Author Archives: Joe Lee

“Padre” Flannery celebrates 60 years of priesthood

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By Joe Lee
MADISON – The blast furnace heat made quite an impression on Msgr. Michael Flannery, known as Padre to parishioners all over Mississippi and the impoverished Saltillo region of Mexico, when he landed in Jackson for the first time in September 1964.

The racial discord also made a significant impression. Flannery arrived shortly after the horrific murders of civil rights leaders Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner and James Cheney in Neshoba County.

“My first assignment was St. Mary’s in west Jackson,” said Flannery, who celebrates the 60th anniversary of his priest ordination on June 14. “The school was integrated the morning after I arrived. A Black family had a little girl entering kindergarten, and there was a big demonstration. We feared Klan violence and left the lights on overnight for two weeks, but nothing came of it.

MADISON – Msgr. Michael Flannery “Padre” and Father Albeen Vatti joining in the fun playing spoons on frottoirs (washboards) and dancing during a spirited cajun tune on Oct 3, 2021 at St. Francis parish’s annual Cajun Fest fundraiser. Msgr. Flannery is celebrating his 60th anniversary as a priest on June 14, 2024. (Photo by Joanna King)

“A professor at seminary prepared us to face difficulty in the U.S. but said it wouldn’t be fair to tell us what to do. He said, ‘I’ve given you moral principles. You apply them to the situation you find yourself in.’ That made an impression on me.”

Assigned to Our Lady of Victories in Pascagoula in 1967, Flannery organized the first Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) group to deliver items to Saltillo, but the game-changer was the involvement of Father Patrick Quinn. Saltillo Mission, Flannery’s book about the long-running service project that sent more than 20,000 Mississippi youth to Mexico, was published in 2017.

“Father Quinn had a tremendous love for the poor,” Flannery said. “One year he was seriously injured in a car accident on a slick mountain road, and Bishop Brunini wanted his medical treatment done in Mississippi. Quinn initially refused, saying he would receive care unavailable to the poor. He eventually agreed to it, but only if he could return to Saltillo once healthy.”

Valerie Balser Winn, accompanied her CYO from St. Alphonsus in McComb to Saltillo in 1973.

“Father Flannery always seemed full of energy and laughter as he drove a crowded jeep among the prairie dogs and cacti for what seemed like hours,” Winn said. “He supervised the deliveries of medicine, dental care and balloons for the children.

“Not knowing Spanish myself and watching him tell those gathered for Mass in the tiny brick and mud huts about Father Quinn’s accident … I can still see the shock and sadness in their faces. Then I saw them comforted with Father Flannery’s message of hope.”

Flannery’s mastery of Spanish led to his assignment to Rosedale, one of several Delta towns where he worked primarily with migrants. While in Cleveland he was asked by Bishop Brunini to learn canon law. Finishing at St. Paul’s in Ottawa, Canada, in 1985, Flannery was brought into the tribunal after returning to Mississippi, serving as judicial vicar.

“I see the tribunal as a healing ministry,” he said. “Divorce is a very painful thing, as part of you dies in that process. My experiences in Saltillo, with a lot of people suffering there, got me interested in the tribunal.”

MADISON – Msgr. Michael Flannery, affectionately known as “Padre,” is celebrating his 60th year of priesthood on June 14, 2024. Pictured is Msgr. Flannery celebrating Mass at his 50th anniversary celebration in 2014. (Photo from archives)

The vicar general at the time was Father Francis Cosgrove, a fellow Irishman and a good friend of Flannery’s. Cosgrove would be assigned to St. Francis of Assisi in Madison in 1994, and Flannery was named vicar general. When Cosgrove was sent to Meridian in 2005 to pastor at St. Patrick, Flannery was moved to St. Francis.
“Father Cosgrove built the church, which was dedicated in 2000,” Flannery said. “I was glad to get back to parish ministry, my first love. The initial plan was for St. Francis to have a church, a family life center and a school. The first two had been taken care of by the time I got there.”

When a diocesan survey showed great support for another Catholic school in the Jackson area, Flannery went right to work. St. Anthony opened in Madison in 2009, and enrollment has tripled in 15 years.
“Father Mike’s generosity to St. Anthony is a matter of record,” said St. Francis parishioner Ed Marsalis. “I love him dearly. He is a best friend, a true theologian. He continues the mission he was given that graduation day in Ireland and performs weekly masses in our parish and throughout the diocese.”

Msgr. Elvin Sunds compares his friend of half a century to the Good Shepherd in giving his all for his sheep. Father Albeen Vatti, St. Francis pastor since 2015, delights parishioners by routinely bantering with Flannery but has a deep respect for him.

“He’s always willing to help and lives a very simple lifestyle,” Vatti said. “Following him was challenging because of his years of experience, but he has been a great blessing to me.”

Now in his early eighties, Flannery shows no signs of slowing down. He visits St. Anthony often during the school year to entertain young Eagles, and he’ll fill in at parishes all over central Mississippi during the scalding summer months. He wouldn’t be anywhere else.

“I’ve been happy as a priest,” he said. “It has been a good life, a joyful life, and I would do it again.”

Padre ‘Miguelito’ – Monseñor Flannery, 60 Años de ordenado

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Por Joe Lee
MADISON – El calor de alto horno en Jackson impresionó mucho a Monseñor Michael Flannery, conocido como Padre Miguelito por los feligreses de todo Mississippi y la empobrecida región de Saltillo en México, cuando aterrizó aquí por primera vez en septiembre de 1964.

La discordia racial también causó una impresión significativa. Flannery llegó poco después de los horribles asesinatos de los líderes de derechos civiles Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner y James Cheney en el condado de Neshoba. “Mi primera asignación fue St. Mary’s en el oeste de Jackson”, dijo Flannery, quien celebra el 60 aniversario de su ordenación sacerdotal el 14 de junio. “La escuela se integró la mañana después de mi llegada.

