May 24, 2013

May 24, 2013

catholicnewsherald.com charlottediocese.org SERVING CHRIST AND

Head of CRS visits diocese

C O N N EC T I N G C AT H O L I C S I N W E ST E R N N O R T H C A R O L I N A

RACE CAR CATHOLICS:

Motorsports legend “Humpy” Wheeler talks about his faith, and a chapel honors NASCAR champ Alan Kulwicki, 14-15

Urges WFU grads to seek God’s grace, thanks parishes for support,

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INDEX Contact us.......................... 4 Events calendar................. 4 Our Parishes................ 4-23 Schools........................ 24-25 Scripture readings............ 2 TV & Movies...................... 26 U.S. news.......................... 27 Viewpoints...................30-31 World news................. 28-29 Year of Faith.................... 2-3

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LATROBE

Charlotte’s troubled abortion clinic 9 women hospitalized following botched abortions.

41 health code violations found by state inspectors.

Why is A Preferred Women’s Health Center still open, and what are pro-life advocates doing about it? 5

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Year of faith

catholicnewsherald.com | May 24, 2013 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

The Holy Spirit Pope Francis

Selfishness is a downer, proclaiming Christ brings joy

S

elfishness only brings sadness and bitterness, while stepping outside of oneself to evangelize is the ultimate “pick me up” and source of joy, Pope Francis said.

“Let’s live the Gospel with humility and courage. Give witness to the newness, hope and joy that the Lord brings to your life,” the pope said May 22 at his weekly general audience. Pope Francis also called for prayers for those struck by the May 20 tornado in Moore, Okla., which left at least 24 people dead.

“I invite all of you to pray with me for the victims, especially the children, of the disaster in Oklahoma,” he said. “May the Lord Himself console everyone, in particular parents who have lost a child in such a tragic way.”

The pope made the call for prayers after leading his weekly general audience in which he continued a series of talks about the affirmations of faith in the creed. He focused on the role of the Holy Spirit in the “one, holy, catholic and apostolic” church.

The Holy Spirit gives the Church life and guides her steps, he said.

“Without the presence and constant action of the Holy Spirit, the Church could not live and could not fulfill the task the risen Christ entrusted her to go and make disciples of all peoples.”

The Church exists to evangelize, which is the mission of all baptized Christians, not just a few, he said.

However, it takes prayer and the Holy Spirit to truly evangelize.

Proclaiming the Gospel “must always start from prayer,” he said, since “only a faithful and intense relationship with God” lets people break out of their shell to share the Good News with others.

“The language of the Spirit, the Gospel and communion invites us to overcome being closed up, the indifference, divisions and polarization.”

Sometimes today it seems like it’s Babel all over again with divisions, the inability to understand each other, rivalries and selfishness. People have to ask themselves: “What am I doing with my life? Do I create unity around me or do I divide, divide and divide with gossip, criticism and jealousies?” he said. People should reflect on whether they speak and act “the reconciliation and love” of the Gospel.

He asked people to never close themselves off to the action of the Holy Spirit and to receive His gifts of courage and strength to share the Gospel. It’s something every Christian should do “because evangelizing, proclaiming Jesus gives us joy while egoism gives us bitterness, sadness; it drags us down and evangelizing picks us up,” he said.

Charismatic Prayer Group helps awaken the Holy Spirit in peoples’ lives Ministry hosts first healing Mass at St. Margaret on May 19 SueAnn Howell Senior reporter

MAGGIE VALLEY — The Catholic Charismatic Renewal is thriving in western North Carolina, thanks to the encouragement of Father Richard Benonis, pastor of St. Margaret of Scotland Church. His support of a weekly Charismatic Prayer Group goes back to 2012, when parishioners Don and Janet Zander were initially asked to serve as leaders for the group.

The Zanders moved to the area in 1999 from Augusta, Ga., where they had been active in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal in the Alleluia Christian Community. The couple graduated from the Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio, known for its fidelity to the teachings of the Church and its active youth ministry on campus during the school year and in the summer as well.

In 2003, Father Frank Doyle supported the Zanders in leading the Charismatic Prayer Group at St. Margaret’s, as they have a long history of leading in the Charismatic Renewal in Florida where they had both Learn more experienced a movement At www.nsc-chariscenter. of God’s Spirit called being org: Get more information “baptized in the Holy Spirit.” about the Catholic The Catholic Charismatic Charismatic Renewal Renewal as it exists today began back in the late 1960s as an outgrowth of a retreat held at Duquesne University.

In 1975 Pope Paul VI greeted 10,000 Catholic charismatics from all over the world at the Ninth International Conference of the Renewal, saying, “The Church and the world need more than ever that ‘the miracle of Pentecost should continue in history’ ... How could this ‘spiritual renewal’ not be ‘good fortune’ for the Church and the world?”

Pope John Paul II was also an enthusiastic supporter of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. In 1979, soon after becoming pope, he said, “I am convinced that this movement is a sign of the Spirit’s action ... a very important component in the total renewal of the Church.”

The Zanders’ increased participation in the Charismatic Renewal, love for the faith and the growing presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives spilled over into service in the Church. Janet serves as an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion and leads the prayer group’s music ministry. Don also serves as a lector.

“People should be aware of the part the Holy Spirit plays in enriching their lives,” Don says.

photo provided by don zander

Father Richard Benonis, pastor of St. Margaret of Scotland Church in Maggie Valley, performs the anointing of the sick at a healing Mass on May 19.

Janet shares that when she became involved with the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, “it filled a desire to get closer to the Lord.

I started reading Scripture more. …I was doing it out of love. It transformed my life.”

They both feel a strong call to share this awakening of the Holy Spirit in their hearts, and even though the prayer group took a break for a few years, they came back with renewed vigor at the invitation of Father Benonis in February 2012.

“Anything that promotes prayer is important,” Father Benonis explains.

The group now meets every Wednesday evening from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the rectory with Father Benonis joining them as they gather to pray and give praise and worship to God. They also read inspirational books to help kindle the fire of the Holy Spirit in their lives.

“We love leading the prayer group,” Don says. “We want to encourage people to come to experience the love of Jesus Christ. …The members who come are so faithful and dedicated. They are people who love the Lord and want to grow in holiness. They’re open and thirsty to hearing the Word of God and they are seeking a deeper, personal relationship with Jesus Christ.”

The Charismatic Prayer Group hosted a special Mass at St. Margaret Church on May 19, celebrated by Father Benonis. It was a healing Mass where the sacrament of the anointing of the sick was offered.

The Zanders hope more Catholics will educate themselves about the Charismatic Renewal and be open to receiving the gifts of the Holy Spirit to build up the Body of Christ in the Church.

Janet professes that “The Holy Spirit transformed my life. He allowed me to see the fullness of Truth we have in the Catholic Church.”

Your daily Scripture readings MAY 26-JUNE 1

Sunday: Proverbs 8:22-31, Romans 5:1-5, John 16:12-15; Monday (St. Augustine of Canterbury): Sirach 17:20-24, Mark 10:1727; Tuesday: Sirach 35:1-12, Mark 10:28-31; Wednesday: Sirach 36:1, 4-5, 10-17, Mark 10:3245; Thursday: Sirach 42:15-25, Mark 10:46-52; Friday (The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary): Zephaniah 3:14-18, Isaiah 12:2-6, Luke 1:39-56; Saturday (St. Justin): Sirach 51:12-20, Mark 11:27-33

JUNE 2-8

Sunday: Genesis 14:18-20, 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, Luke 9:11-17; Monday (St. Charles Lwanga and Companions): Tobit 1:3, 2:1-8, Mark 12:1-12; Tuesday: Tobit 2:9-14, Mark 12:13-17; Wednesday (St. Boniface): Tobit 3:1-11, 16-17, Mark 12:18-27; Thursday (St. Norbert): Tobit 6:10-11, 7:1, 9-17, 8:4-9, Mark 12:28-34; Friday (The Sacred Heart of Jesus): Ezekiel 34:11-16, Romans 5:5-11, Luke 15:3-7; Saturday (The Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary): Tobit 12:1, 5-15, 20, Tobit 13:2, 6-8, Luke 2:41-51

JUNE 9-15

Sunday: 1 Kings 17: 17-24, Galatians 1:1119, Luke 7:11-17; Monday: 2 Corinthians 1:1-7, Matthew 5:1-12; Tuesday (St. Barnabas): Acts 11:21-26, 13:1-3, Matthew 5:13-16; Wednesday: 2 Corinthians 3:4-11, Matthew 5:17-19; Thursday (St. Anthony of Padua): 2 Corinthians 3:15-4:1, 3-6, Matthew 5:20-26; Friday: 2 Corinthians 4:7-15, Matthew 5:27-32; Saturday: 2 Corinthians 5:14-21, Matthew 5:33-37

May 24, 2013 | catholicnewsherald.com catholic news heraldI

Pope Francis speaks about the Holy Spirit Catholic lay movements and groups during a Pentecost Mass in St. Peter’s Square.

“When we venture beyond the Church’s teaching and community, and do not remain in them, we are not one with the God of Jesus Christ,” he said during his homily at the Mass May 19, concluding a weekend dedicated to movements, including the charismatic renewal, Focolare movement, Neocatechumenal Way, Regnum Christi, Communion and Liberation and others.

Pope Francis said Church leaders and Church members need to allow the Holy Spirit to inspire different movements and gifts within the Church, but also to allow the Holy Spirit to unite them all in one Church under the authority of their pastors.

“Only the Spirit can awaken diversity, plurality and multiplicity while at the same time building unity,” the pope said. “When we are the ones who try to create diversity and close ourselves up in what makes us different and unique, we bring division.”

On the other hand, he said, “when we are the ones who want to build unity in accordance with our human plans, we end up creating uniformity, standardization.”

The pope said the Holy Spirit can appear “to create disorder in the Church” by bringing such different gifts to its members, but when everyone allows themselves to be guided by the Spirit, they learn to treasure variety rather than letting it become a source of conflict.

The Holy Spirit can make people uncomfortable, Pope Francis said. “Newness always makes us a bit fearful, because we feel more secure if we are the ones who build, program and plan our lives in accordance with our own ideas, our own comfort, our own preferences.”

The spiritual journey is no different, he said. “We fear that God may force us to strike out on new paths and leave behind all our too narrow, closed and selfish horizons in order to become open to His own.”

Seeking the newness God’s offers through the Holy Spirit “is not a question of novelty for novelty’s sake, the search for something new to relieve our boredom, as is so often the case in our own day. The newness which God brings into our life is something that actually brings fulfillment, that gives true joy, true serenity, because God loves us and desires only our good.”

The Holy Spirit is more than a pretty dove; it is an integral part of the Trinity.

Holy Spirit reminds people they once were lost, now found by God

CNS | L’Osservatore Romano via Reuters

Pope Francis holds a dove before his weekly audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican May 15.

PENTECOST: Diversity is a blessing when all are united in faith Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY — Calling for unity – not uniformity – in the Church, Pope Francis said diversity is a blessing only when all Catholics recognize and follow Church teaching.

“It is the Church which brings Christ to me and me to Christ; parallel journeys are dangerous,” he told some 200,000 members of

VATICAN CITY — The Holy Spirit is more than a pretty dove; it is an integral part of the Trinity and deserves a prime place in people’s lives, Pope Francis said.

Many Christians say they get by with God the Father by praying the “Our Father” and with Jesus by receiving Communion, but that they aren’t quite sure who the Holy Spirit is, he said during a morning Mass homily.

People who are aware of the Holy Spirit, he said, may know Him only superficially, identifying Him as “the dove, the one who offers the seven gifts,” of wisdom, understanding, knowledge, counsel, fortitude, piety and fear of the Lord.

“The poor Holy Spirit is always in last place and doesn’t find a prime place in our life,” the pope said May 13 during Mass in the chapel of his residence, the Domus Sanctae Marthae. During the Mass, the pope said the Holy Spirit is “God active in us,” the one who “wakes up our memory.”

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What are the titles of the Holy Spirit? n When He proclaims and promises the coming of the Holy Spirit, Jesus calls Him the “Paraclete,” literally, “He who is called to one’s side,” “Paraclete” is commonly translated by “consoler,” and Jesus is the first Consoler. The Lord also called the Holy Spirit “the Spirit of truth.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 692) n Besides the proper name of “Holy Spirit,” which is most frequently used in the Acts of the Apostles and in the Epistles, we also find in St. Paul the titles: the Spirit of the promise, the Spirit of adoption, the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of the Lord, and the Spirit of God, and in St. Peter, the Spirit of glory.

(CCC 693)

What are the symbols of the Holy Spirit? n Water, Anointing, Fire, Cloud and Light, the Seal, the Hand, the Finger and the Dove (CCC 694-701)

What is the sacrament of the anointing of the sick? n The Church believes and confesses that among the seven sacraments there is one especially intended to strengthen those who are being tried by illness, the Anointing of the Sick: This sacred anointing of the sick was instituted by Christ our Lord as a true and proper sacrament of the New Testament. It is all uded to indeed

by Mark, but is recommended to the faithful and promulgated by St. James the Apostle. (CCC 1511) n The Apostolic Constitution “Sacram unctionem infirmorum,” following upon the Second Vatican Council, established that in the Mass of the Roman Rite, the following be observed: The sacrament of anointing of the sick is given to those who are seriously ill by anointing them on the forehead and hands with duly blessed oil – pressed from olives or from other plants – saying, only once: “Through this holy anointing may the Lord in His love and mercy help you with the grace of the Holy Spirit. May the Lord who frees you from sin save you and raise you up.” (CCC 1513)

Online resources for your Year of Faith www.annusfidei.va

Only Holy Spirit can fill hearts thirsting for love, peace VATICAN CITY — Listen to the Holy Spirit because He is giving people the good news that God loves them and can renew, purify and transform their lives, Pope Francis said. The Holy Spirit is the living water that “quenches the thirst in our lives because He tells us that we are loved

by God as His children, that we can love God as His children and with His grace we can live as children of God, like Jesus,” the pope said May 8 at his weekly general audience.

Speaking to more than 80,000 people gathered in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis said, “The Holy Spirit is an inexhaustible well of the life of God in us.”

Every human person in every epoch and from all walks of life “desires a full and beautiful life, a life that is not threatened by death but that may mature and grow in fullness.”

— Catholic News Service

The official Vatican site for the Year of Faith, this is a must-see for your own journey. Here you’ll find: – the full text of “Porta Fidei,” Pope Benedict XVI’s apostolic letter announcing the Year of Faith – the full text of all the Vatican II documents, including the four constitutions: “Dei Verbum,” “Lumen Gentium,” “Sacrosanctum Concilium” and “Gaudium et Spes”

www.usccb.org At the U.S. bishops’ website, check out a video series on the Year of Faith, download Catholic prayers and catechetical resources for free, and more.

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catholicnewsherald.com | May 24, 2013 OUR PARISHES

Diocesan calendar of events ARDEN ST. BARNABAS CHURCH, 109 CRESCENT HILL DRIVE

Bishop Peter J. Jugis Bishop Peter J. Jugis will participate in the following events over the coming weeks:

— Natural Family Planning Introduction and Full Course: 1-5 p.m. June 8. Topics includes: Effectiveness of modern NFP, health risks of popular contraceptives and what the Church teaches about responsible parenting. RSVP to Batrice Adcock, MSN, RN, at 704370-3230 or join via live webinar.

