American Parish: CNS reporter features Greenwood communities

By Patricia Zapor
GREENWOOD (CNS) – Franciscan Father Gregory Plata is the key to one example of how Catholic parishes are dealing with the decline in the number of priests.
He’s pastor of two small, geographically close, but vastly dissimilar parishes in Greenwood. Three missions and a struggling school also are his responsibility. Combined they serve 2,385 square miles of the Mississippi Delta, where Catholics have always been few and scattered.
As part of a look at how different types of parishes handle contemporary challenges, Catholic News Service reporters visited churches around the United States over the past few years. This package of stories, American Parish, presents a glance at some of the kinds of communities that Pope Francis might see if he had the time to visit a variety of parishes on his visit to the United States.
Workloads like Father Plata’s, with responsibilities for multiple parishes and missions, are one way U.S. dioceses have adapted to deal with a 35 percent decline in the number of priests since 1965.
Fifty years ago, the nation’s 17,637 parishes and 49 million Catholics were served by 58,632 priests. Today, nearly the same number of parishes – 17,458 – accommodate 31 million more Catholics, with 38,275 priests.
Until last summer when some Redemptorist missionaries came to do Hispanic outreach in the Greenwood area, it was just Father Plata and a retired priest covering the four weekend and five weekday Masses, and all pastoral needs for hospital and home visits and sacraments at two parishes and three missions scattered across Leflore County.
Three miles across town at Immaculate Heart of Mary, the older of the two churches in Greenwood where Father Plata also is pastor, a paid staff of three manages day-to-day functions. That includes a joint religious education program for both parishes. About 300 families are in Immaculate Heart Parish and 200 at St. Francis.
Volunteers in the two parishes and the missions make nearly everything else possible.
At St. Francis School, thin resources mean the teachers are mostly retired public school employees, who can only afford to work there because they have pensions to supplement their low pay, acknowledged the principal, Franciscan Sister Mary Ann Tupy.
As when the Franciscans opened the St. Francis Mission – first a school and then the church – as an outreach to impoverished African-Americans at the height of civil rights tensions, the order’s missionary commitment continues. Besides Father Plata and Sister Mary Ann, Franciscan Brother Craig Wilking, development director, finds the school grants and other forms of financial support. A retired military chaplain, Franciscan Father Adam Szufel, is in residence at St. Francis, celebrating Mass and helping ensure the mission churches get regular visits from a priest.
In the past year, the Redemptorists established a presence in the county, primarily to serve the growing population of Hispanic immigrants. One has been living at St. Francis and joining Father Plata and Father Szufel in pastoral services.
The ongoing commitment of the Franciscans to Greenwood was further stretched a few years ago, when Father Plata was asked to also serve as pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary because of a shortage of priests in the Diocese of Jackson.
The two parishes traditionally have been home to distinct communities. Although the days have passed when blacks were pointedly told they were unwelcome at Immaculate Heart, few African-Americans worship there regularly.
On the other hand, the formerly all-black congregation of St. Francis includes a handful of white regulars, who either find the Mass schedule suits them better or, as several said, they appreciate the more multicultural community and lively liturgies. St. Francis’ growth in the last decade has come largely from Hispanics, leading Father Plata to schedule a weekly Spanish Mass, which is generally better attended than the English one.
Marc Biggers, a lifelong Immaculate Heart parishioner, said that since his childhood the black and white communities of Greenwood have come a long way toward being comfortable with each other.
“The last 10 to 15 years we’ve really mingled a lot better,” he said. Sharing a pastor has helped. “At first the transition to having a Franciscan was kind of awkward,” he said. “But I think it’s working.”
Katherine Fisher a parishioner at St. Francis, said she does not go to Immaculate Heart for Mass primarily because she has so many obligations at St. Francis. But she and other African-Americans expressed some lingering discomfort with their Catholic counterparts across town, largely dating to the racial tensions of decades ago.
A cracked blue window pane above the front door at St. Francis has intentionally been left unrepaired since someone shot a gun at the church in the 1960s, a pointed reminder of the struggles faced by the Franciscans and the parishioners.
Father Plata described the sentiments within the two parishes toward each other as “not exactly a division, but more that people are more comfortable in their own cultures.”
Immaculate Heart parishioner Dave Becker is among those who recognized that while the two churches have quite different cultures, they will need more and more consolidation if the Catholic presence in Greenwood is to survive.

