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The sisters of Holmes County, integral to community

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By Dan Stockman
LEXINGTON – It’s a Wednesday, and three teenagers are in Sr. Sheila Conley’s tiny office, learning about finances.
Less than a block away, Sr. Mary Walz, a social worker, is at the Lexington Medical Clinic, running a diabetes education program.
Down the road in Durant, Sr. Madeline Kavanaugh is working on a statewide re-entry program for people being released from the state prison system.
The three sisters are continuing the ministries of Sr. Paula Merrill, a member of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, Kentucky, and Sr. Margaret Held of the School Sisters of St. Francis in Milwaukee. Held and Merrill were murdered Aug. 25, 2016, after working in the area for six years and ministering to those kept poor for some 30 years, mostly in Mississippi. They were nurse practitioners and both worked at the Lexington Medical Clinic.
On Nov. 20, 2017, Kavanaugh, Conley and Walz moved into the house Merrill and Held had shared and started their own work in the area. Their arrival “meant a new beginning, a fresh start. It meant that we were going to survive,” says Sam Sample, a parishioner at St. Thomas Church in Lexington and a friend of all five sisters.
Conley’s students have already completed the Career Ready 101 class at the Lexington Multi-Purpose Complex, which consists of 200 hours of learning how to be employable, such as understanding you have to show up to work, on time, every day.
“There’s a great vocational school where they can become an electrician or be certified to drive a forklift,” Conley, a Sister of Charity of Halifax, Nova Scotia, says later. “But they don’t know how to keep a job.”
Today, the subject is credit: credit cards, credit scores, credit card bills. They know there are credit cards and debit cards, but the only difference between them they know about is that a debit card needs a PIN; they don’t know one operates on credit and the other requires money in the bank.
The classes that provide real-world lessons existed before Conley got here, but they were only online, and the students didn’t have much success afterward. Now, they have Conley, a no-nonsense sister with a sharp wit, lots of stories and experience, and a mission to change their lives.
Since so many patients at the Lexington Medical Clinic have some form of diabetes, Walz, a Daughter of Charity, comes in contact with almost all of them.
“It gives you access to people who would never consider talking to a social worker,” Walz says. “There are so many social aspects to diabetes. The doctors say, ‘Lose weight, eat right, blah blah blah,’ and it just overwhelms them. But one-on-one, you can really address the issues, from poverty to transportation to healthy cooking.”
Like many rural areas, Lexington has few grocery stores and little fresh produce. Most people don’t know how to make healthy food choices, she says. They can’t find healthy food to buy and don’t know how to prepare it if they find it.
Walz also helps patients navigate the often-bewildering world of public assistance and nonprofit programs to cover co-pays, find transportation, or get expensive hearing aids.
“The staff told me, ‘They’re calling you the Diabetes Lady,'” Walz said. “I told them, ‘I’ve been called worse.'”
Kavanaugh, a Daughter of Charity, works with Marvin Edwards, a Secular Franciscan, on the prison re-entry program, the Mississippi Association for Returning Citizens (MARC). The program, “Getting Ahead While Getting Out,” is designed to help people get out of poverty.
“They learn a lot of self-evaluation skills — how to evaluate their anger and their personality,” Kavanaugh says. “It’s very strong on studying the financial reality of the country so they can understand how it works and how to get ahead. Before they leave prison, they have to have a plan. Not just a plan for the first 72 hours, but a plan for life.”
Plans often go haywire, and none of the three sisters had ever planned on ministering in rural Mississippi. But it didn’t take long for them to realize they are exactly where God wants them to be.
Though it had been more than a year since Held and Merrill died, the community they served was still reeling when Conley, Kavanaugh and Walz moved in.

