Por Justin McLellan CIUDAD DEL VATICANO (CNS) – Los ancianos no deben ser acusados de cargar a las generaciones más jóvenes con sus gastos médicos y pensiones, una noción que fomenta el conflicto entre generaciones y lleva a las personas mayores al aislamiento, dijo el Papa Francisco.
“Esta acusación dirigida a los mayores de ‘robar el futuro a los jóvenes’ está muy presente hoy en todas partes”, escribió el Papa en su mensaje para la Jornada Mundial de los abuelos y de los mayores, una celebración eclesial que tendrá lugar el 28 de julio.
El Papa Francisco saluda a Lucilla Macelli, de 100 años, antes de celebrar la Misa en la Basílica de San Pedro del Vaticano, con motivo de la Jornada Mundial de los Abuelos y de los Mayores, el 23 de julio de 2023. (Foto CNS/Vatican Media)
Incluso en las sociedades más avanzadas y modernas “está muy extendida la creencia de que los ancianos hacen pesar sobre los jóvenes el costo de la asistencia que ellos requieren, y de esta manera quitan recursos al desarrollo del país y, por ende, a los jóvenes”, escribió en el mensaje publicado el 14 de mayo.
Tal mentalidad es una percepción distorsionada que supone que “la supervivencia de los ancianos pusiera en peligro la de los jóvenes. Como si para favorecer a los jóvenes fuera necesario descuidar a los ancianos o, incluso, eliminarlos”, escribió. Sin embargo, el Papa subrayó que “la contraposición entre las generaciones es un engaño y un fruto envenenado de la cultura de la confrontación”. “Poner a los jóvenes en contra de los ancianos es una manipulación inaceptable”, escribió.
El mensaje del Papa ampliaba el tema elegido para la jornada mundial de este año, tomado del Libro de los Salmos: “En la vejez no me abandone”.
La celebración de 2024 marca la cuarta edición de la Jornada Mundial de los abuelos y de los mayores. En 2021, el papa Francisco instituyó la jornada mundial que se celebrará cada año el cuarto domingo de julio, cerca de la memoria litúrgica de los santos Joaquín y Ana, abuelos de Jesús.
En su mensaje para la celebración de este año, el Papa subrayó que “Dios nunca abandona a sus hijos. Ni siquiera cuando la edad avanza y las fuerzas flaquean, cuando aparecen las canas y el estatus social decae.”
Pero hoy, una “conspiración que ciñe la vida de los ancianos” provoca a menudo su abandono por parte de sus allegados.
El Papa animó a todos a expresar “nuestro agradecimiento a todas esas personas que, aun con muchos sacrificios, … se están ocupando de un anciano.”
Por Lourdes M.Ortiz-Berrios JACKSON – Desde hace tres años nos encontramos visitando el Quinto Decanato de la Diócesis de Jackson, en Mississippi, invitados por el Padre Timothy Murphy y su equipo de pastoral del Ministerio Hispano.
No imaginaba el significado que tendría, en mi propia experiencia de conversión, el poder acompañar al pueblo hispano en los procesos de reinvención pastoral y la sinodalidad, a la luz de las visitas del Obispo Joseph Kopacz.
Mi esposo Emmanuel López y esta su servidora somos puertorriqueños, formados en procesos pastorales de nuestra diócesis y bajo el Instituto de Teología Hispana de los Jesuitas en California. Tenemos preparación en áreas de trabajo social y psicología holística con una trayectoria de trabajo con poblaciones vulnerables.
TUPELO – Parroquianos interactuan en una actividad del taller Líderes en Clave Sinodal, ofrecido por Lourdes Ortiz en 2023, como parte del proceso del proceso de Reimaginación Pastoral. El matrimonio de Ortiz Emmanuel Lopez y Lourdes Ortiz son formadores pastorales. (Foto de Lourdes M. Ortiz-Berrios)
Hemos misionado en diversos países como República Dominicana, México, Bolivia, Guatemala, Cuba, y Honduras. En esos recorridos fuimos conociendo y aprendiendo a amar la realidad del pueblo de Dios que emigra en búsqueda de mejores oportunidades.
