VICKSBURG
CLARKSDALE
JACKSON
COLUMBUS
TUPELO
CLARKSDALE
MADISON
JACKSON
SOUTHAVEN
Mrs. Wade’s second grade class release butterflies they hatched. Pictured are Matthew and Aaric getting a very close look. (Photo by Sister Margaret Sue Broker)
By Joe Lee
JACKSON – Donovan Guilbeau, who installs power lines for Southern Electric Corporation and has seen many destructive tornadoes and hurricanes over four decades, said the EF-4 storm that ravaged the Mississippi communities of Rolling Fork and Silver City on March 24 caused the worst damage he’s ever seen.
“This reminded me of the Nagasaki bomb going off in World War II. It took my breath away,” said Guilbeau, a St. Richard parishioner is a long-time member of the St. Richard of Chichester Conference of the St. Vincent de Paul Society (SVDP), a national organization dedicated to feeding, clothing, and healing individuals and families in their time of need. “The damage and 26 lives lost were in a very concentrated area, and I knew we had to do something.”
Guilbeau has business associates who own property in the Rolling Fork area, and his wife has family nearby. In trying to assess what he could do to help, he turned to the St. Richard of Chichester Conference, one of five SVDP conferences in the District Council of the Diocese of Jackson (the others are St. Martin de Porres at Christ the King, St. Therese Conference, St. Joseph Conference at St. Mary Magdalene Parish in Greenville and St. Elizabeth of Hungary at Annunciation Parish in Columbus).
“I’m the St. Richard conference’s field representative for Rolling Fork and Silver City,” Guilbeau said. “Once the site was secured by the local police and the fire department, Tommy Jordan, a fellow St. Richard conference member, and I invited Carrie Robinson, president of the District of Jackson Council, to go with us.
“In this case, the news media did not blow the destruction out of proportion. I became a news reporter of sorts for SVDP, telling them what we were seeing on the ground.”
Robinson, a member of Christ the King Parish, said that all five SVDP conferences in the Jackson council eagerly came together: food and clothing was delivered from the Greenville conference, and financial assistance from the Columbus conference was provided to St. Helen’s Catholic Church in Amory to support nine families that suffered tornado damage the same weekend as the Rolling Fork storm hit.
“I ordered 875 hygiene kits from Disaster Services Corporation, which is the SVDP service arm,” Robinson said. “SVDP deployed case workers for a period of two weeks and began assisting residents of Rolling Fork and Silver City.
“The St. Richard conference donated $10,000 toward the relief efforts, which made it possible for us to serve one hot meal a day to 500-700 people for those two weeks. We also received a Rapid Response Grant from SVDP for $5,000, and a $5,000 grant from Isagenix Foundation.”
The grant money has gone toward Walmart gift cards, which have been handed out to storm victims in amounts of $25 and $50 to purchase food, clothing and other basic needs. But Dianne Clark, the Southeastern U.S. Disaster Rep for SVDP, said that one of the best things volunteers can do is listen to the victims’ stories and encourage them to talk.
“Each time you relate what you went through, it gets a little easier to talk about. Don’t keep it bottled up inside,” said Clark, who is based in Bradenton, Florida, and has seen plenty of hurricane damage in her decade-plus of SVDP service. “We’ll talk 20-30 minutes with each person to let them get things off their chests.
“It’s especially difficult if you’ve lost family members – there was one man on crutches who told us he’d just lost his mother and grandmother. Another woman said she and her husband lived in a mobile home, and her husband climbed on top of her to protect her. They survived, but the woman was horrified to find that when she looked over at the site where her sister’s mobile home was, it was gone. The sister’s body was found later, unfortunately.
First Baptist Church of Rolling Fork became a central feeding and recovery location for disaster survivors in the immediate aftermath of the storm.
“Pastor Britt Williamson was bringing in counselors to help the victims when we were there,” Clark said. “It’s so important to get children to open up as well as the adults. We give candy to them, try to get them to talk. They’re deeply impacted by what they’ve gone through.”
The inclination by so many goodhearted people once they learn of horrific storm damage is to organize drives to deliver food, clothing, supplies and even furniture. Some even hop in their cars and drive straight to the disaster site, eager to offer whatever help they can.
But despite the best of intentions, those spontaneous acts of generosity can create additional problems. Clark pointed out that when truckloads of furniture and clothing are sent at the very beginning of the recovery, there’s often nowhere to put them because homes and buildings have been destroyed.