JACKSON – El Padre Miguelito en sus sesenta años de ordenado ha servido a cuatro obispos, acompañó al Padre Quinn en Saltillo México por tres años, creó un programa para la atención a los pobres, que envió más de 20 mil jóvenes a México, fue Vicario judicial, fundó la escuela St. Anthony, dirigió el Tribunal Diocesano, vuelve a la Misión de Saltillo cada año, ha escrito siete libros y todavía da Misa. (En Misa de Acción de Gracias por su 50 Aniversario. Foto de archivo, junio 2015)

Una familia negra tenía una niña que ingresaba al jardín de infantes y hubo una gran manifestación. Temíamos la violencia del Klan y dejamos las luces encendidas durante la noche durante dos semanas, pero no pasó nada.
“Un profesor del seminario nos preparó para enfrentar dificultades en los Estados Unidos, pero dijo que no sería justo decirnos qué hacer. Él dijo: ‘Les he dado principios morales.’ Los aplicas a la situación en la que te encuentras. Eso me impresionó.”

Asignado a Nuestra Señora de las Victorias en Pascagoula en 1967, Flannery organizó el primer grupo de la Organización Juvenil Católica (CYO) para entregar artículos a Saltillo, pero lo que cambió las reglas del juego fue la participación del Padre Patricio Quinn. El libro Misión Saltillo, de Monseñor Flannery, publicado en el 2017, es sobre el proyecto de servicio de larga duración que envió a más de 20.000 jóvenes de Mississippi a México.

“El Padre Quinn tenía un amor tremendo por los pobres,” dijo Flannery. “Un año resultó gravemente herido en un accidente automovilístico en una carretera resbaladiza de montaña, y el obispo Brunini quería que su tratamiento médico se realizara en Mississippi. Quinn inicialmente se negó, diciendo que recibiría atención que no estaba disponible para los pobres. Finalmente aceptó, pero sólo si podía regresar a Saltillo una vez sano”.

Valerie Balser Winn, sobrina del difunto Eddie Balser, acompañó a su CYO desde St. Alphonsus en McComb hasta Saltillo en 1973.

“Padre Flannery siempre parecía lleno de energía y risas mientras conducía un jeep lleno de gente entre los perritos de la pradera y los cactus durante lo que parecieron horas,” dijo Winn. “Él supervisó las entregas de medicamentos, atención odontológica y globos para los niños.

“Sin saber español y viéndolo decirle a los reunidos para Misa, en las pequeñas chozas de ladrillo y barro, sobre el accidente del padre Quinn. . . Todavía puedo ver la conmoción y la tristeza en sus rostros. Luego los vi consolados con el mensaje de esperanza de Flannery.”

El dominio del español de Flannery lo llevó a ser asignado a Rosedale, una de varias ciudades del Delta donde trabajó principalmente con inmigrantes. Mientras estaba en Cleveland, el obispo Brunini le pidió que aprendiera derecho canónico. Terminando en St. Paul’s en Ottawa, Canadá, en 1985, Flannery ingresó al tribunal después de regresar a Mississippi, sirviendo como Vicario Judicial.

“Veo el tribunal como un ministerio de sanación,” dijo. “El divorcio es algo muy doloroso, ya que una parte de ti muere en ese proceso. Mis experiencias en Saltillo, con mucha gente sufriendo allí, hicieron que me interesara en el tribunal.”

MADISON – Monseñor Flannery recibe el abrazo de una estudiante de St. Anthony. Monseñor Flannery celebrará su 60.º aniversario como sacerdote el 14 de junio de 2024. (Foto de archivo)

El Vicario General en ese momento era el Padre Francis Cosgrove, un compatriota irlandés y buen amigo de Flannery. Cosgrove sería asignado a San Francisco de Asís en Madison en 1994, y Flannery fue nombrado Vicario General. Cuando Cosgrove fue enviado a Meridian en 2005 para pastorear en St. Patrick, Flannery fue trasladado a St. Francis.

“El Padre Cosgrove construyó la iglesia, que se inauguró en el año 2000,” dijo Flannery. “Me alegré de volver al ministerio parroquial, mi primer amor. El plan inicial era que San Francisco tuviera una iglesia, un centro de vida familiar y una escuela. Cuando llegué allí ya se habían ocupado de los dos primeros”.

Cuando una encuesta diocesana mostró un gran apoyo a otra escuela católica en el área de Jackson, Flannery se puso manos a la obra. En Madison, en 2009, se abrió St. Anthony y la inscripción se ha triplicado en 15 años.

“La generosidad del padre Mike hacia St. Anthony es un hecho histórico”, dijo Ed Marsalis, feligrés de San Francisco. “Lo amo muchísimo. Es un mejor amigo, un verdadero teólogo. Continúa la misión que se le asignó el día de su graduación en Irlanda y celebra Misas semanales en nuestra parroquia y en toda la diócesis”.

Monseñor Elvin Sunds compara a su amigo de medio siglo con el Buen Pastor, al darlo todo por sus ovejas. El Padre Albeen Vatti, párroco de St. Francis Madison desde 2015, deleita a los feligreses bromeando habitualmente con Flannery, pero le tiene un profundo respeto. “Él siempre está dispuesto a ayudar y lleva un estilo de vida muy sencillo”, dijo Vatti. “Seguirlo fue un desafío debido a sus años de experiencia, pero ha sido una gran bendición para mí”.

Flannery, que ahora tiene poco más de ochenta años, no muestra signos de desaceleración. Visita St. Anthony con frecuencia durante el año escolar para entretener a los jóvenes Eagles, y trabajará en parroquias de todo el centro de Mississippi durante los calurosos meses de verano. No estaría en ningún otro lugar.

“He sido feliz como sacerdote”, dijo. “Ha sido una buena vida, una vida feliz y lo volvería a hacer”.

