Updates

New class of deacons accepted as aspirants

Posted on by
Reply

By Deacon John McGregor
PEARL – On Saturday, January 6, during Mass at St. Jude Parish, Bishop Joseph Kopacz invited seven men from the Diocese of Jackson to begin the period of prayer and discernment to become permanent deacons. They will join the nine men already serving this diocese as permanent deacons.

PEARL – Bishop Joseph Kopacz blesses brevaries for the seven men who entered the formation program for the permanent diaconate on Saturday, Jan. 6 at St. Jude Parish. The men will use the books to pray the daily prayer of the church, the liturgy of the hours. Visible are David Hoang, Mark Bowden, Kayed Jwainat and Wesley Lindsay. (Photos by Maureen Smith)

The aspirants are Mark Bowden (wife, Rhonda) from Pearl St. Jude Parish; Kayed Jwainat (wife, Cynthia) from Madison St. Francis Parish; John Anh Pham (wife, DiemThuy) from Forest St. Michael Parish; Tony Schmidt (wife, Karen) from Flowood St. Paul Parish; Edwin Antonio Wilson (wife, Kelleigh) from Magee St. Stephen Parish; and from the Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle, David Hoang (wife, Honghuong) and Wesley Lindsay (not married).
This first year in the five-year process of formation is called aspirancy. During this time the aspirants meet monthly to hear talks on prayer, discernment and the ministry of the diaconate. This period is also a time for diocesan leadership to discern if the aspirants demonstrate and articulate an authentic call to ordination.
The process began when the candidates submitted a lengthy application including letters of recommendation. After all the documentation was received, each nominee and his wife were first interviewed by a diocesan permanent deacon and his wife and then by a diocesan priest. Following these two interviews, each candidate took a battery of psychological tests and interviewed with a psychologist. Finally, the candidates interviewed with the diocesan Diaconate Vocations Board, Father Kevin Slattery, the vicar general, and Bishop Kopacz.
On June 18, 1967, Pope Paul VI issued the Motu Proprio, Sacrum Diaconatus Ordinem restoring the diaconate as a permanent degree of holy orders. Although the permanent diaconate can trace its origins back to the Book of Acts, the diaconate eventually became a transitional rank for men who aspired to be priests. A man who enters the seminary and studies to become a priest, will be ordained a transitional deacon about a year before his ordination to the priesthood. A permanent deacon does not aspire to become a priest but rather chooses to remain at the service of the Church, in a special relationship with the bishop. A permanent deacon may be married or single and is at least 35 years of age but not older than 60 at the time of ordination.
The role of the wife is an essential part of the formation process. Not only is her consent and support necessary, she will share in her husband’s ministry. While the exact nature of the wife’s role varies widely, it is most effectively lived out in their ministry as husband and wife, committed to their marriage as the primary vocation in their lives, and to service to the Church as a natural part of the life-giving nature of their marital vocation.
Most permanent deacons have regular secular jobs in order to provide for their families. In addition to their secular work they are assigned by the bishop to serve the diocese in parishes, hospitals, schools, prisons and other places where their skills and the diocese’s needs coincide. Deacons are ordained for the works of word, liturgy, and charity. Their lives are one of commitment to the church as servants in imitation of Christ the servant.
Once the seven men complete the period of aspirancy, they may petition the bishop for admission to candidacy. The petitioner’s wife (if he is married) must also submit a handwritten letter of consent.
The petitioner will again be interviewed by the diaconate vocations board to appraise his readiness for nomination into the candidate path of formation. Those selected will then begin a four year formation process.
Like priestly formation, there are four dimensions to the formation of the diaconate: human, spiritual, intellectual and pastoral. In order for a man to be considered for the permanent diaconate, he must show that he has a stable marriage and home life as well as a stable job. His human development will be further evaluated to be sure that the formation process has a positive impact on his life and leads him to greater maturity as a Christian man.
The candidates must also meet regularly with a spiritual director and attend monthly spiritual formation conferences. They will also work with their pastor each of the four years in some aspect of diaconal pastoral ministry (e.g. catechesis, ministry to the sick, social outreach, etc.). The Diocese of Jackson has reached an agreement with Spring Hill College in Mobile, Ala., to help with the theological formation of the candidates. The candidates will be able to earn a Masters of Theological Studies through Spring Hill as part of their intellectual formation. Spring Hill will also assist the diocese in the spiritual formation of the candidates, drawing on its rich Ignatian spiritual heritage as a Jesuit institution.
Each year the candidates are expected to make a group retreat with their wives. This retreat will help them more clearly discern their calling, their area of ministerial service and their own spirituality.
The seven men who began their journey on January 6, after completing their formation process, are then eligible for ordination at the discretion of the bishop. Their ordination date would be sometime in the spring of 2022. Please keep these seven men in your prayers, as they discern their call and move through the process of formation.
(Deacon John McGregor is the director of the permanent diaconate for the Diocese of Jackson)

