa- impotence by denying them federal civil rights later in 1905, they found themselves in Missis- ther Orion Wells, SVDs by Bishop R. O. Gerow. (Photos from the law protection.” sippi establishing these missions and growing archives) As we have explored in previous columns, the faith – the earliest of these blacks and whites were together being Vicksburg St. Mary, Jacksacramentally in the early days of son Holy Ghost, and Yazoo City the diocese. This continued even St. Francis. They also would be after the Civil War, but when in Meridian, Indianola, Mound the protections of reconstruction Bayou and Clarksdale along with were gone, segregation took hold many smaller missions that have fiercely. been absorbed by larger parishes In navigating these evil cirthroughout the years. cumstances, Bishops Heslin and Getting back to the first semiGunn found a way to persevere nary, the point of dialogue made in serving the African American more than 100 years ago was, the community by arranging for the seminary training for these young SVD’s to establish a seminary for men of color should be done by a black men to study for the priestreligious order and not at a semihood and serve in their own comnary forming diocesan clergy. munities. Following the path of One may think this is an obvitheir times to establish a parallel ous choice because the SVD’s had society, these two bishops opened a charism to serve the African the door to the empowerment of American community, but actuthe African American Catholic ally, that was an afterthought accommunity in our diocese and in cording to correspondence in the the United States. archives. Both Bishop Heslin and Seeing the need for black Bishop Gunn believed the current Catholics to see the face of Christ diocesan clergy being ingrained as a familiar one was a profound in the culture and climate of the step in the journey of faith and diocese would not be accepting or justice in our state. Looking back welcoming of African American on this effort, it seems to have priests among their ranks. been a calculated move in the Rectory-living would have hopes of growing a better future been considered illegal if black Bishop Thomas Heslin – One of his major ini- Bishop John Edward Gunn, SM arranged for for the African American commuand white priests were assigned tiatives was to evangelize and establish mis- the SVD's to establish a seminary for black nity and for the universal church. together. The Jim Crow laws and sions among African Americans.

And it all started in the Mississippi men to study for the priesthood. culture of intimidation are far too Delta. complex to address in an archives column. I will share the following from David H. Jackson’s section in the Mississippi Encyclopedia: (Mary Woodward is Chancellor and Archivist for the Diocese of Jackson.)

“After 1877 African Americans lost their political rights in Mississippi through

APRIL 16, 2021 MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC

DIOCESE 13 © 2019/www.nbccongress.org

2021 Catholic Service Appeal Alleluia! Alleluia! Christ has risen!

Our risen Lord is the sign of God’s unfailing love for each of us. He is our strength that will get us through the good times as well as the bad times.

The past twelve months have been difficult in so many ways. Our lives have been turned upside down with this pandemic. We must acknowledge these difficulties that we have faced in our personal lives as well as in our churches. With each passing day their seems to be hope on the horizon. More and more people are getting vaccinated and with each passing day we see normalcy on the horizon. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of those who have given to the Catholic Service Appeal. Your generosity supports so many ministries in our diocese that are important to our Catholic faith.

Like so many things that have struggled in the past year, so has our appeal. We realize that many will not be able to give this year and our prayers are with you. For those of you who are able I ask that you prayerfully consider your gift to the Catholic Service Appeal. You can send your pledge into our office or you can make an online gift at csa.jacksondiocese.org. Our office is also available to help you with your online gift by calling Rebecca Harris at 601-960-8477 or you can scan this code to go directly to the online giving page.

Warmest Regards,

PARISH (‘green’ equals or exceeds goal ) Aberdeen, St. Francis of Assisi Amory, St. Helen Anguilla, Our Mother of Mercy Mission Batesville, St. Mary Belzoni, All Saints Booneville, St. Francis of Assisi Brookhaven, St. Francis of Assisi Parish Bruce, St. Luke the Evangelist Camden, Sacred Heart Canton, Holy Child Jesus Canton, Sacred Heart Carthage, St. Anne Charleston, St. John Chatawa, St. Teresa of Avila Clarksdale, Immaculate Conception Clarksdale, St. Elizabeth Cleveland, Our Lady of Victories Clinton, Holy Savior Parish Columbus, Annunciation Conehatta, St. Catherine Mission Corinth, St. James the Less Crystal Springs, St. John Fayette, St. Anne Flowood, St. Paul Forest, St. Michael Fulton, Christ the King Mission Gloster, Holy Family Mission Gluckstadt, St. Joseph Greenville, Sacred Heart Greenville, St. Joseph Greenwood, Immaculate Heart of Mary Greenwood, St. Francis of Assisi Grenada, St. Peter Hazlehurst, St. Martin of Tours Hernando, Holy Spirit Hollandale, Immaculate Conception Holly Springs, St. Joseph Houston, Immaculate Heart of Mary Indianola, Immaculate Conception Indianola, St. Benedict the Moor Iuka, St. Mary Mission Jackson, Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle Jackson, Christ the King Jackson, Holy Family Jackson, Holy Ghost Out of Diocese Jackson, Saint Dominic Health Services