JACKSON – Monseñor Flannery comparte su amor al ministerio parroquial con la fotografía y la escritura. Los viajes a la Misión de Satillo han sido documentados históricamente por él. En 2017 publicó el libro “La Misión de Saltillo” (“Saltillo Mission”), su tributo a los esfuerzos humanitarios de su amigo y mentor, el difunto Padre Patrick Quinn. En 2019 escribe “Las Aguílas de San Antonio” (“St. Anthony’s Eagles”), sobre la escuela de la que es fundador. Durante la pandemia se dedicó a escribir y ya en el 2021, Monseñor Flannery era autor de cuatro libros más: “El Cáliz de Limerick”, “Una vista del Santo Grial”, “La Esmeralda” y “En busca de mi Gemelo”. En fotos (izq.) Monseñor Michael Flannery “Padre Miguelito” y el padre Albeen Vatti se unieron a la diversión de tocar con cucharas en frottoirs (tabla de lavar) y bailar una animada melodía cajún, el 3 de octubre de 2021 en el Cajun Fest, la recaudación anual de fondos de la parroquia de St. Francis. (der.) Foto de composición con las carátulas de sus siete libros. (Fotos de archivo)

Family answers ‘yes to the Lord’s invitation’ for mission work

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By Joe Lee
JACKSON – Imagine being very successful in your profession. You and your spouse have a wonderful family, are blessed with many friends and are active church members.

But something crucial is missing from your lives.

“I had always done well in commercial real estate and banking,” said Saul Keeton, a native of the Jackson area who became Catholic in 2001. “But (my wife) Jan and I had a growing dissatisfaction with what the world had to offer us … we sensed the Lord wanting something radical from us.”

Jan Keeton, a cradle Catholic originally from Stafford, Texas, considered the idea of foreign missions for the first time in 2018. But with young children at home (the Keeton kids range from age 20 down to seven), planning such a trip was complicated.

MEXICO – Saul Keeton assists in mixing concrete for a foundation on a mission trip to Mexico in early 2019. He was accompanied by his four oldest children. The Keeton family said “yes to the Lord’s invitation” for mission work. (Photo courtesy of Saul Keeton)

“A Methodist college friend was very involved in supporting a school in Haiti, and she invited me to go with her several times,” Jan said. “Eventually it dawned on me that the only way I’d get to go on a mission trip was if (our entire family) went together.”

Through a simple Google search, Jan learned of Family Missions Company (FMC) and was delighted to learn that in addition to being a Catholic organization, FMC was based in Abbeville, Louisiana, only 250 miles from Jackson.

“All the FMC missionaries and staff live in Gospel poverty, meaning they have all they need to live and nothing more,” Saul said. “Most of my questions (amounted to), ‘What would it be like for our kids to go from living in American suburbia to living in the desert, the jungle or a barrio?’”

Their first mission trip was to General Cepeda, Mexico, in 2018. Saul recalls reading aloud to Jan his journal entries from that week.

“We cried about it together in a jumble of emotions: anticipation, anxiety, relief, excitement, unworthiness,” he said. “I think we experienced all simultaneously. We intensified our spiritual direction with Father Anthony Quyet after the trip and, praise be to God, he confirmed our missionary call.”
They applied with FMC to be full-time foreign missionaries and were accepted. With the new formation year beginning that fall, the couple faced the choice of entering formation within a few weeks or waiting until fall 2019. They chose the latter, wanting the extra year to get their affairs in order and build a team of missionary supporters.

They also wanted time to pray about their son Nicholas’s 2018 diagnosis of autism.

“We knew the Lord was in control,” Saul said, “but trusting in Jesus is pretty easy until a serious trial comes along. And it was hard to see the path ahead more than one step at a time.”

Saul made another mission trip to Mexico in early 2019 with the couple’s four oldest kids, and Jan made one to Costa Rica that year, but they felt the Lord wanted them to put down roots in Jackson and dove headfirst into autism therapy.

Then, in summer 2022, they again heard the Lord’s call to go back into mission work and relocated from Jackson to Abbeville.

“I gratefully accepted the position of Director of Mission Advancement for FMC,” Saul said. “I oversee all fundraising efforts, donor relations, our marketing team, our two retreat centers, and foreign mission trips. For the last year, my family has lived in missionary housing in community with many of the other families that are part of the FMC administrative staff.

“Many people mistakenly believe that the Gospel has been taken to the whole world … that couldn’t be further from the truth. While there are hundreds of organizations that have sprung up in the last 60 years to serve the church in the U.S., I know of no other that is so focused on taking the Gospel to places where it hasn’t been heard yet.”

While the Keetons’ family service with FMC looks different than Saul and Jan envisioned, they look for opportunities to preach the Gospel around their mission post whenever possible.

“I spoke (recently) to 40 high school kids at one of our retreat centers on serving and loving the poor,” Saul said. “When the poor need a water well, we’ll dig one. Or we’ll mix and pour concrete to replace a dirt floor. We’ll also listen and offer a shoulder to cry on – and cry with them – when emotional support is needed.”

“We do find plenty of opportunities to practice the Corporal Works of Mercy within our own family,” Jan said. “This has had a profound experience on our own hearts.

“It’s easy to forget sometimes how hard it is for many people to say yes to the Lord’s invitation. Through much prayer, we’ve said it twice now, and we’re surrounded by people who’ve also given up everything to follow Him. But that shouldn’t dull us to the shock people feel when their consciences are shaken awake for the first time.”

One of the only lay-run Catholic foreign missionary organizations in the U.S., Family Mission Company have more than 200 missionaries serving in nine countries around the world. They work with the blessing of Bishop Douglas Deshotel of the Diocese of Lafayette, Louisiana. To support FMC, or to reach Saul or Jan Keeton and learn more about international mission work, visit familymissionscompany.com.

Inspiring others to ‘work together as people of faith ’Msgr. Sunds observes golden jubilee

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By Joe Lee
MADISON – On the evening of Aug. 7, the family life center at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Madison resembled a fine restaurant, with white tablecloths and soft candlelight creating the perfect backdrop for a huge crowd to congratulate Msgr. Elvin Sunds on the golden anniversary of his ordination as a priest.