“There’s an urge to go in and provide resources without asking,” Robinson said. “The greatest thing we can do is allow those in need to have some dignity, and say to them, ‘We are not the experts. Tell us how we can help you. What is it that you need?’”
Robinson just led a team of volunteers from the St. Richard and Christ the King conferences to Silver City on May 18 to partner with the Mississippi Department of Health and Human Services.
“DHS asked if we could help them feed the residents,” Robinson said. “They’re doing outreach for seniors and the disabled whose services – such as Meals on Wheels – were disrupted because of the storm. We purchased burgers, beans, chips and drinks to serve lunch, and we were also there to find out if there were additional needs from residents, such as those still without electricity.”
Guilbeau and SVDP volunteers all over the Jackson Council will gladly continue to help out in Rolling Fork and Silver City as long as it takes, and in whatever ways are needed – including through spiritual nourishment.
“We have a project called Home in a Box that provides furniture to homes that are being rebuilt,” he said. “The short-term need was for feeding; the long-term need is to rebuild. This is long-haul healing.”
“When we met with Pastor Williamson, he indicated that a lot of Rolling Fork residents are renters,” Robinson said. “Going forward, one of the needs will be to see how we can assist them in moving from renting to home ownership, which creates more stability in the community.
“But the most important thing we’ve done for our friends there – and the most important thing we can continue to do – is pray for them.”
To learn more about SVDP, visit svdpusa.org.
By Joanna Puddister King
JACKSON – The Diocese of Jackson has a new initiative that will focus on renewing and reimagining parishes across the diocese. The one-year “Pastoral Reimagining” process, that will begin on Pentecost Sunday, will focus on parishes and missions across the diocese taking a more direct and intentional look at the reality of their communities in the spirit of the Synod of Synodality in the aftermath of the pandemic.
“We are allowing the Holy Spirit to bless and guide us in our willingness to cooperate with God’s grace in a spirit of renewal,” writes Bishop Joseph Kopacz in his column for Mississippi Catholic on the reimagining process.
The theme from the process is from Ephesians, “There is one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism and one God and Father of all.” (Ephesians 4:5-6)
Thinking about the Synod process undertaken in the diocese and throughout the world, Bishop Kopacz noted that the church is at a crossroads locally and globally. With that, an extensive demographic review of the diocese will be a part of the “Pastoral Reimagining” process.
“Without a doubt [it] will enrich the local conversations,” said Bishop Kopacz.
There will be four stages of the pastoral reimagining process over the course of the year, running from Pentecost this year to Pentecost 2024.
The first stage will run from Pentecost through August 2023, with each pastor or LEM establishing a pastoral reimagining committee and having the committee view four ecclesiology video sessions and answer a series of questions designed to guide conversation on who we are as a church, says Fran Lavelle, director of faith formation for the diocese and member of the core team who will be working on the pastoral reimagining process.
The four video sessions, led by Bishop Kopacz will focus on the four marks of the church: one, holy, Catholic and apostolic; and will be available for anyone to view on the diocese website after Pentecost.
Stage two, will include each parish undertaking a parish assessment that includes the current situation at the local parish, the growing edges, the areas that are diminishing, the opportunities for collaboration with other parishes in the area, and other local realities.
With this stage, demographic information will be prepared for each parish, including sacramental data, local economic data and more, says Lavelle.
The third stage will focus on each deanery working though challenges and reviewing the growing edges and diminishing areas of ministry within the deanery.
“The goal is to gain a realistic perspective of the health and well-being of the deanery within the setting of the individual parishes,” Lavelle says.
The final two stages will include a period of discernment on reports from the six deaneries in the diocese and a pastoral letter from Bishop Kopacz, concluding with a diocesan celebration at Pentecost 2024.
“Calling upon the Holy Spirit, we pray that each parish will be encouraged, as well as challenged to be whom God calls us to be,” says Bishop Kopacz.
From the Archives
By Mary Woodward
JACKSON – Last edition I wrote about May being the month for ordinations. This week for the digital edition I thought I would share several photos of our three most recent bishops at their ordinations. It is very enriching to look back on lives well-lived in the service of the Lord.
Keep all of our priests in your prayers as they strive to be humble servants of the Lord.
(Mary Woodward is Chancellor and Archivist for the Diocese of Jackson.)
By OSV News
NEW YORK – Many are remembering how Harry Belafonte, who died April 25 in New York at age 96, was so inspired by the life and ministry of Sister Thea Bowman that he had planned to make a film about her.
