Father Rick Phipps and Ann Hardy, principal, thanked everyone for their help in preparing for the blessing.
Christopher Green (above) reads a display about Sister Bowman set up in the school.
Sherman Nunn Abdur-Razzaq of the Mississippi Afrocentrik Dance and Drum Ensemble performs during the ceremony.
Students spell out Sister Thea Bowman as Yolanda Henderson, sixth-grade teacher, holds up a photo of Sister Bowman during the blessing ceremony for the Sister Thea Bowman Catholic School at Jackson Christ the King Church on Sunday, Oct. 29.
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Youth choose faith, receive gifts at confirmation By Fabvienen Taylor
ABERDEEN — On Sunday, May 20, Father Bob Dalton, St. Francis of Assisi pastor, asked the three young teenagers waiting to be confirmed to reflect on the story of “The Wizard of Oz.”
“It is a story I love so dearly,” said Father Dalton during his homily. “Dorothy had been swept away in a tornado and only wants to get back home. Her three companions on her journey — the cowardly lion, the tinman who wants a heart, and the straw man (scarecrow) who wants a brain — each wants a gift (courage, a heart, a brain) from the wizard,” Father Dalton said.
Only at the end of their journey does each realize they had what they wanted all along. “It’s like that with the gifts of the Holy Spirit,” he said.
Father Dalton told the three teens, in facing life’s ups and downs, they too would come to realize they have what they need — love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control — the gifts of the Holy Spirit. “All you have to do is open your hearts and say yes to God,” he said.
Normally Bishop Joseph Latino administers the sacrament of confirmation but Father Dalton performed the ritual — the final sacrament of initiation for teens after baptism and Eucharist — because Bishop Joseph Latino had to attend a funeral out of the country.
In discussing what confirmation means to them, the young women confirmed — Emily Connell, Allie Williams and Josie Warnick — each talked about taking responsibility for choosing to be Catholic at this stage in their lives.
The only Catholic at Caledonia High School and member of a small prayer group at school, Connell, 15, has been asked by other students about the saints and what it means to pray.
“For me confirmation makes me feel, finally, that I am more one with the church, more a part of the church,” she said. “My confirmation is very special for my parents too. I want to learn more about Jesus and get more into the Catholic faith. I like to read about it.”
For 16-year-old Williams, confirmation was “like reinstating my baptism. Your baptism is more or less your parents’ decision to raise you in the ways of the church and confirmation is confirming that yourself. So this is my big decision to become, finally, an adult member of the church.”
Williams, an accomplished musician, is already contributing, in an adult-like way, to her faith community each Sunday by singing in the choir, like her mother, and playing the piano for the Communion song.
“I love it,” she said. “I love helping to provide the music.” Williams wrote the Communion song she played on Sunday, entitled “Melt.”
Each of the girls attended religious education classes at their parish, participated in a retreat, and took part in outreach activities in preparation for receiving confirmation. They were prepared by Susan Sweet, pastoral associate, and parishioner Nuccia Morgan.
A 40-family parish, St. Francis is located in Northeast Mississippi and is served by the Glenmary Missioners — Father Dalton, Sweet and Brother Terry O’Rourke, who is retired but directs Outreach Ministries for the parish.
Josie Warnick, 18, helped pack boxes of food for the needy. “I didn’t really think about it until I was handing the boxes out, seeing the people who received them,” she said. “Just working on the boxes didn’t really make a big difference, but it did when I was face-to-face with the people.”
Brother O’Rourke, confirmation sponsor for Warnick, gave her a copy of the book, “My Grandfather’s Blessing: Stories of Strength, Refuge, and Belonging” by Naomi Remen, M.D., as a gift.
“Josie is a very sensitive young woman,” Brother O’Rourke said. “In the book the doctor encounters different people and is very perceptive about them. I think Josie will pick up on that. She is very service-oriented and listens to people. I wanted to give her something motivational but not specifically religious.”
All of the girls received gifts from friends and family, including St. Francis of Assisi medals from the parish, given to them by Father Dalton. “I hope this medal reminds you of this St. Francis community which has nourished you and now welcomes you as adults.”
Warnick will attend the University of Southern Mississippi (USM) in the fall. “I definitely need the gifts of the Holy Spirit that confirmation brings,” she said.
“I am going off to college and I have to have the self-discipline to be on my own. My mom and I have been talking about that, about how I need to have the self-discipline to continue to go to church.”