It was a fitting tribute to the kind, soft-spoken man who grew up in Iowa and has spent more than fifty years of his life bringing Mississippians of different backgrounds together. The throng waiting to enjoy the mouth-watering dinner was no surprise after the standing room only gathering at Mass, which made Sunds feel, in his words, deeply affirmed.

“When I first saw the church packed for the Mass, I was genuinely overwhelmed,” he said. “I had no idea so many people over the years from so many parishes – and from Catholic Charities – wanted to express their gratitude.”

MADISON – Msgr. Elvin Sunds (second from right) celebrated his golden jubilee on Monday, Aug. 7 at St. Francis of Assisi parish in Madison. (Photo by Tereza Ma)

Sunds felt the call toward the priesthood while a senior in high school, but he wanted something more exciting than the Diocese of Des Moines, especially after being told by his vocation director that he was expected to teach high school for the first ten years after ordination.

“During my junior year at Immaculate Conception Seminary in Conception, Missouri, my spiritual director suggested I spend a summer working for a friend of his in New York City named Father John Powis. This was 1967, and Father Powis was working in the rough Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn, a largely Puerto Rican and African American neighborhood.

“I was impressed at what Father Powis was doing and found an apartment in a condemned building for the summer. I worked mornings at a commercial laundry to support myself and spent afternoons organizing recreational programs for the neighborhood kids.”

Sunds had seminarian classmates from Mississippi who urged him to visit the state, which he did for the first time that fall.

“Cardinal Bernard Law was the vocation director then for what was the Diocese of Natchez-Jackson,” Sunds said. “He arranged for me to spend several months with Father Nathaniel Machesky, who was pastor of St. Francis of Assisi in Greenwood.

“This was predominantly an African American parish. They were offering education for the kids in the grade school there, a wonderful alternative to what wasn’t a good education in the Greenwood public schools. I realized the Natchez-Jackson Diocese was where I needed to be.”

Since his ordination by Bishop Joseph Brunini at Our Lady of the Gulf in Bay St. Louis on Aug. 5, 1973, Sunds has pastored in Biloxi, Jackson, Meridian, Greenville and Corinth. Revered for his work with Catholic Charities (where he served as executive director from 1978-1994), he was honored by the Mississippi NAACP in 1982 with the organization’s Outstanding Service Award.

Msgr. Elvin Sunds pictured at his priestly ordination on Aug. 5, 1973 in Bay St. Louis. (Photo from archives)

“We established programs while I was there to serve people that had not been served in Mississippi,” Sunds said. “I really encouraged the employees to think toward trying to change the system and make a bigger impact than just the person we were serving. My first hire was Linda Raff as associate director. We made a great team.”

“Msgr. Sunds brought a sense of social justice for all of God’s children, especially those poor and vulnerable,” said Raff, who succeeded Sunds as executive director in 1994 and served in that role 14 years before returning for a final year as director in 2014. “I appreciated that he administered the agency in a very fair-minded way, and it will always be one of my greatest privileges to have worked for him.”

“We’re only 2.5 percent Catholic in the Jackson diocese,” Sunds said. “But we have a tremendous impact, and we have an even bigger impact when we work together ecumenically. The Mississippi Religious Leadership Conference was Baptist, Catholic, Methodist, Jewish – lots of denominations – that worked together in the civil rights era.

“When we work together as people of faith, we can make a tremendous impact in Mississippi, such as the changing of the state flag. The football community, the academic community and the business community were behind it, but it was also the Catholic bishop, Methodist bishop, Episcopal bishop and others that agreed we needed to change it.”

“Msgr. Sunds and I have been friends for almost 30 years,” said retired pastor Raymon Leake. “He invited me to speak in his church (St. Patrick in Meridian at the time), and I invited him to speak in mine (First Baptist of Meridian).

“We’ve worked together on projects as significant as establishing a children’s home, and as seemingly insignificant as sharing with a community that Christians of different backgrounds can work together for the benefit of those who need us.”

“Msgr. Sunds was my predecessor at St. Patrick and did the hard work in setting up a relationship between (predominantly white) St. Patrick and (predominantly black) St. Joseph,” said retired priest Father Frank Cosgrove. “What he did should serve as a model for other places.”

“The attendance at 8:30 Sunday Mass at St. Joseph is now about fifty percent white – they come for the music and hospitality, both of which are wonderful – and Msgr. Sunds deserves great credit for that. A St. Patrick parishioner told me that Msgr. Sunds brought the Meridian Catholic community into the twenty-first century.”

In residence at St. Francis in Madison since officially retiring in 2019, Sunds has taken time off to travel the country, most notably an 8,000-mile excursion that took him to eight national parks and three national monuments. He and Leake, both avid outdoorsmen, have hiked together through the Tetons, the Sierras, the Rockies, and from France into Switzerland through the Alps. He even pastored for a month in 2021 in Nome, Alaska. [Click here to ready the story on his trip to Nome]

Sunds has the admiration of St. Francis pastor Father Albeenreddy Vatti, who praised his brother priest’s work ethic, organizational skills and the simple lifestyle he leads. He has also earned the trust and respect of the parish’s youth.

“When you’re a young priest, you’re kind of a mentor to young people because you’re not far removed from them in age,” Sunds said. “When you get to be middle age, you’re more like a parent, and the relationship changes a bit. Then you get to a stage where you’re more like a grandparent. Maybe they relate to you in a way they wouldn’t relate to their parents.

“You reach out by being accepting and non-critical. And listening.”

Christine Love receives the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice cross from Pope Francis

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By Joe Lee
JACKSON – The reality of being presented with a medal awarded by Pope Francis is difficult for Christine Love to get her mind around.

Recently retired after more than five decades of serving as housekeeper, caretaker, and trusted friend to Jackson Diocese Bishops Gerow, Brunini, Houck, Latino and Kopacz, the soft-spoken member of Cathedral of St. Peter’s the Apostle Church was awarded the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice cross for her fifty-plus years of dedicated service to the Office of the Bishop.

