Parishioners of Sacred Heart Parish in Rosedale gathered around Bishop Joseph Kopacz and SVD Fathers Sebastian Myladiyil and Tom Mullally to celebrate a final Mass in the church on Sunday afternoon June 30. Friends from the nearby parishes of St. Francis in Shaw, St. Mary in Shelby and Our Lady of Victories in Cleveland joined in the bittersweet celebration as a sign of support for their Bolivar County neighbors.
During the diocesan pastoral reimagining discussions over the past year and even before that, Sacred Heart parishioners had begin discussing among themselves and with Father Myladiyil, the sacramental minister, what the future of the parish would be after the death of their longtime, dedicated Lay Ecclesial Minister, Dr. James Tomek in August 2022.
Ultimately, through much prayerful discernment and fortitude, these devoted parishioners were ready to make a leap of faith. I was honored to be able to meet with them in late April to answer questions about what would happen if they chose to close the doors.
ROSEDALE – Members of Sacred Heart Parish gather around Bishop Joseph Kopacz, Father Sebastian Myladiyil, SVD and sacramental minister, and Father Tom Mullally, SVD, after the Last Mass was celebrated in the church on Sunday, June 30. (Photo by Mary Woodward)
The discussion revealed a deep sense of love and concern for each other and the legacy of the parish’s long-standing families. Ultimately, they decided together to close and hold a final Mass as a community with Bishop Kopacz.
This decision was indeed a communal decision grounded in a firm and faith-filled realization that the church went beyond a single building. It also was a painful decision to let go of what has been a home filled with memories of baptisms, weddings and funerals. And it was a bittersweet decision that brought about a profound resolve and a quiet relief in those present at the meeting.
Located just off Highway 1 near the Mississippi River in the Delta, Sacred Heart officially became a parish in 1968, but Catholic history in the Rosedale area goes back to early French explorations of the River. Rev. Jacques Marquette, SJ, and Louis Jolliet ventured down the Mississippi in the spring of 1673 seeking to determine whether the “great river” was a path to the Gulf of Mexico or turned and went west to the Pacific.
Marquette’s expedition mission was evangelization; while Jolliet, a trader and mapper, was seeking to establish new trading posts. The journey involved a crew of five assisting the duo in two canoes paddling down that massive current.
The team traveled from Canada to the Arkansas River’s confluence with the Mississippi, just south of where Rosedale sits today. Some historians note that Marquette celebrated Mass there. This potentially marks the first known Mass in the lower Mississippi Valley – predating the Easter Mass near Fort Adams in 1682, which was part of the LaSalle expedition.
Marquette and Jolliet did not venture farther down the river, as they heard the Spanish were slightly south. So, the team turned around and paddled back up the river to what is now Michigan. They did finally establish that the river did flow into the Gulf and not westward.
Catholicism did not return to the area for another 200 years. In 1888, Father John Koerstenbroek, pastor in Greenville, started ministering to the Rosedale Catholics. Mass was celebrated in Edward Scott’s home. Scott’s son, Norbert, was the first recorded baptism in 1894.
In the early 20th century, priests from Our Lady of Victories in Cleveland served Rosedale. In 1968, Bishop Joseph Brunini established it as a parish and appoint Father Tony Pudenz as its first resident pastor, overseeing the church’s dedication in March 1971. Other pastors included Msgr. Mike Flannery, Father Dan Gallagher, and Father P.J. Curley. Having just returned from serving in the mission on Saltillo, Mexico, Msgr. Flannery began a Hispanic ministry in the area.
Eventually, Women Religious administered the parish, with sacramental ministers celebrate Mass and confer the sacraments. Notable members included Sisters Patricia Fitzgerald, Mary Genevieve Love, Vivian Votruba, Jeroma Day, Catherine Leamy and Celia Evers, who devoted themselves to migrants and prison ministry.
Dr. Tomek served faithfully from 2010-2022. His commitment to Sacred Heart was much appreciated by the parish and the diocese.
Near the end of the Mass on June 30, as a final symbolic act, the altar cloth was slowly folded and placed in the center of the altar. Bishop then offered the post Communion prayer, many thanks were extended, the final blessing was imparted, and the congregation gathered for photos and a lovely reception in the gathering area outside the church proper.
Parishioners shared many stories and a few tears, but still held on to that deep faith that has guided them together through a myriad of sacred moments and will continue to guide and keep them.
Special thanks to Cleta Ellington for her book Christ the Living Water, which provided much of the historical information.
(Mary Woodward is Chancellor and Archivist for the Diocese of Jackson.)
From the Archives By Mary Woodward JACKSON – In working on a history project that explores some pivotal moments in our nation’s history, I came across some poignant reflections in Bishop Gerow’s diary. The passages are from November 1963. This of course was the moment when President John Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Many of us have seen the grainy video coverage of that violent act and the ensuing days of mourning, rituals and interment. It was a shocking moment in the country, which seemed to be brimming with optimism and opportunity. It marked an initial loss of innocence in a decade of change.
The casket with the body of former President John F. Kennedy is pictured during his Nov. 24, 1963, funeral procession from the White House to the U.S. Capitol in Washington. (CNS photo/U.S. Army Signal Corps, courtesy John F. Kennedy Presidential Library)
I now share the following entries from the diary to chronicle how our local church experienced those momentous days. The language used was the language of the day, so I have left it unchanged.
