Category Archives: Diocesan News

In memoriam:

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TECHNY, Ill. – Father August “Gus” Langenkamp SVD, 87, one of the first Divine Word Missionaries to work in Ecuador, passed away on Aug. 23 in Techny. A Mass of Christian Burial for Father Langenkamp was to be celebrated Wednesday, Aug. 31, at Divine Word Residence. He passed away peacefully from heart failure at the residence.
He was ordained in Bay St. Louis in 1957 and worked at Divine Word Seminary as treasurer, teacher and later as vocational director. In 1962 he helped found the a mission in Ecuador, working as a teacher, director of Divine Word High School and as pastor of the newly founded mission parish.
He served at St. Peter Claver in Asbury Park, NJ., for almost 20 years and then was assigned to Sacred Heart Parish in Greenville where he was pastor from 1990 to 1999. During his final decade of active ministry, he was assigned to St. James Parish in Tupelo and worked with Hispanic immigrants in Northeast Mississippi.
In 2009, at age 80, he retired and moved to Techny, Ill.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations in the name of Father Langenkamp can be made for the care of elderly and infirm missionaries and sent to The Rector, Divine Word Residence, 1901 Waukegan Road, P.O. Box 6000, Techny, IL 60082-6000.

40 Days for Life campaign will build on successes

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JACKSON – “On Sept. 28, the highly successful 40 Days for Life campaign returns to Jackson with 40 days of prayer and fasting, peaceful vigil and community outreach,” said Judy Batson, who is coordinating the local campaign. “We pray that these efforts will help mark the beginning of the end of abortion in Jackson.”
“We know 40 Days for Life has made a difference here. Our volunteers have made extraordinary sacrifices to expose the abortion industry and to protect children and their mothers from abortion,” added Batson. She mentioned just a few of the positive results of the last Jackson campaign which includes: 11 lives saved from abortion, 12 churches working together and 250 volunteers contributing 480 hours of service to the community
40 Days for Life is a peaceful, highly-focused, non-denominational initiative that focuses on 40 days of prayer and fasting, peaceful vigil at abortion facilities, and grassroots educational outreach. The 40-day time frame is drawn from examples throughout biblical history.
The campaign will feature a peaceful 40-day prayer vigil in the public right-of-way outside Jackson Women’s Health Organization at 2903 N. State St., Jackson. All prayer vigil participants are asked to sign a statement of peace, pledging to conduct themselves in a Christ-like manner at all times.
“40 Days for Life has generated proven life-saving results since its beginning in 2004 in Bryan/College Station, Texas,” said Shawn Carney, president of 40 Days for Life. “During 18 previous coordinated campaigns, 636 communities have participated in this effort. More than 700,000 people – representing some 18,500 churches – have committed to pray and fast. And we know of at least 11,796 unborn children whose lives were spared from abortion during 40 Days for Life campaigns.”
For information about 40 Days for Life in Jackson, visit: www.40daysforlife.com/Jackson-2.
For assistance or for more information, contact Judy Batson at plm@prolifemississippi.org or 601-956-8636.