Bishop schedule

Posted on by
Reply

Sunday, Dec. 24, 5:00 p.m. – Vigil Mass othe Nativity of Our Lord, Jackson Carmelite Monastary
Friday, Jan. 5. 2018 – Mass, Diocesan Catholic School Employees, Madison St. Joseph
Saturday, Jan. 6, 2018, 9:00 a.m. Mass & Aspirancy Diaconate Candidates, Pearl St. Jude

Only public events are listed on this schedule and all events are subject to change.
Please check with the local parish for further details

Creative Christmas programs let students show off talent

Posted on by
Reply

GREENVILLE – Students at St. Joseph School presented a Christmas play-called ”The Loaned Manger” on Thursday, December 14. “The Loaned Manger” is a fun and high-spirited, but ultimately meaningful look at Christmas through the eyes of the Wild Wild West of the late 1800’s. (Photo by Nikki Thompson)

CLARKSDALE – St. Elizabeth students presented “The Grumps of Ring-a-Ting Town” as their school Christmas program. (Photo by Dawn Spinks)

Students far and wide offer gifts of season in song and dance

Posted on by
Reply

MADISON – During the intermission of the St. Joseph School holiday program “Gifts of the Season,” a drum line and part of the brass section have fun in the lobby of the Fine Arts building by playing on stools and other non-traditional instruments. Band members also participated in an ugly sweater contest at the end of the show. The first show of this concert was canceled because of snow on Friday, Dec. 8, but a Sunday matinee packed the house. (Photo courtesy of Terry Cassarino)

NATCHEZ – Cathedral Kindergartners Alex Rojo, Thomas Adams, Addie House and Tyler Boyette sing “I’m the happiest Christmas Tree” at the elementary school’s Christmas program. (Photo by Cara Moody Serio)

JACKSON – All students at Sister Thea Bowman School participate in the Christmas program through song, dance and acting. (Photo by Melissa Smalley)

Let it Snow: many celebrated Immaculate Conception under blanket of white

Posted on by
Reply

Philadelphia, Holy Cross

PHILADELPHIA – On Friday, Dec. 8, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, a winter storm dropped five-to-six inches of snow in central Mississippi. Mississippi Catholic thanks all those who shared photos. Above, Holy Cross Parish looks like a postcard. (Photo by Clara Sims of Mississippi and the South)

Pearl, St. Jude

PEARL – St. Jude Parish. (Photo by Rhonda Bowden)

Madison, St. Francis

MADISON– St. Francis of Assisi. (Photo by Sallie Ann Inman)

Jackson, St. Richard

JACKSON – St. Richard School’s football field was perfect for a snowball fight. (Photo by Jeff Amy)

Jackson, Cathedral St. Peter

JACKSON – St. Peter Cathedral. (Photo by Joann Green)

Vicksburg, St. Michael

VICKSBURG – St. Michael’s Parish sign got a good dusting. (Photo by Helene Benson)

Carol of Christmas past

Posted on by
Reply

Melvin Arrington, Jr.

Guest Column
By Melvin Arrington, Jr.
“Marley was dead, to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that . . . Old Marley was as dead as a doornail.” What little boy with a fertile imagination would not become hooked on those opening lines?
More to the point, how could a child know that a tale about death and ghosts was really about divine mercy and metanoia (repentance and the redirection of one’s life toward Christ), if not for a big person to guide him to an understanding of the spiritual truths conveyed by the story?
I was the little boy, the guide was my daddy, the time was one Christmas in the late 1950s, probably 1958, and the book was, of course, Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. That year Santa Claus brought me, in addition to a few toys long since forgotten, a brand new edition of Dickens’ classic story published by Grosset and Dunlap and visually enhanced by sixteen unforgettable color illustrations by Libico Maraja. At that point I was just beginning to leave comic books behind. That hardcover volume was one of my first “real” books.
Almost 60 Christmases have come and gone and I still have that copy of A Christmas Carol. Considering its age, it’s still in pretty good condition. I think I can truthfully say that it has held up better than I have.
The period from Thanksgiving to year’s end was always a happy, joyful time in our family. I think my parents looked forward to Christmas almost as much as my little sister and I. Mama liked to spend time in the kitchen preparing holiday meals, and Daddy enjoyed getting everyone in the Christmas spirit by telling the story of Old Scrooge.
Why did my father take such a special interest in Scrooge? I knew that following his service in the Pacific during World War II he had returned home, married and started a family, like so many young men of his generation.
But during those post-war years he found himself moving further and further away from God, and he stopped attending church. He was never a hateful old miser like Scrooge, but he had let sin dominate his life. Then in the spring of 1957 he had a profound life-altering conversion experience. It was several years later when I came to understand that Daddy liked Dickens’ story so much because in many ways it mirrored his own transformation.
Christianity is a religion of second chances.Scrooge, in revisiting all the times in the past when he failed to be charitable eventually realized that his life was not about himself. Daddy made a similar discovery. Given a second chance he, like Scrooge, responded to the call to metanoia and became a new person.
I’m thankful that Santa Claus brought me a copy of A Christmas Carol that year. Books have been an important part of my life ever since, and that one has brought me great joy because of the wonderful memories it evokes of my daddy.