Cardinal, other leaders advocate for prison reform in advance of papal visit

By Richard Szczepanowski
WASHINGTON (CNS) – As part of the Walk With Francis Pledge campaign to benefit the local community and reach out to those in need in the days leading to Pope Francis’ Sept. 22-24 visit to Washington, a group of Christian leaders is advocating for “a fair and more welcoming” criminal justice system in this country.
Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl of Washington joined with other Christian leaders Sept. 11 to advocate for a criminal justice system that “aids those who have paid their debt (to society) and are ready to rejoin us.”
“Criminal justice reform is something that we’ve talked about. It’s been on our radar screen for a while,” the cardinal said. “We want a system that says, ‘We welcome you back into our society. We welcome you back into our community. We welcome you back to be a productive member of society.’”
The Christian leaders, in a news conference organized by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said Pope Francis’ visit to the United States is an opportune time to advocate for sentencing reform laws and laws to counter recidivism. Pope Francis is a frequent visitor to those in prison, and will visit prisoners at a Philadelphia correctional center Sept. 27.
“During this momentous visit, we will walk with Francis when he speaks to Congress, visits the White House and addresses the United Nations,” said Jonathan Reyes, executive director of the USCCB’s Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development. “We will also Walk with Francis when he visits Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility in Philadelphia.”
Reyes noted that the United States – with its estimated 2.3 million people in prison – represents 5 percent of the world’s population and 25 percent of the world’s prison population. He added that one in three African-American males will at one time or another be incarcerated.
“There is currently an active debate on (criminal justice) reform that is bipartisan and interreligious,” Reyes said. He said that as lawmakers consider reform legislation, “this is a great moment to walk with Francis.”
The Walk With Francis Pledge campaign – jointly sponsored the Archdiocese of Washington and its Catholic Charities arm – invites people to serve others in their community and then share their pledge on social media. The pledge involves three ways to “Walk with Francis” – through prayer and learning about the faith; through charitable service to others; and through taking action to spread the Gospel in families, workplaces and public policy.
“Pope Francis gives us a very visible sign how to care for those incarcerated. His is a pastoral approach,” Reyes said.
Msgr. John Enzler, the president and CEO of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington, pointed out that Catholic Charities has for nearly two decades run a Welcome Home Program to assist those how have formerly been incarcerated.
“This is an effort to say, ‘We are here to greet you; we are here to welcome you,’” the priest said. He said the program offers former prisoners a variety of assistance, including mentoring, and support with employment, housing, health issues and counseling. He said the program assisted 1,100 people last year.
“We are not huge, but we are effective,” he said.
Rudolph Washington, who is currently in the Welcome Home Program, said his participation “has given me a new lease on life and helped me learn about myself. I am grateful.”

U.S. bishops support aid to refugees from war-torn Middle East

WASHINGTON (CNS) — The U.S. Catholic Church “stands ready to help” in efforts to assist refugees fleeing war-torn countries in the Middle East, said the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Sept. 10.
Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky, also that Catholics in the U.S. and “all people of good will should express openness and welcome to refugees fleeing Syria and elsewhere in order to survive.”    Tens of thousands of people from Syria and other countries are “fleeing into Europe in search of protection,” he said, adding that images of those “escaping desperate” circumstances “have captured the world’s attention and sympathy.”
The archbishop noted that Catholic Relief Services, the U.S. bishops’ overseas relief and development agency, has been providing humanitarian aid to refugees in the Middle East and Europe, and in the U.S., he said, “nearly 100 Catholic Charities agencies and hundreds of parishes” assist refugees coming into the country each year.
Archbishop Kurtz’s statement follows Pope Francis urging Catholics in Europe to respond to the needs of refugees entering their countries.    He expressed solidarity with the pope, the bishops of Syria, the Middle East and Europe, “and all people who have responded to this humanitarian crisis with charity and compassion.”
The archbishop called on the U.S. government “to assist more robustly the nations of Europe and the Middle East in protecting and supporting these refugees and in helping to end this horrific conflict, so refugees may return home in safety.”
The Obama administration announced that it was planning to accept 10,000 Syrian refugees in the coming fiscal year. However, an AP story said they are “already in the pipeline” waiting to be admitted to the U.S. and are not part of the flood of people currently entering Eastern Europe to make their way to other countries.
“In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus, Mary and Joseph flee the terror of Herod,” Archbishop Kurtz said in his statement. “They are the archetype of every refugee family. Let us pray that the Holy Family watches over the thousands of refugee families in Europe and beyond at this time.”

