DUBUQUE, Iowa – Sister Nona Meyerhofer, OSF, a member of the Sisters of St. Francis, celebrated her
Double Diamond Jubilee (70 years) on Sunday, June 18, at Mount St. Francis Center in Dubuque.
Sister Nona served as a teacher and educator in Iowa and Illinois and served from 1999 – 2009 at Excel, Inc., Morton, Mississippi, as director and teacher. In June of 2009 Sister Nona retired to Mount Saint Francis Center in Dubuque, Iowa.
Sister Rita Goedken, OSF, a member of the Sisters of St. Francis, of Dubuque, celebrated her Diamond Jubilee (60 years) on Saturday, June 17, at Mount St. Francis Center in Dubuque.
Sister Rita is the daughter of Alfred and Loretta (Koch) Goedken and is blessed to be one of their 12 children. She attended SS. Peter and Paul School in Petersburg, St. Boniface High School in New Vienna, and Briar Cliff College in Sioux City, Iowa. Later she did graduate work at Central Michigan University and at St. Bonaventure University in Olean, New York. Over the years, she taught at Aquin Elementary School, Cascade, Iowa; St. Joe, Bode, Iowa; St. Paul School, Eugene, Oregon; and Our Lady Help of Christians School, Saginaw, Michigan. She has served in parish ministry at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in
Chesaning, Michigan, St. Patrick Parish in Palms, Michigan and at St. Victor Parish in Monroe, Wisconsin. After serving on the Sisters of St. Francis’ leadership team, she traveled to Morton, Mississippi, and served as the program coordinator for the Learning Center. Now living at Mount St. Francis Center, Sister Rita continues to be immensely grateful for a life of rich blessings.
“God is good all the time. All the time, God is good!” said Sister Rita on the occasion of her Jubilee.
Cards can be sent to Sister Nona and Sister Rita at 3390 Windsor Ave., Dubuque, IA 52001.
By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) – In a church that “bears the signs of serious crises of mistrust and lack of credibility,” members of the assembly of the Synod of Bishops will be asked to find ways to build community, encourage the contribution of every baptized person and strengthen the church’s primary mission of sharing the Gospel, said the working document for the October gathering.
“A synodal church is founded on the recognition of a common dignity deriving from baptism, which makes all who receive it sons and daughters of God, members of the family of God, and therefore brothers and sisters in Christ, inhabited by the one Spirit and sent to fulfil a common mission,” said the document, which was released at the Vatican June 20.
However, it said, many Catholics around the world report that too many baptized persons – particularly LGBTQ+ Catholics, the divorced and civilly remarried, the poor, women and people with disabilities – are excluded from active participation in the life of the church and, particularly, from its decision-making structures.
The people who presented the working document for the Synod of Bishops pose for a photo in the Vatican press office June 20, 2023. From the left are Helena Jeppesen-Spuhler, a synod participant from Switzerland; Sister Nadia Coppa, president of the women’s International Union of Superiors General; Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary-general of the synod; Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, relator general of the synod; and Jesuit Father Giacomo Costa, a consultant to the synod. (CNS photo/Cindy Wooden)
Based on the input from listening sessions held around the world since October 2021 and, especially, from reports submitted from continental and regional synod sessions earlier this year, the working document asks members of the synod to focus their prayer, discussion and discernment on three priorities:
– Communion, asking: “How can we be more fully a sign and instrument of union with God and of the unity of all humanity?”
– “Co-responsibility in mission: How can we better share gifts and tasks in the service of the Gospel?”
– “Participation, governance and authority: What processes, structures and institutions are needed in a missionary synodal church?”
The first synod assembly, scheduled for Oct. 4-29, “will have the task of discerning the concrete steps which enable the continued growth of a synodal church, steps that it will then submit to the Holy Father,” the document said. Some questions, perhaps many of them, will require further discernment and study with the help of theologians and canon lawyers, which is why a second assembly of the synod will be held in October 2024.
Even then, resolving every issue raised in the synod listening sessions is unlikely, the document said. But “characteristic of a synodal church is the ability to manage tensions without being crushed by them.”
The working document includes worksheets with questions “for discernment” that synod members will be asked to read and pray with before arriving in Rome.
One of them asks, “What concrete steps can the church take to renew and reform its procedures, institutional arrangements and structures to enable greater recognition and participation of women, including in governance, decision-making processes and in the taking of decisions, in a spirit of communion and with a view to mission?”
“Most of the continental assemblies and the syntheses of several episcopal conferences,” it said, “call for the question of women’s inclusion in the diaconate to be considered. Is it possible to envisage this, and in what way?”
