By Father Aaron Williams NATCHEZ – On July 29, 2022, the choir and parishioners of St. Joseph church in Rayne, Louisiana arrived in Natchez to take part in the inaugural Basilica of St. Mary Choral Festival. The Basilica’s director of sacred music, Max Tenney, who also serves as director of music for Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans, was approached by Father Brent Smith, pastor of St. Joseph in Rayne, to inquire about available conferences for his choir and musicians to receive formation in choral singing and the church’s vision of sacred music.
In other regions of the United States, groups such as the Church Music Association of America and the National Association of Pastoral Musicians provide brief conferences designed specifically for parish musicians, but no such conferences or resources are available in the South. Tenney proposed that, instead of encouraging Father Smith to send his musicians to a distant conference, the Basilica in Natchez host a private weekend of formation for his entire choir, which would rehearse along-side the Basilica’s own choir.
In a matter of about a month, a committee of volunteers from Natchez sprang into action and planned a three-day conference including musical workshops, tours of antebellum homes and historic sites, and good food for the combined attendance of over forty singers. The weekend culminated in the combined festival choir singing for the 10 a.m. Solemn Sunday Mass. The Basilica was packed to capacity with many visitors from other parishes and even non-Catholic churches in the area that had seen advertisements about the choral display planned for the Sunday Mass.
The choir prepared an impressive repertoire including choral works of Ralph Vaughan Williams, Marco Frisna and James Chepponis, as well as Gregorian chant and classic English hymnody. The weekend left an impression of the beauty of sacred music on all the attendants and many of those who were present for the Sunday Mass.
Owing to the success of this weekend, St. Mary Basilica looks forward to planning a second Choral Festival for the summer of 2023 which will be open for registration for other interested choirs and musicians. The program will include a similar schedule of workshops and historic tours, but also time for informative conferences on the Catholic vision of sacred music. It is hoped that this festival will become a recognized source of musical formation in the Southern United States, and an opportunity for networking among Catholic musicians. Information on next Summer’s conference is forthcoming toward the end of 2022.
By Cindy Wooden IQALUIT, Nunavut (CNS) – At the end of his six-day visit to Canada, Pope Francis, sitting in a wheelchair, said goodbye to Chief Wilton Littlechild, also sitting in a wheelchair.
Littlechild, a 78-year-old lawyer, survivor of abuse in a residential school and former grand chief of the Confederacy of Treaty Six First Nations, had spent decades advocating for the rights of First Nation, Métis and Inuit people and had lobbied hard for Pope Francis to come to Canada to apologize in person for the Catholic Church’s complicity in abusing children, breaking up families and suppressing Indigenous language and culture.
The chief had welcomed Pope Francis to his home – Maskwacis – July 25, the first full day of the trip, and created some controversy by giving the pope his late grandfather’s headdress. He told Canada’s Native News Online that the Ermineskin Cree Nation had decided as a community that the headdress was an appropriate way to thank the pope for visiting their town and making his first apology on Canadian soil there.
Pope Francis and Chief Wilton Littlechild say farewell to each other July 29, 2022, in Iqaluit, Nunavut, as the pope prepares to return to the Vatican after a six-day visit. Littlechild, a 78-year-old lawyer, survivor of abuse in a residential school and former grand chief of the Confederacy of Treaty Six First Nations, had lobbied hard for the pope to visit Canada and apologize to residential school survivors. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)
“I am sorry,” the pope said at the Muskwa, or Bear Park, Powwow Grounds.
“I ask forgiveness, in particular, for the ways in which many members of the church and of religious communities cooperated, not least through their indifference, in projects of cultural destruction and forced assimilation promoted by the governments of that time, which culminated in the system of residential schools,” the pope said.
The Canadian government has estimated that at least 150,000 First Nation, Inuit and Métis children were taken from their families and communities and forced to attend the schools between the 1870 and 1997. At least 4,120 children died at the schools, and several thousand others vanished without a trace.
The survivors tell stories of enduring hunger, brutality and emotional, physical and sexual abuse at the schools, about 60% of which were run by Catholic religious orders and other Catholic institutions.
