‘The work continues’ – Bishop Kopacz marks 75 with gratitude and new chapter of ministry
By Joanna Puddister KinG
JACKSON – Bishop Joseph R. Kopacz reached a milestone on Sept. 16 as he celebrated his 75th birthday with Mass at the Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle and a luncheon with chancery staff. The day carried both personal and ecclesial significance: under canon law, bishops are required to submit their resignation at age 75.
In a video message leading up to the day, Bishop Kopacz reflected on the process and what it means for his ministry. “It’s special because it’s my 75th birthday. Canon law requires that I send my letter of resignation into the Apostolic Delegate,” he explained. The letter was submitted to Christophe Cardinal Pierre, the papal nuncio to the United States.
Still, as the bishop reminded the faithful, acceptance of the letter does not come right away. “Every bishop is obligated to do this … but typically the nuncio will write back and say, continue serving in the diocese,” he said. That time
of waiting often lasts a year and a half or longer.
“I look at it as being an extended Advent,” Bishop Kopacz said. “A bishop knows not the day nor the hour when he will receive notice of a successor. That allows me the time then to realize – time is important – and there’s much ministry to attend to in collaboration with priests and leadership in the diocese.”
The bishop spoke of gratitude for the years behind him and the ministry still to come. “Although the letter is going in, not much is going to change, practically speaking, except I’m getting older and grateful to God for living a long life up to this point and being able to serve the Lord and be active in ministry.”
At the Mass marking his birthday, Bishop Kopacz reminisced about his consecration as Bishop of Jackson at the “young age of 63 and a half years old,” he quipped. With many other bishops turning
– Continued on page 6
By Carol Glatz
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The greatest risk in life is to waste it by not seeking to follow God’s plan, Pope Leo XIV said, proclaiming two new saints – two young laymen of the 20th and 21st centuries.
“Sts. Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis are an invitation to all of us, especially young people, not to squander our lives, but to direct them upward and make them masterpieces,” the pope said Sept. 7.
“The simple but winning formula of their holiness,” he said, is accessible to everyone at any time. “They encourage us with their words: ‘Not I, but God,’ as Carlo used to say. And Pier Giorgio: ‘If you have God at the center of all your actions, then you will reach the end.’”
Before canonizing the first saints of his pontificate, Pope Leo greeted the more than 80,000 faithful who had gathered early in St. Peter’s Square because he wanted to share his joy with them before the start of the solemn ceremony.
“Brothers and sisters, today is a wonderful celebration for all of Italy, for the whole church, for the whole world,” he said be-
fore the Mass.
“While the celebration is very solemn, it is also a day of great joy, and I wanted to greet especially the many young people who have come for this holy Mass,” he said, also greeting the families of the soonto-be saints and the associations and communities to which the young men had belonged.
Pope Leo asked that everyone “feel in our hearts the same thing that Pier Giorgio and Carlo experienced: this love for Jesus Christ, especially in the Eucharist, but also in the poor, in our brothers and sisters.”
“All of you, all of us, are also called to be saints,” he said, before leaving to prepare for Mass and paying homage to a statue of Mary with baby Jesus
and the reliquaries containing the relics of the two young men.
In his homily, the pope underlined Jesus’ call in the day’s Gospel reading “to abandon ourselves without hesitation to the adventure that he offers us, with the intelligence and strength that comes from his Spirit, that we can receive to the extent that we empty ourselves of the things and ideas to which we are attached, in order to listen to his word.”
That is what the two new saints did and what every disciple of Christ is called to do, he said.
Many people, especially when they are young, he said, face a kind of “crossroads” in life when they
JACKSON – Bishop Joseph R. Kopacz delivers the homily at a Mass celebrating his 75th birthday on Sept. 16 at the Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle. (Photo by Tereza Ma)
SPIRITUAL ENRICHMENT
NATCHEZ – Diocesan Young Adult Pilgrimage to St. Mary Basilica in Natchez, Nov. 8. Register by Nov. 1. Cost $25. Fee does not include transportation, meals or optional overnight stay. Details: https:// jacksondiocese.flocknote.com/signup/222556 or email amelia.rizor@jacksondiocese.org.
CAMDEN – Sacred Heart, “Living our Best Life in Christ” Women’s Retreat, Saturday, Oct. 25, registration at 8 a.m. with retreat from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Participants will engage in a series of enriching guest speakers, group discussions, prayer sessions, and interactive workshops designed to inspire and uplift. Cost: $25 before Oct. 20 or $30 at the door. Registration includes lunch. Details: call Dr. Kathy McMurty, Ph.D. (601) 566-2769.
JACKSON – Cathedral of St. Peter, “Gratitude Through All Life’s Mysteries” – a Reflection for Women on the Holy Rosary, Saturday Oct. 18 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Don’t miss this spiritual event with speaker Ann Cook. Details: to sign up email lnblaylock@me.com.
JACKSON – St. Richard, An Evening with Mary, Thursday, Oct. 16 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. in Foley Hall. All ladies are invited for a special evening with speaker Kimberly Harkins on “My Year with Mary.” Details: RSVP by Oct, 10 to bulletin@saintrichard.com.
VIRTUAL – The North American Vocation Team (NAVT) of the School Sisters of Notre Dame (SSND) invites young adults ages 18 and older to a monthly online evening prayer on Tuesdays at 7 p.m. CST via Zoom. Remaining dates for evening prayer in 2025 are Oct. 28, Nov. 25 and Dec. 16. Details: ssnd.org/events.
PARISH & YOUTH EVENTS
BROOKHAVEN – St. Francis, Parish Picnic, Sunday, Oct. 5 after 10 a.m. Mass. Meat, beans, potato sald, drinks and desserts will be provided. Details: (601) 833-1799.
CLINTON – Holy Savior, Blessing of the Pets, Saturday, Oct. 4 at 9 a.m. Details: church office (601) 924-6344.
COLUMBUS – Annunciation, Parish Fall Festival, Sunday, Oct. 26 from 4-6:30 p.m. Join us on College Street in downtown Columbus for fun for all with trunk or treat, cake walk, games, food and more. No pets please. Details: church office (662) 328-2927.
HOLLY SPRINGS – St. Joseph, Blessing of the Pets, Saturday, Oct. 4 at 10 a.m. All pets must be on a leash or in a cage. Details: church office (662) 9853209.
JACKSON – Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle, Parish Gala, Saturday, Nov. 1 at 6 p.m. at the Capitol Club Rooftop. Join us for this no tie occassion to raise funds for the Cathedral kitchen and promote community across all of our Masses and events. Details: church office (601) 969-3125.
