GUEST COLUMN
By Dr. Greg Popcak
Lent is a time of reparation – a season of sorrow for sins committed and expressions of a sincere desire to reform our lives. But what does it mean to be sorry? What are the components of real remorse?
Whether we are expressing sorrow to God, a spouse, family member or friend, it can be hard to say, “I’m sorry.” It can be even harder to say it well. Sometimes, when people say that they are sorry to us, we can feel like there is something missing. Often, it’s because there is. But what?
As we express our sorrow to God this Lent for the ways that our lives do not reflect his plan for us, it can be important to make sure our “I’m sorrys” have all the components of sincere remorse. Researchers note that good apologies involve three ingredients: empathy, restitution and objective criteria.
When people offer a sincere apology rooted not in obligation but genuine remorse, they tend to express a real emotional understanding of how their actions hurt us. “I am so sorry for doing that. I never meant to treat you that way. I know how badly you were hurt. Please forgive me.”
The truly remorseful person doesn’t make excuses or tell the person they hurt that they were “just kidding,” or that the wounded party needs to get a thicker skin or a better sense of humor. They understand the impact of their actions and they let you know that they feel your pain.
When we express our sorrow to God this Lent, are we going through the motions of repentance, or are we allowing ourselves to express genuine sorrow for the pain God feels when we reject his attempts to love us and make us whole?
When people offer a sincere apology, they don’t just “say the magic words.” They offer a plan for making things right again. Or, if they don’t know what to do to make it right, they ask you what you need them to do to heal the hurt their actions caused. They say things like, “The next time I feel that angry about something, I’m going to do this instead of that,” or, “I really want to make this right. What can I do to earn your trust again?”
Restitution isn’t about asking people to jump through hoops for the sake of watching them dance. It is about committing to the process of reconciliation – healing the wounds our actions caused.
When we confess our sins this Lent, have we put some time into how we would handle similar problem situations differently in the future? Hearing the words “I absolve you” is just the beginning. How will we let the grace of that absolution compel us to heal the wounds our actions have caused those we love, and how can we make sure to avoid those problem behaviors the next time we are tempted to go down a similar path?
Truly sorrowful people don’t hide out behind the belief that “the real problem” is that others are expecting too much of them. If we are truly sorry, we recognize that the person we hurt had an objective right to expect more from us.
How often do others apologize to us in ways that make us feel strangely ashamed for daring to expect them to be faithful, trustworthy or respectful? How often do the apologies others offer sound like, “I’m sorry, but don’t you think you’re being a little controlling/sensitive/judgmental/ needy/demanding/unfair?”
The person offering a sincere apology acknowledges that anyone in a similar situation would be reasonable to expect what you are asking of them. “You’re absolutely right to expect more of me. I’m really sorry I let you down.”
In our relationship with God, how often do we think that the real problem is that he is just asking for entirely too much. Sure, we’re sorry for what we did, but the real problem is that he expects us to be saints. Saints, I tell you! Can you believe it?!? How ridiculous is that?!?
As we conclude Lent, will we continue to pay lip service to the idea that God wants great things for us, or will we embrace the fact that every day he is calling us into deeper union with him and greater perfection in his grace?
Whether we are expressing remorse to God or others, being sorry isn’t, ultimately, about making ourselves seem pitiful enough or appearing pathetic enough to make the other person feel bad and let us off the hook.
Apologizing is about picking up our cross and embracing the hard work that comes with changing our behavior – not so that we can jump through some spiritual hoop but so that we can participate more effectively in the healing process that allows us to achieve our ultimate destiny: loving union with God.
(Dr. Greg Popcak is an author and the director of www.CatholicCounselors.com.)
By Carol Glatz , Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Anti-personnel mines are “devious” weapons that continue to kill innocent civilians and children long after a conflict has ended, Pope Francis said.
“I thank all those who offer their help to assist victims and clean up contaminated areas,” he said at the end of his weekly general audience in the Paul VI Audience Hall Feb. 28.
“Their work is a concrete response to the universal call to be peacemakers, taking care of our brothers and sisters,” he said.
The pope, who was still dealing with a cold, read aloud his remarks about landmines after having aides read his lengthier catechesis and greetings during the audience.
