Foundation dinner honors Upchurch family

By Maureen Smith
JACKSON – The Catholic Foundation continues to grow in membership and managed trusts. That was the message Foundation members received at the annual meeting and dinner on Wednesday, Oct. 18, at the Jackson Country Club.
Executive director Rebecca Harris wrapped up the evening by presenting the Good Steward award to Loyce Upchurch Dykes and her children Cynthia Upchurch Hawkins; David, Michael and Robert Upchurch. The Upchurch family has been involved with the Catholic Foundation for many years. In 1997 they started the Vennis Ladell Upchurch Memorial Trust and then in 2014 they started the Loyce Upchurch Dykes Trust. Both trusts benefit Greenwood Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish. The family has faithfully given to both trusts each year to help them grow.
The Good Steward Award was established in 2002 and named after the late Bishop William Houck in honor of his giving spirit.
Harris also recognized Pam McFarland, a longtime Foundation administrative assistant who is leaving her post to move closer to family.
Earlier in the evening, board members heard proposals for changes to the bylaws and received detailed annual reports. The Catholic Foundation manages trusts and endowments to benefit parishes and schools throughout the diocese.

 

Upchurch family photos by Maureen Smith

Upchurch family

Pope urges Christians to think about what they say in the Our Father

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – To pray the Lord’s Prayer and believe what one is reciting takes real courage, Pope Francis said.
One must be bold “to truly believe that God is the father who accompanies me, forgives me, gives me bread, is attentive to everything I ask,” Pope Francis said in a filmed conversation about the Our Father.
The Italian bishops’ television station, TV2000, was to begin airing a nine-part series Oct. 25 featuring Pope Francis’ conversation with Father Marco Pozza, an Italian prison chaplain and theologian. A long trailer for the program was released Oct. 18.
The original idea for the project was that Father Pozza would explain the Our Father phrase by phrase and discuss its meaning and implications with a handful of famous Italians from the world of culture and entertainment.
But, the priest told reporters at a news conference, when he told one of the prisoners in Padua about it, the man said, “If he knew about it, Pope Francis would participate, too.”
“At first, I didn’t take it that seriously,” Father Pozza said, “but then I wrote to the pope.” A few days later the pope phoned him and the project was transformed.
In the program’s trailer, Pope Francis ponders whether most people who recite the Our Father really believe any of it.
“We say that we are Christians, that we have a father, but we live – I won’t say like animals – but like people who don’t believe either in God or in humanity,” the pope says. Not only do people act as if they have no faith, but “we live not in love, but in hatred, competition and wars.”
Pope Francis asked if believers really could say that God’s name is “hallowed” in “Christians who battle each other for power” or who “don’t care for their own children?”
Christians pray the Lord’s Prayer and do so together – saying “our” even when they pray alone – because they know the effort required to truly believe and to try again each day to demonstrate their belief, the pope said. “That is why it is so beautiful to pray together, because we help each other to try.”
In addition to the television program, Pope Francis’ conversation with Father Pozza will be published as a book, which will be released in Italian in late November.
In the preface, the pope writes that Jesus gave his disciples the Lord’s Prayer not simply as a formula for addressing God, but also so they would learn how to live as God’s children and as brothers and sisters to one another.
“Jesus shows us what it means to be loved by the Father and reveals to us that the Father wants to pour out on us the same lo

