By Mary Margaret Halford
CARY— As a schoolteacher for 38 years in Cary and Rolling Fork, Mary Hazel Weissinger took advantage of her Christmas and summer breaks and usually spent that time traveling the world. On a Christmastime trip to Alaska with her late husband, Charles Hyde Weissinger Sr., Mary Hazel stumbled across a nativity that she wanted to add to her small, but growing collection.
“I’ve always had a special feel for nativities,” said the 88-year-old parishioner of Our Mother of Mercy in Anguilla. “Every time I visited another country, I tried to find a nativity. I saw a little bitty one that caught my eye in Alaska, and it keeps growing from there.”
Weissinger’s nativity collection dates back to the early 1960s when her brother and cousin were living in Germany and sent her a Hummel nativity in pieces.
“It seems like it’s been always,” Weissinger said with a laugh, “like I’ve always had the nativities.”
As time went on, the collection grew into hundreds of pieces as Mary Hazel’s travels continued and friends and family picked up on her hobby, sending her nativities from around the globe.
“I have a cousin that is a Catholic missionary priest in Peru, and about 10 or 15 years ago, my mother asked if he would send back a nativity that was indigenous to that area. He sent her back the most beautiful ceramic long neck,” said Maryanne Smith, one of Mary Hazel’s six children. “He had to carry it in a backpack hiking down the Andes to get back to a town where he could put it in the mail. Some of the lengths these nativities have gone through just to find their way to us… It’s amazing.”
The handmade nativity that made its way to Mary Hazel from Peru was broken in route from the post office, but repaired.
“They all have a story,” Smith said. “They’re all catalogued. You can’t imagine the inventory control you have to do on this to get them stored and put out every year.”
And each year at Christmas, Mary Hazel would proudly display her nativities throughout her home, going so far as to adding furniture to her home to hold them all. “She had bookcases built, but still you couldn’t even see them all because there were so many,” Smith said.
“The living room was full, the den was full,” Mary Hazel said. “Maryanne said it was just selfish not to share them.” “In 2009, we convinced her (Mary Hazel) to start putting them on public display,” Smith said.
“The family had been creating the displays, packing and unpacking the nativities, and viewing the end product,” Smith said. “It was a shame that such a beautiful and unique collection should only be seen by a small number of people each year. It needed to be shared. Although it took a little bit of convincing, Mom finally embraced the idea.”
So each year around Thanksgiving, the family sets up her nativities at Goodman Memorial Methodist Church just off US 61.  At the first year of the display, there were approximately 200 nativities that all fit in the main room of the church’s Family Life Center. Just as it did in the Weissinger home, the collection has grown into a need for more display cases and rooms at the church. Today, there are about 400 on display.
“When people see the display, they say it’s not at all what they expected,” Smith said. “Some are origami, some are baking sets, others are pillows or ornaments; it’s just every shape, form, and fashion. It could take you hours to go through and see all the ones she has.”
“Some of them are what you’d call ‘whimsical’,” Mary Hazel said. “One of them is a jigsaw puzzle, one is made out of pencil erasers. I’m always looking for anything different, and my friends know I’m interested, so they bring them to me, and that’s added a lot.”
The nativities are on display at Goodman Memorial Methodist Church off US 61 in Cary the first three weekends in December on Saturday from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. and Sunday from 1 p.m. until 4 p.m. There is no entry cost to see the nativities.