Pueblos que, al emigrar, llevan consigo sus tradiciones, cultura popular y experiencias de Fe, que, a lo largo de muchos años, ya se han vuelto parte de la iglesia americana. También llevan sus historias de vida, heridas y el sufrimiento de dejar sus raíces para emprender una nueva vida.
Llegamos a Tupelo invitados por nuestro amigo, el diácono Carlos Solá, quien ya había dado un salto para mudarse a la comunidad y así poder ofrecer su servicio como primer Diácono ordenado.
Fuimos invitados a ofrecer los talleres de Crecimiento Personal y Espiritual cuya metodología fue desarrollada por el Jesuita Carlos Cabarrús, SJ y de la cual fui Certificada por éste, quien, como antropólogo, identificó las muchas heridas y necesidades emocionales de las familias en Latinoamérica. Por más de 10 años hemos ofrecido dichos talleres en Puerto Rico y otros lugares de Estados Unidos y Latinoamérica.
En la iglesia St. James de Tupelo iniciamos un trabajo de apoyo emocional y espiritual junto a nuestro equipo de colaboradores, que ha desembocado en diversos procesos que vamos desarrollando junto a la comunidad y nuestro Pastor el Padre Tim.
Del trabajo de sanación de heridas, surgieron procesos individuales de acompañamiento psico-espiritual. Surgió un esfuerzo dirigido a la espiritualidad y crecimiento interior de las mujeres llamado “Mujeres abrazando su historia.”
Se han ofrecido talleres a parejas para fortalecer el núcleo familiar. También se ha trabajado en Convivencias con jóvenes y en diálogos de reconciliación familiar. Se han ofrecido talleres sobre Espiritualidad Masculina, Manejo del Coraje, Sexualidad Humana, Noviazgo y Crianza entre otros.
A raíz de las inquietudes de la comunidad de crecer en herramientas de fe, iniciamos la Escuela de Formación del Quinto Decanato que cuenta con el aval de la Diócesis de Jackson y de la cual el pasado mes de noviembre 2023 se gradúo el primer grupo. Se discutieron temas de Eclesiología, Cristología y falsas imágenes de Dios entre otros, dentro de una modalidad participativa y reflexiva. En el mes de junio iniciaremos el Segundo Nivel de Formación sobre temas y herramientas para el liderazgo en la construcción de la iglesia comunidad de fe.
Hemos facilitado diálogos en clave sinodal con el Padre Tim, la directora del ministerio Hispano Raquel Thompson y los líderes de la comunidad, de donde ha surgido la iniciativa de un Consejo Asesor para aconsejar y ayudar a fortalecer los ministerios de la iglesia.
Invitados por el Padre Mario Solorzano y el liderazgo de las parroquias St. James the Less en Corinth, New Albany, Ripley y Pontotoc hemos acompañado a la comunidad con estas herramientas de desarrollo humano y espiritual en procesos individuales, de pareja y con los jóvenes de la comunidad.
TUPELO – (arriba) Lourdes Barrios en conversación con participantes de un retiro sobre Servicio y Discipulado a un grupo mujeres servidoras de ACTS. (Centro) Foto grupal después de una reunión en enero 2024, de los líderes de los diferentes Ministerios con el Padre Tim para dialogar sobre la realidad parroquial (debajo, izq.) Trabajo interactivo de un grupo en una de las mesas de trabajo. (Fotos de Lourdes Ortiz-Berrios)
Somos testigos del ardiente deseo que viven nuestros hermanos en estas comunidades de crecer en fe y obtener herramientas para seguir participando en los procesos de reinvención Pastoral.
Ellos nos han contagiado del amor, discipulado y servicio que se vive, aún dentro de los retos que atraviesan. Hay un ardiente deseo de participar y ser parte de las iniciativas de la Pastoral.
