Author Archives: Tereza Ma

Immigrants, advocates navigating post-DACA-deadline landscape

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By Mark Pattison
WASHINGTON (CNS) – The last government shutdown – well, threatened shutdown, anyway – seems so long ago.
The nine-hour “funding lapse” of Feb. 9, like the three-day shutdown that began Jan. 20, hinged on how Congress was going to address the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that President Donald Trump said he would end March 5. He also called on Congress to pass a measure to save the program, created in 2012 by President Barack Obama via executive order.
In the January shutdown, Democratic lawmakers backed down on their threat to keep the government closed until a DACA deal was reached. In the February funding lapse, Democrats and Republicans agreed to conduct a debate and vote on DACA in the weeks to come, as a six-week continuing resolution to keep the government funded through March 23 was overshadowed by the $1 trillion spending package of which it was a part.
The congressional sidestepping of DACA prompted the U.S. bishops to declare a “National Call-In Day to Protect Dreamers” for Feb. 26, one week before the program’s expiration date. The day resulted in thousands of phone calls to lawmakers.
That, in turn, was overshadowed by the Supreme Court declining that same day a request by the administration to bypass federal appellate courts and rule on whether the administration has the right to shut down DACA.
The justices’ action wiped out the March 5 deadline date, leaving DACA up and running at least until the high court accepts the case for the appeals court – and possibly renders a decision – or until Congress finally deals with it. The high court’s action only keeps DACA intact for those currently with DACA status; two federal judges have blocked Trump, saying the administration must continue to accept renewal applications for the program. The rulings do not make DACA available to those who had not already applied for it.
While the exact path ahead is unclear, at least there is a path.
“I think a lot of people feel a little insecure, they don’t feel safe and they’re unsure what’s going to happen because things are up in the air,” said Michelle Sardone, director of strategic initiatives for the Catholic Legal Immigration Network.
“They’re feeling fear about whether or not to apply: ‘Will the government use information they have on me to use against me?’ If you submit your application with the application fee, will it be adjudicated or … will it be a waste of your money?” Sardone said. “Each person has a particular case. They should go to an accredited legal services provider to find out the best situation for them and for their family.”
“We just buried a man in his 60s who came from Ireland in a house with no electricity, no plumbing. He came over to the U.S. without a trade, became a pipe fitter and a coach,” said Mary Harkenrider, a member of the Southside Catholic Peace and Justice Committee in Chicago, which sponsored a forum March 1 to show support for the city’s DACA holders.
In talking to Catholic News Service, she used the example of this Irishman to illustrate what immigrants bring to this country.
“As a coach and a family man, he affected people throughout the city and across the country and at his funeral there were thousands of people who pay respect to this immigrant, who came to this country without a STEM education or highly advanced skills,” Harkenrider added. 
STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Some arguing for the reform of U.S. immigration laws say preference should be given to the highly educated immigrants.
She added: “We would be amiss without the talents of the immigrants in our communities. … whether it’s the Irish or the Polish or the Hispanic. I think we have to continue to recognize our history and build on it.”
Chicago, Harkenrider said, is “a city of immigrants.”
Nor is Chicago the only town that can claim that mantle. Camden, New Jersey, is such a town. Mexican-born Monica Perez Reyes, 20, has lived there since her parents brought her to the United States at age two. They entered the country without legal documents. She has kid sisters born in the United States who are U.S. citizens. As for Perez, “I’m good for two years” with DACA.
She admits to frustration with Congress, though. “I’m kind of offended. They’re sort of playing around with my future,” she said. “And the manner they’re handling it, one day they may say they’ll do something to make it better like have a path to citizens, ship, but the next day they say they’re going to terminate it altogether.”
Perez added, “I know some people are scared, but I’m not necessarily scared unless something is set in stone. I have a plan A, a plan B, a plan C. If worse comes to worst, I have a plan; I’ll have to go to Mexico and make my new life there.”
She was accepted to study art at a California college, but her status as an immigrant without documents left her ineligible to receive scholarship money. So Perez is attending community college in Camden while planning to major in art therapy, working to make money to pay her tuition.