Registration open

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By Maureen Smith
Pastors, DREs/CREs, catechists, youth ministers and pastoral leaders have until Thursday, Sept. 15, to take advantage of the early bird discount for GO!, the Gulf Coast Faith Formation Conference. The conference is set for Jan. 12-14, 2017, at the Pontchartrain Center in New Orleans.
“We are extremely pleased with the new direction the conference is taking this year” said Fran Lavelle, director of faith formation for the Diocese of Jackson. GO! is planned by all of the faith formation and evangelization directors in this region. “We have national speakers as well as tapping into the tremendous talent and experience of folks in our region,” she said.
The theme this year, “Prayer: the Faith Prayed and Lived,” is based on the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ catechetical theme for the year.  The keynote speakers will focus on prayer, reflection and witness. Sister Lynn Marie McKenzie, OSB, JD, JCL, presents prayer.
A Benedictine Sister at Sacred Heart Monastery in Cullman, Ala., for more than 35 years ago, Sister McKenzie seeks to live a balanced life of prayer and work in keeping with the Benedictine motto of “Ora et Labora.” Sister McKenzie will share her experience of how prayer helps her as she tries to be a faithful seeker of God in her daily journey, intending and hoping to live a life of fidelity, but realistic about the challenges.
Dr. Brant Pitre is professor of sacred scripture at Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans, and a multimedia author. He is an extremely enthusiastic and engaging speaker who lectures regularly across the United States.
He has produced dozens of Bible studies on CD, DVD, and MP3, in which he explores the biblical foundations of Catholic faith and theology. He will offer his reflections on how the faithful can “pray the Scriptures.”
Bishop Fernand Cheri, OFM, will present the witness portion of the weekend. Bishop Cheri is a Franciscan Friar and is auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of New Orleans. He has dedicated years of his life to developing and supporting African-American liturgy and communities in the church. His strength and testimony comes from God’s Word in Scripture, “My grace is enough for you, for in weakness power reaches perfection.” (2Cor 12:9) Participants will be inspired as Bishop Cheri encourages them to “Go forth and witness.”
In addition to the keynotes, participants can select a one-day leadership option or select a liturgy or lights of hope track. The liturgy track is for anyone who serves the church through planning and participation in the various aspects of liturgy. However, catechists, teachers and catechetical leaders are also invited to participate in these sessions.
The lights of hope track is dedicated to those who work with high school-aged students in Catholic schools or parish programs.
A significant portion of the lights of hope sessions will be spent sharing best practices and approaches to concerns that are relevant to adolescents and teenagers.
Leadership Thursday is a new feature of GO! This day is designed for principals, clergy, lay ecclesial ministers and other leaders in schools and parishes.
The three themes are spiritual leadership, evangelization and the digital world. Speakers include Father David Caron, OP, vicar of evangelization, Archdiocese of New Orleans, Dr. Daniella Zsupan-Jerome and Paul Sanfrancesco.
Bishop Joseph Kopacz will celebrate the closing Mass for the conference. Register online at https://go4th.faith.

Seminarian Summers Williams delves into liturgy

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(Editor’s note: During the summers, seminarians for the Diocese of Jackson work in ministry or continue their studies. This year, seminarians wrote reflections on their summer assignments. Mississippi Catholic will feature a couple of reflections in each of the next few issues.)
By Aaron Williams
For the past three summers, I have participated in the summer session of the Liturgical Institute at the University of Saint Mary of the Lake near Chicago, Ill., in order to pursue a masters of arts degree in liturgy (MAL). For six weeks each summer, I join a class of about 30 students made up of priests and laypersons. Each summer session is broken in four courses relating to the topic of liturgy –ranging from issues of sacramental theology, liturgical history and more practical issues such as church architecture and decor.
This summer, I was enrolled in a survey course on the development of certain issues in sacramental theology which considered each issue from the lens of papal and conciliar documents from as early as the ancient Roman Church to Pope Francis. Another course considered the sacraments of marriage and holy orders with a particular emphasis on what actually occurs to the Christian who receives either of these sacraments and how that affects their role in the church.
Likewise, a third course considered the history of the liturgical calendar and particularly its usage in the Liturgy of the Hours – or the daily prayer of priests and vowed religious. Finally, there was a course that considered the particular role that beauty and symbol plays in the liturgy and how it is that the signs used in the liturgy are meant to draw us all to a deeper awareness of God who, to use St. Augustine’s terminology, is beauty itself – “Late have I loved you, O beauty so ancient and so new” (The Confessions).
It is my hope that one day I may bring home to our diocese the information I have gained from these courses – not to become a sort of “traffic cop” or “terrorist” (as liturgists have become accustomed to being named), but to share with the people of our diocese the beauty and depth of the relationship the Lord is attempting to share with them in the liturgy. It seems that there are today two camps of people in regards to the understanding of the rites of the church.

