Cognia Accreditation: A mark of excellence for Catholic Education across the Diocese of Jackson
STREAM of success: Two Catholic schools earn national STEM honor
Updates
Diocesan seminarians witness history in Rome
By Madelyn Johnson
JACKSON – Grayson Foley and EJ Martin, seminarians for the Diocese of Jackson currently studying at Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans, planned their pilgrimage to Italy months in advance. What they didn’t realize was that their visit would become a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
The two were called to join the Pilgrimage of Hope through Rome. After booking their trip in February, they were shocked to learn that a new pope – Pope Leo – had been elected the day before their flight to Rome.
While in Rome, Grayson and EJ visited with other seminarians at the Pontifical North American College and spent time with Grayson’s older brother, Sterling Foley, a seminarian with the Legionaries of Christ based at their House of Formation in Rome. The trio toured the city and visited all four major basilicas, walking through each Holy Door during this Jubilee Year.
“We went through all of the basilicas’ Holy Doors, continuously praying for the people back home in Mississippi and those who made the trip possible,” said Grayson Foley.
Shortly after their arrival, news broke that the Installation Mass for Pope Leo XIV – the first American pope – would take place on May 18. The seminarians were faced with a choice: should they stay and serve at the historic Mass? The answer was clear – yes.
Thanks to the hospitality of the Legionaries of Christ seminarians, tickets were secured for EJ, Grayson, and Grant Caillouet, a seminarian from the Diocese of Baton Rouge, to assist with the distribution of Communion during the Installation Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica. Approximately 200,000 people were in attendance. They were seated to the right of the altar and remained there until the Creed.
“During the Creed of the Mass, we were shuffled back into the adoration chapel within St. Peter’s,” Grayson recalled. “As EJ and I walked into the gigantic empty St. Peter’s, it was the part within the Creed when the words, ‘Et unam, sanctam, catholicam et apostolicam Ecclesiam’ are chanted – which translates to ‘And (I believe in) one holy, Catholic and apostolic church.’ This amazing sight of the Church of St. Peter and how foundational that spot is for the church brought tears to my eyes, but I had to keep it together because we were about to distribute Communion.”
Each seminarian was given 100 hosts to distribute to the crowd of thousands attending the historic Mass. They moved into the crowd calling out “Corpus Christi!” as they gave the Eucharist to the faithful.
“EJ is tall with long arms and he distributed Communion to as many as he could,” said his mother, Dana Martin, who witnessed the event via livestream. “There were barriers holding people behind the pathway and EJ kept pushing through the crowd with Communion – Corpus Christi! Corpus Christi! Corpus Christi!”
After they finished distributing the hosts, the crowd separated them. Grayson found his way back inside St. Peter’s and witnessed Pope Leo greeting dignitaries from around the world, including the King and Queen of Spain.
EJ reflected, “Being so close to the installation of the first American pope was incredible. Praying with Jesus in my hands in an empty St. Peter’s was incredible. But the most incredible part was distributing Communion to the people. How joyful they were to receive Jesus at that Mass. These people had probably been waiting five-plus hours for this opportunity. Such a blessed experience – one I will never forget.”
EJ and Grayson were honored to be part of such a profound moment in church history and are thankful to all who supported them in making the pilgrimage possible. As they continue their formation for the priesthood with the Diocese of Jackson, they carry with them the joy of having served Christ and His church in the heart of St. Peter’s – an experience that deepened their call and strengthened their commitment to serve God’s people.
FEATURE PHOTOS: … Anniversary blessings to Father Jeffrey Waldrep and Father Sam Messina …
More photos from Father Jeffrey Waldrep’s Celebration
More photos from Father Sam Messina’s Celebration
Walking the Way: Young adults find faith and fellowship on the Camino de Santiago
By Joanna Puddister King
JACKSON – This May, a group of young adults from the Diocese of Jackson joined pilgrims from around the world in Spain, walking nearly 75 miles on the historic Camino de Santiago. Led by Father Lincoln Dall and organized through the Office of Young Adult and Campus Ministries, the 11-day journey invited participants into a rhythm of prayer, simplicity and deep encounter – with God, themselves and each other.
