Updates

Parish pioneers celebrate 40th anniversary

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By Joanna King and Tereza Ma
GLOSTER – Families gathered to celebrate a relatively “new” church in the history of the diocese on Saturday, Sept. 9 at Holy Family in Gloster. Bishop Joseph Kopacz, Father Anthonyclaret Onyeocha and several of the founding families gathered for a special Mass in celebration of 40 years of the “young” parish.

In 1983, the few Catholics of Amite County were scattered but one woman had a dream to bring them together.

June Vallely moved to Gloster in 1980, she and her husband Bill, along with their five children had to travel over 23 miles away to St. Joseph in Woodville for Mass.

“Trying to get the kids ready, get them up, feed them, get them ready to go to church … it was hard work,” said Vallely.

GLOSTER – June Vallely displays her plaque presented to her for her contributions to the Holy Family parish in Gloster. On left, the tabernacle sits behind the altar at Holy Family parish. It was donated to the fledgling parish in 1983 from a church in Illinois. (Photos by Tereza Ma)

“So, I started asking around in the community if there were any Catholics, or did they know of a Catholic.”
From that, Vallely began making a list; making it her mission to establish a Catholic Church in Amite County.

“Something was just pushing me and pushing me,” said Valley.

Then it hit like lightening.

One night in the middle of a thunderstorm, Vallely shot up from a slumber and went to the kitchen table and began to write.

Father Anthonyclaret Onyeocha and Bishop Joseph Kopacz process out after Mass at Holy Family parish in Gloster on Saturday, Sept. 23 for the 40th anniversary of the parish.

“I started writing this letter to the Bishop. The words kept coming out.”

A couple of months later, Bishop Brunini gave permission for a church building in the small Catholic community in Gloster. The name Holy Family was even drawn from a brown paper bag. Everyone at Mass that given Sunday submitted a name and the youngest member of the church, Jason Chabreck, drew the name.

With the assistance of Sister Margaret Maria Coon, a retired college philosophy teacher and former provincial of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth of Kentucky, who had retired to the area, the fledgling congregation began to take shape.

The first location was an old store front on Main Street, the walls of which were covered in burlap to cover large holes.

“Our first altar was a kitchen cabinet from one of our parishioners,” said Vallely, reminiscing.

Other first items were a brass crucifix from an army surplus story, a baptismal font from a Methodist church in Crosby, a tabernacle from a Catholic Church in Illinois and various hand-me-downs from other parishes across the diocese. It didn’t matter where the items came from, the founding families were happy to have a church of their own for their growing community.

June Vallely visits with Bishop Kopacz and Pauline Gauthier after Mass, about her history with the parish. Vallely and other founding members were present for the 40th anniversary celebration of Holy Family Gloster.

To fundraise families would hold dinners on Fridays during Lent, serving Cajun delicacies such as jambalaya and shrimp etouffee. Parishioners would take orders from the area, including Liberty, Woodville, Centreville and Gloster. Each week earning $1,000 or more for their young parish.

“It was lots of fun,” said Vallely. “We loved bringing the whole community together.”

Michele Chabrek was also of one of the founding families of Holy Family. Along with Vallely, she is one of the only remaining families from the beginning of the parish.

“Through hard work and faith, we’ve managed to come together and provide for the community and any of our spiritual needs.”

At the 40th anniversary celebration, Vallely was recognized for her contributions to the history of the parish with a special plaque.

“We wanted to do something special for June to let her know all of her hard work did not go to waste,” said Pauline Gauthier, a resident of Gloster for 36 years.

“We’re not a big parish or big community, but those of us that are here – we’re family.”

St. Joseph Woodville celebrates 150 years

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By Berta Mexidor and Tereza Ma
WOODVILLE – A grand gathering, after a special Mass celebrated by Bishop Joseph Kopacz, took place in the gardens of the St. Joseph community in Woodville where parishioners and Catholic community commemorated the 150th anniversary of the founding of the parish, on Sunday, Sept. 9.

The historic Mass was concelebrated by Father Anthonyclaret Onyeocha, pastor of St. Joseph Woodville and Holy Family Mission Gloster and Father PJ Curley, who served the parish in the 1970s.

WOODVILLE – Samuel Bray reaches in for a hand shake hand with Bishop Joseph Kopacz after a Mass celebrating the 150th anniversary of St. Joseph parish. Also pictured is Spencer Bray.