Seminary offers liturgical podcast
As part of his studies, Williams is composing settings for the sung offices of the Liturgy of the Hours based on the original Latin texts. Notre Dame Seminary will produce a weekly podcast of the compositions.
Every day priests across the world pray the liturgy of the hours, but this practice is open to anyone. In the past and in many monasteries today, much of the liturgy of the hours was sung. catch the podcast online at https://ndsvespers.podbean.com/

On one side, there are those who see the regulations of the liturgical rites as heavy-handed impositions from some distant and disconnected authority in Italy—who doesn’t comprehend the needs of the people in rural Mississippi. On the other hand, some people see the “rubrics” (referring to the red text in the rites books) as a strict rule book for the public acts of the church.
It is my hope that by bringing people to further understand the reasons why the Church asks us to celebrate the liturgy a certain way and how that way is designed to bring us all closer to God and to one another, we can get past this divisive mentality and instead focus on truth. After all, Christ did not command his Apostles to do away with formal worship, or to create a binding law for all their prayers.
He desired worship in “spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). In other words, our public worship (“liturgy”) should find its genesis deep within our own hearts and spiritual encounter with the Lord, but also be expressive of what the Church as a whole believes and teaches about God and our relationship with him. There is an old saying in the Church: Legem credendi lex statuat supplicandi (the law of praying establishes the law of believing). In other words, the way we pray and worship God points to and forms what we believe about him.
The fathers of the Second Vatican Council understood this. In the first published document of the Council they write, “The liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; at the same time it is the font from which all her power flows” (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 10). Nearly a century before the Council ever met, a Benedictine monk at the monastery of Solesmes in France, Dom Prosper Gueranger, called for the lay faithful to “actively participate” in the liturgy.
This phrase has become the calling card of the modern understanding of the liturgy – but it is a phrase that is often misunderstood. Gueranger, and those that came after him (St. Pius X, St. John XXIII, Blessed Paul V, St. John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI) were not talking about a “busy” participation in the liturgical life of the church – but a participation where the faithful actually know what they are doing and how they are participating.
Certainly, there is nothing wrong with lay people reading or serving at Mass – this should be encouraged. But, what is even more important is that the reader at Mass understand the words of Scripture, or better yet, that the average person in the pew understand and believe that what they are participating in is not of this world, but of and from God. As Pope Francis said, “To celebrate the liturgy is to have this availability to enter into the mystery of God, to entrust ourselves to this mystery. We would do well today to ask the Lord to give each of us this sense of the sacred.”
It is a great honor to study liturgy for the Diocese of Jackson alongside my normal seminary courses. I thank all those, especially Bishop Joseph Kopacz, who have made this possible by their prayers and their charitable gifts to the diocese, as well as Mary Woodward, the chancellor and director of the Office of Worship and Liturgy in our diocese, for her support and encouragement.
(Aaron Williams is a third year theologian studying at Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans, LA. Aaron, and his classmates Nick Adam and Mark Shoffner, will be ordained transitional deacons for our diocese in the spring.)