For civil engineer Samuel Rust of St. Joseph Parish in Gluckstadt, the Camino offered “a challenging yet simple way of life. A good reset from the hustle and bustle of daily life.” Rust had dreamed of walking the Camino for more than a decade, drawn by its blend of Catholic tradition and the spirit of adventure. “I encountered God most clearly in the people we met,” he said. “Everyone, regardless of nationality or language, was so friendly. We met people from five of the seven continents.”
Among the most memorable were a group of Taiwanese women the pilgrims kept running into – first during their free day exploring Ferrol, and again unexpectedly in the square outside the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela, after the pilgrimage had ended. “It felt like a perfect closing to the journey,” Rust said.
The group walked the Camino Inglés, or “English Way,” beginning in Ferrol on the northern coast of Spain. Daily Mass, simple meals, and shared conversations grounded the experience as they crossed Roman roads, cobbled paths and centuries-old villages. The physical challenge was real – “Walking on hard surfaces every day was tough on my knees,” Rust admitted – but the deeper movement was spiritual.
“It’s not just about reaching a destination,” said Amelia Rizor, who coordinated the pilgrimage. “It’s about what happens along the way. Everyone carried something different – grief, questions, transitions – but the Camino meets you where you are. You get to walk with God, in real time, step by step.”
This was Rizor’s first time walking the Camino, and she did so alongside the group she helped organize. “It was powerful watching these young adults – some Catholic, some not – experience moments of prayer and awe, and really open up to the quiet,” she said. “It was raw, it was beautiful.”
One image that stuck with her was a snail crawling slowly across the path. “It was just this perfect visual of the pace we were being called to. The Camino isn’t about rushing – it’s about slowing down enough to notice what God is showing you in the smallest things.”
Chandler Parker, a 23-year-old student at Delta State University and a Baptist, said the Camino helped him grow in his walk with Christ. “It taught me some great lessons on discipline and helped me go deeper spiritually,” he said.
Wes LeBlanc, 21, of Holy Cross Parish in Philadelphia, Mississippi, described the Camino as a glimpse into how God works across humanity. “Even though we are all driven by different beliefs, motives and experiences, God has laid down the path for us to follow,” he said. “All we have to do is pay attention in the silence and follow the signs.”
Father Lincoln, who has walked the Camino six times, said each experience is different – but leading young people from the diocese was uniquely rewarding. “They found God in coffee breaks, in blisters, in spontaneous conversations with pilgrims from Taiwan. It wasn’t a rigid itinerary – it was about letting each person encounter the Camino in their own way,” he said.
Also joining the group was Edgar Meyer of St. Richard Parish in Jackson, who teaches at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.
Whether it was the shared meals, the aching legs, or the quiet prayers offered in stone chapels, one thing was clear: the Camino left its mark. As Rizor put it, “They came home changed – and closer to Christ.”
Pope accepts resignation of Mobile archbishop, names St. Louis auxiliary as successor
By Gina Christian
MOBILE, Ala. (OSV News) – The Archdiocese of Mobile, Alabama, will welcome a new shepherd, as Pope Leo XIV has accepted the resignation of Archbishop Thomas J. Rodi and appointed Auxiliary Bishop Mark S. Rivituso of St. Louis as his successor.
The resignation and appointment were announced in Washington July 1 by Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the apostolic nuncio to the U.S.
Archbishop Rodi, 76, had submitted his resignation to the pope in March 2024 upon reaching his 75th birthday, as required by canon law.
The archbishop, who has served in his current see for more than 17 years, will continue as apostolic administrator of the Mobile Archdiocese until the installation of now-Archbishop Rivituso.