In turn, the singer, actor and civil rights activist who popularized calypso music with international audiences in the 1950s, inspired others, including Chicago’s Father Michael Pfleger, senior pastor of the Faith Community of St. Sabina in Chicago, who is himself an outspoken advocate against gun violence, gangs, poverty and racism.
According to an April 25 posting on the website of The Catholic University of America in Washington, Belafonte first contacted Sister Bowman after he saw a profile of her on “60 Minutes” on CBS in 1987.
The religious sister, a noted educator and dynamic evangelist, had persuaded the TV news magazine’s lead reporter, Mike Wallace, to say, “Black is beautiful” during the primetime story on her ministry, said the university’s posting.
“Belafonte watched the broadcast and knew he wanted to bring her witness to hope and healing to wider audiences,” Catholic University said. “Belafonte contacted Sister Bowman to discuss his idea of a feature film about her life starring Whoopi Goldberg, both of whom she met during a visit to California.”
They first met in 1988. At the time, Belafonte was “a Hollywood icon who was widely respected for his social justice activism, so Sister Bowman trusted that he would do her life’s work justice,” Catholic University said, adding that Belafonte “went to great lengths to get personally involved in bringing her story to the big screen.”
According to the university, the Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration, who was battling the cancer that would claim her life on March 30, 1990, invited Belafonte to her home in Canton, Mississippi, and to Xavier University of Louisiana’s Institute for Black Catholic Studies, of which she was founding member, in New Orleans.
Belafonte visited both places “to speak with Sister Bowman’s friends and students to learn about her impact on their lives,” Catholic University said. “Even though she was using a wheelchair due to a battle with cancer that took her life less than two years later, he saw that nothing kept her down. They became practically inseparable, and Belafonte was seen pushing her along in her wheelchair.”
When Sister Bowman’s “condition worsened,” Belafonte “traveled to visit her at her bedside,” the university added. But the film was never made. The actor-activist’s rights expired after the project was delayed because he and her Franciscan community had different opinions on who should “have final editorial control over her portrayal” – him or her community, the university said.
Some years later, a documentary on her life and ministry was written and produced by Franciscan Sister Judith Ann Zielinski. The film was released in 2022. Sister Bowman today is a candidate for sainthood along with five other prominent Black Catholics in the U.S.
Belafonte died at his home on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The cause was congestive heart failure, according to his longtime spokesman, Ken Sunshine.
Born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr. on March 1, 1927, at Lying-in Hospital in New York’s Harlem neighborhood, he was the son of immigrants from the Caribbean islands of Martinique and Jamaica. His father worked as a chef and his mother was a housekeeper.
Harry Jr. was baptized a Catholic and raised in the faith. He attended parochial school at St. Charles Borromeo in Harlem. He grew up in poverty, but spent much of his childhood living with his grandmother in Jamaica. After high school graduation, he joined the U.S. Navy and served during World War II.
He returned to New York after the war, enrolled in drama school and began performing. Belafonte first achieved fame in the 1950s with film and musical theater roles.
“Harry Belafonte was not the first Black entertainer to transcend racial boundaries, but none had made as much of a splash as he did,” The New York Times said in an April 25 obituary.
Belafonte is one of the few performers to have received an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony (EGOT). He won the Oscar in a noncompetitive category – in 2014, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented him with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. He earned his career breakthrough with the album “Calypso” (1956), which was the first million-selling LP record by a single artist.
Belafonte was best known for his recordings of “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song),” “Jump in the Line (Shake, Senora),” “Jamaica Farewell” and “Mary’s Boy Child.” He recorded and performed in many genres, including blues, folk, gospel, show tunes and American standards. He also starred in films such as “Carmen Jones” (1954), “Island in the Sun” (1957), “Odds Against Tomorrow “(1959), “Buck and the Preacher” (1972) and “Uptown Saturday Night” (1974). He made his final screen appearance in Spike Lee’s “BlacKkKlansman” (2018).
Belafonte was a close confidant of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. He also helped organize the March on Washington in 1963.
His civil rights activism inspired Father Pfleger, the Chicago pastor and activist. In an interview with Chicago’s CBS News affiliate, Father Pfleger called Belafonte a hero and a friend who helped shape him.
“He stood in this pulpit. He stood in this church time after time after time,” Father Pfleger said about St. Sabina. “He had a major shaping of my life, and my formation of who I am today, because … I had such admiration for him.”
By Maria Wiering
ST. PAUL, Minn. (OSV News) – Mike Wavra thinks of the 2024 National Eucharistic Pilgrimage as “an opportunity to walk with the Lord.”
