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Rally around the call to accompany expectant mothers

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By Bishop Joseph R. Kopacz, D.D.
As Catholics we are in the midst of a nine-day Novena undertaken by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in preparation for the great feast of the Visitation on May 31. This second joyful mystery of the rosary recalls that tender scene when Mary and Elizabeth, two of the most well-known pregnant women in world history, encountered one another with unbounded joy in God their Savior. Even the “baby stirred in my womb for joy” Elizabeth exclaimed to her younger cousin who had arrived at Zachariah and Elizabeth’s doorstep to assist her who was in her sixth month with the unborn John the Baptist. Women helping women in preparation for birth and in the months following the emergence of new life from the womb into the light of day, is fundamental for family life, community, and civilization.

The need for caring support around a pregnancy and the earliest stage of life is fundamental for mothers and their infants, for family life, communities, and ultimately civilization. There are many in our churches and in our communities in Mississippi who rally around the call to accompany expectant mothers, and in the time following the birth of their children. We can only rejoice to see such loving support. For the Catholic Church, as the whole world knows, the right to life is fundamental because we are made in the image and likeness of God (Imago Dei). The dignity of the human person is rooted in this fundamental belief.

Bishop Joseph R. Kopacz

What the whole world may not know, or chooses to ignore, is that the church commits herself, in season and out of season, to the well-being of the human person at every stage of life. This is evident in our social teachings that foster the common good, serve the poor, marginalized and vulnerable, champion health care, sponsor education, and support life’s basic needs: food, shelter and clothing and gainful employment. Moreover, in recent years, care for our common home, the earth, has become more urgent.

Pope Francis’ masterpiece, Laudato Si, rejoices in God the creator, and addresses this God-given obligation. When we add it all up it is all about what St. Paul eloquently states in his letter to the Romans. “The Kingdom of God is not about eating and drinking, but about justice and peace, and the joy of the Holy Spirit. (14:17)

Now back to the Visitation and the gift of unborn life that opened this column. The decision of the Supreme Court of the United States over the Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization is imminent and the prospect of overturning of Roe v. Wade is sending shock waves across the land from the White House to all points on the compass.

There is no doubt that this is an historic moment for our nation. The passion surrounding this life issue burns no less intensely than nearly 50 years ago when Roe v. Wade became the law of the land in 1973. There has been a creeping shadow ever since because at the core of our collective consciousness is a tortured conscience that is unable to reconcile a self-image of inherent goodness with the blood of the innocents. But whether Roe v Wade is overturned or rolled back, abortions will not cease, as we know. The political onus will return to the legislatures of the 50 states to enact laws going forward, and as we have already experienced, these laws will vary greatly.

Like the fires engulfing our western states, there will be widespread conflagrations that burn at the fault lines of our fractured society. The personal onus is another dimension, the terrain of conscience and conversion, challenging every individual to safeguard the gift of sexuality knowing there is freedom through boundaries, to cherish the gift of life, one’ own and the vulnerable in our midst, and to realize that violence against the unborn is at the root of the violence that roils our nation and world.

What can one person or one church do? “The light shone in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it,” (John 1:5) is the promise that our labors with God will always matter. Praying, serving, empowering and advocating are always relevant.

Pope Francis encourages encounter with the other and accompaniment, and a recent project worthy of praise in every Catholic diocese is “Walking with Moms in Need.” Whatever the ruling on Roe v Wade, the church in league with other networks is redoubling its efforts to accompany mothers, their preborn and children in the early stages of development so that they and we, like Mary and Elisabeth, can rejoice in the gift of life and in God our Savior.

Se unen en torno al llamado de acompañar a las futuras madres

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Por Obispo Joseph R. Kopacz, D.D.
Como católicos, estamos en medio de una Novena de nueve días emprendida por la Conferencia de Obispos Católicos de los Estados Unidos en preparación para la gran fiesta de la Visitación el 31 de mayo. Este segundo misterio gozoso del rosario recuerda esa tierna escena cuando María y Isabel, dos de las mujeres embarazadas más conocidas de la historia mundial, se encontraron con un gozo ilimitado en Dios su Salvador. Incluso el “bebé se agitó de alegría en mi vientre”, exclamó Isabel a su prima más joven que había llegado a la puerta de Zacarías e Isabel para ayudarla, que estaba en su sexto mes con el nonato Juan Bautista. Las mujeres ayudando a mujeres, en la preparación para el parto y en los meses posteriores a la salida de la nueva vida del útero a la luz del día, es fundamental para la vida familiar, comunitaria y de la civilización.

