Effective July 1, 2023, I hereby announce the following appointments:
Rev. Carlisle Beggerly appointed parochial vicar of St. Patrick and St. Joseph Parishes, Meridian;
Rev. Jofin George appointed pastor of Holy Cross Parish, Philadelphia; and sacramental minister to Sacred Heart Parish, Louisville;
Rev. Justin Joseph appointed parochial vicar of St. James Parish, Tupelo;
Rev. Cesar Sanchez appointed pastor, St. Jude Parish, Pearl.
Effective July 24, 2023, I appoint:
Rev. Stephen Okojie, Administrator Pro Tempore, St. Therese Parish, Jackson; St. Stephen Parish, Magee; and sacramental minister to the Carmelite Monastery.
CLINTON – Class of 2023 seniors were recognized at Holy Savior on Saturday, May 6. Pictured (l-r): Ryan Callegan, Cade Tripp, Father Lincoln Dall, Emillie McCombs, Cole Hatch and Aidan Camillo. (Photo by Trish Ballard)
COLUMBUS – Annunciation student Gabriella Nguyen got ready for summer with some Field Day fun on Friday, May 12. (Photo by Logan Waggoner)
JACKSON – St. Richard sixth graders made a trip to New Orleans on Friday, May 19 where they visited the WWII museum and St. Louis Cathedral, where Jolie Sekinger gave them tour and brief history. (Photo by Tereza Ma)
PEARL – Parishioners brought flowers to Mass in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary on May 2 for May Crowning at St. Jude parish. Pictured is Josh Statham placing a crown of roses on the parishes statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary. (Photo by Rhonda Bowden)
First Communion Celebration
VICKSBURG – Several students recently celebrated their First Communion at Vicksburg Catholic School. Pictured are Collins Farmer, Amelia Guider, Benjamin Ponder, Mary Thompson Ratliff, Charlie Reeder, Joe Robert and Adeline Stewart. (Photo by Lindsey Bradley)
Editor’s note: Below is the homily, Bishop Kopacz gave at the Feast of the Sacred Heart on Friday, June 16 at Christ the King parish in Southaven. Don’t miss Bishop’s column! To make sure you do not miss his column or other important Catholic news join our email list on Flocknote. Text MSCATHOLIC to 84576 or sign-up at jacksondiocese.flocknote.com today! While you are there you can also join the list “Bishop Kopacz” to receive video messages and other news from Bishop Kopacz direct to your inbox.
By Bishop Joseph R. Kopacz, D.D.
We gather joyfully at the Eucharist, the great prayer of thanksgiving, as we mark the hundred anniversary of the arrival of the Priests of the Sacred Heart in the United States, and 80 years here in northern Mississippi, known as the Southern Missions. Father Hendrick “Ardi” Ardianto, SCJ informed me before Mass that it is also the 100th anniversary of the Sacred Heart Fathers in Indonesia where their mission continues to thrive. This beloved and dynamic religious order, founded in 1878 by the Venerable Father Leon John Dehon whose missionary desire was to diffuse far and wide the Sacred Heart of Jesus, remains faithful to Christ’s work of rebuilding our world into God’s kingdom of justice and love.
I stand with the Bishops of Jackson since 1944 when Bishop Richard Oliver Gerow invited the Sacred Heart Fathers to expand their mission and ministries in the United States to northern Mississippi. This was a fortuitous moment in the history of the Diocese of Natchez. For the past 80 years the SCJ’s have witnessed to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through worship, through education, and through social action on behalf of justice and the common good which is evident in the array of ministries that continue to rebuild God’s kingdom of justice and love.
On this feast of the Sacred Heart the biblical texts draw us more deeply into the height and depth, length and breadth of God’s love. From Deuteronomy we heard that God set his heart on Israel, and his compassion and mercy will endure over 1,000 generations.
Jesus in the Gospel of Luke assures his listeners, then and now, that he is “meek and humble of heart, and we will find rest in him.” Here together at the Eucharist we are yoked to the Sacred Heart of Jesus as a people set apart in praise of God “who has loved us first,” in the words of St. John in the second reading. In this year of Eucharistic revival in our nation let us cherish the words of Father Dehon in our celebration of faith. “When we adore the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the Eucharist, our adoration does not always require many words; there are moments when silence itself is eloquent. Our heart must become a ciborium in which the Eucharistic Heart alone reposes. I leave you the most wonderful of treasures, the Heart of Jesus.”