“What happened was catastrophic to this town,” says Sample, a real-estate agent who helped the three new sisters rent Held and Merrill’s house.
Held and Merrill had been stabbed to death in their bedrooms in a breaking-and-entering. Rodney Earl Sanders of Kosciusko, a town about 18 miles east of Durant, was convicted of two counts of murder and is serving two life sentences without the possibility of parole plus 30 years for burglary and stealing one of the sisters’ cars.
Sam Sample says he stood dumbfounded in front of the house, which was surrounded by police tape, when he got the news, unable to process it. When he called his wife, Jamie to tell her, she collapsed. She was so distraught, she was unable to drive.
“Our little world just crashed,” he says.
Cardell Wright, city manager for the City of Durant, says he didn’t know Merrill and Held personally, but it is impossible to escape their reputation.
“They exemplified holiness,” Wright says. “Something that tragic — it shook the community. When something like that happens to people of that caliber, it has a big effect on society.”
Today, the work of Conley, Kavanaugh and Walz is having a big effect, as well.
“When you see them, you know what they stand for. You know what they embody,” Wright says. “They’ve changed my own mentality of what I thought sisters were. I thought they were isolated and stayed off by themselves. The sisters here are invested in our community, and especially our young people. They’ve been very instrumental and one of our biggest donors and supporters.”
For example, Walz helped Wright organize a project for the Mayor’s Youth Council. The teens collected hundreds of pounds of plastic bottle caps, and Walz put them in touch with Green Tree Plastics in Evansville, Indiana, which makes benches out of the material. She then arranged for Wright to stay with the Daughters of Charity in Evansville so he could deliver the plastic and pick up the completed benches.
“We collected 950 pounds of plastic, and the Daughters of Charity donated another 300 pounds to us. They had sisters around the nation sending them in,” Wright says. “They’re unstoppable.”
The project resulted in several benches now installed around Durant, but more importantly, Wright says, it showed the teens how to follow through on a project and accomplish something.
Even more meaningful, though, was when students held a protest against gun violence after the 2018 Parkland, Florida, school shooting, and Wright spotted the sisters joining the march.
“Just to see their involvement — they support us,” he says. “It made my day to see one of the sisters come out and march with us. They were right there, talking about protecting our kids.”
Wright marvels at the sisters’ creativity and resourcefulness.
“It’s the connections. It’s about uplifting one another,” he says. “They want the community to progress.”
Though none of the three sisters had lived in Mississippi before, when the Sisters of Charity Federation asked for sisters to consider serving in Durant, they each answered.
Conley, who works with the youth programs in Lexington, had a career in education. Kavanaugh, who works on the re-entry program, spent 17 years serving in Bolivia, four years in the Cook Islands and three years as the pastoral administrator of a parish in tiny Georgetown, South Carolina. Walz, now at the Lexington Medical Clinic, had a career that included 25 years in social work and three years developing health and social service centers for people who live in poverty. She worked for 14 years in rural Gould, Arkansas.
Holmes County, though, is a challenge: 41% of the population lives in poverty, and the median income is $20,330 a year, less than half the median income for Mississippi and the second-lowest in the nation. The national median income is $57,652. The unemployment rate is 12.2%, more than triple the national unemployment rate of 3.7%. Twenty-five percent of those over 25 do not have a high school diploma.
“It’s generational poverty. You have children having children, and it’s the third or fourth generation of that,” Kavanaugh says. “Now, we’re hearing about job opportunities, but people don’t have the skills to get them or keep them.”
There’s a new plastics factory opening soon — a big deal in a county of 17,622 where businesses only employ 1,981 people — but there is no public transportation. Holmes County Central High School ranks 228th out of 233 high schools in Mississippi. Wages in the area are low, so even those with jobs often struggle.
Conley says people living in poverty don’t have stable lives, so they often lose Social Security cards and birth certificates, the documents needed to apply for jobs, job training or almost anything else.
“There’s a lot of discouragement,” Walz says. “There’s so many parts of their lives that are out of their control, whether it’s financial or transportation or housing.”
Walz says the sisters know they won’t change Holmes County overnight, but it’s important they make an effort, and their ministry makes an important statement about the church and women religious.
“It’s our little attempt to be present. The county was traumatized by [the murders]. Durant was traumatized by this event,” she says. “It’s that sense that sisters haven’t given up on them because of this tragedy.”
Walz says people often ask if she is afraid to live in the home where two sisters were killed.
“Not for one second,” she says. “It’s like holy ground.”

(Reprinted with permission by Global Sisters Report, visit GlobalSistersReport.org).

Death of retired Bishop Morin ‘a sad day’ for Biloxi diocese

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Bishop Roger Paul P. Morin of Biloxi, Miss., is seen in this undated photo. He died Oct. 31, 2019. He was 78. (CNS photo/courtesy Gulf Pine Catholic)