By Maureen Smith
NATCHEZ – The kindergarten students at Holy Family Parish probably do not realize the significance of the history they acted out Sunday, Nov. 22, but hopefully, in time they will appreciate their place in the story of this community. The play depicting the 125-year history of Holy Family Parish was the closing activity to a celebration of the 125th anniversary of the parish.
Holy Family is the oldest parish for African Americans in the state, founded on the heels of the third plenary council of Baltimore, at which American bishops decided they should found parishes specifically for black Catholics. Prior to the council, black Catholics in Natchez worshiped in the basement of St. Mary Basilica.
Duncan Morgan’s grandmother sang in the choir the day the parish was dedicated in 1894. His grandfather was on the committee that polled black people to see if they even wanted a parish. The day he was born a pair of sisters walked to his house to check on the baby.
History shows that the parish was the center of the Civil Rights Movement in Natchez. Morgan said the Josephite priests and Franciscan and later Holy Spirit Sisters unwittingly started on it long before the turbulent 1960s with their focus on education. “Even in the worst of times with Jim Crow and segregation, if you were at Holy Family you were treated with dignity. You were prepared with the best education possible,” he said. “Our graduates became lawyers, doctors, military officers,” he added. Morgan said this education and respect prepared community members. “It laid the groundwork for what happened in the 1960s – they already had self-respect.”
Father William Morrissey, SSJ, played a pivotal role in guiding those parishioners as well as the community at large through the Civil Rights Movement. He let the NAACP use the parish hall for office space, serving as the only white officer in the state chapter of the organization. He led the effort to get black people admitted to the National Democratic Party. “Father Morrissey could help balance them (community leaders) from going overboard and at the same time, meet with city and state officals on an equal basis,” said Morgan. The priest sponsored interracial gatherings and encouraged his parishioners to integrate schools in Natchez.
“He sacrificed his own school to integrate Cathedral School,” said Valencia Hall, catechist and parishioner. She and her sisters were some of the first African Americans to attend Cathedral. Her family made the decision to try it for a year when she was 11. “I vividly remember sitting at the dinner table telling my Daddy, ‘I don’t want to stay,’” Hall recalls. He told her he thought it was best she stay. “It was best, it built my character. It was from that experience that I learned all people are persons of dignity and integrity.” The transition was hard at times, she was the only African American child in the fifth and sixth grade.
“There were a couple of people who I felt welcomed by. To the day I die, I will be indebted to those who made me feel welcome,” she said. Hall helped organize an effort to renovate the church several years ago, helping secure a grant from the Mississippi Department of Archives and History in recognition of the role the parish played in the Civil Rights Movement.
Current pastor, Father James Fallon, SSJ, said the celebration was meant both to honor the past and plant seeds for the future. “We try to look at this as the intersection of the past and future,” he said. “We want to recognize the people like Father Morrissey, who made headlines, but we also want to advertise the lady who said her rosary and made it to daily Mass,” he added.
Today the parish boasts a multicultural congregation and an Early Learning Center. Both Hall and Morgan hope the celebration is a sign of a vibrant future here. “I would like to see our Catholic faith deepened and for others to see the struggle our church had to go through to have a place of worship,” said Hall. Father Fallon said one of the challenges is regaining the sense of sacrifice and pride the whole community once felt about its church. He considers part of his vocation to inspire faith in the young people in his community.
The original Holy Family was in a wood frame structure on the edge of town. The founding pastor went on a tour of the Northeast to raise money for the present brick structure, located on a hill in what was then a growing neighborhood of families. St. Katherine Drexel was one of the donors. “Holy Family has always been a beacon. It was sitting on a hill for a reason, I guess,” said Morgan. “When there was no leadership anywhere else, you could get it here,” he added.