Bishop Joseph R. Kopacz, D.D.
Father Dehon inspires us to embrace the awesome mystery of the real presence of the Lord. “All the sacraments are marvelous gifts of our Lord, but the Eucharist far surpasses the others. For in the others, he gives us his grace; in the Eucharist, he gives us himself.”
Pope Benedict, in Sacramentum Caritatis, (2007) the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation on the Eucharist, captures this Dehonian charism of the Eucharist as bread broken for the life of the world. “The bread I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world.” (Jn 6:51)
Pope Benedict wrote that in these words “the Lord reveals the true meaning of the gift of his life for all people. These words also reveal his deep compassion for every man and woman. The Gospels frequently speak of Jesus’ feelings towards others, especially the suffering and sinners… Our communities, when they celebrate the Eucharist, must become ever more conscious that the sacrifice of Christ is for all, and that the Eucharist thus compels all who believe in him to become ‘bread that is broken’ for others, and to work for the building of a more just and fraternal world. Keeping in mind the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, we need to realize that Christ continues today to exhort his disciples to become personally engaged. ‘You yourselves, give them something to eat.’ (Mt 14:16). Each of us is truly called, together with Jesus, to be bread broken for the life of the world.”
This is the Dehonian spirit that continues to inspire many in our time through the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Through the world-wide synodal process, Pope Francis has invited the People of God to embrace our identity through communion, participation and mission. From the water and blood that flowed from the pierced heart of Christ on the Cross, our communion flows from our Baptism and through the Eucharist. We are invited into active participation around the tables of God’s Word and Sacrament, and from this source and summit we are sent on mission to actively participate in the drama of the Kingdom of God. This Dehonian charism is alive on both fronts, so to speak, as a people of contemplation in worship, and as a people of action in an array of ministries.
At this time, I invite the priest and brothers of the Sacred Heart, as well as the lay associates to come forward to renew their commitments to serve the Lord in his Kingdom of justice and love.
(To learn more about the work of the Priests of the Sacred Heart in our diocese with their ministry Sacred Heart Southern Missions, visit shsm.org.)
We are two weeks into our excursion to Mexico as myself and three of our seminarians learn Spanish and encounter the culture(s) of the central part of the country.
Our typical day during the work week consists of four hours of classes covering grammar, conversation, culture and history. Two hours each day are one-on-one with a teacher while the other two include lectures with a group and more conversation.
We are staying at a Benedictine Abbey called Our Lady of the Angels in a small pueblo within the city limits of Cuernavaca. We attend Mass each day at the monastery and a join in prayer with the monks for the Liturgy of the Hours. Our teachers live on the grounds as well, so we interact with them throughout the day and get to know them and learn about their families and their experiences on a more personal level.
Father Nick Adam
On weekends, we’ve gone on excursions to encounter the cultures of the region. Our first weekend was a wide-spanning tour of the Mexico City metro area. Our second was spent in a small indigenous community called Cuautla where we worked in a parish and visited several of its 24 mission chapels. As a priest with a large Hispanic community in his parish, I have already seen lots of fruit coming from this trip. Because we are in Mexico, I am understanding much more about the people I serve back home. It has been fun to experience things here that I’ve already experienced in Mississippi. The food, the celebrations and the customs here remind me often of things that our Hispanic community at St. Peter’s already does.
It is also somewhat ‘uncomfortable’ for all of us. We are challenged as we seek to patiently encounter the differences in culture, food and other practices (for example, I have yet to encounter the use of air conditioning!) Each time a challenge has presented itself, however, the Lord is helping us grow in love and persevere. These challenges are strengthening our resolve to share the Gospel and helps us understand more about ourselves and about the world we live in, and the world that our own parishioners come from and cherish.
I am grateful for those who are helping us feel at home in Mexico. Most especially I am thankful for Brother Francisco, who is the leader of our group and a monk in the monastery. He is from Spain originally but moved to Mexico City to work in the inner-city. He had been an atheist but his time with the poor converted his heart. He is a constant source of energy and joy.