ASHEVILLE ST. EUGENE CHURCH, 72 CULVERN ST. — El grupo de oración se reúne todos los sábados a las 7 p.m. en la Iglesia

MAY 24 – 7:30 P.M. BACCALAUREATE MASS FOR BISHOP MCGUINNESS HIGH SCHOOL ST. PIUS X CHURCH, GREENSBORO MAY 26 – 10 A.M. SACRAMENT OF CONFIRMATION ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI CHURCH, LENOIR

MAY 29 - 5 P.M. BACCALAUREATE MASS FOR CHARLOTTE CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL ST. MATTHEW CHURCH, CHARLOTTE

MAY 30 – 10 A.M. DIOCESAN FOUNDATION BOARD MEETING CATHOLIC CONFERENCE CENTER, HICKORY

BELMONT QUEEN OF THE APOSTLES Church, 503 North Main St. — Morning of Reflections for seniors: 9:30- 11:40 a.m.

Thursday, June 6. Jesuit Father Joseph Koterski will discuss “The Four Senses of Scriptures”. Light morning refreshments will be provided. To register, call Sandra Breakfield at 704-370-3220.

— Faith Formation Group, “Triple B”: 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 11. All parish members 45 years old and younger are welcome to attend. For details, e-mail qoatripleb@gmail.com.

— Special Event workshop, “Answering the Call to Transform Our Hearts and the World”: 7-9:30 p.m.

Tuesday, June 25, in the banquet room. Presented by Jack Jezreel.

— Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) meeting: To be held on the third Monday of every month. RCIA will provide information about the entire conversion process and include detailed Q&A sessions. For details, call Tom Lindemuth at 704-543-7677.

St. Patrick Cathedral, 1621 Dilworth Road East — Respect Life Meeting: 7 p.m. Thursday May 30, in the Family Life Center. Come and see how you can make a difference in saving lives. For details, contact Tina Witt at 704-846-7361.

— Mass for our Military Personnel: Sunday, July 7.

Bishop Peter J. Jugis will celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass for our military personnel who are currently serving and who have been injured while serving. Rosary at 3 p.m., Mass at 3:30 p.m. Everyone welcome.

ST. PETER CHURCH, 507 South Tryon Street

CHARLOTTE Our Lady of Consolation Church, 2301 Statesville Ave. — Third Annual Flea Market: 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, June 1, in the Parish Life Center. Sponsored by the Welcoming Committee Greeter’s Ministry. For details, e-mail Donna Smith at rupunzel46@yahoo.com.

JUNE 1 – 10 A.M. ORDINATION OF PAUL D. McNULTY TO THE TRANSITIONAL DIACONATE ST. PATRICK CATHEDRAL, CHARLOTTE

St. Ann church, 3635 Park Road JUNE 4 – 7 P.M. SACRAMENT OF CONFIRMATION OUR LADY OF THE ROSARY CHURCH, LEXINGTON

JUNE 6 – 7 P.M. SACRAMENT OF CONFIRMATION DIVINE REDEEMER CHURCH, BOONVILLE

1- 5 p.m. June 22. Topics includes: Effectiveness of modern NFP, health risks of popular contraceptives and what the Church teaches about responsible parenting. RSVP to Batrice Adcock, MSN, RN, at 704370-3230.

— Missa Cantata: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 30. Followed by the Joyful Mysteries at 9 p.m.

— Morning Mass: 8:30 a.m. Friday, May 31. Followed by 3 p.m. Divine Mercy Chaplet; 6 p.m. Angelus and Confessions; 9 p.m. Hour of Reparation and the Sorrowful Mysteries.

— Morning Mass: 8 a.m. Saturday, June 1. Followed by 9 a.m. Luminous Mysteries; 12 p.m. Glorious Mysteries; 3 p.m. Conclusion with Benediction.

— Sunday Mass: 10:30 a.m. June 2. Followed by Corpus Christi Procession.

ST. JOHN NEUMANN church, 8451 Idlewild Road — Third Annual SonFest Carnival: 5 p.m. Friday June 14-15. Come and indulge in great foods, games and entertainment. For details, call the parish office at 704-536-6520.

ST. MATTHEW CHURCH, 8015 BALLANTYNE COMMONS PKWY. — Community Shredding Event: 9 a.m.-noon, Saturday, May 25. All shredded documents will be recycled.

— Nuns on the Bus will host a town-hall meeting entitled “Immigration Reform”: 7 p.m. Friday, May 31.

All are invited and encouraged to attend.

HIGH POINT — Pro-Life Rosary to pray for an end to abortion: 9 a.m.

Saturday, June 1, rain or shine, at 901 North Main St. and Sunset Drive in High Point. Parking available on site. For details, contact Jim Hoyng 336-882-9593 or Paul Klosterman 336-848-6835.

Immaculate heart of Mary church, 4145 Johnson st.

— Second Annual Women’s Retreat: July 26-28. The weekend retreat will be held in Dover, Del. For details, e-mail Meg at uncgmeg@gmail.com.

MARYFIELD’S PERPETUAL ADORATION CHAPEL, 1315 Greensboro Road — Special Benediction to celebrate Corpus Christi: 2 p.m. Sunday, June 2. This will be Maryfield’s 19th anniversary of Perpetual Adoration. Refreshments will follow Benediction.

— Bendición especial para celebrar el Corpus Christi: 2 p.m. Domingo, 2 de junio. Este será el diecinueve aniversario de la Adoración Perpetua de Maryfield.

Refrescos seguirán despues de la Bendición.

HUNTERSVILLE ST. MARK CHURCH, 14740 Stumptown Road — Catholic Athletes for Christ youth ministry: Meets the first and third Wednesdays of the month. Ministry provides an evening of fun and featured speakers who address faith and athletics. For details, contact Tim Flynn, at 704-948-0231.

ST. THOMAS AQUINAS CHURCH, 1400 SUTHER ROAD — Helpers of God’s Precious Infants will host a Vigil for Life: 10 a.m. Saturday, May 25. Followed by exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and rosary procession to nearby abortion facility. Presented

by Father Matthew Kauth. For details, visit www. charlottehelpers.org.

— Charlotte Catholic Women’s Group reflection: Wednesday, May 29. Father Patrick Winslow, pastor, will discuss “Spiritual Warfare.” Eucharistic Adoration at 6 p.m., Mass at 7 p.m., and the talk at 7:30 p.m.

All ladies of the diocese are welcome to attend. For details, contact Dina Wilson at dwilson@stacharlotte. com or go to www.charlottecatholicwomensgroup. org.

— “Rosary for Life”: Join the Respect Life group to pray each Wednesday at 6:30 p.m., followed by Mass at 7 p.m. To participate, contact Gretchen Filz at gfilz10@ ses.edu or 704-919-0935.

MARONITE MISSION OF CHARLOTTE (MEETS AT ST. MATTHEW CHURCH, 8015 BALLANTYNE COMMONS PKWY.) — Second monthly Mass now offered on the fourth Sunday of each month. Upcoming Mass: 7 p.m.

Sunday, June 23. For details, visit the mission’s Facebook page.

— Natural Family Planning Introduction and Full Course:

GASTONIA ST. MICHAEL CHURCH, 708 ST. MICHAEL LANE — Dia de la Familia: Domingo, 16 de Junio. Venga y Comparta con su familia. Habrá un compartir después de la Misa en el gimnasio.

— Fortalece a tu Familia asistiendo a este “Encuentro Espiritual”: Viernes y Sábado, Junio 14 y 15.

Encuentro sera dirigo por Roberto Ramirez. Para más información y registrarse, llamar a Ariel y Diana Salazar al 704-648-6401.

GREENSBORO ST. PIUS X Church, 2210 North elm st.

— Blood Drive, “Boston Strong”: 2-6:30 p.m. Friday, May 31.

— Day of Reflection with Jesuit Father Joseph Koterski: 10:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Monday, June 3. He will speak on “The Four Senses of Scriptures according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church and Pope Benedict XVI.” To register, call the parish office at 336-2724681. Deadline to register is May 28.

Is your parish or school hosting a free event open to the public? Deadline for all submissions is 10 days prior to desired publication date. Submit in writing to catholicnews@charlottediocese.org.

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May 24, 2013 Volume 22 • Number 15

1123 S. Church St. Charlotte, N.C. 28203-4003 catholicnews@charlottediocese.org

704-370-3333 PUBLISHER: The Most Reverend Peter J. Jugis, Bishop of Charlotte

EDITOR: Patricia L. Guilfoyle 704-370-3334, plguilfoyle@charlottediocese.org ADVERTISING MANAGER: Kevin Eagan 704-370-3332, keeagan@charlottediocese.org SENIOR REPORTER: SueAnn Howell 704-370-3354, sahowell@charlottediocese.org Online reporter: Kimberly Bender 704-808-7341, kdbender@charlottediocese.org GRAPHIC DESIGNER: Tim Faragher 704-370-3331, tpfaragher@charlottediocese.org COMMUNICATIONS ASSISTANT/CIRCULATION: Erika Robinson 704-370-3333, catholicnews@charlottediocese.org

The Catholic News Herald is published by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte 26 times a year.

NEWS: The Catholic News Herald welcomes your news and photos. Please e-mail information, attaching photos in JPG format with a recommended resolution of 150 dpi or higher, to catholicnews@charlottediocese.org. All submitted items become the property of the Catholic News Herald and are subject to reuse, in whole or in part, in print, electronic formats and archives.

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contact Advertising Manager Kevin Eagan at 704-370-3332 or keeagan@charlottediocese.org. The Catholic News Herald reserves the right to reject or cancel advertising for any reason, and does not recommend or guarantee any product, service or benefit claimed by our advertisers.

SUBSCRIPTIONS: $15 per year for all registered parishioners of the Diocese of Charlotte and $23 per year for all others.

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Our parishes Latrobe abortion clinic reopens

May 24, 2013 | catholicnewsherald.com catholic news heraldI

State regulators had closed Charlotte’s largest abortion mill, calling it ‘an imminent threat’ Patricia L. Guilfoyle Editor

CHARLOTTE — An abortion facility on Latrobe Drive reopened May 15 after state health officials, who had called it “an imminent threat to the health and safety of

patients,” suspended its operating license May 10.

A Preferred Women’s Health Center, located at 3320 Latrobe Drive, offers chemical abortions up to nine weeks’ gestation and surgical abortions up to 20 weeks. Of Charlotte’s three abortion clinics, it performs the most abortions – 4,220 last year alone.

Inspectors from the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services conducted a surprise visit to Latrobe April 19-20 and did additional follow-up investigation work stemming from a complaint last fall about conditions inside the clinic.

Inspectors found “that conditions at A Preferred Women’s Health Center, LLC, present an imminent danger to the health, safety and welfare of the clients and that emergency action is required to protect the clients.”

They found that the facility was improperly administering chemical abortions and improperly examining post-abortive women before they were discharged from surgery. The same day they issued their report, May, 10, state regulators ordered A Preferred Women’s Health Center shut down “no later than 5 o’clock p.m.” that day, saying the decision

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was “emergency action ... required to protect the clients.”

The Latrobe clinic was allowed to reopen after Dr. Stuart Lee Schnider, the clinic’s medical director, gave regulators a notarized affidavit May 13 stating that he had directed his staff to administer the drug used to induce chemical abortions – methotrexate – properly. All staff – including his wife Lois E. Turner, clinic administrator and CEO; fellow physician Dr. J.I. Newton; and the clinic’s one REOPENED, SEE page 23

Latrobe has history of violations with state health regulators Patricia L. Guilfoyle Editor

CHARLOTTE — A 15-year-old girl walked into A Preferred Women’s Health Center on Latrobe Drive on the morning of Nov. 7, 2006, for an abortion. She was in her second trimester of pregnancy – a few weeks shy of the legal cutoff for abortions – and her mother was with her.

She underwent a surgical abortion – what’s called a D&C, or Dilation and Curettage. This procedure is commonly done to scrape the lining of the uterus after a miscarriage or uterine bleeding, but an abortion doctor does it to cut up a fetus, then suction the body parts out through the woman’s partially dilated cervix.

But this abortion went wrong.

First, the abortionist had difficulty removing the laminaria, sticks inserted to dilate the cervix, and sent the teenager back out to her mother in the waiting room for about an hour. The nurse on duty later told inspectors from the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services: “as the patient was escorted to the procedure for the second attempt, she became pale and limp. ‘She was placed in a

rolling chair and placed on the table in the procedure room.’” The abortionist pressed forward with the abortion, trying a second time to remove the laminaria – unsuccessfully.

The inspectors’ report continued: “The nurse stated, ‘I had no idea what was going on with her.

I have never seen (the physician) do a second procedure. ... That scared me to death. I am not an OB/Gyn (obstetrical) nurse. I was not comfortable.’”

Meanwhile, no one monitored the girl’s condition or recorded her vital signs.

The nurse told inspectors, “Someone opened the door and screamed for me to come. I took vital signs.” She continued, “There was a lot of bleeding.

I could see soaked bright red heavy blood on the gauze.”

The abortionist told the nurse to start an IV, but she asked whether she should call 911. She later told inspectors, “He seemed frustrated. It took him a long time before calling 911. The patient’s mom was in the waiting room. He would not let us go talk with her.

She did not know there was a problem.”

Inspectors also reported, “EMS received the call one hour and 31 minutes after the clinic documented the call was placed.”

And even though state law requires it, the nurse told inspectors, “We never accompany the patient to the Emergency Department.”

The 15-year-old ended up in a hospital for a week.

Doctors had to perform a Caesarean section, repair her punctured uterus, remove part of her colon and install a colostomy bag.

YEARS OF PROBLEMS

Picture provided by Charlotte Coalition for Life

A Preferred Women’s Health Center has been cited by state health inspectors for several violations. This Oct. 1, 2012, image from a video is of an ambulance taking a woman to the hospital following complications from an abortion. The incident prompted a surprise state inspection of the abortion facility in December and again in April.

Since then, at least eight more women have been rushed to the hospital after botched abortions at the Latrobe clinic. It is just one of many problems uncovered by state regulators since the clinic opened in 1999, a Catholic News Herald review of state records shows.

The teenager’s bloody abortion prompted state regulators to shut down Latrobe in 2007, but within days the clinic reopened.

On May 10 state regulators shut it down a second time, but on May 15 it was open and performing abortions again.

VIOLATIONS, SEE page 22

Patricia L. Guilfoyle | Catholic News Herald

People prayed outside A Preferred Women’s Health Center as it reopened May 15.

More than 15 pro-life advocates were out there again on Saturday, which is one of the busiest days of the week for the abortion clinic.

Pro-lifers urge protest of Latrobe clinic’s reopening Patricia L. Guilfoyle Editor

CHARLOTTE — Pro-life leaders are urging supporters to contact Gov. Pat McCrory to protest the reopening of a Charlotte abortion clinic shut down by state regulators just a few days ago. It’s the second time in six years that it has been closed by state regulators and then allowed to reopen within a few days, and it has a history of health code violations dating back more than Pro-life activists a decade. encourage people to A Preferred Women’s Health go online to https:// Center, located at 3320 Latrobe www.facebook.com/ Drive, was allowed to reopen events/669401299752085/ May 15 by the same N.C. for information on Department of Health and contacting McCrory and Human Services regulators who other state and city leaders. closed it May 10 and called it “an imminent threat to the health and safety of patients.” The facility, one of three abortion facilities in Charlotte, was prevented from operating for three business days.

But it never really closed.

Employees at the call center office next door continued to schedule abortion appointments for this week when the Catholic News Herald telephoned two separate times on Monday afternoon, May 13, and one time on Tuesday afternoon, May 14.