Activists and recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA program, march up Broadway in New York City Feb. 15 during the start of their “Walk to Stay Home,” a five-day 250-mile walk from New York to Washington to demand that Congress pass a clean DREAM Act to save the program. (CNS photo/Shannon Stapleton, Reuters) See SCOTUS-DACA and DACA-CALL-IN-ADVOCATES Feb. 26, 2018.

Another such town of immigrants is Pasadena, Maryland. Hector Guzman, 19, also born in Mexico, was brought here by his parents, he said, when he was a year old. A soccer goalie and midfielder, a German scout recommended he go to England to try out for professional soccer there. He had to decline. “I could get there on my Mexican passport, but I couldn’t come back,” he said.
Guzman has his own plan B. Like Perez’s, it involves going to a community college and working as a butcher and chef to pay tuition. He’ll add landscaping work as the weather warms. He’s starting up a small business already. At some point, he said, he’d like to open a restaurant, maybe several of them, “and maybe have a ranch or a farm.” He said the DACA process was easy.
Patricia Zapor, a CLINIC spokeswoman, said a January check of DACA applications showed the government was still processing applications from 2016. Renewals ordinarily took two to three months; Zapor said without DACA, immigrants in the country without legal permission cannot legally work in the United States.
Guzman said he’s not worried. “My parents are a little worried,” he said. An older sister, who like him has DACA status, “doesn’t act like she’s worried,” he added.
With the days winding down until Trump’s original March 5 deadline, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, said the upper chamber would debate a banking bill in early March, making no mention of DACA – deferred action, indeed.
How to deal with this interim period is “tricky, right?” said Ian Pajer-Rogers, communications and political director for Interfaith Worker Justice, which has more than 30 affiliated worker centers around the country.
“We have taken the position that only a clean DREAM Act will do with no riders or add-ons from the right – no wall, no border security measures. We’ll continue that. Where that leaves us with the party in power and the party that is trying to negotiate for our people, the Democrats, is less clear.” 
The DREAM Act he referred to stands for the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act. The bill is what gives DACA recipients the “Dreamer” name.
Anxiety among DACA families cuts both ways, he said. “What I’ve seen among the undocumented folks is a very willingness to self-sacrifice. Among the DACA recipients I’ve worked with they don’t want to trade their parents’ safety and security for their own. … I think you find the parents who are willing to say the opposite, almost. They’re willing to see more enforcement and risk detention if their kids are safe. We’re really going for the starting point that all are protected.”
“The more pressing thing might be the (Feb. 26) Supreme Court ruling,” Pajer-Rogers said, “that folks who are in detention can be detained indefinitely without bond. So if there’s something on the mind of workers today, it’s probably that.”