Jackson priests already empowered to absolve

By Nancy O’Brien
BALTIMORE (CNS) – Pope Francis’ Sept. 1 announcement that priests worldwide will be able to absolve women for the sin of abortion will have little effect on pastoral practices in the United States and Canada, where most priests already have such authority in the sacrament of reconciliation. Priests in the Diocese of Jackson have had the authority for many years, but ,many hope secular media coverage of the announcement may lead some to seek reconciliation who had been reluctant in the past.
“It is my understanding that the faculty for the priest to lift the ‘latae sententiae’ excommunication for abortion is almost universally granted in North America,” said Don Clemmer, interim director of media relations for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
“Latae sententiae” is a Latin term in canon law that means excommunication for certain crimes, including involvement in abortion, is automatic. Clemmer said it is “the fiat of the local bishop” whether to allow the priests in his diocese to absolve those sins and most bishops granted such permission when giving priests faculties to minister in their local church.
Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger of Albany, New York, confirmed that in a Sept. 1 statement welcoming what he called the pope’s “wonderful gesture.”
“Any woman who has had an abortion, any person who has been involved in an abortion in any way, can always seek God’s forgiveness through the sacrament of reconciliation, if they are truly sorry for their actions.”
Several prelates, including Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia, emphasized that Pope Francis’ action “in no way diminishes the moral gravity of abortion.”
“What it does do is make access to sacramental forgiveness easier for anyone who seeks it with a truly penitent heart,” he said.
Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley of Boston, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, said his “hope and prayer is that all those carrying the burden of an experience of abortion would turn to the church and her sacraments and experience the Lord’s mercy and love.”
Catholic moral theologian Charles Camosy, noted that the pope’s words about abortion and forgiveness bore a striking resemblance to the words of Pope St. John Paul II in his 1995 encyclical, “Evangelium Vitae.”
Addressing women who have had abortions, Pope John Paul wrote, “If you have not already done so, give yourselves over with humility and trust to repentance. The Father of mercies is ready to give you his forgiveness and his peace in the sacrament of reconciliation.”
New teaching or not, Albany’s Bishop Scharfenberger expressed hope that women will take advantage of this opportunity.
“The real news is that there is no need to wait,” he said. “God is ready to forgive and heal now!”