PARISH GOALS $3, 069 $5,848 $1,287 $6,004 $2,932 $1,949 $15,112 $5,046 $3,233 $16,065 $3,651 $1,221 $5,369 $2,698 $19,363 $19,246 $22,254 $30,581 $465 $7,745 $4,078 $2,200 $62,284 $4,084 $2,302 $1,437 $40,022 $6,127 $26,527 $12,914 $5,511 $6,135 $3,238 $17,651 $1,177 $3,295 $2,535 $4,598 $1,928 $1,766 $20,056 $10,038 $8,636 $8,063 $5,000 $25,000

Scan to Give

# OF TOTAL PLEGDES PLEGDES 5 18 2 11 7 7 23 6 4 26 1 1 8 4 17 43 53 39 0 12 7 5 111 4 8 3 73 12 23 19 11 23 2 49 1 12 4 5 7 0 36 24 20 30 13 0

$1,140 $5,924 $600 $6,114 $2,990 $750 $3,455 $931 $1,215 $17,263 $354 $50 $1,365 $1,842 $4,106 $14,302 $24,905 $7,774 $2,445 $3,875 $657 $41,994 $902 $632 $350 $23,455 $1,742 $15,566 $5,856 $1,909 $3,701 $610 $18,185 $500 $1,717 $1,585 $2,100 $1,368 $24,746 $5,443 $3,885 $7,112 $3,081 $25,000

PARISH GOALS

PARISH Jackson, St. Richard of Chichester Jackson, St. Therese Kosciusko, St. Therese Leland, St. James Lexington, St. Thomas Louisville, Sacred Heart Macon, Corpus Christi Mission Madison, St. Francis of Assisi Magee, St. Stephen Magnolia, St. James Mission McComb, St. Alphonsus Meridian, St. Joseph Meridian, St. Patrick Natchez, Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Natchez, Holy Family Natchez, St. Mary Basilica New Albany, St. Francis of Assisi Newton, St. Anne Mission Olive Branch, Queen of Peace Oxford, St. John Paulding, St. Michael Pearl, St. Jude Philadelphia, Holy Cross Philadelphia, Holy Rosary Indian Pearl River, St. Therese Pontotoc, St. Christopher Mission Port Gibson, St. Joseph Parish Raymond, Immaculate Conception Ripley, St. Matthew Mission Robinsonville, Good Shepherd Rosedale, Sacred Heart Sardis, St. John the Baptist Mission Senatobia, St. Gregory the Great Shaw, St. Francis of Assisi Shelby, St. Mary Southaven, Christ the King Starkville, St. Joseph Tupelo, St. James Vicksburg, St. Mary Vicksburg, St. Michael Vicksburg, St. Paul Walls, Sacred Heart Southern Missions West Point, Immaculate Conception Winona, Sacred Heart Mission Woodville, St. Joseph Yazoo City, St. Mary

Totals

# OF TOTAL PLEGDES PLEGDES

$120,978 $13,747 $2,607 $4,885 $1,727 $4,355 $2,681 $78,520 $3,090 $21,686 $11,218 $34,115 $4,923

78 18 6 2 0 15 0 78 7 25 7 43 6

$67,749 $4,854 $1,248 $80 $8,118 0 $72,262 $405 $9,617 $1,265 $15,608 $1,278

$7,572 $33,373 $4,929 $20,241 $35,530 $21,500 $7,450 $3,598 $2,332 $5,648 $2,734 $1,734 $1,529 $4,053 $937 $4,105 $2,450 $2,918 $1,337 $19,100 $30,950 $41,000 $6,388 $23,942 $19,558 $65,000 $7,554 $1,436 $3,578 $6,906