Go online

PROTEST, SEE page 23

6

catholicnewsherald.com | May 24, 2013 OUR PARISHES

Catholic Charities celebrates new name CHARLOTTE — Dr. Gerard Carter, executive director of Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte, introduced the agency’s new name and logo at an unveiling ceremony May 17 at the Pastoral Center in Charlotte.

Exactly 40 years ago on that day, Catholic Social Services opened its doors to serve people in the new diocese, first with adoption services and as time went by, refugee resettlement, counseling services, financial and other basic needs assistance. Bishop Peter J. Jugis offered a prayer and Monsignor John J. McSweeney, pastor of St. Matthew Church and former chancellor of the diocese, (right) spoke about the importance of the work of Catholic Charities in the community.

Learn more about Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte and how you can help spread the Gospel message of charity in our diocese online at www. ccdoc.org.

Photos by sueann howell | catholic news herald

Savannah bishop encourages Belmont Abbey College graduates to learn, get excited about their faith Mary B. Worthington Correspondent

BELMONT — At 8:55 on May 11, their last morning as students of the Benedictine-run Belmont Abbey College, 364 graduates gathered one last time to join the monks for prayer. It wasn’t the usual daily prayer, but rather their baccalaureate Mass and graduation ceremony, celebrated outside on the lawn stretching out from the century-old Basilica of Mary, Help of Christians.

The sunshine and the smiling faces sounded a joyful tone to the day – a theme that was echoed in the remarks of the graduation speakers.

“We owe it to ourselves to read more on Catholic issues relevant to our times – moral and dogmatic issues,” said Savannah Bishop Gregory Hartmayer, OFM Conv, the principal celebrant at the Mass and the keynote speaker for the 2013 commencement. “It is vital that our Church carry the Gospel. We have to know and be excited about our faith so we can witness to it.”

“Spend time perfecting your life, perfecting your life in Christ … so that you can participate on the world stage witnessing to the Gospel,” he emphasized to the graduates.

Bishop Hartmayer drew an analogy for the graduates of setting a stage for their lives with the gifts, talents and experiences that God gave each of them. “The fact is, that stage is your life, and you have the control to be the star of whatever show you have in mind.”

Outside influences, successes and failures may twist the script of one’s life, he said, but “it is our responsibility to change the parts we want to change because we know what is right (in order to) stage the best production we are capable of producing.”

He referenced a recent homily by Pope Francis, who encouraged new confirmandi to find courage in Jesus to swim against the tide of relativism, consumerism, narcissism and racism.

Mary B. Worthington | Catholic News Herald

Belmont Abbey College’s Class of 2013 processes through lines of faculty and Benedictine monks who clapped to congratulate the 364 graduates for all of their hard work. The graduates have their academic hoods draped over their left arms, putting them on later during the commencement exercises.

“Now is the time to witness the faith to others – sometimes at great cost,” Hartmayer told the students.

Dr. William Thierfelder, president of Belmont Abbey College, exhorted the graduates to remain grateful for all things, including the beautiful weather that God sent to celebrate the day. Quoting G.K. Chesterton, Thierfelder said, “‘The greatest kind of giving is thanksgiving.’ I look out at all of you and I hope you are overwhelmed with gratitude! Wow, you did it!

“And being overwhelmed with gratitude, I hope you realize what you’ve been given with steadfast prayer and trust in Divine Providence.”

Thierfelder then quoted founding Abbot

Leo Haid, OSB, who said in 1886, “The work and prayers here shall spread God’s blessing over this beautiful country in the years to come, when perhaps few of you who are listening to me now shall be among the living.”

“You are the blessing he referred to that must be spread to the whole world,” Thierfelder concluded.

Graduates and families alike were overjoyed, and as the graduates each stepped up to receive their diplomas from college leaders standing in front of the basilica, they received a whoop of congratulations from their attending family and friends.

“We are so proud of him,” said Lisa

Quinn of her friend Neil Thompson, an elementary educational major. “Neil went back to school because his 5-year-old daughter wanted him to be a teacher. We know she’ll be so proud of him.”

“She’s our little baby in the family and the last one graduating,” said Ashley Helms of her sister Rebecca Hall, who studied psychology. “We are very so proud of her!”

Adult Degree Program graduate and Belmont Abbey College employee Denise Boykin earned her bachelor’s degree in liberal studies. “It was a long eight years,” she said, “but, now I think I might still take some classes for the fun of it!”

“I am very excited to graduate,” said Maria Abbe, an English major, just before walking over to the commencement exercises. “I have a job in Charlotte, but I’m scared, too!”

Standing nearby was friend Kaleigh Adair, a business management major. “It’s crazy that it went by so quickly,” she said.

“But I’m excited to be an adult!”

An honorary doctorate from Belmont Abbey College was presented to Bishop Hartmayer during the commencement exercises. Other special recognitions went to Professor of the Year, Dr. Tara Galloway, professor of education; Colleen Mullen, valedictorian; Sharon Bolger, Abbey student of the year; and Benedictine Father David Brown, who is retiring this year as the college’s registrar.

The most popular majors for the graduating class were business management and education. This class also had the first motorsports management major; until this year, motorsports management was only a concentration.

The oldest graduate was 74.

According to the Career Services at the College, about 52 percent of graduates have already secured a job. Some of the employers who have already hired Belmont Abbey graduates include Lincoln Financial Services, Duke Energy, Wells Fargo, OrthoCarolina, the YMCA, Army National Guard, Vanguard, BB&T, Disney, Time Warner Cable, and Gaston County Schools.

May 24, 2013 | catholicnewsherald.com

OUR PARISHESI

7

Photo provided by Kristen O’Malley

Monsignor Bellow honored on parish’s feast day HUNTERSVILLE — On April 25, the Feast of St. Mark the Evangelist, parishioners and students of St. Mark Church and School gathered for Mass and to celebrate the school’s 10th anniversary. They also gave thanks for the pastoral leadership of Monsignor Richard Bellow, who is retiring at the end of June. More than 800 students, faculty, staff and parents attended the Mass to commemorate the feast day of St. Mark and to celebrate Monsignor Bellow’s years of dedication to the parish and school community. During the all-school Mass, first-graders presented Monsignor Bellow with gifts including

hand-written notes and pictures. The school’s foyer was also filled with a tower of cupcakes (later eaten in the cafeteria!) and an anniversary bench that will be signed by all the students.

Monsignor Bellow, holding his dog Casey, is pictured above with first-graders from St. Mark School: (from left) Jack Dalton, Matthew Rossi, Leah Sturt, Evan Camp, Addison Dunn, Rachel Cook and Dylan Grenier.

— Amy Burger

‘Yankee’ turned Southern pastor reflects on 60 years as a priest SueAnn Howell Senior reporter

ALLEGANY, N.Y. — Sixty years ago on May 14, 1953, Monsignor Thomas Walsh was ordained to the priesthood at Our Lady of Grace Church in Greensboro. Just a few short years before, Monsignor Walsh didn’t even know anything about North Carolina.

But when his home diocese of Buffalo, N.Y., turned down his application due to an overflow of priests in Walsh the region at that time, he turned to Franciscan Father Thomas Plassman, president of St. Bonaventure College, for ideas.

Father Plassmann recommended North Carolina and told Monsignor Walsh he’d “give him a good reference.”

Raleigh Bishop Vincent S. Waters accepted him and expected great things from the young man from the North. He was assigned to Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Newton Grove in eastern North Carolina, where he was given the directive to enforce

desegregation in the little parish church.

“I was among the first priests who were asked to uphold desegregation in the Church,” Monsignor Walsh recalls.

“Bishop Waters wanted desegregation.”

This was quite a challenge for the Yankee who was new to the social and cultural environment of the South. He was made a pastor very early in his priestly ministry and it was difficult to overcome the social behaviors of segregation ingrained in his parishioners, he remembers.

“For Yankees, the South was very different. There were lots of Catholics moving to the South. I had to get used to the native Catholics, the Southerners. They were very welcoming, wonderful people, though.”

He remembers how difficult it was at first helping African-American and white parishioners feel comfortable sitting next to each other in the pews – something that they had not done up until that point.

“They used to sit, the blacks on one side of the aisle, the whites on the other. It took a while for them to feel comfortable sitting near each other. That was a very important experience in my life, very challenging,” Monsignor Walsh says.

Over the course of six decades, Monsignor Walsh believes he served in

more than 30 parishes all around North Carolina including Immaculate Conception Church in Durham, Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in High Point, Sacred Heart Church in Wadesboro, St. Eugene Church in Asheville, Holy Family Church in Clemmons and St. Gabriel Church in Charlotte.

His favorite parishes, he says, were the ones were in the North Carolina mountains.

“It’s to me the most beautiful part of the state. I was very comfortable there.”

His last assignment before retiring back up north to his hometown of Allegany was St. Gabriel Church in Charlotte.

“That was the most urban parish I ever served in,” he says.

He has advice for seminarians and men discerning a call to the priesthood, especially if they are not from this diocese: “Remember this is still very much a culture that is different from the North. Be open. Be accepting. Adjust to it. Be open to learning about another culture and be accepting of others. That is important.”

Monsignor Walsh celebrated his 60th anniversary of ordination by going out to dinner with his family in Allegany on May 14.

Other jubilarians we congratulate this

Boyd

Kowalski

Sheridan

Whittington

week are: Father Edward Sheridan, retired, 50 years; Father Morris Boyd, parochial vicar at St. Lawrence Basilica in Asheville, 35 years; Father Ken Whittington, pastor of St. Charles Borromeo Church in Morganton, 25 years; and Father Eric Kowalski, pastor of Our Lady of Grace in Greensboro, 20 years.

8

catholicnewsherald.com | May 24, 2013 OUR PARISHES

Postcard from Kingston: My impressions of our parish mission trip to Jamaica Donna Smith Special to the Catholic News Herald

Photo provided by Donna Smith

St. Mark parishioner Frances Fredericks hugs one of the residents at Jacobs Well, one of the five centers that the Missionaries of the Poor operate in Jamaica. The Missionaries of the Poor also have a community in Monroe.

Learn more about their work at www.missionariesofthepoor.org.

DIRECTOR OF FAITH FORMATION (DFF) Full time position available July 1, 2013 in a growing parish of almost 1,000 families.

Candidate should be a practicing Roman Catholic with at least a Bachelor’s Degree in Religious Education or related field. Responsible for development and coordination of Faith Formation programs for elementary, middle and high school

KINGSTON, Jamaica — I was feeding a young boy named Paul, who couldn’t speak or use his limbs. He was sitting in a chair and I was in a child’s chair beside him.

As I began to feed him I could see his eyes following me, and it was at that moment that I realized that when we serve the least of our brothers we truly are serving Christ.

The experience with Paul was typical for the 11 parishioners of St. Mark Church in Huntersville who made our first International Mission Trip to Kingston, Jamaica, in early April. We traveled to the Caribbean country to work with the Missionaries of the Poor, serving more than 500 men, women and children – most of whom have physical and mental challenges – in centers run by the brothers of the Missionaries of the Poor.

Each day we would rise at 6 a.m. for prayer and Mass at 6:15 a.m., followed by breakfast. The brothers would then transport us to the five local centers. Each center serves a distinct population: the Bethlehem Center serves children, Lord’s Place and Jacob’s Well are for women and AIDS patients, Faith Center and Shepherds Place serves men.

Many of the residents at the centers have mental and physical challenges, often too severe for their families to address, or in many cases the resident has been abandoned and found on the street.

As our week continued, we fell into a rhythm of working at different centers during the day and then gathering at night for a meal with the brothers, followed by prayer and reflection.

On Sunday, we were asked to help ready the residents for Mass. We all helped to dress the residents and prepare them for Mass. I ended up at Lord’s Place, and walked into to a large dressing area where about a dozen women were getting ready for Mass. All wore blue skirts and colorful

shirts. It seems that the residents wear these “uniforms” to allow the brothers to easily identify them, assuring a safe return to their homes. As I readied the women, giving each a spray of perfume, I admired their enthusiasm for what they were preparing for: the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

Once we all arrived at Mass, along with the local community, I was in awe. More than 300 people had gathered to praise and worship our Lord. The brothers are known for their musical talents and singing, and the music at Mass was incredible. We also witnessed eight baptisms, first Holy Communions and an incredible offering in which fruits, vegetables and grain were brought forward during the Preparation of the Gifts. The spirit of the congregation was contagious as we all joined in the music and clapping.

For myself, it was a real eye-opener as I watched people who by our standards seem to have nothing, enjoying everything.

The next day we flew out at 5:40 a.m., and got home safe and sound. Each of us has stories of our trip, and each of us has been changed by this experience. For myself, it seems the petty things that often consume our daily lives just aren’t important anymore. In Scripture, we read that when we serve the least of our brothers, we are serving Christ. Living in the Charlotte area, it is easy to lose sight of how most people in the world really live.

During that week of our mission, each of us met Christ, whether it was feeding a child who could not walk or speak, washing the face of a dying woman, sharing a quiet moment with an AIDS patient, or just singing with the group at Mass.

Plans are underway for St. Mark parishioners to continue their support of the Missionaries of the Poor in Kingston with a trip in April 2014.

Donna Smith is the director of faith formation at St. Mark Church in Huntersville.

CCDOC.ORG

Grant Writer Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte seeks full-time grant writer.

youth and Sacrament Preparation programs as well. Supervisory responsibility for

Position requires an undergraduate degree, proven record of strong writing

Adult Formation Coordinator.

skills, attention to detail, and ability to meet tight completion deadlines.

Candidate should be comfortable in a creative, collaborative environment and able to

Regular daytime and some overnight travel required.

nurture and support volunteers as well as work as a team with the members of the parish pastoral staff. Salary is negotiable and diocesan benefit package is generous.

Please send letter of intent and resume and references to:

DFF Search

Queen of the Apostles Church 503 North Main Street, Belmont, North Carolina 28012

Cover letter, writing sample(s), and resume must be submitted electronically by 5 PM on Friday, June 14, 2013 to sabeason@ charlottediocese.org. No telephone calls, please.

Let’s keep talking.

May 24, 2013 | catholicnewsherald.com

College students spend weekend ‘awakening’ their faith

GLOBAL CATHOLIC TOURS OF VIRGINA 2013 PILGRIMAGES

Annette Tenny Correspondent

KING — A group of Catholic students from North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill recently held their first Awakening Retreat at Camp Hanes in King. Aided

by Raleigh’s Catholic Campus Ministries and the Newman Center at UNC-Chapel Hill, the Wolfpack group started its retreat at midnight on a Friday night and ran through Sunday evening.

The group was supported with pastoral services and sacraments by Father Tony Decamdia, campus minister at N.C. State, Monsignor John Wall from the Newman Center and Father Lucas Rossi of Good Shepherd Mission in King, which also provided logistical support.

Awakening Retreats were started in the early 1970s at small colleges and quickly spread to large universities.

Duke University recently held its 20th Awakening.

Modeled after Cursillo groups, the students are structured into “families” of four or five people each. Each “family” is assigned two staff: student “parents” and a student “go-fer.” The “go-fer” takes care of all retreat logistics with the “parents” and other retreat coordinators, allowing the retreatants to concentrate all their energy on the spiritual retreat.

The participants participate in talks, skits, dancing and other activities geared toward an exploration of the different aspects of their faith and how they intersect with their college lives. They have private prayer time and take part in Eucharistic Adoration, receive the sacrament of penance and attend Mass.