Annulment process amended, shortened

By Cindy Wooden
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – While a juridical process is necessary for making accurate judgments, the Catholic Church’s marriage annulment process must be quicker, cheaper and much more of a pastoral ministry, Pope Francis said.
Rewriting a section of the Latin-rite Code of Canon Law and of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, Pope Francis said he was not “promoting the nullity of marriages, but the quickness of the processes, as well as a correct simplicity” of the procedures so that Catholic couples are not “oppressed by the shadow of doubt” for prolonged periods.
The Vatican released Sept. 8 the texts of two papal documents, Mitis Iudex Dominus Iesus (The Lord Jesus, the Gentle Judge) for the Latin-rite church and Mitis et misericors Iesus, (The Meek and Merciful Jesus) for the Eastern Catholic churches.
The changes, including the option of a brief process without the obligatory automatic appeal, go into effect Dec. 8, the opening day of the Year of Mercy.
“While it is going to take some time to digest Pope Francis’ procedural reforms to the declaration of marriage nullity process, it is clear that the removal of some of the administrative processes will cut the time it takes for an average petition to reach final judgment,” said Father Jeffery Waldrep, Judicial Vicar for the Diocese of Jackson.
“Some of the significant ways, starting December 8, that the Mitis Iudex Dominus Iesus directly effects the Diocese of Jackson’s Tribunal proceedings are: an automatic appeal to the Court of Second Instance is eliminated; it is normative that a single judge, under the guidance of the local ordinary, is to judge on a case; there is a possibility of an expedited process if explicit requirements are met,” he explained. Cases being heard here are currently sent to the Archdiocese of Mobile for the second instance.
One of the challenges in getting the new process up and running is that the decree is currently only available in Latin and Italian. “It is unfortunate that we do not have an official English translation of the twin moto proprios yet. When we do it is then that we can start working on the finer juridical procedural changes that will be taking effect starting December 8,” said Father Waldrep.
Pope Francis said the changes in the annulment process were motivated by “concern for the salvation of souls,” and particularly “charity and mercy” toward those who feel alienated from the church because of their marriage situations and the perceived complexity of the church’s annulment process.
“While Pope Francis has made some significant procedural changes, it is important to realize that in no way has he compromised the Church’s teaching that a lawful, consummated, sacramental marriage is a bond that cannot be broken by any force other than death,” said Father Waldrep.
The new rules replace canons 1671-1691 of the Code of Canon Law and canons 1357-1377 of the Eastern code. Pope Francis also provided a set of “procedural regulations” outlining how his reforms are to take place, encouraging bishops in small dioceses to train personnel who can handle marriage cases and spelling out specific conditions when a bishop can issue a declaration of nullity after an abbreviated process.
Those conditions include: when it is clear one or both parties lacked the faith to give full consent to a Catholic marriage; when the woman had an abortion to prevent procreation; remaining in an extramarital relationship at the time of the wedding or immediately afterward; one partner hiding knowledge of infertility, a serious contagious disease, children from a previous union or a history of incarceration; and when physical violence was used to extort consent for the marriage.
The reformed processes were drafted by a special committee Pope Francis established a year earlier. Among the criteria he said guided their work, the first he listed was the possibility of there being “only one executive sentence in favor of nullity” when the local bishop or judge delegated by him had the “moral certainty” that the marriage was not valid. Previously an appeal was automatic and a declaration of nullity had to come from two tribunals.
Msgr. Pio Vito Pinto, dean of the Roman Rota, a Vatican court, and president of the commission that drafted the new rules, told reporters that Pope Francis asked for updates throughout the year, sought a review by four “great canonists” not involved in the drafting and in the end adopted the changes with “great seriousness, but also great serenity.”
The changes made by Pope Francis, particularly the responsibility and trust placed in local bishops, are the most substantial changes in the church’s marriage law since the pontificate of Pope Benedict XIV in the mid-1700s, Msgr. Pinto said. Even with the 1917 and 1983 new Codes of Canon Law, the process for recognizing the nullity of a marriage remained “substantially unchanged,” he said.
“Putting the poor at the center is what distinguishes the reform of Pope Francis from those made by Pope Pius X and Pope Benedict XIV,” Msgr. Pinto said.
In fact, Pope Francis ordered that the “gratuity of the procedure be assured so that, in a matter so closely tied to the salvation of souls, the church — by demonstrating to the faithful that she is a generous mother – may demonstrate the gratuitous love of Christ, which saves us all.”
Father Waldrep emphasized that streamlining the process does not water down the reality of marriage. “Many will be affirmed to know that the declaration of nullity process will be easier. Some of the administrative processes that caused significant delays have been eliminated. However, it is fundamental to note that the Church is still focused on discerning the truth according to the Church’s teachings on the nature of marriage. The process might be a bit less cumbersome in some instances but the reality is that nullity will still need to be proven in conscience and with moral certainty,” said Father Waldrep.
Pressed by reporters about how quickly the new procedures will go into effect in dioceses around the world, Msgr. Pinto said it will take some dioceses longer than others to adapt to the new norms and to find ways to finance their tribunals other than charging couples. Couples do not have to pay to request an annulment in the Diocese of Jackson, but they do have to pay if they appeal to Rome once the local process is exhausted.
Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio, president of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, who also was a member of the commission, insisted the pope’s new rules were not about “annulling marriages,” but about recognizing and declaring the nullity of a marriage, in other words, declaring that it never existed as a valid sacrament.
Although the new rules remove the obligation that a declaration of nullity automatically be appealed, he said, it does not remove the right of one of the parties to appeal the decision. However, he said, “and this is a great innovation,” if the appeals court believes the appeal is “obviously a delaying tactic,” the appeals court can issue a decree confirming the nullity of the marriage without a full process.
Msgr. Alejandro Bunge, secretary of the commission and a member of the Roman Rota, said the new processes are motivated by recognition of the church as a “field hospital,” as Pope Francis has described it. “For those who have special injuries – a marriage null from the beginning – we will have intensive care” in the form of more rapid annulment procedures.
While many marriage cases will continue to require time in order to arrive at the truth, he said, the longer procedure will be reserved to those cases in which it is not obvious that the marriage was null from the beginning and in which the couple does not agree that a real marriage never existed.
Byzantine Bishop Dimitrios Salachas of Greece, also a member of the commission that drafted the new rules, said they were urgent for his Eastern church. Some 90 percent of his married faithful are married to a member of the Greek Orthodox Church, which permits second marriages under special penitential provisions.
Most Catholics who have divorced an Orthodox “don’t wait years and years” for the Catholic Church’s double declaration of nullity, he said. “They just leave,” finding it easier to follow the Orthodox Church’s procedures and begin a second union in the Orthodox Church.
The changes, he said, “were necessary, including to keep the Catholics” in the church.