MEXICO CITY – Will Foggo, Grayson Foley, Deacon Tristan Stovall and Father Nick Adam are pictured outside the Mexico City Museum of Art earlier in June.
I am also very thankful to our lead teacher, Bibiana Arroyo. She and her team are very dedicated to making sure that our education is the very best it can be, and she does a fabulous job and interacting with all the students and making sure we are feeling at home. I’ve gotten to be friends with her husband Jesús, we both love basketball. There is still much work to be done, and more challenges to be met. Please keep myself and our other three pilgrims from Jackson in your prayers.
– Father Nick Adam, vocation director
For more info on vocations email: nick.adam@jacksondiocese.org.
By Justin McLellan VATICAN CITY (CNS) – To recognize and address the poverty of others, Christians must become poor like the figure of Tobit from the Hebrew Bible, Pope Francis said.
Tobit, a blind and elderly man who dedicated his life to the service of others, “can show practical concern for the poor because he has personally known what it is to be poor,” the pope wrote in his message for the November celebration of the World Day of the Poor.
The papal message was published June 13, the feast of St. Anthony of Padua, patron of the poor. Christians are called to “acknowledge every poor person and every form of poverty, abandoning the indifference and the banal excuses we make to protect our illusory well-being,” Pope Francis wrote. “Regardless of the color of their skin, their social standing, the place from which they came, if I myself am poor, I can recognize my brothers and sisters in need of my help.”
The theme for World Day of the Poor 2023 is a passage from the Book of Tobit: “Do not turn your face away from anyone who is poor.”
“When we encounter a poor person, we cannot look away, for that would prevent us from encountering the face of the Lord Jesus,” Pope Francis wrote.
In his message for the world day, which will be celebrated Nov. 19, Pope Francis listed an array of cultural phenomena that prevent people from caring for the poor: greater pressure to live affluently, a tendency to disregard suffering, virtual reality overtaking real life and a sense of haste that prevents people from stopping to care for others. He offered the parable of the Good Samaritan, who stops to help a man in the street beaten by robbers, to counter the hangups many people have against helping the poor.
The parable “is not simply a story from the past; it continues to challenge each of us in the here and now of our daily lives,” he said. “It is easy to delegate charity to others, yet the calling of every Christian is to become personally involved.”
The pope thanked God for the men and women “of every age and social status” who devote themselves to caring for the poor and excluded, the “ordinary people who quietly make themselves poor among the poor.”
Pope Francis also called for a “serious and effective commitment on the part of political leaders and legislators” to defend the rights enjoyed by all people to food, clothing, shelter, medical care, rest and social services as outlined in St. John XXIII’s 1963 encyclical “Pacem in Terris” (Peace on Earth).
While recognizing the need to pressure public institutions to defend the poor, the pope praised volunteers who serve the common good in a “spirit of solidarity and subsidiarity,” saying “it is of no use to wait passively to receive everything ‘from on high.’”
The pope also pointed to the way poverty is exacerbated by inhumane working conditions, inadequate pay, the “scourge” of job insecurity and by workplace accidents resulting in death. Young people, he said, are also afflicted by a cultural poverty that destroys their self-worth and leads to frustration and even suicide.
He urged people not to fall into “rhetorical excess” or merely consider statistics when speaking of the poor, but to remember that “the poor are persons; they have faces, stories, hearts and souls.” “Caring for the poor is more than simply a matter of a hasty handout,” Pope Francis said, “it calls for reestablishing the just interpersonal relationships that poverty harms.”
Calling for a care for the poor marked by “Gospel realism,” the pope invited Christians to discern the genuine needs of the poor rather than their own personal hopes and aspirations. “What the poor need is certainly our humanity, our hearts open to love,” he said.
Elizabeth Poreba ends a poem, No Good Company, with these words: I’ve got no banter, I’m all judgement and edges, an edgy white lady Wondering what to do, what to do next As in Jesus is coming, look busy.
At the wedding feast in Cana, Mary tells Jesus – they have no wine – asking him to create some. What do wine and banter have in common? Both bring a needed extra into our lives.
Let’s start with wine. Wine is not a protein, something the body needs to be nourished and kept alive, part of an essential diet. It’s an extra that provides something special for one’s health. Taken with the right spirit and in moderation, wine can help lift the mood, lighten the heart and warm the conversation, even as it helps (at least for the moment) lessen some of the tensions among us. It’s a grease that can help make a conversation, a family dinner or a social gathering flow more pleasantly.