Bishop Kopacz participates in Share the Journey campaign

By Dennis Sadowski and Maureen Smith
JACKSON – A prayer here, a share on social media there, a voice of support in a letter to the editor, even a get-to-know-others potluck.
Supporting refugees and migrants can take many forms, and Pope Francis is hoping Catholics around the world will act over the next two years to encounter people on the move.
In the U.S., the church’s leading organizations have developed a series of activities, including prayers that families, parishes, schools and individuals can undertake during the Share the Journey campaign.
Share the Journey is an initiative of Caritas Internationalis, the global network of Catholic charitable agencies. It is meant to urge Catholics to understand and get to know refugees and migrants who have fled poverty, hunger, violence, persecution and the effects of climate change in their homeland.
U.S. partners in the effort are the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and its Migration and Refugee Services, Catholic Relief Services and Catholic Charities USA.
Much of the effort will be focused on sharing stories about migrants and refugees, the struggles they face and why they chose to seek a better life elsewhere, said Kristin Witte, coordinator of domestic Catholic educational engagement at CRS, which is the U.S. bishops’ overseas relief and development agency.
“The hope is that through the stories that are presented, the images presented, that people will be moved from their place of comfort to a place of encounter. That’s what the church is calling us to. That’s what the pope is calling us to,” she said.
The coalition of Catholic organizations has developed a toolkit in English and Spanish that includes prayers, suggestions for activities for families, prayer groups, classrooms and clergy, and utilizing social media with references to #sharejourney.
One of the suggestions in the toolkit is for bishops to meet with refugees living in their dioceses. Bishop Joseph Kopacz took up the challenge, hosting a meet and greet with Edgar Lopez and Mariamparo Arias de Lopez in the Catholic Charites office near downtown Jackson on Wednesday, Oct. 20.
The Lopez family fled their native Venezuela two-and-a-half years ago. Edgar Lopez lost his job as a chemical engineer and he says political turmoil left him unable to get a new one for 12 years. The couple’s son was a baseball standout and had landed a scholarship to Belhaven University so they decided to come to Mississippi.
“I always felt that God was leading my journey to this country. After all we lived through in our country and when we came here we would always pray, ‘OK God, it’s in your hands, show us the way, and help us to find the better person who can help us,’ because we want to stay legally in this country,” said Mariamparo. That person ended up being former Mississippi Católico editor Elsa Baughman, who urged the couple to seek help from Catholic Charities’ Migrant Resource Center.
With help from attorney Amelia McGowan, they have received work permits and both have found jobs at different restaurants. They are waiting on approval of their political asylum. Bishop Kopacz commented on how hard they have worked to assimilate into the culture in America – working to learn the language and fit into their new home. Both say working in restaurants has helped them get over their fears of speaking English.
“We want to learn everything, we want to get involved in the culture and the community and we want to give back too,” said Edgar. He said the staff at the Migrant Resource Center has become family.
“It was an act of faith that brought us here. Because we are not young. But you have to make a decision to leave everything behind. We left our property, we left our family, we left our friends,” he added. The couple has two grown children. One still lives in Venezuela where she works as a translator.
Despite their struggles, the pair credit their faith and help from their new ‘family’ at Catholic Charities with their success. “Here, we have security, stability and freedom that we don’t have in our country, but the most important thing I have now is my new rela

Edgar Lopez and Mariamparo Arias de Lopez meet with Bishop Joseph Kopacz in the Catholic Charities. The family moved from their native Venezuela two years ago. (Photo by Maureen Smith)

Jorney campaign

tionship with God, a more powerful one. I see God acting in my life and my son’s life and my daughter’s life,” said Mariamparo.
Mark Priceman, communications for the bishops’ Migration and Refugee Services, said the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that about 22 million people are on the move around the world, making the Christian community’s awareness and response to their situation critical.

 