A printed copy of the “Instrumentum Laboris,” or working document, for the world Synod of Bishops on synodality is seen in the Vatican press office June 20, 2023. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)
As the synod process has taken place, questions have been raised about the relationship between participation in the life of the church and the call to conversion, the document said, which raises “the question of whether there are limits to our willingness to welcome people and groups, how to engage in dialogue with cultures and religions without compromising our identity, and our determination to be the voice of those on the margins and reaffirm that no one should be left behind.”
Another tension highlighted in the process involves shared responsibility in a church that believes its hierarchical structure is willed by Christ and is a gift.
The working document reported a “strong awareness that all authority in the church proceeds from Christ and is guided by the Holy Spirit. A diversity of charisms without authority becomes anarchy, just as the rigor of authority without the richness of charisms, ministries and vocations becomes dictatorship.”
But the document asked members to discuss, think and pray about ways that authority can be exercised more as leadership that empowers shared responsibility and creativity.
“How can we renew and promote the bishop’s ministry from a missionary synodal perspective?” it asked.
“How should the role of the bishop of Rome (the pope) and the exercise of his primacy evolve in a synodal church?” the document said. The question echoed St. John Paul II’s invitation in his 1995 encyclical, “Ut Unum Sint,” (“That They May be One”), for an ecumenical exploration “to find a way of exercising the primacy which, while in no way renouncing what is essential to its mission, is nonetheless open to a new situation.”
The working document also asked synod members to consider ways more priests, religious and laypeople could be involved in the process of choosing bishops.
Throughout the listening sessions at every level, the document said, people recognized that Catholics cannot share fully in the spiritual discernment needed for true co-responsibility without further education in the Christian faith, Catholic social teaching and in the process of discernment itself and how it differs from simply discussing a problem and voting on possible solutions. In particular, it said, “all those who exercise a ministry need formation to renew the ways of exercising authority and decision-making processes in a synodal key, and to learn how to accompany community discernment and conversation in the Spirit.”
“Candidates for ordained ministry must be trained in a synodal style and mentality,” it said, and the seminary curriculum must be revised “so that there is a clearer and more decisive orientation toward formation for a life of communion, mission and participation.”
FLORENCE, Italy – Jeffery Walton, a life-long member of St. Paul Flowood, was consecrated to the vocation of Clerical Oblate with the Institute of Christ the King at its international seminary in the Archdiocese of Florence, Italy, on July 3, 2023. Abbé Jeffery received his vestments for ministry as a sign of offering his life to God in service to the Catholic Church. Oblates serve as assistants to priests, with various functions in liturgical celebrations and charitable work within the Institute. Jeffery completed his formation at St. Frances de Sales Oratory in St. Louis, Missouri, and will receive his new assignment on Aug. 1. (Photo by Monica Walton)
By Joe Lee MADISON – Almost 25 years ago, Ronnie Russell had a moment that some might call an epiphany. “I’d been the director of corporate security for the McRae’s stores in Jackson since 1977. I made a comfortable living, but it was time to get off the merry-go-round,” said Russell, who just announced his retirement as band director after 19 years at St. Joseph Catholic School in Madison. “After I left, I did a lot of thinking. I figured half my life was over. What did I want to leave behind when I was gone?”
Russell grew up in Jackson and graduated from Wingfield High School in 1973 before earning a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Ole Miss.
“My first attraction to music was at Hillcrest Baptist Church near my home,” he said. “A musician who led the singing at a revival pulled out a trumpet and played hymns on it. I thought that was the coolest thing ever and knew what I wanted to do.”
MADISON – Ronnie Russell pictured with several members of his first St. Joe band in 2004. Russell just announced his retirement as band director after 19 years at St. Joseph School in Madison. (Photo courtesy of Ronnie Russell)
By his late twenties, Russell and his music buddies had a regular Friday night big-band gig at the Capital Towers building in downtown Jackson. Still, his dream of teaching music wouldn’t come true until he was put in touch in 2004 with the late Bill Heller, the St. Joe principal at the time.
“He was looking to get the school band re-started,” Russell said. “I remember talking to him on the phone in the Clinton Walmart parking lot – he pretty much hired me sight unseen.
“Without Bill Heller, the St. Joe Fine Arts Building would not be there. As I go back and watch recordings of some of our old music programs, Bill would introduce me as ‘the answer to his prayers.’ He didn’t know it, but St. Joe was the answer to my prayers, too.”
Father Aaron Williams, ordained as a priest in 2018 and at St. Mary Basilica in Natchez since May 2022, graduated from St. Joe in 2010. His seventh-grade year coincided with Russell’s arrival.
“I was one of three students in my grade who learned the trumpet, and within our class we were able to play the three parts of musical pieces together,” Williams said. “Ronnie was always very encouraging, even if I doubted my own ability.”