Banter? Well, like wine, if taken with the right spirit and in moderation, it can also lift the mood, lighten the heart, warm a conversation and lessen tensions at a gathering. Classical Greek thought suggested that love has six components: Eros – emotional and sexual attraction; mania – emotional obsession; asteismos – playfulness and banter; storge – care and solicitousness; pragma – practical arrangement and accommodation; philia – friendship; and agape – altruism.
Father Ron Rolheiser, OMI
Normally, when we think of love, we think of each of these components, except the aspect of banter and playfulness. Our romantic selves identify love very much with emotional obsession and sexual attraction. Our religious and moral selves identify love with care, friendship and altruism; and our pragmatic selves identify it with practical arrangement. Few speak of the place and importance of banter or playfulness, of healthy teasing, of humor, but these are often the grease that keeps the others flowing more smoothly.
Here’s an example: For all my adult life, I’ve lived in various religious houses, in community with other vowed religious (in my case, men). We don’t get to pick with whom we live, but are assigned to a community, along with everyone else who lives there. And we come together with our different backgrounds, different personalities and different eccentricities. This can be a formula for tension and yet, for the most part, it works, is pleasant and provides life-giving support and fellowship. What makes it work? Why don’t we end up killing each other? How do we live (for the most part) pleasantly together beyond our differences, immaturities and egos?
Well, there’s a common mission that keeps us working together and, most importantly, there’s regular common prayer that helps us see each other in a better light. But, very importantly, there is banter, playfulness, healthy teasing and humor which, like wine at a table, help take the edge off things and ease the tension inherent in our differences. A community that doesn’t stay light-hearted through banter, playfulness and healthy teasing will eventually become everything that light-hearted is not, namely, heavy, drab, full of tension and pompous. In every healthy community I’ve lived in, one of the things that made it healthy (and pleasant to come home to) was banter, playfulness, loving teasing and humor. These are rich wines that can enliven the table of any family and any community.
This, of course, like drinking wine, can be overdone and be a way of avoiding harder conversations that need to be had. As well, banter can keep us relating to each other in ways that actually hinder genuine community. Humor, banter, the jokester and the prankster need to know when enough is enough and when serious conversation needs to happen. The risk of overdoing banter is real, though perhaps the greater risk lies in trying to live together in its absence.
Banter, playfulness, loving teasing and humor don’t just help us relate to each other beyond our differences, they also help deflate the pomposity that is invariably the child of over-seriousness. They help keep our families and communities grounded and pleasant.
I grew up in a large family, with each of us having strong personalities and plenty of faults; yet save for very few occasions, our house, which was physically too small for so large a family, was pleasant to be in because it was perennially filled with banter, playfulness, humor and healthy teasing. We seldom had wine, but we had banter! When I look back on what my family gave me, I am deeply grateful for many gifts: faith, love, safety, trust, support, education, moderation and moral sensitivity. But it also taught me banter, playfulness, healthy teasing and humor. No small gift.
At the wedding feast in Cana, Jesus’ mother noticed that, even though a wedding celebration was happening, something wasn’t right. Was it a heaviness? An over-seriousness? Was it an unhealthy pomposity? Was there a noticeable tension in the room? Whatever. Something was missing, so she goes to Jesus and says: “Son, they have no banter!”
(Oblate Father Ron Rolheiser is a theologian, teacher and award-winning author. He can be contacted through his website www.ronrolheiser.com.)
The Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is coming up on July 16, so it is appropriate at this time to learn about a popular sacramental used by Catholics that has its origin in the Carmelite order. Many people are at least somewhat familiar with the brown scapular, and may even wear one regularly, without realizing what it means and what responsibilities the brown scapular places on the wearer.
The brown scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel traces its origin to an English Carmelite friar, St. Simon Stock, who lived about 250 years ago. It symbolizes the garment of the Blessed Virgin and represents in a very small scale the brown and cream habits of the friars, nuns and sisters of these orders. On a larger scale the scapular is the habit of the Secular Carmelites in both congregations. This scapular places the wearer under the protection of Mary in a special way.