Jesus never abandons people in times of trial

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By Carol Glatz
ROME (CNS) – If people listen to Jesus and do as he urges them, they can be certain that he will see them through even the darkest times, Pope Francis told members of a Rome parish.
“Jesus always prepares us for our trials and he never leaves us alone. Never,” the pope said Feb. 25 during Mass in the Church of St. Gelasius on Rome’s northeast edge.
Following his usual pattern for Sunday parish visits, Pope Francis reached the church in the early afternoon. After shaking hundreds of hands, blessing dozens of babies and posing for a handful of selfies with young people, the pope went to the parish soccer field to meet the children and teens involved in the parish catechism and sports programs.
After morning sunshine, the skies turned gray and cold, and a heavy rain began to fall.
“You’re soaked!” the pope told the youngsters.
“Life is like this,” he said, explaining that some days will be sunny, some rainy and sometimes storms unexpectedly blow in.
“What’s a Christian to do? Go forward with courage,” knowing that Jesus always is near and is always willing to forgive, he told them.
Moving indoors, the pope met with the elderly members of the parish and greeted each of them individually. He asked couples how long they had been married and asked others how they were feeling. One woman told him that she had a cold she just could not shake. He suggested she try some grappa, a strong grape-based alcoholic drink.
Pope Francis thanked the group of elders for all they do for the church and the world. Even if they do not feel like they are accomplishing great things, he said, they have been charged with “keeping the embers of faith alive” with their prayers and their witness.
After hearing confessions, the pope celebrated Mass in the parish church and gave a brief, extemporaneous homily focused on the day’s Gospel account of the transfiguration of Jesus.
By allowing the disciples to see him transfigured, Jesus gave them a preview of the glory that would be his after the crucifixion and resurrection, the pope said. It was a way to fortify and prepare the disciples for the trials and tribulations that were about to begin.
Remembering that vision, he said, the disciples would be able to “bear the weight of the humiliation” of seeing Jesus condemned and crucified.
In the same way, the pope said, Jesus gives all believers the assurance that he will triumph in the end. And, even in the darkest times, “he is always with us. He never leaves us alone. Never.”
In the Gospel account, he said, after the disciples see Jesus transfigured, they hear God’s voice telling them, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.”
Listening to Jesus is key, the pope said. “In our daily lives, maybe we have problems or have many things to resolve. Let’s ask ourselves this: ‘What is Jesus saying to me today?’ And let’s try to listen to Jesus’ voice, how he inspires us. And that way we will follow the advice of the Father: ‘This is my beloved son. Listen to him.’”
But listening is only the first step, the pope said. Christians then must do what Mary told the servants to do at the wedding feast of Cana when the wine ran out: Listen to Jesus, then “do what he tells you.”

Our ache for Earthly immortality

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Father Ron Rolheiser

IN EXILE
By Father Ron Rolheiser, OMI
We share the world with more than seven and a half billion people and each of us has the irrepressible, innate sense that we are special and uniquely destined. This isn’t surprising since each one of us is indeed unique and special. But how does one feel special among seven and half billion others?
We try to stand out. Generally we don’t succeed and so, as Allan Jones puts it, “We nurse within our hearts the hope that we are different, that we are special, that we are extraordinary. We long for the assurance that our birth was no accident, that a god had a hand in our coming to be, that we exist by divine fiat. We ache for a cure for the ultimate disease of mortality. Our madness comes when the pressure is too great and we fabricate a vital lie to cover up the fact that we are mediocre, accidental, mortal. We fail to see the glory of the Good News. The vital lie is unnecessary because all the things we truly long for have been freely given us.”
