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January 17, 2025
Diocese explores future campaign through feasibility study
By Joanna Puddister King
JACKSON – The Diocese of Jackson has entered an important period of listening and discernment as it explores the possibility of a future diocesan-wide capital campaign. This effort, known as a feasibility study, is being led by the Catholic Foundation of the Diocese of Jackson and is designed to gather input from clergy, parish leaders and parishioners across the diocese.
A feasibility study is a critical first step in determining whether a campaign is both needed and achievable. It allows diocesan leadership to better understand the needs, hopes and priorities of the faithful before making any decisions. Rather than beginning with assumptions, the diocese is committed to ensuring that any future campaign reflects the real needs of parishes, ministries and the broader Church.
“This is first and foremost a listening process,” said Rebecca Harris, executive director of the Catholic Foundation. “We want to hear what matters most to our parishioners and how we can best support the mission entrusted to us as a diocese.”
Bishop Joseph Kopacz also emphasized the importance of participation in a recent letter to parishioners: “I write to you with gratitude and hope as our diocese enters a time of prayerful listening and discernment … Your voice is essential in this process.” His invitation underscores the central goal of the study which is to ensure that every voice has the opportunity to be heard.
The feasibility study will explore several key areas, including support for parish needs, a retired priest endowment, parish endowments, and the Bishop Houck Lay Leader Center endowment. Another component of the campaign being tested is seminarian education. As the diocese continues to experience growth in vocations, the financial commitment required to educate and form future priests has also increased.
“As we look to the future, investing in seminarian education is essential to the life of our Church,” Harris said. “We are seeing great momentum in vocations, and we must ensure we have the resources to support these men as they prepare for the priesthood.”
Participation from across the diocese is essential to the success of this effort. Feedback gathered during this phase will help determine not only whether to move forward with a capital campaign, but also what priorities it should include if it proceeds.
As part of the process, parishioners should have received a Flocknote message inviting them to complete a brief survey. This survey is one of the primary tools being used to collect input from parishioners around the diocese. All parishioners are encouraged to take a few minutes to share their thoughts.
You can access the survey here: https://bit.ly/jacksondiocesestudy
Results of the feasibility study are expected in mid-May and will guide diocesan leadership in determining next steps.
“This is a moment of opportunity for our diocese,” Harris added. “By listening carefully and planning responsibly, we can ensure that any future campaign strengthens our parishes, forms future priests, and supports the mission of the Church for generations to come.”
All are invited to participate and to keep this effort in prayer as the Diocese seeks to follow God’s guidance in the months ahead.
Flowers, faith and the “Divine Dance” bring Easter vision to life at St. Paul parish
By Joanna Puddister King
FLOWOOD – A life-size bride dressed in handmade flowers greeted parishioners at St. Paul Church this Easter, her gown a delicate arrangement of soap petals crafted by members of the parish just weeks before.
Inside the church, those same flowers adorned the altar, the result of a daylong, bridal-themed workshop that invited participants to reflect on the Church as the Bride of Christ and her call into the “Divine Dance.”
More than 100 parishioners gathered March 14 for the Easter soap flower workshop led by Amber Earles, owner of A’Marie’s Bath Flower Shop, along with Cecilia Carlton, director of liturgy at St. Paul, and parishioner Pam Harkins. Guests of all ages filled tables, shaping delicate soap petals into flowers that would become part of the parish’s Easter environment.
The event blended creativity, catechesis and celebration, with each element of the bridal theme pointing to a deeper spiritual meaning.
“We’ve worked on this for a year, just letting things come to us from the Holy Spirit,” Earles said. “It wasn’t forced – it just unfolded, like the flowers.”
Earles, a St. Paul parishioner, began her business more than a decade ago after creating a bouquet of soap flowers for her hospitalized mother-in-law. When her mother-in-law hesitated to use them because they were “too pretty,” Earles developed a petal-by-petal design that could be enjoyed both visually and practically.
While her handcrafted flowers are now shipped nationwide, Earles said opportunities like the parish workshop remain central to her mission.
“This is why I do what I do,” she said. “Yes, I work to live, but this – seeing people come together, creating and finding joy – this is the purpose behind it.”
Throughout the day, participants created mostly white flowers symbolizing the purity of the Bride of Christ, along with multicolored blooms representing the unique gifts within the Body of Christ. These were later incorporated into both the altar display and the atrium scene depicting Jesus inviting His Bride into the Divine Dance.
During a midday reflection, Carlton guided participants into the theological meaning behind the imagery.
“We are not meant to stand apart from the Lord,” Carlton said. “We are invited to the feast of the Lamb – invited into relationship, into communion, into the dance itself.”
Drawing from Scripture and tradition, Carlton described the Divine Dance as the movement of love within the Trinity and the invitation extended to all believers.
“No more standing at a distance,” she said. “There is a place set for you at the table.”
