Carlisle Beggerly is assigned to the chancery offices.
Andrew Bowden and Ryan Stoer are assigned to Camp Friendship in Pontotoc.
Andrew Nguyen is assigned to he Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle in Jackson and will minister at St. Dominic Hospital.
Cesar Sanchez is assigned to Canton Sacred Heart Parish and will minister at St. Dominic Hospital.
Tristan Stovall is assigned to Clarksdale St. Elizabeth Parish.

By Michael Banks
CLARKSDALE – On the grounds of a church that was formed in the days of segregation, white students from a Minnesota college entertained and formed friendships with black children from Clarksdale on a recent weekday afternoon.
This marks the ninth year that students from St. Catherine’s University in St. Paul and Minneapolis, have come to Clarksdale to assist and learn more about the people of the Mississippi Delta. They are here for two weeks to learn more about others and also about themselves.
For Abby McCall, a Superior, Wis., native who is in the final year of the graduate program at St. Catherine’s, this was her first trip to the Delta.
“Every experience has been eye-opening, but the people are very hospitable and welcoming. It’s been very inviting,” said McCall, who has plans to be a physical therapist and work with patients who have suffered brain injuries.
“It was my hope to be exposed to people and work more with children,” she said. “I really like being able to interact with the kids on a personal level.”
In the afternoons, the nine St. Catherine students conducted an afterschool camp for children ages 5 to 14. The camp was held on the grounds of and with the assistance of members of the Immaculate Conception Parish.

During the mornings, the students did volunteer work at the Care Station and exercised with clients at the S.L.A. Jones Senior Activity Center and the students at George H. Oliver Elementary School. They also spent time ministering to the patients at the Clarksdale Children’s Clinic.
David Chapman, an associate professor at St. Catherine’s, said it is the program’s goal to promote physical activity and fitness, as well as increase awareness of good nutrition for all age groups.
“Hopefully we’re able to meet some needs of the community and learn social and political structure and how it impacts health,” Chapman said.
During the two weeks they are in Clarksdale, the students stay in the former sister’s rectory on the church campus. The weekend was filled with a night at the Ground Zero Blues Club and then a tour of the National Civil Rights Museum and blues festival in Memphis, Tenn. Sunday consisted of a trip to Oxford and a visit to Ole Miss.
The visit is part of a one-credit course for the students, Chapman said. Once they return to campus, each student will give a two-minute, self-reflection report to their classmates on what the experience meant to them.
“If anything, it helps them be aware of their own biases they may have,” Chapman said, noting that this if often the first trip to the Deep South for most of the students.
They learn “cultural competence” and become mindful of how things are done in different parts of the country, as well as the social, economic and political influences of each community and their impact on health care.
The program came about due to a collaboration between the late Sister Manette Durand, who was a Midwestern native but was serving in Clarksdale, and Dr. Jyothi Gupta, an instructor at St. Catherine’s. Sister Manette, who passed away in October 2015, was a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, which helped form St. Catherine’s University in 1905.
Christine McDaniel, a member of Immaculate Conception and one of those who works behind the scenes in organizing the event each year, said there have been years when they have close to 100 children in the afterschool camp.
And while church members give the students “a taste of the Delta” with a soul food supper of smothered cabbage, barbecued neck bones, corn on the cob, collared greens and cobbler cake, she believes both the students and Clarksdale benefit.
“The last day is the most emotional,” McDaniel said. “We see a lot of hugs and tears.”

(This story was reprinted with permission from the Clarksdale Press Register.)

By Maureen Smith
PEARL – More than a dozen catechists gathered at St. Jude Parish the week of August 18 to conclude a week of training in Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. This group is finishing the third and final level of training, almost 300 hours in all, so they can now guide students through the program appropriate for their age.

PEARL – Catechists from Jackson-area churches read the story of Moses and discuss how to guide students through it using the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd during a training in August. (Photos by Maureen Smith)

Catechesis of the Good Shepherd is a Montessori-based program in which students and their teachers work together to learn and explore their faith. There are three atriums, or learning environments, students and teachers use for the program, one for ages three to six, a second for ages six to nine and the third for ages nine to 12.
“It’s just so wonderful. It’s not the kids sitting in a desk and us teaching them like they do in school. It’s completely different. It’s centered around the work of the child and what they need and so for the kids it’s so different from what they have seen all week,” explained Stacy Wolf, coordinator of Faith Formation at St. Jude. “To come into a room that’s built for them and it’s a place of prayer and God – they can just slow down and take time to read the Bible and just talk about it,” she continued.
She said she likes that students can take Scripture at their own level so they are not reading it with the worry that they will have to take a test. The process is “organic and the students have time to do the work and to choose where the Holy Spirit is leading them – not everyone has to be doing the same thing,” said Wolf.
She and teachers from eight other area churches, including representatives from Baptist and Episcopal congregations, formed an association to make trainings such as this one easier. Each level of training can take 90 hours so being able to offer it to larger groups makes the process easier and more cost-effective for the churches and trainers alike. This training drew a catechist from Alabama and another from Florida.
The formation leader for this training was Donna Turner from Memphis. She said she first found out about Catechesis of the Good Shepherd back in 1994 when she was teaching children at her parish. She did not feel like the curriculum she was using fit the needs or capacity of her students so she spoke to her pastor about seeking new programs. She fell in love with Catechesis of the Good Shepherd almost immediately. “I love that it is a gift for the children, but as much as it is a gift for us as the adults who also do the work so it is really a beautiful way I think God draws all of us to him, ” she said.
Turner said the program is more than just lesson plans, it works with what people want and need. “Relationship – that relationship with Jesus, the relationship with the Good Shepherd, is one of their greatest needs and Catechesis of the Good Shepherd provides the right food to nurture that,” said Turner.
During the training on Friday, August 25, participants took turns reading the story of Moses and his confrontation with Pharaoh. They discussed how they reacted to the story and how they would expect the students to react. Turner took out cards with images from the story on them and a small group sat on the floor to talk about the items and their role in the story. One of the things catechists who use this program learn is that they will also have to do the work with their students.

Stacy Wolf from St. Jude Parish, left, Donna Turner from Memphis and a third catechist Catherine Bishop from St. Andrew’s Episcopal Cathedral, Jackson talk about images from Bible stories as part of their Catechesis of the Good Shepherd training.

Each atrium has items designed for the students who will use it. Smaller children may use a wooden shepherd, sheep and little fences to better understand the story of the good shepherd while older students may set up a small altar or create their own artwork to go with a story that appeals to them. Each age group will take on different topics, but ultimately, the students select what work they want to do.
The association is able to work with catechists who are worried about the cost of training or setting up an atrium. The association will offer a Level I training this year at a local Episcopal Church in the Jackson area. Anyone interested in learning more about local training should contact Stacy Wolf at St. Jude, 601-939-3181 or by email at ccd@stjudepearl.org.