All of us know what those words mean: We sense that we are extraordinary, precious and significant, irrespective of our practical fortunes in life. Deep down we have the feeling that we are uniquely loved and specially called to a life of meaning and significance. We know too, though more in faith than in feeling, that we are precious not on the basis of what we accomplish but rather on the basis of having been created and loved by God.
But this intuition, however deep in our souls, invariably wilts in the face of trying to live a life that’s unique and special in a world in which billions of others are also trying to do the same thing. And so we can be overwhelmed by a sense of our own mediocrity, anonymity and mortality and begin to fear that we’re not precious but are merely another-among-many, nobody special, one of billions, living among billions. When we feel like this, we are tempted to believe that we are precious and unique only when we accomplish something which precisely sets us apart and ensures that we will be remembered. For most of us, the task of our lives then becomes that of guaranteeing our own preciousness, meaning and immortality because, at the end of the day, we believe that this is contingent upon our own accomplishments, on creating our own specialness.
And so we struggle to be content with ordinary lives of anonymity, hidden in God. Rather we try to stand out, to leave a mark, to accomplish something extraordinary and so ensure that we will be recognized and remembered. Few things impede our peace and happiness as does this effort. We set for ourselves the impossible, frustrating task of assuring for ourselves something which only God can give us, significance and immortality. Ordinary life then never seems enough for us and we live restless, competitive, driven lives. Why isn’t ordinary life enough for us? Why do our lives always seem too small and not exciting enough? Why do we habitually feel dissatisfied at not being special?
Why our need to leave a mark? Why does our own situation often feel so suffocating? Why can’t we more easily embrace each other as sisters and brothers and rejoice in each other’s gifts and each other’s existence? Why the perennial feeling that the other is a rival? Why the need for masks, for pretense, to project a certain image about ourselves?
The answer: We do all of these things to try to set ourselves apart because we are trying to give ourselves something that only God can give us, significance and immortality.
Scripture tells us that “faith alone saves.” That simple line reveals the secret: Only God gives eternal life. Preciousness, meaning, significance and immortality are free gifts from God and we would be a whole lot more restful, peaceful, humble, grateful, happy and less competitive if we could believe that. A humble ordinary life, shared with billions of others, would then contain enough to give us a sense of our preciousness, meaning and significance.
Thomas Merton, on one of his less restless days wrote: “It is enough to be, in an ordinary human mode, with one’s hunger and sleep, one’s cold and warmth, rising and going to bed. Putting on blankets and taking them off, making coffee and then drinking it. Defrosting the refrigerator, reading, meditating, working, praying. I live as my Fathers have lived on this earth, until eventually I die. Amen. There is no need to make an assertion of my life, especially so about it as mine, though doubtless it is not somebody else’s. I must learn to live so as to gradually forget program and artifice.”
Ordinary life is enough. There isn’t any need to make an assertion with our lives. Our preciousness and meaning lie within the preciousness and meaning of life itself, not in having to accomplish something special.