7 38 13 72 50 50 25 16 2 8 4 6 4 5 1 8 6 6 5 47 27 50 21 43 23 0 18 4 6 13

$750 $27,214 $3,310 $23,774 $13,531 $13,985 $6,235 $3,384 $106 $2,938 $1,268 $1,505 $220 $1,015 $100 $2,573 $782 $815 $545 $8,029 $5,973 $20,837 $2,203 $18,020 $7,613 $6,400 $430 $680 $2,105

$1,153,654

1652

$652,318

14 NATION

APRIL 16, 2021 MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC

At 105, Catholic woman beats COVID-19 with a lot of faith and a little gin

BY LOIS ROGERS TRENTON, N.J. (CNS) – Lucia DeClerck has survived the 1918 influenza pandemic, two world wars, the loss of three husbands, one son and many of her physicians.

Recently added to the list: COVID-19, which she tested positive for on her 105th birthday.

"She sailed through the twoweek quarantine like a champ without any symptoms," said her granddaughter, Shawn Laws O'Neil.

The tale triggered a flurry of recent articles; her uplifting health news spread far and wide, resulting in an outpouring of greetings from around the globe – all of which reached DeClerck at her residence in Mystic Meadows Rehab and Nursing Center in Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey.

There, ensconced in a room adorned with pictures of saints and an olive wood cross from the Holy Land, she recently shared her advice for a long Lucia DeClerck enjoys cake on her 100th birthday Jan. 25, 2016. DeClerck recently recovered life: prayer without ceasing; love from COVID-19 after being diagnosed with the disease Jan. 25, 2021, her 105th birthday. (CNS without constraint; abiding con- photo/Handout via Trenton Monitor) cern for others; an open door; large celebration arranged no junk food; and, oh yes, nine golden raisins soaked in by family members and gin every day as a tonic. attended by parishioners "I found the recipe in a cathedral in Honolulu years and friends. A papal blessago, and I have followed it ever since. It's supposed ing is usually handwritten to cure anything that is wrong," DeClerck confirmed in calligraphy on parchgood-naturedly. ment.

DeClerck was born Jan. 25, 1916, in Maui, Hawaii, He also arranged a and at age 2, she lived through the Spanish flu. When blessing for DeClerck's her mother left Hawaii during hard economic times to 105th birthday but notwork in Wyoming, DeClerck was cared for by her granded he couldn't present father, who sent her to a convent school, where she deit in person because of veloped a steadfast faith and enduring love of prayer.

COVID-19 safety regula"I grew up Catholic, and I've always been a very tions. strong believer," she told The Monitor, Trenton's dioce"I had to put it in a box san newspaper. She added that she "doesn't pray for anyfor her," the priest said, thing in particular. I just pray 24/7 for the whole world." adding that he is looking Her strong belief and the power of prayer carried for a beautiful frame for her through the decades, from Wyoming to California when he is able to see her and back to Hawaii. During that time, she became the again. mother of three sons.

He is hoping that will DeClerck later moved to New Jersey in her late 70s be sometime soon. to be closer to her oldest child, Henry Laws III, and his About four years ago, wife, Lillie Jean. She decided at age 90 to move to StafDeClerck transferred from ford on the Bay Apartments in Manahawkin, a senior the senior residence to residence with activities and the fellowship she craved.

Mystic Meadows for rehab During her years there, she helped establish a weekly after sustaining a fall, her Mass for the residents. Father Nestor Chavenia, parochial son Henry said. She liked vicar in St. Mary's Parish in Barnegat, first encountered it so much, she decided to DeClerck when she was a parishioner there. stay.

He remembers meeting DeClerck when she introHe said his mother duced herself to him in 2012 saying: "I am the oldest – who has five grandperson here. You can consider me your grandma." children, 12 great-grandThey exchanged the first of countless hugs, he said, children and 11 and bonded during the years she was a parishioner. great-great-grandchildren "She is a very lovely and beautiful lady" of great faith, – has "the entire love of said Father Chavenia, who worked with parishioners and the people in the facility, friends to arrange a papal blessing for DeClerck's 100th so much so that they gave birthday. her space in the conferThe first blessing, he recalled, was presented during a

ence room to be set up as a chapel."

