CLARKSDALE – Sister Manette Durard (left) talks with Lucretia Jones, Immaculate Conception parishioner, during the parish’s 69th anniversary celebration Mass Sunday, Sept. 7. Afterwards, Earl Gooden gave a brief history of the parish. (Photo by Christine McDaniel)
By Carol Glatz
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Today’s bishops must be as vigilant and courageous as sentinels keeping watch over the faith, and as forgiving and patient as Moses, leading a sinning people across harsh deserts to God, Pope Francis said.
Their vocation is not to be wardens of a failed estate, “but custodians of ‘evangelii gaudium’ (the joy of the Gospel); therefore, you cannot be without the only treasure we really have to give, and that the world cannot give itself: the joy of God’s love,” he told new bishops.
The pope made his comments Sept. 18 in a written address to 138 recently appointed bishops from around the world, including Bishop Jospeh Kopacz, 13 other bishops from the United States and two from Australia. The pope said he was happy finally to put a real face to their names and resumes, which he told them he was closely familiar with.
In a lengthy address, Pope Francis outlined a series of do’s and don’ts in their new role as bishops, reminding them of their true mission and urging them to return home “with a message of encouragement” even with the problems awaiting them.
Pope Francis arrives for a meeting with 138 new bishops from around the world at the Vatican Sept. 18. Bishop Kopacz attended the meeting. (CNS photo/L’Osservatore Romano)
Their approach must always be positive, he said, especially with each other. “Though jealously safeguarding the passion for truth, do not waste your energy in opposition and arguments, but in building and loving,” he said.
The bishops must strike a balance between being audacious sentinels, ready 24/7 to wake up a slumbering world, and gentle, forgiving fathers who unconditionally love the sinning people “God has given you.”
The only way to fulfill this mission, he said, is to be constantly in search of and completely bound to Christ, which takes “familiarity, dedication, perseverance and patience.”
“It’s necessary to always dwell in him and never run away from him: Dwell in his word, in his Eucharist, in the things of his father and, above all, in his cross,” he said.
Just as a flame is always kept lit in front of every tabernacle to tell the faithful that Christ is present inside, every priest, too, needs to have the light of Christ shining in his gaze so the flock can “encounter the flame of the risen one.”
That is why the church cannot have bishops who are “switched off or pessimists” or who rely only on themselves and have “surrendered to the darkness of the world or resigned to the apparent defeat of the good, screaming – at this point, in vain – that the tiny fort has been attacked,” he said.
But they do have to be like sentinels, he said, “capable of waking up your churches, getting up before dawn or in the middle of the night to bolster the faith, hope and charity, without letting yourselves be lulled to sleep or conforming to the nostalgic complaint of a golden past that’s already gone.”
“Don’t be bishops with an expiration date,” who are always on the lookout for a new assignment somewhere else, or “like a medicine that will stop being effective or like perishable food to be thrown out,” he said.
Like Moses, bishops need to be with their people no matter what, he said.
“I also beg you to not let yourselves be deceived by the temptation to change the people. Love the people that God has given you, even when they will have committed great sins.”
Like Moses, the bishop must “come up to the Lord” and advocate on his people’s behalf, praying for forgiveness and a fresh start, he said.
“I am well aware of how our times have become a desert,” he said. And that’s why the people need someone who will patiently guide them and help them mature, and who will not “fear death as exiles, but deplete your last energies, not for yourselves, but to let those you guide enter into God.”
Nothing is more important than bringing people to God, he said. The pope urged the bishops to truly be present and available for their priests.
A bishop who is “reachable” isn’t the one who has endless means of communication at his disposal. He’s the one who always has room in his heart to really welcome and listen to all of his priests and their “concrete needs, giving them the entirety and breadth of church teaching and not a list of complaints.”
“And, please, do not fall into the temptation of sacrificing your freedom by surrounding yourself with courtiers, climbers and yes-men, since the church and the world have the right to always find on the lips of the bishop the Gospel, which makes them free.