By Maureen Smith
TUTWILER — Sister Maureen Delaney, SNJM, has used a simple philosophy in her almost 30 years at the Tutwiler Community Education Center: listen to what people want and try to help them make it happen. This approach has changed lives in this small Mississippi Delta town.
Sister Maureen has earned a spot as the leader of the U.S./Ontario Province of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary. Early next year, she will move to Portland, Ore.
She was working in California in the late 1980s when she heard Sister Anne Brooks, who runs the Tutwiler Clinic, was looking for someone to do outreach work. According to Sister Maureen, Dr. Brooks takes a comprehensive approach to patient care. “I think she tries to treat the whole person – if a person falls down on their porch she asks ‘what can we do to get the porch fixed?’ Whatever the problem is she asks if there a broader problem with them or the community. Can we help that person be more healthy,” said Sister Maureen.
Sister Maureen started her work in the back room of the clinic in 1987.
“What I do is community organizing. I will talk to people about what kind of things they want to have happening,” said Sister Maureen.
Dr. Brooks explained that people didn’t even have a place to gather to talk about ways to make the town better. “Tutwiler at that point was pretty pitiful. There was no inside plumbing, people lived in shacks,” said Dr. Brooks. “There was a lot of need,” she said.
“I thought people were going to say ‘I want housing, I want employment.’ I am sure they wanted that, but the needs were very simple and basic to start with, so that was quite amazing to me,” she said.
The first order of business: a town cleanup.  “It was fairly spectacular,” said Dr. Brooks. “There were street vendors selling their wares, a flatbed truck for the mayor to stand on to give a speech, they asked me to speak. Everyone was there, black people, white people, everyone working alongside one another. It was breaking down barriers people didn’t even recognize as barriers,” she added.
The next thing people wanted was a Christmas parade for the town. Again, all Sister Maureen had to do was get people together and offer to help organize the event.
“That project brought the whole town together, black, white, all the people,” said Genether Spurlock, an employee at the center. A nearby town had thrown away their Christmas decorations so Sister Maureen got them and volunteers painted and refurbished them.
“The people wanted to have a Christmas parade. And I thought, ‘A Christmas parade? Ok.’ That’s what I have learned, you take people where they are,” said Sister Maureen. “If that’s going to bring people together, that’s what I’m going to do and that’s what we did and we had a great Christmas parade,” she said.
“People wanted very basic things and what I kept thinking – anything to get people together – to get people to work together, to get a spirit and end up with a product,” said Sister Maureen.
It became apparent early on that Sister Maureen needed more than just a back room at the Tutwiler clinic so the organization repurposed a set of storefronts. The completed Tutwiler Community Education Center (TCEC) has administrative offices, a small kitchen, a community room, a computer lab, music room, fitness equipment and the gym. It operates as a separate organization than the clinic.
In the ensuing years TCEC and the citizens of Tutwiler worked together on a number of civic projects. The phone company needed to run new lines to the town, the river would flood because of dredging issues, the town needed street signs. Sister Maureen, her staff and volunteers took on project after project.
“There is a saying about teaching a man how to fish. Sister Maureen and Dr. Brooks taught us how to fish. They taught us to do things for ourselves,” said Spurlock. “This center has always kept the needs of the people out front,” she added.
Lucinda Berryhill has worked for the center for 23 years. “I knew people and people knew me,” she said. Sister Maureen let Berryhill use her talents to serve her own community. Berryhill drove a van to bring people to medical appointments, and recruited people to come to the center for projects. “I would go find them and they appreciated that,” she added. She appreciates the fact that children who come to the center get more than just a safe place to play. “They come to get education, they learn morals and values here,” said Berryhill.
The programs have evolved as needs and wants have changed. One early request was a playgroup for preschool kids because the Head Start in the area did not have enough slots. As the Head Start expanded, that program dropped off. Today two dozen children aged seven -12 come every day for an after school program. It includes   snack, time in the computer lab, group discussions on good choices and behavior and time in the gym. A couple days a week a trio of musicians comes to the center to teach blues music. The kids have gotten so good, they have their own band. They played at the opening of the Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale and the rededication of the courthouse in Sumner to honor the memory of Emmitt Till.
Twice a week teenagers come in the evenings to use the fitness equipment and learn life skills. Some of those teens get hired as teen helpers. They assist in the after school care program, learning job skills and acting as role models for their young counterparts. Junior Kayla Reynolds said her work as a teen helper has helped her mature and learn responsibility. She wants to be a social worker and help children when she grows up.
A group of seniors meets at the center, sharing meals and taking trips together. This summer candidates used Tutwiler for a forum so citizens could ask them questions before the election.  There is a summer program for children. The center sponsors sports leagues and tournaments for kids and adults alike.
And then there are the quilters. Another legacy that started with one conversation.
Tutwiler resident Mary Sue Robertson invited Sister Maureen to see the quilt tops she made in her home.  “Mary Sue lived in a humble shack in the back of somebody’s property that she used to work for.  Inside she had piles of quilt tops,” said Sister Maureen. The elderly woman would sell her work if someone wanted to buy them. Sister Maureen wondered if the hobby could become a cottage industry. She and fellow workers Mary Ann Willis and Sister JoAnn  Blomme, OP, found more than two dozen quilters in the area and a business was born.
“From the beginning we wanted to help these ladies make money and also preserve the quilting tradition of this area. We started by saying they would get 80 percent of the price and 20 percent would go into the program,” she explained. The original quilters used scrap fabric, including old clothing. Today, they use new fabric, to make placemats, tote bags, cell phone cases and oven mitts in addition to quilts, but they still keep 80 percent of the profit. Fewer women learn the craft from their mothers, so the center has started a class for those who want to learn. Willis is still involved in the quilting program, checking the quilters work, traveling across the country to sell the products and handling the books. “I love to go out and sell their work because I know the more I sell, the more they can work. This might be their income. They depend on it to pay their bills,” she said. The program has also expanded Willis’ horizons. “I would never have gotten to travel had Sister Maureen not offered me the opportunity. I’ve been to some beautiful places,” she added.
Doctor Brooks thinks Sister Maureen has done nothing short of help transform a community, not by giving them things, but by offering imagination and hope. “People’s lives here will continue to improve because they take the initiative,” she said. When people feel empowered, they can take care of themselves and their community. “It takes a person with knowledge, excitement, talent and dedication to strike the match that’s inside everyone’s heart,” said Dr. Brooks.
Good attitudes, she said, are contagious and she believes TCEC will continue to spread the transformation. “There are not enough words to explain or compliment her and not enough hugs to give her as a thank you.”
The board of directors is looking for a new leader, meanwhile, the work continues. To learn more about TCEC or purchase a quilt online, visit www.tutwilercenter.org.