He and his wife, Cindi, both 65-year-old retirees, plan to join the pilgrimage at its northern launch point in Minnesota in May 2024, and then walk for about a week, before rejoining the pilgrims seven weeks later in Indianapolis for the 10th National Eucharistic Congress.
The Wavras are among thousands of Catholics from across the United States anticipated to participate in next year’s pilgrimage to the Congress, part of the U.S. bishops’ three-year National Eucharistic Revival that began in 2021. The pilgrimage has four routes, with one beginning in the north, south, east and west of the country.
Pilgrims traveling in the “Eucharistic caravans” on all four routes will begin their journeys with Pentecost weekend celebrations May 17-18, 2024, leaving May 19. They will all converge on Indianapolis July 16, 2024, the day before the five-day Congress opens.
The pilgrimage is an opportunity for prayer and evangelization, as well as a way to engage Catholics unable to attend the Congress, said Tim Glemkowski, the National Eucharistic Congress’ executive director.
“What the pilgrimage does is it builds us in prayerful anticipation for what God is going to do at the Congress,” he told OSV News May 5. “It’s two months of us pilgrimaging, fasting, praying, interceding, asking the Lord to renew his church, his bride, in those five days. … They’re not two different things. It’s one pilgrimage: five days of which happen in a stadium in Indianapolis, and two months of which happen across our country on the way there.”
Weekend stops in major cities will include special liturgies, Eucharistic adoration, processions and service opportunities, Glemkowski said.
The northern “Marian Route” that the Wavras plan to take begins in northern Minnesota at Lake Itasca, the headwaters of the Mississippi River. The route follows the river to St. Paul and Minneapolis, its first weekend stop. Then the route heads south to Rochester, Minnesota, and then east through La Crosse and Green Bay, Wisconsin. It continues through Milwaukee, Chicago and Notre Dame, Indiana, before arriving in Indianapolis.
The “Juan Diego Route” begins more than 1,600 miles south of Lake Itasca in Brownsville, Texas, at the U.S.-Mexico border. It will follow Texas’ eastern border through Corpus Christi and Houston, and continue through New Orleans; Mobile, Alabama; Atlanta; Nashville, Tennessee; and Louisville, Kentucky.
The “Seton Route” – named for St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first U.S.-born saint – begins in New Haven, Connecticut, and continues through New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, Pittsburgh, and Steubenville, Columbus and Cincinnati, Ohio.
The “Junipero Serra Route” begins in San Francisco – with hope of walking over the Golden Gate Bridge – and continues through Reno, Nevada; Salt Lake City; Denver; North Platte and Omaha, Nebraska; Kansas City, Kansas and Missouri; and St. Louis.
At more than 2,200 miles long, the Junipero Serra Route is the longest and most rigorous route. Pilgrims will use transport to cross sections of their route, but the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains are expected to be crossed on foot. In an interview with Bishop Andrew H. Cozzens of Crookston, Minnesota, for a February episode of the popular podcast “Catholic Stuff You Should Know,” co-host Father John Nepil said he wanted to walk with the Eucharist and fellow priests over Colorado’s Vail Pass, which, at 10,541 feet above sea level, is the highest elevation the pilgrimage routes will reach.
Besides the thrill of the physical challenge, “there’s always been a close connection for me between thinking of the Eucharist as the source and summit of our faith, and the ways we reflect on the Eucharistic high points as a place of transcendence, and then the way it connects to the mountains,” Father Nepil, a priest of the Archdiocese of Denver and vice rector of St. John Vianney Theological Seminary in Denver, told OSV News May 8. “We just kind of jumped at that as a cool prospect of leading some people and shepherding them over that pass as we make our way.”
Modern Catholic Pilgrim, a pilgrimage nonprofit with offices in Minnesota and California, is organizing the national pilgrimage. Its founder and president, Will Peterson, connects the pilgrimage to the scriptural journey from Jerusalem to Emmaus, where two of his disciples met Jesus after the Resurrection. Luke 24 recounts how Jesus comforted them, and then revealed himself in the breaking of the bread.
The routes include important Catholic sites in the United States, such the 18th-century ministry of St. Junipero Serra in what is now California, the Philadelphia tombs of St. John Neumann and St. Katharine Drexel, and in Wisconsin, the National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion, the only approved Marian apparition in the United States.
“People are going to reach an ‘Emmaus point’ at these spots along the way, and we want to support the local church,” Peterson said May 9. “That’s where it’s such a great gift to coordinate with like 65 dioceses to say, ‘How can we really highlight the great sacred sites of your diocese?’”