Administrator Michael Neiman, who is Jewish, said the affection is mutual.

"What is amazing is that she is so positive" in her faith and that her presence acts like a magnet to others, he said.

"When we used to allow visitors, everyone would stop by her room to visit," he said of DeClerck, who "always has a rosary in her hand."

Neiman said she gives strength to the staff and residents. "She brings blessings to everyone and prays with all who have need of it."

"You feel the extra goodness in her," he said, adding that he goes in to pray with her at least once a day, and if he's feeling down, he goes twice.

(Rogers writes for The Monitor, newspaper of the Diocese of Trenton.)

dIOCESE 15

MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC APRIL 16, 2021

JACKSON – St. Richard second graders reenact the Stations of the Cross. (Photo by Chelsea Hamilton)

Pastoral Assignment

PEARL – St. Jude parish meet April 2 for walking the Stations of the Cross. (Photo by Tereza Ma)

Father Suresh Reddy Thirumalareddy Father Suresh Reddy Thirumalareddy appointed as administrator of St. Alphonsus McComb in addition to his duties as pastor of Magnolia St. James, effective April 16, 2021.

CLARKSDALE – St. Elizabeth students perform the Stations of the Cross. Pictured left to right: Isabel Walker (Veronica), William Walker (Jesus), Luke Agostinelli (Simon of Cyrene) and Sam Stonestreet (Roman soldier). (Photo by Derrick Faucheux) NATCHEZ – At Assumption of Blessed Virgin Mary parish displayed their St. Joseph Altar for his feast day on March 19. (Photo

by Maureen Irby)

JACKSON – (Left to right) Pam Hart, Community Relations Manager; Melanie Morgan, Marketing Director; Wanda Thomas, Executive Director; and Michael Crandall, Bank President Canton branch. Thank you to Trustmark National Bank for their generous donation through the Business Children’s Promise Tax Credit. For more information on the Individual Children’s Promise Tax Credit, call 601-326-3714. (Photo by Michael Thomas)

Bishop Joseph R. Kopacz Diocese of Jackson

‘... En ese momento de la divina misericordia ...’ que acaban de renacer en el bautismo, mis hijitos en Cristo, ustedes que son la nueva descendencia de la Iglesia, don del Padre, prueba de la fecundidad de la Madre Iglesia. Todos ustedes que están firmes en el Señor son una semilla santa, una nueva colonia de abejas, la flor misma de nuestro ministerio y el fruto de nuestro trabajo, mi gozo y mi corona.”

El Agua, el Espíritu y la Sangre son el cordón de tres hilos que no se pueden deshacer fácilmente. La sangre, el tercer elemento, se esparció por todas partes durante la pasión del Señor y junto con el agua fluyó del costado del salvador muerto en la cruz. En ese momento de la divina misericordia, vemos las aguas fluidas del Bautismo y el Sacramento del Cuerpo y la Sangre del Señor. Por primera vez durante el tiempo pascual, el banquete eucarístico está ahora abierto a los recién bautizados que pueden participar plenamente de los misterios del amor de Dios, fruto de la plena iniciación.

En la vida antes de la pandemia, leíamos sobre encuestas que revelaban que muchos católicos ya no creen en la presencia real del Cuerpo y la Sangre del Señor bajo la apariencia del pan y el vino. Este dogma central de nuestra fe ha sido un obstáculo para muchos desde el Discurso del Pan de Vida de nuestro Señor en el Evangelio de Juan. (Capítulo 6) Lo siguiente está tomado de las Conferencias Catequéticas de San Cirilo de Jerusalén a los que están a punto de ser bautizados en el siglo IV. “Ya que Cristo mismo ha declarado que el pan es su cuerpo, ¿quién puede tener más dudas?

Como él mismo ha dicho de manera bastante categórica, esta es mi sangre, ¿quién se atrevería a cuestionarlo y decir que no es su sangre? Por lo tanto, recibimos con total seguridad el pan y el vino como el cuerpo y la sangre de Cristo. ... No consideres entonces los elementos eucarísticos como pan y vino ordinarios. De hecho, son el cuerpo y la sangre del Señor, como él mismo declaró. Lo que sea que te digan tus sentidos; sé fuerte en la fe“.