“It makes me feel good. It makes me feel happy. It makes me feel like I’m going to heaven,” Love said of the medal, which was announced at the Vatican in February and presented to her by Bishop Joseph Kopacz at the Cathedral in late June. (Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice, as translated, means “for the church and pope.” See accompanying story.)

A graduate of Jim Hill High School in Jackson, Love earned an undergraduate degree from Campbell College (now Jackson State University) six decades ago. When her husband, A.G., a building contractor, was temporarily ill early in their marriage, Love enrolled in nursing school at Hinds Community College.

“I was just about finished. Pharmacology was my last class,” Love recalled. “I was told, ‘You’re just like a nurse. Come on.’ I started with the Professional Nurses Registry and worked for them a year or so before going on out my own. That’s what led to my work with the diocese and the bishops.”

A major turning point in her life was an opportunity to serve as a private duty nurse for Bishop Gerow, to whom she grew close. Gerow retired in 1967 and was succeeded by Bishop Joseph Brunini, but Love continued to sit with him as his health worsened over the years.

“At the end, Bishop Gerow’s home was at St. Dominic Hospital. He passed away in my arms,” she said. “After he passed, I began working with Sister Claudia Murphy, taking care of the senior citizens of the diocese. When Bishop Houck came along, I started working for him at his home.”

There were lots of lighthearted moments over the years. Love recalls Bishop William Houck always being able to tell a good joke and remembers his Frank Sinatra records; she said Bishop Joseph Latino enjoyed discussing the news and television shows. Using the words “perfectionist” and “tidy” to describe all five men, Love said she built a rapport with each and earned a level of trust that brought her into their inner circles.

“I’ve known Christine more than 35 years,” said Diocesan Chancellor Mary Woodward. “I got to know her better when I started coordinating the dinners Bishop Houck would host at his townhouse. Christine would be getting the house in tip-top shape for guests while I would be chopping lemons and carrots.

“She is one of the kindest people I know. Traits of hers that I think endeared her to each bishop were her dedication to their well-being, availability at the drop of a hat, her knowledge of the household and of each bishop’s personality. She would know exactly how Bishop Houck would want something, compared to how Bishop Latino would like it. Each one she served was unique, and she was very good at adapting to each one’s modus operandi.”

While Love and A.G. raised five kids (all of whom graduated from St. Joseph Catholic School and went on to college), she juggled being a band mom, soccer mom and sports mom while being flexible when it came to her responsibilities for each bishop.

“With my arrival in the Diocese of Jackson, Christine extended her dedicated service to me at my home with weekly house cleaning,” Bishop Kopacz said. “I note ‘extended her service’ because at the time of my arrival she was also attending to Bishop Houck and Bishop Latino.

“She worked with others to prepare my house to receive guests for special events, and she always made sure my Labrador Retriever had some extra loving and treats. She’s rightly enjoying a well-deserved retirement surrounded by her children, grandchildren and friends. I and the Bishops who preceded me – Bishops Gerow, Brunini, Houck and Latino – are eternally grateful for her dedicated care, her strong faith in the Lord Jesus, and her love for the church.”

JACKSON – The pro ecclesia et pontifice insignia cross was awarded to Christine Love on Saturday, June 25 at the Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle. (Photo by Mary Woodward)

“I tried to bring honesty and work ethic to whatever I did,” Love said. “Bishop Houck always encouraged me. He said, ‘You can do it. You can make it. I want to see those kids graduate from St. Joe.’ He encouraged me to open my own business and was very proud when I created Love Janitorial Services 18 years ago.”

“Christine is a very circumspect person,” Woodward said. “She and I could discuss important matters about the household, but it would never go beyond us. She understood the life of a bishop and had an immense amount of respect for the office and the man in it. Maintaining a bishop’s house is an awesome responsibility, and Christine was an extremely valued and trusted person by each bishop. I knew if I called her to come check on something she would be on her way before we even hung up the phone.”

Love says she’ll always get a bit emotional when talking about Bishops Gerow, Houck, Brunini, Latino and Kopacz and the impact all have had on her life.

“I can’t say I’ll miss the work,” she said, “but I’ll always miss my bishops.”

Pro ecclesia et pontifice decree

From the decree issued by Pope Francis on February 21 at the Vatican:
“Francis, supreme pontiff, has deigned and elected to bestow the august insignia cross “pro ecclesia et pontifice” upon Lady Christine Love, for her excellent works and outstanding diligence, thus making it possible for her to adorn herself with this medal, having earned it through great service to the church and in particular the office of the bishop.”

While rare for a sitting pope to award a medal to anyone from the Catholic Diocese of Jackson, it has happened several times.

“At the request of Bishop Joseph Latino, Pope Benedict XVI awarded Sister Dorothea Sondgeroth, OP, the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice Cross in 2012,” said Diocesan Chancellor Mary Woodward. “He also, at the same time, bestowed the Benemerenti Medal on Judy Cannon, former administrative assistant to Bishops Brunini, Houck and Latino, and Bill Dunning, former diocesan finance officer.

“The medals are requested by the local bishop and an extensive application is completed and reviewed by the papal office at the Vatican. Several individuals were awarded the Pro Ecclesia in the 1950s and 60s.”

St. Vincent de Paul conferences form helping hands for Rolling Fork

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By Joe Lee

JACKSON – Donovan Guilbeau, who installs power lines for Southern Electric Corporation and has seen many destructive tornadoes and hurricanes over four decades, said the EF-4 storm that ravaged the Mississippi communities of Rolling Fork and Silver City on March 24 caused the worst damage he’s ever seen.

“This reminded me of the Nagasaki bomb going off in World War II. It took my breath away,” said Guilbeau, a St. Richard parishioner is a long-time member of the St. Richard of Chichester Conference of the St. Vincent de Paul Society (SVDP), a national organization dedicated to feeding, clothing, and healing individuals and families in their time of need. “The damage and 26 lives lost were in a very concentrated area, and I knew we had to do something.”