The bridal theme carried through the day with a wedding-style cake, a bouquet toss and soap flower bases given as favors – lighthearted touches that reinforced the central message of the wedding feast of the Lamb.
By the end of the workshop, the room that once buzzed with conversation and careful handiwork reflected a shared sense of joy and participation in something greater.
“It’s not just about making something beautiful,” Earles said. “It’s about being invited into something deeper – into God’s love.”
(Above) Kerry Doyle, a parishioner of St. Paul Church, displays a handmade soap flower she crafted during a March 14 workshop preparing decorations for the Easter altar and atrium. (On right) Amber Earles speaks to participants about the origins of her handcrafted soap flowers and A’marie’s Bath Flower Shop. (Photos by Joanna King – For more photos visit jacksondiocese.zenfoliosite.com.)
Recovering lost treasures offers bright spot in the dust
From the Archives
By Mary Woodward
Occasionally, we have people wandering in wanting to stroll through our diocesan archives hoping to find long lost information about a parish event in 1950 or a baptismal record for a great grandparent. Often, these items are available at the local parish.
As a gentle reminder, the diocesan archives house the historical papers of each bishop and are open by appointment to scholars and historical researchers writing dissertations and articles for historical and church journals. Right now, we are doing some cleaning and reorganizing so the archives are closed to researchers until that is completed.
However, on the Thursday before Holy Week an old friend showed up in the chancery lobby and asked to see me. He had with him something I thought was lost forever – a large canvas painting of St. Augustine that once adorned the walls of the sanctuary in our Cathedral of Saint Peter the Apostle.
The current St. Peter’s was completed in 1900. It is the third church building. [The first burned in 1863; the second built in 1868 was moved in 1913 a few blocks north to become the first Holy Ghost church.] Its interior has gone through several renovations over the last 126 years, most recently in 2011-2012.
During a renovation in the 1950s, eight large canvas paintings of the four evangelists and four church fathers – Augustine, Ambrose, Athanasius and John Chrysostom were added to the sanctuary walls. The saints would gaze down upon the sacred mysteries with great joy and serenity.
In a later renovation, the interior went through a monochromatic phase and the eight canvases were removed. I had seen photos of them, but I never thought I would see them in person. But right here in front of me was one of them.
My friend explained that a former organist of the cathedral had found them discarded during renovation and took them home. Just recently he was moving and contacted my friend to come and get a few things he was not taking with him. Augustine was among those things.
What is even better is my friend told me he had seven more of these at home and would be happy to donate them to our archives. He just wanted me to see one and decide if we could take them on. (n.b., we do not take everything, so please call or email before bringing items for archives.)
The next day he brought in the remaining seven and all now reside safely in an ancillary archive room waiting for an opportunity to be cleaned and restored. We have just the spot for them.
The lesson is: when a renovation occurs at a parish, keep meticulous notes and records in a parish file of all contractors, architects, artists and craftsmen who do the work. If items are removed document where they go – to the parish hall or parish school, another parish, or if they are destroyed properly. Fifty to 100 years later, they may be the perfect piece needed to complete a renovation.
(Mary Woodward is Chancellor and Archivist for the Diocese of Jackson.)
Youth “Rise Up” at DCYC
VICKSBURG – More than 300 youth from across the Diocese of Jackson gathered March 20-22 for the Diocesan Catholic Youth Conference (DCYC) at the Vicksburg Convention Center, embracing the theme “Rise Up.” The weekend featured keynote presentations, small group sessions, games, Mass, Reconciliation, Adoration and a high-energy concert with Catholic hip-hop artist Joe Melendrez and DJ Code.
“This weekend is about helping our young people encounter Christ in a real and personal way and giving them the confidence to rise up and live their faith,” said Abbey Schuhmann, diocesan coordinator for the Office of Youth Ministry.
The conference concluded with Mass celebrated by Bishop Joseph Kopacz and the presentation of the Bishop Chanche Youth Service Awards to 12 youth from around the diocese.
Can you solve it?
Youth
Click here to see more school photos from the 2026 Chrism Mass
Encountering the Risen Lord
By Bishop Joseph R. Kopacz, D.D.
For 50 days the Church throughout the world celebrates the Easter season culminating in the great Solemnity of Pentecost. From the empty tomb on Easter Sunday morning to the community of disciples – including the Apostles and the Blessed Mother – gathered in expectant faith for the coming of the Holy Spirit, the Church each year returns to her roots to rediscover our founding story.
The kerygma is the theological understanding that arises from an encounter with Jesus Christ, the crucified and risen one. “Repent and believe in the one risen from the dead and be baptized and your sins will be forgiven, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:38)
In the time between the resurrection and ascension into heaven – ten days before Pentecost in our finite framework of time – the Lord appeared to his apostles and disciples on numerous occasions in order to reconcile their doubts, fears, denials, trauma, and confusion, and to prepare them to be the first family of witnesses of God’s love in the world.