(Copyright © 2014 Catholic News Service/United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news services may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to, such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method in whole or in part, without prior written authority of Catholic News Service.)
Father Edward Flanagan, the Irish-born priest who founded Boys Town in Nebraska, talks with a group of boys in this undated photo. On March 17, 2015, three years to the day his sainthood cause was officially opened, the Archdiocese of Omaha, Neb., will submit all documentation gathered for his cause to the Vatican. During a Sept. 15 presentation at the Great Hall on the Boys Town campus, Steve Wolf, president of the Father Flanagan League Society of Devotion, said the process was moving at “lightning speed.” (CNS photo/courtesy Boys Town)
By Kacey Matthews
Although strides are being made to educate people about dyslexia, many still misunderstand what dyslexia is. Dyslexia is defined as “a specific learning disability that is neurological in origin. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities. These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction.
Secondary consequences may include problems in reading comprehension and reduced reading experience that can impede the growth of vocabulary and background knowledge,” (Lyon, Shaywitz, and Shaywitz, 2003).
Kacey Matthews and a student at St. Anthony School in Madison use ‘coding,’ part of an Orton-Gillingham-based program of dyslexia therapy. Dyslexia affects 80 percent of those identified with learning disabilities, but students can still excel with the right therapy. (Photo by Jennifer Kelemen)
The good news is that with a trained therapist and the correct therapy, such as the Orton-Gillingham based dyslexia therapy, dyslexic children can succeed in school and then in whatever field they choose to pursue.
In 2012, the state of Mississippi passed a law which made kindergarten and first grade dyslexia screenings mandatory for public schools. This is where many of the schools in the Diocese of Jackson are ahead of the curve. Not only are they providing screenings, but some have Mississippi Department of Education certified dyslexia therapists on campus servicing students during school hours.
“Children with dyslexia are highly intelligent, and my son is no exception. But, the right dyslexia therapy and therapist are so important for their success. Having to do therapy after school is extremely hard for the child and the family,” said Krista Andy, a parent of a child with dyslexia. “The progress our son has made by seeing a dyslexia therapist four days a week during school is invaluable to our family. Every dyslexic child should be able to experience what St Anthony provides,” she added.
At St. Anthony School, students are seen individually or in groups three to five times a week which is recommended by the latest research. The students receive intensive intervention using an Orton-Gillingham-based program. The program is open to students from kindergarten through sixth grade, and is year-round. The students continue their therapy at the school four times a week for six weeks in the summer.
“Year-round intervention helps to limit summer regression,” said Joanna Johnson, the speech language pathologist at St. Anthony, as well as the parent of a dyslexic child enrolled in the program. “When struggling students finally experience success, the therapy becomes personally motivating, and many even decide they like to read. Consistency and frequency of the correct interventions are the keys to unlock any students’, like my child’s, full potential,” she said.
Having a full-time therapist on staff creates a cohesive learning environment allowing for transfer of skills from dyslexia therapy to the classroom. “In this way the therapist and the classroom teacher have daily opportunities for communication about the student. Younger students, especially dyslexic students, who have worked hard all day are very tired after school hours. They retain much more information when therapy is offered during (class time),” said Cathy Lutz, a first grade teacher at St. Anthony.
Jackson St. Richard and Madison St. Joseph schools also have dyslexia therapy programs. Administrators believe including them helps ensure each child finds success no matter their difference.
(Kacey Matthews is the resident dyslexia therapist at St. Anthony School. She will be presenting on K-5 Literacy Strategies for the Dyslexic Learner at the upcoming October Dyslexia Seminar at Mississippi College.)
CLEVELAND The Catholic Student Association meets on the campus of Delta State University in the Union, 302-A, on Tuesdays, at 6:30 p.m.Feel free to “eat & run.” Details: Natalie Hardesty, 228-861-7253.