Each pilgrimage route is expected to have 12 “perpetual pilgrims,” young adults, including two seminarians, committed to traveling the entire route, from their launch points to Indianapolis. Each route also will include priest chaplains who will carry the Eucharist, usually in a monstrance specially designed for the pilgrimage. While some chaplains may join the entire pilgrimage route, others may join for segments of the journey, Glemkowski said.
The faithful are invited to join the pilgrimage for hours, days or weeks. Each day of the pilgrimage will begin with Mass and a Eucharistic procession with the local community before pilgrims continue the trek to their next stopping point. Pilgrims joining the Eucharistic caravans for short stretches will be responsible for arranging their own food and overnight accommodations, although some parishes along the routes may provide meals and lodging.
Parishioners of St. Bernard Parish in Thief River Falls, Minnesota, the Wavras have worked out their own logistics: They plan to take their truck with a camper and two motorized bicycles, and “hopscotch” their way along the route, taking their truck each morning to drop off their bikes at that evening’s stop, driving back, walking the pilgrimage route, and then taking their bikes to pick up their truck.
The Wavras expect the pilgrimage to include comradery with fellow Catholics and their bishop, Bishop Cozzens, whose Diocese of Crookston is home to Lake Itasca and the first stretch of the Marian Route. Bishop Cozzens is chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis, which is overseeing the revival.
The pilgrimage “brings Jesus out of our churches and out into the public,” Mike Wavra told OSV News May 4. “This is just an opportunity for people to see the Jesus that we know and love.”
Wavra also expects the pilgrimage to attract interest and curiosity from non-Catholics. “They wonder what some crazy Catholics are doing, following a piece of bread,” he said. “It’s not a piece of bread, it’s the Lord himself. What an opportunity for us to share that.”
(Maria Wiering is senior writer for OSV News.)
NATION
HOUSTON (OSV News) – Entering a cavelike entrance, visitors at the National Museum of Funeral History in Houston confront a life-size statue lying in the tomb, a replica of the man’s body image from the Shroud of Turin. Sculpted by Italian artist Luigi Enzo Mattei, the body shows some of the suffering endured but in a subdued manner. The dark, bronze-colored resin statue highlights a gaping hole in his side, in each of his wrists, his feet and other wounds. Across on a wall of the compact space, a 14-foot replica of the well-known Shroud of Turin looms as the possible burial cloth of Jesus. The shroud exposition sits adjacent to the museum’s lengthy exhibit on the death of the popes and features two life-size, back-lit screen displays of the shroud’s photonegative scans from official studies. Visitors have room to view the shroud up close, a certified linen reproduction gifted to the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston from the Archdiocese of Turin, Italy. The shroud replica is just one of seven authentic reproductions recently made available by Turin officials for public display around the world. Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston blessed the new exhibit with holy water, telling those gathered that the shroud “has led many to contemplate more deeply the central mysteries of the Christian faith, principally the historical reality of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.”
WASHINGTON (OSV News) – On May 11, when Title 42 public health order comes to an end, processing of migrants will be full reinstated under Title 8, a measure that experts said would stiffen the consequences for migrants who attempt to cross the border into the United States irregularly. Additionally, the Biden administration announced on May 10 new measures that would further harden the requirements to request asylum in the United States. Troy Miller, commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), testified before Congress in recent days that the agency is preparing for up to 10,000 migrants to cross the southern border daily once Title 42 ends. Title 42 is part of the U.S. federal public health law implemented by the Trump administration in 2020 at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Title 8 has been the standard for migration to the United States for decades. Johanna Kelley, a Washington-based immigration lawyer, said, “What is new are the policies of execution and implementation of Title 8; what is new is what the Biden administration is doing to create these regional centers (to process migrants in places like Guatemala and Colombia), to generate alternative paths to stop irregular migration and these processes or procedures before entry through paroles,” she said. “Sadly, the asylum ban policy that the administration is finalizing raises many barriers to the rights of migrants and asylum-seekers at the border,” said Dylan Corbett, director of the Hope Border Institute.