By Terry Dickson
BILOXI – Bishop Roger P. Morin, the third bishop of Biloxi, died Oct. 31 at age 78. He was returning to Biloxi after vacationing with his family in Massachusetts and died during his flight from Boston to Atlanta.
“This is a sad day for our diocese. I was shocked to hear the news,” Biloxi Bishop Louis F. Kihneman III said in a statement.
“Bishop Morin was a kind and gentle man who truly embodied his episcopal motto as one who walked humbly and acted justly,” he said. “When I was named bishop of Biloxi in 2016, Bishop Morin was most gracious and accommodating. I am forever grateful for his support, wise counsel and, most of all, his friendship. He will be sorely missed.”
Bishop Morin was named to head the Diocese of Biloxi by Pope Benedict XVI March 2, 2009, and was installed in April at the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary by the late Archbishop Pietro Sambi, apostolic nuncio to the United States, and Archbishop Thomas J. Rodi of Mobile, Alabama.
His episcopal motto was “Walk Humbly and Act Justly.” He retired in 2016 at age 75.
A native of Dracut, Massachusetts, he was born March 7, 1941, the son of Germain J. and Lillian E. Morin. He has one brother, Paul, and three sisters, Lillian “Pat” Johnson, Elaine (Ray) Joncas and Susan Spellissy.
After high school and college studies, he earned a bachelor’s in philosophy in 1966 from St. John’s Seminary in Brighton, Massachusetts and continued theology studies at St. John’s for two years of graduate school. In 1967 he went to New Orleans to work in its new summer Witness program, conducted by the archdiocesan Social Apostolate.
When he returned to New Orleans in 1968, he became director of The Center, a neighborhood social service organization run by the Social Apostolate. He enrolled at Notre Dame Seminary, studying in the evenings and on Saturdays in addition to his full-time position at The Center. He earned a master’s of divinity degree in theology at the seminary.
He was ordained to the priesthood by New Orleans Archbishop Philip M. Hannan April 15, 1971, in his home parish of St. Therese in Dracut. His first parish assignment was at St. Henry Parish in New Orleans. In 1973, he was appointed associate director of the Social Apostolate and in 1975 became the director, responsible for the operation of nine year-round social service centers sponsored by the archdiocese.
Bishop Morin had a master of science degree in urban studies from Tulane University and in 1974 completed a program as a community economic developer. Bishop Morin was the founding president of Second Harvest Food Bank.
In 1978, he was a volunteer member of Mayor Ernest “Dutch” Morial’s transition team dealing with federal programs and then accepted a $1 a year position as deputy special assistant to the mayor for federal programs and projects.
Then-Father Morin served the city of New Orleans until 1981, when he was appointed New Orleans archdiocesan vicar for community affairs, with responsibility over nine agencies: Catholic Charities, Social Apostolate, human relations, alcoholics’ ministry, Apostleship of the Sea, cemeteries, disaster relief, hospitals and prisons. He was named a monsignor by St. John Paul II in 1985.
He was in residence at Incarnate Word Parish beginning in 1981 and served as pastor there from 1988 through April 2002.
One of the highlights of his priesthood came in 1987 when he directed the New Orleans Archdiocese’s preparations for St. John Paul’s historic visit to New Orleans. The visit involved thousands of community volunteers and coordination among national, state and local religious and political leaders.
He also coordinated the events of the bicentennial of the archdiocese in 1993. In 1995, Bishop Morin received the Weiss Brotherhood Award presented by the National Conference of Christians and Jews for his service in the field of human relations.
St. John Paul named him an auxiliary bishop of New Orleans Feb. 11, 2003; his episcopal ordination was April 22 of that year. He was vicar general and moderator of the curia for the archdiocese 2001-2009.
Bishop Morin was a member of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Subcommittee on the Catholic Campaign for Human Development 2005-2013, and served as chairman 2008-2010. During that time, he also was a member of the Domestic Justice and Human Development and the National Collections committees.
Bishop Morin’s funeral Mass was held at Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Cathedral on Thursday, Nov. 7 in Biloxi.

In ordinary and extraordinary times

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In ordinary and extraordinary periods, by God’s grace, we are to persevere in loving all that is holy, good and worthy of praise, to do justice and to walk humbly with our God.

Bishop Joseph R. Kopacz

By Bishop Joseph Kopacz
The Word of God at our Saturday evening and Sunday celebrations in late autumn and early winter challenges us with a spirit of urgency to consider our daily choices and the impact they have on our relationships with God, others and ourselves. The Lord Jesus, in last Sunday’s Gospel addressed the trauma of natural disasters and the inevitable persecutions and martyrdom that will crash in upon many of his faithful disciples. Are these the telltale signs of the end times? Not really, Jesus responds, but be assured that the Holy Spirit, the pledge of eternal life, dwells within you and “by perseverance you will save your lives.” The prophet Malachi boldly pronounces that “for those who fear the name of the Lord, there will arise the sun of justice with its healing rays.” Our sung or spoken response followed, “The Lord comes to rule the earth with justice.” Indeed! Meanwhile, Saint Paul, in harmony with the Lord’s Gospel teaching on perseverance, instructed his beloved brothers and sisters in Thessalonica, living in anticipation of the second coming, that daily life has a righteous pattern right up to the moment when the Lord comes again, or comes to take each one of you. “In fact, when we were with you, we instructed you that if anyone was unwilling to work, neither should that one eat … We hear that some are conducting themselves among you in a disorderly way, by not keeping busy but minding the business of others.” In ordinary and extraordinary periods, by God’s grace, we are to persevere in loving all that is holy, good and worthy of praise, to do justice and to walk humbly with our God.

Returning from the annual Bishops Conference in Baltimore, I mulled over the range of urgent matters that were addressed in the course of four days. My three year term on the Committee for the Protection of Children and Young People is now complete and I am grateful for having had the opportunity to serve with laity, priests and bishops from around the country who are committed to the promise to protect and the pledge to heal all who have experienced the crime and suffer through the trauma of sexual abuse as minors. Likewise, I am proud of the dedication throughout our diocese for all who embrace this just cause and remain vigilant, as our recently completed audit confirmed.

During the Conference, Bishop Robert Barron offered a clear-cut path for evangelization in our post-modern culture, an urgent matter, especially in light of the heavy attrition away from religious faith among the younger generations. What is the urgent response? His research attests that works of justice, the beauty of our liturgies and church architecture, music and art, the depth and height and breath of our intellectual tradition, and the wise and savvy engagement of social media are, individually and collectively, avenues to invite those on the margins of religious faith to encounter the crucified and risen Lord. The ultimate good, beauty and truth, after-all, is a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life, and a life in service of God’s Kingdom. It is a way of life marked by purpose and promise, but it also invites rejection, hostility and persecution.

Bishop Barron offered this reflection through the lens of last Sunday’s Gospel from Saint Luke. “Friends, in today’s Gospel Jesus describes the world’s violent resistance to the establishment of God’s kingdom. From the earliest days until the present, the community of Jesus Christ has been the focus of the world’s violence. The old principle of “killing the messenger” applies here. The Church will announce until the end of time, that the old order is passing away, that a new world of love, nonviolence and life is emerging. This announcement always infuriates the world of sin — always. The twentieth century proved this by being the bloodiest on record and the century with the most martyrs.”