GRENVILLE Sacred Heart Parish council will award $500 scholarships to children who attend either Lourdes or St. Joseph school. Application forms are in the rear of the church.
MERIDIAN St. Patrick Parish ninth-12th graders meet Sunday, Oct. 5, at noon in the Family Life Center. All are encouraged to attend and bring a friend.
NATCHEZ Cathedral School will induct the school’s charter members into the Science National Honor Society, Monday, Oct. 6, at 6 p.m. at St. Mary Basilica. A short reception to follow in St. Therese Hall.
OXFORD St. John Parish Catholic students (freshmen-grad school) are invited to apply for the 2014 Jane Cassisa Scholarship which awards $3,000 toward their studies at the University of Mississippi.
The scholarship is granted to a Catholic student who lives out the virtues of justice, piety and holiness in their lives. Deadline for application is Oct. 15. Details: www.stjohnoxford.org.
VICKSBURG Catholic School Class of 2000 will have its reunion Saturday, Oct. 4, with a family day at Glenwood Circle Park, Mass at 5:30 p.m. at St. Paul Parish followed by supper at River Towne Grille and cocktails at The Upper End.
– St. Aloysius Class of 2004 will have its reunion the weekend of October 25. Details: Katie Farris Myers, at katiefarrismyers@gmail.com or Laura Beth Lyons Strickland, blyons911@gmail.com.
guest column
By Sister Constance Veit, l.s.p.
The month of October is a real bonanza for us Little Sisters of the Poor. During October we celebrate the anniversaries of the birth, beatification and canonization of our foundress, Saint Jeanne Jugan. Along with Catholics all over the United States, we also observe Respect Life Month. Rereading Pope Benedict’s canonization homily recently, I realized how appropriate it is to simultaneously celebrate Saint Jeanne Jugan and respect for life.
Inspired by Pope Francis’ greeting for England’s 2013 Day for Life, the theme chosen for our U.S. Respect Life observances this year is Each of Us is a Masterpiece of God’s Creation.
“Even the weakest and most vulnerable, the sick, the old, the unborn and the poor are masterpieces of God’s creation, made in his own image, destined to live forever, and deserving of the utmost reverence and respect,” he said. Time and time again we see Pope Francis demonstrating the truth of these words in his humility, warmth and compassion for each person he encounters.
“We want to be part of a society that makes affirmation and protection of human rights its primary objective and its boast,” Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley, O.F.M. Cap., chairman of the USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities, wrote in his message for Respect Life Month. “Our mission is to show each person the love of Christ. As uniquely created individuals, we each have unique gifts which we are called to use to share Christ’s love.” This is exactly what Saint Jeanne Jugan did as she devoted her life to elderly persons in need.
“Born in 1792 at Cancale in Brittany, France, Jeanne Jugan was concerned with the dignity of her brothers and sisters … whom age had made more vulnerable, recognizing in them the Person of Christ himself,” Pope Benedict XVI said at her canonization. “‘Look upon the poor with compassion,’ she would say, ‘and Jesus will look kindly upon you on your last day.’
Jeanne Jugan focused upon the elderly a compassionate gaze drawn from her profound communion with God in her joyful, disinterested service, which she carried out with gentleness and humility of heart, desiring herself to be poor among the poor.”
Pope Benedict rightly attributed Saint Jeanne’s compassionate love to her profound union with God, which she achieved through many years of prayer and an active sacramental life. Cardinal O’Malley suggests that we pursue the same course – to draw close to Jesus in prayer and the sacraments – asking God for the grace to see ourselves and others as he sees us, as masterpieces of his creation.
“When God created each of us, he did so with precision and purpose, and he looks on each of us with love that cannot be outdone in intensity or tenderness.” If we wish to help build the Culture of Life, we should reflect on these words of Cardinal O’Malley until they are assimilated into the deep recesses of our minds and our hearts. From there they will give birth to deep convictions: “We must look at ourselves and at others in light of this truth and treat all people with the reverence and respect which is due.”