Sisters Held, Merrill remembered, honored, sent home with love

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By Maureen Smith
“I truly believe with all my heart that Margaret and Paula would tell us that we need to keep loving. Justice for a heinous crime demands punishment. It does not demand revenge.” Father Greg Plata, OFM, echoed the sentiments of the School Sisters of St. Francis, the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth and the families of Sister Margaret Held, OSF, and Sister Paula Merrill, SCN, in his homily at their memorial Mass at the Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle on Monday, Aug. 29.
On Thursday, Aug. 25, the pair did not show up at work so a coworker asked police to check on them. They had been murdered in their home in Durant. Local police teamed up with the Mississippi Bureau of Investigations and by Friday authorities announced the arrest of 46-year-old Rodney Earl Sanders of Kosciusko. He faces charges of capital murder, larceny and burglary. Members of Sister Merrill’s family as well as representatives from the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth (SCN) were at his arraignment Monday afternoon.
“In the courtroom, the family of Rodney Earl Sanders apologized to the four members of the SCN family that were present and to the family of Sister Paula Merrill. As Marie Sanders broke down in tears, the son went to Sister Susan and apologized. Sister Susan came to Mrs. Sanders’ side and the two embraced and cried. It was a powerful grace-filled moment. We continue to hold all in prayer,” said Diane Curtis, director of communications for the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth.
Holmes County District Attorney Akillie Malone-Oliver told the Associated Press she will take the families’ wishes into account when deciding how to prosecute the case.
The day before the Mass and hearing, representatives of the religious communities and families issued a statement opposing the death penalty for the suspect charged in their murders.
“Many people will be dismayed, even angered at the joint statement the School Sisters of St. Francis and the Sisters of Charity made stating that they are opposed to the death penalty that could be imposed on the person who committed this terrible crime. But think of the powerful statement that makes. At the heart of Christianity is forgiveness. ‘Father forgive them for they know not what they do.’ Forgiveness isn’t something we do on our own. It is something we choose to do with God’s grace,” continued Father Plata.
Rosemarie Merrill, older sister of Sister Paula Merrill, said she forgives whoever did it, but she does want to know why.
Sisters Held and Merrill, both nurse practitioners, started their ministry in 1983 in Holly Springs with Sacred Heart Southern Missions. Sister Julene Stromberg, who still works with a group of lay associates in Holly Springs, and Sister Ramona Schmidtknecht, who volunteers at Holy Family School, offered these words together. “We are simply heartbroken. Sisters Paula and Margaret were so very caring. It was their mission to reach out and take care of the poorest of the poor. They did so much here in Holly Springs, but also in Oxford, Marks and Durant – not simply tending to a person’s physical ailments, but ministering to the ‘whole person.’”
Sisters Held and Merrill went on to serve in Tupelo and at a University of Mississippi medical clinic in Lexington. In 2009, that clinic downsized.
When the Lexington Medical Clinic opened in 2010, the sisters told Fabvienen Taylor of Mississippi Catholic they would stay “forever, or as long as the Lord wills it.”
Sister Susan Gatz, president of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth and Sister Rosemarie Rombalski, of the School Sisters of St. Francis, went into the house Sunday for prayer, closure and reflection. In the kitchen, they discovered a loaf of bread in a bread maker. The simple act – typical of the Sisters who were known for being generous with their good food – turned into a life-giving symbol for the communities.
“Marge and Paula really had that sense of offering bread to each other. The bread of life, the bread of energy, the bread of hope,” said Sister Rombalski. She said the pair always wanted to fulfill Jesus’ will for their lives. “Jesus said to us clearly, ‘I am no longer with you with my hands and feet so you, Marge and Paula, and all those you touch and all those who believe, you become my hands and feet you become my eyes, you become my love and my energy that reaches out to others.’” she said. “So Marge and Paula’s life did not stop here, that love and energy that was given to each one of us is now in each of us and gets extended to more and more so their life continues in us,” she went on to say.
The Sisters broke the loaf in half to share with their respective communities in Milwaukee and Nazareth, Kentucky.
The bread was not the only comfort the Sisters sent, according to Sisters Gatz and Rombalski. Earlier in the week, Sister Gatz was speaking to a reporter in a conference room at her congregation’s headquarters when butterfly somehow got inside and landed on her shirt. Later the same day, she saw a butterfly on her windowsill in her office.
Sister Rombalski said she was outside praying about the murders when a whole group of butterflies appeared and fluttered around her for quite some time.
When the women compared stories they knew the experiences contained a message. “Butterflies are a symbol of the resurrection,” said Sister Gatz. “Marge and Paula were telling us they are OK,” added Sister Rombalski.
Sunday evening, almost 300 people gathered at Lexington St. Thomas for a vigil. In addition to the more than 100 people packed inside the tiny sanctuary, another 200 watched a video feed from a tent on the lawn, set up by mostly non-Catholic teenagers from the local Christian academy. Bishop Joseph Kopacz presided over the service, but Father Plata, the pastor of the usually tiny congregation, offered a homily. He remembered the Sisters as great cooks, gardeners, generous souls and hopeful women of the gospel. “As Christians, we only have one choice, to move on in hope,” he said.
As the families cope with the loss of their loved ones, they also worry about the people of Durant and Lexington. “A big hole in the universe and in our hearts,” is how Annette Held described losing her older sister. “Sister Margaret was a wonderful and gracious person, always a concerned about others and certainly the spiritual leader of the family. This tragedy is leaving a big hole for us. We are also worried because there is no one to carry their ministry now and that has been very important for so long for the community they lived in and for our family too. We keep wishing we knew what will happen next at the clinic,” she added.
Rosemarie Merrill expressed a similar concern. “Her (Sr. Paula’s) faith was very strong. And she was a wonderful nurse,” Rosemarie Merrill said of her sister. “I feel so bad for the people of Holmes County because they’ve lost so much. The care they provided leaves a huge void. They would do anything for their patients.”
The Sisters’ bodies have returned to their motherhouses for funerals and burials. The Sisters of Charity have started a fund to continue their work. Learn more on their website, www.scnfamily.org.
(Elsa Baughman of Mississippi Catholic and Marnie McAllister of the Record, the paper for the Archdiocese of Louisville, contrubuted to this article)