Felicitamos al obispo Kopacz por seguir el llamado, para que nuestra iglesia se renueve en fe y participación, para vivir la acción misionera de llegar allí donde más nos necesiten. Agradecemos al Padre Tim, al diácono Carlos Solá, Raquel Thompson y a todos los que nos han permitido compartir nuestros dones y crecer en fe junto a esta iglesia que sigue peregrinando y descubriendo la voz de Dios.
Festividad del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús. Junio 14 Dia de los Padres. Junio 20 Natividad de San Juan Bautista. Junio 24 Señora del Perpetuo Socorro. Junio 27 Solemnidad de San Pedro y San Pablo. Junio 29
By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) – For more than 700 years, the Catholic Church has celebrated “jubilee” or “holy” years as special times to renew people’s faith and experience God’s forgiveness, particularly by going on pilgrimage.
The official Vatican website for the Holy Year 2025 – www.iubilaeum2025.va – says, “In 1300, Pope Boniface VIII called the first Jubilee, also known as a ‘Holy Year,’ since it is a time in which God’s holiness transforms us.”
Popes typically announce a jubilee every 25 years, although extraordinary holy years have been proclaimed for special anniversaries and occasions – for example, the Holy Year 1983 marked the 1,950th anniversary of Christ’s death and resurrection, and the 2015-2106 Jubilee of Mercy called all Catholics to reflect on God’s mercy and compassion.
While the main purpose and some of the key features of a holy year have remained unchanged over the centuries, each pope who called a jubilee has put his own spin on it, usually in response to changes he sees in the church or the world.
The preparations for the Holy Year 2025 officially began in February 2022 when Pope Francis announced the jubilee’s theme, “Pilgrims of Hope,” and said the focus would be on “restoring a climate of hope and trust” after the coronavirus pandemic and on helping people repair their relationships with God, with each other and with the Earth.
Pope Francis prays after walking through the Holy Door to inaugurate the Jubilee Year of Mercy in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican in this Dec. 8, 2015, file photo. In the background at left is retired Pope Benedict XVI, who walked through the Holy Door after Pope Francis. The pope has approved the theme, “Pilgrims of Hope,” to be the motto for the Holy Year 2025. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)
But the formal kickoff for a holy year is the publication of a papal “bull of indiction,” and the pope’s formal delivery of the document to the archpriests of the papal basilicas of St. Peter, St. Paul Outside the Walls, St. John Lateran and St. Mary Major and other church representatives.
The document is named for the round seal – a “bulla” in Latin – which used to be made of metal and is now simply an ink stamp. The bull officially announces the opening and closing dates of the holy year and outlines the aims of the celebrations.
Excerpts of the bull are read in front of the bricked-up Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica in the presence of the pope.
The removal of the bricks, the opening of the Holy Door by the pope and pilgrims passing through the doorway are central symbols of a jubilee celebration and have been since the Holy Year 1500 during the papacy of Pope Alexander VI.
The current Holy Door, with its 16 bronze panels made by Vico Consorti, were consecrated and the door first opened Dec. 24, 1949, by Pope Pius XII in proclamation of the 1950 Jubilee, a scene represented in the bottom right panel.
For centuries, the doors were opened with a silver hammer, not a key, “because the doors of justice and mercy give way only to the force of prayer and penance,” according to “Mondo Vaticano,” a mini encyclopedia published by the Vatican.
The theme of human sin and God’s mercy is illustrated in the other 15 panels on the door, with episodes from both the Old and New Testament, including the Fall of Adam and Eve, the Annunciation, and the Prodigal Son.
Between the panels on the door at St. Peter’s are little shields with the coats of arms of all the popes that have opened it for a holy year.
Another key ingredient of a holy year – one that is much less tangible and often confusing – are the indulgences that pilgrims receive during a jubilee after making a pilgrimage or doing some sort of penance, going to confession, receiving Communion, making a profession of faith and praying for the intentions of the pope.
Perhaps as an indication of the confusion, Vatican News published a 3,200-word article about indulgences May 7.