Como pueblo de tradición, y por la gracia de Dios, debemos asirnos y comprendamos correctamente la duración, el aliento, la altura y la profundidad de nuestra fe Pascual.

– Viene de la pág. 3 –

16 Columns

APRIL 16, 2021 MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC

Novenas: powerful periods of prayer THINGS OLD AND NEW

BY RUTH POWERS With the increasing popularity of the Divine Mercy Novena, which began on Good Friday and ended on the Sunday after Easter, many Catholics are rediscovering an ancient form of Catholic prayer which has fallen out of regular use in recent years — the novena. “Novena” comes from the Latin word novem (nine) and refers to a nine-day period of public or private prayer to obtain special graces, to ask for special favors, or to make special petitions.

There is no mention of nine-day celebrations among the Jewish people in the Old Testament, so it is likely that the origin of the novena is not in Jewish practice. However, Roman culture had a tradition of celebrating nine days of prayer for various reasons, such as to avert some evil predicted by soothsayers or in the aftermath of some “wonder.” There was also a nine-day period of mourning after the death of a loved one, with a special feast on the ninth day. These practices make it likely that the origin of the novena is in the adaptation of Roman culture to Christianity as the Christian religion began to spread outside of Palestine. The very first novena of the followers of Christ, however, is described in the New Testament. Between the Ascension of Christ and the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost nine days later, the Acts of the Apostles recounts that they spent the time in constant prayer.

In the ancient church, novenas continued to be associated with nine days of prayer after someone had died, just as in the pagan Roman community. For this reason, some of the Church Fathers, such as Augustine, warned against the practice. As Christianity spread, however, the practice expanded to include periods of prayer honoring a particular saint, in preparation for a feast day, or to ask for special favors from God. Church writers began to associate the nine days with specifically Christian themes, such as the nine months Jesus spent in the womb of Mary, Jesus giving up his spirit at the ninth hour, and the nine days between the Ascension and Pentecost. Some writers also gave numbers various symbolic meanings. The number ten was seen as symbolic of the perfection of God, so the number nine was seen as symbolic of imperfect humans turning toward God. By the Middle Ages, novenas of all types had become popular, especially

those associated with Mary. After the Protestant Reformation, novenas used by Catholics had to have papal approval, and Pope Pius IX (pope from 1846 to 1878) was known for approving large numbers of novenas and promoting their use.

Novenas generally have one or more of four basic purposes.

There are mourning novenas to pray for the soul of a departed loved one either before or after burials, which was their original use. Preparation novenas are joyful and are prayed in preparation for a feast day. Petition novenas ask God for intervention or some other help, usually through the intercession of a saint. Finally, Indulgence novenas are acts of penance and are usually said in conjunction with the sacrament of Reconciliation.

Novenas can be a spiritually fruitful form of devotion when approached properly.

First, we must remember that a novena is an act of devotion to God. One possible reason for the decline in popularity of novenas recently is that they came to have superstitious overtones. Some people approached them almost as a form of “magic,” believing that if they said a particular novena their prayer would always be granted, rather than seeing a novena as ultimately an act of devotion with its outcome dependent on God’s will. The traditional novena is said over a period of nine days although it can be said in a shorter format by saying the prayers once per hour over a period of nine hours. It is helpful to pray the novena at the same time each day or each hour to develop the discipline of prayer. Novenas can be prayed privately or with a group.

Some parishes have even experimented with praying a novena in a social media live stream that people can join virtually!

If you decide to explore this devotional practice further, there is available a multitude of novenas to many different saints, for many different needs and for many different feasts. Try one!

(Ruth Powers is the Program Coordinator for St. Mary Basilica Parish in Natchez.)

Consider mercy FROM THE HERMITAGE BY

SISTER ALIES THERESE

I was particularly reminded of mercy when Pope Francis was in Iraq. He has been heavily quoted, but this touched my heart, so I offer it again: “From this place, where faith was born, from the land of our Father Abraham, let us affirm that God is merciful, and that the greatest blasphemy is to profane God’s Name by hating our brothers and sister ... Peace begins with the decision not to have enemies!” (Pope Francis, Ur, 6Mar21) In fact, I suspect that everything we have had, have now, are, or want to be is tied up in this web of God’s mercy. If like the Pharisee we try to wriggle out of the web and think only of ourselves, rather than like the tax-collector who knows his blessing is in God alone ... well, how will we reach the mercy seat?