November 22 (Friday): Today about 12:30 President Kennedy was shot and killed. He was on a visit to Dallas, Texas. When the news came over the radio, I am told that in our Catholic schools here in Jackson – or at least in many of them – the children dropped to their knees in prayer and many of them wept. Television station WJTV here in Jackson asked me to come out to the station and make a statement which I did in which I praised Mr. Kennedy for his high principles and spoke of the hatred that caused his assassination and asked the public for prayers for the country and for the deceased.
November 23 (Saturday) Today in my private chapel I offered Mass for President Kennedy. Later, the television station WLBT asked me to come out to the station and speak which I did. In substance I said it is time to reflect and pray – to reflect on the love of our neighbor that our Divine Lord taught and to reflect upon the hatred that burns in the breast of some. These must share with the assassin the blame for this crime, asked prayers for our country, for the new President, and for Mr. Kennedy, etc. I announced on this station as well as yesterday that on Monday at noon I would celebrate a Pontifical Requiem Mass to which the public is invited.
November 25 (Monday) At noon in St. Peter’s Co-Cathedral I sang a Solemn Mass of Requiem for the President. The procession to the church started in the school yard. In the procession were the Fourth Degree Knights of Columbus in full regalia. Clergymen from many of the non-Catholic churches in the city, most of them in their church robes, preceded our diocesan clergy. Amongst them were Rt. Rev. John M. Allin, Coadjutor Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi and a good group of Episcopal clergymen, Rabbi Perry Nussbaum of the local Synagogue, Dr. Seth Granberry of the Capitol Street Methodist Church (who by the way replaces Dr. Clark who was forced by his congregation to resign because of his views of justice to the Negro), Dr. Jeff Cunningham of the Galloway Methodist Church (who replaced Dr. Selah, who like Dr. Clark had to resign because of his views), Rev. Wade Koons of the Trinity Lutheran Church (who had had much opposition from his congregation because of his Christian views on race). Rev. Fred Tarpley of Ridgecrest Baptist Church. These ministers were given seats in the church in the front pews – our own clergy, who were not on ceremonies, were in the choir loft.
Among the civic public figures in the church were former Governor Hugh White, former Governor J. P. Coleman, Mayor Allen Thompson, Attorney General Joe Patterson, Secretary of State Heber Ladner, State Superintendent of Education J. M. Tubb, and State Tax Collector William Winter.
The church was filled with people, seated in all the pews and standing in close formation in all available standing room. One of the policemen outside told one of our priests that at least a thousand people were turned away because there was no room in the church.
At the Gospel time I spoke. My theme was God’s love of us his children and our duty to love Him and His other children. At the Communion time it was a pleasure not only to see the large number who received Communion, but also to note that amongst those who received were a generous sprinkling of Negroes. It was good for the state and city officials to see these Negroes coming to the Altar rail and kneeling beside the whites and doing this without any sign of race discrimination.
U.S. President John F. Kennedy and first lady, Jacqueline Kennedy, arrive at Love Field in Dallas Nov. 22, 1963. (CNS photo/courtesy John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum)
After the Mass, the clergy, our own and the non-Catholics, gathered in the Chancery Office and witnessed on television the funeral of President Kennedy in Washington. This being over about 2:30 we all gathered in the general dining room of the Sun-n-Sand Motel for lunch. It is interesting to note that Father Bourges, S.V.D., Pastor of Holy Ghost Church, who is a Negro went into the dining room with the rest of us and was served without comment.
I felt much gratified at the fine ecumenical spirit of friendliness exhibited in our relationship with our non-Catholic ministers. In my own mind these ministers who gathered with us are good, earnest, sincere men who wish to honor and serve God and they do so in the way that they understand to be the way that God wishes.
(Mary Woodward is Chancellor and Archivist for the Diocese of Jackson.)
From the Archives By Mary Woodward JACKSON – Very early on in his tenure as the fifth Bishop of Natchez, we almost lost Bishop John Edward Gunn to the Archdiocese of Wellington in New Zealand. It seems Bishop Gunn, a Marist, was summoned to New Orleans by Archbishop James Blenk to meet with him and Archbishop Francis Redwood of Wellington.
Bishop Gunn’s description of the meeting is classic Gunn so I will share the encounter in his own words from his diary:
“November 9, 1912 – I phoned the Archbishop early Saturday morning and he told me that Archbishop Redwood from New Zealand was with him and wanted to see me. I reported for dinner at Esplanade Avenue and I found Archbishop Redwood bubbling over with vitality, good health and splendid stories. “When we left the dining room Redwood asked me to come with him to his room for a minute and then I found why I was wanted.
Bishop John Edward Gunn, a Marist priest, was the sixth Bishop of Natchez. In November of 1912, he turned down an offer of a position in New Zealand, opting to stay in Mississippi. (Photo courtesy of archives)
“It seems the Archbishop of Wellington wanted a co-adjutor and he wanted me for the job. He was so cocksure of getting me that he arranged everything in advance. He had a meeting of the suffragan bishops of New Zealand who ok’d the scheme; he got the Propaganda [of the Faith] in Rome to grant me a release from Natchez, if I was a consenting party; he asked the General of the Marists to write to me that I would be persona grata to the Society in New Zealand.
“The Archbishop forgot nothing that could be looked upon as a preliminary move and he followed very strictly the canonical requirements and I was summoned to say ‘Yes.’