“The band was so small when I started, it was referred to as more of a jazz ensemble,” said Cole Riley, a 2008 St. Joe graduate and now a dentist in Lake Charles, Louisiana. “I had played guitar for a few years but wasn’t formally trained. Mr. Russell really helped me with reading music notation, especially the rhythm parts and lead sheets that he would compose and hand-write for us.
“I was blown away by his devotion to us and musical knowledge. I had never heard of Tower of Power, Weather Report and Herbie Hancock until that point in my life.”
Riley added that while Russell was the kind of teacher that felt like a friend, there was no question that band members were expected to work hard and do things the right way. Those concepts were drilled into a much younger Ronnie Russell two generations ago.
“In one of my high school yearbooks, a history teacher wrote, ‘I wish you would worry a little more,’” Russell said. “I’d planned to be a professional musician – a rock and roll star – and the truth was that I was wasting my time in school. I was also fortunate to have a private teacher named Ralph Guthrie that was very blunt. I needed that honesty back then, and today I’m very old school. I don’t believe in coddling and participation trophies.”
Russell sought tirelessly to include everyone that wanted to contribute to the St. Joe band program, regardless of skill level, and that desire included working just as hard with students that struggled with social and communication skills.
“From being one of the earliest teachers to arrive in the morning to staying late arranging music for all the parts of the band, his dedication was unmatched,” said Kathryn Sckiets Blanchard, campus minister at St. Joe and a 2013 graduate. “I watched the band and the whole Fine Arts Department go from trailers by the lake to the brand-new Fine Arts Building, and I saw Mr. Russell move into the office he deserved.
“He once said that with the exception of his family, we were the most important people in his life.”
Russell continues to offer private instruction at First Baptist Church of Jackson and remains a crucial part of the annual Carols by Candlelight performances that pack the FBC sanctuary and are viewed by thousands on YouTube. He cherishes the opportunity to play with his grandson, Parker Thames, a rising junior at Clinton High School who plays first trumpet in the FBC Jackson orchestra.
“I never won anything when my students won — they did,” Russell said. “You give them the direction you think is best, and you applaud when they succeed. When they fail, you help them back up and say, ‘We’ll get them next time.’
“It starts with loving the kids. That’s what I feel for them.”
MOBILE – It’s graduation season! Deacon Wesley Lindsay, Patti Greene, Deacon Mark Bowden and Deacon David Rouch each graduated with a masters in theology from Spring Hill College on Saturday, May 6. (Photo by Rhonda Bowden)
Fifth graders from several Catholic schools in the diocese attended the annual Chrism Mass on Tuesday, April 4 with Bishop Joseph Kopacz and got a chance to speak to diocesan seminarians and Sister Amelia Breton about vocations. Students also received a tour of the Cathedral of St. Peter with Chancellor Mary Woodward. (Photos by Joanna Puddister King)
PEARL
PEARL – Parishioners process behind Father Jofin George on Palm Sunday at St. Jude. (Photos by Rhonda Bowden)
JACKSON – The Holy Spirit enters the Chrism at Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle. (Photo by Rhonda Bowden)
PEARL – The Paschal candle is lit at St. Jude parish by Deacon John McGregor. (Photos by Tereza Ma)
By Joanna Puddister King JACKSON – The Diocese of Jackson celebrates two ordinations this year, giving the faithful across the diocese an opportunity to join in this special chapter in the life of the church.
Deacon Carlisle Beggerly will be ordained to the priesthood on Saturday, May 27 at 10:30 a.m. at the Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle in Jackson. The ordination is open to all. There will be reserved seating for family members and a reception will follow where all may receive a blessing from the newly ordained. After ordination, Beggerly will celebrate his first Mass in his home parish of Immaculate Conception in West Point on Sunday, May 28 at 9 a.m.
A priestly assignment for Beggerly will be announced in the near future. On Saturday, May 20 at 10:30 a.m. seminarian Tristan Stovall will be ordained to the transitional diaconate for the diocese.
Typically, transitional deacons spend one final year in seminary before priestly ordination. Men ordained as transitional deacons do so with the intention of becoming a priest.
Shortly after his ordination, Stovall will be joining Father Nick Adam and other diocesan seminarians on a two-month immersion trip to Cuernavaca, Mexico, located outside of Mexico City at the Benedictine Monastery of Our Lady of the Angels. Father Nick says that the purpose of the trip is to aid seminarians with Spanish language fluency by the time of ordination to the priesthood.
After the immersion experience, Stovall will embark on his diaconal assignment at the Basilica of St. Mary and Cathedral School in Natchez with Father Aaron Williams.
Please keep both ordination candidates in your prayers as they prepare for entry into Holy Orders for the diocese and service to People of God.
Deacon Carlisle Beggerly will be ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Jackson on Saturday, May 27.Tristan Stovall will be ordained to the transitional diaconate in preparation for the priesthood for the Diocese of Jackson on Saturday, May 20.