Obispo Joseph R. Kopacz

La necesidad de apoyo cariñoso en torno al embarazo y la etapa más temprana de la vida es fundamental para las madres y sus bebés, la vida familiar, las comunidades y, en última instancia, la civilización. Hay muchos en nuestras iglesias y en nuestras comunidades en Mississippi que se unen en torno al llamado de acompañar a las futuras madres y en el tiempo posterior al nacimiento de sus hijos. Solo podemos regocijarnos al ver un apoyo tan amoroso. Para la Iglesia Católica, como todo el mundo sabe, el derecho a la vida es fundamental porque estamos hechos a imagen y semejanza de Dios (Imago Dei). La dignidad de la persona humana tiene sus raíces en esta creencia fundamental.

El mundo entero puede no saber o elegir ignorar que la iglesia se compromete, a tiempo y fuera de tiempo, con el bienestar de la persona humana en cada etapa de la vida. Esto es evidente en nuestras enseñanzas sociales que fomentan el bien común, sirven a los pobres, marginados y vulnerables, defienden la atención médica, patrocinan la educación y apoyan las necesidades básicas de la vida: alimentación, vivienda y vestido, y empleo remunerado. Además, en los últimos años, el cuidado de nuestra casa común, la tierra, se ha vuelto más urgente.

La obra maestra del Papa Francisco, Laudato Si, se regocija en Dios el creador y aborda esta obligación dada por Dios. Cuando sumamos todo, se trata de lo que San Pablo afirma con elocuencia en su carta a los Romanos. “Porque el reino de Dios no es cuestión de comer o beber determinadas cosas, sino de vivir en justicia, paz y alegría por medio del Espíritu Santo. (14:7)

Ahora volvamos a la Visitación y al don de la vida no nacida que abrió esta columna. La decisión de la Corte Suprema de los Estados Unidos sobre Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization es inminente y la posibilidad de anular Roe v. Wade está enviando ondas de choque por todo el país, desde la Casa Blanca hasta todos los puntos de la brújula.

No hay duda de que este es un momento histórico para nuestra nación. La pasión que rodea este tema de la vida arde no menos intensamente que hace casi 50 años cuando Roe v. Wade se convirtió en ley del país en 1973. Ha habido una sombra que se arrastra desde entonces porque en el centro de nuestra conciencia colectiva hay una conciencia torturada que es incapaz de reconciliar una imagen propia de bondad inherente con la sangre de los inocentes. Pero, ya sea que Roe v Wade sea anulado o revertido, los abortos no cesarán, como sabemos. La responsabilidad política volverá a las legislaturas de los 50 estados para promulgar leyes en el futuro y, como ya hemos experimentado, estas leyes variarán mucho.

Al igual que los incendios que envuelven a nuestros estados del oeste, habrá conflagraciones generalizadas que arderán en las fallas de nuestra sociedad fracturada. La responsabilidad personal es otra dimensión, el terreno de la conciencia y la conversión, que desafía a cada individuo a salvaguardar el don de la sexualidad sabiendo que hay libertad a través de las fronteras, a apreciar el don de la vida, la propia y la de los vulnerables entre nosotros y a darse cuenta de que la violencia contra los no nacidos está en la raíz de la violencia que agita a nuestra nación y al mundo.

¿Qué puede hacer una persona o una iglesia?

“Esta luz brilla en las tinieblas, y las tinieblas no han podido apagarla.” (Juan 1:5) es la promesa de que nuestro trabajo con Dios siempre importará. Orar, servir, empoderar y abogar son siempre relevantes. El Papa Francisco fomenta el encuentro con los demás y el acompañamiento y un proyecto reciente digno de elogio en todas las diócesis católicas como “Caminando con las mamás necesitadas.”