The congregation that filled the pews came from Woodville, Baton Rouge and other surrounding areas.

The year 1873 marked the opening of St. Joseph Catholic Church, under the direction of Father Germain Martin. Catholic believers were present around Fort Adams area since 1682, when on Easter Sunday, historians claimed the celebration of the first Mass, not only of the area but for all Mississippi soil.

The town of Woodville was incorporated in 1811, and for years the only Catholics families were the Elders, the Gordons, and the Poseys, who gave the community and history from a General to a Bishop.

The first Mass for the Woodville community was celebrated in the Gordon family house. The first families and their descendants have claimed and kept the history until these times.

For years the Catholic community of Woodville was served by priests of Natchez, until 1905 when Father Joseph B. Weis was the first resident priest.

The history of the Woodville community is rich, with many home and buildings, including St. Joseph Church, being included on the National Register of Historic Places by the United States Department of the Interior.

St. Joseph’s current pastor, Father Anthonyclaret was also celebrating his American citizenship during the festivities. He stated that all the parishioners “worked on weekends for months and contributed to the celebration.”

Bishop Joseph Kopacz blesses new vessels, surrounded by (right) Father Curley who served at St. Joseph in early 70s, Father Anthonyclaret Onyeocha (left) with Wil Seal and Wallace Ferguson as altar servers.

Edward (Eddie) Rispone, a Catholic from Baton Rouge, owns acres of property in the area for recreation, and even though he has his parish at home, he registered his family at St. Joseph, and contributes to the area because “it is special to belong to a historical Catholic Church.”
Like him, many of the attendees from Louisiana came because of the ties of their ancestors to the parish.
Ann and Octavio Gutierrez were parishioners for years. They moved back to the area from Texas, sharing their ties of many sacraments in this church. Ann now sings in the choir. Even though they have other homes, she said this has always been her “home church.”

Beautiful weather provided for a wonderful outdoor gathering for the 150th anniversary of St. Joseph Church. On right, smoke- master Mac Fletcher of Daddy Mac’s BBQ in action at the event. (Photos by Tereza Ma)

Order of the Fleur de Lis holds meeting, invests Bishop and others with Knight Commanders Cross

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By Tereza Ma and Joanna Puddister King
NATCHEZ – The Order of the Fleur De Lis held its annual meeting Aug. 25-27, in Natchez, with several events at the Basilica of St. Mary. The Order of the Fleur de Lis is an organization of Catholic men incorporated under the laws of the state of Louisiana as a non-profit organization. The Order’s domain is a five states region consisting of Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee.

Grand chancellor of the Order of Fleur de Lis, Steve Koach of Enterprise, Alabama said “for us to be here for the meeting, this is special because only every two years we do an investiture ceremony.”

Objectives of the order include supporting and defending the Catholic Church and its teachings; promoting patriotism and good citizenship, encouraging public morality and unselfish service to God and country; assisting and publicizing the activities of other organizations; memorializing the memories and achievements of Catholic leaders in religion, the arts and sciences, philanthropy education, exploration and archeology, government and international relations, medicine and jurisprudence and other established professions.

NATCHEZ – Front, left to right in black: Father Jeffery Bayhi, Father Vernon Huguley, Bishop Joseph Kopacz and Father Joshua Rodrigue were invested in the Order of the Order Fleur de Lis on Saturday, Aug. 26 at the Basilica of St. Mary. (Photos by Tereza Ma)

Bishop Joseph Kopacz, who was inducted as a part of the Order on Aug. 26 said, “These qualities define the vision of the Order of the Fleur de Lis, and I wholeheartedly embrace these virtues that enrich the lives of our members and their families, as well as their parish communities, and ultimately our nation.”

After their business meetings, the Order attended the Vigil Mass at the Basilica of St. Mary and after Mass an investiture was held with 23 Catholic gentlemen being invested with the Knight Commander Cross of the Order. Grand Prelate Bishop Glen J. Prevost, of Lake Charles, Louisiana presided over the ceremony. Leading the group of Knight Commander designates was Bishop Kopacz, Eleventh Bishop of Jackson. Other investees from the Diocese of Jackson were Father Aaron Williams, of the Basilica of St. Mary, Commanders William O’Connor of Clinton and Craig Harrell of Raymond. From the Diocese of Biloxi was Commander Larry Tabor.