Guilbeau has business associates who own property in the Rolling Fork area, and his wife has family nearby. In trying to assess what he could do to help, he turned to the St. Richard of Chichester Conference, one of five SVDP conferences in the District Council of the Diocese of Jackson (the others are St. Martin de Porres at Christ the King, St. Therese Conference, St. Joseph Conference at St. Mary Magdalene Parish in Greenville and St. Elizabeth of Hungary at Annunciation Parish in Columbus).

“I’m the St. Richard conference’s field representative for Rolling Fork and Silver City,” Guilbeau said. “Once the site was secured by the local police and the fire department, Tommy Jordan, a fellow St. Richard conference member, and I invited Carrie Robinson, president of the District of Jackson Council, to go with us.

“In this case, the news media did not blow the destruction out of proportion. I became a news reporter of sorts for SVDP, telling them what we were seeing on the ground.”

Robinson, a member of Christ the King Parish, said that all five SVDP conferences in the Jackson council eagerly came together: food and clothing was delivered from the Greenville conference, and financial assistance from the Columbus conference was provided to St. Helen’s Catholic Church in Amory to support nine families that suffered tornado damage the same weekend as the Rolling Fork storm hit.
“I ordered 875 hygiene kits from Disaster Services Corporation, which is the SVDP service arm,” Robinson said. “SVDP deployed case workers for a period of two weeks and began assisting residents of Rolling Fork and Silver City.

“The St. Richard conference donated $10,000 toward the relief efforts, which made it possible for us to serve one hot meal a day to 500-700 people for those two weeks. We also received a Rapid Response Grant from SVDP for $5,000, and a $5,000 grant from Isagenix Foundation.”

The grant money has gone toward Walmart gift cards, which have been handed out to storm victims in amounts of $25 and $50 to purchase food, clothing and other basic needs. But Dianne Clark, the Southeastern U.S. Disaster Rep for SVDP, said that one of the best things volunteers can do is listen to the victims’ stories and encourage them to talk.

“Each time you relate what you went through, it gets a little easier to talk about. Don’t keep it bottled up inside,” said Clark, who is based in Bradenton, Florida, and has seen plenty of hurricane damage in her decade-plus of SVDP service. “We’ll talk 20-30 minutes with each person to let them get things off their chests.

“It’s especially difficult if you’ve lost family members – there was one man on crutches who told us he’d just lost his mother and grandmother. Another woman said she and her husband lived in a mobile home, and her husband climbed on top of her to protect her. They survived, but the woman was horrified to find that when she looked over at the site where her sister’s mobile home was, it was gone. The sister’s body was found later, unfortunately.

First Baptist Church of Rolling Fork became a central feeding and recovery location for disaster survivors in the immediate aftermath of the storm.

“Pastor Britt Williamson was bringing in counselors to help the victims when we were there,” Clark said. “It’s so important to get children to open up as well as the adults. We give candy to them, try to get them to talk. They’re deeply impacted by what they’ve gone through.”

The inclination by so many goodhearted people once they learn of horrific storm damage is to organize drives to deliver food, clothing, supplies and even furniture. Some even hop in their cars and drive straight to the disaster site, eager to offer whatever help they can.

But despite the best of intentions, those spontaneous acts of generosity can create additional problems. Clark pointed out that when truckloads of furniture and clothing are sent at the very beginning of the recovery, there’s often nowhere to put them because homes and buildings have been destroyed.

“There’s an urge to go in and provide resources without asking,” Robinson said. “The greatest thing we can do is allow those in need to have some dignity, and say to them, ‘We are not the experts. Tell us how we can help you. What is it that you need?’”

Robinson just led a team of volunteers from the St. Richard and Christ the King conferences to Silver City on May 18 to partner with the Mississippi Department of Health and Human Services.

“DHS asked if we could help them feed the residents,” Robinson said. “They’re doing outreach for seniors and the disabled whose services – such as Meals on Wheels – were disrupted because of the storm. We purchased burgers, beans, chips and drinks to serve lunch, and we were also there to find out if there were additional needs from residents, such as those still without electricity.”

Guilbeau and SVDP volunteers all over the Jackson Council will gladly continue to help out in Rolling Fork and Silver City as long as it takes, and in whatever ways are needed – including through spiritual nourishment.

“We have a project called Home in a Box that provides furniture to homes that are being rebuilt,” he said. “The short-term need was for feeding; the long-term need is to rebuild. This is long-haul healing.”

“When we met with Pastor Williamson, he indicated that a lot of Rolling Fork residents are renters,” Robinson said. “Going forward, one of the needs will be to see how we can assist them in moving from renting to home ownership, which creates more stability in the community.

“But the most important thing we’ve done for our friends there – and the most important thing we can continue to do – is pray for them.”

To learn more about SVDP, visit svdpusa.org.

ROLLING FORK – St. Vincent de Paul conferences across the diocese work to serve the people of Rolling Fork after devastating tornado struck the community on March 24. (Photo courtesy of Carol Evans)

Homegrown Harvest event celebrates, supports
diocesan seminarians

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A ticket admitting two to the Homegrown Harvest Festival is $100. The event includes a silent auction and a sit-down meal served by the Knights of Columbus 9543 at St. Francis of Assisi in Madison. To purchase tickets, to view sponsorship levels for this year’s event, or to make a donation to seminarian education, visit: https://bit.ly/HGHarvest2022.

By Joe Lee
MADISON – Once he was named vocation director for the Diocese of Jackson, Father Nick Adam went right to work on developing a grand plan to get seminarians acquainted with parishioners from all over the diocese.

That dream became the Jackson Seminarian Homegrown Harvest Festival, now in its third year and set for Saturday, Oct. 29 at 6:30 p.m. at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Madison. The event includes a sit-down meal, a silent auction and a seminarian presentation.

“I knew we needed to raise money to support the education of future priests,” said Father Adam. “But I wanted there to be an event where we came together to ‘see’ what was happening with our vocation program.