Catholic history in Mississippi goes digital

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By Mary Woodward
JACKSON – A little-known treasure hides in a vault in the Chancery building in Jackson. This treasure chronicles more than 200 years of Mississippi and regional history and is housed in a 10′ x 20′ room on the ground floor. In this small space, Bishop Richard Oliver Gerow, who served the diocese from 1924 to 1966, created a diocesan archive filing system still in use today. The good news, this little-known history is about to get new life and new exposure, thanks to a grant from the Mississippi Digital Library (MDL) and the work of the diocesan chancellor’s staff.
It often is said Catholic Social Teaching is the church’s best kept secret, but preserving and protecting records and history is another one. Canon Law requires the church to keep all sacramental records of its members, but it also requires a historical archive to be kept so that the events in the life of the local church can be chronicled for future generations.
The diocesan archives gives a unique accounting of history through the growth and spread of the Catholic faith within the boundaries of the 20th state of the Union. Papers and records in the archives date back to Spanish Colonial times in 1796 Natchez and travel forward through the establishment of the diocese in 1837, the Civil War, Reconstruction, the turn of the 19th century into the 20th, world wars, great floods, economic depression, the Civil Rights movement up to the present day. Items from these archives, gathered and maintained by Bishop Gerow and his successors are now continually updated by the diocesan chancellor’s office.
Throughout his 42 years as bishop, he meticulously indexed and journaled all the previous bishops’ papers dating back to the beginnings of the diocese in 1837 and beyond, making sure the legacy and expansion of the church in its developmental times would be properly documented.
Bishop Gerow also chronicled the growth of the church in the state by taking a camera along on his journeys around the diocese for dedications, ordinations and confirmations. In his tenure he amassed more than 1,700 photos depicting church life in those five decades of his episcopacy. Many of his photos are of structures that no longer exist, especially in the coastal counties. Although now the Diocese of Biloxi, these areas were a part of the diocese during Bishop Gerow’s time.
These photos capture not only church history but, on a greater scale, the story of Mississippi and the surrounding region. The diocesan archives contains papers on the development of Mississippi’s journey to statehood from the earliest times.
For this reason the Mississippi Digital Library (MDL) awarded the diocese its 2016 Cultural Heritage Digitization Award (CHDA).The MDL is hosted by the University of Southern Mississippi.
According to its website, the MDL provides an online space to search and explore the wealth of materials available in Mississippi. Its board includes digital preservationists, archivists, librarians and experts in the field of history from around the state, including the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, The University of Mississippi, Mississippi State University and Delta State University.
The award, given annually, offers 80 hours of scanning of historic documents and photos by MDL staff and partners. Lisa Jones, MDL director, described how excited they were to see the Bishop R.O. Gerow collection of photos and documents when she came for the onsite visit during the application process. Staff and board members were impressed with the breadth of material reflecting a unique angle of the history of Mississippi through the lens of a Catholic bishop.
During the week of Aug. 8 – 12, Nicole Lawrence, coordinator of MDL, and Susan Ivey, digital initiatives librarian, from Ole Miss, spent eight  hours each day scanning 614 items from Bishop Gerow’s collection. Notable items included several papal Bulls, including the decree establishing the original diocese of Natchez by Pope Gregory XVI. Sue Anne Booth and Donna King, staff of the chancellor’s office, worked tirelessly to get all the photos and documents in order and wrote metadata for each object.
Each day, members of MDL’s board offered training sessions for chancery staff on topics including: archiving digitally born records such as emails, texts and recent photos; best practices for digitization, digital storage space on servers and using cloud-based services and prioritizing documents and collections in archives for digitization.
As Chancellor for the diocese, it is my responsibility to maintain on behalf of the bishop all diocesan records as well as the historical part of the archives. The opportunity to partner with the MDL gives our collection better exposure to researchers, teachers and students who are studying the growth and changes in state history. It is an opportunity to educate more people on the Catholic faith and its contributions to the overall community, state and region over the past 200-plus years.
In the coming months, the scanned items will be housed on the MDL website in a collection named for Bishop Gerow. More items will be added as time goes on. So stay tuned to www.msdiglib.org and Mississippi Catholic for updates.
(Mary Woodward is the Diocesan Chancellor.)