Many people who are not associated formally with the Carmelite orders also wear the brown scapular as a sign of their devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, but in so doing share not only in the resulting graces but also in the responsibilities which those graces confer. Because it incurs spiritual responsibilities, an individual should be invested with the brown scapular by a priest or other authorized person. Thereafter, either the brown scapular or the scapular medal may be worn.
The official manual of the Carmelite orders on the catechesis of the brown scapular provides the following description of Carmelite spirituality:
Frequent participation at Mass and reception of Holy Communion;
Frequent reading of and meditation on the Word of God in sacred Scripture;
The regular praying of at least part of the Liturgy of the Hours;
Imitation of and devotion to Mary, the woman of faith who hears the word of God and puts it into practice;
The practice of the virtues, notable charity, chastity (according to one’s state in life), and obedience to the will of God.
Those who wear the brown scapular are expected to take part in these practices to the extent possible according to their state in life.
Since the brown scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is a sacramental administered by the two Carmelite orders, a person who wears this scapular or medal is affiliated with the Carmelite community throughout the world, however loosely, and many find hope and consolation in the writings of the three Carmelite doctors: St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross and St. Therese of Lisieux.
The official manual of the brown scapular states the following:
The brown scapular is not:
A magical charm to protect you;
An automatic guarantee of salvation; or
An excuse for not living up to the demands of the Christian life.
The brown scapular:
Is a sign which has been approved by the church for over seven centuries (since the founding of the Carmelite orders);
Stands for a decision to follow Jesus, like Mary; a. Open to God and His will; b. Guided by faith, hope and love; c. Close to the needs of people; d. Praying at all time; and e. Discovering God present in all that happens around us.
Unfortunately, there is a great deal of misinformation in some Catholic circles regarding the brown scapular. Perhaps the most common misconception involves the “Sabbatine Privilege.” The so-called Sabbatine Privilege alleged that wearers of the brown scapular would receive early liberation from purgatory (on the first Saturday after death) through the special intercession of the Virgin Mary. This derived from a papal bull attributed to Pope John XXII, which has been known to be fraudulent since 1613, and the Carmelite order is prohibited from mentioning or supporting this “privilege.”
The brown scapular is a powerful sacramental gift to us, but one which must be understood and used properly in order to gain the graces it promises. As the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel approaches, give some consideration to making this devotion part of your life.
A special thanks goes out to Elizabeth Boggess, a member of the Secular Carmelite community in Natchez, for her invaluable help in preparing this column.
(Ruth Powers is the program coordinator for The Basilica of St. Mary in Natchez.)
If it is graduation season, then it is graduation speech season too.
High schools, colleges, and even elementary schools seek out high profile speakers to impart their wisdom to graduates – or, at least, they aim to. I am a bit dubious about what a pampered celebrity or popular sports figure could possibly know about the life of an average graduate, and I am disappointed when political speakers bring disheartening division to what should be a final moment of unity for a class that has lived four or more years together.
Lucia A. Silecchia
When I think about the wisdom imparted to me in the speeches at my graduations, I cannot recall what any speaker said to my classmates and me.
What I have recalled, through decades of university life, is all the wisdom imparted to me by those who did not tell me how to live a good and great life, but by those who showed me how to do so. With prayerful gratitude, I can remember so many people whose lives well lived told me more than the most eloquent of speeches ever could. In the quiet, humble ways so loved by Christ, their lives were silent speeches I will never forget.
So, if you are graduating this year, enjoy your graduation and the speeches given that day. I hope that they inspire you to goodness, greatness, and holiness.
However, I hope that you will also think about what you have been taught by the people you met along the way. In their silence, not in their speeches, what did you learn from:
The maintenance worker who, after long days at work, left for a second job to support his family and see his children attend college and live the dreams he dreamt for them?
The staff member battling a serious illness who still spent time patiently helping students with problems that must have seemed so trivial to her?
The teacher who taught an early morning class with grace and good cheer after spending most of her evening awake with a parent suffering with dementia and unable to sleep – or to recognize the daughter who kept vigil with her?
The campus chaplain who became the voice of hope and courage when public tragedy struck campus – or private heartache struck any member of the campus community?
The fellow student who made sure that a classmate who went home after the sudden death of a parent did not fall behind, and shared notes, wisdom and review time with kind generosity?