Workshop explores how technology, addiction impact ministry

By Maureen Smith
JACKSON – Sister Lynn Levo, CSJ, presented a two-day workshop on internet addiction to three dozen priests, deacons and lay ministers Oct. 10-11 in Jackson. Sister Levo spent a decade at St. Luke Institute, a psychological treatment center for priests and religious. As a psychologist, her specialty is human development, especially as it relates to technology and sexuality.
“We have to look at the time in which we are living,” said Sister Levo. She explained that two major movements are happening right now – societal chaos and rapidly evolving technology. “We are seeing not change, but a deconstruction (of cultural institutions). This is a time of chaos and endings and real desire and need for new beginnings,” she explained. Set within this context, technology, including social media and what kind of content is available on the internet, is exploding. “Technology is not a bad thing. The challenging part is that it is coming so quickly, changing almost daily,” she said.
She hopes her workshop helped ministers realize that technology and this rapid evolution is here to stay and that it can “enhance a person’s life, but not be a substitute for it.” Sister Levo has seen the impact technology can have on ministry and ministers as their congregations grapple with some of the darker aspects of it.
The ministers brought their own concerns and issues to the workshop – even impacting some of the material presented. “One of the things I most appreciated about her was that she would go away from her prepared material to address questions or remarks,” said Pam Minninger, lay ecclesial minister for Gluckstadt St. Joseph Parish.
Minninger said she and her fellow ministers really opened up to talk about topics they may not have brought up unless this opportunity presented itself. Topics ranged from pornography and its impact on men and young people; how to address same-sex marriage; transgender questions and social media challenges. Sister Levo was able to use her background in social science to speak about these issues from both scientific and pastoral viewpoints. She said she tries to run a relaxed workshop so ministers would feel comfortable bringing up any topic impacting their ministry or community.
“Technology is affecting our lives and our relationships. It affects our families and our ability to communicate,” said Minninger.
The committee plans to offer a workshop on homiletics in January and will continue to seek topics to assist those in ministry throughout the diocese.

JACKSON – Priests from across the diocese listen to a presentation on internet addiction on Oct. 11. (Photo by Maureen Smith)

Close the distance not the gate

IN EXILE

Father Ron Rolheiser

By Father Ron Rolheiser, OMI
Nobel-prizing winning author, Toni Morrison, assessing the times, asks this question: “Why should we want to know a stranger when it is easier to estrange another? Why should we want to close the distance when we can close the gate?” Except this isn’t a question, it’s a judgment.
It’s a negative judgment on both our society and our churches. Where are our hearts really at? Are we trying more to close the distance between us and what’s foreign or are we into closing gates to keep strangers estranged?
In fairness, it might be pointed out that this has always been a struggle. There hasn’t been a golden age within which people wholeheartedly welcomed the stranger. There have been golden individuals and even golden communities who were welcoming, but never society or church as a whole.
Much as this issue is so front and center in our politics today, as countries everywhere struggle with their immigration policies and with what to do with millions of refugees and migrants wanting to enter their country, I want to take Morrison’s challenge, to close the distance rather than close the gate, to our churches: Are we inviting in the stranger? Or, are we content to let the estranged remain outside?
There is a challenging motif within Jesus’ parable of the over-generous vineyard owner which can easily be missed because of the overall lesson within the story. It concerns the question that the vineyard owner asks the last group of workers, those who will work for only one hour. Unlike the first group, he doesn’t ask them: “Do you want to work in my vineyard?”
Rather he asks them: “Why aren’t you working?” Their answer: “Because no one has hired us!” Notice they don’t answer by saying that their non-employment is because they are lazy, incompetent or disinterested. Neither does the vineyard owner’s question imply that. They aren’t working simply because no one has given them the invitation to work!
Sadly, I believe this is the case for so many people who are seemingly cold or indifferent to religion and our churches. Nobody has invited them in! And that was true too at the time of Jesus. Whole groups of people were seen as being indifferent and hostile to religion and were deemed simply as sinners. This included prostitutes, tax collectors, foreigners and criminals. Jesus invited them in and many of them responded with a sincerity, contrition and devotion that shamed those who considered themselves true believers. For the so-called sinners, all that stood between them and entry into the kingdom was a genuine invitation.
Why aren’t you practicing a faith? No one has invited us! Just in my own, admittedly limited, pastoral experience, I have seen a number of individuals who from childhood to early or late mid-life were indifferent to and even somewhat paranoid about, religion and church. It was a world from which they had always felt excluded. But, thanks to some gracious person or fortunate circumstance, at a moment, they felt invited in and they gave themselves over to their new religious family with a disarming warmth, fervor and gratitude, often taking a fierce pride in their new identity.
Witnessing this several times, I now understand why the prostitutes and tax collectors, more than the church people at the time, believed in Jesus. He was the first religious person to truly invite them in.
Sadly, too, there’s a reverse side to this is where, all too often, in all religious sincerity, we not only don’t invite certain others in, we positively close the gates on them. We see that, for example, a number of times in the Gospels where those around Jesus block others from having access to him, as is the case in that rather colorful story where some people are trying to bring a paralytic to Jesus but are blocked by the crowds surrounding him and consequently have to make a hole in the roof in order to lower the paralytic into Jesus’ presence.
Too frequently, unknowingly, sincerely, but blindly, we are that crowd around Jesus, blocking access to him by our presence. This is an occupational danger especially for all of us who are in ministry.
We so easily, in all sincerity, in the name of Christ, in the name of orthodox theology and in the name of sound pastoral practice set ourselves up as gatekeepers, as guardians of our churches, through whom others must pass in order to have access to God. We need to more clearly remember that Christ is the gatekeeper and the only gatekeeper and we need to refresh ourselves on what that means by looking at why Jesus chased the moneychangers out of the temple in John’s Gospel. They, the moneychangers, had set themselves up as a medium through which people has to pass in order to offer workshop to God. Jesus would have none of it.
Our mission as disciples of Jesus is not to be gatekeepers. We need instead to work at closing the distance rather than closing the gate.