March 1 marks the 25th anniversary of the entry into force of the Ottawa Convention, which prohibits the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel mines and mandates assisting victims, clearing minefields and destroying stockpiles.
Anti-personnel mines, the pope said, “continue to target innocent civilians, particularly children, even many years after the end of hostilities.”
“I express my closeness to the many victims of these devious devices, which remind us of the dramatic cruelty of war and the price civilian populations are forced to pay,” he said.
At least 4,710 casualties of mines and explosive remnants of war were recorded in 2022, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines said in its 2023 report. Civilians made up 85% of all recorded casualties in places where the military or civilian status was known, and children accounted for half of all civilian casualties, where ages were recorded.
Anti-personnel landmines were used by Ukraine, Myanmar and Russia during 2022 and the first half of 2023, the report by the global coalition of non-governmental organizations said.
“Russia has used anti-personnel mines extensively in Ukraine since invading the country in February 2022, resulting in an unprecedented situation in which a country that is not party to the Mine Ban Treaty is using the weapon on the territory of a state party,” it wrote.
Non-state armed groups used anti-personnel mines in at least five countries in 2022: Colombia, India, Myanmar, Thailand and Tunisia and countries in or bordering the Sahel region of Africa, it added.
At least 60 countries and other areas are contaminated by anti-personnel mines.
Eighty percent of the world’s nations have joined the mine ban treaty, and while 33 states remain outside of the treaty, most of them do not use or produce antipersonnel mines, it said.
A small number of countries are actively producing anti-personnel landmines and they are likely to include India, Iran, Myanmar, Pakistan and Russia, The biggest stockpiles are held by Russia, Pakistan, India, China and the United States.
By Paulina Guzik
KRAKOW, Poland (OSV News) – A group of women from a little village between Kharkiv and Izium in eastern Ukraine decided they were fed up with landmine danger in their village, preventing residents from living their lives in some normality amid war.
So with materials as simple as a plank and a long string, they constructed their own equipment and demined a part of the village.
“They really show the incredible resilience of this country!” Father Leszek Kryza told OSV News.
Father Kryza travels to Ukraine at least once a month, especially to the devastated eastern regions. In January, he visited the “mine-blowing” women not only because of their sheer bravado, but because the Polish bishops’ Office for Helping the Church in the East led by Father Kryza equipped them with sewing machines so that – despite ongoing war – they have a job.
Once the war started, the women sheltered with the Orionine sisters in Korotych and it was the sisters who signaled Father Kryza, who then alerted his friends in the church in Italy, and that’s how supplies and sewing machines eventually landed in eastern Ukraine.
“It has worked like that since Feb. 24, 2022,” he told OSV News, referring to the start of a full- scale Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“It’s a constant chain of good hearts,” he said.
Entering the third year of war several church institutions wrapped their aid effort in “two years of war” reports, showing that millions of people have been saved thanks to the Catholic Church.
A million people – whether Ukrainian refugees in Poland or those inside Ukraine – have been helped by Caritas Poland. In 2023 alone, the aid was worth $37 million.
Another 1.6 million have been helped by the Knights of Columbus, with $22.3 million raised for Ukraine since 2022.
CNEWA, or Catholic Near East Welfare Association, rushed $5,8 million in emergency funds over the past year to church-led relief efforts in Ukraine and in neighboring countries receiving those fleeing the missiles.
The Vatican sent 240 trucks with supplies to Ukraine over the past two years, with $2.2 million of its charity funds dedicated to Ukraine just in 2022.
Asked what percentage of help for 17 million Ukrainians, including 5 million of those internally displaced, comes from the Catholic Church, Father Kryza said, “I tried to calculate it once, but it’s impossible! Because it’s not that you’ll gather data from Caritas, Knights of Columbus, the Vatican and other ‘big actors.’ It’s the orders, female and male congregations, individual priests, volunteers spread across Ukraine, it’s just one big church on the front lines.”
Father Luca Bovio, an Italian Consolata Missionary who works next door to Father Kryza in Warsaw, in the Polish branch of Pontifical Mission Societies, told OSV News that it’s an “incredible international chain” of aid. “When the war started, people from Africa, Canada and several European countries called me, and said, ‘We want to help, where do we send the funds or supplies?’ So I knocked on my neighbor’s door – Father Leszek, for whom Ukraine is another home, and that’s how since his first trip after February 24, we’re in this together!”