The server in the university cafeteria who greeted everyone with love, asked how all were doing – and really, truly wanted to know?
The quiet classmate who found the courage to confront a bully, and in an instant changed the culture of the playing field?
The student athlete who lost a critical match and, with grace and good sportsmanship, congratulated a victorious opponent with genuine admiration for a job well done?
The roommate who prayed quietly at the break or close of day and whose example reawakened your own faith?
The professor whose family extended a Thanksgiving invitation to anyone who could not travel home for the holiday weekend?
The classmate who gave birth to a child – planned or unplanned – and did not sacrifice motherhood for mortarboard? All those who supported her with material and intangible support?
The professor who noticed that you were not yourself and cared enough to ask what was wrong?
I have known some of these people. Others have told me about some of them.
The truth is that schools and universities are filled with people such as these. They are people who will often not be well known, whose names will not be announced as graduation speakers, and who will not be receiving honorary degrees.
Yet, if you are graduating, I hope you will think about those whose lives touched yours and whose lives were loving lectures without words. If you can, thank them with your words and with your prayers. No matter how eloquent your graduation ceremonies may be, it is those such as these who impart the wisdom of ordinary time.
May God bless them, and the class of 2023!
(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.)
By Joe Lee MADISON – Almost 25 years ago, Ronnie Russell had a moment that some might call an epiphany. “I’d been the director of corporate security for the McRae’s stores in Jackson since 1977. I made a comfortable living, but it was time to get off the merry-go-round,” said Russell, who just announced his retirement as band director after 19 years at St. Joseph Catholic School in Madison. “After I left, I did a lot of thinking. I figured half my life was over. What did I want to leave behind when I was gone?”
Russell grew up in Jackson and graduated from Wingfield High School in 1973 before earning a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Ole Miss.
“My first attraction to music was at Hillcrest Baptist Church near my home,” he said. “A musician who led the singing at a revival pulled out a trumpet and played hymns on it. I thought that was the coolest thing ever and knew what I wanted to do.”
MADISON – Ronnie Russell pictured with several members of his first St. Joe band in 2004. Russell just announced his retirement as band director after 19 years at St. Joseph School in Madison. (Photo courtesy of Ronnie Russell)
By his late twenties, Russell and his music buddies had a regular Friday night big-band gig at the Capital Towers building in downtown Jackson. Still, his dream of teaching music wouldn’t come true until he was put in touch in 2004 with the late Bill Heller, the St. Joe principal at the time.
“He was looking to get the school band re-started,” Russell said. “I remember talking to him on the phone in the Clinton Walmart parking lot – he pretty much hired me sight unseen.
“Without Bill Heller, the St. Joe Fine Arts Building would not be there. As I go back and watch recordings of some of our old music programs, Bill would introduce me as ‘the answer to his prayers.’ He didn’t know it, but St. Joe was the answer to my prayers, too.”
Father Aaron Williams, ordained as a priest in 2018 and at St. Mary Basilica in Natchez since May 2022, graduated from St. Joe in 2010. His seventh-grade year coincided with Russell’s arrival.
“I was one of three students in my grade who learned the trumpet, and within our class we were able to play the three parts of musical pieces together,” Williams said. “Ronnie was always very encouraging, even if I doubted my own ability.”
“The band was so small when I started, it was referred to as more of a jazz ensemble,” said Cole Riley, a 2008 St. Joe graduate and now a dentist in Lake Charles, Louisiana. “I had played guitar for a few years but wasn’t formally trained. Mr. Russell really helped me with reading music notation, especially the rhythm parts and lead sheets that he would compose and hand-write for us.
“I was blown away by his devotion to us and musical knowledge. I had never heard of Tower of Power, Weather Report and Herbie Hancock until that point in my life.”
Riley added that while Russell was the kind of teacher that felt like a friend, there was no question that band members were expected to work hard and do things the right way. Those concepts were drilled into a much younger Ronnie Russell two generations ago.
“In one of my high school yearbooks, a history teacher wrote, ‘I wish you would worry a little more,’” Russell said. “I’d planned to be a professional musician – a rock and roll star – and the truth was that I was wasting my time in school. I was also fortunate to have a private teacher named Ralph Guthrie that was very blunt. I needed that honesty back then, and today I’m very old school. I don’t believe in coddling and participation trophies.”