JACKSON – Sister Thea Bowman School, AdoptA-Student Scholarship Program – Consider sponsoring a full or partial tuition for a child to experience the benefit of a Catholic education. Donations are tax deductible. Details: email Chris Payne at principal@theabowmanschool.com.
JACKSON – St. Richard, Special Kids Golf Tournament, Thursday, Oct. 9 at Deerfield Golf Club in Canton. Details: visit https://saintrichard.com/specialkids for more information or email golf@saintrichard.com.
St. Richard, Cardinal Fest and Chili Cookoff, Saturday, Oct. 18 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the football field. Enjoy food, music, games, art and more! Details: purchase your tickets here https://bit. ly/StRCardinalFest2025.
JACKSON AREA – Theology on Tap, Tuesday, Oct. 7 at 7 p.m. at Blaylock Photography in Ridgeland. Catholic comedian Jason Price will speak on the topic – Blessed are the Laughmakers. Details: email amelia.rizor@ jacksondiocese.org.
MADISON – St. Francis, Parish Mission “Hope and Pilgrimage,” Oct. 26-27 from 5:307:45 p.m., with speaker and author Joan Watson. All are welcome. Please RSVP. Details: church office at (601) 856-5556.
MERIDIAN – St. Joseph, Jubilee Year Oc-
tober Festival and Health Fair: Sunday, Oct. 5, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Enjoy a day of fellowship, family and faith. Details: church office (601) 693-1321.
St. Patrick, Second Annual St. Ann/St. Catherine Brunch, Saturday, Oct. 11 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Father Vally Room. Join this special support group gathering for all who have experienced infertility, miscarriage, or the loss of a child at any age. Details: church office (601) 693-1321.
OLIVE BRANCH – Queen of Peace, Knights of Columbus Silver Rose Prayer Service, Thursday, Oct. 2 at 7 p.m. All are invited to this service honoring Mary, Our Lady of Guadalupe and reaffirming our dedication to human life.
Queen of Peace, Blessing of the Pets, Saturday, Oct. 4 at 9 a.m. All pets must be on a leash or in a cage.
SENATOBIA – St. Gregory, Blessing of the Pets, Saturday, Oct. 4 at 10 a.m. Details: church office (662) 342-1073.
SOUTHAVEN – Christ the King, Blessing of the Animals, Saturday, Oct. 4 at 10 a.m. All pets should be on a leash or in a cage for their safety.
Christ the King, Fall Festival, Saturday, Oct. 18 from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Don’t miss this fun day of fellowship filled with international foods, games, cake walk, live music, white elephant sale and more! Details: church office (662) 342-1073.
JACKSON –Sister Amelia Breton of the Office of Intercultural Ministry and Bishop Joseph Kopacz lead a Prayer Service in Solidarity with Dreamers and Migrants at the Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle on Sept. 18. (Photo by Tereza Ma)
Catechists: teachers of faith, bearers of hope
By Bishop Joseph R. Kopacz, D.D.
Our God of perseverance and encouragement continues to pour out abundant grace during this Jubilee Year of Hope in creative ways. This year’s theme for Catechetical Sunday is “Always be ready to give an explanation ... for a reason for your hope,” taken from 1 Peter 3:15. Pilgrims of hope are summoned to do so because the light of Christ that burns within us is intended for the world as well as for the believer who walks by faith.
This verse is from the first of two letters of St. Peter and is wisdom that is ever ancient and ever new. The full verse is one of the New Testament’s finest gems: “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to anyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.”
Numerically, 1 Peter 3:15 easily calls to mind John 3:16: “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” To believe that God so loved the world positions the person of faith to be ready to share the hope that lives within.
As an aside, John and Peter were the first apos-
tles, following the lead of Mary Magdalene, to run to the empty tomb – a foretaste of the hope that was on the horizon for them and for the world.
Therefore, our parish and Catholic school catechists – teachers of religion – have a unique ministry. They not only teach the Catholic faith from Sacred Scripture and tradition but are also empowered to witness to the reason for the hope that is within them.
It is a demanding ministry that requires the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit, and the motivation for ongoing formation in wisdom, knowledge and grace in order to teach the next generation. Asking God’s blessing upon them on our annual Catechetical Sunday harmonizes this honorable ministry with the Eucharist, the source and summit of our faith.
The treasures of our faith are inexhaustible, and many in each generation have labored to organize the story of salvation in a comprehensive, systematic and balanced way. The most wide-reaching compact assertion of our faith is the Nicene Creed. At 1,700 years young, and as the centerpiece of our tradition, it is certain to be proclaimed until Christ comes again. As we move through the verses of the Creed at each Mass, in reality we are professing the reason for the hope that lives within.
Gentleness and respect are underscored by St. Peter as the essential dispositions when sharing and teaching the faith. These run counter to the climate of meanness and disrespect that overwhelm so much discourse today in society and the church, and therefore are all the more indispensable in the classrooms
• Messages from Bishop Kopacz
• E-edition of Mississippi Catholic
• Vocations Supporters Text MSCATHOLIC to 84576 or visit https://jacksondiocese.flocknote.com
P.O. Box 2130 Jackson, MS 39225-2130 Phone: 601-969-3581 E-mail: editor@jacksondiocese.org
of our parishes and schools. They are signs of love. And faith and hope without love, the greatest of the three theological virtues, produce a clanging cymbal – an apt way of visualizing contemporary discourse.
On the other hand, the first scripture reading from the prophet Amos on Catechetical Sunday brings full circle how the love of Christ within impels us to live justly and compassionately outwardly. Amos, Isaiah and Micah come to mind as prophets of social justice, who, like John the Baptist, prepared the way for the Lord in whom they find their fulfillment.
Amos did not mince words in last week’s proclamation: “Hear this, you who trample upon the needy and destroy the poor of the land … Never will I forget a thing they have done.” Where do God’s words through the prophet cry out today?
Recently, on the diocesan level, we hosted a prayer service at the cathedral on behalf of immigrants, refugees and dreamers – to be in prayerful solidarity, raise awareness and inspire more just and compassionate attitudes and actions in our country. Amos can find a niche here, and the prophet Micah further shapes our words and actions: “God has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8)
All who are baptized in the Lord are called to be pilgrims of hope. May this Jubilee Year, and all commemorations and gatherings, be a time of renewal and a year of favor from the Lord.