“The Archbishop spoke of the advantages of New Zealand and my fitness for the work and incidentally deplored the fact that I was buried in Mississippi. He put up a good case and then he put the whole case up to me. “I was dumbfounded and to a certain extent disgusted that I was being used as a kind of rubber pad with no voice in the matter whatever.
“In answer to the straight questions which he made in the matter of the Holy See and of the Bishops of New Zealand, etc., etc., I answered very shortly by saying ‘No’ to all he asked. He looked surprised and asked me if I did not want time to reconsider and I told him I did not.
“In a kind of perfunctory manner he asked me why I did not go and I simply told him that I would not use Mississippi or the Bishops of the Province, especially the Archbishop who had made me Bishop of Natchez, as a stepping stone to go anywhere and that I was satisfied where I was placed and I would not consent to any transfer of the kind.
“The Archbishop who was so amiable up to then was near losing his temper and I took the occasion to get away from him. He merely asked me to keep quiet about the interview until a co-adjutor for Wellington had been appointed.
“I went to Blenk’s room and I looked as if I had seen a ghost and the Archbishop insisted upon knowing what was the matter. I did not think that I was bound to keep such a secret from my Archbishop and I told him the whole story and I had the consolation of hearing from him that I had done the right thing.
“I cleared out of Esplanade Avenue and went over to Algiers where I spent the night and tried to forget about Wellington and its temptations. A few days after the incident I got a letter from the Superior General [Marist] asking me to go to Wellington but I had taken my stand, the die was cast and no power except the power that sent me to Mississippi could send me out of it.”
It is inspiring to see the commitment of Bishop Gunn to our diocese. I also found interesting the way Archbishop Redwood covered all avenues prior to asking Gunn to come to Wellington as co-adjutor.
Incidentally, Archbishop Redwood got his co-adjutor shortly after the Gunn refusal. Father Thomas O’Shea, a native of New Zealand and also a Marist, was consecrated as co-adjutor on Aug. 17, 1913. He remained co-adjutor until Redwood’s death in 1935 when he was installed as Archbishop of Wellington.
The process for selecting bishops nowadays is more process related with bishops submitting names to the papal nuncio of the country. Our current nuncio is Cardinal Christoph Pierre. The nuncio would then submit a preferred list of three to the Dicastery of Bishops in Rome. The Dicastery selects a candidate and presents the choice to the Holy Father. If the Holy Father approves the choice, then the candidate is contacted by the nuncio who relays that he has been appointed as bishop of a diocese.
And yes, some candidates say “No.” If this happens then the process starts over again. God bless Bishop Gunn for saying yes to the Spirit and coming to Mississippi.
(Mary Woodward is Chancellor and Archivist for the Diocese of Jackson.)
By Mary Woodward This past April, Holy Child Jesus Parish in Canton hosted a beautiful memorial celebration for Servant of God Sister Thea Bowman. The celebration is normally held close to Sister Thea’s anniversary of her death on March 30, but this year that fell during Holy Week and Easter liturgies.
In light of this celebration, it is a good time to give an update on Sister Thea’s cause for canonization process. Currently the diocesan phase is underway. The historical commission is delving into the writing of Sister Thea and compiling a highly structured document that will profile her piety and include a biography. This commission meets monthly with our postulator in Rome via Zoom to address any technical questions involved in the research.
The Cause for Sister Thea Bowman continues to advance. After the historial commission’s work is complete it will be sealed and presented to the postulator to deliver to the dicastery. (Photo from archives)
As part of the historical commission’s work, all of Sister Thea’s handwritten notes and outlines must be transcribed into a typed document. This process is being coordinated by the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration’s archives. Dozens of student volunteers are participating in this task.
I have seen Sister Thea’s writing files, and she certainly had a unique way of recording her thoughts. Therefore, this is quite an undertaking to get all this typeset. We are most grateful to the FSPA archivist, Meg Paulino, for tackling this required part of the canonical process.
Two theological experts are reviewing her work for doctrinal surety. This will require an extensive bibliography of her works.
Witness testimonies have been taken and are being transcribed and processed. A few more witnesses will be interviewed sometime later this summer or early fall.
When all is ready, Bishop Joseph Kopacz will lead a special liturgy in which the documents in triplicate, will be sealed and presented to the postulator to deliver to the Dicastery. Once that is completed, the postulator will work with the dicastery to move the cause forward.
At a certain point, once the cause is in Rome, the Holy Father may declare the Servant of God as Venerable – showing heroic virtue. After Venerable, the next step is beatification and in order to be beatified there must be a miracle. Examination of the miracle goes through a similar canonical process as the diocesan phase. If a miracle is proven and accepted, the Servant of God is put on the schedule for an official liturgy of beatification.
The next step would be canonization and that requires a second miracle. That miracle would have to happen after the beatification. All in all, the Roman side of the process takes a long time.
During the Roman Phase, we hope to begin to create local guilds in our diocese and around the region. These guilds will help promote Sister Thea’s cause through prayer for the cause and by hosting various spiritual and educational events designed to raise awareness about the cause.
As for now, we need many prayers for the cause, especially for those involved in working through the fine details of the diocesan phase.
We also can use donations to the cause as it does have several financial costs for travel, translations, experts and administration.
Donations may be made out to the Diocese of Jackson and sent to the Chancellor’s Office, 237 E. Amite Street, Jackson, MS 39201. Make sure you mark the donation for Sister Thea’s Cause.