The Code of Canon Law says, “An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment for sin, the guilt of which is already forgiven.”
With an indulgence, Vatican News said, “one can obtain more than simple forgiveness and, in fact, return to the state of grace one had with baptism. It is as if the slate were wiped clean, given a complete wash.”
“An indulgence is a mercy that, like abundant rain, falls on a person and transforms him or her, orienting the person to goodness, to love, to fraternity,” healing what sin had wounded, Bishop Antonio Staglianò, president of the Pontifical Theological Academy, told Vatican News.
In the modern era, a holy year is made up of dozens of specific jubilees. No matter how young or old, no matter what their vocation or profession, almost every Catholic will find a date set aside for him or her on the Vatican’s Holy Year 2025 calendar.
Journalists, artists, soldiers, grandparents, deacons, prisoners, government officials, missionaries and the poor all will have their day. The calendar is available on the Holy Year 2025 website.
By Meredith Bailess and Chris Eason JACKSON – St. Dominic’s Community Health Clinic has been renamed to honor Sister Mary Trinita Eddington who started the clinic and served patients as a nurse practitioner for more than 25 years.
“Sister Trinita has been a cherished part of the St. Dominic’s ministry for more than 65 years and has truly left an indelible mark on both our community and the people we serve,” said Sister Dorothea Sondgeroth, OP, associate executive director, St. Dominic’s Foundation. “As her Sister in Christ, long-time colleague, and friend for life, I can think of nothing more fitting than to name this beloved clinic in her honor.”
A renaming ceremony was held at Stewpot Community Services where the clinic is located. Beginning May 9, 2024, the clinic is now known as the Sister Trinita Community Clinic.
JACKSON – Sister Dorothea Sondgeroth, OP speaks as the new sign for the Sister Trinita Community Clinic is unveiled at a renaming ceremony at Stewpot Community Services on Thursday, May 9, 2024. (Photo courtesy of St. Dominic Health Services)
“What more could one dream of or ask for, to feel so needed, loved and appreciated,” said Sister Trinita Eddington, OP. “I wish to take a moment to give thanks to the Lord our God for the gift of this clinic. It is He who began this work, He who gave it guidance, and He who continues to bring it to fulfillment.”
After working for 36 years as a nurse at St. Dominic’s in a variety of settings from patient care to nursing leadership, including as vice president of patient care services, Sister Trinita earned her degree as a nurse practitioner and set about establishing a clinic dedicated to serving those who cannot afford basic medical care.
Through Sister Trinita’s efforts and close ties with Stewpot Community Services and the Central Urban Ministry Center, the clinic was established in 1996. Today, the clinic continues to provide healthcare services free of charge for the medically underserved in Jackson. The team is now led by Sister Trinita’s long-time colleague and fellow nurse practitioner Mary Watkins.
“The services provided by the clinic are such an important part of the comprehensive resources we aim to offer our community,” said Jill Buckley, executive director, Stewpot Community Services. “The Stewpot community has been blessed by Sister Trinita’s ministry, and we are happy to see her legacy continue for many years to come.”
Patients of the Sister Trinita Community Clinic are welcome with no appointment necessary. Primary health care services include:
Routine checkups, acute illnes treatment
Blood pressure and blood sugar checks
Sports or employment physicals
Limited chronic care, nutrition counseling
Waived lab testing, scheduling of lab
Specialty care referrals and social services
Assistance with prescriptions
Supplies and equipment In addition to primary care services, the clinic provides a variety of educational programs for children, adolescents, and adults to promote disease prevention and safety.
Learn more about how you can support this initiative and other community healthcare initiatives by contacting the St. Dominic Health Services Foundation at (601) 200-6910 or donate online at https://www.fmolhs.org/giving/foundations/st-dominics-foundation.