Russell sought tirelessly to include everyone that wanted to contribute to the St. Joe band program, regardless of skill level, and that desire included working just as hard with students that struggled with social and communication skills.
“From being one of the earliest teachers to arrive in the morning to staying late arranging music for all the parts of the band, his dedication was unmatched,” said Kathryn Sckiets Blanchard, campus minister at St. Joe and a 2013 graduate. “I watched the band and the whole Fine Arts Department go from trailers by the lake to the brand-new Fine Arts Building, and I saw Mr. Russell move into the office he deserved.
“He once said that with the exception of his family, we were the most important people in his life.”
Russell continues to offer private instruction at First Baptist Church of Jackson and remains a crucial part of the annual Carols by Candlelight performances that pack the FBC sanctuary and are viewed by thousands on YouTube. He cherishes the opportunity to play with his grandson, Parker Thames, a rising junior at Clinton High School who plays first trumpet in the FBC Jackson orchestra.
“I never won anything when my students won — they did,” Russell said. “You give them the direction you think is best, and you applaud when they succeed. When they fail, you help them back up and say, ‘We’ll get them next time.’
“It starts with loving the kids. That’s what I feel for them.”
ORLANDO, Fla. (OSV News) – Meeting in Orlando for their spring assembly, the U.S. bishops moved ahead on some efforts to advance the church’s mission in the U.S., including new pastoral initiatives aimed at activating Catholics as missionary disciples. The gathering’s June 15-16 plenary sessions proved relatively smooth, but featured moments of vigorous discussion at a few points, particularly around the formation of priests.
Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services gave his first address as U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops president presiding over the bishops’ plenary assembly. He covered a variety of issues of concern to Catholics, such as the need for Congress to pass a comprehensive immigration reform and for an end to Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
“We cannot fail to see the face of Christ in all of those who need our assistance, especially the poor and the vulnerable,” he said.
Bishops pray during morning prayer June 15, 2023, at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ spring plenary assembly in Orlando, Fla. Pictured are Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore, USCCB vice president; Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services, USCCB president; Father Michael J.K. Fuller, USCCB general secretary; and Bishop Patrick M. Neary of St. Cloud, Minn. (OSV News photo/Bob Roller)
The papal nuncio to the U.S., Archbishop Christophe Pierre, made his case to the U.S. bishops June 15 that synodality, oriented to Jesus Christ as their “true north,” unleashes missionary activity.
“The purpose of walking this synodal path is to make our evangelization more effective in the context of the precise challenges that we face today,” Archbishop Pierre said in his address at the U.S. bishops’ spring plenary assembly in Orlando.
The archbishop also singled out Auxiliary Bishop David G. O’Connell of Los Angeles, who was shot to death earlier this year, as “a model of synodal service, combined with Eucharistic charity.”
The U.S. Catholic bishops gathered voiced their approval for the advancement of a cause to canonize five missionary priests from Brittany, France, known as the “Shreveport martyrs.”
“They demonstrated heroic charity during the third worst pandemic in U.S. history,” said Bishop Francis I. Malone of Shreveport, noting they were all young men who voluntarily sacrificed their own lives to journey with the dying and bring the Eucharist to the faithful.
In their message to Pope Francis, the bishops also strongly condemned an execution that the state of Florida carried out June 15 in the evening following their meeting.
Bishop Daniel E. Flores of Brownsville, Texas, updated the bishops on the progress of the 2023-2024 global Synod on Synodality. Bishop Andrew H. Cozzens of Crookston, Minnesota, presented on the National Eucharistic Revival, and outlined how the “small group initiative” in the parish year could help deepen people’s relationship to Christ in the Eucharist.
“We all know how much our church needs to move from maintenance to mission … this is really the heart of what we’re attempting to do,” he said.
Most votes taking place had near unanimous approval, such as the agenda items related to retranslating the Liturgy of the Hours into English, including having the future edition include some prayer texts in Latin.
The bishops approved the National Pastoral Plan for Hispanic Latino Ministry with 167 in favor and 2 against and 2 abstentions. The 62-page plan seeks to respond to the needs of about 30 million Hispanic/Latino Catholics in the U.S. and strengthen Hispanic/Latino ministries at the national, local and parish level.