This was Jeanne Jugan’s secret. She saw in each elderly person a suffering member of the Body of Christ, and she treated them as she would have treated Christ himself. Jeanne Jugan’s canonization process involved the recognition of two miracles worked through her intercession. But our foundress hasn’t stopped working miracles now that she is a Saint!
During this Respect Life Month, pray through her intercession for the miracle of a conversion of our society’s values to those of the Culture of Life. And ask Saint Jeanne Jugan to help you realize your own dignity, and the dignity of all those with whom you share your life, as masterpieces of God’s creation.
(Sister Constance Veit is director of communications for the Little Sisters of the Poor.)
Reflections on Life
By Father Jerome LeDoux, SVD
“People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.” Of spurious origin, that old dictum has been interpreted in various ways. One common understanding is that people should not criticize in others some fault that they see in themselves. Another is that people who are in a vulnerable, fragile situation should not engage in destructive actions.
In any case, the axiom’s relevance is not lost on news analysts, reporters, NOW (the National Organization for Women) and people at large who are up in arms about spousal violence in the National Football League. For days the talk of the nation, virtually everyone is hot and bothered over the antics of Ray Rice, Adrian Peterson, Ray McDonald and others.
But, while 69 percent of Americans think that the NFL has a widespread epidemic of domestic violence problems, official arrest numbers for domestic violence by NFL players are less than half the arrest numbers for the general population. This ignorance amid the public of the facts of domestic violence is part of the problem. The media and the public blithely mouth clichés about the NFL’s being a major expression of America’s culture of violence, and yet the public at large is guilty of even more violence. Oh, those glass houses!
No one doubts that our ambient culture of violence is the main stage on which acts of violence take place. Yet, the individual elements that spark violence are usually an unruly will to control another, a tit-for-tat attempt at revenge for something said or done, anger at another’s opinions or attitude that conflicts badly with one’s own way of thinking. Some folks simply refuse to be content with agreeing to disagree about anything.
After a slap on Ray Rice’s wrist that created severe backlash, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell got tough, declaring a new policy of a six-game suspension for a first offense and a lifetime ban for a second offense. Subsequently, the Baltimore Ravens summarily released Rice. But should professional sports have a violence code that does not reflect the status of the general population and of organizations like law enforcement in particular?
Something is grossly wrong with all these maneuvers. If police officers, who are much more frequent domestic violence offenders than professional athletes are, are not fired and often not even taken to task for spousal abuse, why are athletes being cut off from their livelihood?
Plastered all over TV news, dozens of actors, actresses, vocalists and sundry entertainers are shown in mind-blowing episodes of fury and violence. Why are they not punished by the same fickle public who self-righteously want to punish athletes?
Now don’t get me wrong, folks! Some kind, some measure of effective punishment should be meted out to both amateur and professional athletes who engage in spousal abuse. However, the waters and solutions are left murky by the prevalence of domestic violence in the general population at a rate more than twice as frequent as in sports.
High-profile people such as superstar entertainers, actors and professional athletes definitely live in glass houses. However, so does an even higher percentage of the clueless people at large, since their percentage of spousal abuse is more than two times higher than the percentage in the National Football League, Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, the National Hockey League and the world of entertainment.
It may come as a shock to learn that domestic violence is highest among members of police families. On a heavily-footnoted information sheet, the National Center for Women and Policing notes, “Two studies have found that at least 40 percent of police officer families experience domestic violence, in contrast to 10 percent of families in the general population.” Even a study among older and more experienced officers still registered a 24 percent higher incidence than among the general population.
To make matters worse, cases of domestic violence by police officers are regularly swept under the rug because of wayward, lawless influences like blind solidarity among police officers and uninformed, unethical politics of civil authorities and even judges.