Cualquiera que sea el fallo de Roe v Wade, la iglesia, en connivencia con otras redes, está redoblando sus esfuerzos para acompañar a las madres, sus bebés antes de nacer y sus niños en las primeras etapas de desarrollo para que ellos y nosotros, como Mary y Isabel, podamos regocijarnos en el regalo de vida y en Dios nuestro Salvador.

Pope: Christian politics must be marked by love, respect

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By Cindy Wooden
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – For politics to be “the highest form of charity,” as Catholic social teaching promotes, it must be exercised with full respect and even love for those who disagree, Pope Francis said.

“We are called to live the political encounter as a fraternal encounter, especially with those who least agree with us; and this means seeing in the one with whom we dialogue a true brother or sister, a beloved child of God,” the pope told an international group of young adults May 16.

The young people, ages 18-35, are part of the lay Chemin Neuf community’s “Politics Fraternity,” which brings together prayer, direct service to the poor and a commitment to the common good and to political activity “according to the heart of God,” the group’s website said.

Pope Francis waves to members of the “Political Fraternity” project of the Chemin Neuf lay movement at the end of an audience May 16, 2022, in the Clementine Hall of the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

“Encounter, reflection, action: This is a program for politics in the Christian sense,” the pope told them.
For a Christian, a political encounter and debate must go beyond “respectful dialogue,” he said. “Since the Gospel asks us to love our enemies, I cannot settle for a superficial and formal dialogue, like those often-hostile negotiations between political parties.”

Instead, the pope said, with mutual respect and a solid commitment to finding common ground, political adversaries must listen to each other and seek the good of all rather than the promotion of their pet project or position.

Virtuous politics also involves “common reflection in search of this general good, and not simply by the confrontation of conflicting and often opposing interests,” the pope said. “In short, ‘the whole is superior to the part,’ and our compass for elaborating this common project is the Gospel, which brings to the world a profoundly positive vision of the human person loved by God.”

Pope Francis praised the Chemin Neuf project and its participants for recognizing that prayer, dialogue and reflection are not enough.

A politics grounded in reality and aiming to make concrete contributions to people’s lives must include the experience of serving the poor, he said, like the group does with its work with migrants, its care of creation and the small community of young adults who have chosen to live in one of the poorer neighborhoods of Paris.

At the end of the audience, Chemin Neuf members gathered around Pope Francis, who was seated in a wheelchair because of ongoing knee pain, and prayed for him while laying hands on him.

“In prayer let us all ask God to bless us,” he said. “Lord Jesus, bless all of us who work close to you. Bless our ideas. Bless our hearts. Bless our hands.”

Managing an ascension

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IN EXILE
By Father Ron Rolheiser, OMI
A friend of mine, somewhat cynical about the church, recently remarked: “What the institutional church today is trying to do is to put its best face on the fact that it’s dying. Basically, it’s trying to manage a death.”

Father Ron Rolheiser, OMI

What he’s suggesting is that the church today, like a person struggling to accept a terminal diagnosis, is trying to reshape its imagination to eventually accommodate itself to the unthinkable, its own dying.

He’s right in suggesting that the church today is trying to reshape its imagination, but he’s wrong about what it’s trying to manage. What the church is trying to manage today is not a death, but an ascension. What needs reshaping in our imagination today is the same thing that needed reshaping in the imagination of the first disciples in the forty days between the resurrection and the ascension. We need to understand again how to let go of one body of Christ so that it can ascend and we can again experience Pentecost. What’s at stake here?

Among the elements within the paschal mystery, the ascension is the least understood. We are clearer about the meaning of the death and resurrection of Christ and the descent of the Spirit at Pentecost. We have less understanding of the ascension.

The forty days between the resurrection and the ascension were not a time of unadulterated joy for the first disciples. It was a time of some joy, but also of considerable confusion, despondency and loss of faith. In the days before the ascension, the disciples were overjoyed whenever they recognized again their risen Lord, but most of the time they were confused, despondent, and full of doubt because they were unable to recognize the new presence of Christ in what was happening around them. At one point, they gave up completely and as John put it, went back to their former way of life, fishing and the sea.

