Por Carol Glatz CIUDAD DEL VATICANO (CNS) – La vida y el ministerio de la Iglesia Católica se enriquecen escuchando a todos, especialmente a aquellos que a menudo son excluidos por la sociedad, e incluyendo sus experiencias y perspectivas, dijo el Papa Francisco. “Porque la Iglesia es como un rico tapiz, hecho de muchos hilos individuales que proceden de diferentes pueblos, lenguas y culturas, pero que el Espíritu Santo teje en la unidad”, dijo a una delegación de Extensión Católica.
El Papa Francisco habla con el cardenal estadounidense Blase J. Cupich de Chicago mientras posa para una foto con una delegación de Catholic Extension durante una audiencia en el Vaticano el 26 de abril de 2023. El cardenal Cupich es canciller de la junta de gobierno de la organización y el obispo jubilado de Arizona Gerald F. Kicanas de Tucson, sentado a la derecha del Papa, es el vicecanciller. El Papa agradeció a la organización su trabajo “proporcionando ayuda a las diócesis misioneras, particularmente en los Estados Unidos, y atendiendo las necesidades de los pobres y más vulnerables”. (Foto de CNS/Vatican Media)
El Papa saludó a la delegación durante una audiencia celebrada en el Vaticano el 26 de abril. El grupo estaba formado por: El cardenal estadounidense Blase J. Cupich, de Chicago, canciller de la junta de gobierno de la organización; el obispo jubilado de Arizona Gerald F. Kicanas, de Tucson, vicecanciller; y la hermana Norma Pimentel, misionera de Jesús, que recibió este año el premio “Espíritu de Francisco” de Catholic Extension por su trabajo atendiendo a cientos de miles de personas en la frontera entre Estados Unidos y México. “Felicito a la hermana Norma Pimentel”, dijo el Papa, “por su servicio a tantos hombres, mujeres y niños que llegan a la frontera sur de Estados Unidos”. El Papa también dijo que la frontera era un hervidero de actividad con tanta gente “en busca de un futuro mejor”. Dio las gracias a Catholic Extension, que tuvo una delegación en Roma del 23 al 28 de abril, por su trabajo “proporcionando ayuda a las diócesis misioneras, particularmente en los Estados Unidos, y en la atención a las necesidades de los pobres y los más vulnerables”, especialmente en Puerto Rico “después de los diversos huracanes y terremotos que trajeron tanta devastación a la isla en los últimos años”. “Al dar voz a los que a menudo no la tienen”, dijo a la delegación, “dan testimonio de la dignidad que Dios ha dado a cada persona.”
Por Peter Jesserer Smith ORLANDO, Fla. (OSV News) – Reunidos en Orlando para su asamblea de primavera, los obispos de EE. UU. avanzaron en algunos esfuerzos para hacer fortalecer la misión de la iglesia en EE. UU., incluidas nuevas iniciativas pastorales destinadas a activar a los católicos como discípulos misioneros. Las sesiones plenarias de la reunión del 15 al 16 de junio resultaron relativamente fluidas, con discusiones sobre la Eucaristía, el sacerdocio y la sinodalidad. El Arzobispo Timothy P. Broglio de la Arquidiócesis para los Servicios Militares de EE. UU. pronunció su primer discurso como presidente de la Conferencia de Obispos Católicos de EE. UU. al presidir la asamblea plenaria de obispos. Los obispos aprobaron el Plan Pastoral Nacional para el Ministerio Hispano Latino con 167 votos a favor, 2 en contra y 2 abstenciones. El plan de 62 páginas busca responder a las necesidades de alrededor de 30 millones de hispanos/latinos católicos en los EE. UU. y fortalecer los ministerios hispanos/latinos a nivel nacional, local y parroquial.
HOUSTON – En Misa de instalación, el 7 de junio, de Danna Johnson como Primera Hispana Ministra Eclesial Laica de la Diócesis, el Obispo Joseph Kopacz incluyó una bendición especial a los Ministros Extraordinarios de Eucaristía, mayormente Hispanos: Luis Enrique Bedolla; Tom Byrne; Erick Carrasco, Donna Cole; Ma. Teresa Herrera; Marina Rodriguez; Victor Rodriguez; José Luis Rojas, Maricruz Rojas; Maria Tacket, Sonia Torres y Azucena Zarate. Todos ellos ayudan al LEM en su misión de servicio en el Inmaculado Corazón de María. (Foto de Berta Mexidor)
Antes de la votación, el obispo Oscar Cantú de San José, California, presidente del Subcomité de Asuntos Hispanos de los obispos, dijo a OSV News que había una gran necesidad de “ponerse en movimiento para que (el nuevo plan pastoral) pueda implementarse en nuestras diócesis y parroquias”. Un día antes que se llevara a cabo la votación, el obispo auxiliar de Detroit, J. Arturo Cepeda, quien preside el Comité de Diversidad Cultural en la Iglesia de la USCCB, calificó el plan como una señal de los tiempos, que reconoce a los católicos hispanos/latinos, que representan más de 40 % de católicos estadounidenses, como “misioneros entre nosotros” que pueden revigorizar la vida de la iglesia. Al concluir su asamblea, reconociendo que era la Solemnidad del Sacratísimo Corazón de Jesús, los obispos rezaron juntos las letanías del Sagrado Corazón, invocando repetidamente el corazón de Jesús para que “tenga misericordia de nosotros”.