(Oblate Father Ron Rolheiser, theologian, teacher and award-winning author, is President of the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, TX.)

Encuentro process aimed at meeting needs, fostering sense of mission

By Norma Montenegro
WASHINGTON – Most dioceses and archdioceses around the country are holding their diocesan encuentros throughout the fall, highlighting what contributions Hispanic Catholics bring to the Catholic Church and their faith communities.
Anticipation of those gatherings comes as communities celebrate this year’s annual National Hispanic Heritage Month, highlighting Hispanics’ contributions to their communities and to society. The observance began Sept. 15 and ran through Oct. 15.
U.S. census estimates show that about 29.7 million Hispanics/Latinos in the United States identify as Catholics, which represents nearly 59 percent of the total Hispanic population in the country. Among millennials, Hispanic Catholics represent 54 percent of U.S. Catholics born in 1982 or later.
U.S. Catholic officials say the church’s encuentro process is an essential opportunity for many parishes and dioceses to promote and grow unity, leadership and cross-collaboration.
Diocesan encuentros are the current phase of what is a four-year process of ecclesial reflection and action. First came parish-level encuentros, next will be regional encuentros. The process will culminate in the Fifth National Encuentro, known as “V Encuentro,” next September in Grapevine, Texas. Previous national encuentros were held in 1972, 1977, 1985 and 2000.
The purpose, as its name states, is to “encounter” others by reaching out to those at the margins through evangelization, by listening to the concerns of such a diverse community through consultation and preparing emerging ministry leaders.
In the Diocese of San Diego, David Gonzalez, a parishioner at Our Lady of Mount Carmel in San Isidro, California, said the process has helped unify his parish community, engage new leaders including youth and young adults, and focus parish ministry groups on one common mission.
Personally, it has brought him a renewed sense of commitment. “I’m part of the church, I am the church, I need to go out too,” he said in an interview. “My wife and I, we try to continue (it). It is not just a process that happened and we are done.”
The Diocese of San Diego, which serves 1.3 million Catholics, is set to hold its encuentro Oct. 21. About 250 delegates from participating parishes were expected to attend. The encuentro process in this culturally diverse diocese, where 75 percent of the Catholic population is Hispanic, is offered in both English and Spanish.
Around the country, more than 100 of the nearly 165 participating dioceses are holding their diocesan encuentro between August and December. Parish delegates will attend and afterward present a report to their respective diocesan bishops that will include needs, goals, priorities and recommendations.
In the Archdiocese of Washington, 300 delegates representing 30 parishes gathered to contribute their recommendations, which were presented in a report to Washington Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl Oct. 21 during the archdiocesan encuentro. About 1,000 people were expected to participate.
The delegates identified several priority areas from information gathered from nearly 6,000 people engaged during the process. Those include the accompaniment of families and youth, including single parents, the elderly and those at risk of violence; the need to foster a sense of missionary discipleship, including outreach to non-Spanish-speaking Hispanics; and the call to advocacy and solidarity with immigrants.