Retreat director Lizzy Garnett, a graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill and a past

OUR PARISHESI

11 Days in Italy Sept. 3-13, $3350 pp Visit Milan, Rome, Pudua, Florence, Venice & Assisi. With Fr. Price Oswalt from Prague, OK 12 Days in Fatima – Spain Sept.16-27, $3125, pp Visit Fatima, Santiago de Compostela, Burgos, Avila, Salamanca, Toledo & Madrid. With Fr. Dobbin from Winchester, VA 11 Days in Ireland Sept 16 – 26, $2870, pp Visit Galway, Killarney, Limerick & Dublin. With Fr. Herlihy from The Rock, GA Annette Tenny | Catholic News Herald

Students and staff combine skits and dance with periods of silent prayer and Eucharistic Adoration throughout the retreat weekend.

Awakening attendee, said it takes many people to organize and coordinate the retreats but finding student volunteers to help is never a problem. All volunteers are previous attendees. Campus Ministry priests support retreat participants and offer the sacraments as well as lead discussion groups. Local priests such as Father Rossi also often lend a hand with sacramental needs.

Garnett still vividly remembers her first Awakening retreat.

“It changed my life,” she said. “It did everything it promised it would. It was so powerful.”

On campus, students find out about Awakening Retreats through the Catholic Campus Ministry office or events, by personal invitation and announcements and bulletins at area churches.

Patrick Babas, a first-time Awakening participant, said he had heard about the retreats from a lot of people on campus.

“This has been a great experience,” Babas said, “a great way to expand and deepen my faith with my peers.”

To find out more about Awakening Retreats, visit the UNC Newman Student Center Parish website at www.newmanchapelhill.org/retreats.html.

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10

catholicnewsherald.com | May 24, 2013 OUR PARISHES

Honoring Mary, the Mother of God DENVER — Parishioners of Holy Spirit Church in Denver held a May crowning on May 12.

Katherine DeMilt is pictured placing the crown of flowers on Mary’s head. Also pictured are Laura Pena, Molly Stratton, Nicholas Loden, Joseph Lutz and Jade Chamblee.

Doreen Sugierski | Catholic News Herald

Photo provided by Suzanne Miller

ASHEBORO — During a May crowning at St. Joseph Church in Asheboro May 19, kindergarten through fifth-grade students processed up to Mary to lay flowers at her feet.

First Communicant Alexandra Miller carried the Crown.

Father Philip Kollithanath celebrated the blessing of the crown as Alexandra placed it on Mary’s head with the assistance of Gina Otranto. Also throughout the month of May, Knights of Columbus members led parishioners in reciting the rosary.

Photo provided by Patricia Burr

Photo provided by Karen Hornfeck

GREENSBORO — Our Lady of Grace School second-graders participated in the May crowning of Mary on May 7. OLG students dressed in their first Holy Communion dresses and suits for the special Mass. Students are shown with Father Eric Kowalski, Father Chris Davis and second-grade teacher Celia McMullen.

GASTONIA — Second-graders at St. Michael School in Gastonia who made their first Holy Communion this year led the school in its annual May crowning May 20. Prekindergarten through eighth-grade students took part in praying a decade of the rosary and singing songs. Then each child in the school placed flowers around the stature of Mary. Pictured are some of the second-graders dressed in their first Communion clothes. Eighth-graders Joshua Helton and Michael Kowalik assisted Sara Montreuil as she placed the crown on Mary’s head.

May 24, 2013 | catholicnewsherald.com

OUR PARISHESI

11

First diocesan Fatima procession draws hundreds Gretchen Filz Correspondent

Photo provided by Lara Davenport

WINSTON-SALEM — Our Lady of Mercy eighth-grader Casey Martin had the honor of crowning Mary during the school’s annual May crowning ceremony May 10 that was led by the eighth-grade class. Several students gave reflections about what Mary means in their lives or who in their lives has shown them qualities like Mary.

WINSTON-SALEM — Students at St. Leo School in Winston-Salem celebrated Mary with a May crowning on May 10.

Photo provided by Donna Birkel

CHARLOTTE — The faithful gathered at St. Thomas Aquinas Church on May 13 to celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Fatima with a special prayer vigil and candlelight procession around the parish grounds – the first such public devotion for the diocese that will continue each month until October.

Approximately 200 parishioners and visitors joined Father Patrick Winslow, Father Matthew Kauth and Deacon James Witulski of St. Thomas Aquinas Parish and Father Deacon Matthew Hanes of St. Basil Ukrainian Catholic Mission for this beautiful and solemn event.

May 13 marks the anniversary when Our Lady first appeared to three shepherd children – Lucia, Jacinta, and Francisco – in 1917 near Fatima, Portugal. Our Lady’s messages to the children were ones of prayer and sacrifice for the conversion of sinners and for the souls of the faithful departed, as well as admonishment to pray the rosary and hold a devotion to her Immaculate Heart. It was at Fatima that the “O My Jesus” prayer (also known as the Fatima Prayer) was added to the end of each rosary decade, at Our Lady’s request.

Inspired by the Fatima messages, Father Winslow and Father Kauth decided to hold this special procession in Our Lady of Fatima’s honor, as a way for the people of the entire diocese to publicly gather and pray for the conversion of hearts.

The evening began with recitation of the rosary led

by Father Winslow with a short “Ave Maria” melody between each decade. Then Father Kauth read a short passage recalling the sequence of events that took place on May 13, 1917. Then local Knights of Columbus led the way while an Our Lady of Fatima statue, arranged on a litter encircled with pink flowers, was carried behind them, lifted high on the shoulders of four bearers.

All in attendance followed behind the statue, lighting their candles as they walked, and singing “Ave Maria” in unison. The procession walked out of the front doors of the church and circled around the parish grounds for the full length of the song before returning inside the church.

According to Father Kauth, “Processions are a sign of the Church’s journey to heaven.” When we process in honor of a saint, we are showing visually what we are doing spiritually, “walking to heaven with the saints – in this case with the Blessed Virgin Mary.”

As the procession returned inside the dimly lit church, the church was instantly set aglow with candlelight. Father Kauth led the group in the recitation of the Litany of Loreto – a litany of the title of the Blessed Virgin that dates to the middle ages – followed by a closing hymn. It was a truly beautiful and spirit-filled evening.

Don’t miss the next one The Our Lady of Fatima procession will take place at St. Thomas Aquinas Church on the 13th of every month until October, in honor of the apparition of Our Lady of Fatima to the three children that took place on the 13th of each month from May to October, 1917. All are welcome to attend each month’s procession.

The Our Lady of Fatima statue used for the evening was given to St. Thomas Aquinas Church last year by a parishioner, around the time the parish was consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus by the previous pastor, Capuchin Franciscan Father Remo DiSalvatore. The Our Lady of Fatima statue was kept by the Sacred Heart of Jesus Enthronement Ministry and was used during the enthronement ceremonies that took place in the homes of various parishioners as they consecrated their families to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It was very fitting that Our Lady of Fatima, after processing from home to home, led a larger procession for the whole parish and many from the diocese who joined them.

The parishioner who donated the statue to the parish said, “I have tried many times to give the statue away, and I almost felt selfish for keeping it to myself. But each time I tried to part with it, I sensed that I needed to keep it until the time was right. Now I know the reason, this was God’s time. To watch these people’s hearts pour out to her as they pray ... it’s just so beautiful,” she said tearfully.

SueAnn Howell | Catholic News Herald

CHARLOTTE — On Sunday, May 12, Father Timothy Reid led a special prayer service and May crowning in front of the new statue of the Blessed Mother dedicated in memory of Sister Helene Nagle, SSJ, outside St. Ann School in Charlotte.

Parishioners, faith formation students and children who made their sacraments this year all gathered before Mass to pray for Our Lady’s intercession and also to pray for Sister Helene who passed away last June. She was the principal at St. Ann School for 17 years and worked with Sister Judy Monahan, SSJ, in running the parish’s religious education programs. Sister Helene knew most of the children who made their sacraments this year, especially those who had attended St. Ann School.

At the conclusion of the May crowning, everyone gathered prayed a Hail Mary for the repose of Sister Helene’s soul.

Photos by Gretchen Filz | Catholic News Herald

Approximately 200 people gathered May 13 for what was the first of six monthly processions by the diocese in honor of Our Lady of Fatima, hosted at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Charlotte.

At www.catholicnewsherald.com: Watch a video from the Fatima procession.

12

catholicnewsherald.com | May 24, 2013 OUR PARISHES

Woo visits High Point HIGH POINT — “The work we do is in your name,” Dr. Carolyn Woo told parishioners at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in High Point May 20. “Your presence is what we bring into the world.”

The special visit from the president and CEO of Catholic Relief Services was to thank IHM parishioners and Bishop McGuinness High School for their support of Catholic Relief Services, especially the 2013 CRS Rice Bowl campaign. Bishop McGuinness students collected more than $3,200 for CRS Rice Bowl, far surpassing its goal.

Woo also reviewed the overall work of CRS – its strategic mission and its goals for improvement. Woo, who took over CRS last year, has an extensive academic and business background, and she has brought those principles to CRS, which is the international charitable arm of the U.S. bishops and American Catholics. CRS aids more than 130 million people in 100 countries.

Spreading the Gospel and enabling people to live dignified lives, Woo said, requires excellence in all of CRS’ work: Aid workers around the globe are respectful of the people and cultures they interact with. Transparency and accountability are upheld in the organization’s finances.

And, above all, the charity operates according to the Church’s teachings, she said.

To fulfill its mission to “serve the poorest and most vulnerable in accordance with Jesus’ Gospel,” CRS cannot settle for mediocrity in its work or its results, she said.

That means building food security instead of just providing emergency food aid; not just digging a well to provide clean water, but teaching people proper hygiene; funding teachers, not just building schools; and encouraging entrepreneurship. One-third of CRS’ work is emergency aid; two-thirds is in long-term development work.

It also means partnering with 1,100 other groups, about half of which are Catholic.

Collaborating with local bishops and religious orders ensures CRS is effective and welcomed, and the partnership helps strengthen the local Church, she said.

As such, CRS is rated as a top performer by Charity Watch, Charity Navigator and the Better Business Bureau.

“We think of our work as a privilege. We don’t take that lightly,” Woo said. But, she added, the work of CRS through American Catholics is made possible by God. “It’s not just about us. It is God’s work.”

— Patricia L. Guilfoyle, editor

SYRIA Dr. Carolyn Woo, president and CEO of Catholic Relief Services, speaks to graduates at Wake Forest University May 19 before delivering the 2013 baccalaureate address.

Photo provided by Wake Forest University News Center

Head of Catholic Relief Services encourages Wake Forest grads:

‘Grace is there for the asking.

So ask for it, and act from it.’

Patricia L. Guilfoyle Editor

WINSTON-SALEM — “There will be a lot of challenges facing you. But it is always important that you do not face those alone. The Holy Spirit is always with us.”

Taking heart in the constant presence of the Holy Spirit was just some of the advice from Dr. Carolyn Woo, president and CEO of Catholic Relief Services, to the 2013 graduates of Wake Forest University during a baccalaureate service on May 19, the Feast of Pentecost.

“The work that we do at Catholic Relief Services is very complicated, very complex,” Woo noted. “For example, right now we are dealing with the issues of Syrian refugees, the plight of Christians in Syria. You can be overwhelmed by that work. But it is important to remember that while we bring our efforts and our commitment to that work, in the end it is really God’s work, and God multiples our work.”

On the eve of commencement, many of the 1,744 graduates and their families filled Wait Chapel to praise God and give thanks for their achievements during their years of study and service at this 179-year-old liberal arts university.

Give thanks for the gifts that God has given you, Woo also told graduates during her baccalaureate address, entitled “Grace in a Competitive World.”

Woo encouraged grads to use the talents and discipline that they have honed at the university to build on their achievements and continue to make sacrifices to do the work to which God has called them.

She cautioned them not to let the competitiveness that permeates every aspect of our society distract them from seeing others as fellow children of God. “There’s no question we live in a highly competitive world,” she said. From a young age, and in every area of our lives, we measure our performance and compare ourselves to others. Competition in its proper place is good and healthy – to help us seek improvement, foster self-discipline and improve our community and economy, she said.

But that competitiveness can become a zero-sum game, where if we don’t win, we lose: “a mentality that is born of scarcity.”

Woo said, “We live in a mutually interdependent world. We’re made to be social beings. We’re meant to

interact and depend on one another.”

We must recognize others as unique children of God, fostering empathy and courtesy for others.

“This capacity for other people is what I call grace.

Grace with a small ‘g’ is about friendliness, hospitality, consideration, courtesy, helpfulness and so on. Grace with a big ‘G’ is what God gave us when He made us in His image, when He loved us into life. That is the grace that is part of who we are.”

“Grace allows us to do two things,” Woo explained.

“One is to have a different picture of ourselves. We no longer look at ourselves by our own scorecards or by where we are relative to other people. We look at ourselves in relation to God, and as a person created by God with God-given gifts.”

The other thing grace allows us to do, she continued, is to forgive.

“Forgiving is possible if we draw on God’s grace,” she said. Grace gives us the power to transcend our difficulties, grievances and problems – large or small.

And grace gives us the ability to see others truly with our hearts.

That is particularly important in the day-to-day work of CRS, Woo said, where the agency aids people who have been brutalized by war, poverty, corruption and sickness. CRS helps more than 130 million people in more than 100 countries. Forgiveness, she said, gives these people the power to move forward despite their struggles – with grace.

“Grace allows us to understand who we are, and to celebrate who we are, and at the same time to forgive others.”

“Grace is there for the asking. So ask for it, and act from it.”

Woo also thanked Wake Forest’s president, Dr. Nathan O. Hatch. Hatch is a longtime friend and former University of Notre Dame colleague of Woo’s, before she joined Catholic Relief Services in 2012. Hatch noted that for Woo, her Catholic faith informs her professional life.

“Her faith infuses her work – indeed, all the parts of her life in ways that are compelling and worthy of note,” Hatch said. “For those of us who wonder if it is possible to combine or deepen our passions with our professional or vocational callings, we can be well served by listening to Carolyn Woo. She has demonstrated that one can be both a brilliant and sometimes fearless leader, and a person of profound faith and genuine humility.”

Women and children make up a majority of the more than 1.4 million Syrian refugees who have fled the country since the violence erupted a couple years ago. Most refugees have escaped to Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey.

Catholic Relief Services is supporting urgent medical care and emergency relief for the Syrian refugees in the areas most affected by the conflict across the region.

CRS is aiding the refugees by supplying vegetable cooking oil, beans, rice, lentils and sugar. They are also providing pre-packaged relief kits of bedding, kitchen sets, fans and other essential living supplies to arriving refugees.

Refugees are also benefitting from high-quality medical and dental care at eight clinics across Jordan. Services include counseling for survivors of trauma, especially children.

Because a number of refugees suffered wounds during the violence, and many lack access to medical care, the need for these services is significant.

CRS is also distributing hygiene items including soap, sanitary napkins, buckets and other materials to help prevent crises, such as waterborne diseases.

Teams of CRS staff members and volunteers are teaching survivors about hygiene practices, such as hand-washing, safe waste disposal and ways to keep water clean.

Learn more about what is happening and how you can help: www.crs.org/jordan/syrianrefugees-find-help-in-camps

HAITI More than three years after the devastating earthquake that struck Haiti, Catholic Relief Services has helped more than 10,500 families resettle in Portau-Prince with housing and vital community services.

The more than $150 million donated from the Catholic community across the United States helped to strengthened the Catholic education and health care system in Haiti, closed camps and resettled the families living in those camps, and trained more than 3,000 community trainers on cholera awareness and treatment reaching 3,096,976 people in affected communities.

Parishes in the Diocese of Charlotte raised more than $476,000 to aid in this relief effort.