Art show feature works by St. Catherine’s Village residents

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JACKSON – Art created by residents at St. Catherine’s Village is on display at the Mississippi Museum of Art now through Sept. 4. The exhibit is free and open to the public.
Paintings were created as part of The Perfect Palette Art Group at St. Catherine’s Village and include submissions in oils, pastels, graphite, and acrylics. Led by Boo Richards, the program includes beginners all the way through virtuosos.
“We are thrilled to have works of art from our residents on display at the museum,” said Mary Margaret Judy, executive director at St. Catherine’s Village, Mississippi’s preeminent continuing life care community. “It gives our group members – and their families – the opportunity to celebrate their artistic achievements.”
The Perfect Palette Art Group is the second in the Mississippi Museum of Art’s Art in Us All: Community Exhibition Series. The exhibition program invites nonprofit organizations in Mississippi to showcase art created by their constituents. It is intended to cultivate creativity in the community for people of all ages and backgrounds while deepening the relationship between the museum and its visitors.
Through this series, the museum develops partnerships with Mississippi nonprofits that incorporate visual art into their social service work. The Perfect Palette Art Group was selected because it is the manifestation of art being used to lift the spirits and challenge the minds of an often underserved population – in this case, seniors.
“The beauty of this art group is the manner in which it serves to renew, resurrect or awaken someone’s potential, from fostering the enjoyment of an accomplished artist who had put the brushes aside to seeing the utter joy of a new artist upon producing that first work of art that makes the heart smile,” said Judy. “The results are many beautiful compositions of art, friendship, holistic wellness, and creativity.”
The Perfect Palette Art Group is one of many enriching activities in which those living at St. Catherine’s Village can participate. The continuing care retirement community encourages residents to stay engaged, energetic and excited, and has an activity director to coordinate a variety of clubs, groups and events.
“Our philosophy is to make available every tool to enhance holistic health, healing and wellness. The creative arts is one such program,” said Judy. “Its focus is on living life to the fullest and maximizing one’s total potential: physically, mentally, socially, spiritually, and educationally.”
Located on 160 acres in Madison, St. Catherine’s Village is a life care community offering the right care at the right time through independent living, assisted living, memory care, and skilled nursing. For more information, call (601) 856-0123 or log onto www.StCatherinesVillage.com.
To view the approximately 40 works of art from St. Catherine’s Village residents, visit the Mississippi Museum of Art at 380 South Lamar Street in Jackson. The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. (Closed Monday.) Find more information at www.msmuseumart.org.

Parish youth groups reflect on summer service

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Youth groups from across the diocese spent time this summer doing service work. Mississippi Catholic asked for reflections and photos from these trips. Following are excerpts from reflections submitted by members of Natchez St. Mary Basilica and Tupelo St. James. All three groups worked with Catholic Heart Work Camps, taking trips to Florida and Tennessee.