St. Mary of the Pines
Eight-day retreats –  $640
Five-day retreats –  $400
Weekend directed retreats – $160
Directed Retreats: The resident retreat director is Sister Dorez Mehrtens, SSND. To schedule a retreat contact Sister Dorez, 601-783-0411 or 601-810-7758 (cell), dorezm37@yahoo.com.
Private Retreats: A private retreat is a retreat without a director and may be scheduled any time space is available. The individual chooses his/her own resources and rhythm of prayer and reflection throughout the day. Cost is $65 per night. Financial assistance for any retreat is available upon request.
“An Advent Day of Reflection,” Saturday, Dec. 5, from 9:30 a.m. – 3 p.m. Sister Dorothy Trosclair will lead the retreat. Cost is $30 and includes lunch.
“Married Couples Retreat: Finding God in All Things, Encountering the Living God in Marriage,” Feb. 5-7, 2016.
Participants will journey through the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. Led by Easton and Robin Hebert. Cost is $340 per couple.
Contact: St. Mary of the Pines Retreat Center, 3167 Old Highway 51 South, Osyka, MS, 39657, 601-783-3494, retreatcenter@ssnddallas.org.

The Dwelling Place
“Advent Hermitage Overnight,” Dec. 11-12. In the prayerful space of a hermitage, come away, block out our society’s noisy Christmas preparations and focus on the real meaning of Christ/Emmanual coming among us. Begins with 6:30 p.m. with dinner. Cost is $80.
“As I Begin the New Year,” Jan. 1-3, 2016. On this feast of the Three Kings, prayerfully using the Scriptures of Epiphany, we will look at the stars in our lives and will focus on what we seek for that is new and good in the new year. Led by Clare Van Lent.
“The Ascent of Mt. Carmel,” Jan. 22-23, 2016.  The retreat will reflect on St. John’s work in relation to our own response to God in our spiritual journey. Led by Father John Bohn, pastor of St. Richard Parish, Jackson. Cost is $100.
Contact: The Dwelling Place, 2824 Dwelling Place Road, Brooksville, MS, 39739, 662-738-5348, www.dwellingplace.com.

St. Scholastica Retreat center
Three-day silent directed retreat, Jan. 7-10, 2016.
Five-day silent directed retreat, Jan. 7-13, 2016.
Eight-day silent directed retreat, Jan. 7-16, 2016.
Cost for three days is $235, five days, $385, and eight days, $585.
“Dreams: Lost Language of God,” Feb. 19-21, 2016. This workshop shows how to begin recognizing, understanding and interpreting the Voice of God in your dreams. Led by Jungian Therapist Diana McKendree and pastor Lance Sawyer. Cost: Residents $195, commuters $150.
Contact: St. Scholastica Retreat Center, 1205 S. Albert Pike, Fort Smith, AR 72903, 479-783-1135, retreats@stscho.org, www.stscho.org/retreats.