Archbishop Rivituso’s installation Mass is set to take place Sept. 3 at the Cathedral-Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Mobile at 11 a.m.
Archbishop Rodi hailed the appointment of his successor, saying in a July 1 statement he was “most grateful to the Holy Father for sending us this outstanding bishop.”
“Every time I have an opportunity to truly serve others, that’s always a blessing,” Archbishop Rivituso said at a Mobile news conference about his appointment. “This is a wonderful opportunity with the Catholic faith community and other partners of goodwill. I hope to work together for the greater good, to especially be mindful of the poor, those who are marginalized, those who are suffering, those who are in need.”
“There’s been a recent precedent of welcoming Midwesterners to our universal church with Pope Leo to Chicago,” he continued. “I appreciate you are faithful to that precedent and welcoming this Midwesterner from St. Louis to be part of this archdiocese.”
“I will say I have already been won over by your Southern charm and hospitality. I feel a sense of belonging. … I do feel at home in ‘Sweet Home Alabama,’” he added, referencing a popular song.
Archbishop Rivituso, 63, a St. Louis native and the sixth of eight children, has ministered extensively throughout the St. Louis Archdiocese and has served as its vicar general since 2011.
A graduate of Cardinal Glennon College and Kenrick Seminary, both in St. Louis, he earned a licentiate in canon and civil law from St. Paul University in Ottawa, Ontario.
His 1988 priestly ordination in St. Louis foreshadowed a future connection to Mobile: The late Archbishop John L. May, who ordained him, had led the Alabama archdiocese prior to his St. Louis appointment.
He has long experience in prison and death-row ministry – an issue particularly relevant to Alabama, which carried out the first-ever nitrogen gas execution in the U.S. in 2024. Archbishop Rivituso advocated for the end of capital punishment in Missouri and has worked with Catholic Mobilizing Network in death penalty abolition efforts.
“The late Pope Francis really taught me about making sure that we’re mindful of those who are on the peripheries,” he told the St. Louis Review in an interview published July 1. “I feel like that’s always something that’s going to be important in my heart and ministry. The church is so blessed to be involved in the works of compassion, and I think that’s where we truly live what Jesus has called us to do about living his works of mercy.”
At the press conference, Archbishop Rivituso said, “I am blessed. … I will labor with the shepherding love of Jesus for all of you because I want to love you as Christ loves. I want to do what I can to lift each other up so we live out the goodness of our life and just know that we’re here for each other.”
(Gina Christian is a multimedia reporter for OSV News. Follow her on X @GinaJesseReina. Contributing to this was Rob Herbst, editor of The Catholic Week, news outlet of the Archdiocese of Mobile.)
Bishop Kopacz on appointment of Mobile’s new archbishop
JACKSON – Bishop Joseph R. Kopacz and the Diocese of Jackson rejoice on behalf of the Archdiocese of Mobile over the appointment by Pope Leo XIV of Archbishop Mark S. Rivituso as the third Archbishop of Mobile. He is a native son of the Archdiocese of St. Louis and has served as auxiliary bishop there since 2017.
We ask the Lord Jesus’ choicest blessings upon him during this time of transition from St. Louis to Mobile. He can be assured of a hearty welcome to the Province of Mobile as the new Archbishop.
Also, our prayers of immeasurable gratitude go out to Archbishop Thomas J. Rodi for his remarkable leadership as the Archbishop of Mobile since 2009, and before then as the Bishop of Biloxi during the Katrina natural disaster. He has truly been an apostle of the Gulf as chancellor and vicar general in New Orleans, the Bishop of Biloxi, and the Archbishop of Mobile.
May the Lord continue to let his face shine upon this good and faithful servant in retirement.
Called by Name
Editor’s note: This month’s Called by Name column is written by seminarian Grayson Foley, who is stepping in for Father Nick Adam, director of vocations for the Diocese of Jackson, this month. Please continue praying for our seminarians and that others may hear and respond to God’s call.