WALLS – Priests of the Sacred Heart, Inc. dba Sacred Heart Southern Missions (SHSM), announced that Timothy Courts has been named as president and chief executive officer. Father Jack Kurps, SCJ, who has been president and CEO for 36 years, will continue on as spiritual director of the organization.
Father Jack Kurps announced his decision to step back as President and CEO to staff last Friday at a prayer service and luncheon in celebration of the 100th anniversary of ministry the Priests of the Sacred Heart in the United States.
Courts began as Sacred Heart Southern Missions president and CEO on May 1, 2023 and is uniquely qualified for his new role. He attended Sacred Heart School in Walls, Mississippi, before attending Southaven High School. Before earning a Bachelors of Business Administration, Management Information Systems at the University of Memphis in September of 1993, he worked part-time at SHSM as a maintenance helper before transferring to computer assistant in March of 1992. He rose to information systems manager in 1995, director of management information systems in 1999 and transferred to director of operations in 2003.
WALLS – Timothy Courts was named president and chief executive officer of Sacred Heart Southern Mission (SHSM) on Monday, May 1. Courts is committed to breaking the cycle of poverty, as the organization serves families across northern Mississippi. (Photo courtesy of Sacred Heart Southern Missions)
Courts resigned in 2004 and began working at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital before moving to Methodist LeBonheur Healthcare in 2007 to become the micro applications implementation manager before being promoted to director of information security. He left Methodist LeBonheur Healthcare and returned to SHSM as director of finance in February of 2015. In his role as director of finance he oversaw the finance, information system, human resources and facilities departments. He was promoted to executive director of corporate services in November of 2022. Courts also earned a Masters of Business Administration from the Executive MBA program at the University of Memphis and is a licensed Certified Public Accountant in both Mississippi and Tennessee. Courts said: “I am honored and humbled to have been appointed to lead Sacred Heart Southern Missions. I have been affiliated with the organization my whole life and believe in its mission and that of the Priests of the Sacred Heart. I look forward to working with the SHSM team to break the cycle of poverty, as we serve the thousands of financially struggling individuals and families across northern Mississippi who depend on us and the tens of thousands of donors across the United States who support our mission.”
Provincial Superior of the Priests of the Sacred Heart US Province Father Vien Nguyen, SCJ, said to the SHSM staff, “With the approval of the Provincial Council of the US Province and the approval of the Sacred Heart Southern Missions board of directors, I appoint Tim Courts as president and CEO of Sacred Heart Southern Missions. With this appointment, Tim will collaborate with you and with the Priests of the Sacred Heart, and the Diocese of Jackson to carry out the mission of church, the mission of the Priests of the Sacred Heart and the mission of Sacred Heart Southern Missions.”
“On behalf of the Priests of the Sacred Heart and the board of directors of Sacred Heart Southern Missions,” Father Nguyen continued, “I would also like to thank Rev. Jack Kurps’ ministry to carry on the Dehonian mission in northern Mississippi and for his love and dedication to the people and the staff.”
Father Jack became executive director of SHSM in 1987. “As I look back on 36 years of ministry here in Mississippi, there is much that has been accomplished,” he said. “Our HIV/AIDS ministry began in the early 90s when a diagnosis was a death sentence. The program continues to serve a very important need with all the stigma that is often associated with the disease. Our Dehon Village and the Dehon Learning Center provides affordable housing and adult life skill development. Our food pantry has become a major program and serves a tremendous need. Our volunteer program matches the desire of individuals to give of themselves with people who need help and our volunteer housing makes it possible for groups to come from around the country to assist others. Merging Sacred Heart League back into Sacred Heart Southern Missions removed some of the duplication of efforts and made us a stronger organization. I will take credit for some ideas – but often my contribution was to green light the ideas and suggestions of others. SHSM is blessed with a dedicated staff. I look forward to continuing to be part of SHSM and I will assist Tim in any way he asks. With Tim, SHSM is in good hands. SHSM is in his blood.”
Since 1942, Sacred Heart Southern Missions (SHSM) with the help of generous volunteers and donors, has been helping those living in poverty experience God’s love and mercy through food, clothing, housing, education, spiritual enrichment and other assistance.
From their humble beginnings, with one priest in one church in one small town, they have grown to include six parishes, two Catholic elementary schools, eight social services offices, housing, a thrift store and food pantries serving thousands of people each year. For more information visit: www.shsm.org.
TUPELO – St. James Happy Hearts meets at the parish once a month for a healing Mass followed by a lunch and a monthly inspired activity. Pictured are Margaret Smith and Deborah Mahaffey preparing their canvases for the revealing of individual abstract painting. (Photo by Michelle Harkins)