Greenwood parish featured in national series

By Patricia Zapor
WASHINGTON (CNS) – If Pope Francis were to have time on his U.S. visit in September to stop at “typical” parishes, it might take a week or two just to see a representative sample.
Of course, while no two parishes anywhere in the world are exactly alike, North American Catholics who grew up in the middle of the 20th century likely would have felt more or less at home at the time visiting most churches around the United States.
The average parish of those decades probably was not unlike the version found in movies such as “Going My Way,” the Bing Crosby classic. In such parishes, “Father” was in charge of a smooth-running operation, with a couple of priests to assist him. Likely, “Sister” and other religious women ran the school. A handful of laypeople had minor parish support roles, but mostly the laity was found in the pews, bringing their children to school or supporting the church through bingo, carnivals and pancake breakfasts.
Today, changing demographics of the U.S. Catholic population have brought a great deal of variety to parishes – the U.S. church is now 40 percent Latino, a proportion that is rapidly increasing. Fewer Catholics feel compelled to have the kind of every-Sunday commitment to Mass that previous generations did. And an increasingly secularized, mobile and multicultural society has ended the days when one’s neighborhood or the country where one’s parents were born dictated what church the family attended.
But perhaps more than anything else, the changes in the way Catholic parishes function is a byproduct of the dramatic shift in the number of priests. Nearly one in five U.S. parishes lacks a resident priest pastor, according to Georgetown University’s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate. In about 430 parishes – 2.5 percent of all U.S. parishes – the management is in the hands of a deacon or layperson such as a parish life coordinator or lay ecclesial minister.
In a project intended to provide a snapshot of some of the ways the U.S. church functions, over the course of three years, Catholic News Service reporters visited a cross-section of parishes around the country. The churches were chosen because they represent particular types of communities and certain models of parish management. In an unexpected bit of overlap, it turns out that the first parish visited, St. Francis of Assisi in the white, middle-class Midwestern manufacturing town of Manitowoc, Wisconsin, regularly sends parishioners on a summer mission trip to the last parish CNS visited, another St. Francis of Assisi, this one home to mostly African-Americans and Hispanics in the poverty-stricken, rural southern town of Greenwood, Mississippi.
The parishes visited included:
St. Francis of Assisi in Manitowoc; The Church of the Sacred Heart in South Plainfield, New Jersey; St. Ann Parish of Coppell, Texas; Holy Family Parish in South Pasadena, California; Our Lady of Redemption, a Melkite parish in the Detroit suburb of Warren, Michigan. St. John By the Sea, the sole parish on Prince of Wales Island in southeastern Alaska and St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Greenwood, Mississippi, founded by the Franciscan friars to serve African-Americans in the midst of the ugliest days of the civil rights struggles in the South.
The stories will look at how these parishes faced somilar issues. For example, in Manitowoc six parishes were closed or ‘supressed’ to form one city-wide parish that rotates between three worship sites. In the California parish, a lay woman is the boss in the parish, in charge of two full-time priest-ministers, various lay and religous minsiters and three other priests who assist in various ways. The largest parish, St. Anne in Coppell, Texas, boasts more than 30,000 members in 8,900 registered families – more than the entire Diocese of Rapid City, South Dakota. In contrast, St. John by the Sea on Price of Wales Island is only accessible by plane or boat, but serves a huge geographic region.
Stories in the series will look at the state of parish finances, clergy roles, education – both elementary schools and religious education programs – and some non-traditional ways parishes organize themselves today. See the full description of all the parishes visited on www.mississippicatholic.com.
(Look in upcoming editions of Mississippi Catholic for more installments from this series. Dennis Sadowski, in South Plainfield, Mark Pattison in Coppell and Warren, and Nancy Wiechec in Klawock contributed to this story.)