About St. Dominic Health Services St. Dominic’s is more than just a hospital. It is a family of services focused on fulfilling a mission of Christian healing to those in need. These include St. Dominic Hospital, the Sister Trinita Community Clinic, St. Dominic Medical Associates (physician network), St. Dominic’s Fitness Center, St. Dominic’s Foundation, St. Catherine’s Village and Care-A-Van. As a Christian healing community, St. Dominic’s is called to provide quality, compassionate care and an exceptional experience every time. St. Dominic’s is part of the Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System and is driven by its mission to serve all God’s people, especially those most in need. Learn more at stdom.com.
SOUTHAVEN – Emiliano is counting the punches on Victoria’s lap counting card during the Race for Education Fun Run on May 10 at Sacred Heart School. (Photo by Sister Margaret Sue Broker)MADISON – Fourth grade students at St. Anthony School presented their “Famous Mississippians” program earlier this month. Pictured is Kiera VanHuss as Sister Dorothea Sondgeroth greeting Sister Dorothea herself! (Photos by Celeste Tassin)JACKSON – Fifth grader, Joseph Starrett cools down after a game of tug of war at the annual St. Richard School field day. (Photo by Celeste Saucier)COLUMBUS – First grade student, Bea Windham enjoys a sack race on field day at Annunciation School. (Photos by Jacque Hince)
One morning, I was half-listening to National Public Radio as I quickly prepared for an appointment. Into the shower, grab the coffee, find the toothbrush and in the midst of this, bits and pieces of the day’s news.
Then, “StoryCorps” was playing. An independent nonprofit, StoryCorps exists to let people tell their stories. According to their website, since 2003, they’ve helped “nearly 700,000 people across the country have meaningful conversations about their lives.” These stories are housed in the U.S. Library of Congress. The people who tell their stories are ordinary people, if any child of God on this earthly pilgrimage qualifies as “ordinary.”
Effie Caldarola
My ears perked up when I realized the family talking in the story was journeying through the terminal illness of the family’s husband and father, who we learned at the end had died shortly after the recording was made.
His wife remarked that people would tell her they were hoping for a miracle. She resisted this, because she said, “My whole life has been a miracle,” referencing her relationship with this man she loved.
That line captured my attention, and her comment infiltrated my whole day. I saw in her words the spirituality of gratitude.
Because true gratitude, a very deep well, is profoundly spiritual.
Sometimes in our contemporary culture, gratitude is portrayed as just another self-help scheme. You’ll be happier if you focus on thankfulness. At Thanksgiving, we enumerate our “thanks” at grace. We focus on family, success, “stuff.” Our consumer culture tempts us to glide over the richness and depth of real gratitude and to feel thankful for material things and the completion of our ambitions.
Years ago, I belonged to a Jesuit parish on a university campus. Our beloved young pastor, Jesuit Father Pat Malone, was quite ill. Because of treatments that had negatively affected his immune system, the day came when he could no longer celebrate Mass for us. I will never forget a Sunday morning, walking down the sidewalk to Mass, when we saw Father Malone, standing on the hill above us, alone outside the Jesuit residence, where he could wave good morning but keep a safe distance.
It wasn’t long before he died, but in my memory, he stands there still, a solitary figure wanting to be one with his flock. After his death, a compilation of his writings and homilies was published.
There was one line that I have carried with me ever since: “It is gratitude that ultimately asks one thing, but at a great price: fall extravagantly in love with what is given.”
Twenty-one words I’ve pondered. It is one thing to be thankful for a good test result, the pay raise, the healthy baby. It’s another to find gratitude in the hard things, the standing alone in illness and being able to appreciate the miracle therein.
What a great gift and challenge it is to fall extravagantly in love with that which is given.
Can I fall extravagantly in love with the absence of a loved one? Can I accept with gratitude the givenness of old age, of defeats, of loneliness, of the memory of sins for which I have expressed sorrow and contrition?
And what does it mean, “at a great price?” What is the coin of this realm of gratitude?
St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, told us we can find God in all things. That means God is there in sorrow and joy, in loneliness and togetherness. To live into that is itself a miracle. If God is there, we are called to be thankful for God’s presence, no matter how high the price.