However, during that time Jesus slowly reshaped their imaginations. Eventually they grasped the fact that something had died but that something else, far richer, had been born and that now they needed to give up clinging to the way Jesus had formerly been present to them so that he could be present to them in a new way. The theology and spirituality of the ascension is essentially contained in these words: Refuse to cling to what once was, let it go so that you can now recognize the new life you are already living and receive its spirit. The synoptic gospels teach this to us in their pictorial rendering of the ascension, where a bodily Jesus blesses everyone and then rises physically out of their sight. John gives us the same theology but in a different picture. He does this in his description of the encounter on Easter morning between Jesus and Mary Magdala when Jesus says, “Mary don’t cling to me!”

Today, the church is trying to manage an ascension, not a death. I can easily see where my friend can be confused because every ascension presupposes a death and a birth, and that can be confusing. So where, really, is the church today?

Edward Schillebeeckx once suggested that we are living in that same despondency that was felt by the early disciples between Jesus’ death and their realization of his resurrection. We are feeling what they felt, doubt and confusion on the road to Emmaus. The Christ we once knew has been crucified and we cannot yet recognize the Christ who is walking with us, more alive than before, though in a new way. Hence, just as those first disciples on the road to Emmaus, we also frequently walk with faces downcast, in a confused faith, needing Christ to appear in a new guise to reshape our imaginations so that we can recognize him as he is now present to us.

I think Schillebeeckx is right about this, except that I would put it in another way. The church today is in that time between the resurrection and the ascension, feeling considerable despondency, with its imagination attuned to a former understanding of Christ, unable to recognize Christ clearly in the present moment. For many of us who grew up in a particular understanding of the faith, our former understanding of Christ has been crucified. But Christ is not dead. The church is not dead. Both Jesus and the church are very much alive, walking with us, slowly reshaping our imaginations, reinterpreting the scriptures for us, telling us again: Wasn’t it necessary that the Christ (and the church) should so suffer. …
For many of us today, to live in faith is to be in that time between the death of Christ and the ascension, vacillating between joy and despondency, trying to manage an ascension.

On the road of faith, there’s always bad news and good news. The bad news is that invariably our understanding of Christ gets crucified. The good news is that Christ is always very much alive, present to us still, and in a deeper way.

(Oblate Father Ron Rolheiser is a theologian, teacher and award-winning author. He can be contacted through his website www.ronrolheiser.com.)

Knights award Family of the Year

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MADISON – The late Mart Bisek of Madison was not present to receive the award for Family of the Year with his wife Ginger at the Annual Knights of Columbus State Convention in Robinsonville on April 23. Mart lost his battle to cancer before the convention, but he left behind a dedicated spouse, two grown children and grandchildren, and a legacy of service and dedication to faith, family, life and community that will live on forever.

As this year’s recipients of the State Knights of Columbus Family of the Year, Mart and Ginger served the Lord in four local parishes over the years and led ministries that provided for many of the people of God.

Mart served in many leadership roles in the Knights through the years while Ginger served as officer and charter member of the KC Ladies Auxiliary and chaired the Giving Tree Ministry for many years. Together, they helped many in the community. Mart also served as CEO of Gleaners for 12 years and Ginger volunteered for 10 years at Our Daily Bread in Canton and Hope Hollow for 12 years. “The Bisek family are truly role models of how a family should use their time, talent and treasure in support of the church and the community,” said Ned Darbonne of Grand Knight Council 11934 Gluckstadt.

Pictured left to right, David Madere, Ginger Bisek and Ned Darbonne. (Photo courtesy Ned Darbonne)

Senior Wellness Resources

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St. Catherine’s Village believes that health and wellness is promoted through a holistic approach that encompasses physical health plus emotional, social and spiritual well-being. In addition to healthy, nutritious dining options throughout the day, there are many supervised and unsupervised fitness activities available.

These include daily exercise classes including aerobics and water aerobics, a large indoor heated swimming pool, a walking path and biking trails, and an on-site fitness facility with rowing machines, elliptical, stationary bikes, treadmills, weights, and resistance bands.

“There is nice scenery as (residents) walk or ride their bikes, a nice big pond, bird houses, and geese surrounding it,” said Lakeisha Love, assistant activity coordinator for Independent Living at St. Catherine’s Village. “We also take group walks around the lake sometimes.