Members of Our Holy Redeemer Church in Freeport, N.Y., pass a sponge soaked in water during a team competition at the annual encuentro gathering in 2016 at Immaculate Conception Seminary in Huntington, N.Y. (CNS photo/Gregory A. Shemitz, Long Island Catholic) See ENCUENTRO-DIOCESAN-PROCESS Sept. 19, 2017.

“It was pretty evident that folks wanted to be formed in their faith and they wanted to be the ones as missionary disciples, to go out and reach out to these groups.” said Javier Bustamante, chairman of the archdiocesan team for the V Encuentro.
“Our archdiocesan team will be taking a look at these recommendations in the next few months and will continue to come up with strategies, recommendations of best practices, things that we could be doing, both at the archdiocese and the parish level,” he said in an interview.
About 2,000 leaders and delegates from 100 parishes and religious organizations in the Archdiocese of San Antonio were preparing for their encuentro Sept. 30. The encuentro process reaching out to Hispanics and other cultural groups, has been fruitful in many ways, say those involved, including bringing hope and conversion, and helping many return to the church.
In one particularly moving case, it even helped save the life of someone who was considering suicide, according to Lucia Baez Luzondo, director of the Office of the V Encuentro. She also heads the Secretariat for Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth at the Archdiocese of San Antonio.
“The spirit and the culture of the encuentro are going to be the backbone of the new pastoral plan of the archdiocese for the next five years. It has been transformational to all of us,” Luzondo said.
In another example of missionary discipleship inspired by the encuentro, a youth group from St. Matthew Catholic Church in San Antonio reached out to a group of young Burmese refugees, who in turn have gotten closer to the parish and its community to the point where about 20 Burmese representatives will take part in the archdiocesan encuentro, Luzondo reported.
Dioceses will share recommendations gathered during their own encuentros with their episcopal regions by next spring and following that will come regional encuentros.
Reports based on recommendations will assist dioceses to better identify strategies, implement recommendations and set priorities in a more inclusive way to continue shaping how Hispanic ministry is done based on Pope Francis’ “Joy of the Gospel,” said Alejandro Aguilera-Titus, national coordinator for the V Encuentro.
He is assistant director of Hispanic affairs in the Secretariat of Cultural Diversity in the Church for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington.
The V Encuentro is an implementation of that vision of church that is missionary, that is an example and promoter of justice, that reaches out to those who are most in need, that builds community and understanding,” Aguilera-Titus said.
(Editor’s note: see related story on page 1)

What happens during Mass?

(Editor’s note: Bishop Joseph Kopcaz’ travel schedule kept him from writing an article in time for this publication. He is working on an article, which will be posted to Mississippi Catholic’s website in the next few days. Bishop Kopacz will return to these pages in the next issue.)