“Homegrown Harvest began with a vision of an event to celebrate our faith and the future priests of our church, and this year we are going to ‘see’ that we have nine seminarians. That’s four more than we had just this past May.”

Seminarian education is hardly inexpensive. Bishop Joseph Kopacz estimates that education plus room and board for each year of college seminary and theology is in the $40,000 range per student. Then there’s travel, summer assignments and summer formation programs for the seminarian, bringing to cost per student much closer to $50,000 annually.

“The Homegrown Harvest is becoming the featured event to celebrate the gift of priesthood, to encourage vocations, and to personally invite candidates for seminary discernment and formation,” Bishop Kopacz said. “It is also an opportunity to build up the community of parents, family members, friends and supporters of priestly vocations.”

It might make sense to guess that most seminarians are in their early twenties, though this season’s group of nine ranges from early twenties to early fifties. For older seminarians, the discernment process is different because of their station in life, as well as the role parents play in the life of a fifty-something seminarian compared to that of a teen who may hear the call and look to his parents for guidance and encouragement.

The third annual Jackson Seminarian Homegrown Harvest event will take place on Oct. 29 at 6:30 p.m. at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Madison.

“I always tell young men that my job is to discern with them,” Father Adam said. “Seminary is not the end; it is a resource for young men to discover whether the Lord is calling them to priesthood. If a young man has the desire and the maturity to enter into the seminary and use the resources there for a couple of years to discover whether priesthood is for him, then he should go.”

Father Adam and the diocese have started a new initiative called POPS (Parents of Priests/Seminarians/Sisters) which works alongside the Homegrown Harvest Festival.

“Just like we are using the festival to build community and prayerful support for our seminarians,” Father Adam said of POPS, “we want to make sure we are directing resources toward parents who have made a great gift to the church by supporting their sons and daughters who are pursuing a religious vocation.”

Bishop Kopacz, though, is quick to point out that Father Adam and other vocation directors are not recruiters.

“At times (the vocation director) is directing a young person to consider the beauty of marriage, religious life, or single way of life for a time — or for a lifetime — in service to the Lord,” he said. “Ultimately it is a matter of recognizing one’s gifts and talents for one’s own good, the good of others and the glory of God. This is the gift of our Baptism that, properly nurtured, is the foundation for all vocations.”
Father Andrew Bowden, associate pastor at St. Richard in Jackson since June, said he began thinking of the priesthood at a young age.

“For most of the time I was in middle school and high school I was about 90 percent sure that it was what God was calling me to,” he said. “But I would not say that this is the norm. I locked in mentally, becoming sure that this was what God was calling me to, during my first year in the seminary.

“People today tend to try to distract themselves from what God asks of them. Ultimately this only causes greater dissatisfaction. It is never too early nor too late to start asking God what He wants you to do and to encourage the people around you to do the same. God is the source of our joy, so the greatest joy will be experienced in doing what He asks us to do.”

As Bishop Kopacz points out, presentations, prayer services and conversations are ways of planting seeds that God can bring to fruition in the years ahead. In addition to donating generously, plan to have a nice meal at the Homegrown Harvest Festival and get to know the current crop of seminarians. You may never know what impact you could have on their journey.

Journey of Hope event to highlight addiction,
recovery and healing

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By Joe Lee
MADISON – Known nationally for his business books and Ted Talks, Oxford native David Magee seemingly had it all before his beloved son William – who lettered in track at Ole Miss and attended Honors College – died of an accidental drug overdose in 2013, a year after graduation.

But it wasn’t just William who was hurting at the time of his death.

David Magee

“I had to go look at what happened in our family,” Magee said. “How did what looked like a picture-perfect American family chasing the dream get completely shattered?”

Author of the critically acclaimed memoir, Dear William, Magee is the keynote speaker at this year’s Journey of Hope luncheon, set for Tuesday, Sept. 20 at the Jackson Convention Complex. Much more than simply a tribute to his late son, Dear William is a brutally honest look at a family that had been in crisis for many years.

The long, hard gaze into the mirror began with Magee himself, who was adopted and unaware of his birth parents’ identity until well into adulthood.

“I lived a great life in this wonderful university town,” he said of Oxford. “We knew everyone and could walk to the Square. But my house was very dark because there was a lot of depression and emotional pain inside me.”

“I did not know who I was, and the lack of sense of identity was something I didn’t deal with well. I tried to pretend it wasn’t there with alcohol and prescription Adderall.”

In addition to losing William, Magee and his wife, Kent, nearly lost their son Hudson to an overdose. Magee’s infidelity led to divorce before he and Kent remarried. But as facing their fears put them on a successful path to recovery and healing, Magee consulted his family about going public with everything they’d gone through in hopes of benefitting those in crisis.

“It took some years, but I had their blessing to do it – Kent, Hudson and our daughter Mary Halley,” he said. “The strength of Dear William is not that we lost him, but that we found joy and recovery together. The book applies to families who feel like they’ve lost something; they can get joy beyond what they ever imagined. It also applies to communities. We look around and see despair, but it is doable. You must have a plan and work hard to execute it.”

Author, David Magee of Oxford is the featured speaker at Catholic Charities Journey of Hope event on Sept. 19 and 20 in Jackson. Magee is the author of Dear William: A Father’s Memoir of Addiction, Recovery, Love and Loss. (Book cover courtesy of author)

What would Magee, who is helping launch the William Magee Institute for Student Well Being at Ole Miss, tell his twenty-one-year-old self?

“To believe in yourself,” he said. “The self-doubt is so poisonous. When you’re going through a hard time, it’s easy to point fingers at others. The twenty-one-year-old me had all these dreams of the American family I would have, and I coached my three children in most every sport they played. I taught Sunday school. I was on the City Council in Oxford.

“I was checking all the boxes,” he continued, “but rather than having a strong faith foundation and a strong belief in myself, I had a lot of self-doubt. I wish I could tell that version of me to get some counseling. I could have saved myself and my family a lot of pain and grief.”