In pure irony, the very group of law enforcement people to whom battered women must run for refuge and help are trained fighters and killers plagued by a high incidence of domestic violence in their own families. On a similar note, military-trained fighters and killers have a very similar rate of incidence of spousal violence in military families.
In our search for gentleness and peace, we should follow the Man himself depicted in Isaiah 42:3, “Here is my Servant whom I uphold, my chosen one with whom I am pleased. Upon him I have put my spirit… He will not cry out, nor shout… A bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench. He will faithfully bring forth justice.”
For sure, people who live in glass houses should keep their clothes on. “God is love, and all who abide in love abide in God and God in them.” (1 John 4:16)
(Father Jerome LeDoux, SVD, is pastor of Our Mother of Mercy Parish in Fort Worth, Texas. He has written “Reflections on Life since 1969.)
(Editor’s note: October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month.)
IN EXILE
By Father Ron Rolheiser, OMI
Anthropologists tell us that father-hunger, a frustrated desire to be blessed by our own fathers, is one of the deepest hungers in the world today, especially among men. Millions of people sense that they have not received their father’s blessing. Robert Bly, Robert Moore, Richard Rohr and James Hillman, among others, offer some rich insights into this.
We suffer from being fatherless. However, in its deepest root, this suffering is something far beyond the mere absence of a blessing from our biological fathers. We tend to be fatherless in a much deeper way.
Some 25 years ago, a French philosopher, Jean-Luc Marion wrote a book entitled, God Without Being, within which he offers a very challenging interpretation of the famous parable of the Prodigal Son.
We’re all familiar with the parable: A father had two sons. The younger comes to him and says: ‘Father give me the share of the property that’s coming to me.’ His father shares out his goods. The younger son takes his share, leaves for a distant country, and squanders his property on a life of debauchery. When he has spent everything, he finds himself hungry and humiliated and sets off to return to his father’s house, where he is undeservedly greeted, embraced, and taken back by his father.
At one level, the lesson is clear: God’s mercy is so wide and compassionate that nothing we can do will ever stop God from loving us. Many wonderful books have been written to highlight this, not least Henri Nouwen’s classic, The Return of the Prodigal Son.
But Jean-Luc Marion, drawing upon the specific wording of the Greek text, emphasizes another element in this story. The Greek text implies that the son went to his father and asked for something more than property and money. It says that he asked his father for his share of the property (ousia).
Ousia, in Greek, means “substance.” He’s asking for his life, as independent of his father. Moreover, as a son and an heir, he already has use of his share of what is rightfully his; but he wants to own it and not owe it to anyone.
He wants what is rightly his but he wants to have it as independent of his father, as cut off from his father and as his own in a way that he no longer has to acknowledge his father in the way he receives his life and freedom and uses them. And the consequence of that, as this parable makes clear, is that a gift no longer sensed or acknowledged as gift always leads to the misuse of that gift, to the loss of integrity and to personal humiliation.
With an apology for the abstractness of Marion’s language, here’s what he sees as the deepest issue inside this story: “The son requests that he no longer have to request, or rather, that he no longer have to receive the ousia. … He asks to possess it, dispose of it, enjoy it without passing through the gift and the reception of the gift. The son wants to owe nothing to his father, and above all not owe him a gift; he asks to have a father no longer- the ousia without the father or the gift. … [And] the ousia becomes the full possession of the son only to the extent that it is fully dispossessed of the father: dispossession of the father, annulment of the gift, this is what the possession of the ousia implies.
Hence an immediate consequence: in being dispossessed of the father, the possession that censures the gift integrates within itself, indissolubly, the waste of the gift: possessed without gift, possession cannot but continue to dispossess itself. Henceforth orphan of the paternal gift, ousia finds itself possessed in the mode of dissipation.”