If numbers hide the concrete faces of people aided by the church, Polish Dominican Sister Mateusza Trynda, who is working in the western Ukraine city of Zhovkva, has plenty to talk about.
Sister Mateusza was on front pages of Polish media when the war started, pictured with a ladle and huge pot of soup, standing in the middle of a field next to the road leading to the Ukrainian border with Poland.
Now she said the help looks different – but the needs are just as great.
“We distributed aid packages to 700 people in February, but in the war’s peak moment we handed aid to a group of 2,500 internally displaced people regularly,” she told OSV News.
“We distribute everything that is needed for life. So there’s food, clothing, furniture, mattresses, pillows, quilts, dishes, heaters, irons,” she said.
All is needed – a sentence repeated over and over again from Kyiv to the Vatican.
“In one of our trucks we had thousands of jeans. One was full of chairs. And in one we sent hundreds of electric shavers,” Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, prefect of the Dicastery for the Service of Charity and papal almoner, told OSV News.
“The war is not ending. The needs are huge. I am told by Ukrainians all the time, ‘We need everything.’ Everything,” he said, adding that the shavers were sent to soldiers and that he recently received a picture of a female sergeant cutting the hair of her colleagues somewhere on the front line.
Cardinal Krajewski visited Ukraine seven times since the start of the full-scale invasion, including Zaporozhzhia, where had to escape gunfire in September 2022.
In the eastern Ukraine city, the Albertine brothers still distribute 1,500 meals a week. Their bakery is operated by the homeless they shelter on a daily basis.
Russian occupation authorities banned the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and other Catholic ministries, including Caritas and the Knights of Columbus in December 2023 in occupied areas of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region.
“That ban shows how important the role of the church is, and under what circumstances we can and must act to help those most in need,” said Szymon Czyszek, the Knights of Columbus’ director of international growth in Europe.
The organization delivered aid to the besieged town of Avdiivka before it fell to the Russian forces in mid-February.
“It must be said that such actions involve the risk of loss of life. A bomb exploded in front of the car with the Knights driving with help,” he said. “They were lucky to survive,” he added.
From establishing border Mercy Centers at the beginning of the war, to distributing 250,000 care packages with 7.7 million pounds of food and supplies, and thousands of warm coats to Ukrainian children in addition to running programs deactivating landmines, the Knights will continue to help, said Czyszek.
“No matter how tense the political situation over Ukraine will be, we won’t stop. Because Ukraine is the embodiment of the suffering Christ – we cannot be indifferent,” he said.
“We can’t be bored by this war,” Father Marcin Izycki, director of Caritas Poland, told journalists ahead of the second anniversary of the war in Ukraine.
Father Bovio added that “the situation is as bad as it was at the beginning of the invasion, it’s sad, but that’s the reality.”
Cardinal Krajewski emphasized that the church won’t stop helping as it’s the “pure Gospel” to stand with those that suffer, but that discussions in the West regarding whether to send or not to send aid to Ukraine are worrying him the most.
“Being divided never helps, it doesn’t help any country, it doesn’t help any church, and it doesn’t help Ukraine,” he said.
“I know so many people who still dedicate all their free time of the year to go to Ukraine and distribute help as volunteers – the world needs to learn how to be compassionate from them,” he said.
“It’s so that hope doesn’t die,” Sister Mateusza told OSV News. “I met people with damaged houses that have nothing at all. But they still had hope. Because if hope dies, that’s really the end.”
Sister Mateusza said psychological help is urgently needed for people tired of war, and desperate for it to end, widows and orphaned children, but also those internally displaced and over 6 million Ukrainians living abroad as refugees.
She said everyone can help with prayer, too. “It’s crucial. None of us in Zhovkva, and there are four of us sisters there, won’t go to bed without saying a rosary for soldiers. We added those prayers to our daily order routine. Please pray, Ukrainians need you.”