CRS has helped to rebuild the St. François de Sales Hospital and train doctors and nurses to staff the new facility, which was almost completely destroyed in the earthquake.

CRS also removed almost 1.5 million cubic feet of earthquake rubble, fed 1 million people in affected areas, built more than 10,500 transitional shelters, installed or repaired nearly 2,400 sanitation facilities and created short-term employment for more than 11,000 people in Haiti.

Learn more: www.crs.org/ emergency/haiti/index.cfm

May 24, 2013 | catholicnewsherald.com

OUR PARISHESI

CCDOC.ORG

Introducing

Renewing our roots in charity

Catholic Social Services has been an integral part of the Church’s charitable outreach to the poor and vulnerable in the Diocese of Charlotte for more than 40 years, following the command of Jesus Christ to put love into action.

As we celebrate our 40th anniversary, we are renewing our roots in the Church’s history of charity by changing the agency name to Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte to reflect this tradition.

CatholicCharitiesDioceseofCharlotte

As we deepen our commitment to Jesus’ Gospel message, we eagerly embrace our ministry of strengthening families, building communities and reducing poverty.

Thank you for your continuing prayers, assistance and generosity, which makes it possible for us to further the Gospel message of charity in western North Carolina.

For more information about our new name, go online to www.ccdoc.org or call us at 800-227-7261.

CCDOC

CCDOCharlotte

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14

catholicnewsherald.com | May 24, 2013 OUR PARISHES

RACE CAR CATHOLICS:

As Charlotte’s big race, the Coca-Cola 600, approaches, get inspired by the stories of these two Catholic racing legends.

‘Humpy’ Wheeler: Relying on faith growing up in the South DAVID EXUM CORRESPONDENT

Close ties to college “Humpy” Wheeler’s father, “Humpy” A. Wheeler Sr., was athletic director at Belmont Abbey College for 38 years.

Wheeler was the first layman to hold an enduring appointment at the Benedictinerun college and remained at the Abbey until his death in 1992. Besides coaching all sports, he taught history, politics, civics and hygiene.

The college later named its athletic center after Wheeler.

The younger Wheeler Sr. Wheeler attended Belmont Abbey College Prep School, graduating in 1956.

Considered one of sport’s greatest Wheeler Jr. promoters, Wheeler is known throughout the world for legendary promotional feats during his 50-year career in motor sports, where he implemented more innovations than anyone in history. For 33 years, he ran Charlotte Motor Speedway, made it the number-one track in racing and took the company he cofounded, Speedway Motorsports, public as the first racing firm on the New York Stock Exchange. He is current chair of The Wheeler Company, a motor sports consultant group. All this has earned him entry into nine Halls of Fame, including the prestigious International Motorsports Hall of Fame.

He has won the Grace Award and the Sport at the Service of the Spirit Award at the Abbey for his outstanding service. He began the unique and successful motorsports management academic program in 2003, which this month graduated its first motorsports management major.

He has twice served on the college’s board of trustees.

Wheeler and his wife Pat have a deep love for the Abbey and the Benedictine order, and two of their children graduated from Belmont Abbey College.

— Belmont Abbey College

HUNTERSVILLE — Legendary stock car racing promoter Howard A. “Humpy” Wheeler Jr. remembers a time in Charlotte when being Catholic was unheard of.

Wheeler’s father, Howard A. “Humpy” Wheeler Sr., a Catholic transplant from Rhode Island, took a job in the early 1930s as an athletic coach and later became athletic director at Belmont Abbey College in Belmont.

“It was very difficult (growing up Catholic),” recalls the 74-year-old Wheeler, who was born in Gastonia. “My mother was from Bessemer City and he was the first Catholic she had ever seen, much less met. My mom was a Baptist.

We’d go to 8 a.m. Mass and she’d go to church at 11. She converted (to Catholicism) on their 21st wedding anniversary.”

Even though the Charlotte area remains a stronghold for Protestants, being Catholic today in the South is a far cry from what Wheeler remembers experiencing as he was growing up in the 1940s and ’50s.

“There was a lot of prejudice towards Catholics and being Catholic at the time,” says Wheeler, who spent 34 years at Charlotte Motor Speedway until retiring in 2008. “To look at Charlotte now and to see that Catholicism is as big as it is, you could ask anybody back in 1955 if that would ever happen, and they’d say absolutely not.”

Wheeler says he literally led two lives growing up: one as a Catholic when he worked for his father at Belmont Abbey, and another around cotton mill workers’ kids in Belmont.

“I would leave the Abbey – and learning Latin, all the classics of literature, and Catholicism – and get myself involved in boxing and working on race cars. I’d flow from one normal to the other. It was like night and day. It really rounded me out and prepared me for doing what I have done the rest of my life, and that is racing.”

And while he worked briefly as a sportswriter in the early 1960s, Wheeler remembers, his Catholic faith helped him during an interview with baseball legend Henry “Hank” Aaron.

“I had gotten him to open up simply because I was a Catholic in an area where there weren’t any. That lit him up because he was Catholic and from Alabama. I got a good interview out of him because of the result. (Being a Catholic in the South) was very difficult, but the knowledge I gained from living and working with working-class people and my Catholic upbringing has helped me a great deal.”

Before making Charlotte Motor Speedway the motorsports mecca that it is today, he worked several years in the mid-1960s and ’70s as a Firestone Racing promoter in Indianapolis.

“I got my master’s degree working for Firestone and being in Indianapolis,” says Wheeler, who has been interviewed for countless auto racing documentaries, was portrayed in the ESPN film “3: The Dale Earnhardt Story,” and provided the voice of “Tex,” a 1975 Cadillac Coupe de Ville, in the 2006 animated film “Cars.”

During the 1960s and ’70s IndyCar, or openwheel racing, in the United States was far more popular than NASCAR. Wheeler considers that period in his life extremely important, and he relied on his faith: “That period, from 1964 to 1970, I had to call on my faith numerous times.

So many drivers got killed, and it was the

Photos provided by Belmont Abbey College

Howard “Humpy” Wheeler Jr. is pictured in this 2005 photo at Charlotte Motor Speedway. bloodiest time we had in racing.”

Wheeler remembers how in 1964, when working with Firestone to prepare for the Indianapolis 500, he received a call that his good friend Glenn “Fireball” Roberts was severely burned in a fiery crash at Charlotte Motor Speedway during what was known at the time as the World 600.

“I got a call that it looked like Fireball was going to die. He was one of our chief test drivers at Firestone at the time.”

Roberts died days later at a Charlotte hospital due to complications from his burns.

“That same year, Eddie Sachs and Dave MacDonald were both killed in the Indy 500.

They had to stop the race. Sachs’ car was burned to a crisp and the safety director had no idea it was Eddie. Sachs and his wife were both Catholic, and they shared a hotel room near my wife (Pat) and I. For me to see that, it was just devastating. He really was a great man.”

“So many people died during that period of time from racing, and so many people that I knew so well. It really tested me out, and if it hadn’t have been for my faith, I wouldn’t have had anything to (rely) on. I saw so many people get out of racing because of those deaths. That was really tough on me. I did – and still do to this day – a lot of talking to priests, and that really helped me. I’ve done that my whole life, and I think that comes from growing up at the Abbey.”

Wheeler also remembers another time when he relied heavily on his faith: the night of May 20, 2000, when a pedestrian crosswalk spanning Route 29 at Charlotte Motor Speedway collapsed after the NASCAR All-Star Race, injuring more than 100 people.

“This was the year after three people were killed from a tire at the IndyCar race (at Charlotte Motor Speedway) in a race that I did not want to run. We had had a tragedy before, and then this happened. When I heard that the bridge collapsed over 29, I said to myself, ‘Lord, I need you to take me through this because I’m not going to be able to glide through it.’ We borrowed a patrol car from a State Trooper and set it up in the median and operated a triage from right there. In 59 minutes, we got 95 people transported to several hospitals, and that was pretty incredible.”

Not only did he draw upon his faith during the

bridge incident, he also leaned on his Catholic upbringing to handle the days that followed: “As many people will attest to, it’s the aftermath of those things that test you the most. You have to deal with the families and the lawyers – and that’s where the anger comes in because you’re getting sued by everybody, and you have to temper that.”

“When those kind of things happen, that’s where your faith comes in,” he says. “I think belonging to the Catholic Church is great when you have a crisis.”

Wheeler has also had tremendous support over the years from his wife Pat. They marked their 51st wedding anniversary this year.

Wheeler, who was instrumental in getting a motorsports management program started at Belmont Abbey College, also relied heavily on his faith after his abrupt retirement as president and general manager of Charlotte Motor Speedway in 2008, after 34 years of service.

“I wasn’t particularly overjoyed with how it was handled and (Speedway chairman Bruton Smith) and I haven’t spoken in over five years – even though I have reached out to him. I was very angry about it and the way it was handled, and I relied on my faith again to get through it.

You can’t stay mad about things. You have to dissipate the anger. I’ve always had a temper and I think that’s something you’re born with. You have to control it and roll with the punches, and I think some of that temper came from being prejudiced as a Catholic in that little town.”

After retirement, Wheeler co-wrote “Growing up NASCAR: Racing’s Most Outrageous Promoter Tells All” with Peter Golenbock. And this year, he saw another milestone: the 2013 graduating class at Belmont Abbey College had its first motorsports management major.

Wheeler expresses devotion to Our Lady of Consolation Church in Charlotte, where he attends Mass.

“It’s the black (Catholic) church in Charlotte and I belong there because a lot of blacks built the cathedral at Belmont Abbey and a lot of them converted. I just enjoy it, and Pat and I love going over there.”

And, he adds, “I think there’s just a little bit of the Baptist when I go over there, and that takes me back to my mother.”

May 24, 2013 | catholicnewsherald.com

OUR PARISHESI

15

Alan Kulwicki makes an appearance at a promotional event with his sponsor, Terry Jeffords, at the beginning of his racing career.

Alan Kulwicki: Remembering the Catholic NASCAR champion Jennifer VIGH Daniels Correspondent

CHARLOTTE — A piece of NASCAR racing history lies off University City Boulevard on Suther Road, across from the University of North Carolina-Charlotte. On a tree-lined street lined with ranch homes and condos, a tall wooden church pierces the skyline, beckoning the faithful to come and worship. St. Thomas Aquinas Church, built in 1978 and visited by locals in southern Cabarrus County, had a hand in shaping modern-day NASCAR history.

On the church property sits Aquinas Hall, adorned by a beautiful garden and the statue of the Blessed Mother among the flowers. In the back of the hall lies a 20-footby-20-foot chapel with a stained glass window and a small framed pencil sketch portraying a smiling young man.

Underneath the frame is a gold plaque that reads, “This chapel is dedicated in loving memory of Alan Kulwicki. In the solitude of this chapel, Alan prayed.”

People of all ages, races and creeds come into this chapel to pray and spend time with God. But many people don’t know who that smiling young man is, or how his faith helped him change NASCAR history.

Alan Kulwicki moved from the suburbs of Milwaukee, Wis., to Charlotte in 1985 to pursue a racing career in NASCAR’s Winston Cup Series. Kulwicki had come up through the ranks of the American Speed Association, USAC Stock Car series, and, in 1979 and 1980, he had won the Wisconsin International Raceway late model track championship.

When he first arrived in Charlotte, a trailer full of his belongings had burned to the ground and he relied heavily on his faith in God and friends to carry on. In early 1986, he secured a NASCAR Winston Cup ride in the 32 car, fielded

by Bill Terry and sponsored by Hardee’s. When that team folded in mid-1986, Kulwicki once again kept the faith, calling a priest friend in Wisconsin and praying by himself in the back of Aquinas Hall. With his faith in God and his talents, he secured NASCAR’s prestigious “Rookie of the Year” title at the end of 1986 and incorporated himself into Alan Kulwicki racing, with a team of volunteers, two fulltime employees and two engines.

Kulwicki was on the way to success. He ran competitively in 1987, winding up 15th in Winston Cup points, securing sponsorship from Zerex and changing his number to 7 – a special number, the symbol of completion of God’s initial creative act. During the 1988 season, he secured his first NASCAR Winston Cup victory at Phoenix International Raceway and at the end of the year, he moved up to 14th place in the Winston Cup standings.

From 1989 to 1992, Kulwicki meticulously planned his passage into NASCAR history, not letting fame and fortune go to his head. During races, the in-car cameras often showed him praying and making the sign of the cross while he was behind the wheel. When he could not go to his parish church, he scouted out Catholic churches on the NASCAR circuit and attended Mass and prayed as often as he could.

He stayed grounded and true to his faith, and he valued the virtues of the Church.

Longtime friend and confidant Dennis Czarnyszka

Photos provided by Dennis Czarnyska

Alan Kulwicki gives a thumbs up in Victory Lane after winning the 1992 Winston Cup Championship after defeating insurmountable odds. remembers, “On one occasion while home (in Wisconsin) visiting at Christmas during the late ’80s, Kulwicki’s friend drove him to the airport and passed a man on the street with a sign that read ‘Will Work For Food.’ When he got out of the car, he handed the driver a $50 bill and said, “Go back to 6th and Layton and give it to the guy on the corner.’”

Czarnyszka also recalls, “The first year Alan had a large restaurant chain as a sponsor in 1992, I had called and asked if he could send some autographed items for a children’s charity event. He sent a box of hats and polos with autographs that just had the sponsor’s name, nothing with his name. Turned out he didn’t have ‘stuff’ at his disposal, so he went to the sponsor’s restaurant and bought it out of pocket, and sent it for the children.”

Czarnyszka smiles when he thinks of his friend. “His faith taught him how to trust and forgive, which ultimately led him to incredible relationships with his team, sponsors, friends, family – and most important – God.” In November 1992, the Winston Cup season was coming to an end at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Kulwicki had gone into the last race of the season as a title contender – the dark horse, the one nobody expected to win. He even changed the name of his Ford Thunderbird to “Underbird” – a jab at his underdog status.

On the first pit stop during the race, he broke first gear in his transmission, but he didn’t give up. During the day, the race was marred with accidents, taking out a lot of the point contenders and leaving Kulwicki to battle the final laps with veteran ace driver, Bill Elliott. With a points advantage in gas mileage and bonus points, Kulwicki won the 1992 NASCAR Winston Cup Championship, even

though he finished the race second behind Bill Elliott.

During a TV interview afterwards, Kulwicki said, “I thank God for the fortune to be here and to be an American and compete in the Winston Cup circuit. When I moved down South, this was my dream. I came here in a pickup truck and a trailer. I nicknamed this Ford the ‘Underbird’ because we were going into this race as the underdog.”

Kulwicki received many accolades as the first Winston Cup Champion born in the North, the first champion with a college degree, and, the first champion who was Polish. (Besides making the sign of the cross during races, Kulwicki was known for his “Polish Victory Lap,” in which he’d take his victory lap by driving around the racetrack in the opposite direction.)

During the winter of 1993, a whirlwind of public relations activities, interviews and accolades followed him.

In January, he was invited back to Wisconsin to Greenfield High School to make an appearance. In his speech he said, “Some people say I am a good role model… well, I didn’t start out to be a role model, I started out to be a race car driver. But if what I have done and how I have done it has inspired others to get a better job or go back to school, then it is all worth it.”

He returned to Alan Kulwicki Racing in Concord shortly after that. After all, February was closing in, which meant time for Daytona, and he had to get back on track for the 1993 season. When the season began, Daytona went miserably for him —he finished a disappointing 26th.