Grand chancellor of the Order of the Fleur de Lis, Steve Koach of Enterprise, Alabama said that the group conducts an investiture ceremony every two years. “We all love the Catholic Church and this means an awful lot to us.”

NATCHEZ – Father Vernon Huguley, Father Aaron Williams and Father Joshua Rodrigue clasp the Knight Commander Cross of the Order of the Fleur de Lis on each other on Saturday, Aug. 26 at the Basilica of St. Mary.

During the evening activities, the Order’s memorial chalice was presented to Father Carlisle Beggerly, parochial vicar of St. Patrick and St. Joseph Parishes in Meridian. The chalice memorialized the following Knight Commanders, who died during the prior year, John H. Shields (Arkansas), George C. Zimmer, Jr. and Wilmer Dugas (Louisiana).

Including the 2023 investiture, the Order’s total membership stands at a total of 97 members. Of that number, 43 are members of the clergy. Included in that number are His Eminence Justin Cardinal Rigali, Archbishop Thomas Rodi of Mobile, Archbishop Gregory Aymond of New Orleans and Bishops of the Dioceses of Lake Charles, Shreveport, Baton Rouge, Alexandria, Birmingham and Nashville. There are 54 are lay commanders over the 5-state region.

“Defending and furthering the Catholic faith throughout a good part of the Deep South is one of the goals of the Order, and a noble endeavor on their part. The more they can promote knowledge and appreciation for our Catholic tradition that leads to a lively faith in Jesus Christ, the more the Order of the Fleur de Lis will carve out a special niche of evangelization in our region,” said Bishop Kopacz.

Yellow fever martyrs abound in the South

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From the Archives
By Mary Woodward
JACKSON – This past June at the U.S. bishops’ annual spring meeting, the Diocese of Shreveport put forward the cause for canonization of five priests who had served and died there during the 1873 Yellow Fever epidemic. These men ministered to the sick and dying in and around Shreveport until succumbing to the dreaded fever themselves.

HOLLY SPRINGS – Archive photo of St. Joseph Catholic Church. Six Sisters of Charity along with the pastor died during the Yellow Fever epidemic of 1878 at the Marshall County church. Archivist, Mary Woodward gives an account of that time period in her latest “From the Archives” column.

I mentioned in the last installment of this series that our second bishop, James Oliver Van de Velde, died of Yellow Fever in 1855. Yellow Fever was a frequent visitor to the South in the 1800s.

Bishop William Henry Elder, our third bishop, contracted the fever but survived it. However, much like Shreveport, Bishop Elder lost six of his priests to the fever’s outbreak in 1878. From Aug. 31 – Sept. 14, 1878, the then Diocese of Natchez lost: Fathers Jean Baptiste Mouton (8/31), Patrick Cogan (9/8), John McManus (9/8), Anacletus Oberti (9/11), Charles Van Queckleberge (9/11) and John Vitolo (9/14).

In a letter from November 1878, Father Patrick Hayden writes Bishop Elder from Columbus lamenting the loss of the six men, especially Father Mouton, who was a trained architect and had designed several of the churches in the eastern half of the diocese, including the original church in Columbus.

Father Cogan was in Canton and was said to be the only remaining minister in the town when the outbreak occurred. An interesting note from a newspaper article reveals ministers of other denominations wanted to stay but were convinced to leave due to the fact that they had wives and children, who would be left destitute without them if they died. There is a monument for Father Cogan at Sacred Heart in Canton.

We must remember, though, that alongside these priests were fearless women religious – Sisters of Mercy and Sisters of Charity – Angels, who served as nurses to the sick and eventually themselves died. Rarely are these heroic women given names, but in the case of Holly Springs St. Joseph, we do have at least the first names of the six Sisters of Charity who died – Stanislaus, Stella, Margaret, Victoria, Lorentia and Corinthia.

Cleta Ellington in her masterwork “Christ the Living Water” written for the Diocese of Jackson’s 150th anniversary in 1988, gives a stirring account of the epidemic of 1878 in Holly Springs. It follows below along with the tribute given to Sister Corinthia Mahoney by an eyewitness account.

“In the late summer and early fall of 1878, yellow fever swept across Mississippi like a conquering army, but it appeared that Holly Springs was to be spared. The city fathers, in a burst of generosity and believing that the germ could not live in such a high and dry climate, opened the doors of the town to fever refuges from surrounding counties.