(Oblate Father Ron Rolheiser, theologian, teacher and award-winning author, is President of the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, TX.)

Campus Ministry offers college retreat

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By DAWN MCGINLEY
MORTON – Two dozen college students from three different colleges across the diocese spent the weekend of Feb. 24-25 at Roosevelt State Park participating in spiritual renewal thanks to the College Campus Ministry spring retreat. Students came from Mississippi State, the University of Mississippi and East Central Community College in Neshoba County.
The retreat theme was Heart Speaks Unto Heart. Father Jason Johnston, associate pastor of Madison St. Francis of Assisi Parish and teacher at Madison St. Joseph High School was the retreat leader. He and Father Rusty Vincent, coordinator for College Campus Ministry for the diocese, planned the weekend. It included Mass and small group faith sharing.

(Dawn McGinley woirks in College Campus Ministry in Starkville.)

Coping with school shootings: surreal part of U.S. students’ routine

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By Carol Zimmermann
WASHINGTON (CNS) – Students in schools across the country have to navigate their way around classes, exams, relationships, cliques, cafeteria food and crowded hallways.
They also have to think about what they would do if someone with a gun came into their school, which seems all the more possible after the Feb. 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
The students there now enter brand-new terrain that only students from schools where mass shootings have taken place have any idea about. When classes resumed at Stoneman Douglas on a modified schedule Feb. 28, they faced all their usual routines and challenges right up against the horrific memories of the fear and loss of just two weeks before.
At first, many of these students channeled their raw grief into gun control activism. They gave speeches at vigils and numerous television interviews; they marched and planned bigger marches. They challenged political leaders and businesses associated with the National Rifle Association to do more to stop the carnage they had witnessed. They coined a movement name – #NeverAgain – and spread its message on social media.
But these students – for all their passion and eloquence on camera – also have admitted to reporters that they have a hard time sleeping, or don’t want to be alone or are afraid of sudden noises.
And all of that and more is straight out of books and studies on post-traumatic stress symptoms after what they just experienced.
“What these students have gone through is unfathomable. I think it will be incredibly difficult to cope and move on,” said Rachel Annunziato, an associate professor of psychology at Jesuit-run Fordham University in New York. She said each student will have to find the support they need and to try different coping strategies. For now, she said: “the activism they are showing is heroic and may well help with coping as it could decrease a sense of helplessness and it also strengthens their support network. ‘
The high school has provided grief counselors to students and families since the shooting took place and Annunziato said that will need to continue.
“Some people, miraculously, are very resilient,” she said, but others can have a harder time and need help to connect with others to find healing.
She also told Catholic News Service that the impact of this shooting extends far beyond Parkland, as also was proven by research after the 9/11 terrorist attacks when those impacted by the events were not just the people who directly experienced it. For example, her own 7-year-old sons in New York have talked about the school shooting in Florida and said the students are scared.
In the Diocese of Jackson, School Superintendent Catherine Cook sent a letter to all schools to send to parents. “Please know that the safety of your children, faculty, staff and visitors to our schools is of the utmost importance and steps have been taken to keep them free from harm. Be assured that any and all threats of violence against an individual and/or the school community are taken seriously and will be investigated. School administration consults law enforcement and legal counsel, as needed, to apply appropriate measures for the safety of all,” it reads. The letter urges parents not to believe rumors and assures them they will receive communication from the schools if a threat should arise.
The day after the shooting, the National Catholic Educational Association issued a statement with a link to a prayer service in response to a school shooting and articles about how to talk to kids about these events and turning to God in times of tragedy.
As students nationwide – and particularly in Parkland – consider moving forward, there is one person with particular insight into this situation.
Frank DeAngelis, principal at Columbine High School from 1996 to 2014, was principal at the Littleton, Colorado, school during the 1999 school shooting that killed 12 students and one teacher. Recently retired, he is now an international speaker about school violence and its impact on communities.
USA Today reported that he already has given some advice to Ty Thompson, the Stoneman Douglas principal, telling him: “It’s the things you don’t even think about, things that will trigger the emotions. Teachers won’t know what to expect. It’s a day-by-day experience.”
And the day before the Florida shooting, DeAngelis, who is Catholic, gave a talk at Gregorian Court University, a school founded by the Mercy sisters in Lakeland, New Jersey.
He told students and faculty not only about the horror of the 1999 school shooting but also of the long and difficult road to recovery afterward, even for him.
He said he struggled with survivor guilt – and still does. He wasn’t even sure he would make it after the shooting but was urged on by his pastor, Msgr. Kenneth Leone of St. Frances Cabrini Parish in Littleton.
The priest, who is now retired, told Angelis he had a “spiritual imperative” to rebuild the community. That inspired him at first to stay at the job until 2002, when all the students in the freshman class of 1999 graduated, but he ended up continuing as principal until 2014, when the children who were in their earliest school year in 1999, graduated.
At the New Jersey college, the retired principal said a key aspect to finding healing at the high school so marred by tragedy was reaching out to those who felt marginalized.
To illustrate that each student was “loved and included and that they were an indispensable link,” he gave each one a link in a chain that they forged together.
Today, he said, the chain remains for all to see in a prominent place in the school.

(Contributing to this report was Lois Rogers, who writes for The Monitor, newspaper of the Diocese of Trenton.)

Easter schedule for St. Peter the Apostle

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Tuesday, March 27, 5:45 p.m. – Chrism Mass
Wednesday, March 28, 5:30 p.m. – Tenebrae
Thursday, March 29, 5:30 p.m. – Holy Thursday
Friday, March 30, 5:30 p.m. – Good Friday
Saturday, March 31, 8:00 p.m. – Holy Saturday
Sunday, April 1, 8:00 & 10:30 a.m. – Easter Sundayl
Sunday, April 1, 1:00 p.m. – Easter Sunday in Spanish

Chancery staff take a day for prayer, reflection

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MADISON – Chancery staff, including Maureen Smith, director of communications and Father Maurice Nutt, CSsR, pray as Karla Luke, assistant superintendent of schools, at right, reads one of the Stations of the Cross at St. Francis of Assisi Parish. The staff gathered Friday, March 2, for a day of prayer and reflection. Father Maurice led a reflection about Sister Thea Bowman after the staff enjoyed a presenation of the play, “Tolton, from slave to priest.” The day of reflection is an annual tradition for the chancery staff. (Photo by Tereza Ma)