A few years ago, I wrote this little meditation: “Where do you want to meet, greet, and spend all of eternity? ‘Come ye Disconsolate,’ where? At the mercy seat, the very throne of God. How shall we arrive there?

We shall be carried on the shoulders of the Good Shepherd, in the arms of friends who love us, or by catching onto the coattails of that ‘holy’ friend who, as s/he ascends toward heaven, carries us along, to Jesus. The question God will ask each of us as we stand before this mercy seat is, where are all the others? Who did you bring with you? Who did you enable to receive mercy that they might never again live an ungrateful or useless life? Why are you here by yourself, and where are

your wounds ... what did you do with what came your way? You know the scars that still hurt a bit? The terrible wounds of childhood or the loss of a child. Maybe the scars are from addictions or physical abuse? Regrets or what you did to others? Sin. The mercy seat is for those who were changed by God’s mercy to the extent that nothing means more to them than being a wounded servant like Jesus. If you wish to sit at the mercy seat with Jesus and His friends, experience the fulfillment of joy and love for eternity, become a mercy-maker and bring lots of others along with you.” (The Mercy Seat, pg. 43, Contemplative Drawing and the Gifts of Mercy, 2016) This year has been tough. Lots of negatives and lots of opportunities maybe for the first time to learn real service, real mercy? Who did we see who really needed us? And what did we do?

St. Sister Faustina tells this: “Jesus came to the main entrance (of the convent) today, under the guise of a poor young man who was emaciated, barefoot and bareheaded, with his clothes in tatters. He was frozen as the day was cold and rainy. I went to the kitchen, searched about, found nothing but some soup I reheated and crumbled in some bread. He ate it and told me He was the Lord of heaven and earth. When I saw Him as He was, He vanished from my sight ... in my meditation I heard these words in my soul: ‘My daughter, the blessings of the poor who bless Me as they leave your gate have reached my ears. And your compassion, within the bounds of obedience, has pleased Me. ... I have tasted the fruits of your mercy.’” (St. Faustina’s Diary, #1312, 2005).

Until we literally bump into the mercy of God everything done to us or that we have done to others remains festering deep within. When we are brave enough

to accept God’s mercy and grace to give it over, we change our focus, and our life is shiny and new. Then we can become true friends, real lovers, people of the Way. Then we can recognize Jesus in the poor, Jesus in the rich, Jesus in everyone! Wound together in the soft web of God’s mercy we will be gently held, by hands wounded for us, and full of joy.

‘Hold a true friend with both your hands.’ (Nigerian Proverb) St. Augustine tells us what sitting at the mercy seat is going to be like. I want to be there, with you and all the people God has in mind, and that is everyone who wants to come! Nothing completes our life, not another person, thing, or duty. Nothing is enough until filled with mercy.

“When I am completely united to You, there will be no more sorrows or trials; entirely full of You, my life will be complete.” (Augustine, Confessions) BLESSINGS. (sister alies is a canonically vowed hermit with days formed around prayer and writing.)

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BRIEFS 17

MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC APRIL 16, 2021 the start of the online convention with participants joining in from all 50 states, retired Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas of Tucson, Arizona, who is chairman of NCEA's board of directors, thanked Catholic educators in a video message for how they "stepped up in the midst of the pandemic" saying their enthusiasm and creativity enabled many schools to keep going.