Bishop Robert Barron

By Bishop Robert Barron
As many Catholics know, the Second Vatican Council famously referred to the liturgy as the “source and summit of the Christian life.” And following the prompts of the great figures of the liturgical movement in the first half of the twentieth century, the Council Fathers called for a fuller, more conscious, and more active participation in the liturgy on the part of Catholics.
That the Vatican II dream of a revived liturgical awareness and practice has, at least in the West, largely remained unrealized goes without saying. In the years following the Council, Mass attendance in Europe, North America, and Australia has plummeted. The numbers of Catholics who regularly attend Mass in those parts of the world hover between 10 and 25 percent Therefore, it is not surprising that an extraordinary number of those who self-identify as Catholics in the West have very little idea what the Mass actually is. My 31 years of priestly ministry convince me that, even for a great number of those who attend Mass, the liturgy is a kind of religiously-themed jamboree.
So what is the Mass? What happens during this paradigmatic prayer? Why is it the beginning and culmination of what it means to be a Christian? In the course of this brief article, I will share just a couple of basic insights.
First, the Mass is a privileged encounter with the living Christ. Christianity is not a philosophy, ideology, or religious program; it is a friendship with the Son of God, risen from the dead. There is simply no more intense union with Jesus than the Mass. Consider for a moment the two major divisions of the Mass: the liturgy of the Word and the liturgy of the Eucharist. When we meet with another person in a formal setting, we typically do two things. We get together and talk, and then we eat. Think of the first part of Mass as an exchange, a conversation, between the Son of God and members of his mystical body. In the prayers and interventions of the priest, and especially in the words of the Scriptures, Jesus speaks to his people, and in the songs, responses, and psalms, the people talk back. There is, if you will, a lovely call and response between the Lord and those who have been grafted onto him through baptism. In the course of this spirited conversation, the union between head and members is intensified, strengthened, confirmed. Having talked, we then sit down to eat, not an ordinary meal, but the banquet of the Lord’s body and blood, hosted by Jesus himself. The communion that commenced with the call and response during the first part of Mass is now brought to a point of unsurpassed intensity (at least this side of heaven), as the faithful come to eat the body and drink the lifeblood of Jesus.
A second rubric under which to consider the Mass is that of play. We tend quite naturally to think of play as something less than serious, something frivolous and far less important than work. But nothing could be further from the truth. Work is always subordinated to an end beyond itself; it is for the sake of a higher good. So I work on my car that I might drive it; I work at my place of employment that I might make money; I work around the house so that it might be a more pleasant place to live, etc. But play has no ulterior motive, no end to which it is subordinated. Hence, I play baseball or watch golf or attend a symphony or engage in philosophical speculation or get lost in a sprawling novel simply because it is good so to do. These activities are referred to in the classical tradition as “liberal,” precisely because they are free (liber) from utility. When I was teaching philosophy years ago in the seminary, I would gleefully tell my students that they were engaging in the most useless study of all. Invariably they laughed — revealing the utilitarian prejudice of our culture — but I always reminded them that this meant the highest and most noble kind of study.
The Mass, as an act of union with the highest good, is therefore the supreme instance of play. It is the most useless and hence sublimest activity in which one could possibly engage. Recently, I had the privilege of attending the Mass for the installation of new members of the Knights and Ladies of the Holy Sepulcher. For the solemn liturgy, the Knights wore dashing capes emblazoned with the Jerusalem cross and jaunty black berets, while the ladies donned elegant black gowns, gloves, and lace mantillas. Two bishops, in full Mass vestments and tall mitres, welcomed the new members into the order by dubbing them on both shoulders with impressively large swords. As I watched the proceedings, I couldn’t help but think of G.K. Chesterton’s remark that children often dress up when they engage in their “serious play.” Capes, hats, ceremonial gloves, vestments, and swords for dubbing are all perfectly useless, which is precisely their point. So all of the colorful accouterments and stately actions of the Mass are part of the sublime play.
Why is the Mass so important? Why is it the “source and summit” of the Christian life? I could say many more things in answer to these questions, but suffice it to say for the moment that it is the most beautiful encounter between friends and that it is an anticipation of the play that will be our permanent preoccupation in heaven.

(Bishop Robert Barron is the founder of Word on Fire Catholic Ministries and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. He is also the host of CATHOLICISM, a groundbreaking, award-winning documentary about the Catholic Faith, which aired on PBS.)

Purple Dress Run

By Maureen Smith
JACKSON – Thursday, Oct. 19, runners took the streets of downtown Jackson decked out in purple dresses to benefit Catholic Charities’ domestic violence shelter. In its sixth year, the 5-K run lets runners and walkers have a little fun with their exercise.
Purple is the advocacy color for domestic violence and October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Many runners and walkers wear purple dresses to in honor of women who suffer or those who have ‘run’ from their abusers. Iconic downtown restaurant Hal and Mal’s hosts a gathering before and after the race, which winds around the capitol and through the streets of downtown as the sun sets.
Bishop Joseph Kopcaz kicked off the race with prayer and then handed out water at the turn by the capitol building. Bands from Jackson Prep and Madison St. Joseph High School played along the route to give the runners inspiration.