(Paulina Guzik is international editor for OSV News. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) @Guzik_Paulina)
NATION
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (OSV News) – Alabama lawmakers in both the state’s House and Senate Feb. 29 passed similar bills to implement legal protections to in vitro fertilization clinics following a ruling by that state’s Supreme Court that frozen embryos qualify as children under the state law’s wrongful death law. IVF is a form of fertility treatment opposed by the Catholic Church on the grounds that it often involves the destruction of human embryos, among other concerns. Both chambers passed similar bills, but they must reconcile their pieces of legislation before sending one to the governor’s desk. Republican Gov. Kay Ivey has signaled her support for protecting IVF in law. The ruling by the Alabama Supreme Court found that embryos are children under the state’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act, a statute that allows parents of a deceased child to recover punitive damages for their child’s death. That ruling came in response to appeals brought by couples whose embryos were destroyed in 2020, when a hospital patient improperly removed frozen embryos from storage equipment, which they argued constituted a wrongful death. The judges found that under the law, parents’ ability to sue over the wrongful death of a minor child applies to unborn children, without an exception for “extrauterine children.” Though limited in scope, the ruling has created complex legal questions about what it entailed for IVF treatments in the state.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (OSV News) – A candidate for sainthood is inspiring Catholic Scouts in Illinois to earn a new patch while deepening their relationship with Christ in the Eucharist. The Catholic Committee on Scouting in the Diocese of Springfield has announced the creation of the Venerable Father Augustine Tolton Activity Patch, which honors the first recognized Black priest in the U.S. Requirements for the patch include learning about Tolton’s life, visiting a seminary or religious community to better understand vocational discernment, modeling Father Tolton’s patient disposition and engaging in prayer. Kyle Holtgrave, the diocese’s director for catechesis, said the inspiration for the Tolton patch came from the upcoming National Eucharistic Congress, set to take place in Indianapolis July 17-21 as the culmination of the three-year National Eucharistic Revival, a grassroots effort by the U.S. bishops to rekindle devotion to the Real Presence. Father Tolton, who persisted in his faith despite systemic racism and rejection, exemplified a love for the Eucharist – one that speaks to a new generation, said Holtgrave.
WASHINGTON (OSV News) – The ability of Catholic and other faith-based groups to “meet migrants’ basic human needs” at the U.S.-Mexico border is a religious liberty issue and must be defended, U.S. bishops said in recent statements. In a Feb. 26 statement issued in response to a lawsuit filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in an attempt to shut down Annunciation House, a Catholic nonprofit in El Paso serving migrants, Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana, chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee for Religious Liberty, expressed solidarity with faith-driven ministries to migrants. He noted the “strong tradition of religious liberty” in the U.S. “allows us to live out our faith in full,” and said that as “the tragic situation along our border with Mexico increasingly poses challenges for American communities and vulnerable persons alike, we must especially preserve the freedom of Catholics and other people of faith to assist their communities and meet migrants’ basic human needs.” Paxton’s suit targeting El Paso’s Annunciation House comes as some Republicans have grown increasingly hostile toward nongovernmental organizations, particularly Catholic ones, that provide resources such as food and shelter to migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border. Bishop Rhoades’ statement followed the Texas bishops’ Feb. 23 statement, which he praised for “expressing solidarity with those seeking simply to fulfill the fundamental biblical call: ‘whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’”
VATICAN
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Orbiting the sun nearly 1 million miles from Earth, the James Webb Space Telescope is reshaping the way scientists understand the universe and its origins, a number of astronomers said at a Vatican-sponsored meeting. “The telescope is able to see things that prior telescopes just could not see,” Jonathan Lunine, a professor of astronomy and department chair at Cornell University, told Catholic News Service Feb. 28. It has such unprecedented power in terms of its sensitivity, wavelength range and image sharpness that it is “doing revolutionary things” and leading to exciting new discoveries in multiple fields, he said. Lunine, who is a planetary scientist and physicist, was one of nearly 50 experts in the field of astronomy attending a Feb. 27-29 workshop organized by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences to discuss the newest results from the Webb telescope. Launched Dec. 25, 2021, NASA’s latest space science observatory is the largest and most powerful space telescope ever built. It began sending full-color images and data back to Earth after it became fully operational in July 2022. NASA said on its Webb.nasa.gov page, “Telescopes show us how things were – not how they are right now,” which helps humanity “understand the origins of the universe.” “Webb is so sensitive it could theoretically detect the heat signature of a bumblebee at the distance of the Moon,” it said.