An almost constant drumbeat accompanied Pope Francis on his trip – to Edmonton, Maskwacis and Lac Ste. Anne in Alberta, to Quebec City and nearby Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré and, finally, to Iqaluit in the Canadian Arctic.
The traditional drummers echoed heartbeats and heartache, a relentless reminder of how the trauma students experienced at the residential schools was passed down generation to generation in a lack of love and support and a lack of respect for individual dignity and community rights.
Archbishop Donald Bolen of Regina, Saskatchewan, a member of the Canadian bishops’ working group on Indigenous relations, was present at every stop Pope Francis made. And, at most events, including in Iqaluit, he traveled with residential school survivors from his province.
As the visit was ending July 29 on a graveled parking lot outside Nakasuk Elementary School, Archbishop Bolen told Catholic News Service he was moved by “the absolute determination, courage and resilience, on the one hand, of survivors embodied in a certain way by Chief Wilton Littlechild, and the courage and determination to be engaged in healing work by the pope – two old men who can barely stand up, who need help in all kinds of ways, but carry a common desire to bring healing and to take good steps forward.”
The apology was a crucial first step.
And it was something survivors wanted and needed to hear in person. Pope Francis knew that. “The overall effects of the policies linked to the residential schools were catastrophic,” he said at Maskwacis. “What our Christian faith tells us is that this was a disastrous error, incompatible with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
At a prayer service July 26 with Indigenous representatives in Lac-Ste-Anne, on the shores of a lake known for his healing power, Pope Francis said: “All of us, as church, now need healing: healing from the temptation of closing in on ourselves, of defending the institution rather than seeking the truth, of preferring worldly power to serving the Gospel.”
At a meeting in Quebec with government officials and Indigenous leaders July 27, he said: “I express my deep shame and sorrow, and, together with the bishops of this country, I renew my request for forgiveness for the wrong done by so many Christians to the Indigenous peoples.”
At Mass July 28 at the National Shrine of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré, Pope Francis spoke of “the scandal of evil and the Body of Christ wounded in the flesh of our Indigenous brothers and sisters.”
Praying vespers with Canadian bishops that evening, he said: “Thinking about the process of healing and reconciliation with our Indigenous brothers and sisters, never again can the Christian community allow itself to be infected by the idea that one culture is superior to others, or that it is legitimate to employ ways of coercing others.”
He listened to survivors in Quebec the last morning of his visit and to other survivors in Iqaluit not long before flying back to Rome.
Pope Francis thanked the survivors “for having had the courage to tell your stories and to share your great suffering, which I could not have imagined.”
“This only renewed in me the indignation and shame that I have felt for months,” since delegations of First Nation, Métis and Inuit survivors visited the Vatican in March and April. Again, he said, in Iqaluit, “I want to tell you how very sorry I am and to ask for forgiveness for the evil perpetrated by not a few Catholics.”
IN EXILE By Father Ron Rolheiser, OMI After his first arrest, the peace activist Daniel Berrigan went into hiding. After four months, he was captured, but during those months underground, although a threat to no one, he was put on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list. There’s an irony here that did not go unnoticed. Someone put up a poster of him with this caption: Wanted – Notorious consecrator of bread and wine. Disturber of wars and felonious paper burner! The fugitive has been known to carry the New Testament and should be approached with extreme caution. Disarmed and dangerous.
Disarmed and dangerous! Corny as that may sound, it expresses the real threat to injustice, violence and war. Disarmament is dangerous. Someone who is genuinely unarmed is ultimately the one who poses the greatest danger to disorder, immorality and violence. Violence can withstand violence, but it can be brought down by non-violence. Here are some examples.
In our own generation, we have the example of Christian de Cherge, one of the seven Cistercian monks who were kidnapped and later killed by Islamist extremists in Algeria in 1996. His journey, and that of the other monks who died with him, is chronicled in a number of books (including some of his own letters and diaries) and in the awarding-winning film, “Of Gods and Men.” Living within a small community of nine monks in a remote Muslim village in Northern Algeria, Christian and his community were much loved by that Muslim community and, being French citizens and enjoying the protection of that citizenship, their presence constituted a certain protection for the villagers against Islamic terrorists. Alas, the situation was not to last.