The excitement in the air at Notre Dame Seminary wasn’t just because finals were wrapping up and everyone was ready for summer. As the May days continued, we knew it was only a matter of time before white smoke rose from the chimney in Rome.
I was in my room and thought my seminarian brother was pranking me when he ran by yelling, “White smoke!” I felt like Thomas in disbelief – until I heard the bells. As I ran downstairs to see that there was a new pope, I was filled with both excitement and a small wish that the election had taken place just a bit later – only because I was flying to Rome the next day.
That next day couldn’t come fast enough. EJ Martin and I were filled with anticipation for the trip we had planned months before. God had a wonderful plan for us. A new pope had been elected just a day before our trip, and I would get to see all of my seminarian brothers studying in Rome, visit my older brother Sterling, walk the streets of the Eternal City – and see the newly elected pope.
It was my first time flying to Europe, and that alone was exciting enough. But the Lord was ready to shower me with so many more blessed opportunities.
We stayed with two different seminary communities in Rome, ate lots of gelato, walked through the Holy Doors of all four major basilicas for the Jubilee Year, drank lots of espresso, visited an incredible number of churches, went on the Scavi Tour and saw where the bones of St. Peter lie under the basilica – and in the same week, had the blessed opportunity not only to serve at the pope’s inauguration Mass but to distribute Communion for it.
Some of the brothers in my older brother’s religious order gave up their tickets so that EJ, Grant Caillouet (a seminarian for the Diocese of Baton Rouge), and I could serve at the first public Mass of the first American pope.
It was an amazing experience, but the most moving part was walking through the doors of an empty St. Peter’s Basilica during the Creed to pick up the ciboria filled with hosts – as 20,000 Catholics behind me chanted, “Et unam, sanctam, catholicam et apostolicam Ecclesiam.” (“And [I believe in] one holy, Catholic and apostolic church.”)
That moment made me feel, in the heart of my heart, that I was truly a part of the mystical body of Christ – bigger than myself – and I was completely humbled to be able to participate as a servant in that way.
As we finished our trip to Europe, I had a relatively quick turnaround to good ole Oxford, Mississippi.
Serving the people of God here in Oxford, working alongside Father Mark Shoffner, and getting to know all the parishioners and college students has been an absolute blessing. I have learned so much this summer and have grown to love the people of this diocese even more.
I can’t wait to see what the Lord has in store as I continue on the path of love.
Grayson Foley, seminarian
Does God have a sense of humor?
IN EXILE
By Father Ron Rolheiser, OMI
Does God have sense of humor?
This may seem a frivolous or impious question, it’s anything but that. It’s an important question and a reverent one as well. Why? Because healthy humor and playful banter help bring joy, lightness of heart, and healthy perspective into our lives. Can we imagine all that wonderful lightness of heart having no connection to God?
Does God have a sense of humor? For sure! Without doubt! Jesus teaches that God is the author of all good things. Humor, playfulness and healthy banter are good, healthy things. They can have their ultimate origin only in God.
Why are they good things? What positive role do they play in our lives?
Freud once suggested that sometimes we can understand things more clearly by looking at their opposites. What are the opposites of humor, playfulness and banter? We see their opposite in three things: over-seriousness, needless irritation and pomposity (none of which are healthy).
Consider this example: I have lived almost my entire adult life within a religious community of men, and by and large it has been positive and life-giving. But among the (literally) hundreds of men with whom I have shared community over more than fifty years, there have sometimes been confreres who were over-serious and their presence in the community room or at table could sometimes effectively rob the room of joy.
I recall one such incident at table where someone shared a rather earthy joke (spicy, though not in bad taste). Most of us responded with a hearty laugh, but as soon as the laughter died down, one of our confreres in a heavy and overly pious tone, asked: Would you tell a joke like that in front of the Blessed Sacrament? That not only ended the laughter in the room and injected a certain heaviness into our gathering, it also effectively drained the oxygen out of the room.