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

Proclaim Christ by witnessing to the Church’s unity this Advent

Posted on by
Reply

Deacon Nick Adam

Seminarian Reflection
By Deacon Nick Adam
As we come to the end of the holy season of Advent, we remember that our third pastoral priority is to “Proclaim Jesus Christ and our Catholic Faith.” This is a vital priority in a place and time where proclaiming faith of any kind can be a source of controversy. Being a Catholic in Mississippi has always meant that we will run into misunderstandings with members of other Christian denominations, but increasingly we experience the rejection of God all together by wider society.
Many Americans would rather we keep our opinions to ourselves and allow each individual to draw their own conclusions about who God is and how God interacts with the world. These realities certainly demand a courageous willingness to share the Good News as much as possible. In order to witness to the faith most effectively, however, I contend that an even more fundamental issue needs to be addressed first.
The way we interact with one another within our own church must come to the forefront. Over the past several months I have been preparing a thesis project as my seminary formation draws to a close. My thesis focuses on the unity of the Catholic Church. We profess a common creed every Sunday, and yet often we struggle to find common ground. We can quibble about issues ranging from liturgy to Church personnel. We can place labels on one another like conservative, traditional, liberal and progressive. My thesis basically states that these labels are not helpful in unifying us as Church. These labels make the Church out to be just another social club that can be broken up into different groups who share common values. This is not what the Church is. The Church is our very life; it nurtures us, teaches us, sanctifies us and saves us.
In my five and half years of seminary formation, I have seen my own opinions on these externals move and shift. I have been inspired by the example of men and women whose expression of faith is different than mine. I have also had to allow my own expectations and opinions to be challenged and sometimes reformed when faced with the truth of the Gospel and the teachings of the Church. This is the essence of living in the Church. The Church should not be a place where our own preconceived notions are always affirmed. The Lord wants us to become better people, not stay in the same old place doing the same old things the same old way.
I am certainly not a finished product in this regard. The bottom line is that we like what we like. We are comfortable with the familiar, and when we run up against something that is different, we sometimes can feel tempted to push it away. But this is not what the Church is. Our Church is guided and unified by the Holy Spirit, not by one opinion or one perspective. As we seek to implement the pastoral plan and Proclaim Jesus Christ and our Catholic faith, we have to start in our own parishes. Our message will not be as credible to non-Catholics if they hear us speaking about parishioners and priests who share our creed as if they were in rival camps!
During Advent we prepare our parishes, our homes, our families, and our hearts for the coming of Jesus on the great feast of Christmas. You can start to unify yourself with your parish during this time of preparation, and you can do this in many ways. There will be Advent penance services offered throughout the diocese so we can receive the gift of reconciliation as a community. Sin is not just a personal failing, it has an effect on the whole body of believers. When we confess our sins as a community, this is a beautiful sign of the healing that is offered to us as members of the mystical Body of Christ.
Sharing in the sacrament of penance also prepares us for the fruitful reception of the gift of the Eucharist, remembering that Christ did not only come in the flesh 2,000 years ago, but he seeks to be united with us each time we receive communion. Christ not only unites us to him in the Eucharist, but we are truly united as Church when we celebrate this sacrament. Remember that unity the next time you see something that bothers you in the Church. Instead of bickering with, or about, that person, pray for that person, ask the Lord to bring a spirit of unity to the Church of Jackson as we await the celebration of the birth of Jesus, who came to save all of us.

(Deacon Nick Adam is set to be ordained to the priesthood in May of 2018.)