On Christmas Eve, 1995, they received a first visit from the terrorists with the clear warning that they had best leave before they would become its victims. Both the French and the Algerian governments offered them armed protection. Christian, acting alone at first, against the majority voice in his own community, categorically refused armed protection. Instead, his prayer became this: In face of this violence, disarm us, Lord. His response to the threat was complete disarmament. Eventually, his entire community joined him in that stance.
Six months later they were kidnapped and killed, but the triumph was theirs. Their witness of fidelity was the singular most powerful gift they could have given to the poor and vulnerable villagers whom they sought to protect, and their moral witness to the world will nurture generations to come, long after this particular genre of terrorism has had its day. Christian de Cherge and his community were disarmed and dangerous. There are innumerable similar examples of other persons who were disarmed and dangerous. Rosa Parks, disarmed and seemingly powerless against the racist laws at the time, was one of the pivotal figures in ending racial segregation in the United States, as was Martin Luther King. The list of dangerous unarmed persons is endless: Mahatma Gandhi, Thomas Merton, Dorothy Day, Desmond Tutu, Oscar Romero, Franz Jagerstatter, Dorothy Stang, Daniel Berrigan, Elizabeth McAlister, Michael Rodrigo, Stan Rother and Jim Wallis, among others. Not least, of course, Jesus.
Jesus was disarmed and so dangerous that the authorities of his time found it necessary to kill him. His complete non-violence constituted the ultimate threat to their established order. Notice how both the civil and religious authorities at the time did not so much fear an armed murderer as they feared an unarmed Jesus … Release for us, Barabbas! We prefer to deal with an armed murderer than with an unarmed man professing non-violence and telling people to turn the other cheek! Give them credit for being astute. Unconsciously, they recognized the real threat, someone who is unarmed, non-violent and turning the other cheek.
However, “turning the other cheek” must be properly understood. It is not a passive, submissive thing. The opposite. In giving this counsel, Jesus specifies that it be the right cheek. Why this seemingly odd specification? Because he is referring to a culturally-sanctioned practice at the time where a superior could ritually slap an inferior on the cheek with the intention not so much of inflicting physical pain as to let the other person know his or her place – I am your superior, know your place! The slap was administered with the back of the right hand, facing the other person, and thus would land on the other person’s right cheek. Now, in that posture, its true violence would remain mostly hidden because it would look clean, aesthetic, and as something culturally accepted.
However, if one were to turn the other cheek, the left one, the violence would be exposed. How? First, because now the slap would land awkwardly and look violent; second, the person receiving it would be sending a clear signal. The change in posture would not only expose the violence but it would also be saying, you can still slap me, but not as a superior to an inferior; the old order is over. Disarmed and dangerous. To carry no weapon except moral integrity is the ultimate threat to all that is not right.
(Oblate Father Ron Rolheiser is a theologian, teacher and award-winning author. He can be contacted through his website www.ronrolheiser.com.)
By Junno Arocho Esteves VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Christians must never give in to fear when evangelizing, especially when reaching out to those in need in the digital space, Pope Francis said.
“Do not be afraid to make mistakes,” the pope said in a video message sent Aug. 6 to participants of Hechos 29, a youth conference in Monterrey, Mexico, on evangelization in the digital age.
“I never tire of repeating that I prefer a church that is wounded because it goes out to the existential peripheries of the world, rather than a church that is sick because it remains closed up in its own little securities,” Pope Francis said.
Pope Francis addresses participants of Hechos 29, a youth conference held in Monterrey, Mexico on evangelization in the digital age, in a video released Aug. 6, 2022. The pope encouraged young men and women to carry out their mission in the digital space “so that contemporary culture can know God by feeling him within you.” (CNS screen grab/Vatican Media)
According to its website, the Aug. 5-6 conference is “an international meeting of digital evangelizers that seeks to awaken in all participants (the desire) to become and to build up the church.”
In his message, the pope greeted the young men and women attending Hechos 29 and said the meeting was “an important initiative for missionary work in digital environments.”