On July 17, myself and 26 other teens and seven chaperones from St. Mary Basilica youth group  traveled to Pensacola, Fla., to experience Catholic Heart Work Camp (CHWC).
I had the pleasure of working with young children at a summer day camp in Pensacola playing water games, reading books, learning about science, technology, engineering, arts and math (STEAM) and enjoying being with the children. I also learned enough sign language in order to communicate with a hearing impaired little girl. Her brother was proud to teach me their language.
Our group did some work outside at homes. We cut grass, powered washed and painted homes and trimmed bushes; doing anything that needed to be done. The owners were appreciative of the work we did and we were happy to help them even though it was very hot outside. Some of my friends worked at the local food bank sorting, organizing and preparing boxes for distribution.
Elizabeth Smith
Senior at Cathedral High School

I attended Catholic Heart Work Camp this past summer and it proved to be a very inspiring week for me and our entire group. I particularly enjoyed meeting other kids my age and getting a chance to know them and work with them in service of others.
We worked with Habitat for Humanity to help those in need. One part of my week that was most inspiring was helping an elderly lady with a chronic disease. Her story was so touching because she and her husband had worked hard all their lives but had fallen on hard times. Her husband was in a nursing home because she was unable to care for him after he had a stroke.
She suffered from COPD and had been in and out of the hospital and unable to pay her bills. She had lost one home and her current home needed to have grass cut and to be cleaned. Our group helped her clean her home inside and out. She was so proud and thankful. I think we were most inspired by her attitude. Despite all her hardships, she managed such a positive attitude and continued to give to those she considered less fortunate than all she could manage.
Caroline Kaiser
Junior Cathedral School

This year’s camp was a big change for me. A large majority of the people who usually go to CHWC decided not to go this year, so I kind of felt like I was going alone. But thankfully, this gave me a chance to grow close to other members of my youth group who I don’t normally talk to.
The other members of my team were also some of the friendliest, coolest people I’ve ever met and I was blessed to serve the community of Pensacola with them. On a more spiritual level, this year’s Catholic Heart has made me more appreciative of my Catholic faith and the church’s practices.
It also has strengthened my relationship with God and has given me a hopeful attitude of my future with Him. I learned that prayer is such a powerful tool that needs to be used every day of my life. With this being my fifth CHWC, I feel that this year has also convinced me to apply for a staff position when I’m old enough in the next two years.
Randle Haggerty
member of Tupelo St. James Parish

Parish This year for CHWC we went to Pensacola, Fla. Upon arriving at the school we would be staying at, I did not think I would enjoy most of the week. Ending the first day there, I was proven wrong. I found myself opening up to new people and having experiences that I’d never thought I would have with these people.
The community work we did brought us closer to God. It opened my eyes to a whole new meaning of Christ. God brought me closer to people from my own parish that I would have never talked to on my own. I made friendships that will hopefully last a lifetime. Overall this trip has made me more outgoing, understanding and closer to God. I can’t wait to go back again next year.
Julianna Vaughn
member of Tupelo St. James

I loved the entire week at Catholic Heart, but one of my favorite parts about the week was getting to meet new friends from all around the United States. Everyone that I met was really nice and encouraging, and it was cool to meet other Catholic teenagers. I also really liked the Four Corners experience that we had Wednesday evening. I think it was a great way to spend time with God through prayer, talking with others about our faith, and receiving the sacrament of reconciliation.
One thing I learned at Catholic Heart Work Camp was that when you help others with a good attitude, you get more blessings out of your work than the person that you even helped. I know that when we finished working each day, I had such a good feeling inside of me and I wanted to keep serving. I feel like now I am more eager to serve here in our community because it makes me feel so good.
Allison Hanby
member of Tupelo St. James Parish

Seminarians gather for convocation before school starts

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By Aaron Williams
Eight of the nine seminarians studying for the priesthood for the Diocese of Jackson gathered at Chatawa St. Mary of the Pines retreat center recently for our inaugural convocation. The seniors, Nick Adam, Mark Shoffner and myself organized the event.
The theme of the retreat was “Take courage, it is I,” taken from Matthew 14:27.
There were four conferences. I spoke about the particular virtues seminarians for Jackson need to foster, using figures from our diocesan history as a reference. Shoffner talked about the benefits of our summer pastoral assignments to our overall formation. Adam spoke about building fraternity amongst ourselves in preparation for being a part of the fraternity of priests.
Father Augustine Pattimalam, a native of India serving in Philadelphia, spoke about his perspective and difficulties of entering the diocese as an outsider.
(Editor’s note: During the weekend Bishop Joseph Kopacz accepted Schoffner into candidacy for ordination. The three seniors will be ordained to the transitional diaconate in the spring of 2017.)