Following the Winston Cup schedule, he had finished fourth at Rockingham, third at Richmond, a dismal 36th at Atlanta, and 18th at Darlington. During these days of ups and downs, he was seen in the chapel at St. Thomas Aquinas Church nearly every day, with his briefcase full of racing setups and notes, seeking guidance, advice and wisdom that can only be acquired through the power of prayer.

After the Darlington race, Kulwicki had to fulfill contractual agreements with the restaurant chain sponsoring him, so he agreed to do an appearance in Knoxville, Tenn., on April 1, 1993. The meet-and-greet went well and he gave out many photos and autographs before boarding the sponsor’s plane to head to Bristol, Tenn., where he was to race that weekend. During the flight, the weather turned from a cold rain to an dangerous icy mix.

The plan crashed, killing Kulwicki and three other people on board. He was 38.

Kulwicki’s friends and family mourned his loss at his home parish in Wisconsin, St. Adalbert’s, where he is buried. And on April 1 of every year, a Mass is celebrated at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in his name. Kulwicki’s estate generously donated winnings from the International Race of Champions (IROC) to Brenner’s Children’s Hospitals, the Women’s Auxiliary of Motorsports (WAM) and St. Thomas Aquinas Church Charities.

The next time you find yourself in the chapel at St. Thomas Aquinas Church, glance up at the pencil sketch of Kulwicki and say a prayer for him. He was a man who achieved much, a NASCAR legend, but it was never beneath him to kneel and pray in that same chapel.

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catholicnewsherald.com | May 24, 2013 OUR PARISHES

Where are you going?

QUO VADIS DAYS 2013 June 24-28 * Belmont Abbey College

A camp for Catholic men ages 15-25 to learn more about the priesthood, deepen their faith, and help discern God’s call in their lives.

www.charlottediocese.org/vocations

May 24, 2013 | catholicnewsherald.com

For the latest news 24/7: catholicnewsherald.com

In Brief

3 Charlotte seminarians graduate May 11

New Redemptorist parochial vicar joins Concord, Kannapolis

Military Mass planned for July 7

HIGH POINT — Pennybyrn at Maryfield, a continuing care retirement community, is partnering with the Shepherd’s Center of Greensboro to promote independence and active lives among older adults in Guilford County. The partnership is based on the two organizations sharing charitable missions and faith-based values. “The Shepherd’s Center of Greensboro is delighted to partner with Pennybyrn at Maryfield. We share a spiritual and compassionate concern for the growing population of senior adults living in Greater Greensboro. This collaborative venture will certainly strengthen the capabilities of both organizations,� said John Ansbro, executive director of the Shepherd’s Center of Greensboro. “There is great excitement among our residents and staff to work alongside the Shepherd’s Center of Greensboro. Our organizations are both committed to enriching the quality of life for older adults in the best

CHARLOTTE — Bishop Peter J. Jugis will celebrate a Mass for U.S. military personnel at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, July 7, at St. Patrick Cathedral in Charlotte. The Mass and rosary (to be recited at 3 p.m.) will be offered for all military personnel who have died and for those who are now serving.

All military personnel are invited and encouraged to come in uniform.

Photos of those who have died or who are now serving in the military will be displayed in the cathedral. To include your service member, preferably in uniform, mail a color or black/ white photocopy of them with their name and military rank on the back of the photocopy to: Nancy Weber, Office of the Bishop, 1123 South Church St., Charlotte, NC 28203, to be received no later than July 2. (Please do not send original photographs as they will not be returned.)

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The second Saturday of May was a joyful day at the Pontifical College Josephinum, as the only pontifical seminary outside of Italy held its 114th baccalaureate Mass and commencement exercises. Diocese of Charlotte seminarians Peter Ascik, Brian Becker and Christopher Bond were among the college’s 36 graduates, each earning a Bachelor of Philosophy.

More than 200 parents, family members and friends of the graduates attended the day’s festivities. Baccalaureate Mass in St. Turibius Chapel was celebrated by Rev. Msgr.

Christopher J. Schreck, rector and president of the seminary. “It is our joy to welcome you to the

Josephinum,� he said, “to witness this historic and formative moment in the lives of your sons and brothers, who take a major and memorable step toward the fulfillment of their vocations.�

Monsignor Schreck was joined at the altar by Rev. Msgr. Charles Singler, vocations director for the Diocese of Toledo, and Father Paul Noble, vocations director for the Diocese of Columbus, as well as other visiting priests and priestfaculty of the Josephinum.

Monsignor Singler gave the homily, focusing on the meaning of discipleship. “The students who are graduating from this institution today have been confronted by the very notion of Christian discipleship,� he said, “the open and free consent to emulate Jesus on the cross. The seminary is not the final stretch or the end or the goal to be championed. It is really a matter of learning to be a faithful son and a witness to Christ – being a follower.� — Carolyn Dinovo, Pontifical College Josephinum

CONCORD — Redemptorist Father Aldrin Christopher Roswell Nunes has been appointed parochial vicar at St. James the Greater Church in Concord, effective April 23, Bishop Peter J. Jugis recently announced.

Father Nunes will serve both St. James the Greater Church, where Redemptorist Father Joseph Dionne is pastor, as well as St. Joseph Church in Kannapolis, where he will assist Redemptorist Father Alvaro Riquelme, pastor.

Born April 7, 1969, in India, Father Nunes was ordained to the priesthood on May 15, 1999.

OUR PARISHESI

way possible. Our residents look forward to participating in the wonderful programs offered through the Shepherd’s Center and many look forward to volunteering,� added Rich Newman, Pennybyrn at Maryfield community leader.

The continuing care retirement community of Pennybyrn at Maryfield offers a casual, comfortable approach to healthy retirement living. It is sponsored by the Sisters of the Poor Servants of the Mother of God. The Shepherd’s Center of Greensboro was first organized in 1987 by an interdenominational coalition of congregations in Greensboro. — Pamela Olson

— Catholic News Herald

Pennybyrn at Maryfield partners with Shepherd’s Center

SJN hosts sacred music concert CHARLOTTE — St. John Neumann Church was the setting for a spectacular presentation of selections from Duke Ellington’s “Sacred Concerts� and Dr. Peppie Calvar’s “Mass of Reconciliation� in concert with a full big band May 11. The production was a collaboration of the music ministry at St. John Neumann Church, headed by Calvar, along with Dragons Breath and Northwest School of the Arts.

The concert featured vocalists from St. John Neumann, Northwest School of the Arts, and the community at large. — Al Tinson and Howie Silinski

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Protect Conscience Rights and Religious Liberty: Urge Congressional Support for H.R. 940

The Obama Administrationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s contraceptive mandate will begin to be enforced on August 1.

Please email or call your representative and urge them to include the Health Care Conscience Rights Act (H.R. 940) in the next bill needed to keep the federal government operating. â&#x20AC;˘ Contact the U.S. Capital switchboard at 202-224-3121 or call your representativeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s local office. â&#x20AC;˘ Additional contact information may be found at www.house.gov.

Please act today to protect conscience rights and religious liberty!

Visit www.usccb.org and click on â&#x20AC;&#x153;issues and actionâ&#x20AC;?.

Tilt’n B Farm 18

catholicnewsherald.com | May 24, 2013 OUR PARISHES

For the latest news 24/7: catholicnewsherald.com Asheville, North Carolina

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CCDOC.ORG

Belmont parish hosts community shredding event BELMONT — A Community Shredding Fundraising Event was held May 4 at Queen of the Apostles Church in Belmont. According to event organizer, parishioner George Burazer, the event had several aims: to provide people with a convenient way to protect their security and dispose of sensitive documents safely, to help protect the environment by making sure waste paper gets recycled, and to raise money for environmental stewardship and energy efficiency activities. Event partner PROSHRED Security donated one of its mobile shredding trucks and the staff time of two employees for the three-hour event.

About 45 households brought documents to be shredded, and ProShred employees reported that the shredding truck was more that half filled with paper to be recycled. More than $600 was raised.

This is the third community shredding event held in the past year at Charlotte area parishes, sponsored by a regional coalition made up of five Charlotte-area Catholic parishes, Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte, and the Sisters of Mercy.

Pictured, Queen of the Apostles parishioner Cathy Pullen watches the video screen on the side of the ProShred truck as company employee Tim Nolley explains the process of how documents are destroyed and later recycled.

BOONE — Ann Mellon received the Family of God Award March 17 from Father David Brzoska, pastor of St. Elizabeth of the Hill Country Church in Boone. Family of God is the official religious recognition program for Catholic Girl Scouts in the second and third grades. The Family of God program helps girls to recognize how God is involved in their lives on a daily basis.

— Amber Mellon

Hero for Life scholarship available Room at the Inn is seeking applications for its Hero for Life Award, a $2,000 scholarship awarded annually to the most outstanding prolife teenager across North and South Carolina.

This year’s award considers pro-life service and leadership that occurred from May 1, 2012, to April 30, 2013. Go to www.rati.org and look under the “News and Events” tab to learn more and download an application. The application deadline is May 31.

— Joseph Purello

Girl Scouts honored at St. Matthew Parish

ALBEMARLE — Knights of Columbus members at Our Lady of the Annunciation Church in Albemarle honored mothers of the parish recently by giving them long-stemmed roses as they arrived for Mass. Pictured are Josie Thomas receiving a flower from Felix Zyra.

In other news from the Albemarle parish, the Daughters of Mary recently concluded a fund drive to benefit the parish.

CHARLOTTE — The Girl Scouts at St. Matthew Church in Charlotte recently held its annual Girl Scout Mass for all troops sponsored by the church. Following Mass, religious awards were presented.

Lee Christian-Clinton was presented the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Diocesan Award for her years of service and contributions as a Girl Scout Ministry Leader at St. Matthew and serving the spiritual needs of the Catholic girls in Girl Scouts.

Katharine Johnson and Caroline Gorman of Girl Scout Troop 7501 earned the Marian Medal, the religious program award for Catholic Cadette Girl Scouts in middle school. The Marian Medal program began in 1956 with the goal of inspiring Catholic young people to become stronger members of their faith and to see Mary as a model for all stages of their lives. The Marian Medal was the first religious recognition program developed for youth of any denomination who are members of the Girl Scouts in America. Katharine and Caroline have earned the Catholic Religious Award at each level of Girl Scouts.

— Dore Espina

— Nannette Gorman

Working as One:

Binding Society through a Faithful Marriage and Family Fr. Joseph Koterski shares an enlightened perspective in his lecture Living Our Faith: Wisdom of St. Paul on Family, Marriage and Society. Visit our website for more details.

Salisbury, Charlotte, Huntersville and Mocksville. June 3-5 El evento en Mocksville será ofrecido también en español.

Catholic Charities, formerly known as Catholic Social Services, relies on your direct support to help fund its various ministries.

Mothers honored in Albemarle

May 24, 2013 | catholicnewsherald.com

OUR PARISHESI

Nuns get on the bus for immigration reform CHARLOTTE — The nationwide “Nuns on the Bus” campaign by members of NETWORK, a Catholic social justice lobby led by Sister Simone Campbell, S.S.S., executive director, will stop in Charlotte Friday, May 31, to highlight the urgent need for comprehensive immigration reform.

St. Peter Church in Charlotte will host the event, which will start at 7 p.m.

The Nuns on the Bus campaign will start May 29 across from Ellis Island at Liberty State Park in New Jersey and end with a rally June 18 in the shadow of San Francisco’s Angel Island.

Learn more online at www.networklobby.org/ bus.

Knights announce essay contest winners HENDERSONVILLE — The Knights of Columbus Council 7184 in Hendersonville recently announced the winners of its 10th annual essay contest conducted at Immaculata School. The contest, cosponsored with Blue Ridge Assembly 2130 since 2002, challenges the students in grades 6-8 to write up to 500 words on a patriotic theme chosen jointly by the Knights and school staff. This year the students wrote about their greatest American hero. The essays were judged by a three-member panel from the council and the winners announced at an Immaculata School assembly May 20. The top three winners from each grade received a commemorative medal and a cash award.

Winners were: n Sixth grade: Andrew Okpych, first place; Jackson Carter, second place; Katherine Pace, third place n Seventh grade: Sam Hess, first place; Sara Congdon, second place; Connor Leidner, third place n Eighth grade: Lauren Kanipe, first place; William Kater, second place; Archie Case, third place They are all pictured with Supreme Knight Roger Mehrtens, Grand Knight Jim Gedwellas, Supreme Knight Fred Carberry and Supreme Knight Sam Altomere.

14th annual Columbiette State Convention held RALEIGH — Columbiettes from around the state gathered for the 14th Annual N.C. Council Columbiettes Convention in Raleigh April 26-27.

Pictured are the newly elected officers for the 2013-2014 year: (from left) Arlene Herr, guide; Megan Hauser, State Treasurer; Sara Archer, State Secretary; Marlene Korn, State Vice President; Anne Sullivan, Immediate Past President; Pam Komlofske, State President, Supreme President Pam Desaulniers; Ginny Grant, State Financial Secretary; Maggie Herbstritt, State Advocate; Linda Arrigo, guide; and Kris Miller, Installation Officer.

Columbiettes work with Knights of Columbus councils as auxiliary organizations.

North Carolina has 10 auxiliaries, with two more auxiliaries being formed at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Charlotte and at Fort Bragg. Any Knights council wishing to obtain information to form a Columbiette auxiliary should contact dmherb3816@yahoo.com.

— Maggie Herbstritt We welcome your parish’s news! Please email news items and photos to Editor Patricia L. Guilfoyle at plguilfoyle@ charlottediocese.org.

Let’s keep talking.

Bishop of Charlotte requests the honor of your presence to the Diaconate of Paul David McNulty

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Reception following Great Hall

19

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catholicnewsherald.com | May 24, 2013 OUR PARISHES

Celebrating different cultures at Pentecost CHARLOTTE — Pentecost is a favorite feast day for parishioners at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Charlotte.

On the Saturday before Pentecost, the parish held its sixth annual Multi-Cultural Festival. One of the most culturally diverse in the Charlotte diocese, the parish celebrates its unity and diversity by connecting it with the birthday of the “one, holy, catholic and apostolic church.” Parishioners from more than 20 countries on

five continents represented their heritage by serving their traditional food, dressing in traditional attire, and decorating their tables with national flags and other cultural symbols. Festival-goers could travel the globe while getting plenty to eat in just one afternoon! After feasting inside, they could work it off outside with a little music and dancing. Parishioners with ties to Poland, India and the Philippines showed off their country’s traditional

folk dancing, even offering impromptu lessons for anyone who wanted to jump in, and a singer crooned traditional Italian songs to the crowd’s enjoyment. There were even craft tables for the kids. The afternoon made for a funfilled family outing that was educational, too.

— Gretchen Filz

Photos by Doreen Sugierski | Catholic News Herald

Togo, officially the Togolese Republic, is a country in West Africa.

An Indian dancer

Dancers of the Philippines

The Polish dancers performed several dances in their colorful native costumes.

May 24, 2013 | catholicnewsherald.com

OUR PARISHESI

21

Puerto Rico was a delicious stop at the festival.

The Philippines food table was a festival favorite.

From left, dancers Ashlyn Joshy, 9, Neha Benny, 9, Anne Joshy, 4, and Rakhi Joshy holding Baby Ava who is 1.

Jennifer, Melanie, Worend and Ricardo provided the Ecuador experience.

The Filipino group proudly displays their pigâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s head that adorned the table beside the meat.

Little Camroonian-American Nicole-Sonia Toukoulou,3, spontaneously began to dance to the Polish music.

Mary and Deacon James Witulski

22

catholicnewsherald.com | May 24, 2013 OUR PARISHES

N.C. regulators have reported more than 40 problems at the Latrobe clinic during inspections that span 14 years.