VATICAN
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Although she died centuries ago, the English mystic Julian of Norwich continues to remind people of the importance of “faith in God’s loving providence and holiness of life expressed in generous service to our brothers and sisters in need,” Pope Francis said. Pope Francis’ message about the ongoing relevance of the medieval mystic was read May 14 at the Anglican cathedral in Norwich, England, during an ecumenical service marking the 650th anniversary of the “shewings” or visions and revelations Julian received in Norwich over several days and nights in May 1373. Noting how Julian of Norwich’s life and writings are “increasingly being acknowledged and celebrated,” Pope Francis said that “her maternal influence, humble anonymity and profound theological insights stand as timely reminders” of the importance of faith in God and assisting one another. The mystic’s real name is not known; she is called Julian because she lived in a cell at the Church of St. Julian, praying and receiving visitors who asked for help.
WORLD
JERUSALEM (OSV News) – Faith leaders and activists for coexistence from across Israel gathered in prayer in front of the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem on May 10, in a week that once again saw yet another increase in violence between Israel and the Palestinians. The prayer march came after the May 2 death in prison of prominent hunger striking Palestinian prisoner Khader Adnan, a leader and spokesman in the Islamic Jihad militant group. The prayer gathering took on more urgency following an early morning Israeli airstrike into Gaza May 9 that killed three senior Islamic Jihad militants and at least 10 civilians including the militants’ wives, several children, and civilian neighbors in a residential building. Muslim peace activist Ghadir Hani, from the northern Israeli city of Acco, and Rabbi Lana Zilberman Soloway from the Jerusalem area, said their prayers – recited in both Hebrew and Arabic – took on a special urgency now, and that it was important to see Arabs and Jews marching together at these very tense times, with the missile attacks continuing even as they prayed. “Today we are praying for all the children in Gaza and for all the children living along the Gaza border in Israel. We are one, and we are the ones bringing light to all the people of this land,” Hani said. “This march is a very important statement.”
LONDON (OSV News) – Catholic leaders in Britain welcomed the ecumenical and interfaith elements in the May 6 coronation of King Charles III and his consort, Queen Camilla, as well as a pledge by the new monarch “not to be served but to serve.” “The years following the Reformation were a desperately challenging time for Catholics, with priests, religious and laity persecuted and killed for their faith – it is testament to an incredible journey of reconciliation that six Catholic bishops were present at the coronation, including Vatican representatives,” said Archbishop John Wilson of Southwark. The archbishop was preaching at a May 7 thanksgiving Mass at St. George’s Cathedral in Southwark following the coronation, which was attended by 2,300 in London’s historic Westminster Abbey, including heads of state and government, and watched live by tens of millions worldwide. Westminster Abbey said the coronation, with its historic elements of recognition, oath-taking, anointing, investiture, crowning, enthronement and homage, had been the 39th in the Gothic building since that of William the Conqueror in 1066. The procession into the abbey included a new Cross of Wales, incorporating fragments of the Cross of Christ donated by Pope Francis, and a book of Latin gospels used in a sixth-century conversion mission to England, and was joined by various Christian denominations, as well as Bahai, Jain, Zoroastrian, Buddhist, Sikh, Hindu, Muslim and Jewish leaders.
SPIRITUAL ENRICHMENT
GREENWOOD Locus Benedictus, “Inner Healing through Scripture” Retreat on Saturday, June 17 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the retreat center on 1407 Levee Road. Presenters are Dr. Sheryl Jones and Joyce Pellegrin. Details: contact (662) 299-1232.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. Catholic Charismatic Renewal Conference, July 21-22 at John Carroll Catholic High School at 300 Lakeshore Parkway held by the Diocese of Birmingham. Conference theme is “Victory in Jesus” and will feature Father James Blount, with Father Eric Gami and Teresa Ragusa, a miracle COVID survivor. Father Blount is an internationally known healing ministry priest of the Society of Our Lady of the Trinity (SOLT) of the Archdiocese of Atlanta. Registration $25 for individuals and $65 for family of three or more. All are welcome! Details: Sally Smith at (205) 983-4150 or mustardsally14@gmail.com. To register visit www.catholiccharismaticrenewal.org.
METAIRIE, La. Five-day Silent Directed Retreat, June 26 – July 2 at the Archdiocese of New Orleans Retreat Center (5500 Saint Mary Street, Metairie). Cost $500, includes room and board. Meet daily with a spiritual director, pray with scripture and spend the rest of the day in silence, prayer and rest. Register at franu.edu/retreat. Details: tyler.trahan@franu.edu or call (225) 526-1694.
PARISH, FAMILY & SCHOOL EVENTS
COLUMBUS Annunciation, International Food Fest, Sunday, June 4 at 5 p.m. to sunset in church parking lot. All are welcome for fun, fellowship and food. Details: church office (662) 328-2927.