Bishop Kopacz schedule

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Tuesday, March 20, 6:00 p.m. – Reconciliation Service, Jackson, St. Richard Parish.
Wednesday, March 21, 7:30 a.m. – Ecumenical Bishops’ Breakfast with Methodist and Episcopal Bishops of Mississippi.
Thursday, March 22, 9:00 a.m. – Parchman Prison Mass and visit
Monday, March 26, 6:55 a.m. – Men’s Prayer Breakfast, Jackson, St. Richard Parish, Foley Hall

Only public events are listed on this schedule and all events are subject to change.
Please check with the local parish for further details

Iglesia, mundo necesita reconciliación

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Obispo Joseph Kopacz

Por Obispo Joseph Kopacz
Como parte de nuestro camino cuaresmal, dimos la bienvenida a la Diócesis de Jackson las reliquias de San Padre Pío, ya que viajan en su peregrinación inaugural a través de los Estados Unidos gracias a la Fundación para el Santo Padre Pio. Yo estaba inseguro acerca de su posición en la Comunión de los Santos en el estado de Mississippi y en todo el sur del país, pero la respuesta fue inspiradora en el número de personas que acudieron a la Catedral para las dos misas que se celebraron el 1 de marzo y durante todo el día.
En el noreste de los Estados Unidos son muchos los que tienen devoción por él, pidiendo su intercesión ante el sufrimiento y las luchas de la vida. Él ha llevado a muchos a Jesucristo, especialmente desde su canonización por el Papa Juan Pablo II el 2 de mayo de 1999 al inicio del tercer milenio. Hablando a los peregrinos en la Plaza de San Pedro en el día después de su canonización, San Juan Pablo II elogió la santidad del San Padre Pio. “Queridos hermanos y hermanas, el testimonio del Padre Pío es una fuerte llamada a la dimensión sobrenatural, que no debe confundirse con una exagerada preocupación por los milagros, una desviación que él siempre y decididamente rechazó. Los sacerdotes y las personas consagradas, en particular, deberían mirar hacia él.
Les enseña a los sacerdotes a convertirse en instrumentos dóciles y generosos de la gracia divina, la cual les cura a las personas la raíz de sus males, restaurando la paz del corazón. El altar y el confesonario fueron los dos puntos de enfoque de su vida. La carismática intensidad con que celebraba los misterios divinos es un testimonio muy saludable para alejar a los presbíteros de la tentación de la rutina y ayudarlos a redescubrir día a día el tesoro inagotable de la renovación espiritual, moral y social que ha sido puesta en sus manos.” Durante muchos años, el Padre Pío pasaba más de la mitad del día en el confesionario, un enorme testimonio de la misericordia de Dios, que es puro don. Incluso los sacerdotes más fervorosos estarían abrumados por este compromiso incesante. El siguió los pasos de San Juan María Vianney, que también fue un instrumento estelar del perdón de Dios y la reconciliación, y era contemporáneo de Santa Faustina, un instrumento de la Divina Misericordia.
La Eucaristía, la mesa de la Palabra y del Sacramento, y el sacramento de la reconciliación siguen siendo los caminos reales para el arrepentimiento y la reconciliación en la Iglesia en el mundo moderno.
Recuerden que una de nuestras prioridades pastorales es que seamos “comunidades acogedoras y reconciliadoras,” con el arrepentimiento como una apremiante demanda del Señor para cumplir su voluntad en nuestras vidas y en nuestro mundo. Si somos sinceros, a veces la iglesia resulta deficiente y el grito de arrepentimiento y reconciliación debe ser proclamado y escuchado en el mundo. Un ejemplo impactante está retumbando alrededor de nuestro país en este momento.