Purple Dress Run

Purple Dress Run

Purple Dress Run

Purple Dress Run

Purple Dress Run

Purple Dress Run

Purple Dress Run

Purple Dress Run

Purple Dress Run

Purple Dress Run

Purple Dress Run

Purple Dress Run

Purple Dress Run

Purple Dress Run

Purple Dress Run

Photos by Maureen Smith

 

Be not afraid: we’re in this together

Sister Constance Veit

Guest Column
By Sister Constance Veit
A Each October we observe Respect Life Month in dioceses around the United States. This year’s theme is “Be Not Afraid,” but of what, or whom, are we supposed to not be afraid?
Pondering this question, I recalled an experience I had while attending the Convocation of Catholic Leaders in Orlando last summer. I met a young woman and her mother from my diocese. The daughter, who had an obvious disability and was using a power wheelchair, had been chosen as a delegate to the Convocation; her mother, a college professor, was there as her assistant.
As we got acquainted, we chatted about accessibility issues in the church. The young woman told me that while most parishes have remedied architectural barriers such as curbs and restrooms, the seating area designated for wheelchairs is often still found way off to the side or at the very back of the sanctuary – evidence, she believes, that handicapped individuals are still not fully embraced as an integral part of parish life.
What she said next cut right to the heart: “It’s fine to be able to get in and out of church, but it would be nice if someone smiled at me once in a while, or spoke to me as if I actually knew what was going on.” I was stunned. All too quickly we wrapped up our conversation, traded business cards – yes, my new friend has a college education and a meaningful job – and went our separate ways. But I haven’t been able to get this conversation off my mind.
When I got home I did a bit of research on attitudes toward the disabled and was shocked by a recent study in the U.K. that found that two thirds of adults are afraid of people with disabilities and feel so awkward around them that they go out of their way to avoid them. Another study indicated that 1.4 million senior citizens in the U.K. feel lonely and cut off from society, many going for over a month at a time without talking to another human being. Since these were not American studies, it would be easy to dismiss this data, but I suspect that we have a lot in common with our British brothers and sisters.
Scholars in the field of disability studies suggest that disabled people mirror a certain kind of personal loss or death. They remind us of our own limitations and mortality – and that is what frightens us. As long as we can avoid those who are handicapped or elderly, we can keep our fears about our own fragility and eventual death at bay. But we are all broken in some way – if we were honest, we would admit that we each experience areas of weakness or disability every day, and none of us is really more than one accident or illness away from losing our cherished independence.
The church proposes a different approach. In the face of suffering and death she tells us, “Be not afraid.” With words that echo through salvation history into the depths of our hearts, the Lord says to us, “Do not fear: I am with you” (Isaiah 41:10). He speaks these words not as One who merely observes our pain, but as One who experienced intense suffering and death in his own flesh before triumphing over death itself.
Reflecting on the wounds of the Risen Christ, we see that even our most difficult trials can be the place where God manifests his victory. He is always with us. Jesus promised this when he gave the disciples the same mission he gives to each of us: Go out to all the world!
So if we run toward our most vulnerable brothers and sisters rather than running away from them, marginalizing them or excluding them from our lives, we will experience the love of God in a powerful new way as we contribute to the building up of a society that witnesses to the beautiful, profound reality that God has created each of us in his own image and likeness, that he loves us infinitely, and that he has confided each person to the love of all.
(Sister Constance Veit is director of communications for the Little Sisters of the Poor.)

Water, water, everywhere?