“Two articles from New Orleans newspapers reveal the swiftness with which the townspeople learned their leadership was in error.

“Aug. 13, 1878: ‘The town is clean and healthy…no symptoms of the outbreak here. We have thrown open our hospitality to our sister cities, even accepting Grenada where the fever rages. The mayor and the community council decided today to use disinfectants merely as a precautionary…’

“Aug. 19, 1878: ‘Yesterday there were seven deaths, last night six, five of whom died in our house. The situation is too appalling to be described and the worst is, not a single case has recovered or promises recovery.’

“The Marshall County Courthouse was turned into a hospital where beds were piles of straw, where black and white lay together to await medical treatment almost certainly useless.

“The 12 sisters at Bethlehem Academy closed the school and took over the courthouse hospital. They were joined by a number of volunteer doctors who had heroically rushed to the town and by Father Anacletus Oberti, a friendly Italian priest, 31 years old, who had been working very hard to establish a Catholic library at St. Joseph.

Archive photo of Father Jean Baptiste Mouton. Father Mouton died on Aug. 31, 1878 from Yellow Fever. (Photos from archives)

“Six of the sisters, all of them part of the original group at Holly Springs, died during September and October. Father Oberti died on Sept. 11. Over 300 of the townspeople perished, 30 of them Catholic.

“Dr. R.M. Swearingen, a volunteer from Austin, Texas, penciled a tribute to Sister Corinthia Mahoney on the plaster wall of a jury room.

“It remained there until 1925 when the courthouse was renovated.

“To save the tribute, R.A. McDermott had workmen remove that section of the wall. Then he took it to Nazareth, Ky., where it remained until 1971 when it was returned to Holly Springs to the Marshall County Historical Museum where it can be seen today.

Within this room, September 1878, Sister Corinthia sank into enteral sleep. Among the first to enter this realm of death, she was the last, save one, to leave. The writer of this humble notice saw her in health, gentle but strong, as she moved with noiseless step and serene smiles through the crowded wards. He saw her when the yellow plumed angel threw his golden shadows over the last sad scene, and eyes unused to weeping paid the tribute of tears to the brave and beautiful “Spirit of Mercy.”

She needs no slab of Parisian marble
With its white and ghastly head,
To tell wanderers in the valley
The virtues of the dead.
Let the lily be her tombstone,
And dewdrops pure and bright,
The epitaphs the angels write
In the stillness of the night.
R.M. Swearingen, M.D.
Austin, Texas
Let no one deface.

“Father Oberti and the sisters were laid to rest in the local cemetery where a monument was erected by a grateful town. And Bethlehem Academy reopened its doors.”

Kudos to Shreveport for putting forward the five martyrs from their diocese. The clergy and sisters in our diocesan history may be called martyrs too.

(Mary Woodward is Chancellor and Archivist for the Diocese of Jackson.)

Youth

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Around the diocese

GLOSTER – Holy Family parish celebrated 40 years on Saturday, Sept. 9. Bishop Joseph Kopacz visits with Kayla Zumo with sons Charlie and Anthony, of Baton Rouge. (Photo by Tereza Ma)
VICKSBURG – Chicka Chicka Boom Boom is a favorite of Vicksburg Catholic School Kindergartners! To really bring the story to life, each student made a snack that looked like a coconut tree. (Photo by Lindsey Bradley)
MADISON – St. Joseph School celebrated Bruin teams with a special tailgate gathering on Wednesday, Aug. 23. Pictured are students and parents at attention during the National Anthem performed by the school band. (Photo by Tereza Ma)
WOODVILLE – St. Joseph parish hosted their 150th anniversary on Sunday, Sept. 10. Bishop Kopacz shakes hands with Stella Ferguson, while Helen Claire Wesberny gets ready for her chance to greet her bishop. (Photo by Tereza Ma)