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Crying out to God and demanding answers when one’s child dies is anything but a sign of a lack of faith, Pope Francis told a group of grieving Italian parents. “There is nothing worse than silencing pain, putting a silencer on suffering, removing traumas without facing them, as our world often encourages in its rush and numbness,” the pope said in a speech written for members of the “Talità Kum” Association from Vicenza, Italy. While the pope had an aide read his speech March 2 because he was suffering from bronchitis, he personally greeted each member of the group. In the text, the pope said he wanted to “offer a caress to your heart, broken and pierced like that of Jesus on the cross: a heart that is bleeding, a heart bathed in tears and torn apart by a heavy sense of emptiness.” The loss of a child is “an experience that defies theoretical descriptions and rejects the triviality of religious or sentimental words” or “sterile encouragements,” the text said. Recognizing that too often the pious phrases Christians offer to grieving parents do nothing to help and may just add to the pain, the pope said that the best response is “to imitate the emotion and compassion of Jesus in the face of pain,” not trying to minimize it, but to share it.
WORLD
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (OSV News) – As the wave of violence torments gang-decimated Haiti, six male religious, a lay teacher and a priest were kidnapped in two separate incidents Feb. 23 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital. The six members of the Congregation of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart were abducted on their way to the John XXIII School, which is run by the order. A teacher who was with them was also taken, the pontifical charity Aid to the Church in Need confirmed. “In view of this painful event, the John XXIII institution is closing its doors until further notice. The other institutions of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart throughout the country will continue the work of raising awareness among the new generation of the values of living together in harmony, with a view to the emergence of a new society that is more humane, more caring, and more united,” said the congregation in a statement sent to ACN. Only a few hours later, a priest was also kidnapped in Port-au-Prince. He was taken from his parish church, alongside some of the faithful, soon after celebrating morning Mass. Despite the tireless work of the church, clergy and religious have not been spared the violence of armed gangs.
DORI, Burkina Faso (OSV News) – At least 15 people were killed in an attack by gunmen on Catholics gathered for Sunday Mass in a Burkina Faso village Feb. 25, according to multiple news reports. Twelve Catholics were dead at the scene in the village of Essakane, with another three dying while being treated at a health center, and two others wounded, according to a statement from Bishop Laurent Birfuoré Dabiré of the Diocese of Dori in Northern Burkina Faso, which includes Essakane. “In these painful circumstances, we invite you to pray for the eternal rest of those who have died in the faith, for the healing of the wounded and for the consolation of sorrowful hearts,” the bishop said in the statement. “We also pray for the conversion of those who continue to sow death and desolation in our country. May our efforts of penance and prayer during this period of Lent bring peace and security to our country, Burkina Faso,” the bishop said. According to AP, no group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but jihadis who have perpetuated similar violence are suspected of carrying it out. Christians in Burkina Faso have been increasingly targeted in recent years by terrorist groups amid political and social upheaval.
PARISH, FAMILY & SCHOOL EVENTS
BROOKHAVEN – St. Francis, Easter Egg Hunt and Photos, Sunday, March 31 following 9 a.m. Mass. Details: church office (601) 833-1799.
FLOWOOD – St. Paul, Easter Egg Hunt, Sunday, March 24 after 10:30 a.m. Mass. Details: church office (601) 992-9547.
HERNANDO – Holy Spirit, Easter Egg Hunt, Sunday, March 24 at 11:45 a.m. Hunts by age group (0-3; 4-6; 7-10). Lunch provided and prizes awarded. Details: church office (662) 429-7851.
JACKSON – St. Richard, Bereavement group, “The River of Grief,” Thursday, March 14 at 6 p.m. in the Mercy room. Speaker: Claudia Addison. Details: Nancy at (601) 942-2078 or email ncmcghee@bellsouth.net.
St. Richard School, Flight to the Finish 5k and Fun Run, Saturday, April 20 at 9 a.m. Details: Visit website for more info and to register at https://runsignup.com/Race/MS/Jackson/FlighttotheFinish.
JACKSON – Sister Thea Bowman School, Annual Draw Down, Saturday, April 27 at 6:30 p.m. in the multi-purpose building. Grand prize $5,000; tickets $100 (admits 2), second chance insurance $20. Enjoy great food, entertainment, silent auction, door prizes and more. Casual attire. Details: contact Shae at (601) 351-5197 or stbdrawdown@gmail.com.