New museums highlight history

By Mary Woodward
JACKSON – On a recent sweltering August morning, Bishop Joseph Kopacz looked out over the construction site of the burgeoning Museum of Mississippi History and Mississippi Civil Rights Museum project in downtown Jackson. The two museum project has been in the works for years and now will come to fruition in time for the Magnolia State’s bicentennial in 2017.
The Museum of Mississippi History will explore the sweep of the state’s history from earliest times to the present. The adjacent Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, the nation’s first state-operated civil rights museum, will examine the struggle for civil rights and equality that changed the course of the state and the nation.
Bishop Kopacz was visiting the site as part of a presentation on the project by Katie Blount, executive director of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH), and Trey Porter, director of community relations at MDAH. Because of it’s long history of involvement in these turbulent times and its commitment to justice and reconciliation, the Diocese of Jackson is sponsoring one of the permanent exhibits in the Civil Rights Museum. During the visit, Bishop Kopacz received an in depth look at the overall project as it has progressed.
Part of the diocese’s plan of support for the project will come in the sharing of artifacts held in the diocesan archives. In terms of the Civil Rights Movement, the diocesan archives holds artifacts and correspondence ranging from documentation of Bishop R. O. Gerow’s integration of Catholic schools to his statement on the assassination of Medgar Evers to his trip to the White House in 1963 at the request of President John Kennedy. These papers reflect the church’s prominent role in seeking justice for all of Mississippi’s people. Therefore Bishop Kopacz wanted the diocese to support the museum project in order to continue that legacy.
The archives also contains papers on the development of Mississippi’s journey to statehood from the earliest times through the eyes of the Catholic faithful and ultimately their bishops. Bishop Gerow indexed and catalogued all the previous six diocesan bishops’ papers he inherited when he became bishop in 1924.
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 now continually updated by the diocesan chancellor’s office, will be scanned and offered to MDAH for its collections and the two museums project.
Constructed side-by-side on North Street in downtown Jackson, the two museums will share space including a lobby, auditorium, store, and classrooms. The complex is being designed by ECD — an architectural consortium composed of Eley Guild Hardy; Cooke Douglass Farr Lemons, Ltd.; and Dale Partners — in consultation with the Freelon Group.
Since construction began in December 2013, all interior floors have been completed. Work on the roof, limestone façade, and public parking garage will be completed in 2015. Phase two, interior construction, will last sixteen months. The Museum of Mississippi History and the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum are scheduled to open in 2017 as the centerpiece of the state’s bicentennial celebration.
The Mississippi Legislature has committed $74 million in bond funds for construction and exhibits for the “2 Mississippi Museums.” The Legislature required a dollar-for-dollar match for the exhibits. The Foundation for Mississippi History and the Foundation for the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum committed to raising $16 million — $12 million for exhibits and $4 million for endowments for the museums. The Foundations are on track to meet that goal. MDAH will seek additional public funds in 2016 to complete the exhibits and furnish the building.
The Mississippi Development Authority’s Tourism Division estimates the two new museums will welcome approximately 180,000 visitors each year. These visitors will create a projected annual tourism impact of $17.1 million in tourism expenditures, 231 direct tourism jobs in the three-county region with an estimated $6.3 million payroll, and 92 indirect jobs with a $3.3 million payroll, contributing $1.2 million to the State General Fund. Even before the museums open, the Mississippi Development Authority estimates the employment and economic impact of construction to be approximately $50 million in total brick and mortar with 500 direct and 275 indirect jobs.
For more information on the project visit the MDAH website at www.mdah.state.ms.us.