Therefore, in ordinary time we witness, through service, worship, teaching and by employing the latest in communications. In extraordinary times, we die for the faith, knowing that the blood of the martyrs, more than all other efforts of evangelization combined, will guarantee that the Church, the Body of Christ, will endure to the end of time. In the vast landscape in which the church lives and moves and has its being, both in longevity and in our manifold mission, there is potentially a home for many at the banquet of life. A personal faith that sees the urgency of a life well lived in the Lord can manifest itself in his mandate to make disciples through Word, Worship, Service and Social Justice, from the foundation of life in the womb until eternity dawns through the door of death. Along with Bishop Barron, Bishop Nauman, the Chair of the Committee on Pro-Life spoke eloquently about the commitment to create a culture of life where every unborn child can find a home. Likewise, Bishop Mark Sis and Bishop Shelton Fabre addressed the urgent necessity for just immigration reform and a nation free of the scourge of racism.

There are many forces that work to undermine perseverance in the faith, but there are many paths that lead to life. The greatest assurance for the believer is the promised Holy Spirit whose loving power endures forever. May the crucified and risen Lord grant us a season of refreshment and hope, individually, in our families, and in all of our communities of faith, a spirit of perseverance that will enable us to save our lives.

En tiempos ordinarios y extraordinarios

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Obispo Joseph R. Kopacz

Por Obispo Joseph Kopacz
La Palabra de Dios en nuestras celebraciones de sábado por la tarde y domingo a fines del otoño y principios del invierno nos retan con un espíritu de urgencia a considerar nuestras elecciones diarias y el impacto que tienen en nuestras relacione con Dios, los demás y nosotros mismos. El Señor Jesús, en el Evangelio del domingo pasado, abordó el trauma de los desastres naturales y las inevitables persecuciones y martirios que golpearían a muchos de sus fieles discípulos.
¿Son estos los signos reveladores de los últimos tiempos? En realidad, no, Jesús responde, pero tenga la seguridad de que el Espíritu Santo, la promesa de la vida eterna, habita dentro de usted y “con perseverancia salvará sus vidas”. El profeta Malaquías pronuncia audazmente que “para aquellos que temen el nombre del Señor,” surgirá el sol de la justicia con sus rayos curativos “. Nuestra respuesta cantada o hablada siguió:” El Señor viene a gobernar la tierra con justicia.“ ¡Por supuesto!
Mientras tanto, San Pablo, en armonía con las enseñanzas del Evangelio del Señor sobre la perseverancia, instruyó a sus amados hermanos y hermanas en Tesalónica, viviendo en previsión de la segunda venida, que la vida diaria tiene un patrón justo hasta el momento en que el Señor vuelva a llevarse a cada uno de ustedes. “De hecho, cuando estuvimos con usted, le indicamos que, si alguien no estaba dispuesto a trabajar, tampoco debería comer … Oímos que algunos se están comportando entre ustedes de manera desordenada, al no mantenerse ocupados sino ocuparse del negocio de otros.” En períodos ordinarios y extraordinarios, por la gracia de Dios, debemos perseverar en amar todo lo que es santo, bueno y digno de alabanza, hacer justicia y caminar humildemente con nuestro Dios.
Al regresar de la Conferencia Anual de los Obispos en Baltimore, reflexioné sobre la variedad de asuntos urgentes que se abordaron en el transcurso de cuatro días. Mi período de tres años en el Comité para la Protección de Niños y Jóvenes ha finalizado y estoy agradecido por haber tenido la oportunidad de servir con laicos, sacerdotes y obispos de todo el país que están comprometidos con la promesa de proteger y la promesa. para sanar a todos los que han experimentado el crimen y sufren el trauma del abuso sexual como menores. Del mismo modo, estoy orgulloso de la dedicación en toda nuestra diócesis para todos los que abrazan esta causa justa y permanecen atentos, como lo confirmó nuestra auditoría recientemente completada.
Durante la Conferencia, el Obispo Robert Barron ofreció un camino claro para la evangelización en nuestra cultura posmoderna, un asunto urgente, especialmente a la luz del fuerte desgaste de la fe religiosa entre las generaciones más jóvenes. ¿Cuál es la respuesta urgente? Su investigación atestigua que las obras de justicia, la belleza de nuestras liturgias, la arquitectura de la iglesia, la música y el arte, la profundidad, altura y aliento de nuestra tradición intelectual, y el compromiso sabio e inteligente de las redes sociales son, individual y colectivamente, caminos para invitar, a aquellos al margen de la fe religiosa para encontrar al Señor crucificado y resucitado. El bien, la belleza y la verdad fundamentales, después de todo, es una relación personal con el Señor Jesús, el Camino, la Verdad y la Vida, y una vida al servicio del Reino de Dios. Es una forma de vida marcada por el propósito y la promesa, pero también invita al rechazo, la hostilidad y la persecución.
El obispo Barron ofreció esta reflexión a través del lente del Evangelio del domingo pasado de San Lucas. “Amigos, en el Evangelio de hoy, Jesús describe la resistencia violenta del mundo al establecimiento del reino de Dios. Desde los primeros días hasta el presente, la comunidad de Jesucristo ha sido el foco de la violencia del mundo. El viejo principio de ‘matar al mensajero’ se aplica aquí. La Iglesia anunciará hasta el fin de los tiempos, que el viejo orden está desapareciendo, que está surgiendo un nuevo mundo de amor, no violencia y vida. Este anuncio siempre enfurece al mundo del pecado, siempre. El siglo XX lo demostró siendo el más sangriento de la historia y el siglo con más mártires.“
Por lo tanto, en el tiempo ordinario somos testigos, a través del servicio, la adoración, la enseñanza y empleando lo último en comunicaciones. En tiempos extraordinarios, morimos por la fe, sabiendo que la sangre de los mártires, más que todos los demás esfuerzos de evangelización combinados, garantizará que la Iglesia, el Cuerpo de Cristo, perdure hasta el fin de los tiempos. En el vasto paisaje en el que la iglesia vive, se mueve y tiene su ser, tanto en la longevidad como en nuestra misión múltiple, hay potencialmente un hogar para muchos en el banquete de la vida. Una fe personal que ve la urgencia de una vida bien vivida en el Señor puede manifestarse en su mandato de hacer discípulos a través de la Palabra, la Adoración, el Servicio y la Justicia Social, desde la fundación de la vida en el útero hasta que la eternidad amanezca a través de la puerta de muerte.
Junto con el Obispo Barron, el Obispo Nauman, el presidente del Comité de Pro-Vida habló elocuentemente sobre el compromiso de crear una cultura de vida donde cada niño no nacido pueda encontrar un hogar. Asimismo, el obispo Mark Sis y el obispo Shelton Fabre abordaron la urgente necesidad de una reforma migratoria justa y una nación libre del flagelo del racismo.
Hay muchas fuerzas que trabajan para socavar la perseverancia en la fe, pero hay muchos caminos que conducen a la vida. La mayor seguridad para el creyente es el Espíritu Santo prometido, cuyo poder amoroso perdura para siempre. Que el Señor crucificado y resucitado nos conceda una temporada de refrigerio y esperanza, individualmente, en nuestras familias y en todas nuestras comunidades de fe, un espíritu de perseverancia que nos permitirá salvar nuestras vidas.