Over-seriousness, while not a moral deficiency, can leave us too raw before the demands of family and community to which we can never perfectly measure up. On the other hand, playfulness, humor and banter, when healthy, can provide some important “grease” for family and community life.
For example, when you join a religious congregation you take a vow to live within a community (of men, in my case) for the rest of your life. Moreover, you don’t get to choose with whom you get to live. You are simply assigned to a community, which invariably will include some members whose temperament is very different from yours and with whom you would not normally choose to live.
Well, I have lived in this type of religious community for nearly sixty years and, with very few exceptions, it has been life-giving and enjoyable; mostly because I have been blessed nearly always to live in a community where part of our very ethos has been the daily exchange of humor, playfulness and banter. Prayer and a common mission of course have been the main glue that held us together but humor, playfulness and banter have been the grease that have kept petty tensions and the occupational hazard of pomposity at bay.
It’s interesting to note that the classical Greek philosophers understood love as having six components: eros – infatuation and attraction; mania – obsession; asteismos – playfulness and banter; storge – care; philia – friendship; and agape – altruism. When we define love, we generally make room for most of those components, except asteismos, playfulness and banter. We pay a price for that.
My oblate novice master, a wonderful French-Canadian priest, once shared with us (a group of young novices) a joke with a purpose. It runs this way: a family was planning the wedding of their daughter but were unable to afford a venue for the festivities after the church service. So, the priest made them an offer: “Why don’t you use the entrance, the foyer, of the church? There’s enough room for a reception. Bring in a cake and have your reception there.” Things were fine, until the father of the bride asked the priest if they might bring liquor to the reception. The priest replied most emphatically, “Absolutely not! You may not have liquor in a church!” The father of the bride protested, “but Jesus drank wine at the wedding feast of Cana.” To which the priest replied, “But not in front of the Blessed Sacrament!”
This joke can serve as a parable, cautioning us vis-à-vis stripping God of humor and playfulness.
God has a sense of humor, a sense of playfulness, and a talent for banter far beyond that of our best comedians. How could it be otherwise? Can you imagine spending eternity in heaven without laughter and playfulness? Can you imagine a God who is perfect love, but with whom you would be afraid to joke and banter?
Is the last laugh before we die to be our last laugh forever? No. God has a sense of humor which will without doubt be for all of us a delightful surprise.
(Oblate Father Ron Rolheiser is a theologian, teacher and award-winning author. He can be contacted through his website www.ronrolheiser.com.)
Pope at Angelus: Be a laborer in the field of mission
By Francesca Merlo
(Vatican Media) – Addressing the faithful gathered for his Sunday Angelus on July 6, Pope Leo offered a reflection on the missionary nature of the church, grounded in the Gospel of Luke.
The pope focused his reflection on Jesus’ sending out of 72 disciples, an act which, he explained, represents the universal scope of the Gospel. “The hope of the Gospel is meant for all peoples,” he said, adding that this reflects “the breadth of God’s heart and the abundance of His harvest.”
However, Pope Leo continued in quoting Jesus: “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.” He explained that while the world may seem overwhelmed by distractions and noise, people today still “yearn for a greater truth,” seek justice, and carry within themselves “a longing for eternal life.”
He described God as a sower who has generously gone out and sown in people’s hearts “a desire for the infinite, for a fulfilled life and for salvation that sets us free.” Despite this, there are few who are able “to distinguish, with the eyes of Jesus, the good grain that is ripe for harvesting.”
– Be a laborer of faith –
The pope warned that faith should not become “merely an external label.” What the church and the world need are not occasional participants but “laborers who are eager to work in the mission field, loving disciples who bear witness to the Kingdom of God in all places.”
He acknowledged that there may be many “intermittent Christians who occasionally act upon some religious feeling or participate in sporadic events,” but there are far fewer who are ready “on a daily basis, to labor in God’s harvest.”