VIOLATIONS: FROM PAGE 5

The Latrobe clinic is part of a chain of three abortion facilities, with locations also in Raleigh and in Augusta, Ga. The for-profit company’s website estimates its staff has performed abortions on more than 100,000 women over the past 20 years. The Latrobe clinic alone performed 4,220 abortions from Oct. 1, 2011, to Sept. 30, 2012, it reported on its license renewal application this year.

That’s an average of 13 abortions per day, and the most of any of Charlotte’s three abortion clinics.

State regulators have documented more than 40 problems inside the Latrobe clinic at least six different times over the past 14 years. Their file, hundreds of pages long, documents minor deficiencies such as incomplete or missing paperwork to improper medical care that jeopardized women’s lives.

Each time, Latrobe was allowed to reopen or keep operating after the clinic’s administrator and CEO, Lois E. Turner, and her husband, its medical director, Dr. Stuart Lee Schnider, assured state officials they were correcting the issues.

Latrobe’s brief closing last week, and a similar closing in 2007, are the only times when North Carolina regulators have closed an abortion clinic in nearly two decades.

REPEAT VIOLATOR

Regulators have found some violations at Latrobe repeated over multiple inspections: n A nurse was not present, as required, during abortion procedures in 2007 and 2012. n A nurse or doctor did not go along in the ambulance, as required, when complications arose during patients’ abortions and they had to be rushed to the hospital, in 2007 and 2012. n Inspectors found unsanitary exam rooms and unsterilized surgical instruments in 2007 and 2012. n Unlicensed staff were found administering medications in 2001 and 2007. n Staff failed to follow proper dosing instructions for medications. In 2007, they were diluting Rhogam with saline against the manufacturer’s recommendation, and in April they were found putting injectable methotrexate in cups for patients to drink. n Staff often did not document that they had checked patients’ vital signs, medical histories or even their conditions before, during and after the abortion – not even the women taken to the hospital following abortion complications – in 2007 and 2012.

Turner did not return multiple phone calls or emails over the past 10 days from the Catholic News Herald regarding these reports.

But in a 2007 interview with Creative Loafing, Turner said the problems were being corrected. She said most of the violations were clerical errors or complaints from a disgruntled employee, not indications of poor care, and she emphasized that she operates her three clinics with high standards.

PLAN TO FIX THE PROBLEMS

State health department spokesman Ricky Diaz said May 15 that Turner and Schnider had provided regulators with plans to correct the latest violations. Regulators will conduct a follow-up inspection at some point to verify that the Latrobe clinic complies with state rules, Diaz said. He added that regulators would more closely scrutinize it as a result of this latest round of violations.

What kind of scrutiny?

State inspections of abortion clinics are typically done every two years, depending on staff resources. During their surprise visits, two registered nurse inspectors tour the facility, review patient records, review clinic procedures and policies, and interview staff.

If inspectors find any violations, the clinic must submit a plan to correct them, including explaining what they will do differently, how they will ensure compliance, and how soon they will do it. State regulators follow up with an unannounced inspection later to verify compliance.

But state regulators do not have additional ways to deal with chronic violators, beyond issuing citations, conducting more inspections, and reviewing a clinic’s plan to correct the problems. It creates a circular dance between regulators and a clinic.

More online At www.catholicnewsherald.com: n Read more about the problems state inspectors found at A Preferred Women’s Health Center last December. n Where are abortion mills across the Diocese of Charlotte?

A LITANY OF VIOLATIONS

In 1999, state regulators cited A Preferred Women’s Health Center for six deficiencies, including inadequate laboratory procedures and surgical services. During a follow-up visit, inspectors noted all problems were corrected.

In 2001, inspectors found that an unlicensed “counselor,” not a nurse or a doctor as the law requires, had given multiple patients the anti-hemorrhage drug Methergine after their abortions. In his letter to Turner informing her of the violations, the state inspector thanked her and her staff for their cooperation and asked her to submit her plan for fixing the problem within 10 days. Seven months later, when the clinic’s operating license came up for renewal, the state inspector wrote Turner, “It is with pleasure that I inform you that the facility was found to be in compliance with the general health regulations under the North Carolina rules.”

In 2002, A Preferred Women’s Health Center moved from Park Cedar Drive to Latrobe Drive. Regulators inspected and approved the facility’s new location in the tree-lined office park off Wendover Road in southeast Charlotte.

But a little over a year later, inspectors were back. This time they found eight violations including irregularlymaintained equipment, expired medications and – most serious of all – inadequate post-operative exams of patients to make sure that the abortions were completed and that it was safe to discharge the patients.

State inspectors did not return to the Latrobe clinic until they got a complaint nearly three years later.

In 2007, EMTs responding to a call at the Latrobe clinic found a 25-year-old woman “laying on (an) extremely dirty floor without any type of barrier between patient and floor. Patient has bled on floor and self.” That was nearly three hours after clinic records indicated she had been discharged in good condition, and when inspectors interviewed the nurse, she could not explain why the report was wrong or why the patient had been on the floor. The nurse told inspectors the doctor had started the abortion about an hour before she arrived, a violation of state law, and when she entered the room, “the physician was suctioning the patient and trying to stop the patient from bleeding.” A staff member told the nurse, “I don’t know how long it was going on before I got here.”

The 2007 inspection documented six cases of women being taken to the emergency room with no medical staff accompanying them, as well as medication being dispensed by unqualified staff (just as inspectors had found in 2001), and missing employee records.

Inspectors also found pre-filled syringes containing a concoction of unknown drugs labeled “DLX” (staff called it “deluxe” and said they did not know who filled the syringes), an unlocked cabinet containing medicine cups filled with unlabeled pills, a personal prescription bottle of the antibiotic Cipro (staff said the doctor “likes to give Cipro ... for the 2-day procedure patients”), and Ziploc bags containing pills (prepared at the call center next door) that patients could buy at the front desk before they left.

When they went into the clinic’s two operating rooms, inspectors found unsanitary conditions: peeling paint on the exam tables, and rust on the exam tables’ stirrups and drawers. “A reddish brown colored substance was visualized on the floor surrounding the base of the examination table” in one operating room, inspectors noted. Turner later said it was rust from too much cleaning.

Surgical instruments were also not being cleaned according to state rules. A staff member told inspectors, “I came up with my own formula. I use 3 cups of Clorox, 3 cups of Mr Clean, Comet – only a little and a little Dawn (liquid dish detergent) and 1/2 basin of water.”

On Feb. 14, 2007, the agency cited Latrobe for 16 violations and informed Turner that it was suspending its operating license: “your facility’s violations ... endanger the health, safety and welfare of patients receiving services by the clinic.”

Five days later, Turner’s Raleigh attorney emailed the head of the regulating agency, Azzie Conley: “Lois

Turner and the staff in Charlotte have been working very hard over the past few days to address the problems cited during the survey.” Conley again warned Turner on Feb. 23 that the state intended to revoke the clinic’s operating license: “It is determined by our office that your facility’s violations with the above Statutes and Rules endanger the health, safety and welfare of patients receiving services by the clinic. The Department, therefore, intends to revoke your certificate,” but gave Turner up to 10 days to respond and show that she would comply with state rules.

Turner assured inspectors that the problems would be fixed. She added nursing staff, revised recordkeeping methods, and vowed to fire anyone who made multiple errors in charting patients’ vital signs and condition. “After this experience, we will tolerate no mistakes,” she wrote.

Regulators thanked Turner and her staff for their cooperation and allowed the clinic to reopen.

In less than a month after inspectors had reported the highest number of violations ever there, Latrobe was back up and running.

Inspectors followed up with two visits later that year, and returned once in 2009 and again in 2011 after receiving a complaint. They found nothing wrong.

But inspectors were back a year later, when another complaint triggered a surprise inspection on Dec. 11, 2012. This time, they discovered dead insects, blood splatters and dirty surgical instruments. They also found unqualified staff operating the ultrasound equipment, expired medications, unlocked medicine cabinets, and poor recordkeeping.

In addition, they found cases of two women being taken to the emergency room following botched abortions.

According to the clinic’s records, each women was put in an ambulance to go to the hospital, but no nurse or doctor went with them – just as in 2007.

The inspectors’ report quoted the nurse as saying, “I cannot leave, I am the only nurse here.”

Inspectors also again found unsanitary conditions in the operating rooms: unsterilized vaginal speculums kept in a dirty plastic bin, blood splatters on an exam light and chair, dead insects, a dusty exam table, a dirty ultrasound machine.

Turner gave regulators a written plan vowing to step up routine housekeeping, ensure that patients would not go to the hospital unattended, increase staff training, and improve recordkeeping.

During the inspectors’ follow-up visit to Latrobe last month, on the heels of that December investigation, they found three more problems and on May 10 suspended the clinic’s operating license a second time.

Inspectors found that staff were giving women injectable methotrexate (a chemotherapy drug also used to abort a baby at less than nine weeks’ gestation) in a cup to drink. State poison experts, the drug’s manufacturer and the health department’s own medical adviser all told inspectors that the injectable form of the drug should not be given orally. Instead, the pill form of methotrexate – which has a different dosage amount – should be used.

“The facility’s failure to administer the medication according to the manufacturer’s recommendation could affect the absorption of the medication. Therefore, the patient would not receive the intended dosage of medication ordered by the physician for the medical abortion procedure,” said the inspectors’ report.

According to the report, a 21-year-old woman who had been given methotrexate in a cup on Feb. 16, to abort her less than 5-week-old fetus, had to return to the clinic a month later for a surgical abortion after finding out she was still pregnant.

When inspectors interviewed him, the abortionist (who is not named in the report) denied knowing about how the methotrexate was given, saying, “I don’t order (the medication). The clinic decides. I just sign.”

Inspectors also found – for at least the third time – that post-operative exams on each patient were not being adequately documented.

In a report hand-delivered to Turner May 10, chief inspector Azzie Conley wrote that “conditions at A Preferred Women’s Health Center, LLC, present an imminent danger to the health, safety and welfare of the clients and that emergency action is required to protect the clients.”

The agency “hereby summarily suspends your certificate to operate ... You are hereby directed to close A Preferred Women’s Health Center, LLC, by no later than 5:00 o’clock p.m. on May 10, 2013.”

It was the exact same language Conley had used in her 2007 closure order. Only the date was different.

May 24, 2013 | catholicnewsherald.com

REOPENED: FROM PAGE 5

registered nurse â&#x20AC;&#x201C; signed a statement acknowledging Schniderâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s directive.

These health violations come on the heels of a similar investigation in December, when state inspectors found dead insects, blood splatters and dirty surgical instruments inside Latrobe.

At the time, state officials issued a warning to A Preferred Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Health Centerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s administrator and CEO, Lois E. Turner, and said they would continue to inspect the facility to ensure compliance with state health regulations.

Despite the stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s order to close May 10, workers continued to book abortion appointments at the Latrobe clinic May 13-14.

A clinic worker remained in contact with state regulators during that time as A Preferred Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Health Center tried to respond to correct the violations that inspectors had found, state email records showed.

One of those emails told regulators of a staff training session on May 13, in which call center employees were directed to inform callers that the Charlotte clinic was closed. A sign was posted to the door

PROTEST: FROM PAGE 5

The call center â&#x20AC;&#x201C; which books appointments for all three locations of A Preferred Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Health Center: Charlotte, Raleigh and Augusta, Ga. â&#x20AC;&#x201C; remained open to book appointments at the Latrobe Drive clinic starting on Wednesday morning.

By 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, May 15, patients were arriving to the clinic for their appointments.

Pro-life activists were there on that Wednesday morning as well, praying silently along the sidewalk and pleading with the women not to go into the clinic.

News of the facilityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s closure prompted cheers from pro-life advocates on May 13, then jeers on May 14 when the state health department gave the clinic the green light to reopen after the clinic submitted paperwork vowing to fix the problems.

Through social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter, pro-lifers encouraged supporters to contact McCroryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s office to complain about the facilityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s reopening. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The State of NC should not so easily allow an abortion clinic to reopen after these dramatic findings that endanger the health and well-being of women in our state of North Carolina,â&#x20AC;? wrote pro-life advocate Lisa Metzger on Facebook Tuesday.

Pro-life advocate Brice Griffin added that it was through social media that the public learned about Philadelphia abortionist and convicted murderer Kermit Gosnellâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;house of horrors.â&#x20AC;? Similarly, Griffin said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;without mainstream media on our side, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re forced to do the same to demand answers on why APWHC was able to reopen so quickly. â&#x20AC;&#x153;How many women and children might have been spared their fate if state officials had simply done their job and forced Gosnellâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s clinic to adhere to minimal regulations?â&#x20AC;? she asked. â&#x20AC;&#x153;As long as our local officials turn a blind eye to the truth, we will continue to fight to close down our own house of horrors.â&#x20AC;?

A member of McCroryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s communications staff did not have a comment May 16 about the pro-life campaign, stating, â&#x20AC;&#x153;The state Department of Health and Human Services

referring visitors to the managerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s office next door. A state inspector called the next morning to try making a same-day appointment at the Latrobe clinic, but the call center told her it was closed.

However, on May 13 at 1:23 p.m. and 2:14 p.m. and at 3:59 p.m. May 14 when the Catholic News Herald phoned the call center from a private phone, the call center staff did not mention the closure and said they were booking appointments at Latrobe through the week.

Health department spokesman Ricky Diaz did not respond as to whether inspectors called from their Raleigh office phones, or if they had considered that the Latrobe clinic might have caller ID on its phone system.

Diaz said May 15 that regulators would conduct a follow-up inspection at some point to verify that the Latrobe clinic was complying with state regulations.

He said he did not know if inspectors had returned to inspect the clinic between its closing on May 10 and its reopening on May 15, but no site visit was documented according to records provided to the Catholic News Herald from the state health department.

The morning of May 15, women began arriving at the Latrobe clinic for appointments. The facility had been closed for three business days.

is handling this investigation.â&#x20AC;?

Pro-lifers say they will continue their work to end all abortion, no matter whether A Preferred Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Health Center remains open or not. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We continue to work and pray for the day when the right to life of every innocent child in the womb is protected by law,â&#x20AC;? noted Bishop Peter J. Jugis.

Barbara Holt, director of North Carolina Right to Life, noted in an email, â&#x20AC;&#x153;What is happening at the abortion facility in Charlotte is no different than what is happening across our state and country.

Every abortion facility has one goal, a dead unborn child, regardless of how developed that child is or how much pain the child experiences when her or his body is torn apart during the abortion procedure or is starved to death by deadly concoctions.â&#x20AC;?

Andrea Hines, one of the pro-life advocates who has been praying outside the Latrobe facility for years, said she hopes it is closed permanently, but even more than that, she prays that people whose hearts are hardened to the reality of abortion may experience a conversion. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Really, our prayers are for the conversion of hearts,â&#x20AC;? Hines said. Otherwise, she said, there will continue to be abortions, and there will continue to be abortion facilities violating health regulations and jeopardizing womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s health.

OUR PARISHESI 23

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Our schools 24

catholicnewsherald.com | May 24, 2013 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

Holy Trinity outreach helps build library on other side of the world Girls’ leadership camp also funded SueAnn Howell Senior reporter

CHARLOTTE — Children and townspeople in the little mining village of Brieville, Madagascar, are getting a special gift with the help of Holy Trinity Middle School students and their families: a new library.

Led by Kelly Robinson, a former Holy Trinity student who is now a Peace Corps teacher in Madagascar, the middle school students have raised enough money to help build a library for the village’s public middle school, as well as fund a leadership camp for girls in the village.