Or to donate online and learn more about the Servant of God Sister Thea Bowman, FSPA, visit our website at: https://www.jacksondiocese.org/thea-bowman. From this site you also may watch the wonderful documentary on her life “Going Home Like a Shooting Star” and find a link to the cause’s official site with photos and tributes to her.
Presenting a cause for canonization is one of the noblest things a diocese can undertake as an official act of the church. It is exciting to know that over the next several months we are participating in this ancient tradition and moving forward in completing the diocesan phase of this esteemed process.
(Mary Woodward is Chancellor and Archivist for the Diocese of Jackson.)
JACKSON – This past Sunday morning we celebrated the sacrament of Confirmation in St. Peter Cathedral. As is often the case, a candidate chooses a grandparent to be his or her sponsor. At this celebration, one of the candidate’s grandmothers came up from New Orleans on the train to be his sponsor.
While I was going through the rite with the candidates prior to Mass, she commented on the beauty of our stained-glass windows. So, I gave them a little history of the windows and the church.
JACKSON – In 2011, the new frame work for the Rose Window of the Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle traveled from Conrad Schmitt studios in Wisconsin to Jackson on the side of a large truck, as it was too large to fit in the interior. (Photos by Mary Woodward)
The current St. Peter church structure is the third St. Peter’s. The parish dates back to 1846 and is the fourth parish established in the diocese. Natchez, Paulding, and Biloxi predate Jackson’s parish. The first church burned during the Civil War. The second church was built in 1868 on the grounds where the current rectory and chancery sit now. Once the current church – begun in 1896 and completed in 1900 – was ready for worship. The second church was used for various things until it was moved eight blocks north in 1913 to Cloister Avenue to become the first Holy Ghost Church.
The windows were installed over a period of 30 years beginning with the Rose Window in 1903 and finishing with the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Our Lady of Lourdes windows in the 1930s. All of these windows are in the Munich style and were fashioned by the Mayer – Zettler studios.
The initial ones – the Rose Window, the two transept windows and the first two on each side – were created in the Munich studios. The next three on each side were styled in the St. Louis studio.
The windows in the vestibule around the main doors and the windows above the side entrances were added a little later and do not have the artistic quality of the main windows but are still nice examples of teaching the Bible through visual aids.
What is unique about the windows in our Cathedral is except for the Rose Window they are at eye level. In most churches this size window would be higher up in the wall. Ours are down close to the floor so that one may walk right up to the window and see the detail and artistry.
The beauty of the Rose Window at the Cathedral of St. Peter of the Apostle in Jackson continues to delight many visitors to the church. It was originally installed in 1903 and restored in 2011.
The windows were restored in 2011 by Conrad Schmitt Studios in Wisconsin. Each one was mapped, removed, cleaned, re-leaded and returned to the frames which had been repaired and vented so that the summer heat would not take such a toll. Protective glass featuring the latest technology also was added to the outside of each window.
When the Conrad Schmitt crew removed the Rose Window, they found the frame to be completely rotten. A new frame was built at a mill connected to Conrad Schmitt studios in Wisconsin. It was too large to be placed inside a trailer truck, so it was attached to the side of the truck and made its way down the heartland of the country.
Working in archives, one gets to be a part of such diverse projects and it was quite interesting to watch this project unfold. In addition to chalices and altars, our art and glass in parishes around the diocese are considered a part of the patrimony of the diocesan church and hold a major place in the life and history of our church. Our Cathedral houses such beautiful treasures given in faith and love by the faithful over the past century. We thank them for sharing their gifts to glorify our God through art.
(Mary Woodward is Chancellor and Archivist for the Diocese of Jackson.
JACKSON – I had a dear friend who moved to a retirement compound (as he called it) when he was in his late 80s. When I would ask him how things were going at the “compound,” he would say: “you mean life among the relics?”
Most people when they hear the term archive think of old stuff, and indeed there is a lot of old stuff in the historical archive vault at the chancery in Jackson. Our diocesan historical archive holds records and documents dating back to the early 1700s.
The above relic of St. Peter the Apostle was found in the diocesan archive relic collection and placed in the new main altar of the Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle in Jackson in 2012.
Let me add a disclaimer here: The diocesan archive is not open to the public. It is a small room holding official records of the diocese. It is not a library or museum that can be toured. The archive does not exist to provide genealogical research or assist in getting dual Italian citizenship. We will help with that for a fee when we have time. The records in the archive are not “secret;” it just is not public in the way you would check out a book in a library. The archive collection is open to qualified researchers doing professional research on church history for dissertations and publications.
Last week, I received a familiar email from a parishioner on the Gulf Coast wanting to know the saint’s relic in the altar of his church. The church was dedicated in 1951, so it was before the date we were split into two dioceses.
This is a common request, and we often are able to provide an answer, because of the Official Acts books we have dating back to 1924 and the diaries of Bishops.
In this case, although I was able to tell him that Bishop Gerow dedicated the church on Palm Sunday, and it rained buckets all day; I could only give possibilities of who the relic might be since this fact was not mentioned in the official acts book’s recording of the church and altar being dedicated.
I was able to tell him the relic would most likely be from either Sts. Victor, Modesta, Maximus, Maxima or Sergius – all martyrs. The reason this information was available was because a few pages before the church’s dedication listing in the acts book, there is an entry stating the bishop consecrated a myriad of altar stones containing those relics.
These marble stones measure 13 inches squares and would have been used in mission churches established throughout the diocese to be placed in wooden altars that would have a square cut out of the top in which the stone would be placed. I don’t know why 13 inches, but maybe it is because the stones would have come from Italy and 17 is the unlucky number there, not 13.