Music, art are a gateway to discover God’s greatness

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By Junno Arocho Esteves
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Liturgical musicians have the unique calling to interpret God’s will and love through song and praise, Pope Francis said.
“Every Christian, in fact, is an interpreter of the will of God in his or her own life, and by his or her life sings a joyful hymn of praise and thanksgiving to God,” the pope said Nov. 9 during a meeting with participants at a Vatican conference on interpreting sacred music.
The conference, titled “Church, Music, Interpreters: A Necessary Dialogue,” was sponsored by the Pontifical Council for Culture, the Pontifical Institute for Sacred Music and the Pontifical Athenaeum of St. Anselm.
Reflecting on the conference theme, the pope said most people think of interpreters as a kind of translator who conveys what “he or she has received in such a way that another person can understand it.”
Although good interpreters in the field of music essentially “translate” what a composer has written, they also should feel “great humility before a work of art that is not their property,” and to “bring out the beauty of the music.”

Organist Johann Vexo of Paris rehearses April 25, 2019, the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington. Liturgical musicians have the unique calling to interpret God’s will and love through song and praise, Pope Francis said Nov. 9 during a meeting with participants at a Vatican conference on interpreting sacred music. (CNS photo/Tyler Orsburn)

Within the context of the liturgy, he added, music is a way for Christians “to serve others through the works they perform.”
“Every interpreter is called to develop a distinctive sensibility and genius in the service of art which refreshes the human spirit and in service to the community,” the pope said. “This is especially the case if the interpreter carries out a liturgical ministry.”
Pope Francis thanked the participants for their commitment and – citing the words of his predecessor St. Paul VI – said that music ministers have the great task of “grasping treasures from the heavenly realm of the spirit and clothing them in words, colors and forms, thus making them accessible.”
“The artist, the interpreter and – in the case of music – the listener, all have the same desire,” the pope said: “To understand what beauty, music and art allow us to know of God’s grandeur. Now perhaps more than ever, men and women have need of this. Interpreting that reality is essential for today’s world.”

(Follow Arocho on Twitter: @arochoju)

Called by name

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Father Nick Adam

It is intimidating to promote vocations. It is difficult to encourage groups of young men and women to think about something that perhaps they’ve never thought about before, or even considered. It is easy to get discouraged and become timid. In prayer the other day I was reassured that even the saints had their doubts. As the Lord is asking Moses to go back to Egypt and free the Israelites from bondage, Moses exclaims “O my Lord, please send someone else!” (Ex. 4:13b) This feeling of fear must be acknowledged and then fought. It is based on a false notion of what we are on this earth to do.
We are not called to be comfortable all the time or to never put ourselves out there in vulnerability. By our baptism and confirmation, we are called to “go, make disciples.” (Mt. 28:19) Calling forth young men and women and encouraging them to consider religious life is a vital part of that mandate and it is one that will bear fruit if we are stubbornly, doggedly and courageously persistent.