Magee will have a strong message for parents at the Journey of Hope luncheon.

“Their own fears will often get in the way of raising their kids,” he said. “We want our children to have the best of everything. If warning signs flare up, the parents may fear that if they do ask for help – such as counseling – they may be labeled.

“A lot of kids have lost their joy. A lot of them tell us, ‘I’m making A’s, I’m on the sports teams, I’m on the homecoming court. Why do I feel so bad?’ We should worry about exposing them to what will help them, such as a good education. Faith is a big, positive part of their joy, while misuse of alcohol and substances steals that joy. We must do a better job of educating parents in navigating that path.”

Journey of Hope – Table Captain

Meet and Greet at Sal & Mookies

Sister Thea Bowman School welcomes new principal

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Christopher Payne

By Joe Lee
JACKSON – Succeeding a legend like Shae Goodman-Robinson would be a daunting task to some, but for Christopher Payne, the incoming principal of Sister Thea Bowman School, it’s a comfortable fit as well as an opportunity to continue paying forward the many life lessons he learned from his mentor.

A graduate of Mississippi State University, Payne has spent the last seven years teaching social studies and technology to Sister Thea Bowman students in grades 3-6. A native of Jackson, he graduated from Jim Hill High school and knows the city and its challenges well.

“In my first year, I noticed a student whose behavior was changing. He was more aggressive around others and a bit standoffish,” Payne said. “I’ve seen boys do that and felt I needed to have a heart-to-heart with him. He started talking about what was going on at home, his relationship with his parents, and he broke down and cried.”

“I started sharing some of my experiences from the past, and he hugged me and said he hadn’t had anyone to talk to. That was the moment I said, ‘Oh, my gosh, this is the impact I can have on these students’ lives.’”

In the short term, Payne says that while Sister Thea Bowman School already has a safe, loving, Christ-like environment, he wants to bring it “times ten” and immediately increase enrollment.

“I want to help guide the school to be one of the premier Catholic schools in Jackson,” Payne said. “Sister Thea Bowman is up for canonization, and we look forward to our school being known as ‘Saint’ Thea Bowman Catholic School. Having at present a prominent African American student body, I’d like to see kids of all races at our school. That’s what Sister Thea wanted: harmony among all groups.”

(Sister Thea Bowman School is now enrolling grades PreK-3 through sixth grade. Interested persons may contact the school at (601) 352-5441. Financial contributions to Sister Thea Bowman School as well as donations of your time and talents are greatly appreciated. Visit theabowmanschool.com to learn more.)

Robinson reflects on years at Sister Thea Bowman school

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Shae Goodman-Robinson

By Joe Lee
JACKSON – Something especially meaningful dawned on Shae Goodman-Robinson as she drove to Sister Thea Bowman School one morning near the end of her thirteenth and final year as principal.

“I told my parents that I started at Sister Thea Bowman in kindergarten when it was Christ the King School, and here I am retiring there as principal,” Robinson said. “What a beautiful full circle of how God puts you in places to pay it forward.”

In the midst of an emotional few days of saying goodbye to students, parents and her employees, Robinson reflected on the many pay-it-forward moments she’s had in more than four decades of being an educator.

“I’ll miss the children and the face-to-face contact with them,” she said. “It put a smile on my face, whatever may have been on my mind at the time. Kids will tell you what they see, in their honesty and love for you. ‘I love your hair, Ms. Robinson. I love your dress, Ms. Robinson. I love your shoes, Ms. Robinson.’ I will genuinely miss that. It’s kept me going all this time.”

Sister Thea Bowman, whom Robinson met two years before her death in 1990, had a profound impact on the way approached her calling.

“Her legacy was, ‘I try,’ and one of my favorite Sister Thea sayings was, ‘I know God is using me in ways beyond my comprehension,’” Robinson said. “As principal, I tried to make sure the students understood the importance of education, and that they took responsibility each day. I tried to make sure they understood that everything comes full circle regarding academic education and spiritual growth.”

A kindergartener in the early 1960s, Robinson recalls her parents earning approximately $200/month but insisting on paying a tuition bill of $32/month to send all three of their children to Christ the King School.
“They believed in the importance of the education we were getting at Christ the King,” she said. “All of that propelled me to want to come back to the school and help pay it forward.”

Another full circle moment is the friendship and work relationship Robinson has had with her successor, Jackson native Christopher Payne, who has taught at Sister Thea Bowman school for seven years and will serve as principal beginning this fall.

“I worked with his grandmother at Bailey Alternative School back in the 1980s, and I told Chris that I remember when his parents got married and when he was born,” Robinson said. “He attended my children’s birthday parties – I remember him as a toddler and growing up. My daughter went to Mississippi State, and so did he.”

“When I heard Chris was in education I talked to him, and when he said he wanted to teach, I offered him an open position I had. Once he got here, I saw leadership skills. He was not a teacher that raised his voice. He was always mild-mannered, and the kids loved him.”

“Shae was the main reason I ended up at Sister Thea Bowman School,” Payne said. “I wasn’t even sure teaching was my calling, but she saw something in me. She said to me, ‘You aren’t just here to work for the students; you’re here for the parents, your co-workers, the church and the community. She has instilled in me the bigger picture, that what happens outside the classroom matters most.”

Robinson will certainly miss her cherished interactions with the many students she mentored at Sister Thea Bowman School, but she has no doubt the right person was selected to succeed her.

“There was never hesitation when I asked Chris for help. He was always ready to help, and he volunteered to do things he saw that needed to be done without me having to ask,” Robinson said. “He has the personality, intelligence and another level of ideas that can take Sister Thea Bowman School to another level.”

(Joe Lee is the Editor-in-Chief of Dogwood Press, a small but traditional publishing house. He is a regular contributor to Mississippi Catholic and a parishioner of St. Francis Madison.)

Click here for accompanying story on incoming principal – Christopher Payne