Pope’s travels reach worldly margins

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By Bishop Joseph R. Kopacz, D.D.
Pope Francis, furthering the tradition of modern popes, has made pastoral visits around the world. He has gathered millions on the beaches of Brazil and the open fields of the Philippines, and recently, one and a half million pilgrims flocked to Portugal for World Youth Day. But there have been much smaller gatherings that are no less extraordinary. A few years ago, during the pandemic Pope Francis undertook a pastoral visit to the neighboring county of Iraq, the first of its kind, to encourage the suffering church in this war-torn nation, and to pray for peace. In Mosul, formerly occupied by ISIS, the pope proclaimed. “Today, however, we reaffirm our conviction that fraternity is more durable than fratricide, that hope is more powerful than hatred, that peace more powerful than war.” These words echoed around the world.
As September dawned upon the world the Holy Father went much further east than Iraq, flying 10 hours across Asia, even over Chinese airspace to Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia to proclaim the Gospel, to celebrate the Eucharist, and to engage government, civic, ecumenical and inter-faith leaders with words of faith, fraternity and solidarity. Immediately upon landing it was obvious that Pope Francis had gone to his beloved margins of our world and our Catholic faith. There were not hundreds of thousands to welcome his motorcade, rather hundreds, like two hundred. At the closing Mass of this pastoral visit in the Steppe Arena in Ulaanbaatar there were an estimated 2,500 hundred in attendance, nearly all of the 1,500 Catholics in Mongolia, along with a 1,000 additional pilgrims from around the world.

However, during this time of Eucharistic renewal, the Pope gave an excellent message regarding all of humanity’s hunger and thirst fulfilled in the Gospel.

Bishop Joseph R. Kopacz, D.D.

“With the words of the Responsorial Psalm, we prayed: O God, my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. (Ps 63:2) We are that dry land thirsting for fresh water, water that can slake our deepest thirst. Our hearts long to discover the secret of true joy, a joy that even in the midst of existential aridity, can accompany and sustain us. Deep within us, we have an insatiable thirst for happiness; we seek meaning and direction in our lives, a reason for all that we do each day. More than anything, we thirst for love, for only love can truly satisfy us, bring us fulfilment; only love can make us happy, inspire inner assurance and allow us to savor the beauty of life.

“Dear brothers and sisters, the Christian faith is the answer to this thirst; it takes it seriously, without dismissing it or trying to replace it with tranquilizers or surrogates. For in this thirst lies the great mystery of our humanity: it opens our hearts to the living God, the God of love, who comes to meet us and to make us his children, brothers and sisters to one another.”

The culmination of Pope Francis’ homily was the heart of our way of life as the Lord’s disciples.
“This, dear brothers and sisters, is surely the best way: to embrace the cross of Christ. At the heart of Christianity is an amazing and extraordinary message. If you lose your life, if you make it a generous offering in service, if you risk it by choosing to love, if you make it a free gift for others, then it will return to you in abundance, and you will be overwhelmed by endless joy, peace of heart, and inner strength and support; and we need inner peace.”

In his spontaneous remarks at the end of Mass, the Pope made a sublime association between Eucharistic spirituality and the Mongolian language.

“I was reminded that in the Mongolian language the word for ‘thank you’ comes from the verb ‘to rejoice.’”

Indeed, the Mass is our great prayer of thanksgiving as our spirits rejoice in God our Savior who in Jesus Christ poured out his life for us in an act of eternal love. Pope Francis went on to say that “to celebrate Mass in this land brought to my mind the prayer that the Jesuit Father Pierre Teilhard de Chardin offered to God exactly a hundred years ago, in the desert of Ordos, not far from here. What was Father Teilhard de Chardin, SJ doing in Mongolia? He was engaged in geological research.”

The Pope recalled that his Jesuit brother fervently desired to celebrate Holy Mass, but lacked bread and wine. So, he composed his “Mass on the World,” expressing his oblation in these words: “Receive, O Lord, this all-embracing host, which your whole creation, moved by your magnetism, offers you at the dawn of this new day.” This priest, often misunderstood, had intuited that “the Eucharist is always in some way celebrated on the altar of the world” and is “the living center of the universe, the overflowing core of love and of inexhaustible life.”

For the more than 3 million who are not Catholic in Mongolia and to billions around the world, Francis of Rome wove a marvelous pattern with Jesus Christ, through whom and for whom all things were made, (Colossians 1:16) the Eucharist and the world.