MERIDIAN St. Joseph, Knights of Peter Claver Food Fest, Saturday, June 3. BBQ ribs, chicken and fish plates cost $12. Slab of ribs $25 and must pre-order. Details: Contact David to order ribs at (601) 938-5757. Plate tickets can be purchased from KPC members.
OLIVE BRANCH Queen of Peace, Yard Sale, Saturday, June 10 at 8 a.m. Details: church office (662) 895-5007.
PEARL St. Jude, Pentecost International Food Fest, Saturday, May 27 following 5 p.m. Vigil Mass. Bring your favorite dish to share and join the fun as we celebrate the diversity of cultures with food. If you have a group that would like to perform a dance of your culture, contact Caytee at cderby@stjudepearl.org.
RIDGELAND Catholic Charities, Open House, Tuesday, May 23 from 4-6 p.m. Come visit the new location and learn about services provided. Address: 731 S. Pear Orchard Rd, Ste. 51 in Ridgeland. Details: call (601) 355-8634.
SOUTHAVEN Christ the King, Trivia Night, Saturday, June 10 at 7 p.m. Cost: $15/person or $25/couple. Details: call Donna to reserve a spot (662) 342-1073.
WEST POINT Immaculate Conception, Blood drive, Wednesday, May 24 from 1-7 p.m. in parish hall. Details: make an appointment by calling (662) 494-3486 or www.donors.vitalant.org, code: iccatholic. Walk-ins welcome.
VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL
CLARKSDALE St. Elizabeth, VBS, June 12-16. Launch kids on a cosmic quest where they’ll have a blast shining Jesus’ light to the world. Volunteers needed. Details: call Catelin at (662) 902-6478 if you can help.
CLEVELAND Our Lady of Victories, VBS, June 4-6 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. for ages entering Pre-K4 to sixth. Details: Sign up or volunteer, call or text Jenifer at (662) 402-7050.
FLOWOOD St. Paul, VBS, June 5-9 from 6-8 p.m. for ages 4 through sixth grade. Helpers needed. Details: Register at https://bit.ly/StPaulVBS2023.
GLUCKSTADT St. Joseph, “Win the World for Jesus!” VBS, June 5-7. Registration for children (K5-fourth graders) and youth volunteers (fifth graders on up) will begin May 7. Details: Registration forms are in the church foyer or email Karen at kworrellcre@hotmail.com.
GREENVILLE St. Joseph, VBS for grades K to fifth grades, July 16-18 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at St. Joe High School. Visit stjosephgreenville.org to register or volunteer. Details: Alyssa at (662) 820-0868.
HERNANDO Holy Spirit, VBS, June 5-8 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. for Pre-K through fifth grade. Dinner provided. Register in the Narthex. Details: Jessica at (601) 540-5301. Volunteers needed.
MADISON St. Francis, Rocky Railway VBS express, June 19-22 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. All pre-K4 through fourth graders are invited. More volunteers are needed. Register at https://bit.ly/StFrancisVBS2023. Details: mc.george@stfrancismadison.org.
MERIDIAN VBS, June 26-30. Adult volunteers needed. Details: church office (601) 693-1321.
SOUTHAVEN Christ the King, “Camping in God’s Creation” VBS for K through third grade, June 19-23 6-8 p.m. Island Luau for fourth through eighth grade, June 26-30 from 6:30-9 p.m. Details: call Donna to register at (662) 342-1073.
YAZOO CITY St. Mary, VBS, June 9-11. Details: (662) 746-1680.
REMINDERS/NOTICES
JOB OPENINGS Catholic schools across the diocese have a variety of positions open from athletic directors, teachers, bookkeepers, substitutes and more. Please visit https://jacksondiocese.org/employment for an opportunity near you.
ENGAGED ENCOUNTER WEEKENDS July 14-16 and Oct. 27-29 at Camp Garaywa in Clinton. Please register at www.jacksondiocese.org/family-ministry.
INDIANAPOLIS Eucharistic Congress, July 17-21, 2024. Registration is now open. See what Our Lord has in store for this next chapter for the Catholic Church in United States. Purchase tickets at https://bit.ly/3ydav9Q. Details: EucharisticCongress.org.
INDIANAPOLIS National Catholic Youth Conference (NCYC), Nov. 16-18, 2023 at the Indiana Convention Center. This distinctly Catholic three-day conference will include opportunities for spiritual growth, prayer, learning and service. For more information, visit ncyc.us.
NATIONAL BLACK CATHOLIC CONGRESS GATHERING, July 20-23 at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in Oxon Hill, Maryland. Join with other Black Catholics and those who minister to Black Catholics for a celebration of faith and culture. Details: nbccongress.org.