BISHOP’S SCHEDULE
Volume 71 Number 16 (ISSN 1529-1693)
Publisher Bishop Joseph R. Kopacz
Communications Director Joanna Puddister King
Production Manager Tereza Ma
MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC is an official publication of the Diocese of Jackson, 601-969-1880, 237 E. Amite St., Jackson, MS 39201. Published digitally twice per month January – April and September – December; once per month June, July and August. Mississippi Catholic mails 14 editions per year – twice per month in December and January; and once per month February – November. For address changes, corrections or to join the email list for the digital edition, email: editor@jacksondiocese.org. Subscription rate: $20 a year in Mississippi, $21 out-ofstate. Periodical postage at Jackson, MS 39201 and additional entry offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Mississippi Catholic, P.O. Box 2130, Jackson, MS 39225-2130. Website: www.mississippicatholic.com w www.jacksondiocese.org Stay connected with us! Join our email lists for:
Sunday, September 28, 10 a.m. – Confirmation, St. Joseph, Woodville
Sunday, October 5, 10:30 a.m. – 150th Anniversary Mass & Celebration, St. James, Magnolia
Saturday, October 11, 6 p.m. – Homegrown Harvest Fundraiser for Seminarians, St. Francis, Madison
Sunday, October 12, 4 p.m. – Confirmation, Christ the King, Southaven
Tuesday, October 14, 7:30 a.m. – Mass, Carmelite Monastery, Jackson
October 15-20 – Trip to Saltillo Mission in Mexico
Tuesday, October 21, 5 p.m. – Catholic Foundation Annual Meeting & Dinner, Country Club of Jackson
Wednesday, October 22, 12 p.m. – Catholic Charities Journey of Hope with Father Burke Masters, Country Club of Jackson
Thursday, October 23, 12 p.m. – Catholic Charities Journey of Hope with Father Burke Masters, St. James, Tupelo
October 25-November 3 – Jubilee of Hope Pilgramage to Rome
November 9-15 – USCCB Fall General Assembly, Baltimore
Wednesday, November 19, 5 p.m. – Deanery IV Jubilee Year Celebration/Adoration, St. Elizabeth, Clarksdale
Saturday, November 22, 10 a.m. – Day of Reflection on Legacy of Sister Thea Bowman, Sacred Heart, Camden
All events are subject to change. Check with parishes, schools or organizations for further details.
By Father Nick adam
We’ve had a lot to celebrate in the past month. Many of our seminarians’ birthdays fall within August and September, so it was a joy on Sept. 5 to head down to South Louisiana and celebrate Grayson Foley’s birthday, while also wishing Francisco Maldonado and Kevin Lopez a belated happy birthday, and offering early birthday wishes to EJ Martin and Wilson Locke.
I was at the seminary to help Kevin move in after he received his student visa just before the deadline for entry this semester. Kevin has been transferring from his former seminary in Morelia, Mexico, and it took some time to get all the paperwork in order. We are excited to have him join our community.
Kevin has deep ties to Mississippi. His cousins live in the Tupelo area, and he and his parents have spent extended time visiting them over the years. During those visits, Kevin got to know priests in Northeast Mississippi. He also studied at the same seminary as Father Cesar Sanchez, so he already had a personal connection there.
Kevin will begin formation with intensive English study, and we threw him right into the mix his first day. He was a good sport, and we encouraged him by pointing out how strong his English already is. One of the questions I always ask when considering a candidate is: How much time have they spent in our diocese? We are seeking to raise up a true Homegrown Harvest, and we know that men from all backgrounds are part of the Catholic Church here in Mississippi.
Kevin is a great example of someone with close ties to our state who understands what it means to serve here. I can relate – after all, I’m not from Mississippi either. Part of my own discernment was being honest with the Lord and my formators about where I was being called to serve. In time, the Lord made clear that I was called here, and I am grateful that Father Matthew gave me the opportunity to discern that call years ago.
I am thankful for all the men who have responded to the Lord’s call, and I believe Kevin is a strong addition to our group. We are not looking for “cookie-cutter” seminarians, but we do need every man preparing for priesthood in our diocese to keep the People of God in Jackson at the center of their discernment. I am confident that the men we have today share this priority, and that gives me great hope.
Thank you for your continued prayers for our seminarians. I hope many of you will join us at the Homegrown Harvest Festival on Oct. 11 at St. Francis in Madison to meet them and spend time with them.
(For more information on vocations, visit jacksonvocations.com or contact Father Nick at nick.adam@jacksondiocese.org.)
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Father Nick Adam
ST. BEN’S SEMINARY, LA – Seminarians (from left, back row) EJ Martin, Grayson Foley and Father Tristan Stovall; (front row) Francisco Maldonado, Joe Pearson and Kevin Damian Lopez enjoy fellowship on campus. (Photo by Father Nick Adam)
A father’s blessing
IN EXILE
By Father ron rolheiser, oMi
My father died when I was twenty-three, a seminarian, green, still learning about life. It’s hard to lose your father at any age, and my grief was compounded by the fact that I had just begun to appreciate what he had given me.
Only later did I realize that I no longer needed him, though I still very much wanted him. What he had to give me, he had already given. I had his blessing.
I knew I had his blessing. My life and the direction it had taken pleased him. Like God’s voice at the baptism of his Jesus, he had already communicated to me: You are my son in whom I am well pleased. Not everyone is that lucky. That’s about as much as a person may ask from a father.
And what did he leave me and the rest of his offspring?
Too much to name, but among other things, moral steadiness. He was one of the most moral people I have ever known, allowing himself minimal moral compromise. He wasn’t a man who bought the line that we are only human and so it’s okay to allow ourselves some exemptions. He used to famously tell us: “Anyone can show me humanity; I need someone to show me divinity!” He expected you not to fail, to live up to what faith and morality asked of you, to not make excuses. If we, his family, inhaled anything from his presence, it was this moral stubbornness.
Beyond this, he had a steady, almost pathological sanity. Today we joke that moderation was his only excess. There were no hysterical outbursts, no depressions, no giddiness, no lack of steadiness, no having to guess where his soul and psyche might be on a given day.
With that steadiness, along with my mother’s supporting presence, he made for us a home that was always a safe cocoon, a boring place sometimes, but always a safe one. When I think of the home where I grew up, I think of a safe shelter where you could look at the storms outside from a place of warmth and security. Again, not everyone is that lucky.
And because we were a large family and his love and attention had to be shared with multiple siblings, I never thought of him as “my” father, but always as “our” father. This has helped me grasp the first challenge in the Lord’s Prayer, namely, that God is “Our” Father, whom we share with others, not a private entity.