The first week in November was Vocation Awareness Week. I had a wonderful time with our Springfield Dominicans who hosted a social for vocations at their house at St. Dominic. I played dodgeball with sixth graders at St. Richard School. I spoke to the youth group at St. Jude Pearl. I attended and assisted at a “Come and See” retreat at St. Joseph Seminary College. I don’t know which of those young people that I interacted with has a call within his or her heart to dedicate themselves to the Lord in Holy Orders or consecrated life, but all I have to know is that my call is to ask and encourage and accompany. I ask for your prayers in this effort. I ask you to encourage young men and women in your parishes and schools and tell them to contact me if they have any questions or just want to talk about vocations. Again, we have a brand new website www.jacksonpriests.com with tons of information and opportunities for discernment. For me, it is not Vocations Awareness Week, it is Vocations Awareness Life! May it be the same for all priests and religious in our diocese, that we fearlessly promote a life that reminds the world that God is real and that literally brings His grace into the world.

Vocations Events

Friday, Jan. 31-Feb. 2, 2020 – Annual Notre Dame Pre-Discernment trip. Open to men of any age who are open to a call to priesthood, we will spend three days on the campus of Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans.

Friday, Feb. 7-9, 2020 – Nashville Dominicans’ Jesu Caritas Retreat. Retreat is open to single, Catholic women, ages 17-30. These weekend retreats explore different topics, offering spiritual insight for those who love the Church. There are opportunities to speak with the sisters and to meet others who have an earnest desire for God.

Contact the Office of Vocations if interested in attending any of these events.
vocations@jacksondiocese.org
www.jacksonpriests.com

Faith and dying

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Father Ron Rolheiser

IN EXILE
By Father Ron Rolheiser, OMI
We tend to nurse a certain naiveté about what faith means in the face of death. The common notion among us as Christians is that if someone has a genuine faith she should be able to face death without fear or doubt. The implication then of course is that having fear and doubt when one is dying is an indication of a weak faith. While it’s true that many people with a strong faith do face death calmly and without fear, that’s not always the case, nor necessarily the norm.

We can begin with Jesus. Surely he had real faith and yet, in the moments just before his death, he called out in both fear and doubt. His cry of anguish, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me,” came from a genuine anguish that was not, as we sometimes piously postulate, uttered for divine effect, not really meant, but something for us to hear. Moments before he died, Jesus suffered real fear and real doubt. Where was his faith? Well, that depends upon how we understand faith and the specific modality it can take on in our dying.

In her famous study of the stages of dying, Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, suggests there are five stages we undergo in the dying process: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Our first response to receiving a terminal diagnosis is denial – This is not happening! Then when we have to accept that it is happening our reaction is anger – Why me! Eventually, anger gives way to bargaining – How much time can I still draw out of this? This is followed by depression and finally, when nothing serves us any longer, there’s acceptance – I’m going to die. This is all very true.

But in a deeply insightful book, The Grace in Dying, Kathleen Dowling Singh, basing her insights upon the experience of sitting at the bedside of many dying people, suggests there are additional stages: doubt, resignation and ecstasy. Those stages help shed light on how Jesus faced his death.

The night before he died, in Gethsemane, Jesus accepted his death, clearly. But that acceptance was not yet full resignation. That only took place the next day on the cross in a final surrender when, as the Gospels put it, “he bowed his head and gave over his spirit.” And, just before that, he experienced an awful fear that what he had always believed in and taught about God was perhaps not so. Maybe the heavens were empty and maybe what we deem as God’s promises amount only to wishful thinking.
But, as we know, he didn’t give into that doubt but rather, inside of its darkness, gave himself over in trust. Jesus died in faith – though not in what we often naively believe faith to be. To die in faith does not always mean that we die calmly, without fear and doubt.

For instance, the renowned biblical scholar, Raymond E. Brown, commenting on the fear of death inside the community of the Beloved disciple, writes: “The finality of death and the uncertainties it creates causes trembling among those who have spent their lives professing Christ. Indeed, among the small community of Johannine disciples, it was not unusual for people to confess that doubts had come into their minds as they encountered death. … The Lazarus story is placed at the end of Jesus’ public ministry in John to teach us that when confronted with the visible reality of the grave, all need to hear and embrace the bold message that Jesus proclaimed: ‘I am the life.’ … For John, no matter how often we renew our faith, there is the supreme testing by death. Whether the death of a loved one or one’s own death, it is the moment when one realizes that it all depends on God. During our lives we have been able to shield ourselves from having to face this in a raw way. Confronted by death, mortality, all defenses fall away.”

Sometimes people with a deep faith face death in calm and peace. But sometimes they don’t and the fear and doubt that threatens them then is not necessarily a sign of a weak or faltering faith. It can be the opposite, as we see in Jesus. Inside a person of faith, fear and doubt in the face of death is what the mystics call ‘the dark night of the spirit” … and this is what’s going on inside that experience: The raw fear and doubt we are experiencing at that time make it impossible for us to mistake our own selves and our own life-force for God. When we have to accept to die in trust, inside of what seems like absolute negation and can only cry out in anguish to an apparent emptiness, then it is no longer possible to confuse God with our own feelings and ego. In that, we experience the ultimate purification of soul.
We can have a deep faith and still find ourselves with doubt and fear in the face of death. Just look at Jesus.