Pope Leo stressed that this mission does not require “too many theoretical ideas about pastoral plans.” Instead, he said, “we need to pray to the Lord of the harvest.” Giving priority to one’s relationship with the Lord and cultivating dialogue with Him, he added, allows people to become true labourers, ready to be sent “into the field of the world to bear witness to His Kingdom.”
At the end of his Angelus address, Pope Leo greeted those from around the world who had come to St. Peter’s Square, saying “in the great heat of this time of year, your journey to pass through the Holy Doors is even more courageous and admirable!”
He also expressed his condolences and assured his prayers for those suffering through the flooding in Texas.
“I would like to express sincere condolences to all the families who have lost loved ones, in particular their daughters, who were at the summer camp, in the disaster caused by flooding of the Guadalupe river in Texas in the United States,” he said. “We pray for them.”
And he called for peace, requesting that all people “ask the Lord to touch the hearts and inspire the minds of those who govern, that the violence of weapons be replaced by the pursuit of dialogue.”
(Reprinted with permission by Vatican Media. OSV News contributed to this report.)
We are sent
Things Old And New
By Ruth Powers
After Mass a little while ago, my young granddaughter asked me a question that made me stop and think. She asked, “Gran, why do we thank God that Mass is over at the end? Shouldn’t we be happy that we were here with Jesus?”
I realized I didn’t have a really good answer for her, but her question made me think and sent me into research mode.
I learned that the dismissal formula used in the current English translations of the Mass is based on formulations from various Eastern rites of the church, but you have to admit that the response “Thanks be to God” after the announcement “The Mass is ended, go in peace” can sound a little jarring.
It is one of the less felicitous translations of the Mass into English and can make it seem as if we’re saying, “Thank God that’s over.”
The direct translation from the Latin dismissal, Ite, missa est, isn’t any better: “Go, it is the dismissal.”
The Latin phrase makes more sense when one investigates its history. The phrase predates Christianity and apparently was used in the Roman military. Ite, missa est was the command spoken by an officer as he sent a soldier or soldiers off on a mission. It had the meaning, “Go, you are sent.” It was an order, not a request, with the subtext that whatever task had been given, speedy and appropriate completion was expected.
Later, the phrase became a common way to dismiss the people after a public assembly of any kind.
Recognizing the origins of the original words of dismissal for Mass presents much food for thought. We are being dismissed, but not to brunch, or to watch the game on television, or to take a Sunday afternoon nap, or to do so many of the other things that we do after Mass.
It is not a dismissal to go about our lives as usual until the next time we meet for Eucharist. Instead, the dismissal at the end of Mass is a clarion call to us. We have been given our marching orders and are being sent out.
What are we being sent out to do? We can take our orders from Jesus in many places in the Gospels.
In Luke 10:1-24, Jesus sends out the 72 disciples with the mission to proclaim the kingdom of God throughout the region in preparation for his own visit. They shared Jesus’ message and were given the power to heal the sick and cast out demons.
We can also share the Gospel every day through word and action; and although we may not be able to literally heal or exorcise, we can make sure that we are not contributing to the spiritual woes of the world by acting with kindness and casting out Satan’s demons of divisiveness and prejudice in our interactions with others.
We can take Jesus’ commands in Matthew 25:31-46 seriously, when he tells us that in order to inherit eternal life and not be cast into hell, we must feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, take care of the sick and visit the imprisoned.
Finally, we can remember the Great Commission at the end of the Gospel of Matthew: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” We follow it by leading others to Christ by our good example.
If we understand the dismissal at the end of Mass as a sending out to follow the commands of Jesus, the response “Thanks be to God” now becomes the only appropriate response.
We have heard the Word of God, we have been strengthened for the task by the Eucharist, and we have been sent out to fulfill the mission by our Lord.
Thanks be to God.
(Ruth Powers is the program coordinator for the Basilica of St. Mary in Natchez.)