In each stone there is a small cut out circle in which a relic or several relics would be sealed along with three grains of incense. As mentioned in the acts book, several stones could be consecrated at a time and stored until needed.
A unique altar stone and the linen cloth that encases it are displayed in Chancellor Mary Woodward’s office. The stone was issued to Father Peter Quinn in 1943 for use on the battlefields in Europe during World War II. (Photos by Mary Woodward)
Another reason for this hypothesis of who the saint might be is there is a relics drawer in the archive with an old container marked “relics for altars” and the names of the saints are listed on a piece of paper with the container. Therefore, whether the church had a full marble mensa or just a stone, these relics were set aside for that purpose. This container and its contents are very fragile, so we do not handle it anymore.
We do have a unique altar stone in our collection. It is small – five inches x seven inches – and encased in a linen cloth. This stone was issued to Rev. Peter Quinn in 1943 for use on the battlefields in Europe during World War II. Father Quinn was a chaplain in the army and served on the front lines in one of General George Patton’s divisions making its way to Germany. The stone came with a Greek corporal, which has a relic sewn into it. On a similar note, Bishop William Houck used a Greek corporal as part of his travelling Mass kit and on the small altar he had in a chapel in his home. We have that in the vault as well.
As you can see, we do have some interesting artifacts in our archive collection at the diocese. Perhaps one day we can develop an exhibition for people to see, but for now I’ll keep sharing some interesting snippets of life among the relics highlighting various discoveries in the drawers and cabinets in the vault.
(Mary Woodward is Chancellor and Archivist for the Diocese of Jackson.)
Pictured is St. Michael Church Biloxi in December of 1963. The church features a distincitive shell roof and round shape.
From the Archives By Mary Woodward
JACKSON – This past week several chancery staffers, including myself, attended a regional conference in Biloxi for the Diocesan Fiscal Managers of several dioceses and archdioceses in the southeast. The opening Mass on Sunday evening was celebrated in St. Michael Church by the two host bishops, Bishop Louis Kihneman of Biloxi and our own Bishop Joseph Kopacz.
Established by Bishop John Gunn and known as the “church of the fishermen,” St. Michael dates back to 1917. Being just a stone’s throw from the Gulf of Mexico, it has been buffeted by several hurricanes. As our group approached the church with its distinctive shell roof and round shape, images of that roof from the helicopter flyover on the news the morning of Aug. 30, 2005, filled my mind.
Religious statues lie on the floor of St. Michael Church in Biloxi, Miss., March 1, 2006. (CNS photo/Nancy Wiechec)
From the air the church looked intact, as if it had miraculously survived unscathed from the 28-foot storm surge of Hurricane Katrina the day before. But as the days went by and reports came into the chancery in Jackson from Biloxi, we learned the church interior was decimated. That distinctive roof seen from above was hiding the massive power of Mother Nature gone wild.
The five-ton marble altar was cast to the side off its platform and much of the interior appointments had been swept away by the surge leaving an almost empty shell behind. The waterline was well up the interior walls of the church.
Now more than 18 years later, St. Michael stands as a testament to the resilience of the people of the Gulf Coast, who have survived more than one catastrophic storm over the past 100 years. Memories of Aug. 29, 2005, still linger in the physical landscape of the Gulf Coast, which took the direct hit of Katrina. These memories also are carried in the collective psyche of those who endured the wrath and persevered in rebuilding a vibrant community.
Moving forward in faith as intentional disciples while always keeping an eye on the Gulf.
(Mary Woodward is Chancellor and Archivist for the Diocese of Jackson.
JACKSON – Managing the Diocese of Jackson’s historical archive is always an adventure and takes me down many paths to a plethora of requests for great grandparent’s marriage records, decrees of establishing long lost churches, name of saint whose relic is in an altar, and so on. Unfortunately, I cannot always fulfill these requests because the information might not have been recorded or it might not be in the place it is supposed to be according to the index.
I always tell people our diocesan archives do not exist for genealogical purposes or answering various questions from the street; and that as a “lone arranger” it will take a long time before I can even get to their request. Most people are fine with that.
Bishop Joseph Brunini is pictured in the 1930 “Ye Domesday Booke,” the yearbook for Georgetown University. (Photos courtesy of archives)
With that being said, working with history and the documentation of it is quite a rewarding adventure. Right now, I am working on developing a project that will look at some pivotal moments in recent history that affected our state, country and church. Recent for people in archives is 75 years or less. I always laugh and cry a little to myself when someone asks for an old baptismal record from 1970.
As part of this still evolving venture, I ran into another research mission that had been initiated more than 10 years ago and had fallen by the wayside as can happen when you get distracted by more pressing matters in church life.
In 2012, as part of exploring possible events to highlight our diocese’s 175th anniversary, I came across a thread that led me to the location of the original handwritten copy of Bishop William Henry Elder’s diary he kept during the Civil War.
Bishop William Henry Elder, a native of Baltimore, studied at Mount St. Mary College in Emmitsburg, Maryland. He graduated in 1837 and entered Mount St. Mary Seminary. Following completion of seminary studies, he was sent to Rome for graduate studies at the Pontifical Urban University where he earned a Doctor of Divinity in 1846.