Moreover, his family extended to more than his own children. I learned early not to resent the fact that he couldn’t always be with us, that he had good reasons to be elsewhere: work, community, church, hospital and school boards, political involvement. He was an elder for a wider family than just our own.
Finally, not least, he blessed me and my brothers and sisters with a love for baseball. He managed a local baseball team for many years. This was his particular place where he could enjoy some Sabbath.
But blessings never come pure. My father was human, and a man’s greatest strength is often too his greatest weakness. In all that moral fiber and rock-solid sanity, there was also a reticence that sometimes didn’t allow him to fully drink in life’s exuberance. Every son watches how his father dances and unconsciously sizes him up against certain things – hesitancy, fluidity, abandonment, exhibitionism, momentary irrationality, irresponsibility.
My father never had much fluidity or abandon to his dance step, and I have inherited that, something that can pain me deeply. There were times, both as a child and as an adult, when, in a given situation, I would have traded my father for a dad who had a more fluid dance step, for someone with a little less reticence in the face of life’s exuberance.
And that is partly my struggle to receive his full
blessing. I’m often reminded of William Blake’s famous line in Infant Sorrow, where he mentions “Struggling in my father’s hands.” For me, that means struggling at times with my dad’s reticence to simply let go and drink in life’s full gift.
But, if there was hesitancy, there was no irresponsibility in his dance, even if sometimes that meant standing outside the dance. I was grieved at his funeral, but proud too, proud of the respect that was poured out for him, for the way he lived his life. There was no judgment that day on his reticence.
I’m older now than he was when he died. My earthly days now outnumber his by fifteen years. But I still live inside his blessing, consciously and unconsciously, striving to measure up, to honor what he gave me. And mostly that’s good, though I also have moments when I find myself standing outside of life’s exuberance, looking in at the dance, reticent, his look on my face, feeling a certain envy of those who have a more fluid dance step – me, ever my father’s son.
(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
Migrants are not enemies, just brothers and sisters in need, pope says
By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS)
– At a time when people feel powerless to help migrants and refugees, Christians must continue to insist that “there is no justice without compassion, no legitimacy without listening to the pain of others,” Pope Leo XIV said.
In a video message Sept. 12, the pope gave his full support to a bid by the people of the Italian island of Lampedusa to win UNESCO recognition for their “gestures of hospitality” to migrants as an example of an “intangible cultural heritage” that should be protected.
For decades the small island, which lies between Sicily and the northern African nations of Tunisia and Libya, has been a major arrival point for migrants from Africa, the Middle East and Asia seeking a new life in Europe. However, many migrants make the journey in unsafe vessels or without needed provisions. Shipwrecked boats and dead bodies have washed up on the island’s shores.
Pope Leo paid tribute to “the volunteers, the mayors and local administrations that have succeeded one another over the years,” to “the priests, doctors, security forces, and to all those who, often invisibly, have shown and continue to show the smile and attention of a human face to those who have survived their desperate journey of hope.”
But the pope also noted the political divisions and backlash that have accompanied the continued arrival of migrants and refugees on Lampedusa’s shores and to other nations.
“It is true that over the years fatigue can set in. Like in a race, we can run out of breath,” he said. “Hardships tend to cast doubt on what has been done and, at times, even divide us. We must respond together, staying united and opening ourselves once again to the breath of God.”
“All the good you have done may seem like drops in the sea,” Pope Leo told the island’s people. “But it’s not so – it is much more than that!”
Many of the migrants, including mothers and children, never made it to shore and from the depths of the sea “cry out not only to heaven, but to our hearts,” he said. Others died and are buried on Lampedusa “like seeds from which a new world longs to sprout.”
But, he said, “thank God, there are thousands of faces and names of people who today are living a better life and will never forget your charity. Many of them have themselves become workers for justice and peace, because goodness is contagious.”
Pope Leo said his thanks is the thanks “of the whole church for your witness,” and is meant to renew the thanks of the late Pope Francis, who made a trip to Lampedusa the first official trip of his papacy. He said he hoped he, too, would be able to visit the island soon.
The islanders’ hospitality and welcome, he said, are “a bulwark of humanity, which loud arguments, ancient fears and unjust policies try to erode.”
“The ‘globalization of indifference,’ which Pope Francis denounced beginning from Lampedusa, today seems to have turned into a globalization of powerlessness,” Pope Leo said.
Thanks to the media, people are more aware of “injustice and innocent suffering,” he said, but increasingly “we risk standing still, silent and saddened, overcome by the feeling that nothing can be done.”
People ask themselves, “What can I do in the face of such great evils?” he said.
“The globalization of powerlessness is the child of a lie: that history has always been this way, that history is written by the victors, which makes it seem that we can do nothing,” the pope said. “But that is not true: history is ravaged by the powerful, but it is saved by the humble, the just, the martyrs, in whom goodness shines and true humanity endures and is renewed.”
The antidote, Pope Leo said, is to work to create “a culture of reconciliation.”
“Reconciliation is a special kind of encounter. Today we must meet one another, healing our wounds, forgiving each other for the wrong we have done – and even for the wrong we have not done but which we still bear the consequences of,” the pope said. “So much fear, so many prejudices, so many walls – even invisible ones – exist between us and between our peoples, as consequences of a wounded history.”
While fear and evil can be passed from one generation to the next, he said, so can goodness.
“We must repair what has been broken, delicately treat bleeding memories, draw close to one another with patience, put ourselves in the place of others’ stories and suffering, and recognize that we share the same dreams and the same hopes,” Pope Leo said. “There are no enemies – only brothers and sisters. This is the culture of reconciliation.”
‘ ... We continue to walk together ...’
– Continued from page 1 –
75 or nearing that milestone, he told those gathered, “Now it’s a matter of waiting for the announcement of a successor. But until then, we continue to walk together.”
At the chancery luncheon, Bishop Kopacz lightened the moment with humor. “I have documentation of my baptism certificate … that shows I was baptized on Oct. 1, 1950. That’s not a recent convert. I think I qualify with longevity here,” he said, drawing laughter.
Looking back on his years in Jackson, he said: “It’s been an amazing 11 and a half years as bishop … really such a blessing in many ways. A few rough patches – welcome to life, right? But overall, a blessing.”
He also spoke of the diocese’s breadth and diversity. “Looking at the folks from Natchez and Fayette, and priests from Amory and New Albany … the heart of the Delta … it really is amazing,” he said.
“Together we’re serving the Lord and serving the church, and it really doesn’t end. Wake up tomorrow – it continues.”