Después del reciente tiroteo y matanza en el Colegio Marjory Stoneman Douglas en Parkland, Florida, los estudiantes lanzaron una nueva campaña para darle a conocer a la población acerca de los horrores de la violencia con armas de fuego. Los estudiantes están aprovechando y centrando su profundo dolor y rabia contra la indiferencia y la intransigencia que impregna la sociedad americana sobre una revisión sincera de la Segunda Enmienda de la Constitución.
Reflexionando sobre la lectura del evangelio de San Juan el pasado domingo, en la que Jesús reveló la justa ira de Dios sobre la escandalosa actividad en el Templo en Jerusalén, nos podría llevar a escuchar el grito de la justa indignación de nuestros jóvenes y sus partidarios por la indignación de sus abatidos amigos y seres queridos en su comunidad escolar.
La casa de oración de Dios, el punto de unión entre el cielo y la tierra, se había convertido en un mercado, y los negocios como de costumbre prevalecían. Así también, nuestros jóvenes están volteando la enlatada retórica de nuestros políticos y cabilderos de las armas con la esperanza de lograr un diálogo genuino que puede conducir a la nación a la cordura y mayor seguridad.
Por otra parte, aquí está un ejemplo donde la Iglesia está fallando miserablemente. La Iglesia Santuario en Newfoundland, PA, invitó a sus feligreses a traer sus fusiles AR-15 para un servicio en la iglesia para la celebración de la “vara de hierro”. Aquí está la información. Iglesia Santuario en Newfoundland, NEWFOUNDLAND, Pennsylvania – Un distrito escolar de Pennsylvania cancelará las clases en una escuela elemental el miércoles debido a que una iglesia en la calle del colegio está organizando una ceremonia con fusiles AR-15. La organización Paz Mundial y Unificación Santuario en Newfoundland cree que las AR-15 simbolizan la “vara de hierro” en el libro bíblico del Apocalipsis, y están animando a las parejas a llevar las armas a una ceremonia de compromiso.” Usted puede buscar esta información en el internet para ver la magnitud de esta locura. En esta instancia, el Espíritu de Dios es evidente en todo el mundo, y no en la Iglesia.
Nuestra nación necesita un mayor compromiso por el bien común, una actitud racional en lo referente a los derechos, responsabilidades y limitaciones.
En la esecuela de Parkland, Florida, quizás nuestros jóvenes sean los que nos guíen a nuestros sentidos. Al nivel más profundo, esto es sobre el arrepentimiento, la reconciliación y la construcción de puentes entre facciones opuestas en nuestra nación. Esta es la locura de la Cruz, la sabiduría de Dios, que tiene el potencial de florecer en nuestra nación ante la trágica pérdida.
El mandato del Señor en el miércoles de ceniza es nuestra brújula durante estos 40 días de la cuaresma, y los animo a que reciban el sacramento de reconciliación durante el tiempo previo a la Semana Santa. Exhorto especialmente a nuestras comunidades parroquiales y a las escuelas a que se vean a sí mismos como embajadores de Cristo y ministros de la reconciliación, para la renovación de nuestra diócesis, y como levadura para nuestras comunidades, estado y nación.
Como el ritual del bautismo proclama, “Esta es nuestra fe, ésta es la fe de la Iglesia y nosotros nos gloriamos de profesarla en Cristo Jesús, Señor nuestro.” San Padre Pio gritaría su aprobación desde su lugar en el cielo.