Jackson pilgrims reflect on World Youth Day experience

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By Maureen Smith
JACKSON – “My favorite part had to be being feet away and in the presence of the most holy Father, Pope Francis,” said Rodney Self, one of 18 young people from the Diocese of Jackson who made the trip to Poland for World Youth Day.
Fellow traveler Perry Leffler agreed. “My favorite part of the World Youth Day pilgrimage was definitely seeing the pope. He is just so inspiring. Everybody cheered and there was such a feeling of excitement and joy when he was there,” said Leffler.
Amelia Rizor, youth minister for Jackson St. Richard Parish, who helped organize and lead the trip, said all the teenagers were thrilled to see the pontiff. “To see the joy on all those faces made it all worthwhile. Kids who never dance were dancing,” said Rizor. She went on to say she planned the trip to be a true pilgrimage, with thoughtful stops along the way.
In addition to touring the Auschwitz Concentration camp, the group visited Krakow’s Jewish Ghetto and the factory where Oskar Schindler saved more than a thousand Jews during World War II.
“We watched the movie Schindler’s List together before the trip, so seeing the factory brought it all home. Seeing that it (the Holocaust) wasn’t just some distant history, but that it really happened and it could happen again was powerful for everyone,” said Rizor.
The young people attended catechetical sessions sponsored by World Youth Day. Andre deGruy and his wife went on the trip with their two daughters. “Every time we had Mass on the trip it was amazing. The groups of people were just so huge. Priests would just appear in the crowd and start distributing Communion. I imagine that’s what it was like to try and feed the five thousand out of a few wicker baskets,” he said. “The Polish people were so welcoming. It was hard to connect the history with that. People were so kind and helpful and you had to think – their parents lived through the horrors of communism and the Holocaust, but they were amazing,” said DeGruy.
Rizor said she wanted the members of the group to get a sense of how large and active the Catholic Church is in the world. The members of the group got the message. “I did not expect the energy the people at the large events showed. It made me want to show the same amount of energy for my faith. It made me feel proud and not nervous about showing my faith,” said Self.
Dena Kinzey, a teacher at Madison St. Joseph School, posted her reflections to a blog on the school website during the trip. During one leg of the trip, the group had to split up. Luggage was lost, and it rained during several of the outdoor events.
“In the struggles of a difficult flight situation, tired people away from home, schedule changes, no air conditioning (this is big), the moment I saw these young people tremble and cry because they were so excited to be with the man who joyfully leads our church, I knew it was all worth it,” wrote Kinzey on her blog.
“It was in that moment that I felt the Holy Spirit working. The path to God is never easy, but the rewards are great. I’m blessed to be able to do this with them,” she continued.
“I got a deeper understanding out my Catholic faith. Through different tours and discussions, I learned about my Catholic faith to a level I never could have imagined. Not only did I strengthen my faith, I also strengthened my relationship with God,” said Self, a member of Jackson Holy Family Parish.
“Being on my first pilgrimage was incredible. You’re there to grow closer to God, to grow in your faith. Touring places like Auschwitz, seeing the Jewish Ghetto, and experiencing the Sanctuary of Pope John Paul II really puts your own life in perspective,” said Leffler.
Rizor believes she will be processing the trip with the youth group for a while to come. “I really want to sit down and talk more about the experience,” she said. The tour group will host a Timely Topics discussion sometime in September at St. Richard Parish. Check the parish website for exact scheduling. The next World Youth Day will be in Panama in 2019.