The bishop’s reflections place him among a growing group of American church leaders at the same juncture. Canon law requires bishops to submit their resignations at 75, but the pope decides when to accept them. Until then, bishops continue in their ministry.
This September, Bishop Kopacz was not alone in marking the milestone. Bishop Francis Malone of Shreveport turned 75 on Sept. 1, and Bishop David Talley of Memphis turned 75 on Sept. 11. Across the United States, dozens of bishops are reaching retirement age, part of a larger generational shift in church leadership.
National data underscores the trend. By the end of 2023, 13 U.S. diocesan bishops were already over 75, the highest number since the 1960s. Over the next five years, more than a third of current diocesan
bishops will submit their resignations as they turn 75. Many, like Bishop Kopacz, are expected to remain in their dioceses for a time before successors are appointed.
For the Diocese of Jackson, that means continuity for now. “Although the letter is significant, the work of the ministry continues,” Bishop Kopacz said. “God bless you. Let us go forward confident again in our Lord’s love for us.”
The day’s celebrations reflected both the seriousness of the moment and the joy of community. Parishioners, priests and diocesan staff joined in thanksgiving for Bishop Kopacz’s life and leadership. While change will eventually come, the bishop expressed hope and confidence in God’s providence for the road ahead.
(Watch Bishop Kopacz’s video message on turning 75 and read the full text of his resignation letter at https://bit.ly/BishopKopacz75.)
‘... They said yes to God and gave themselves to Him completely ...’
– Continued from page 1 –
reflect on what to do with their life.
The saints of the church are often portrayed as “great figures, forgetting that for them it all began when, while still young, they said ‘yes’ to God and gave themselves to Him completely, keeping nothing for themselves,” the pope said.
“Today we look to St. Pier Giorgio Frassati and St. Carlo Acutis: a young man from the early 20th century and a teenager from our own day, both in love with Jesus and ready to give everything for him,” he said.
Pope Leo then dedicated a large portion of his homily to sharing quotes from the two and details of their lives, which is something Pope Francis had shifted away from, preferring to focus more on the day’s readings.
“Pier Giorgio’s life is a beacon for lay spirituality,” Pope Leo said.
“For him, faith was not a private devotion, but it was driven by the power of the Gospel and his membership in ecclesial associations,” he said. “He was also generously committed to society, contributed to political life and devoted himself ardently to the service of the poor.”
“Carlo, for his part, encountered Jesus in his family, thanks to his parents, Andrea and Antonia – who are here today with his two siblings, Francesca and Michele,” he said, as the crowd applauded, and Antonia smiled shyly at the camera.
St. Acutis also encountered Jesus at the Jesuit-run school he attended and “above all in the sacraments celebrated in the parish community,” he said. “He grew up naturally integrating prayer, sport, study and charity into his days as a child and young man.”
The pope said the new saints “cultivated their love for God and for their brothers and sisters through simple acts, available to everyone: daily Mass, prayer and especially Eucharistic adoration.”
St. Frassati was born April 6, 1901, in Turin and died there July 4, 1925, of polio at the age of 24. St. Acutis was born to Italian parents May 3, 1991, in London and died in Monza, Italy, Oct. 12, 2006, of leukemia at the age of 15.
The pope said that “even when illness struck them and cut short their young lives, not even this stopped them nor prevented them from loving, offering themselves to God, blessing him and praying to him for themselves and for everyone.”
Several family members and people closely associated with the new saints attended the Mass, along with dignitaries, such as Italian President Sergio Mattarella.
St. Acutis’ parents, Andrea and Antonia, and his twin siblings, Michele and Francesca, who were born four years after their brother died, were present and together brought the pope the offertory gifts. Michele also did the first reading at the Mass in English.
Valeria Valverde, who read the first prayer of the faithful, is a young Costa
Rican woman who suffered a severe head injury while living in Italy. It was her unexplained healing that provided the second miracle needed for St. Acutis’ canonization.
St. Frassati was active with Catholic Action, the St. Vincent de Paul Society, the Italian Catholic University Federation and the Dominican Third Order. Lorenzo Zardi, vice president of the youth group of Italy’s Catholic Action read the second reading at the Mass and Michele Tridente, the secretary general of the lay movement, also presented the pope with offertory gifts.
Before praying the Angelus, the pope once again thanked everyone for coming to celebrate the church’s two new saints.
However, he also called for people’s “incessant prayer for peace, especially in the Holy Land, and in Ukraine and in every other land bloodied by war.”
“To governing leaders, I repeat, listen to the voice of conscience,” he said.
“The apparent victories won with weapons, sowing death and destruction, are really defeats and will never bring peace and security,” he said.
“God does not want war. God wants peace!” he exclaimed to applause. God gives strength to those who work toward leaving behind the cycle of hatred and pursue the path of dialogue. SEPTEMBER 26,
More than 80,000 people gather in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican for the canonization Mass of Sts. Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis celebrated by Pope Leo XIV Sept. 7, 2025. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)
US bishops deepen commitment to fight racism with new permanent body
By Gina Christian (OSV News) –
The U.S. Catholic bishops have deepened their commitment to combating racism, by making permanent a subcommittee dedicated to working for racial justice and reconciliation in society.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops announced Sept. 10 that its Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism – established in 2017 under then-USCCB president, and now retired, Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo Galveston-Houston, Texas – has been made a permanent USCCB body.
The move, approved by the USCCB’s administrative committee Sept. 9, will place the committee, now named the Subcommittee for the Promotion of Racial Justice and Reconciliation, under the conference’s Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development.
That committee’s mandate “includes Catholic social teaching on issues of domestic concern such as poverty, housing, the environment, criminal justice, and other challenges that often have a disproportionate impact on communities of color,” said the USCCB in its Sept. 10 media release.
Retired Chicago Auxiliary Bishop Joseph N. Perry, chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee on Racism and the USCCB Subcommittee on African American Affairs, smiles during a Nov. 14, 2023, session of the USCCB’s fall general assembly in Baltimore. (OSV News photo/Bob Roller)
USCCB president Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio
of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, said the subcommittee “continues the important work of the temporary ad hoc committee.”
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.
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, P.O. Box 22723, Jackson, MS 39225-2723
The bishops had formed the racism ad hoc committee just days after the violent Aug. 1112, 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, at which white supremacists protested the planned removal of Confederate statues there, following two city council votes. Amid clashes between rally participants and counterprotestors, James Fields drove his vehicle through a crowd of the latter, killing paralegal Heather Heyer and injuring dozens. Fields is now serving two life sentences.