WORLD YOUTH DAY: LISBON 2023 Event for young Catholics ages 16-35, though all are welcomed to attend in Lisbon, Portugal. For more information visit: https://www.lisboa2023.org/en/.
On Ordinary Times
By Lucia A. Silecchia
If you enter a church and find the sanctuary decked out in red flowers, chances are that, unless it is Christmas, the parish has just celebrated Confirmation. This is particularly true in spring when so many such celebrations take place in the wake of Easter.
I wonder, though, if this Sacrament is in danger of being deeply underappreciated.
Unlike Communion and Reconciliation, Confirmation is celebrated only once in a lifetime. Thus, it is not repeatedly recalled in such a tangible way.
Unlike Holy Matrimony and Ordination, Confirmation does not bring forth an obvious reorientation of daily life and the organization of that life to meet the demands that come with a new state of life.
Unlike Baptism, it does not come with such constant reminders as the Baptismal candle prominently placed in every church or the annual renewal of Baptismal vows at Easter or the reminder of Baptism at every Christian funeral.
Unlike the Anointing of the Sick, it is often celebrated amidst the myriad distractions and angsts of teenage life rather than in those days when the mind and heart are intensely oriented toward the spiritual.
It is also centered on the Holy Spirit, perhaps the most intangible member of the Holy Trinity.
Yet, when considering the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the fruits of that Spirit, and the great promise of strength that comes with it, there may be more that can be done to emphasize the importance of this Sacrament for those receiving it this year, those for whom Confirmation was a long-ago celebration, and for the life of a parish as a whole. So, perhaps:
• If space allows, all parishioners should be invited to and urged to attend the parish’s celebration of Confirmation to remember their own celebration, hear the beautiful prayers of Confirmation, and support the newly confirmed with their presence and their prayers. Attend if you can and recall the graces you received that special day of your own life.
• Consider hosting a parish wide celebration each year for those who are confirmed – perhaps on the Feast of Pentecost or on a Sunday close to the Confirmation celebration. This can be an occasion for all to rejoice in the gracious gifts of the Holy Spirit.
• Occasionally the beautiful words of the Confirmation rite might be printed in the parish bulletin or website so that those who last heard these words long ago can have a chance to reflect on them once again.
• Confirmation sponsors may consider all the ways they can help the one they sponsored grow in wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord. Often, godparents are chosen for their critical role because of their relationships with the parents of the infant to be baptized. Typically, however, when a teenager or adult is being confirmed, he or she chooses the sponsor. Hopefully, those special relationships will inspire sponsors to play active roles in the lives of faith of those they presented for Confirmation. Perhaps the anniversary of Confirmation day, or the Feast Day of the Confirmation patron saint can be particular occasions to renew and strengthen that commitment.
• To the extent possible, the years after Confirmation might be given greater attention. All too often, Confirmation can become a day that marks the end of religious education rather than the beginning of a newer and deeper life of faith. Those who lead parish organizations might consider how to reach out to the newly Confirmed to play an active role in parish life. Yes, this may mean a vibrant youth and young adult ministry program. But it should also involve real invitations for the newly confirmed to join every other activity and form of service that is part of parish life.
• Planning for Pentecost Sunday – celebrated on May 28 this year – might include ways to recall the celebration of Confirmation, remember what it meant, and pray for continued openness to receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
• If those to be Confirmed are still teenagers or younger, their parents – the first teachers of the faith – have a sacred role to play in helping them to prepare, by sharing with them a strong witness of a faith-filled life and prioritizing their growth in faith above all the other demands on their time.
• Likewise, godparents should accompany their godchildren as they journey toward Confirmation. With the intimate connection between Baptism and Confirmation, this support can be essential.
My own Confirmation was decades ago. I have happy memories and some photographs in which I am wearing a red robe and a white felt stole bearing the name of my patron saint, “Ann.” I wish I remembered more. However, with every passing year, I get a bit more grateful for that long ago day and what happened on it.
Perhaps as individuals and as parish families this can be the year to celebrate Confirmation and its important role in the life of Baptized Christians and in the very life of the church herself. When the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles, these men who had trembled and hidden in fear were strengthened to do great things boldly and bravely for the rest of their days. May we seek ways to more fully embrace the Holy Spirit in our own lives and to rejoice in the way it fills our ordinary times.
(Lucia A. Silecchia is a Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Faculty Research at the Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law. Email her at silecchia@cua.edu.)