Volunteers with Catholic Charities of San Antonio pass food supplies at the St. Stephen's CARE Center in San Antonio May 6, 2020, to be delivered to people in VATICAN CITY need. (CNS photo/courtesy Catholic Charities of San Antonio) (CNS) – Poor countries cannot be expected to recover SAN ANTONIO (CNS) – As the U.S. took in almost from the current financial crisis if the world returns to 19,000 migrant children, labeled "unaccompanied mi- an economic model in which a small minority of people nors," in March, faith-based organizations such as Cath- owns half of the world's wealth, Pope Francis said. In a olic Charities throughout the U.S. have been doing their message to participants at the World Bank Group and part to help. In Texas, Catholic Charities of the Archdi- International Monetary Fund 2021 virtual spring meetocese of San Antonio set up over 2,000 cots for their ings April 5-11, the pope said that despite "our deeply guests at the Freeman Coliseum to "welcome and care held convictions that all men and women are created for unaccompanied migrant children," the organization equal, many of our brothers and sisters in the human said March 30 on its website. Staff and volunteers from family, especially those at the margins of society, are eflocal churches have assembled hygiene kits of toothpaste fectively excluded from the financial world. If we are to and soap to give to minors who have been allowed into come out of this situation as a better, more humane and the country at its southern border with Mexico and are solidary world, new and creative forms of social, political waiting to be reunited with family or who will soon go and economic participation must be devised, sensitive to live with sponsors. "It is a privilege to serve the com- the voice of the poor and committed to including them munity and an honor to help as much as we can these in the building of our common future," he said. Although children who have been separated from their parents countries are formulating their own recovery plans, the for some time, especially in a country that is not their pope wrote, there is a need for a global plan to create own," said Antonio Fernandez, president and CEO of new institutions to advance "the integral human developSan Antonio's Catholic Charities. "While I understand ment of all peoples."

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Increasing vocations to that this could be considered a political issue for many, it is strictly a humanitarian one to us at Catholic Charities." the priesthood, improving the way laypeople and priests WASHINGTON (CNS) – No one has to tell Catholic work together and ensuring that service, not power, school teachers how different this past year has been. motivates the request for ordination are all possible At the start of the pandemic last spring, most Catholic outcomes of a major symposium being planned by the schools adapted to online schooling and continued that Vatican in February 2022. "A theological symposium way until the end of the school year. At the start of this does not claim to offer practical solutions to all the passchool year, many of these schools across the country toral and missionary problems of the church, but it can reopened in person, with multiple safety protocols in help us deepen the foundation of the church's mission," place, or they operated under a hybrid model with some said Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation students attending classes in person and other students for Bishops and the chief organizer of the symposium planned for Feb. 17-19, 2022. The symposium, "Toward in class virtually. Pandemic

VATICAN

NATION

learning impacted Catholic preschools to high schools across the country and its success seemed to hinge primarily on the flexibility of students and teachers alike.

That's why it's not surprising the topic of pandemic learning was a theme of so many of the workshops offered during this year's annual National Catholic Educational Association convention April 6-8. Even the convention, which often draws thousands of participants, was virtual for the second year in a row, due to pandemic restrictions. At

a Fundamental Theology of the Priesthood," seeks to encourage an understanding of ministerial priesthood that is rooted in the priesthood of all believers conferred at baptism, getting away from the idea of ordained ministry as belonging to "ecclesiastical power," the cardinal said at a news conference April 12. The three-day gathering, the cardinal said, is aimed specifically at bishops and delegations of theologians and vocations personnel from every country, although it will be open to other theologians and people interested in the topic. The relationship between baptism and ordained ministry needs greater emphasis today, Cardinal Ouellet said, but reviewing the foundations of a theology of priesthood also "involves ecumenical questions not to be ignored, as well as the cultural movements that question the place of women in the church."

WORLD BELFAST, Northern Ireland (CNS) – The Catholic bishop of Belfast urged politicians to be more careful about their language as the city was engulfed in nightly violence. Bishop Noel Treanor also appealed to young people "to stop engaging in disturbance and violent activity now" after 74 members of the police service were injured. Tension has risen after a decision by the authorities not to prosecute members of the Sinn Féin party – largely supported by Catholics – for breaches of COVID-19 restrictions at a funeral. The leader of the Democratic Unionist Party – largely supported by Protestants – has been deeply critical of the decision and called on police chief Simon Byrne to resign. The city has witnessed some of the worst rioting in recent years and, for the first time April 8, police used water cannon to disperse young Protestants angry at the decision. Gasoline bombs, fireworks and stones were used to attack police. A journalist was attacked, and a bus driver was injured when his public bus was hijacked and set on fire.

"Sadly, over the past week, we have experienced a return to civic unrest and violence on our streets," Bishop Treanor said.

The Diocese of Jackson has launched a third-party reporting system that will enable all diocesan employees, volunteers and parishioners to anonymously (or named if preferred) make reports. Examples of this activity include fraud, misconduct, safety violations, harassment or substance abuse occurring at a Catholic parish, Catholic school or at the diocesan level.