“A lot of residents are not confident in their abilities, so we will basically challenge them to do things they do not think they are able to do. They always thank us the next day for giving them the extra push, (and) always say they feel better physically.”

“There is not personal consultation to get residents involved in different activities,” Love said. “It is up to the individual unless we have a resident ask what they could do to strengthen a certain part of their body, and our answer is always come to stretch class, or we will give them the specific exercise that will work for them.”

There’s also an emphasis at St. Catherine’s on the heart, brain, healthy eating, chronic diseases and more, with support groups for specific illnesses, medical conditions, and caregivers.
To learn more, call (601) 856-0123 or email LaKeisha.Love@fmolhs.org.

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“Realizing that our population is an aging one, St. Dominic’s created a wellness program to meet the unique needs of mature adults,” said LeAnn Henderson, manager of New Directions for Over 55. “Built on the premise that social interaction, enrichment opportunities and wellness education help promote healthy, active lifestyles among seniors, New Directions over 55 brings all these and numerous benefits together in a membership-based program.”

The program offers chair yoga, ballroom dance, an exercise class called Be-Fit, hiking groups known as the Trailblazers, the Live Well program (which focuses on the seven aspects of wellness), and classes accessible by cellphone. Pickle ball classes are even coming soon.
To learn more, call (601) 200-6698 or email newdirections@stdom.com.

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“A lot of people are hesitant to join a facility and exercise in a group because they fear not knowing how to use the equipment,” said Amy Batson, manager of The Club at St. Dominic Hospital. “We give prospective members a tour as well as an explanation of how to use the equipment. Also, we’re on the medical fitness side, as opposed to some clubs and gyms that don’t emphasize that side of it as much, and we’re all degreed staff members when it comes to training and fitness.

“We have water aerobics classes, a Seniorcise class that combines cardio, stretching and strength training, equipment such as treadmills, bikes and weights, and a fitness instructor you’ll meet when you join who will help craft a plan that best fits your needs. We also offer a reduced membership rate for hospital employees.”

To learn more, call (601) 519-8197 or email Amy.Batson@fmolhs.org.

Sister Dorothea, rather ‘wear out than rust out’

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By Joe Lee
MADISON – Growing up an hour from Chicago, Illinois, long, cold winters were a way of life for Sister Dorothea Sondgeroth as well as an opportunity to enjoy sports that most Mississippians may never experience.

“We went ice skating, sledding and snowmobiling,” said Sister Dorothea, a registered dietician and a 2017 recipient of the Catholic Health Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award for her ministry at St. Dominic Health Services. “Later, I snow skied in Utah and Colorado when meetings would take me to that part of the country. I’ve gone dog sledding out there.”

MADISON – Sister Dorothea Sondgeroth and Bishop Joseph Kopacz share a laugh at the opening of the Clarence and Sue Smith Rehab Center and Tuscany Skilled Nursing Center at St. Catherines Village in July 2019. (Photo by Joanna King)

The broken neck Sister Dorothea suffered on Palm Sunday in 2015 brought an end to the sledding and snowmobiling the beloved Dominican Sister still enjoyed by then, but in no way did it put a stop to her desire to remain active.

“My broken neck wasn’t from skiing or dog sledding,” she said. “I was at the chapel at St. Catherine’s Village. I got out of a chair, lost my balance, fell back and hit my neck on the back of a padded chair. I had no pain when I stood, but as I drove back to the convent, I felt a lump in my throat and decided to go to the E.R. and have it checked out.”

Sister Dorothea, as she would learn, had torn a ligament in her neck. She had surgery that night and left the hospital the next morning wearing a neck brace.

“I didn’t need rehab, and I thank God and the doctor for the surgery,” she said. “It was a miracle. I had an assistant whose mother is a paraplegic after being injured in a tornado. Another assistant, when I was a dietician, was broadsided in a car accident and died from a broken neck. I said, ‘The Lord has something for me to do.’”

There would be no more snowmobiling, no more daydreams of skydiving. But Sister Dorothea remains active to this day, walking often and gardening the lovely expanse behind the convent every chance she gets. She’s quick to offer gentle encouragement to those who find it difficult to cope with the aging process.