Pope Benedict in his concise and eloquent manner often spoke about the impact of encountering the crucified and risen Lord on our daily journey. “Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.”
We see this clearly in the lives of the Lord’s first followers who were scattered after the crucifixion, but by Pentecost Sunday these same lost sheep were fearless in the face of considerable opposition to proclaim the Gospel to the nations, beginning in Jerusalem. Through the encounter they were at peace, alive for God in Christ Jesus (Romans 6:11) with a decisive direction toward a new horizon.
Our dawning Christian story reveals that the encounter with the risen Lord is always both inwardly and outwardly directed. During three resurrection appearances, the Lord rallied and gathered his disciples with the gift of his peace, Shalom. This was the inward healing that had to flourish before it was possible to bring the horizon of God’s salvation into clear focus. The gift freely received was to be given as a gift.
This is the Lord’s mandate in all four Gospels, not only for the first family of disciples but for all time:
- “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” (Mark 16:15)
- “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” (John 20:21)
- “Repentance for the forgiveness of sins is to be preached to all the nations beginning in Jerusalem.” (Luke 24:46-49)
- “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations.” (Matthew 28:18-20)
Ongoing conversion and evangelization are the constant markers of our life in God. Yet, there are many outside the walls and halls of the Church, and our commitment to the Kingdom of God in the world – a kingdom of justice and peace and the joy of the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17) – is an essential marker of the Church.
The mission continues in our own time. Last Saturday on Divine Mercy Weekend, Pope Leo XIV from Rome conducted a worldwide prayer service for peace. Like the popes of the modern era before him he is a prophetic voice for justice, peace, sanity and fraternity in a world afflicted by violence, terrorism, war and greed. This is the voice of the risen Lord, the light of the Gospel, and the power of faith, hope and love.
The Lord is risen, alleluia! May the 50 days of Easter be for us a season of refreshment and a gift of the risen Lord to align our lives with a decisive direction and with an ever-new horizon in God.
Happy Ordination Anniversary
April 6
Father Joseph Golamari
April 10
Father Pradeep Kumar Thirumalareddy
April 12
Father Raju Macherla and Father Sleeva Reddy Mekala
April 14
Father Suresh Reddy Thirumalareddy
April 18
Father Vijaya Manohar Reddy Thanugundla
April 19
Father Sebastian Myladiyil, SVD and Father Joseph Ashok Thumma
April 26
Father Jesuraj Xavier
May 7
Bishop Joseph Kopacz (ordained priest)
May 11
Father Mark Shoffner and Father Adolfo Suarez Pasillas
Called by Name
We are nearing the end of a historic year for our seminary program. We jumped up from six seminarians to 12, and I’m very grateful for all of the support we have received to help our men engage in their formation. About half of our seminarians are at Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans and the other half are at St. Joseph Seminary College in Covington, Louisiana.
After a man is accepted to the seminary, we consider which environment would be ideal for him to start his time as a seminarian. As you would expect, the atmosphere in New Orleans is city immersed. Classes are held within two large buildings on the west end of New Orleans, and while there is space to play basketball and tennis out back, there is not much in the way of nature – with mostly cars zooming up and down South Carrollton Avenue.
St. Joseph is nestled in the farmland north of Covington. It’s less than an hour to the Mississippi line on I-55. There are plenty of walking paths, a river and lakes. It’s a nature-lovers paradise, but it is more isolated from the conveniences of the city.
Both places are beautiful and have pluses and minuses. The biggest consideration is typically the age of the new seminarian. Anyone who is still within the age-range of an undergraduate college student will start at St. Joseph. The community there tends younger and I would be concerned about someone in their early 20s feeling comfortable and confident at Notre Dame at such a young age. Once a man turns 25, typically we send him to New Orleans so that he doesn’t start to feel like a ‘senior citizen’ in the community. I know, it’s funny to think of someone in their 20s thinking of themselves as ‘old!’
We have used seminaries in different parts of the country throughout the years, including during my time as Vocation Director, but typically I like to keep our men at these more local seminaries so long as the program there remains solid. It is a great gift to be able to drive to see our guys.
Bishop Kopacz has made it a priority to attend annual evaluations in person, which is not typical, but it is a great gift. His presence helps the men feel connected to the diocese and to realize how seriously we are taking their journey through formation. When Bishop and I come down for evaluations we like to pray evening prayer with them and take them out to dinner so that the day isn’t just ‘all-business.’ We also ask the guys at the ‘other seminary’ to drive up, or down, for the occasion so we can all be together. I think this has helped create an atmosphere of trust and accountability over the years. I am grateful for these trips because it has really helped me continue to update the bishop on the men’s progress in a way that is consistent and personal, and he gets to check in on them himself, which means so much to our seminarians.
(Father Nick Adam is Director of Vocations for the Diocese of Jackson. He can be contacted at nick.adam@jacksondiocese.org.)