MORTON – La hermana Obdulia Olivar, MGSpS quien trabajó en Forest por 5 años, visitó a la comunidad. (izq.) Elizabeth Edmonson, secretaria de la parroquia de San Miguel en Forest, recibe con alegría a la Hna. Obdulia. (der.) El Obispo Joseph Kopacz habla a confirmantes de Forest y Morton. (debajo, izq.) Hna. Obdulia acompaña su ahijada, Kheri Martínez en Misa de Confirmación, celebrada por el obispo Kopacz, acompañado del Padre Adolfo Suárez y el diácono Denzel Lobo, en Morton el sábado 27 de mayo. (Fotos de Hermana María Elena Mendez, MGSpS)
HOUSTON – (arriba) Diana Vazquez y Luis Rojas reciben bendición del P. Tim y regalos de Jessica Romero y Paty Hernández (a las orillas), el domingo en la Misa de la Ascensión, 21 de mayo. (debajo) El Padre Tim posa con 21 niños bautizados en Houston, el 20 de mayo. (Foto de Danna Johnson)
VARDAMAN – (izq.) Michael Cruz recibe la bendición del P. Tim, el domingo 21 de mayo, en la Misa de la Ascensión. (der.) El Padre César Sánchez posa con 19 niños bautizados del comunidad católica de Vardaman, el 27 de mayo. (Foto de Danna Johnson)
Sixth grade students led a May Crowning service at Vicksburg Catholic School on May 4. “O, Mary, we crown thee with blossoms today, Queen of the Angels, Queen of the May!” (Photos by Lindsey Bradley)
CLARKSDALE
Principal Sarah Cauthen and student Liza Stonestreet work together to crown Mother Mary. (Photo by Mary Evelyn Stonestreet)
JACKSON
St. Richard six graders, Hayden Couch and Maya work together to crown Mary at school Mass on Wednesday May 10. (Photo by Tereza Ma)
COLUMBUS
Logan Grant places a flower and Boone Morgan awaits his turn to honor Mary on Monday, May 1 at Annunciation School. (Photos by Logan Waggoner)
TUPELO
Light one candle! (Photo by Michelle Harkins)
CLARKSDALE
First grader, Olivia Lin displays her talent by playing the piano at St. Elizabeth School’s Got Talent: Talent Show. (Photos by Mary Evelyn Stonestreet)
MADISON
MADISON – St. Joseph Catholic School students celebrate their efforts that raised a record $19,665 at this year’s edition of BruinTHON – an annual student-driven fundraiser that benefits the Blair E. Batson Children’s Hospital in Jackson, part of the Children’s Miracle Network hospital. Their fundraising effort culminated the seven-hour, on-your-feet, marathon fundraiser BruinTHON on Friday, April 28, 2023, in the St. Joe gym. (Photo courtesy of school)
JACKSON
JACKSON – Recently, St. Richard fourth grade reading buddies visited their PreK-4 friends for some outdoor story time! (Photo by Tammy Conrad)
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)
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.
ROLLING FORK – St. Vincent de Paul conferences across the diocese work to serve the people of Rolling Fork after devastating tornado struck the community on March 24. (Photo courtesy of Carol Evans)
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.
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.)
Archbishop Oscar Lipscomb lays hands on the head of Bishop Joseph Latino at his ordination on March 7, 2003.Bishop Houck following the ordination of Father Joseph Marino, a student of bishop’s when he was a priest in Birmingham. Father Marino went on to become Archbishop Joseph Marino, apostolic nuncio to Bangladesh and Malaysia. Bishop Houck was a co-consecrator at Archbishop Marino’s ordination to the episcopacy as well.Then, Father Latino gives a blessing to his parents at his first Mass.Archbishop Thomas Rodi pours Sacred Chrism on the head of Bishop Joseph Kopacz during his ordination on Feb. 6. 2014. (Photos from archives)
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.
CANTON – Harry Belafonte visited Sister Thea Bowman at her bedside in her Canton home in 1989. Belafonte and a screenwriter conducted extensive interviews with Sister Thea and other Canton residents in preparation for a film that was never made. The Diocese of Jackson released a film on Sister Thea in fall of 2022, “Going Home Like a Shooting Star: Thea Bowman’s Journey to Sainthood.” The film is available on YouTube at https://bit.ly/SisterTheaFilm. (Photo by Fabvienen Taylor/Mississippi Catholic)
“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.
Harry Belafonte and Servant of God Thea Bowman in an undated archival photo. Balafonte met Bowman at Xavier University in 1988. (OSV News photo/courtesy Xavier University of Louisiana, Archives & Special Collections)
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.”