Spring Hill College announces fall masters offerings

By Tom Tehan
This fall Spring Hill College (SHC) is offering two classes as part of its extension program available here in the Diocese of Jackson, Christian Social Ethics: War and Peace, taught by Dr. Matthew Bagot and Theology of Sacrament taught by Dr. Joy Blaylock. These classes begin Sept. 7 and end Nov. 14.
Winter classes begin Nov. 16 and end Jan. 30, 2016. They are: Synoptic Gospels taught by Dr. Timothy Carmody and Eucharist taught by Dr. Steven Wilson.
SHC has changed its graduate programs in theology and ministry to new blended-format MTS, MPS and MA programs designed for adult students seeking a part-time graduate program that allows them to continue in their professional or family commitments and still pursue a deeper and more contemporary understanding of Christian faith. There are three masters degree options:   Master of Theological Studies (MTS – 33 credit hours), Master of Pastoral Studies (MPS – 33 credit hours), and Master of Arts in Theology (MA – 48 credit hours).
Spring Hill also offers a graduate certificate program – Certificate of Spiritual Direction (CSD) and an undergraduate certificate program with the option to be completed as an undergraduate bachelor degree – Certificate of Theological Studies (CTS). For more information visit www.shc.edu/grad/theology or by email at theology@shc.edu or call 251-380-4665.
This fall I am registered for Christian Social Ethics. Upon completion of this class I will have a total of 27 credit hours. I plan on taking the class Eucharist in the winter to complete my requirements for the Certificate of Theological Studies. It has been a rewarding four years of study, reflection and developing of research papers. It has not always been easy and at times frustrating; however the rewards and the growing in faith have been well worth the effort. I’ve continued to work a full time job, balancing work, studies, family life and other various commitments.
This past spring I completed the course Synoptic Gospels taught by Dr. Timothy Carmody. This class will be taught again in the winter session.  Synoptic Gospels is the comparison of the gospels written by Matthew, Mark and Luke. The methods of study and comparison of these gospels as taught by Dr. Carmody has left me with a way to study and reflect on the gospels gaining insights that I would otherwise not have been exposed to.
SHC has two levels of courses. Level I classes are taught online with one in person class meeting on a Saturday in either Mobile or Atlanta. Level II courses are all online. The online experience allows students to structure their time as they have available. Typically the class format is as follows:
The instructor will assign the readings for the week and pose a couple of questions to be answered online and shared with the other students in the class. A threaded discussion will follow. The student will prepare a one page response to the reading assignment each week. A midterm six-eight page paper and a final paper will be required based on a question assigned by the instructor. This format varies with each instructor.
(Tom Tehan is a member of Starkville St. Joseph Parish.)

Josephites elect new leader

WASHINGTON (CNS) – Father Michael L. Thompson has been elected to a four-year term as superior general of the Society of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart, better known as the Josephites.
A native of Port Arthur, Texas, the 57-year-old priest had been serving as vicar general since 2011. He is the 14th superior general of the religious community, founded 144 years ago to minister to African-Americans.
Josephite priests and brothers elected Father Thompson during their general conference in mid-June at St. Joseph Seminary in Washington. “It’s a great honor to have your brothers choose you to be their leader. I now have a deeper responsibility to care for the men and to guide them in their ministry,” Father Thompson said in a statement.
“We Josephites are still here fighting for justice, peace and dignity in our black Catholic communities,” he said, noting that he would be establishing a justice and peace committee in the near future.
Ordained in 2004, Father Thompson was parochial vicar at Corpus Christi/Epiphany Church in New Orleans. Following Hurricane Katrina, Father Thompson assisted at the post-Katrina recovery office, which the Josephites had set up in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana.
“I am really excited about the dedication of the Josephites who serve in ministry now and the men who are coming to join us,” Father Thompson said. “The excitement they have about continuing the mission of the Society of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart gets me rejuvenated.”
The Josephite religious community, founded after the Civil War to minister to newly freed slaves, serves in parishes and special ministries, spanning seven states, including Mississippi, and the District of Columbia.