In his Sept. 10 statement, Archbishop Broglio – who referenced the USCCB’s 2018 pastoral letter against racism, “Open Wide Our Hearts” – said, “As we call for a genuine conversion of heart that will compel change at both individual and institutional levels, I invite all Catholics to join us as we carry forward this work to recognize and uphold the inherent dignity of every person made in the image and likeness of God.”
“I speak on behalf of the bishop members, staff and consultants of the Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism in expressing gratitude for the transition of our committee to a standing subcommittee so that the important work of evangelization of the faithful and the community at large may continue in the spirit of
the Gospel of Jesus Christ,” said retired Auxiliary Bishop Joseph N. Perry of Chicago, who has been serving as chair of the committee.
With the new subcommittee set to begin work after the USCCB’s November plenary assembly, members will have plenty to do.
According to a Gallup poll released Aug. 20, 64% of U.S. adults believe racism against Black people is widespread, with 83% of Black adults and 61% of white adults expressing this view.
Police interactions are seen as the “most racially inequitable” among six possible scenarios, said respondents.
At the same time, Gallup found that “68% of U.S. adults think civil rights have improved in their lifetime.”
Human Rights Watch said that “racial justice remained a pressing human rights concern in the United States in 2024.”
While the U.S. “ratified the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination nearly 60 years ago,” the nation “has done far too little to implement its provisions,” said HRW, adding that “living legacies of slavery and the slaughter and dispossession of Native peoples remain largely unaddressed.”
(Gina Christian is a multimedia reporter for OSV News. Follow her on X @GinaJesseReina.)
Photos essential to archival documentation
FROM THE ARCHIVES
By Mary WoodWard
While flipping through Bishop Richard Gerow’s Reminiscences I came across a photo he took of the exterior of his home parish church in Mobile. The photo is from the Conti Street side near the rear of the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception.
Bishop Gerow grew up in the shadows of the Cathedral in the heart of Downtown Mobile. He was baptized, received first communion, confirmed and ordained a bishop there. His family lived a few blocks from the historic church, and he served Mass there almost daily as a young boy before heading off to college and ultimately seminary in Rome.
An avid photographer, Bishop Gerow took photos throughout his life and his photo collection in our archives has helped document the history of early 1900s Mobile and Rome and all places in between where he travelled. He captured the churches, people, buildings, and other various slices of life in our diocese from 1924 – 1966 during his tenure as chief shepherd in Mississippi.
Photos are essential tools in archival work to document and date the history of a particular time and location through visual images. This is one of the more fun parts of archival research.
This particular photo of the exterior of his beloved Mobile Cathedral shows the beauty of the structure in black and white, but something one would never really notice is a small magnolia tree halfway down the side of the church. The photo dates to around 1910 after Bishop Gerow’s return to Mobile from Rome following his ordination to the priesthood in 1909.
If you travelled to Mobile today, that little starter tree is still there. Now, it rises majestically to the roof line of the church and spreads its massive network of limbs throughout this section of the cathedral gardens.
I have heard many people walking past it wondering aloud how old the tree might be. Because we have the 1910 photo, we can better answer that question by saying it is at least 115.
I took a photo of the tree in September 2023, while I was waiting to be freed from the cathedral garden after I had
a newly planted
cled in red, outside the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception. More than a century later, the same tree (left) now towers to the roofline, shading the cathedral gardens. (Archive photo from the Diocese of Jackson Archives; recent photo by Mary Woodward)
been locked inside the gate on a Friday afternoon. The light was still good, and I tried to capture the centenarian and its sprawling limbs.
The planter of the tree is long gone and unknown to me. Perhaps there is some record of it in the Mobile archdiocesan archive. This magnolia is a wonderful testament to the proverb that the one who plants a tree for others in the future to enjoy its shade has begun to understand the meaning of life.
That tree has shaded many young men on their way to ordination. It has provided a backdrop for countless marriage proposals in the gardens it towers over. And it provides shade for so many on hot summer days.
The Mobile magnolia has journeyed from a small bundle of potential to a wise elder gracing the grounds of history. Bishop Gerow certainly would be impressed and happy to see it now.
More from Bishop Gerow’s Reminiscences next time. In the meantime, enjoy the shade as we transition into the fall of the year.
(Mary Woodward is Chancellor and Archivist for the Diocese of Jackson.)
MOBILE – A circa 1910 photo taken by Bishop Richard Gerow (above) shows
magnolia tree, cir-
Pope Leo XIV blows out a candle on a cake for his 70th birthday Sept. 14, 2025, as cardinals, Vatican officials and ecumenical leaders look on after a prayer service at Rome’s Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)
NATION
MIAMI (OSV News) – Dressed in the customary yellow colors of the event and with umbrellas in hand, elementary school student Aniela Alejandra Garcia and her mother, Yeily Garcia, didn’t let the weather stop them from approaching the statue of the Cuban Virgin of Our Lady of Charity. “I was helping people with the candles,” Aniela told the Florida Catholic, Miami’s archdiocesan news outlet. She made the remarks as she joined the local Cuban-American community Sept. 8 in placing bright yellow sunflowers and candles outdoors during a recitation of the rosary followed by Mass at the the National Shrine of Our Lady of Charity in Miami. The color yellow is customarily associated with the Virgin of Charity, and her shrines – including the one in Miami – are often graced with yellow flowers. Affectionately known as La Ermita de La Caridad, the shrine is located near Coconut Grove. This year was also the 25th anniversary of La Ermita’s designation as a national shrine by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in 2000. Flash flood warnings and epic rain may have shut down flights at the Miami Airport Sept. 8 but it didn’t stop faithful from making the pilgrimage to Biscayne Bay for the annual feast event.
VATICAN
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Dozens of small handmade signs and large bold banners waved in the crowd of some 30,000 visitors in St. Peter’s Square wishing Pope Leo XIV a happy birthday Sept. 14. Two gold mylar balloons with the numbers “7” and “0” were held up high. The largest banner, in red and white, was held by a group from the Peruvian city of Monsefú in the province of Chiclayo, where the pope had served as bishop for eight years. “Dear friends, it seems that you know that today I turn 70 years old,” the pope said to huge cheers and shouts of “auguri,” meaning “congratulations” and “happy birthday” in Italian. “I give thanks to the Lord and to my parents; and I thank all those who have remembered me in their prayers,” he said after reciting the Angelus with the faithful in St. Peter’s Square. Musicians and musical bands in the square struck up the “Happy Birthday” tune, and people sang and clapped along. “Many thanks to everyone!” he said, followed by someone shouting, “Long live the pope!” “Thank you! Have a good Sunday!” he said.