After his ordination there on March 29, 1846, he returned to Maryland and Mount St. Mary where he served as a professor at the seminary. Eleven years later in 1857, he was named the third Bishop of Natchez by Pope Pius IX. In 1880, he was named co-adjutor Archbishop of Cincinnati.
Upon departing the then Diocese of Natchez in 1880, Bishop Elder took many of his personal papers with him to Cincinnati. His Civil War diary was one of these items. The diary travelled even more making stops in the collections of Mount St. Mary Seminary, Woodstock College, and ultimately the archives of Georgetown University in Washington.
Twelve years ago, I had made contact with the Georgetown archivist, a Jesuit, and worked with him to get the diary in digital format. Bishop R.O. Gerow had created and published a typed version of the diary, but here we had the handwritten version. In the midst of the project which involved complicated file formats for our fledgling digital system, contact was lost, and the project was forgotten.
Recently, while researching the current project mentioned above, I did a side search for the diary in the Georgetown archives special collections. There it was the original handwritten diary available for viewing in PDF format. Soon I’ll have a link to it on our website.
Bishop Joseph Brunini, our eighth bishop and only native son from Vicksburg, went to Georgetown in the late 1920s and graduated in 1930. He was editor of the campus newspaper The Hoya. His brother Ed was The Hoya’s sports editor.
According to the description next to his senior photo in the 1930 Ye Domesday Booke, Georgetown’s yearbook, Joseph B. Brunini was: “The Hoya’s high priest. Joe lives a hectic life dashing around from printer to printer…all the while pulling copy from the humble newswriters by means of his persuasive Southern ‘oil.’”
Pictured is a digital copy of the handwritten Civil War diary of Bishop Elder, which over the years was found in the archives of Mount St .Mary Seminary, then Woodstock College and ultimately at Georgetown University in Washington.
In his senior year, Bishop Brunini was also vice president of the Philodemic Society, one of the country’s oldest debating societies in the United States and the oldest secular student organization at Georgetown. In fact, Philodemic was marking its centennial in 1930. That’s kind of a big deal. Like Bishop Elder, upon completion of his collegiate studies at Georgetown, Bishop Brunini was sent to Rome where he finished his seminary studies at the North American College, which at that time was in downtown Rome. He was ordained there on Dec. 5, 1933.
As you can see, exploring archives creates a web of interconnectedness among collections scattered across not only the country but also across epochs of time. It is easy to end up down a different rabbit hole from the original one intended.
The phrase “hunh, what a small world” is heard and uttered infinitely. Until next time…
(Mary Woodward is Chancellor and Archivist for the Diocese of Jackson.)
By Paulina Guzik WARSAW, Poland (OSV News) – When the creators of “The Chosen” started with a crowdfunding project in 2017, they would not have thought in their wildest dreams they would be walking the red carpets from Los Angeles to New York and from London to Warsaw, with screaming fans begging for selfies.
Five years since the premiere of the first season, the series about the life of Jesus of Nazareth is now garnering over 770 million views of its episodes and has more than 12 million social media followers. Season four will debut in theaters across the U.S. and Canada Feb. 1, followed shortly by debuts in several other locations worldwide.
“I wasn’t expecting any of this. I think it was one of the most enthusiastic receptions we’ve had for our premieres,” Elizabeth Tabish, who portrays Mary Magdalene in the series, told OSV News in Warsaw Jan. 27, the day after two episodes from season four were shown on big screen in the Polish capital, with 1,600 fans filling four rooms of one of the city’s biggest theaters.
“It was very exciting, you could just sense the warmth and love from the Polish people, and it just was very encouraging,” Jonathan Roumie, who plays Jesus, told OSV News, days after the crew got a spectacular reception at the London premiere Jan. 22.
“The Chosen” is a groundbreaking historical drama based on the life of Jesus Christ, seen through the eyes of those who knew him. Set against the backdrop of Roman oppression in first-century Israel, the show shares an authentic and intimate look at Jesus’ extraordinary life and teachings. It is set to run seven seasons.
Jonathan Roumie, who plays Jesus in “The Chosen” series, poses for a selfie during a Warsaw, Poland, premiere of season four Jan. 26, 2024. The event attracted 1,600 fans of the show, which has been seen by 200 million viewers worldwide. “The Chosen” launched in 2017 as crowdfunding project and is the first multiseason series about Jesus’ life and ministry. (OSV News photo/Chosen Poland)
“The Chosen” is now one of the most-watched shows in the world, consistently a top performer across streaming platforms Prime Video, Peacock and Netflix.
Tabish said the series “changed every aspect” of her life, but she did not see that coming. She almost didn’t make it to the audition for the role.
“Before I booked it, I was trying to quit acting. I wasn’t getting the sort of roles that I really wanted to be doing, and I told my agent to just stop submitting me. I need to switch gears, do something more practical,” she said of a time of her life where she was struggling to even pay rent.
But the agent insisted she audition for the series, “and I read the script for the first episode, and I was so connected to her character, it was so beautifully written – just so much backstory and emotional depth and complexities. And I thought, this is what I would love to be doing,” she said.
Now, she told OSV News, “we get to make something that is affecting people in wonderful ways, bringing hope to viewers and creating something that has purpose.”
Tabish now feels deeply connected to St. Mary Magdalene, one of the best-known personalities surrounding Jesus but also the most mysterious.
“The fact that she was there, the first to see him resurrected, was like, this woman is so special to this story – and of course, she’s sort of captured the imagination of people for thousands of years,” Tabish told OSV News.