Catholic conference, inspires, informs, acknowledges special supplement

By Contyna McNealy
BUFFALO — Great people. Great fellowship. Great renewal. This year’s Catholic media conference provided close to 300 media professionals with wonderful opportunities to learn from and collaborate with colleagues from across the U.S. and Canada. For three days, June 24 – 26, the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center bustled with participants eager to attend the many workshops and master camps offered. As a first time attendee, it was inspiring to meet and break bread with so many gracious, passionate people in the Catholic media industry.
The conference kicked off with a welcoming reception and dinner which featured a tribute to Buffalo’s very own, Tim Russert. Before his death in 2008, Russert was a tenacious journalist, bestselling author, commentator and renowned host of “Meet the Press.” The Diocese of Buffalo along with the Buffalo Historical Museum showcased a video to honor Russert for his standard of excellence in journalism and his unwavering commitment to family and faith. His tribute deepened my appreciation for the work of good editors and journalists. They have such an important job in that they are not just in the business of reporting news and evangelizing; they are responsible for accurately recording the history of the church.
The following night, Sister Rosemary Nyirumbe echoed the conference’s theme “Power of the Word.” She urged Catholic communicators to use their voices to “speak for the voiceless.” A Sister of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Sister Rosemary devotes her life to empowering women held captive by the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda.
Her work as director of St. Monica’s Vocational School in Gulu, Uganda, provides these young women and mothers with hope, education and training. She called upon the Catholic media to not “sugarcoat evil” and to continue to cover the atrocities inflicted upon the Ugandan women. Telling the story “keeps it from happening again.”
Shortly after her keynote address, Sewing Hope — a documentary profiling Sister Rosemary and the young women she nurtures — aired at the conference. It was with this small group of attendees that Sister Rosemary viewed the film in its entirety for the first time. Despite the film’s account of immeasurable tragedy, it was all overwhelmingly eclipsed by its revelation of amazing love. Sewing Hope is available for viewing on Netflix streaming.
Father Thomas Rosica, CEO of Salt and Light Catholic Media in Canada, also addressed the Catholic media. Noticing a trend in certain media coverage of Pope Francis as being only surface news, he appealed for media representatives to “go beyond the surface and discover the story within the story.” Father Rosica challenged journalists to fully read the Pope’s closing 2014 address to the Synod of Bishops on the Family and his more recent environmental encyclical “Laudato Si” (Praise be to you). These works “tell the deeper story” of the Pope’s “message of mercy” and his overall “revolution of normalcy.” Journalists were encouraged to communicate the full depth of the Pope’s message to a world truly in need of mercy and normalcy. Salt and Light’s  2013 documentary, The Francis Effect, was also shown as part of the conference schedule. It can be purchased or rented on demand online at saltandlighttv.org.
In addition to two powerful keynote speakers, the presentations of awards and recognitions for excellence in Catholic media were equally inspiring. The Catholic Press Association (CPA) presented the Bishop John England Award to the late Cardinal Francis George of Chicago. Cardinal George was recognized for diligently advocating for the First Amendment rights of Catholic newspapers. His featured columns in the Catholic New World tackled the seriousness of religious freedom and were often reprinted in diocesan publications across the country. Joyce Duriga, editor of the Catholic New World in Chicago, received the award on his behalf.
Former president of the CPA, Greg Erlandson was awarded The St. Francis de Sales Award for his prestigious career in Catholic media. In 2014 he served as a consultant to the Pontifical Council for Social Communications. Erlandson is currently president and publisher of Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division in Huntington, Ind.
The CPA’s awards banquet and presentation was held in the evening on the last night of the conference. This special ceremony recognizes excellence throughout the Catholic press industry. Mississippi Catholic was among this year’s winners. With the entry of the 2014 special supplement, Follow Me: A Journey to Priesthood, the staff of Mississippi Catholic placed second in the category of “best coverage of a routine sacramental event.” The 20-page supplement featured in-depth articles on the history of priesthood in Mississippi and profiles of Fathers Binh Nguyen, José de Jesús Sánchez and Rusty Vincent, who were ordained last May at the Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle.
The theme of the conference took on a deeper meaning for me. I appreciated how “Power of the Word” speaks to the important role of Catholic communicators. The experience of learning from and listening to individuals with such high standards in communication moved me from the status of simple appreciation to absolute admiration.
It was such an honor to represent Mississippi Catholic and the Diocese of Jackson at this year’s conference. I look forward to having many more priceless opportunities to laugh, share stories and troubleshoot problems with people who can truly relate to the unique and rewarding experience of working for the church.
(Contyna McNealy is the creative services coordinator for the Diocese of Jackson and the production manager for Mississippi Catholic.)