“May this meeting help you to feel like a community, as part of the missionary life of the church, which has never been afraid to go out to meet new horizons and frontiers. And, with creativity and courage, announce the mercy and tenderness of God,” he said.
Recalling his address to church leaders during his July 24-30 visit to Canada, the pope emphasized the need to “find new ways to proclaim the heart of the Gospel to those who have not yet encountered Christ.”
Modern-day evangelizers, he said, must use “pastoral creativity to reach people where they live, not waiting for them to come, but where they live, discovering opportunities for listening, dialogue and encounter.”
“The Lord knocks on the door to enter within us, but how often does he knock on the door from the inside, so that we may let him out,” the pope said.
Pope Francis encouraged the young evangelizers to carry out their mission and to be good Samaritans in the digital space, “so that contemporary culture can know God by feeling him within you.
“Go and bring the hope of Jesus, especially to those who are farthest away, giving them reasons for their hope,” the pope said. “May your words be accompanied by charity, and may your virtual presence strengthen your physical presence, so that the network may generate communion, which makes Jesus present in your culture.”
The first week of August there was a flurry of activity for the seminarians of our diocese. Some were wrapping up their summer assignments while our four new men were busy getting the last requirements met for seminary studies this fall. We all took a few days of rest of relaxation in Ridgeland for our annual Seminarian Convocation. This gathering started as a seminarian-led initiative back in 2016. Back then Father Aaron Williams and I were still in seminary and we wanted to schedule a few days away to build community with the other seminarians. It had been a few years since we’d had such a gathering, and we knew we wanted to make it a little more formalized.
Father Nick Adam
Each year since we’ve gathered in some way, shape or form, and I think each year it’s done what it’s supposed to do: build camaraderie and facilitate good communication. Since I’ve been vocation director, I’ve used the Convocation to talk to the guys about what to expect for the coming year. This was especially helpful this year since we have four new seminarians. It was fun to see how to the dynamic of the group was bolstered and changed by the addition of new blood, and to see our returning guys step up and be good leaders for the new men.
I realized this year how important it is not to over-schedule. Our seminarians get a lot asked of them throughout the year. They have academic duties of course, but they are also very involved in the community life of their respective seminarians. This is all on top of what they are responsible for here in the diocese. So, these few days provided some good rest and relaxation, and the guys could just sit and visit with one another. I enjoyed racing Grayson Foley across a pond on a paddle board — sadly I lost twice, but I didn’t fall in!
One more tradition that has grown is a day where Bishop Kopacz comes and has a conversation with the seminarians. The topics have varied over the years, but it is a great gift to have a Bishop who wants to build up relationships with the seminarians. This year we also celebrated with Will Foggo as he was instituted as a “candidate” for Holy Orders. This is a canonical process that allows Will to wear the roman collar as a public representative of the church. It is a great opportunity for a seminarian to realize that he is a public representative of the church, even if he is not yet ordained.
I’d like to thank Bobby Arnold, who donated his property for the week to us. Please say a prayer for him and his intentions if you would in thanksgiving for his generosity!
– Father Nick Adam
If you are interested in learning more about religious orders or vocations to the priesthood and religious life, email nick.adam@jacksondiocese.org.
Beginning in the heart of the believer, the Holy Spirit can bring about divine renovation, a new creation on all points on the compass of human relations.
By Bishop Joseph R. Kopacz, D.D.
The apostolic visit of Pope Francis to Canada during the last week of July was self-described as a “penitential pilgrimage” in the service of forgiveness, healing, reconciliation, hope and new life for the Indigenous Peoples of the First Nations, Metis and Inuit Peoples who suffered greatly in the residential schools throughout Canada for nearly a century and a half. What occurred in these schools was government policies with which the Catholic Church and other Christian denominations collaborated.
Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard over 7,000 testimonies from former students of residential schools in Canada “that recalled in painful detail the way our language was suppressed, our culture taken from us, our spirituality denigrated and our families torn apart” according to Chief Wilton Littlechild, one of the members of the Commission.