For Roumie, a practicing Catholic, the role of Jesus also came as a surprise. Years before “The Chosen” project started, he was supposed to play a good thief in a production filmed for a Good Friday church service. But at the last minute the director changed his role to Jesus.
“And I said, oh, man, Jesus has like five lines in this film. But, you know, I love Jesus. I’m a huge fan of Jesus. And I thought, well, look, this is an opportunity to play Jesus,” he recalled.
When the same director, Dallas Jenkins, invited Roumie to play Jesus in “The Chosen” series, he wanted to take the role, even though Jenkins told him the series “probably won’t go anywhere, but at least it’ll be a little bit of work.”
Roumie, like Tabish, had his own struggles before he started filming.
“I struggled in Los Angeles for eight years before ‘The Chosen’ came along, and three months before ‘The Chosen,’ I committed to to giving everything over to God, to letting go of the reins of control over my career, over my concept of how I thought my life should go, how I thought my career should go,” he said.
“And when I did that, everything changed in the span of 24 hours,” he continued. “And then three months after that one specific day where I let it all go, Dallas (Jenkins, the director) called me up and said, ‘We’re going to do this show.’ And since then, it’s just been a journey towards growing deeper and deeper into my faith.”
From the beginning, the challenge of playing Jesus was not easy for him. When a scene in the first season required Roumie to preach directly from Scripture, he felt it was a heavy burden to carry, he recalled.
“At that moment, I started to become overwhelmed, like, ‘What am I even doing here? How am I even saying these words? I’m not worthy to be preaching these words that Jesus preached and now to be portraying him for the entire world that’s going to see this.’ It was completely overwhelming,” he told OSV News.
“I had a conversation with our director, and he just reminded me that we’re meant to be here, we’re here to do this story for a reason. And that kind of gave me a lot of comfort,” Roumie continued. “And I’ve continued to just pray and discern and really stay rooted in the fact that God has me on this path for a specific reason.”
During Roumie’s stay in Poland he visited and prayed in the Sanctuary of Divine Mercy and the neighboring Sanctuary of St. John Paul II in Kraków. “It was really beautiful,” he said.
Asked about the recipe for the series’ success, Tabish said that “it starts with the writers and it starts with the script – our writers know the Bible so well.”
Writing the scriptural characters as personable, funny and smart, she added, “infuse this sort of modern sensibility into the whole thing, where modern audiences can relate to these characters. Because if you take it off the page and into real life, they are relatable. They are actually going through the same sort of struggles that we go through.”
Oftentimes biblical characters have been treated as people “floating above the ground everywhere you go,” and “people can’t relate to that,” Roumie added.
In the series, however, they see Jesus who “suffered, he had troubles the way I have troubles and struggles and trials,” Roumie said. “And so I think because of that, people see themselves in each one of the characters and then it draws them closer to their faith, knowing that all of these people, even Jesus, experienced the fullness of humanity. Jesus (was) obviously without sin, but still he experienced the entire spectrum of emotions.”
For Tabish, “Mary (Magdalene) is such a representation of all of us – flawed people who need help, who need Jesus, who need to be rescued.”
“Rescue” is not an exaggeration for people affected in real time by “The Chosen” series. He gets hundreds of testimonies of people changed by the series, including coming back to the church. He knows of people who “were going to take their own life and decided not to because there was a moment where a friend interceded and showed them this show. And after watching the first episode of the show, they were overcome with this sense that, you know, God has a purpose for them. So they decided not to go ahead and take their own life.”
Roumie met a couple who told him the show helped them restore their marriage and begin going to Bible studies. Another fan of the show is discerning priesthood, “and he said this (show) has had a direct impact. So glory to God! It’s just that. It’s incredible how much of an impact a television show can have on a person. So you, you really begin to realize that there is a sort of a hidden responsibility that we have as actors on this particular show,” he said.
Jonathan Roumie and Elizabeth Tabish, who play Jesus and Mary Magdalene in “The Chosen” series, are seen during its season four premiere in Warsaw, Poland, Jan. 26, 2024. The event attracted 1,600 fans of the show, which has been seen by 200 million viewers worldwide. “The Chosen” launched in 2017 as crowdfunding project and is the first multiseason series about Jesus’ life and ministry. (OSV News photo/Chosen Poland)
Asked whether it’s challenging to be an actor whose face millions of people associate with the face of their Savior, Roumie said he tries to take it with humility.
“I’ve come to accept the fact that this is where God has put me. And I’m just trying to be a good steward of the gifts and the responsibility of playing this role and ultimately, surreally becoming what people kind of imagine as the face of Jesus for their modern era. So I try not to think about that too much. … It’s humbling and it’s an honor,” he said, adding he’s just “a flawed human being.”
“I’m just a person that, you know, has a really, really interesting job and playing this character. So I’m grateful for that,” he said.
The financial commitment of people in the first stages of “The Chosen” production indicates the series’ great meaning for the audience, the actors told OSV News.
“We’ve been provided for because, I think, the people who want to see it are desperately wanting to see it,” Tabish said.
People wanted to crowdfund the show because it has “this ring of authenticity to it and this honesty and this desire to bring something that we know to be true to the world,” Roumie added.
When the producers decided to unlock the series and stream it for free, “it exploded the minute they did that,” Roumie said. “We got like four times as many people contributing to help us fund the next phase, the next season, after we made it free.”