(Oblate Father Ron Rolheiser, theologian, teacher and award-winning author, is President of the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, Texas. He can be contacted through his website www.ronrolheiser.com. Now on Facebook www.facebook.com/ronrolheiser)

Are we truly grateful?

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Melvin Arrington

Reflections on Life
By Melvin Arrington
As the year begins to wind down, it’s only natural to look back and reflect on all the memorable moments, both the highs and lows of the last twelve months: births, new friendships, personal achievements, health matters, family gatherings, financial windfalls/setbacks, deaths, community events, natural disasters, etc. But above all, it’s a time for giving thanks.
How quickly our modern world races from Halloween to Christmas! As a result, Thanksgiving has become little more than a brief respite from the mad dash to the big end-of-year holidays. Perhaps it’s because the merchandisers haven’t yet figured out how to market it for more than a day or two. Or maybe the fact that it’s usually considered a low-key, family affair has something to do with it. Now, think about how long we make merry for Halloween. When I was a child it was one day, really just one night, and that was it, but these days it’s practically a whole month of parties and hype, and then on Nov. 1 the big advertising push for Christmas begins.
Even though our culture downplays Thanksgiving, we shouldn’t let that derail our celebration of this important holiday. So, what are we truly grateful for? First and foremost, we should give thanks to God, the One who, according to St. Paul, knew us and loved us and chose us to be His adopted sons and daughters from before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4-5). That means we are adopted members of the family of God! That awe-inspiring statement should cause jaws to drop. I experience a sense of wonder every time I read those verses.
But let’s not forget all the “gifts” we receive every day of our lives, those daily endowments we often take for granted, such as each new day, the sunshine, the rain, water to drink, food to eat. Every breath we take is worth more than silver and gold. Also the treasure of family, friends and health, as well as the freedoms we enjoy in this country, especially our freedom to worship as we please. The list goes on and on. Life itself is a gift.
Did you ever try to recall all your blessings beginning as far back as you can remember? Did you ever attempt to count them? If you’ve ever tried this, you know it’s an impossible task because, since God is infinite, so are His favors; they just keep on coming. I’m reminded of that marvelous story called The Book of Sand, by Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges. No matter how many pages the main character flipped over, he never got any nearer to the end of the book. Such is God’s love for us – infinite and unending.
So one of the ways we can respond to these heavenly favors is with prayer, specifically ones of thanksgiving. In the spirit of “Pray without ceasing” (I Thessalonians 5:17) we pray at mealtimes, whether at home or elsewhere. Consider the Norman Rockwell painting “Saying Grace,” which appeared on the cover of the Nov. 24, 1951 issue of the Saturday Evening Post. It shows a young boy and an older woman, perhaps his grandmother, seated at a table in a restaurant. As they bow their heads to ask God to bless the food, the other diners look on, as if they were witnessing something odd or out of the ordinary. If prayer is viewed as an oddity, what does that say about our culture? Is gratitude becoming a lost virtue? Maybe it has already disappeared from sight in some areas of the country.
The act of expressing gratitude, implies the person doing the thanking, the thing he is grateful for and the one he acknowledges for this favor (“Bless us, O Lord, and these Thy gifts”). Giving thanks fulfills a psychological, as well as spiritual need, and completes the circle by joining gift, giver and recipient. All humans have an innate desire to participate in this circle of giving and receiving and expressing appreciation for the gift as well as the giver. It’s part of what it means to be human. No one is sufficient unto himself.
Fr. Romano Guardini calls gratitude a basis for community. We thank our parents for raising us and our teachers for educating us. Also, we give recognition to those who help us when we need assistance and those who give us presents. Theoretically, it’s a concept that encompasses the whole world because everyone has someone to appreciate for something.
This season let’s all give thanks to the ultimate source from whom all good things come and also to those who in some way have enriched our lives.
Gracious God, may we be truly grateful not just this time of year but all year long.

(Melvin Arrington is a Professor Emeritus of Modern Languages for the University of Mississippi and a member of Oxford St. John Parish.)