Bishop Joseph R. Kopacz
At the outset of the pilgrimage Pope Francis entered straightforwardly into the caldron of pain that afflicts the memories and the lives of the indigenous today. “The overall effects of the policies linked to the residential schools were catastrophic. What our Christian faith tells us is that this was a disastrous error, incompatible with the Gospel of Jesus Christ … I humbly beg forgiveness for the evil committed by so many Christians against the indigenous peoples. Dear brothers and sisters, many of you have stated that begging pardon is not the end of the matter. I fully agree that it is only the first step, the starting point to assist the survivors of the residential schools to experience healing from the traumas they suffered.”
A constant theme throughout his apostolic visits, homilies and addresses was the reconciling power of the Cross and Resurrection, the only power on earth that can bring about lasting healing and hope in the lives of the victims. “In the face of evil, we pray to the Lord of goodness; in the face of death, we pray to the God of life. Our Lord Jesus Christ took a grave which seemed the burial place of every hope and dream, leaving behind only sorrow, pain and resignation, and made it a place of rebirth and resurrection, the beginning of a history of new life and universal reconciliation. Our own efforts are not enough to achieve healing and reconciliation: we need God’s grace. We need the quiet and powerful wisdom of the Spirit, the tender love of the Comforter … to advance together on our journey.”
The Church of the Sacred Heart of the First Peoples designated in 1991 as Canada’s national indigenous parish is also a point of reference for the Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Croatian and Eritrean communities. On this holy site, Pope Francis reflected that the church is the house of reconciliation for everyone, but most words and deeds of reconciliation take place at the local level, in communities like this where individuals and families travel side by side, day by day. To pray together, to help one another, to share life stories, common joys and common struggles: this is what opens the door to the reconciling work of God.
In proposing that reconciliation is local, Pope Francis embodied the Gospel conviction of St. Paul that all believers are ambassadors for Jesus Christ, and therefore, ministers of reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5) Beginning in the heart of the believer, the Holy Spirit can bring about divine renovation, a new creation on all points on the compass of human relations. Beyond Canada and reaching out to the ends of the earth, the Synod on Synodality is the dream of Pope Francis for the church and for the world. Whenever and wherever the church can model and live communion, participation and mission, there will be an overflow that could be a fountain of life, light and love for the world.
During the synod process in our diocese, there was a repeated call for greater unity built upon forgiveness, healing, reconciliation and hope. Whether the source of the brokenness was rooted in personal sin, a diminishment in physical or mental, health, the impact of the pandemic or scandals in the church, divorce, drug overdose or despair, as Pope Francis said in the Church of the Sacred Heart of the First Nation, the universal Catholic Church and each parish and ministry are intended to be a house of reconciliation.
May the Holy Spirit awaken in us the heart and mind of the One who draws us out of darkness into the marvelous light of God’s love.
Bishop schedule
Saturday, Aug. 27, 6 p.m. – LIMEX Awards Ceremony, St. James, Tupelo
Sunday, Aug. 28, 10:30 a.m – Confirmation, St. Elizabeth, Clarksdale
Sunday, Sept. 11, 11 a.m. – Red Mass, St. John, Oxford
Thursday, Sept. 15 – 40th Annual Bishop’s Cup Golf Tournament, Lake Caroline Golf Club, Madison
SPIRITUAL ENRICHMENT CLARKSDALE St. Elizabeth, “Life in the Spirit” retreat, Saturday, Aug. 27 at 9 a.m. and ends with closing Mass at 4 p.m. Topics include: God’s Gifts of Love, Salvation, New Life; Baptism of the Holy Spirit; and Healing prayer. Retreat led by Father Bill Henry. Lunch provided. Request registration by Aug. 22, but late welcome too! Details: church office (662) 624-4301.
MCCOMB St. Alphonsus, “The Fullness of Truth,” Sept. 12-14 at 6 p.m. Join us as we come together to know God in his fullness at our parish mission, presented by Jimmy Seghers, founder of Totus Ministries. All are welcome! Details: call (601) 684-5648.