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pain must never give rise to violence, and every Catholic needs to learn to safeguard with tenderness those who are vulnerable, Pope Leo XIV said during a prayer vigil dedicated to people experiencing pain and affliction due to illness, bereavement, violence or abuse. Recognizing that some members of the church “have unfortunately hurt you,” the pope said, the church “kneels with you today before our Mother (Mary). May we all learn from her to protect the most vulnerable with tenderness!” “May we learn to listen to your wounds and walk together,” he said in his homily Sept. 15, the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows. “May we receive from Our Lady of Sorrows the strength to recognize that life is not defined only by the evil we suffer, but by the love of God, who never abandons us and guides the whole church.” The pope led the prayer vigil in St. Peter’s Basilica Sept. 15 as part of the Jubilee of Consolation, which is “dedicated to all those who are experiencing or have experienced moments of particular difficulty, grief, suffering or hardship in their lives,” according to the section of the Dicastery for Evangelization in charge of organizing the Holy Year. Pope Leo said, “pain must not give rise to violence, and that violence never has the final say, for it is conquered by a love that knows how to forgive.” “Where there is evil, we must seek the comfort and consolation that can overcome it and give it no respite,” he said. “In the church, this means never being alone.”
WORLD
VITERBO, Italy (OSV News) – Italian police say they’ve prevented what could have been a deadly attack at one of the country’s most cherished Catholic traditions. On Sept. 3, counterterrorism officers raided a bed and breakfast near the route of the famous “Macchina di Santa Rosa” procession in Viterbo, arresting two Turkish men. Authorities say the men were found with automatic weapons, including an assault rifle, just steps away from where 40,000 people had gathered for the centuries-old festival honoring St. Rose of Viterbo. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, who had been scheduled to attend, was quickly moved to safety. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni praised the swift police action, saying it ensured the peaceful celebration of an event UNESCO recognizes as cultural heritage. While investigators say the suspects appear tied to organized crime rather than international terror networks, prosecutors are still weighing charges of arms trafficking and possible plans for a terrorist act.
How public opinion can influence migration policies
WALKING WITH MIGRANTS
By Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio (OSV News)
– Public opinion seems to have a particular effect when it comes to the social policy regarding migration.
From December 2003 to December 2005, I represented the United States as one of the 19 commissioners on the Global Commission on International Migration, reporting to the United Nations. During my tenure, we visited five continents searching for the causes of the global migration phenomenon.
Few common elements were found, except that, on all continents, the effect of public opinion formed by the media seemed to dictate the public policies adopted by governments. Why is there such an intimate relationship between public opinion and a government’s migration policies? It seems that public officials are very sensitive to the public’s perception of how they implement the laws and regulations regarding migration.
These days, public opinion is usually formed by the media in all its forms, and any negative portrayal of migration issues seems to affect public opinion in a special way.
This was verified last month, when there was a dramatic shift in public opinion regarding the mass deportation program of the current administration.
A Gallup poll released last month found that only 30% of Americans favor a decrease in immigration, which is down from 55% just a year ago. A record number of 79% consider immigration good for the country, and support is down on both the border wall and mass deportation. These shifts reverse a four-year trend of rising concerns about immigration that preceded the new administration.
What has precipitated this change in public opinion? It seems that the media coverage of the rounding up of migrants, as if herding cattle, in addition to the efforts of human rights groups who peacefully demonstrated, has caused this change in public opinion.
United States citizens are not accustomed to seeing ICE agents and U.S. Army personnel engaged in massive deportation efforts. Somehow, this seems to be un-American and reminds us of the brutal tactics of authoritarian regimes.
Public attitudes toward deporting criminal aliens have remained unchanged. Still, there is now greater sympathy for providing long-term undocumented workers with a path to citizenship and for legalizing those brought as minors.
Workplace enforcement has also influenced opinions, as workplace raids pose safety risks to both enforcement officials and migrants, leading to confusion, injuries, and, as confirmed last month, even one fatality.
There has also been a shift in President Donald Trump’s attitude toward those industries affected by the deportation of needed workers.
The president has already hinted that those working on farms, if vouched for by farm owners, may be allowed to stay. However, there has been no follow-through on this. Also, he has intimated that hotel industry workers and other needed entry-level workers, such as those in the meatpacking industries, would be given special consideration.
It is certainly clear that we are not only dealing with the migration issue, but also a labor-market issue. The entry-level positions that are not acceptable to most American workers are very important to our economy and well-being. Health care workers, and in
particular home health care workers, are entry-level positions that are significantly filled by immigrants, especially by the undocumented.
The history of our nation has been marked by immigrants who fill in needed occupations largely avoided by others, to give their children a strong chance to pursue the American Dream.
It would be interesting if we could identify the entry-level positions held by our immigrant forbears. I, myself, am very fortunate to know the entry-level positions of my four grandparents, all of whom immigrated from Italy before the 1924 restrictions on Southern and Eastern European migration. I even have some photos of their workplaces.
My paternal grandfather worked in a Kewpie Doll factory in Newark, N.J, and the photo of him at that factory shows an emaciated young man. My paternal grandmother and her sister both worked in a factory sewing handkerchiefs, where they were required to wear very neat uniforms. My maternal grandfather worked in a factory making buttons and sewing materials, where he eventually became a foreman.
Perhaps most interesting is my maternal grandmother, who was a farm girl in Italy whose first job in America was to roll cigars at the window of a tobacco store in Newark.
If we only knew and appreciated our own immigrant stories, we might have a very different under-
standing of today’s migrants.
There are better solutions to the present situation than mass deportations. We need entry-level immigrant workers in the labor market to fill essential jobs, which has always been the American way. Yet, our immigration laws have not kept pace with our labor needs. However, it has never been the American way to treat our laborers with disdain and inhuman treatment, at least in recent memory.
We hope that the administration understands this and moves to provide legal status to undocumented workers, which would not only help them but would serve the best interests of the nation.
(Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio is the retired bishop of the Diocese of Brooklyn, New York. He writes the column “Walking With Migrants” for The Tablet and OSV News.)