Ahead of the vote, Bishop Oscar Cantú of San Jose, California, chairman of the bishops’ Subcommittee on Hispanic Affairs, told OSV News there was a great need to “get moving so that (the new pastoral plan) can be implemented in our dioceses and parishes.”
A day before the vote took place, Detroit Auxiliary Bishop J. Arturo Cepeda, who chairs the USCCB’s Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church, called the plan a sign of the times that recognizes Hispanic/Latino Catholics – who account for more than 40% of U.S. Catholics – as “missionaries among us” that can reinvigorate the life of the church.
The most contentious discussion took place regarding the proposed second edition of the “Basic Plan for the Ongoing Formation of Priests.” Some bishops took to the floor to object they had not had time to read the document, or that it was so lengthy priests would likely not read it and dismiss its contents.
Other bishops expressed concern that the discussion on “spiritual fatherhood” needed to be fleshed out, expressing concern that otherwise it could fuel the “narcissistic tendencies” and “hubris” of some priests. Bishop Steven R. Biegler of Cheyenne, Wyoming, said he appreciated the document’s beautiful description of the Christian relationship to God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. “What I find lacking is that communal relationship to the Body of Christ … that puts us in solidarity with one another as brother and sister,” he said.
However, other bishops pushed back against delaying the document, noting the hard work that went into developing it, and that the document was meant to be a guide adapted to the realities of local churches. Bishop Juan Miguel Betancourt, ordained as a priest for the Servants of the Eucharist and Mary, who is an auxiliary for the Archdiocese of Hartford, Connecticut, said the term “spiritual fatherhood” is “actually a term that is more familiar and clear for those who are younger in the priesthood.”
Ultimately, the bishops approved the formation document with 144 voting in favor, 24 against, and 8 abstentions.
The discussion and vote on priorities for the 2025-28 USCCB strategic plan were put on hold so that the bishops could reflect upon and, presumably, include some of the discussion from the synod conversations.
In a voice vote, the bishops approved beginning the process of consultation and revision of ethical directives for Catholic health care facilities to guide them in caring for people suffering from gender dysphoria and who identify as transgender.
Bishop Flores said potential changes would be “limited and very focused” in nature, and involve extensive consultation. He praised the calls from bishops on the floor for a “pastorally sensitive” approach to the complex topic.
The U.S. bishops also voiced approval for the Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth to move ahead on drafting a new pastoral statement for persons with disabilities.
“We do believe a new statement is needed to address disability concerns in the 21st century,” Bishop Robert E. Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, the committee’s chair, told the bishops June 16. The intended statement aims to emphasize the giftedness of persons with disabilities, eliminate outdated forms of referring to persons with disabilities, and would be inclusive of persons who have mental illnesses.
During the discussion, Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley of Boston joined Bishop John T. Folda of Fargo, North Dakota, in noting the importance of Catholics being allied with the disability community against assisted suicide, and the cardinal asked for more attention to support parents of children with autism.
The bishops also heard an update on the upcoming World Youth Day in Lisbon, Portugal, and were encouraged to have their own stateside events for youth and young adults “to form them as missionary disciples.”
Finally, just before the bishops concluded their assembly, Bishop Earl A. Boyea of Lansing, Michigan, chair of the bishops’ Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations, discussed The Catholic Project’s 2022 study of 10,000 Catholic religious and diocesan priests that found most priests distrust their bishops with only 24% saying they had confidence in bishops in general.
Bishop Boyea encouraged the bishops to help priests “feel kinship and fraternity with us” through better personal communication, such as recognizing important moments in their lives, and better lines of communicating information to them.
“This is not the completion, but a beginning, to heal our relationship,” he said of the report. At the conclusion of their assembly, recognizing it was the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, the bishops prayed together the Litany of the Sacred Heart, invoking Jesus’ heart repeatedly to “have mercy on us.”
(Peter Jesserer Smith is the national news and features editor for OSV News. Kate Scanlon is a national reporter for OSV News covering Washington. Contributing to this report were Jean Gonzalez, projects editor for The Florida Catholic Media in Orlando; Tony Gutiérrez, writing for OSV News from Arizona; and Maria-Pia Negro Chin, Spanish editor for OSV News.)