PEARL St. Jude, Retreat for Healing and Hope, Friday Oct. 14, 6:30-9 p.m. and Saturday, Oct. 15 from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the parish hall. Featured speakers: Father Bill Henry, Janet Constantine, LMHC and spiritual director, sponsored by Marian Servants of Jesus the Lamb of God. Registration free, lunch provided. Topics: Our Brokenness; Blocks to Healing; and Receiving God’s Love. All are welcome. Details: Contact Maureen at (601) 278-0423 or Pat at (601) 955-0755 or email msofjlog@gmail.com.
PARISH, FAMILY AND SCHOOL EVENTS FLOWOOD St. Paul Early Learning Center Golf Tournament, Friday, Sept. 16 at Bay Pointe Golf Club. Register at bit.ly/StPaulELCGolfTournament. Details: contact stpaullearningcenter@gmail.com.
GLUCKSTADT St. Joseph, Germanfest 2022, Sunday, Sept. 25 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The family-oriented festival is best known for its authentic German food and music. Admission and parking are free. Festival goers may wish to bring a lawn chair. Details: church office (601) 856-2054.
HERNANDO Holy Spirit, Annual Bazaar, Saturday Sept. 10 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Enjoy games, silent auction, craft booths, homemade goods at the Country Kitchen and more. Details: contact Julie Stefanik at julieastefanik@gmail.com or call the church office at (662) 429-7851.
JACKSON St. Richard, ChristLife: Discovering Christ, a seven-week series begins Sept. 28 and ends Nov. 9. Held on Wednesday evenings from 6:30-8:30 p.m. in Foley Hall. Come enjoy dinner and explore answers to important life questions. Registration required, child care for ages 3+ is provided. Details: register at StRChristlife@gmail.com or visit https://saintrichard.com/christlife.
MADISON 40th annual Bishops Cup Golf Tournament at Lake Caroline, Thursday, Sept.. 15. Tee time 1 p.m. To sponsor or sign up as an individual or team visit bit.ly/BishopsCup2022. Details: contact Julia Williams (601) 960-8481.
NATCHEZ St. Mary Basilica, Blood Drive, Tuesday, Aug. 30 from 1-6 p.m. Details: church office: (601) 445-5616.
RIPLEY St. Matthew, Parish Feast Day Celebration. Saturday, Sept. 24 enjoy fun with sports tournaments, food booths and more. On Sunday, Sept. 25, Bilingual Mass of Thanksgiving at 3 p.m., followed by a potluck meal. Details: church office (662) 993-8832.
YOUTH EVENTS DIOCESE Middle School Fall Retreat with NET Ministries, Oct. 15-16 at Lake Forest Ranch, Macon. Retreat is for 7th/8th graders with opportunity for prayer, faith sharing, fellowship and more. Details: contact Abbey Schuhmann at (601) 949-6934 or abbey.schuhmann@jacksondiocese.org.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — A yearlong sesquicentennial celebration of the founding of the Dominican Sisters of Springfield begins this summer.
The celebration opens at 6 p.m., Friday, Aug. 19, with a Mass livestreamed from Sacred Heart Convent Chapel. The celebrant is The Most Reverend Thomas John Paprocki, Bishop of the Diocese of Springfield-in-Illinois. The year will include multiple prayerful and celebratory events, culminating in a public Eucharistic celebration on Aug. 19, 2023, to mark the 150th anniversary of the arrival in Jacksonville of the pioneer sisters in 1873.
“Looking back over the span of our history is an exercise in gratitude, humility and awe,” said Sister Rebecca Ann Gemma, OP, the prioress general of the congregation. “I am grateful to those six women who, with 48 hours’ notice, said yes to a mission they could never had imagined. I am humbled by God’s continued fidelity. I stand in awe of the mission to which we are called for the life of the world.”
“This time of prayerful contemplation on our history is as much about looking toward the future with hope as it is about reflecting back on a storied past,” Sister Rebecca Ann insists. “As it was for our founding sisters 150 years ago, our mission of standing in solidarity with persons on the peripheries of our nation, church, and world is ongoing and responsive to the needs of the world today.”