Sister alies therese

Complete the circle
By Sister alies therese
Maybe you remember reading this article in the NY Times in 2015 (Lizette Alvarez, 7/14/15)? All about the drought in Puerto Rico? Right the drought. The drought was causing an already deep in debt Puerto Rico more than $15million per month. One of the worst droughts in Puerto Rico’s history! Carraizo, the major reservoir, dropped more than 18 feet. more than 160,000 residents had water off for 48 hours and then on for 24; another 185,000 going without water in 24 hour cycles; and 10,000 or more were on 12 hour cycles. Alvarez reported the drought was caused by El Nino and most of the reservoirs were within 30 days of running out of water.
When she interviewed Mr. Davila he said: “Friends are showering at work or taking luxurious 30 minute showers on days when the water is flowing, not paying much attention to how much we waste and what we can do without!”
Mr. Saldana of the Aqueduct Board was asked how long the drought would last…he pointed skyward and simply said: ‘Ask Him.’
Have you though much about ‘water scarcity?’ We have become so attached to the water bottle, cup, coke or favorite tea/coffee, we forget just how scarce drinkable water can actually be. In fact, I think out of all our resources across the globe, water is the one we will fight over most, even more than oil or food.
The human body can live for several days, if not weeks, without lots of food. However, we cannot live without hydration.
I found some interesting information online to share with you: Water scarcity: is a lack of sufficient water to meet the needs within a region. Every continent is affected today. Some 2.8 billion people lack access to clean drinking water.
Water shortage: may be caused by climate change, droughts, floods, pollution and overuse of water.
Water crisis: means that potable (unpolluted) water is less than a region needs.
Physical water scarcity: means there are inadequate natural water sources available. There is also a shortage of water available for sanitation.
The United Nations Millinneum Declaration aimed by 2015 to “halve the proportion of people who are unable to reach or afford safe drinking water.” I’m not sure if that goal was reached but seems very important to do so.
Here’s a mouthful: there is 1 quadrillion acre-feet of water is on Earth. My mind boggles…and yet only 162.1 billion acre-feet is fresh water for human consumption. More than 1 billion people live in a stressed water condition – that is one in every six of us. Water stress is intensifying in China and India and in sub-Saharan Africa more than a quarter of the population is water stressed.
When there is change in climate the glaciers recede, there is reduced stream and river flow, and ponds and lakes shrink.
When there is water crisis it means inadequate drinking water for more than 884 million people across the globe. The World Bank reports that 88 percent of all waterborne diseases are caused by unsafe drinking water, inadequate sanitation, and poor hygiene. Some countries seem to have so few choices.
Economic water scarcity is caused by lack of infrastructure investment to draw water from rivers, aquifers or other water sources, or insufficient human capacity to satisfy demand. This means people have to travel very long distances daily to fetch water often contaminated by domestic or agricultural waste.
In the U.S., 95 percent of our water is underground. As farmers in the Texan High Plains pump groundwater faster than rain replenishes it, the water table drops.
Then there’s our Puerto Rico. I did mention the drought. Now I must remind you that some few weeks ago Puerto Rico (along with Virgin Islands, Texas, Louisiana, Florida, even a bit of Mississippi) was hit with floods of water and the near drowning of the island, probably not what folks prayed for a couple of years ago during the drought.
How much do you use for a shower? Every day? Or a bath? How long do you leave water running while brushing your teeth? It actually makes a difference to our own state and to our friends across the world.
Water features big in the Hebrew Bible (ask Elijah, consult the Psalms) and even in the New Testament we find the first major action of Jesus’ ministry: His baptism in the Jordan. The woman at the well will hear from Jesus: ‘Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give will never thirst; the water I give will become a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (Jn. 4:14)
Have you ever considered that key to our sacramental system is water? This very water. Baptism…whether we are submerged in the Mississippi River, or baptized with a few little teaspoons, water is crucial. When someone becomes a Eucharistic Minister, I see them in the community feeding the hungry.
Our commitment to reversing some of this water scarcity has to do with our willingness to put our baptism to work. Whether we are helping build wells, reorganizing our thinking about our own personal use, or now being tested by the savageness of the waters of Hurricanes Maria, Harvey or Irma, we need to be much more thoughtful and prayerful. Puerto Rico has a lot to remind us of and their cries (also water) for help must not go unheeded. At this writing, still

less than 70 percent of the folks in Puerto Rico have useable water. Blessings.
(Sister alies therese is a vowed Catholic solitary who lives an eremitical life. Her days are formed around prayer, art and writing. She is author of six books of spiritual fiction and is a weekly columnist. She lives and writes in Mississippi.)