The system is operated by Lighthouse Services. Based in Deerfield, Illinois, Lighthouse Services maintains ethics, safety and fraud hotlines for over 4,100 organizations between the U.S. and abroad.

To make a report visit www.lighthouse-services. com/jacksondiocese or call 888-830-0004 (English) or 800-216-1288 (Spanish).

The Association of Priests of the Dioceses of Jackson and Biloxi provide a small pension to our retired priests. As you consider your estate plans, please remember these faithful servants by making a donation or leaving a bequest to the Association of Priests. Our parish priests dedicate their lives to caring for us, their flocks. Let us now care for them in their retirement. Donations can be made payable to the Association of Priests and can be mailed to: Diocese of Jackson, Attn: Cathy Pendleton, P.O. Box 2248, Jackson, MS 39225-2248

18 youth

APRIL 16, 2021 MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC

In person mass

Welcome to the church

JACKSON – St. Richard Pre-K students attend their first in-person Mass this year. Front row Brittany Butler, Patti Skipper and Kay Sibley. (Photo by Chelsea Hamilton) NEW ALBANY – The Lumpkin family led by Kyle and Kristina have chosen to join the church and bring with them their five beautiful children (Gabriel, Harley, Joanna, Wyatt and little Charlotte). Pictured left to right baptising Gabriel Lumpkin: Father Jesuraj (Raja) Xavier, Parks Smith (godfather) holding Mary Smith, Kristina Lumpkin, Kyle Lumpkin, Vance Smith (godmother) and Dr. Donnie Rossetti, assisting. Also welcomed into the parish were Deidre Griffis and Efrain Medina. (Photo by Jamie Fetter)

Prize inside

COLUMBUS – The Kindergarten class at Annunciation School had a fun-filled Easter Egg hunt on Tuesday, April 6 with the help of the seventh grade class.

Pictured are James Thomas and Lola Sullivan. (Photo by Katie Fenstermacher)

MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC APRIL 16, 2021

Exploring Egypt

YOUTH 19 Spending time with the Lord

MADISON – St. Anthony third graders Maddy Reza, Iliya Buck, Natalia Rojas, Charlie Scott, Haley Hall and Vivi Antonaros learn about Egyptian culture during their celebration of Egypt Day. (Photo by Michele Warnock)

Fun, games and appreciation

COLUMBUS – Annunciation eighth graders celebrated Eucharistic Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament on Friday, April 9. (Photo by Katie Fenstermacher)

CLINTON – The ladies of the CYO from Holy Savior Clinton hosted the Dominican sisters for an afternoon of fun and appreciation. Pictured are CYO members and sisters mingling and enjoying fellowship. (Photo by Hunter Yentzen)

Here I am

SOUTHAVEN – In preparation for Easter, Father Ardi and Brother Diego led students from Sacred Heart School and Holy Family School in Holly Springs on a day-long retreat centered on the Dehonian motto: “Ecce Venio” (Here I Am). Pictured are Sacred Heart students working on a group mandala. (Photo

by Laura Grisham)

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APRIL 16, 2021 MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC

Stations of the Cross reenacts Christ’s journey

BY DANNY MCARTHUR DAILY JOURNAL TUPELO – St. James Catholic Church honored Christ's journey birth to his death during a 1 p.m. Stations of the Cross service on Good Friday at their Life Center. Dozens of onlookers were in attendance for the bilingual service where church members portrayed 14 key moments in Jesus' life.

Father Cesar Sanchez presided over the service. Mary Frances Strange and Victor Vazquez alternated reading the reflection in English and Spanish respectively, which tied how Christ's story mirrors the current life for many migrants. Rodrigo Dominguez played the guitar and sang between each station.

The service lasted over an hour and encouraged attendees to commit themselves to show love to one another regardless of racial, cultural and national backgrounds and differences.

(Reprinted with permission of the Daily Journal – djournal. com)

TUPELO – Members of St. James Catholic Church gather to view the Stations of the Cross to celebrate Easter on Good Friday. (Photos by Adam Robison/Daily Journal)

Above: Jesus is crucified on the cross and raised by Roman soldiers.

Right: Women gather at the foot of the cross in Station 13.

(Right) Jose Luis Ortega, a St. James parish member, portrays Jesus, as Jesus bears the weight of the cross in station nine during the Stations of the Cross on Good Friday in Tupelo.