In the past, being in solidarity with the rostros concretos — as it is expressed in Spanish — meant building educational and healthcare institutions to serve a growing nation of immigrants. With the institution-building phase of the U.S. Catholic Church’s story now long past, an authentic response to the world’s needs looks different that it did in the 19th century.
In 2014, when he declared a year dedicated to consecrated life, Pope Francis told the church’s religious women and men — sisters, brothers, and priests — “Come out of yourselves and go forth to the existential peripheries.” He asked religious women and men to go to those who have lost all hope, feel abandoned, without purpose, and “thirsting for the divine.”
Since 1873, Dominican Sisters from the Springfield-based congregation have done just that at hundreds of ministry sites in 21 states and multiple locations in Peru.
Current ministries on the peripheries include education and advocacy for racial justice, immigration reform, accompaniment of Native Americans and literacy education centers. Springfield Dominican sisters are engaged in the support of asylum seekers, persons with mental illness, and children living in impoverishment. Though no longer sponsors of health care institutions, Dominican sisters continue in healthcare ministry as hospital chaplains, home visitors, clinicians, lab technicians, and providers of nursing care.
In addition, the educational mission begun by the founding sisters continues on through three sponsored high schools, two literacy centers, a program of formation of associate candidates, and in multiple other ways of educating, forming, and supporting the faith journeys of individuals, families, and parish communities.
Since 1999, when the sisters took responsibility for Jubilee Farm on Springfield’s western border, the congregation has grown increasingly active in educating and advocating for personal and policy changes that will mitigate the climate crisis and support a healthier planet. The sisters and their associates are active participants in the Vatican’s Laudato Si’ Action Platform.
In 2022 the sisters have been among several dozen communities of women religious to broaden the reach of the global synod of the Catholic Church, an ongoing process initiated by Pope Francis to transform the way the church approaches self-governance and its mission of evangelization.
Visit https://springfieldop.org/150years for more about the Springfield Dominican Sisters’ response to God’s call, their history, and all the events planned for the anniversary celebration throughout the year.
(The Springfield Dominican Sisters are members of the global Order of Preachers founded by St. Dominic de Guzman in 1206. For more than 800 years, Dominicans have preached the Gospel in word and deed. Today, thousands of Dominican sisters, nuns, priests, brothers, associates and laity minister in more than 100 countries around the world).
By Joe Lee MADISON – Known nationally for his business books and Ted Talks, Oxford native David Magee seemingly had it all before his beloved son William – who lettered in track at Ole Miss and attended Honors College – died of an accidental drug overdose in 2013, a year after graduation.
But it wasn’t just William who was hurting at the time of his death.
David Magee
“I had to go look at what happened in our family,” Magee said. “How did what looked like a picture-perfect American family chasing the dream get completely shattered?”
Author of the critically acclaimed memoir, Dear William, Magee is the keynote speaker at this year’s Journey of Hope luncheon, set for Tuesday, Sept. 20 at the Jackson Convention Complex. Much more than simply a tribute to his late son, Dear William is a brutally honest look at a family that had been in crisis for many years.
The long, hard gaze into the mirror began with Magee himself, who was adopted and unaware of his birth parents’ identity until well into adulthood.
“I lived a great life in this wonderful university town,” he said of Oxford. “We knew everyone and could walk to the Square. But my house was very dark because there was a lot of depression and emotional pain inside me.”
“I did not know who I was, and the lack of sense of identity was something I didn’t deal with well. I tried to pretend it wasn’t there with alcohol and prescription Adderall.”
In addition to losing William, Magee and his wife, Kent, nearly lost their son Hudson to an overdose. Magee’s infidelity led to divorce before he and Kent remarried. But as facing their fears put them on a successful path to recovery and healing, Magee consulted his family about going public with everything they’d gone through in hopes of benefitting those in crisis.
“It took some years, but I had their blessing to do it – Kent, Hudson and our daughter Mary Halley,” he said. “The strength of Dear William is not that we lost him, but that we found joy and recovery together. The book applies to families who feel like they’ve lost something; they can get joy beyond what they ever imagined. It also applies to communities. We look around and see despair, but it is doable. You must have a plan and work hard to execute it.”