MADISON – St. Francis, Luella and Floyd Q. Doolittle Golf Tournament, Saturday, April 15 at Whisper Lake Country Club. Information and registration form available at https://stfrancismadison.org/knights-of-columbus. Details: Tunney at (601) 622-4145 or tunneyv1@icloud.com.
NATCHEZ – St. Mary Basilica, St. Patrick’s Parade, Saturday, March 16, gather at 5:30 p.m. at Memorial Park, walking parade begins at 6 p.m. Details: email kreweofkillarney@gmail.com.
OLIVE BRANCH – Queen of Peace, Easter Egg Hunt, Saturday, March 23 at 10 a.m. Details: church office (662) 895-5007.
STARKVILLE – St. Joseph, Spring Trivia Night, Thursday, April 11 at 6:30 p.m. Cost: $20/person or $10/student (college undergrad or under) Details: email ben.bachman@gmail.com for reservations. Tables seat up to 8 participants.
VICKSBURG – VCS Annual Alumni banquet, Saturday, April 6, 5:30 p.m. Mass at St. Michael, with 6:30 p.m. social and 7 p.m. banquet at the Levee Street Warehouse. Honorary classes include Class of 1974 and 2024. Guest Speaker: George Valadie. Details: register to attend at https://www.vicksburgcatholic.org/apps/page/alumni.
SPIRITUAL ENRICHMENT
BATESVILLE – St. Mary, Lenten Parish Mission, Wednesday, March 20 and 21, with dinner from 5-5:45 p.m. and Mission at 6 p.m. Details: church office (662) 563-2273.
BROOKHAVEN – St. Francis, Parish Lenten Mission, March 18 and 19 from 6-8 p.m. Gifts of the Holy Spirit presented by Father Bill Henry. Details: church office (601) 833-1799.
GREENWOOD – St. Francis, Revival with Father Anthony Bozeman, SSJ, April 8-9 at 6 p.m. Details: church office (662) 453-0623.
NATCHEZ – 2nd annual Believe Conference, April 19-21, 2024. Featured speakers are Anne Trufant, Catholic speaker and founder of The Mission on the Mountain; Barbara Heil, founder of From His Heart Ministries; and Joanne Moody, minister author, and founder of Agape Freedom Fighters. Cost: $100 for weekend; $50 for students. Lunch included on Saturday. Details: visit https://www.themissiononthemountain.com.
SOUTHAVEN – Christ the King, “Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist,” Thursdays, April 4, 18, 25; May 2, 9, 16, 23, 30; and June 6 from 6:30-8 p.m. How do these Jewish roots help us, to understand his real presence in the Eucharist? Facilitator is Don Coker. Details: church office (662) 342-1073.
Christ the King, Lenten Lunch and Learn, Saturday, March 16 at 11 a.m. Topic: Conversations Overheard by the Cross. RSVP by Sunday, March 10. Details: church office (662) 693-1321.
TUPELO – St. James, Lenten Parish Mission – “How Faith Changes Us,” March 17-19 with Father Xavier Raj. Details: church office (662) 842-4881.
COLLIERVILLE, Tenn. – Women’s Morning of Spirituality, Saturday, April 13 at Catholic Church of the Incarnation (360 Bray Station Road). Continental breakfast in the gym at 7:15 a.m; Program begins in Sanctuary at 8:15 a.m.; Mass at 12:15 p.m. Opportunities for Adoration, Reconciliation, Rosary and Divine Mercy Chaplet. Details: church office (901) 441-6157.
JOB OPENING
JACKSON – The Department of Faith Formation is looking for a full-time administrative assistant. The successful candidate will provide administrative assistance exercising quality pastoral skills for those in pastoral and formational ministry in the Diocese of Jackson. Details: 3-5 years’ experience in an administrative role providing direct support to a multicultural intergenerational department. Understanding basic accounting a plus. High school diploma or GED required; completion of college degree in business preferred. Contact fran.lavelle@jacksondiocese.org with questions or for full job description. Send a cover letter and resume no later than March 11, 2024.