“I was not depressed. It was the reality of it,” she said of the Palm Sunday fall. “I knew God had intervened. God has plans. There’s a reason for everything. We’re not as young as we used to be, and when I’m asked by people, ‘You’re really still working?’, I say, ‘I’d rather wear out than rust out.’

“My mantra is to have everything in your life in balance, everything in moderation. Good exercise, good nutrition, good rest and prayer.”

For Senior Wellness Resources – Click here

St. Francis of Assisi School in Greenwood closing doors permanently

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By Franciscan Friars of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Province
GREENWOOD – The doors to St. Francis of Assisi School closed permanently when the academic year concluded on Friday, May 20, bringing an end to an institution that has been part of the Greenwood community for nearly three-quarters of a century. The announcement was made on May 13 by the Franklin, Wisconsin-based Franciscan Friars of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Province. The Franciscan friars will continue serving St. Francis Parish in Greenwood, an association that began some 70 years ago when Assumption Province was invited by the bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Jackson to begin pastoral ministry among the African American community. The school was opened in 1951.

Assumption Province officials cited a combination of factors that led to the decision, including years of:
• Steadily declining student enrollment – which plummeted to its current level of 50 total students and was projected to drop even further in the 2022/23 academic year, with only 41 students registered to date. Three of the six grade levels have single-digit student populations – the 1st grade the lowest with two students. The 3rd grade class has the most with 13 students.

• Increasing operating budget deficits – whose gap has widened from a $35,000 shortfall in 2016/17, to the current school year deficit that’s approaching $100,000. The 2022/23 deficit was projected to be $173,950.

• Diminishing funding and financial resources – which has steadily tumbled, from $168,000 in combined donations in 2017/18 to cover tuition assistance, building operations, and educational-related costs, to $30,000 in 2021/22. Despite the support of generous donors to St. Francis of Assisi Mission, the school’s fundraising arm, donations have decreased dramatically due to death and other life-changing events among donors, predominantly an elder population.

• Deteriorating building infrastructure – which a recent independent site survey recommended addressing before the new school session with capital project upgrades, renovations and replacement to outdated electrical, plumbing, windows, parking lot, and other major systems at an estimated cost of nearly a half-million dollars.

A drop in student enrollment in 2017 – when the projection of 105 students plunged to a “crisis level” of 89, the first time in more than 50 years that its enrollment fell below 100 – prompted Assumption Province to begin a series of emergency meetings with faculty, parents, the school’s advisory board, parish leadership – including the pastoral council and finance council – diocesan officials and the Franciscan Sisters. During these meetings, which continued into 2018, the Province presented the alarming trends of declining enrollment, increasing budget deficits and other mounting financial issues – and engaged with all stakeholders in brainstorming about the school’s future. Enrollment has plummeted 60% since 2015/16, when the school had 123 students, compared to 50 today.

“We had been grappling with this decision for several years, during which we had to plan each new academic year without knowing if we would have the financial resources to actually open the school at the start of each fall semester,” said Father James Gannon, OFM, Provincial Minister of Assumption Province. “We friars are saddened and disappointed to close down an institution that has been vital to the education and faith development of thousands of students in our Greenwood community. But steadily declining enrollment and diminishing resources – coupled with growing budget deficits and deteriorating conditions of an aging physical plant – have made it abundantly clear that the long-term operational viability of St. Francis of Assisi School is no longer a sustainable reality. Our assessment to close the school was a painfully difficult, yet necessary decision.”

He added, “The support of our parent community, and the dedication and perseverance of the administration, faculty, staff, Franciscan Sisters, and friars have been nothing short of amazing during these very challenging years. Our students must also be commended for their numerous achievements during this time. It’s human nature to lay blame, but no one is at fault. This decision is the result of conditions beyond everyone’s control.”

While the school received what is considered extraordinary funding that temporarily kept the doors open – for example, monies from the pandemic-related federal Paycheck Protection Program, which mitigated a fraction of the operating deficit for a short period – Province officials likened this one-time funding assistance, although a blessing, to covering a gaping wound with a band aid. Projected budget deficits had also been mitigated through the years by funding from the Mission, the parish and Assumption Province.

“We are grateful for the prayers and support of our school and parish families, and to those who have provided financial support through the years,” said Father Joachim Studwell, OFM, pastor of St. Francis of Assisi Parish.