VICKSBURG – Young runners take off in the annual Flash Dash at Vicksburg Catholic School before the first home football game of the season. (Photo by Anna Griffing)
SOUTHAVEN – Arianna Nathan, a first grader at Sacred Heart School, demonstrates different drum beats during music class as teacher Mr. Diehl looks on. (Photo by Bridget Martin)
JACKSON – Doctors, firefighters, bakers and more! Sister Thea Bowman students had fun dressing up as community helpers and sharing their “dream jobs.” From top left: Micaela Martinez Contreras, Kendyll Bass and Haniel Chia. From bottom left: Catelyn Jones and Zayden Washington. (Photo by Christopher Payne)
COLUMBUS – Father Jeffrey Waldrep of Annunciation Parish stands with pre-K student Alexander Robles during a recent school Mass. (Photo by Jacque Hince)
GREENVILLE – St. Joseph Catholic School students line up to play a can-knockdown game for prizes during the parish’s annual Fall Parish Fair. (Photo by Nikki Thompson)
MADISON – (Right) The St. Joseph Catholic School Bruin cheer squad perform during a home game on Sept. 12. (Photo courtesy of a student)
New Louisiana bishop says he finds ‘strength,
hope
and courage’ in God
By Julie Asher (OSV News)
– “I do not deserve to be an apostle, but by the grace of God that is what I am,” said Bishop Simon Peter Engurait, newly ordained and installed as the head of the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux, Louisiana, quoting words of the Apostle Paul.
He made the remarks in addressing the congregation after a nearly three-hour afternoon Mass Sept. 5 at the Stopher Gym at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux.
The faithful filled the venue to witness his consecration as the sixth bishop of Houma-Thibodaux. Dozens of bishops, priests, men and women religious, deacons, seminarians and laypeople attended the liturgy.
Bishop Engurait’s mother and five of his siblings were also there. Born in 1971 in Ngora, Uganda, the bishop is one of 14 children. The congregation included a representative of Uganda’s ambassador to the United States.
Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond of New Orleans was the principal consecrator with Archbishop Shelton J. Fabre of Louisville, Kentucky, and retired Bishop Sam G. Jacobs of Houma-Thibodaux as co-consecrators. Bishop Jacobs and Archbishop Fabre served as the third and fourth bishops, respectively, of Houma-Thibodeaux.
“I stand here not because of my worthiness but because of God’s mercy, but with that mercy comes an awesome and, yes, even a frightening responsibility to shepherd God’s people, to guard and defend the faith and to account not only for my soul but for those (I serve),” Bishop Engurait said.
Bishop Simon Peter Engurait offers closing remarks of gratitude, humility and hope at the end of his Mass of ordination and installation as the sixth bishop of the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, La., Sept. 5, 2025. (OSV News photo/Angeljoy Porche, courtesy of the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux)
“My brothers and sisters, God’s ways are not our ways, nor are his thoughts our thoughts,” he continued. “Who but God alone could have done this? Who would have thought, have imagined that I would one day stand before you as a bishop of the church?”
He said he draws courage from words of St. Paul in the Acts of the Apostles, where Paul states he was “compelled by the Spirit” to go to Jerusalem, not knowing what would happen to him and even though he was warned by the Holy Spirit that hardships awaited him. “I count my worth as nothing to me unless I can finish the race and bear witness of God’s grace,” Paul wrote.
“Like St. Paul, I go forward uncertain of the road ahead, but certain of God – that’s why I chose my motto, ‘In Deo Tantum’ – ‘In God Alone’ – because it is in God alone that I find strength, that I find hope, that I find courage,” Bishop Engurait said.
When Pope Leo XIV named then-Father Engurait as Houma-Thibodaux’s bishop June 5, he had been serving as diocesan administrator since January 2024, upon the death of Bishop Mario E. Dorsonville, a former Washington auxiliary bishop who had headed the diocese for just under a year.
Previously he was vicar general of the diocese, beginning in 2017. He was also pastor of St. Bridget Parish in Schriever, Louisiana.
His early education led him through Catholic seminaries in Uganda before a career in public service, including roles in Uganda’s government and a master of business administration from the Maastricht School of Management the Netherlands.
During his career, he rose from entry level positions to senior management. While at Katigondo Seminary in Uganda, he had a profound encounter with the Catholic Charismatic Renewal that shaped
his spiritual path and ultimately led him back to discern a priestly vocation, according to a diocesan news release.
Bishop Jacobs, a longtime key figure in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, invited him to the Louisiana diocese to study for the priesthood. In 2007, he was accepted as a seminarian for the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux and was ordained a priest May 25, 2013, by Bishop Jacobs, then head of the diocese. Before the rite of episcopal ordination, Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States, read the papal bull on then-Father Engurait’s appointment as Houma-Thibodaux’s bishop.
In his remarks, the cardinal noted that he was apostolic nuncio to Uganda from 1999 to 2007, and during that time he met Engurait, then a layman.
“On one occasion at Mass for Holy Thursday,” Cardinal Christophe recalled, “I washed his feet, and he must have been like the original Simon Peter,” who asked Christ to wash “’not only my feet but my hands and head as well,’ because several years later his hands were consecrated as a priest and now his head will be anointed with oil as a bishop.”
“So God has him covered from head to foot,” the cardinal said. “Bishop-elect Engurait, you are well acquainted with the love and mercy of God, who has brought you to this day filled with the gift of hope, which is a special grace of this Jubilee Year. God will supply all that you need for a joyful ministry.”
Bishop-designate Engurait received the papal bull from the cardinal and showed it to the bishops in attendance and then walked through the congregation, holding it up for all to see. He walked up and down the aisles to cheers and loud applause.
“You have served well in priestly ministry and as vicar general,” Archbishop Aymond told the soon-tobe-bishop. “We gather here to pray with you and for you – rooted in sacred Scripture beginning with the apostles, and for over 2,000 years ... the Holy Spirit has enabled other men to become successors of the apostles. That is what we do again today.”
He said a bishop’s ministry is threefold: first, to oversee the teaching of ministry of church by preaching the Gospel “faithfully and courageously,” handing on the teaching “with great fidelity; second, to lead God’s people in prayer, celebrate the sacraments, especially confirmation, and have the privilege to ordain priests and deacons; and third, to provide pastoral care and pastoral governance.”
“In all things, my friends, he will strive to reflect Jesus the good shepherd as he carries his pastoral staff with humility in the name of Jesus,” Archbishop Aymond said, adding that the title of bishop is “for service, not for your own honor.”
In his closing remarks, Bishop Engurait told the congregation that this day of his ordination and installation “is not mine alone. It is the fruit of so many who have walked with me.”
“It is sometimes said that the only happy day in the life of a bishop is the day of his ordination,” he added. “Well, I cannot accept that. I pray that every day, even the difficult ones, may hold some joy in the Lord, may hold some consolation in his service and, yes, even a little laughter along the way.”