Benedictine sisters
“The Sacrament of Advent:” Lessons and Carols from Thomas Merton,” Friday, Dec. 4,  from 7  – 8:30 p.m. Exploration of a journal entry, three poems and an essay on St. Bernard which Merton wrote in the first 10 years of his monastic life will provide a “service of lessons and carols” that closes with an Advent invitation to echo Mary’s fiat. Cost is $15.
“Introduction to Centering Prayer,” Jan. 15- 17, 2016. Centering Prayer is a form of Christian prayer rooted in the ancient Christian contemplative tradition. This retreat is designed for those new to Centering Prayer. Private rooms and the ability to maintain silence are required. Cost for private rooms is $245.
Contact: Benedictine Sisters Retreat Center, 916 Convent Road, Cullman, AL 35055, 256-734-8302, retreats@shmon.org.

JESUIT SPIRITUALITY CENTER
Directed Retreats: The Jesuit Spirituality Center specializes in personally directed retreats based on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola. Solitude and silence are important aspects of these retreats. Retreats may range from three days, five days, or eight days, to a full month.
Dates: Dec. 7 or Dec. 10. Retreats of eight-days begin on the first date. Retreats of five or three days begin on either date.
“AA Weekend: Staying Sober with the 12-Steps,” Dec. 2-6. This is a retreat for women and men in recovery. Addicts, alcoholics, and family and friends are welcome. Led by Father Tom Weston, SJ, a counselor and retreat director. Cost is $320, commuters $240.
Contact: Jesuit Spirituality Center, 313 Martin Luther King Dr., Grand Coteau, La. 70541, 337-662-5251.

JACKSON – During November the church remembers and honors those who have died – the saints and our loves ones. To honor All Saints Day, some parishes and Catholic schools invite children to dress as their favorite saint.
On All Souls Day, Nov. 2, and throughout the month of remembrance, the faithful gather to remember their deceased family members and loved ones with Masses, altars and the blessing of graves. The memorials are as different as our parish communities. In some communities, names are written in a book of the dead or on cards placed near the altar. In other communities, photos are displayed in a public space in the parish.
In some parts of Mexico, families set up altars for deceased family members that include photos, favorite foods or drinks, personal items, books and more. They believe they feel the souls of the departed visiting on that day. Some place lighted candles in the altar to guide them back to their home.
Throughout Latin America, big celebrations are held at cemeteries where families spend time near the graves of their loved ones, lifting up their souls with their prayers, stories and songs.

By Maureen Smith
In January Bishop Joseph Kopacz and the Diocese of Jackson will begin a year-long process of discerning and proclaiming a shared vision and priorities for the church in this part of Mississippi. The process will be facilitated by Catholic Leadership Institute (CLI), an organization dedicated to helping strengthen the church through leadership formation and consultation. While the process is very structured, Mike Fullam, the CLI team leader who will consult on the planning and execution, said it starts and ends with the people.
“A big part of this is input from the faithful as the priorities and goals are developed. This vision is shared, not just by the bishop, but by his chancery staff, by the presbyterate, the people – everyone is going to have a part to play,” said Fullam.
“It has been almost 10 years since the last process and every organization needs to do some kind of planning every decade,” explained Bishop Kopacz. “This is not so much strategic planning, but listening to the reality of the diocese from those who live it,” he added.
Bishop Kopacz said he feels like he knows the diocese better now that he has served here for two years, but wanted to dig deeper into the life of the church here. “This is a comprehensive approach. It provides an opportunity to listen that I don’t have speaking to people individually as I travel around,” explained the bishop.
Initially, a team will go through training to facilitate a series of listening sessions. “An essential part of developing this mutually shared vision and priority plan is for the bishop to listen and learn from the people of God in the diocese,” said Msgr. Elvin Sunds, who will be working with CLI to coordinate the effort. “There will be 13 listening sessions all around the diocese at which the laity are invited to discern and speak to the bishop. There will be two sessions for the clergy and lay ecclesial ministers,” Msgr. Sunds added.
“This is a great opportunity for the bishop to listen to the faithful – to learn from them,” explained Fullam. The sessions are not town hall meetings, they are structured to allow everyone to reflect and share in a meaningful way. The bishop has no expectations of what might emerge, he wants to hear from the people. “If the response is healthy at each listening session, that’s going to be a lot of input,” said Bishop Kopacz. He wants to encourage people to participate. “This is an opportunity to really hear what the concerns are, what people are proud of, what they are grateful for,” said Bishop Kopacz.
At the sessions, which will include bilingual and youth components, people will sit at tables. “Each person will be given some questions to answer,” said Fullam. At their tables they will discuss their answers and one person from each table will present the priorities that emerge. “Anyone is welcome at any listening session. They do not have to go to the one closest to their parish,” he added.
CLI will compile the answers presented in the sessions and will help Bishop Kopacz form a leadership team. “The leadership team will review what was heard as well as other data points,” said Fullam. From that the team will articulate a shared vision and the top three priorities for the diocese for the next decade or so. The team then identifies goals the diocese needs to reach to fulfill the priorities. The bishop will write a letter outlining the vision and priorities for the diocese and the leadership team will transition into a diocesan pastoral council. The bishop and this council will oversee the work to reach the goals. “This is an exciting opportunity for everyone in the diocese to speak to the bishop and help shape the future of the church in our diocese,” said Msgr. Sunds.
“The team that’s going to be commissioned will go through a major process of formation,” said Bishop Kopacz. The members will gather several times throughout the year to become a team and go through the data, with help from CLI. “They will help me and other diocesan leadership develop these pastoral priorities and they will have a bigger picture of life in the diocese. They will have a significant role to play,” said the bishop.
Bishop Kopacz said while the vision and priorities will be for the diocese overall, individual parishes will have roles to play. “People in parishes and on parish pastoral councils can look at it and say ‘how does this apply to us?’”
The vision statements from other dioceses who have gone through this process are often short, such as the Diocese of St. Augustine’s “Come, live in the Light,” but the priorities and goals use corporate strategic language and include ways to measure success and timelines for each.
The Jackson diocese went through a strategic planning process more than 10 years ago. This process is different, both because the needs of the diocese have changed and because of the methods CLI is bringing. The CLI website describes it this way, “all of these services are structured to facilitate strong, collaborative relationships between key staff and team members as well as between team members and their bishop as a means to develop quality ministry and respectful communications between all persons and accompanying decisions.”