Called By Name

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God won’t move a ‘parked car.’ Father Brett Brannen of the Diocese of Savannah wrote a very popular book on priestly discernment called To Save a Thousand Souls. In the book, he encourages all young people to move toward their vocation in life. He writes that “God won’t move a parked car,” meaning that the Lord honors our freedom, and if we are not willing to start seriously discerning our vocation, then he won’t force us into a decision. The longer we wait, however, the more we deprive ourselves of the grace that God gives to those who have courageously chosen a vocation. It is important to remember that the church calls us to give ourselves fully to a vocation, a call to another, at some stage of our life. This call includes a lifelong commitment that we make solemnly before the Lord and His church. This call can be to marriage, or the priesthood/consecrated life.

Father Nick Adam

It has become popular to delay making a choice on a vocation until we are a little more ‘mature,’ but it is important to remember that maturity does not magically happen just because we get older. I know some folks who are in their early 20s who are way more mature than I was at that age, and while they don’t have ‘life experience,’ they do have a real direction in their life. Faith Formation is more important than life-experience, and when young people are formed in a strong life of faith in their families and parishes from a young age, they are able to move toward life-long vocational commitments faster, and this is a good thing!

On the other hand, some people who delay making vocational commitments in the name of getting more life experience risk stunting their formation even more because they don’t progress in maturity, but only in age, and the extra time they give themselves is spent de-forming their consciences rather than preparing them for the lifelong sacrificial love that our vocation demands.

God won’t move ‘a parked car.’ He won’t force us to grow in our life with him. If we don’t have a solid life of prayer and participate in the sacraments, then we risk missing out on the vocation that the Lord has called us to. Please encourage the young people in your life to grow in maturity. Challenge them to live virtuously and help them to understand that God will help them when they ask for it. All young people should be praying to know their vocation – praying to know who they are called to give their life for. When we move toward the Lord and we ask Him to help us, we will be challenged to do things we never would have chosen ourselves, and yet we become fully alive because God gives us the grace to do things we never would have been capable of otherwise.

Father Nick Adam

For more info on vocations email: nick.adam@jacksondiocese.org.

Save the date:
Homegrown Harvest – Saturday, Oct. 21

If you want to bring together good men and women from Mississippi and encourage them to seek the will of God in their life, consider being a sponsor or buying tickets for this event. You can register by visiting bit.ly/HGHarvest2023. Remember Burse Club members receive a free ticket!

Charity is motivated by love, not designed to win converts, pope says

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By Cindy Wooden
ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia (CNS) – Pope Francis ended his four-day visit to Mongolia where Catholic missionaries began – with charity.

Blessing the new House of Mercy in Ulaanbaatar Sept. 4, the pope insisted that while Catholic charitable and social service activities have attracted Mongolians to the church, the service is motivated by love alone.

Salesian Brother Andrew Tran Le Phuong, director of the House of Mercy, told the pope the facility would offer: a shelter for vulnerable people, especially women and children; a first aid center for the homeless; free laundry and shower facilities; a place where returning migrants and others in need could go for help in connecting to services; and a meeting place to coordinate the variety of Catholic charities operating in the city.

Naidansuren Otgongerel, who took the name “Lucia” when she was baptized, uses prostheses on her arms and legs. But, she told the pope, “I am the luckiest person in the world, because I made the decision to accept fully the love of God, the love of Jesus.”

Pope Francis used his speech to the charity workers and volunteers “to reject certain myths,” including one about why Catholics offer education and health care, feed the hungry, shelter the homeless and care for widows and orphans.

A big myth, he said, is that “the Catholic Church, distinguished throughout the world for its great commitment to works of social promotion, does all this to proselytize, as if caring for others were a way of enticing people to ‘join up.’ No!”

“Christians do whatever they can to alleviate the suffering of the needy because in the person of the poor they acknowledge Jesus, the son of God, and, in him, the dignity of each person, called to be a son or daughter of God,” the pope insisted.

The House of Mercy, he said, should be a place “where people of different creeds, and nonbelievers as well, can join efforts with local Catholics in order to offer compassionate assistance to our many brothers and sisters in the one human family.”

Pope Francis greets a child as he arrives at the inauguration of the House of Mercy in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, the final event of his four-day trip to Mongolia before returning to Rome Sept. 4, 2023. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

Throughout his stay in Mongolia, Pope Francis tried to reassure the government and suspicious Mongolians that Christians were there to help and not to colonize or undermine traditional Mongolian culture.

Works of charity that involve people of different religions or no religion at all, he said, help people see each other as brothers and sisters, giving them a sense of “fraternity that the state will rightly seek to protect and promote.”