In season four, with stirring scenes including ones featuring John the Baptist and Lazarus, Tabish said, “We kind of come to this point of no return. Everything is a little bit more dangerous, the stakes are all higher. … There’s no turning back. It’s a painful season in a lot of ways.”
Asked whether he feels the anxiety of knowing of Jesus’ coming crucifixion as an actor portraying him, Roumie said, “I am looking forward to telling the story, but performing that is – I know – it’s going to be challenging for me personally as an actor and as a Christian. It’s a painful part of this story, but it’s not the end of the story. The end of the story ends in life and light and truth and salvation and eternity. That’s the end of the story.”
For Roumie, season four was “for a while, completely challenging to film on a technical level, and on a narrative level was painful and sorrowful and difficult at times,” but “what ultimately comes out of it and the message behind season four – and the faith and the encouragement and the hope and the message to trust and put faith in God and that he has your back – ultimately is the beauty that I think people will walk away with when they leave the theaters.”
(Paulina Guzik is international editor for OSV News. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) @Guzik_Paulina.)
JACKSON – A few weeks ago on Dec. 30, we marked what would have been Servant of God Sister Thea Bowman, FSPA’s 86th birthday. One of the towering figures in modern Catholicism in America, Sister Thea, the granddaughter of slaves, was born in Yazoo City in 1937.
Her parents enrolled her in Catholic school at Holy Child Jesus in Canton, which was staffed by Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration of LaCrosse, Wisconsin. She decided at age nine to become Catholic and then entered the convent at the age of 15.
Sister Thea faced many trials and challenges as the only African American in the novitiate, but she persevered and later after a few years of teaching earned a doctorate in literature from the Catholic University of America.
Sister Thea Bowman, FSPA pictured at her 25th anniversary celebration at Holy Child Jesus parish in Canton. (Photo from diocese archives)
Gifted with a brilliant mind, beautiful voice and a dynamic personality, Sister Thea shared the message of African American spirituality and intercultural dynamics throughout the country. “The common denominator in all my presentations was cross-cultural communications,” she once remarked. “We have different ways of thinking and praying and singing and dancing and relating and living. Our diversity is our greatest gift. Our diversity is a source of enrichment for our world, our church, our society and our country.”
In 1979, she returned to the Diocese of Jackson to be closer to her aging parents and to become consultant for intercultural awareness in the diocese. She continued to be a highly sought after speaker and often scheduled 100 or more presentations a year on spirituality, worship and prayer.
Her presentations were lively gatherings that combined singing, gospel preaching, prayer and storytelling. Her programs were directed to break down racial and cultural barriers.
Sister Thea was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1984. She continued to travel and speak though her schedule was greatly cutback.
In 1989, Sister Thea, in one of her last major appearances, addressed the U.S. bishops gathered for their spring meeting. At the meeting she spoke of what it was like to be Black and Catholic in America at that time. In the midst of her talk, she broke forth in song as she was known to do, this time capturing the tone of her talk in an old, familiar spiritual: “Sometimes I feel like a motherless child … sometimes I feel like an eagle in the air….” By the end of the session, she had the bishops joined hand in hand, swaying in a rousing version of “We Shall Overcome.”
Sister Thea died at her home in Canton on March 30, 1990. Her funeral Mass was celebrated at St. Mary Church in Jackson before a standing room only congregation of friends and admirers from around the world.
For those who knew her or worked with her or were around her for even a short time, she was a great inspiration. She will always be remembered for her great commitment to justice, hope and peace and for her work within the church to open it up to the gifts of African American spirituality and diversity for all. Sister Thea was a tireless child of God who loved the Lord Jesus, his people and his church.
On Nov. 18, 2018, Bishop Joseph Kopacz officially opened the cause for the beatification and canonization of Sister Thea Bishop’s edict was read to the faithful in the Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle during the Sunday liturgy.
A young “Bertha” Bowman feeding chickens. (Photo courtesy of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration)
Having received the nihil obstat from the Holy See’s Dicastery for the Causes of Saints and gotten approval from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops at the November 2018 plenary meeting in Baltimore, the cause opened the diocesan phase of the intricate canonical process leading to possible beatification.
During this phase, the Servant of God’s (this is the title she now carries) writings, theology, biography is studied and documented by appointed experts. Many witnesses who knew her have been interviewed, but there are several more to complete. When the pandemic hit, travel and interviews stopped.
This year we are focused on tying up several loose ends and printing everything in triplicate so that it may be sent to Rome. We have enlisted the help of Msgr. Robert Sarno, a retired priest of the Diocese of Brooklyn, who served in the Dicastery at the Vatican. Msgr. Sarno connected us with a new Roman postulator, Dr. Emanuele Spedicato, who is now guiding our team and getting these details into a manageable process for us. When all is ready, Bishop Kopacz will lead a special liturgy in which the documents will be sealed and presented to the postulator to deliver to the dicastery. Once that is completed, the postulator will work with the dicastery to move the cause forward. At a certain point, once the cause is in Rome, the Holy Father may declare the Servant of God as Venerable – showing heroic virtue.
After Venerable, the next step is beatification, which requires a miracle. Examination of the miracle goes through a similar canonical process as the diocesan phase. If a miracle is proven and accepted, the Servant of God is put on the schedule for an official liturgy of beatification.
Please continue to pray for the cause and if you are so moved go to our diocesan website – www.jacksondiocese.org – and make a donation.
(Mary Woodward is Chancellor and Archivist for the Diocese of Jackson.)