Author, David Magee of Oxford is the featured speaker at Catholic Charities Journey of Hope event on Sept. 19 and 20 in Jackson. Magee is the author of Dear William: A Father’s Memoir of Addiction, Recovery, Love and Loss. (Book cover courtesy of author)
What would Magee, who is helping launch the William Magee Institute for Student Well Being at Ole Miss, tell his twenty-one-year-old self?
“To believe in yourself,” he said. “The self-doubt is so poisonous. When you’re going through a hard time, it’s easy to point fingers at others. The twenty-one-year-old me had all these dreams of the American family I would have, and I coached my three children in most every sport they played. I taught Sunday school. I was on the City Council in Oxford.
“I was checking all the boxes,” he continued, “but rather than having a strong faith foundation and a strong belief in myself, I had a lot of self-doubt. I wish I could tell that version of me to get some counseling. I could have saved myself and my family a lot of pain and grief.”
Magee will have a strong message for parents at the Journey of Hope luncheon.
“Their own fears will often get in the way of raising their kids,” he said. “We want our children to have the best of everything. If warning signs flare up, the parents may fear that if they do ask for help – such as counseling – they may be labeled.
“A lot of kids have lost their joy. A lot of them tell us, ‘I’m making A’s, I’m on the sports teams, I’m on the homecoming court. Why do I feel so bad?’ We should worry about exposing them to what will help them, such as a good education. Faith is a big, positive part of their joy, while misuse of alcohol and substances steals that joy. We must do a better job of educating parents in navigating that path.”
By Joanna Puddister King JACKSON – On Saturday, July 16, Bishop Joseph Kopacz ordained six men into the permanent diaconate at the Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle. The men spent the last five years in formation, studying spirituality, canon law, homiletics and learning how to administer sacraments.
To full pews and those standing behind at the entrance to the Cathedral, Bishop Kopacz acknowledged the evident joy and love for Mark Andrew Bowden of St. Jude Pearl, Dien L. Hoang of the Cathedral of St. Peter, Dixon Wesley Lindsay of the Cathedral of St. Peter, John Anh Pham of St. Michael Forest, David Preston Rouch of St. Michael Vicksburg and Anthony William Schmidt of St. Paul Flowood, being ordained to the diaconate.
JACKSON – Six men were ordained into the permanent diaconate at the Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle on Saturday, July 16. Pictured during the ordination are Tony Schmidt, David Rouch, John Pham, Wesley Lindsay, Dien Hoang and Mark Bowden. (Picture by Michael Barrett photography)
“The joy is so obvious this morning as we come together in the Lord … to celebrate so much of our tradition of faith … and in the ministries that are such a blessing for our church and our parish communities,” said Bishop Kopacz. “And this morning, we celebrate the great gift of the diaconate.” In his remarks about the readings, Bishop Kopacz pointed out the sacredness and gifts of the office of the diaconate.
“As we appreciate over a long tradition, nearly 2000 years, its service in Jesus Christ. Its His ministry and right at the beginning the Apostles realized we need to designate this and we need to select those who are going to be faithful to the Lord and to the needs of the communities with whom they are entrusted,” said Bishop Kopacz.
“So, we continue that many years later and the church has indeed worked with you over these past five years – give or take – to arrive at this moment,” Bishop Kopacz told the diaconate candidates. He also reminded the new deacons that their ministry is one of service through the word, sacrament and charity.
Drawing on their experience of marriage or family experience, Bishop Kopacz acknowledged that “all have learned how to sacrifice, serve and care up to this point their lives.”
“Now opens another door where they will serve in the midst of our parish communities, serving the Lord and serving those entrusted to them.”
Ordained deacons are assigned to parishes in the diocese and they may administer baptism, serve at the altar at Mass and distribute the Eucharist; bring the Eucharist to the dying; read the sacred Scriptures to the faithful and on occasion, to preach; to administer sacramentals; to assist at and bless marriages and to officiate at funeral and burial rites.
Another group of men have begun their formation process in hopes of being ordained to the diaconate in 2026. For more information on the permanent diaconate visit www.jacksondiocese.org/offices/diaconate.
