July 8, 1994

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News & Herald Western North Carolina

Serving Catholics in

Volume 3 Number 40 * July

in the Diocese of Charlotte

1994

8,

A Time For Healing

Love, Forgiveness Evident At

Mass For Persons With AIDS By JOANN

KEANE

Church' s concern for the individual and the love and forgiveness of Jesus," said

Associate Editor

CHARLOTTE — One

hundred or

Jesuit Father

viser for four RAIN teams from St. Peter

ward the altar of St. Patrick Cathedral on June 26 for the laying on of hands a sign of spiritual healing for people at this Mass with HIV or AIDS, their families, friends and caregivers. For the diocese, it was a first. Twentythree priests concelebrated the Healing Mass as Bishop William G. Curlin offered people who suffer or deal with the deadly disease the assurance of Christ's

Church, Charlotte. Speaking from his

love.

AIDS suck

"We're not here because it's the thing to do," Bishop Curlin said in his homily. "We' re not here for some political reason. We're not here for anything

Men, women, children and babies, all fall prey to a grim demise. Most distress-

Healing Mass for people

who

from HIV/ AIDS and

at the

[heir caregivers with (1-r)

Frank Lubbers, board member of the Regional

Network (RAIN);

Gene McCreesh, pastoral adviser to four RAIN teams at St. Mercy Sister Therese Galligan and Agnes Barry of St. Patrick

suffer

AIDS

Interfaith

Jesuit Father

Peter Church, Charlotte;

Photo by

hathedral.

JOANN KEANE

Of Mercy Celebrate 150 hfears Of Service In United States Sisters

"Churches tend not to see," he

pint of these founding

"The

women has been

landed down from generation to generaion,

from continent to continent," Sister Carney said in welcoming about

jiheila

Mercy

500

sisters to the order's

150th

inni versary festival June 22-25 at Carlow

College in Pittsburgh.

She spoke on a stage lined with banners memorializing the lames of those early Mercy pioneers colorful silk

vho

left their

homes

in Ireland to carry

'Mercy" to missions in many countries. "At the heart of all we do are the itories of these founding women who

women

crossed oceans and prairies,"

vho "were called to the same hope to which we're called," she said. The four-day festival marked 150 years of the Sisters of Mercy's work in he United States. It included addresses, :oncerts, an art exhibit and community building among the Sisters of Mercy of he Americas, an institute formed in 1 99

Mercy congregations in States. The gathering also

and needy. • Of sisters who broke with the structured European culture of cloistered and

dren, the poor, sick

contemplative religious orders, devising

an unenclosed and apostolic focus as they adapted to the needs of their new homes.

The stories all reflect the history of Mercy Sisters, founded in Dublin by Catherine McAuley in 1 83 1 Led by Mother Frances Xavier Warde, seven sisters came to the fledg-

the

ling

Diocese of Pittsburgh on Dec. 21,

1843. Sister Frances soon began an ambitious program of expansion, establish-

The

Sisters of Mercy first served in

North Carolina in 1862 when a group from Charleston, S.C., went to Wilmington during a yellow fever epidemic. They returned on a permanent basis in 1869. In 1892 they moved to

Belmont where they established the motherhouse of the Sisters of Mercy of North Carolina, one of the congregations

fo-

:used on preparing for ministries for the

which united in 1991. Other stories were

future.

Sisters who left Ireland to found commu-

unite 17

United

The stories participants heard of their

common

nities in

New York in

1

told of

Mercy

846, Little Rock,

were often touching and enlightening. • Of a wealthy young woman raised n anti-Catholic surroundings who be?an a religious community to aid needy

San Francisco in 1854, Cincinnati in 1858 and Connecticut in 1872. Other Mercy communities were begun in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1856, Jamaica in 1890 and Guyana in

women and children in

1894.

ancestry, "our foremothers,"

1

9th-century Ire-

•Of adventurous young sisters boarding ships in the following decades to iierve in the "wilds" of the •

Ark., in 1851,

At the

land.

Of thousands

of

women

.hemselves to aid those

mmigrant

girls,

New

in

World.

giving of

need, young

orphans, school chil-

to be,

Washington run by Mother Teresa' s Sisters of Charity. "At the Gift of Peace, no one died without being loved, without dying

in peace,"

he

said.

The bishop has seen the life out of

the grip of victims.

its

ing to the bishop are the people who have

been shunned by society, abandoned and left to die alone. That, however, doesn't have to happen. By reaching out in love, people convey the Jesus within to the Jesus in others, he said. ing.

"All we know is someone is sufferAnd where there is suffering, there is

Bishop Curlin said. "Sometimes we forget the pain of

Christ,"

AIDS

it.

is

not just the person in the bed,"

offerThose who sit bedside are hurting, too. ing love and support At all hours of the day and night, sup-

he

said.

said.

who says this is the way it' s going

portive individuals give their lives to the

think that gives a tremendous

comfort and care of their dying loved

I

amount of support to people like Father Gene McCreesh and Mercy Sister Mary Wright

who have been

ones.

"The Mass made a statement that we Church are committed to this in the diocese," said Msgr. Richard Allen, of St. Ann Church in Charlotte. The chalas a

lone rangers,

some of the few people doing anything at all."

is to incorporate AIDS awareness and service in a more meaningful way. "It' s incumbent upon us to say, 'What do we do now to get things going?'" (See related stories on Pages 2, 13)

A

partner of someone with AIDS was the most powerful service he had ever attended. He embraced and said

Gift of Peace, a

lenge

it

thanked Bishop Curlin afterward. "The Mass revealed the true

rtom

the desk of

TBishop William

Qurlin

ing communities in eight states.

the

|:o

...

at

residential home for people with AIDS in

"To see someone appointed by the pope (Bishop Curlin) coming into Charlotte

PITTSBURGH (CNS)

days as chaplain

this:

the disease, they refuse to deal with

Bishop

heart,

Curlin told poignant stories about his

That we believe there is a God of mercy and love and healing power." Fred (a pseudonym for a man with AIDS) said he was moved to tears during the service. "I have been struggling for so long to get churches involved," he said after Mass. Most people are so afraid of

except

Bishop William G. Curlin

McCreesh, pastoral ad-

so people filed in solemn procession to-

festival's conclusion,

Maria

Rosario Gaite, a young Mercy candidate from the Philippines, said "our shared experiences of 'Mercy' have energized

me. The same spirit continues to grow and touch people today." See Mercy, Page 2

Bishop Grants Permission For Female Altar Servers The Holy Father's decision to allow women and girls to become altar servers has received an enthusiastic welcome from the bishops of the United States. They had requested the introduction of the above for several years.

Effective today permission for servers parish

is

women and

granted in every parish

must

first

in the

girl altar

Diocese of Charlote. However, each

introduce the above permission with the necessary education

required by the Holy See. This

when introducing and

in

keeping with

matters,

I

met

last

is to prevent any misunderstanding that can occur changes without proper education. For this purpose promise to consult with the priests of the diocese in such

liturgical

my

week with

the Presbyteral Council.

pastoral guidelines will be mailed to

While many

will joyfully

to accept the

Holy

servers.

I

welcome

all

the

priests

When

completed, their

and deacons.

above permission, some may be reluctant women and girls to become altar

Father's decision to allow

trust that their respect for the

Holy Father and

faith in his pastoral

leadership of the Church will enable them to accept his above decision. Faith

always takes us beyond human limitations.


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July 8, 1994 by Catholic News Herald - Issuu