“For this dream to come true,” Pope Francis said, “it is essential, here and elsewhere, that those in public office support such humanitarian initiatives, encouraging a virtuous synergy for the sake of the common good.”

The pope also rejected the idea that “only the wealthy can engage in volunteer work” because “reality tells us the opposite. It is not necessary to be wealthy to do good; rather, almost always it is people of modest means who choose to devote their time, skills and generosity to caring for others.”

Divine permission for human fatigue

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IN EXILE
By Father Ron Rolheiser, OMI
Someone once asked Therese of Lisieux if it was wrong to fall asleep while in prayer. Her answer: Absolutely not. A little child is equally pleasing to her parents, awake or asleep – probably more when asleep!

That’s more than a warm, cute answer. There’s a wisdom in her reply that’s generally lost to us, namely, that God understands the human condition and gives us sacred permission to be human, even in the face of our most important human and spiritual commitments.

This struck me recently while listening to a homily. The preacher, a sincere and dedicated priest, challenged us with the idea that God must always be first in our lives. So far so good. But then he shared how upset he gets whenever he hears people say things like: “Let’s go to the Saturday evening mass, to get it over with.” Or, when a celebrant says: “We will keep things short today, because the game starts at noon.” Phrases like that, he suggested, betray a serious weakness in our prayer lives. Do they?

Maybe yes, maybe no. Comments like that can issue out of laziness, spiritual indifference, or misplaced priorities. They might also simply be an expression of normal, understandable human fatigue – a fatigue which God, the author of human nature, gives us permission to feel.

There can be, and often is, a naïveté about the place of high energy and enthusiasm in our lives. For example, imagine a family who, with the best of intentions, decides that to foster family togetherness they agree to make their evening meal, every evening, a full-blown banquet, demanding everyone’s participation and enthusiasm and lasting for ninety minutes. Wish them luck! Some days this would foster togetherness and there would be a certain enthusiasm at the table; but, soon enough, this would be unsustainable in terms of their energy, and more than one of the family members would be saying silently, let’s get this over with, or can we cut it a little short tonight because the game is on at 7 o’clock. Granted, that could betray an attitude of disinterest; but, more likely, it would simply be a valid expression of normal fatigue.

Father Ron Rolheiser, OMI

None of us can sustain high energy and enthusiasm forever. Nor are we intended to. Our lives are a marathon, not a sprint. That’s why it is good sometimes to have lengthy banquets and sometimes to simply grab a hotdog and run. God and nature give us permission to sometimes say, let’s get it over with, and sometimes to rush things so as to not miss the beginning of the game.

Moreover, beyond taking seriously the normal ebb and flow of our energies, there is still another, even more important angle to this. Enthusiastic energy or lack of them don’t necessarily define meaning. We can do a thing because it means something affectively to us – or we can do something simply because it means something in itself, independent of how we feel about it on a given day. Too often, we don’t grasp this. For example, take the response people often give when explaining why they are no longer going to church services, “it doesn’t mean anything to me.” What they are blind to in saying this is the fact that being together in a church means something in itself, independent of how it feels affectively on any given day. A church service means something in itself, akin to visiting your aging mother. You do this, not because you are always enthusiastic about it or because it always feels good emotionally. No. You do it because this is your aging mother and that’s what God, nature and maturity call us to do.

The same holds true for a family meal together. You don’t necessarily go to dinner with your family each night with enthusiasm. You go because this is how families sustain their common life. There will be times when you do come with high energy and appreciate both the preciousness of the moment and the length of the dinner. But there will be other times when, despite a deeper awareness that being together in this way is important, you will be wanting to get this over with, or sneaking glances at your watch and calculating what time the game starts.

So, scripture advises, avoid Job’s friends. For spiritual advice in this area, avoid the spiritual novice, the over-pious, the anthropological naïve, the couple on their honeymoon, the recent convert and at least half of all liturgists and worship leaders. The true manual on marriage is never written by a couple on their honeymoon and the true manual on prayer is never written by someone who believes that we should be on a high all the time. Find a spiritual mentor who challenges you enough to keep you from selfishness and laziness, even as she or he gives you divine permission to be tired sometimes.

A woman or man at prayer is equally pleasing to God, enthusiastic or tired – perhaps even more when tired.

(Oblate Father Ron Rolheiser is a theologian, teacher and award-winning author. He can be contacted through his website www.ronrolheiser.com.)