I had the privilege of serving in the Diocese of Jackson between 1997-2001, first as a seventh/eighth grade teacher, and later, as the principal of St. Francis of Assisi School in Greenwood. This offered to me a very rich ministry and new learning. I treasure and value that experience greatly, mostly because of the unique and powerful culture of the region. The families and individuals that I was able to get to know have had a lasting impact upon my life.
I am most grateful for our missionary work in the Mississippi Delta. As a contribution to your paper’s coverage of the Year of Consecrated Life, I am offering the following reflection that shares insights into my current ministry and life as I say “Thank you” to Mississippi.
‘Merciful like the Father’ is the “motto” of the upcoming Holy Year of Mercy as set by Pope Francis. He states, “It is my burning desire that, during this Jubilee, the Christian people may reflect on the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.”
Looking at my current ministry as director of Mission and Pastoral Care at our local healthcare network – Holy Family Memorial, I can personally relate to the daily bestowing of hope and mercy upon the most vulnerable and marginalized individuals and their families within our service area, Manitowoc County and the surrounding Lakeshore Region.
I consistently witness Holy Family Memorial staff and volunteers welcoming the stranger with warm smiles, thoughtful, kind acts and gestures of real concern. Our entire team of healthcare professionals, from our housekeeping staff to our cardiologists, brings healing to the sick through compassionate service, respect for human dignity and the personal expertise that is theirs to share.
Being in pastoral care, my staff and I regularly offer counsel to the doubtful as family decisions need to be made regarding advance directives and other end-of-life issues.
Giving comfort to the afflicted is a daily fact as one is surrounded by others who are suffering severe illnesses, an unexpected family crisis or from multiple chronic health challenges.
I have grown spiritually in my role as Mission and Pastoral Care director. I truly appreciate the opportunities which are presented to me each day for spiritual services and comfort-giving.  These are life-changing and life-saving events for others. It is truly a privilege and a joy: the way that we can become ‘merciful like the Father’ if we are open and willing.
Sister Rochelle Kerkhof, OSF

(Editor’s Note: Earlier this year, Mississippi Catholic requested reflections from the orders of consecrated people serving in the Diocese of Jackson as a way to celebrate the Year for Consecrated Life. Religious wishing to submit a reflection should send it to editor@mississippicatholic.com.)