The prodigal son’s real issue was not so much his hunger for pleasure as his hunger for the wrong kind of independence. He wanted his life and the freedom to enjoy life completely on his own terms and, for him, that meant he had to take them outside his father’s house. In doing that, he lost his father and he also lost genuine life and freedom because these can only be had inside the acceptance a certain dependence. That’s why Jesus repeated again and again, that he could do nothing on his own. Everything he was and everything he did came from his Father.
Our lives are not our own. Our lives are a gift and always need to be received as gift. Our substance is not our own and so it may never be severed from its source, God, our Father. We can enter our lives and freedom and enjoy them and their pleasures, but as soon as we cut them off from their source, take them as our own and head off on our own, dissipation, hunger, and humiliation will follow.
There’s life only in the Father’s house and when we are outside that house we are fatherless and wasting our ousia.
(Oblate Father Ron Rolheiser, theologian, teacher and award-winning author, is President of the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, TX.)
GLUCKSTADT – Germanfest has been part of St. Joseph Parish and its community for 28 years as a way to celebrate and honor those who came from Germany to this country at the beginning of the 1900s and settled in this part of the state. According to the parish’s history, many of the descendants of the original families still attend St. Joseph Parish.
As every year, the festival was held on the last Sunday of September. Organizers said many come to enjoy authentic German food and music, others like the family oriented atmosphere where children play and dance in the open field of the church grounds.
Still others acknowledge it is that special sauerkraut. Many don’t leave the grounds without buying some jars for later. But while there, they taste some shish kabobs and bratwurst slathered in sauerkraut.
In a separate tent, a plethora of authentic German home-made desserts prepared by members of the parish along with pies, cookies and pastries attracted festival attendees.
Parishioners also donate homemade crafts such as baby blankets and jewelry to sell at the event.
What makes this festival special is the love and effort of the whole parish community who work together making this event enjoyable for all and at the same time a fund-raiser for the parish. Part of the proceeds are donated to several non-profit organizations.
By Elsa Baughman
JACKSON – Norbertine Father Xavier Amirtham radiated happiness and gratitude the day of his installation as new pastor of Holy Family Parish, his first assignment in the Diocese of Jackson since he came to the United States from India last September.
Bishop Joseph Kopacz installed him during the 4 p.m. Vigil Mass Saturday, Sept. 20, saying this was a joyful day in the life of Father Amirtham.
Bishop Joseph Kopacz reads a prayer during the installation of Father Xavier Amirtham as pastor of Holy Family Parish. Members of the Knights of Peter Claver and three Norbertine priests attended the installation Mass Saturday, Sept. 20. (Photo by Elsa Baughman)
The prior of his Norbertine Order, Abbott Thomas DeWane, O.Praem., and Fathers Jeremy Tobin and Binu Varghese, also Norbertine priests, attended the celebration. Father Edward Balser, past pastor of Holy Family, also attended as special guest.
Father Amirtham is one of nine priests from India serving in the Diocese of Jackson. He lives at the Priory of St. Moses the Black in Raymond.
Before coming to the U.S. he served as pastor of two parishes, served six years as prior of the Norbertine Fathers in his home country and as manager of the Cardinal Gracias High School in the Archdiocese of Bombay, India.
The Norbertines live in a monastic community under the Rule of St. Augustine. The Priory of St. Moses the Black in Raymond, as all their monasteries, is a place of hospitality to guests and offers venues for holding retreats and meetings.
St. Moses the Black was founded in 1990 in the rectory of St. Mary Parish in Jackson. Members engage in Hispanic ministry and prison ministry at the Yazoo City Federal Corrections Complex and the Adams County Correctional Facility near Natchez.
Father Amirtham said at the end of Mass he was very happy and is looking forward to promoting unity and God’s love in his new parish.
At the end of the Mass, parishioner Charlene Stimley Priester, on behalf of her son, councilman Melvin Priester Jr., presented Father Amirtham a proclamation made by the City Council of Jackson honoring him for his new assignment in Holy Family Parish. After Mass the parish hosted a lavish reception to welcome their new pastor.