Church, world in need of reconciliation

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Bishop Joseph Kopacz

By Bishop Joseph Kopacz
As part of our Lenten journey, we welcomed to the Diocese of Jackson the relics of Saint Padre Pio as they travel on their inaugural pilgrimage through the United States thanks to the Foundation for Saint Padre Pio. I was uncertain about his standing among the Communion of Saints here in Mississippi and throughout the South, but the response was inspiring in the number of people who came to the Cathedral for the two Masses on Thursday, March 1, and throughout the day.
In the Northeast of the United States there are many who have a devotion to him, asking his intercession to face the suffering and struggles of life. He has led many to Jesus Christ, especially since his canonization by Pope Saint John Paul II on May 2, 1999, as the third millennium dawned.
Speaking to the pilgrims in Saint Peter’s Square on the day after his canonization, Saint John Paul II extolled the signature holiness of Saint Padre Pio. “Dear brothers and sisters, Padre Pio’s witness is a powerful call to the supernatural dimension, not to be confused with exaggerated concern for miracles, a deviation which he always and resolutely shunned. Priests and consecrated persons in particular should look to him. He teaches priests to become the docile and generous instruments of Divine grace, which heals people at the root of their ills, restoring peace of heart to them. The altar and the confessional were the two focal points of his life. The charismatic intensity with which he celebrated the divine mysteries is a very salutary witness, to shake priests from the temptation of habit and help them rediscover, day by day, the inexhaustible treasure of spiritual, moral and social renewal which is placed in their hands.”
For many years Padre Pio spent more than half of his day in the confessional, a herculean witness to the mercy of God that was pure gift. Even the most zealous of priests would be overwhelmed by this relentless commitment. He followed in the footsteps of Saint John Vianney who was also a stellar instrument of God’s forgiveness and reconciliation, and was a contemporary of Saint Sister Faustina, an instrument of Divine Mercy.
The Eucharist, the table of Word and Sacrament, and the Sacrament of Reconciliation remain the royal roads for repentance and reconciliation in the Church in the modern world. Recall, that one of our pastoral priorities is to be “welcoming and reconciling communities,” with repentance as an ever pressing demand of the Lord in order to accomplish his will in our lives and in our world. If we are honest, sometimes the Churches falls short and the cry for repentance and reconciliation must be proclaimed and heard in the world. One striking example is rumbling around our country at this time.
After the most recent mass shooting and carnage in Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, students launched a new campaign to raise awareness about the horrors of gun violence. Students are harnessing and focusing their deeply felt grief and anger against the indifference and intransigence that pervades American society regarding an honest reappraisal of the Second Amendment of the Constitution. Reflecting back on last Sunday’s scripture from the Gospel of John, in which Jesus revealed God’s righteous anger over the the scandalous activity in the Temple in Jerusalem, might prompt us to hear the cry of the righteous anger of our young people and their supporters over the outrage of mowed down friends and students in their school.
God’s house of prayer, the point of union between heaven and earth, had become a market place, and business as usual prevailed. So too our young people are overturning the canned rhetoric of our politicians and the gun lobby with the hope of bringing about genuine dialogue that can lead the nation to sanity and greater security.
On the other hand, here is an example where the Church is failing miserably. The “Sanctuary Church” in Newfoundland, Pennsylvania, invited their members to bring their AR-15 rifles to a church service for a celebration of the “rod of iron.” Here is the news clip. Sanctuary Church in Newfoundland, NEWFOUNDLAND, Pa. — A Pennsylvania school district will cancel classes at an elementary school on Wednesday because a church down the street is hosting a ceremony featuring AR-15 rifles. World Peace and Unification Sanctuary in Newfoundland believes the AR-15 symbolizes the “rod of iron” in the biblical book of Revelation, and it is encouraging couples to bring the weapons to a commitment ceremony.”
You can search the story online to see the extent of this lunacy. In this instance the Spirit of God is evident in the world and not in the Church. Our nation needs a greater commitment to the common good, a rational stance regarding rights, responsibilities and limitations. In the aftermath of Parkland, Florida perhaps it may be our young people who guide us to our senses. At the deepest level this is all about repentance, reconciliation and bridge-building among opposing factions in our nation. This is the foolishness of the Cross, the wisdom of God, that has the potential to flower in our nation in the face of tragic loss.
The Ash Wednesday mandate of the Lord is our compass during these forty days of Lent, and I encourage the Sacrament of Reconciliation during the time leading to Holy Week. I exhort especially our parish communities and schools to see themselves as ambassadors for Christ and ministers of reconciliation for the renewal of our diocese and as a leaven for our communities, state and nation. As the Baptism Ritual proclaims. “This is our faith, this is the faith of the Church; we are proud to profess it in Christ Jesus, our Lord.” Saint Padre Pio would shout out his approval from his place in heaven.