Kingdom of God

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Tony Magliano

MAKING A DIFFERENCE
By Tony Magliano
When we pray Christianity’s most important single prayer – The Our Father – do we really attempt to understand and meditate upon the challenge of its words – especially “thy kingdom come?”
What is this kingdom of God that we are asking the Father to bring forth upon the earth? And what part do we play?
To put it in Jesus’ words, “What is the kingdom of God like? To what can I compare it? It is like a mustard seed that a person took and planted in the garden. When it was fully grown, it became a large bush and ‘the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches.’ ”
Giving us another example, Jesus added, “It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed [in] with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch of dough was leavened.”
The kingdom of God continues to grow large from tiny beginnings like a little mustard seed which becomes a shrub that may reach nine feet high. And a small bit of yeast which stimulates the dough to expand several times its original size.
Therefore, we don’t need to be rich and powerful people to build up God’s kingdom.
But entering in, living in, and laboring to advance the unfolding kingdom of God takes much prayer and great effort on our part. However, we should not be discouraged facing such a huge and difficult task.
A complimentary Chinese proverb encouragingly puts it this way: “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” A great accomplishment, an ambitious goal does not come about easily. It requires much effort. But over the course of time the goal can be reached.
But it will never happen if there is no effort to get started. It will never be accomplished if the first step is not taken. But it is encouraging to know that the great accomplishment, the ambitious goal – the journey of a thousand miles – only takes one step to begin.
The greatest accomplishment, the most ambitious goal that we can pursue, is doing our best to enter evermore deeply into the kingdom of God and advance its wonderful presence in our wounded world.
From abortion to war – and the arms industry which feeds it – from poverty to sickness, from human trafficking to child labor, from homeless people on our streets to fleeing refugees at our borders, from pollution to climate change, from corporate greed to militaristic nationalism countless fellow human beings are enduring tremendous suffering in a world that is largely indifferent to their cries.
But contrary to this indifference, those of us desiring to live in the kingdom of God need to be growing in the fruits of his Holy Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control – and to actively use these fruits to end the suffering of our heavy burdened brothers and sisters. And we need to tirelessly work to transform the structures of sin – as St. Pope John Paul II called them – which exist in our culture, government and corporations into structures aiding the building up of God’s kingdom.
Our self-centered kingdoms must go, so that God’s kingdom may grow.
At Sunday Mass and every other time we say the Our Father, may we pray with an ever-fresh compelling desire: “thy kingdom come!”

(Tony Magliano is an internationally syndicated social justice and peace columnist. He is available to speak at diocesan or parish gatherings. Tony can be reached at tmag@zoominternet.net.)

Founding Father honored with plaque in German hometown

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Father Aloysius Heick, SVD, was posthumously honored with a plaque in his hometown of Alteglofsheim, Germany on Oct. 27 for his extraordinary mission work in Mississippi.

By Joanna Puddister King

When looking through archives, you cannot help but see the name Father Aloysius Heick listed in connection with the construction of Catholic churches and schools in Mississippi.

Father Aloysius Heick, SVD, a German priest who traveled to America as a missionary more than 100 years ago was posthumously honored in his hometown of Alteglofsheim, Bavaria, Germany on Oct. 27, 2019 at St. Lawrence Church with the blessing of a memorial plaque commemorating his mission work in Mississippi.

This commemoration is through much efforts on behalf of Heick’s descendants, in particular his great-great nephew, Richard Heindl, also of Alteglofsheim. After seeing a picture of his great-great uncle, Heindl went on a quest to research the extraordinary life and accomplishments of Father Heick.

In the early 1900s, Father Heick worked to form churches and schools in Vicksburg, Jackson, Meridian and Greenville, in addition to the first seminary in Mississippi to train African Americans for the priesthood. Much of the work of Heick was controversial at the time and he often received death threats for his belief that all children, no matter their color, should have access to education.

An early assignment in the small Delta community of Merigold nearly cost Father Heick his life. In 1904, he was asked by Chicago millionaire, David Bremner, to establish a mission in Merigold for 140 black families sharecropping on his plantation. Father Heick started with about 12 students in a small warehouse in the downtown area, but within a week the school was closed. Heick was run out of town by whites, who did not share his passion for educating all citizen. According to lore, Father Heick narrowly escaped hidden in either a piano box or coffin and carted out of town to safety.

Father Heick is credited for baptizing over 685 people during his time in Mississippi and founding St. Mary Vicksburg in 1906, Holy Ghost Jackson in 1908, St. Joseph Meridian in 1910 and Sacred Heart Greenville in 1913. The Greenville seminary for African Americans was established by Heick in 1920 but was subsequently moved to Bay St. Louis in 1923.

To the German founded community of Gluckstadt, Heick was instrumental in the completion of the first church building in 1917, which was dedicated in honor of St. Joseph. Originally a mission, St. Joseph was named a parish in 2006.

Father Heick died at the age of 65 in 1929. After his passing, Bishop Gerow of Natchez wrote of Heick: “He might justly be called martyr to his missionary zeal.”

Descendants of Heick have traveled to Mississippi on several occasions to research his extraordinary life. Heindl, his wife and son attended the 100th anniversary of St. Joseph Gluckstadt and the 100th anniversary of Holy Ghost Jackson in 2009.

Pat Ross, parishioner of St. Francis Madison and descendant of one of the original German settlers of Gluckstadt, traveled to Germany for the dedication of the plaque in honor of Father Heick in late October.

“October was chosen for the dedication due to Pope Francis’ proclaiming October the Extra-ordinary month of Missions,” said Ross.

“The Catholics of Alteglofsheim are very proud of their priest and the work he did in the United States.”

In a letter to Father Matthias Kienberger of St. Lawrence church in Alteglofsheim, Bishop Joseph Kopacz stated that “Father Heick was committed to spreading the Gospel in some of the poorest communities of our diocese; and was dedicated to providing a solid education and faith formation to the underserved. We are forever in his debt.”

The plaque commemorating the extraordinary work of Father Heick was designed by Julia Heindl, Heick’s great-great-great niece. Made of bronze and steel, the plaque will occupy a prominent place on the wall of St. Laurentius church in Alteglofsheim.

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