(Effie Caldarola is a wife, mom and grandmother who received her master’s degree in pastoral studies from Seattle University.)
During Pentecost weekend I participated in an historic event in New Haven, Connecticut. I was not there to take part in another protest at Yale University, or even to attend any of the graduation ceremonies taking place there. Instead, I joined hundreds of other Catholics for the launch of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage.
This four-pronged pilgrimage, which began simultaneously in New Haven, San Francisco, Brownsville, Texas and the Mississippi Headwaters in northern Minnesota, will cover 6,500 miles over the next two months.
Sister Constance Veit, LSP
These four routes will converge in Indianapolis in time for the National Eucharistic Congress in mid-July. The eucharistic pilgrimage is the largest procession ever attempted in the Catholic Church – the most audacious event in Christianity’s 2,025-year history!
Although we encountered no signs of protest, I was thinking about the recent unrest in our country as we processed with the Blessed Sacrament through the Yale campus Saturday evening in light rain. I could not help thinking how different our procession was from the recent university protests.
After all, we were following Jesus, the Prince of Peace, the Good News incarnate, as he was carried in a monstrance by Father Roger Landry, the Catholic chaplain at Columbia University.
What a providential choice it was that Father Landry – so closely associated with “Ground Zero” of the protest movement – would be named as the only priest to walk an entire route of the pilgrimage!
Many other members of the clergy will participate in a portion of the trek, but Father Landry will himself carry the Blessed Sacrament along the entire eastern route of this historic journey.
In two talks over the weekend of May 18-19, Father Landry made several reflections that impacted my own eucharistic spirituality.
He spoke of Christian life itself as a eucharistic pilgrimage. We are pilgrims in a strange land he said, called to be always on the move.
This struck me in a particular way on Sunday morning as we processed through the streets of New Haven, a city just waking up to bistro brunches, dog walks and morning jogs. A few people seemed to pray with us as we passed them on the street, while others just stared with a look of curiosity.
We were walking in faith, bringing Christ out into the world, doing our part to reverse the indifference and contempt so rampant in our society.
We were trying to remind people that Jesus still lives among us and within us.
As we hastened along the streets of New Haven, I also recalled something Archbishop Christopher Coyne had said in his homily the evening before. A pilgrimage is “prayer embodied,” he suggested.
Each footstep lands both on an actual road and on the path of faith.
As Catholics I think our faith can be a bit “disembodied,” merely a private matter of the mind and heart. But this idea of prayer “embodied” became very real to me as my old legs began to tire during our fast-paced walk to the wharf in New Haven.
When we reached the dock, we saw two boats – a beautiful luxury yacht and a much smaller fishing trawler.
Jesus, who called his disciples to be fishers of men, could only have chosen the fishing boat, so we quickly boarded the humbler vessel, following Father Landry and the monstrance.
We Little Sisters felt privileged to be able to accompany the “Perpetual Pilgrims” and a few journalists on this leg of the pilgrimage.
During our two-hour boat ride on Long Island Sound, we fixed our gaze on the monstrance, prayed and sang with the Perpetual Pilgrims.
We were never in danger of sinking, nor did we try to walk on water, but we did try to imagine what it must have been like for Jesus and his disciples each time they set sail on the Sea of Galilee.
Father Roger Landry and pilgrims pray as a boat transporting the Eucharist from New Haven, Conn., arrives at the harbor in Bridgeport, Conn., May 19, 2024. The procession was a part of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage. (OSV News photo/Paul Haring)
When we arrived in Bridgeport, Father Landry and the small band of Perpetual Pilgrims continued on, but our participation in the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage concluded.
We returned home, grateful for having been a part of history.
If you are going to be anywhere near one of the eucharistic pilgrimage routes this summer, don’t pass up the opportunity to participate in this historic experience.
May you come to know the joy of prayer embodied and may your faith in Jesus’ personal love for you be rekindled!
Sister Constance Veit is the communications director for the Little Sisters of the Poor in the United States and an occupational therapist.