Sister LeClaire celebrates Jubilee

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By Michael O’Loughlin
MILWAUKEE, Wis. – More than three dozen School Sisters of St. Francis of the United States Province will celebrate milestone anniversaries of service as women religious in 2022. A Mass to honor the Jubilarians will be held Saturday, June 11, at Alverno College in Milwaukee.

Among those being honored is Sister Noel Le Claire, whose 75 years of consecrated life include ministry in the Diocese of Jackson.

Sister Noel LeClaire

Sister Noel was born in Escanaba, Michigan. She received her bachelor’s degree in education from Alverno College; her licentiate of theology degree from Regina Mundi College in Rome; her master’s in theology from Marquette University; and her master’s in religious education from Regis College.

In the Diocese of Jackson, Sister Noel served as a social service worker at Sacred Heart Southern Missions in Holly Springs (1992-1994) and at a Holly Springs social services agency (1994-2005).

In the Diocese of Lexington, Kentucky, she served in religious education and social work at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in Williamsburg (1970-1983). Sister worked in the Appalachian Ministry at Queen of All Saints School in Beattyville (1970-1983). In Booneville, Sister was a regional peace and justice worker (1986-1989); a diocesan peace and justice coordinator (1989-1991); and Workers of Rural Kentucky liaison (1991-1992).

In the Archdiocese of Chicago, Sister Noel served as a teacher at Our Lady of Charity School in Cicero (1951-1957).

In the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, Sister served as a teacher at Alverno Elementary School (1960-1961); St. Rita School in West Allis (1963-1965); Alverno College (1965-1968); and St. Therese Little Flower School in Milwaukee (1968-1970). She served as an assistant mistress at St. Joseph Convent High School in Milwaukee (1961-1963). Sister volunteered in Milwaukee at Penfield Children’s Center (2006-2008); St. Ben’s Prison Ministry (2008-2010); Clare House (2010-2012); Clare Terrace Homes (2012-2014); and in outreach (2014-2017). Sister serves in the ministry of prayer and presence at Our Lady of the Angels in Greenfield, Wisconsin.

Cards and donations in honor of Sister Noel’s years of service may be mailed to Sister’s attention, c/o Jubilee Committee, School Sisters of St. Francis, 1545 S. Layton Blvd., Milwaukee, WI 53215.

Holy Ghost celebrates 113 years of mission

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By Dorothy Ashley
JACKSON – Holy Ghost the Comforter Catholic Church will celebrate their feast day on June 5, Pentecost Sunday, along with their 113th anniversary of mission and presence in Midtown Jackson.

Holy Ghost was founded in 1909 by Father Aloysius Heick, SVD, a German priest who traveled to America as a missionary. With the financial help of St. Mother Katherine Drexel, the foundress of the Blessed Sacrament Sisters of Philadelphia, Father Heick was given $16,000 to buy two acres of pastureland in Midtown Jackson.

JACKSON – Holy Ghost parish, located at 1151 Cloister Street, will celebrate 113 years on June 5, Pentecost Sunday. All are invited.

The mission school broke ground on June 25, 1909, and the following September, three Holy Spirit Missionary Sisters came from Techny, Illinois to serve at the two-story brick mission school dedicated in October 1909.

Holy Ghost Mission School opened the following day with an enrollment of 111. It began as a grammar school. A high school program was added and in 1918, it became the first high school for African American students in Jackson.

Holy Ghost Catholic School was instrumental in graduating many African American students with a first-rate education. A convent was built and dedicated in 1911. Two years later, old St. Peter’s Church (now Cathedral) downtown was dismantled, and the material was used to build Holy Ghost Catholic Church on what today is Cloister Street.

Since then, a new parish church was built in 1970. The original parish church was dismantled and the Father George Artis Family Life Center was erected many years later where the original church stood.
Father Heick worked 21 years at Holy Ghost. He retired in 1929 and died the following September.
In 1969, the high school merged with St. Joseph Catholic High School. The elementary school has since closed, but the building is being leased to Hinds County Project Headstart.

Holy Ghost Catholic Church continues its mission of evangelization in the heart of Midtown Jackson. All are invited to attend the Pentecost Mass at the parish on June 5 at 9 a.m.