TRAVEL
“SPIRIT OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND” WITH FATHER O’CONNOR – Join Father David O’Connor on a trip to Ireland and Scotland, June 8-17. Itinerary includes: flight to Dublin, two nights in Belfast, ferry to Scotland, two nights in Glasgow, Inverness and Edinburgh and return flight from Edinburg. Travel in a luxury coach from arrival time until departure, a professional driver/guide, 4-star hotels. Tour highlights include City of Belfast, Titanic, historic and architectural sites, wonderful landscapes and lakes of the Scottish highlands, Scottish food and entertainment. Cost: $4,955 (per person sharing) or $5,950 single. Only a few spots left! For more information/reservations contact Cara Group Travel at (617) 639-0273 or email bookings@caragrouptravel.com.
IRELAND AND SCOTLAND WITH FATHER AUGUSTINE – Join Father Augustine on a trip to Ireland and Scotland, Sept. 6-18. Trip includes stops in Galway, Our Lady of Knock, Cliffs of Moher, Killarney, Dingle Peninsula, Dublin, Edinburgh and St. Andrew’s Cathedral. Cost: $5,499 – all inclusive, including airfare. To register, contact Proximo Travel at (855) 842-8001 or visit www.proximotravel.com.
March 2
Father Henry Shelton
Retired
March 6
Father Albeenreddy Vatti
St. Francis of Assisi, Madison
Thank you for answering the call!
JACKSON – St. Richard School students are presented with “Cool 2B Kind” awards by John Dorsa for earning the highest points in their houses for virtuous and honorable deeds. (Photo by Chelsea Dillon)
COLUMBUS – Annunciation school recently held a Robotics Pep Rally. (Photo by Jacque Hince)
By Kate Scanlon , OSV News
WASHINGTON (OSV News) — The ability of Catholic and other faith-based groups to “meet migrants’ basic human needs” at the U.S.-Mexico border is a religious liberty issue and must be defended, U.S. bishops said in recent statements.
In a Feb. 26 statement issued in response to a lawsuit filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in an attempt to shut down Annunciation House, a Catholic nonprofit in El Paso serving migrants, Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana, chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee for Religious Liberty, expressed solidarity with faith-driven ministries to migrants.
“It is hard to imagine what our country would look like without the good works that people of faith carry out in the public square,” Bishop Rhoades said. “For this, we can thank our strong tradition of religious liberty, which allows us to live out our faith in full.”
Paxton’s suit targeting El Paso’s Annunciation House comes as some Republicans have grown increasingly hostile toward nongovernmental organizations, particularly Catholic ones, that provide resources such as food and shelter to migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Bishop Rhoades said that as “the tragic situation along our border with Mexico increasingly poses challenges for American communities and vulnerable persons alike, we must especially preserve the freedom of Catholics and other people of faith to assist their communities and meet migrants’ basic human needs.”
Paxton’s office alleged Annunciation House’s efforts amount to “facilitating illegal entry to the United States” and “human smuggling.”
“The chaos at the southern border has created an environment where NGOs, funded with taxpayer money from the Biden Administration, facilitate astonishing horrors including human smuggling,” Paxton said in a statement. “While the federal government perpetuates the lawlessness destroying this country, my office works day in and day out to hold these organizations responsible for worsening illegal immigration.”
Catholic and local leaders in El Paso condemned that effort, including the city’s Bishop Mark J. Seitz, who pledged his diocese and the wider church will “vigorously defend the freedom of people of faith and goodwill to put deeply held religious convictions into practice” and “will not be intimidated in our work to serve Jesus Christ in our sisters and brothers fleeing danger and seeking to keep their families together.”
The Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops said in a Feb. 23 statement that the state’s bishops “join Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso in expressing solidarity with ministry volunteers and people of faith who seek only to serve vulnerable migrants as our nation and state continue to pursue failed migration and border security policies.”
“Our border ministries are intended to be a stabilizing presence that protects both citizens and migrants,” their statement said. “The Catholic Church in Texas remains committed to praying and working for a secure border, to protect the vulnerable and for just immigration solutions to protect all human life.”
Bishop Rhoades commended the Texas bishops for “expressing solidarity with those seeking simply to fulfill the fundamental biblical call: ‘whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.'”
(Kate Scanlon is a national reporter for OSV News covering Washington. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) @kgscanlon.)