To raise money, a hunt for the “Great Diamond Ringed Tailed Lemur” was held on the Holy Trinity campus.

Students raised $1,050. The Peace Corps allocated $750 of the donations for construction of the library, and the rest will fund the girls’ leadership camp.

Robinson, whose mom Beth is an art teacher at Holy Trinity Middle School, said she is amazed at the outpouring of support from the Charlotte community.

“It honestly has been the combined efforts of many people, without whom I could never have made this kind of a contribution,” she said.

Robinson teaches English to middle school and high school students in the public schools in this part of Madagascar, an island country in the Indian Ocean, located off the southeastern coast of Africa. About one quarter of the population is Catholic, about four million faithful.

“I think it is amazing that middle school students in America were so eager to help middle school students here in Madagascar. The library will also benefit the high school students and teachers in Brieville,” Robinson noted.

The library will cost about $4,500 to build. The people of Brieville have been able to gather the building materials but did not have enough money to start construction.

“The principal (of the local school) was the one who originally wanted it,” Robinson explained. “She promoted

THE ORATORY 434 Charlotte Avenue, P.O. Box 11586 Rock Hill, SC 29731-1586

(803) 327-2097

the idea and got a favorable response from the students’ parents. They collected money from the parents for some of the supplies. They asked if I could help pay for it, so I filled out a grant proposal. The money Holy Trinity raised is being used to pay for the labor and some of the supplies to build the library.”

Ground was broken for the library on April 12.

Center for Spirituality rockhilloratory.org

oratorycenter@gmail.com

Visions in Faith Sunday, June 16 – Wednesday, June 19, 2013 Sacraments and Sacramentality: Historical Foundations and Contemporary Trajectories Edward Foley, OFM Catholic Theological Union This year’s program of Visions in Faith will focus on the sacraments. Through a series of presentations you will explore the understanding of sacraments and sacramentality.

This event is offered for laity and religious, with a late afternoon / evening schedule suitable for commuters.

Cost: $125 Tuition All Sessions ($130 after June 1, 2013) $200 Room & Board ($210 after June 1, 2013) $40 per day rate $21 supper for commuters (Monday – Wednesday)

“This project will continue to bless the people of Brieville for many years to come,” Beth Robinson said.

“The library addresses a pressing community need and will be implemented by both Kelly and local partners.”

In a recent email update on the progress of the construction, Kelly Robinson said, “They have already gotten the walls up and are about to start on the roof.”

May 24, 2013 | catholicnewsherald.com catholic news heraldI

For the latest news 24/7: catholicnewsherald.com

In Brief

OLM Science Expo goes further WINSTON-SALEM — How do you get students excited about science? With the plans for our state’s future economy based on biotech, Our Lady of Mercy science teacher Nancy Farmer thinks it is important to get students interested in science. So that’s what she has done. After years of low attendance of science fair and the introduction of the new science Essential Standards from the state, Farmer developed a program that provided students with an enjoyable environment for science enrichment and a way to acknowledge their efforts: Science Expo, held at OLM on May 6.

Science Expo was a six-month project that gave middle school students experience in research, experimentation, scientific writing, activity creation and presentation. They worked in groups to develop ideas around a given theme and structured an experiment based on their ideas. The students then created an interactive

display to demonstrate on Science Expo day.

Science Expo was an all-day event for the whole school and school community. Projects were set up in the morning and judged according to scientific standards and creativity.

The afternoon was devoted to the interactive demonstrations and games based on their projects for the elementary students. That evening, parents and others in the community filled the gym to view and participate in the projects. At the conclusion of the evening, awards were presented to the students who had achieved the highest scores.

Winners were: Best Experimentation, eighthgrader Delaney Fay, “Solar Powered Water Desalination”; Best Research Paper, eighthgraders Nicole Harrison, Emily Olson, Casey Martin and Mary Mulqueen, “The Happenings of Hurricane”; Best Display, eighth-graders Joanna Crookshank, Ryan Jerdon and Nick Ottati, “Can the Temperature of Water Affect the Rate of the Explosion?”, and Best Interactive Model, eighthgraders Emma Fritts, Rebecca Gillen, Sarah O’Connor, Nelly Lara and Isabelle Role, “Bending Water.”

Pictured are eighth-graders Joanna Crookshank, Ryan Jerdon and Nick Ottati, who won a prize for the best display about underwater volcanos.

— Lara Davenport

Bishop McGuinness Roses Club raises money for Peru KERNERSVILLE — The Bishop McGuinness Roses Club recently raised money to sponsor a child in Peru to attend Catholic school for the upcoming school year. The child was sponsored through the Educate-A-Child Program at St. Pius X Church in Greensboro. The Roses Club is a service organization dedicated to doing small acts of service for both the school and outside communities. The club tries to help in any way possible without seeking recognition because it

honors St. Thérèse’s “little way” concept. The club has also raised money recently for Brenner Children’s Hospital.

According to Club Officer Brynna Tremblay, a senior at Bishop McGuinness High School, the club recently heard of this opportunity to sponsor a child from Peru. “It was a perfect opportunity for the club to display our act of kindness without being noticed or recognized because that is what the club is about, in honor of St. Thérèse,” Tremblay said. “The club was very excited to sponsor this child from Peru because we had heard of doing this before, but it was something new to the club.”

— Jeff Stoller

25

Students perform at bookstore GREENSBORO — Our Lady of Grace School first-graders recently performed at the Barnes and Noble Bookstore at Friendly Center in Greensboro. The students read poems and showcased artwork that illustrated their readings.

— Karen L. Hornfeck

Storyteller visits St. Ann School

MACS students celebrate their community CHARLOTTE — St. Patrick School’s fifth-grade students, along with all other Mecklenburg Area Catholic Schools (MACS), recently spent a day full of games and activities with Charlotte Catholic High School seniors. The fifth-graders got to meet and bond with other students from sister schools. It was a day to celebrate faith, community and a strong sense of identity and belonging in the MACS family.

— Anastasia Walter

CHARLOTTE — Storyteller, author and educator Brian “Fox” Ellis visited students at St. Ann School April 15-16.

Since 1980 Ellis has been touring the world as a performer and educator. He entertained the students with his “Adventures in Nature” performance which celebrates our relationships with all of creation.

Ellis also provided individual workshops for the kindergarten through fifth-grade classes and presented an afterschool in-service for the faculty. The workshops focused on an integrative approach to creative writing across the curriculum.

— Lisa B. Horton

Join us for SonFest!

June 14-5:00-11:00 June 15-1:00-11:00

• RIDES-Merry-Go-Round, Bungee Trampoline, Ferris Wheel and Gyro Extreme!

• FOOD-Ethnic and carnival favorites such as hot dogs, Italian sausage, hoagies, cotton candy, funnel cakes and more!

• GAMES- Balloon darts, milk bottle knock down, spinning wheel, high striker and the dunk tank • SILENT AUCTION-Bid on items such as vacation getaways, electronics, a Panthers tailgate party, restaurants, salons and more!

• MUSIC-Continuous live music!

• Special appearance by Drex and Maney on Friday night of the “Drex and Maney” morning show on KISS 95.1 FM! Join us for the fireworks show on Saturday night, sponsored by Keffer Automotive Group!

Admission to SonFest is free, but you can purchase tickets for food, rides and games at the gate.

St. John Neumann Catholic Church 8451 Idlewild Rd.. Charlotte For more information, visit http://4sjnc.org/sonfest.

Mix 26

catholicnewsherald.com | May 24, 2013 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

On TV

For the latest movie reviews: catholicnewsherald.com

n Saturday, May 25, 5 a.m. (EWTN) “Saint Margaret Clitherow.” The remarkable story of life and death of St. Margaret Clitherow, an English Catholic martyr, who was executed for hiding hunted Catholic priests during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.

In theaters

n Saturday, May 25, 8 p.m. (EWTN) “The Way To Life.” A look into the mysterious way in which God calls men to follow Him, including a story on the life of a young man who travels the Way of St. James and is inspired to know more about the religious vocation.

Photos provided by Paul Nixon

McLeansville sculptor Paul Nixon works on crafting an image of the Lamb of God from wood. The sculpture was installed at St. Thomas More Church in Chapel Hill on May 18.

‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ In this second chronicle of their early professional lives, dynamic, impetuous Capt. Kirk (Chris Pine) and his seemingly emotionless half-Vulcan, half-human first officer Spock (Zachary Quinto) lead their intrepid crew on a high-stakes, sometimes morally fraught crusade against an intergalactic terrorist. The fundamental message of Abrams’ spectacular adventure - a warning against employing immoral means to overcome evil - is both scripturally resonant and timely. But the parents of teen Trekkies will need to weigh the profit of that lesson against the debit of some sensual imagery and vulgar talk. Possibly acceptable for older adolescents. Much bloodless battling but also occasional harsh violence, some sexual content, a few uses of crude language.

CNS: A-III (adults); MPAA: PG-13

‘The Great Gatsby’ Splashy, adaptation of the classic 1925 novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Narrator Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire), recounts his friendship with the iconic self-made man and would-be social insider Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio) whose obsessive love for Nick’s alluring but married cousin Daisy Buchanan (Carey Mulligan) leads first to adultery, then to a confrontation with Daisy’s caddish husband Tom (Joel Edgerton) and finally to tragedy. Director and cowriter Baz Luhrmann creates a fablelike setting that distances viewers from Fitzgerald’s characters and lessens the impact of their downfall.

Scenes of both lethal and nonlethal violence with minimal gore, an uncritical view of adultery, a glimpse of partial nudity, a few uses of profanity, a couple of crude terms, a religious slur.

CNS: A-III (adults); MPAA: PG-13

Additional reviews: n ‘Peeples’:CNS: O (morally offensive); MPAA: PG-13

McLeansville artist sees his work as evangelization MARIAN COWHIG OWEN Correspondent

GREENSBORO — One gift changed Paul Nixon’s life.

Today the McLeansville man is a working artist, with sculptures on display throughout Guilford County. His latest, a sculpture of the Lamb of God, was installed at St. Thomas Online More Church in Chapel Hill At www.paulnixonart. on May 18. But com: See more of Paul 14 years ago he Nixon’s artwork was just a man receiving a wooden lathe.

It came from his wife’s uncle, Harold Raley Dunn. “I’d never used one … but I was very keen to learn,” Nixon says; he knew a bit about woodworking because of his father, a cabinetmaker. His first project: a walking stick for Dunn’s wife Mary. It lacked a little something.

“I picked up a knife and I just thought, I could take a chance here and see if I could carve what’s in my mind into the wood.”

When the walking stick was finished, it had an immediate impact. “When she saw it,” Nixon says, “she just broke down and cried.

“I realized then that I had something that was worth exploring.”

It wasn’t until a few years later, however, that Nixon was truly able to explore his gift for sculpture – with some help from above.

Nixon was balancing his work as a sculptor with a full-time job. In 2002, just after the oneyear anniversary of his father’s death, he asked him for help in discerning his path.

“I turn to God every day for help, of course, but my father was my father and he was always there,” Nixon says. He asked his father to intercede on his behalf.

At Mass at Our Lady of Grace Church the following Sunday, Nixon was surprised to hear his father’s name, along with Martin Luther King Jr.’s, read during the Prayers of the Faithful. Unbeknownst to him, a friend had submitted his father’s name. It was scheduled to

be read at a later Mass, but the priest celebrating that morning had felt compelled to read Nixon’s father’s name along with King’s.

The next day Nixon received his first commission: a peace totem pole for Triangle Lake Elementary School in High Point, to include King’s face. Later that week, he got a phone call that kickstarted another project: a statue for a Greensboro fire station.

Nixon knew his father had something to do with it.

“These were projects that were given to me because of his intervention,” he says. Though they were challenging projects – the totem pole had a tight deadline, and the firefighter sculpture needed to be in bronze, a new material for him – he was confident. Because his father was backing him, “I knew I couldn’t fail.”

Nixon’s career has grown steadily since then.

A stint with Greensboro’s Marshall Gallery allowed him to focus on art full-time. His work graces several Guilford County churches, with projects such as carved wooden doors for the confessionals at Our Lady of Grace, and carvings to adorn a monstrance for St. Pius X Church; and the tabernacle at St. Paul the Apostle Church.

One project close to Nixon’s heart is a memorial for the VFW post in Summerfield. At its dedication last November, he recognized a special guest: Dunn, who’d been a colonel in the U.S. Army. “Through his gift, it allowed me to find my gift,” Nixon says. “It was such a gift to be able to recognize him in that way.”

In 2011 Nixon joined the Creative Center, a Greensboro artist consortium. In addition to his role as an instructor, he views his position there as an evangelical one. As a Catholic, he’s in the minority among the community of artists.

“I bring a light into that community that allows people to ask, ‘Why is he so happy?’”

He strives to be an example of what religious faith can do: “My work allows me to show the positive side of faith in Jesus Christ.”

Nixon says the path his life has taken over the past several years has shown him that anything is possible.

“The possibilities are there for you. By taking a chance and pushing forward, we’re all capable of so much more than we ever dreamed.”

n Saturday, May 25, 9 p.m. (EWTN) “Alter Christus.” Reflections from various cardinals on important aspects of the priesthood. n Monday, May 27, 6:30 p.m. (EWTN) “Never Far From Home.” A look at the life of Catholic military chaplains and their experiences as pastors, guides, friends, confidants and confessors. n Monday, May 27, noon-2 p.m.

(EWTN) “Archdiocese for the Military Services Memorial Mass.”

Archbishop Timothy M. Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services celebrates this Mass in Washington, D.C. n Tuesday, May 28, 6:30 p.m. (EWTN) “For God and Country.” Documentary about Father Al Schmitt, the first Catholic chaplain killed in World War II. n Wednesday, May 29, 6:30 p.m.

(EWTN) “Sowers of Peace and Joy.” Learn how Opus Dei spreads the Social Gospel of the Church all over the world. St. José Maria Escriva explained that Christians working in the world should live just one life, made of flesh and spirit, a life that is holy and filled with God. n Thursday, May 30, 1-4 p.m. (EWTN) “Solemnity of Corpus Christi Mass and Procession from Rome.” Pope Francis presides over the Mass on the feast of Corpus Christi and the subsequent Eucharistic Procession, broadcast live from Rome. n Wednesday, June 5, 6:30 p.m.

(EWTN) “Eucharist – Real Presence.”

Father Robert Barron offers insights into the mystery of Christ’s Real Presence in the Eucharist. n Thursday, June 6, 2 p.m. (EWTN) “Saint Margaret Mary and the Sacred Heart.” The story of St. Margaret Mary and the mission Christ gave her to spread devotion to His Sacred Heart; includes a tour of her convent in Paray-le-Monial, France. n Friday, June 7, 5:30 p.m. (EWTN) “Reminders of God’s Love: The Sacred Heart and the Divine Mercy.”

Jesuit Father Mitch Pacwa expounds upon the Divine Mercy and the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Our nation

May 24, 2013 | catholicnewsherald.com catholic news heraldI

Memorial Mass honors ‘countless sacrifices’ made by military WASHINGTON, D.C. — “We give thanks for countless sacrifices and we pray for the families who still suffer the ravages of war. Those scars do not fade easily,” said Archbishop Timothy M. Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, at a May 19 memorial Mass honoring the nation’s war dead and those “wounded warriors” injured in the line of duty.

“Those afflicted in mind and body and those who love them still pay the price for defending our way of life,” Archbishop Broglio said in his homily at the Mass, celebrated at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. The memorial Mass was the military archdiocese’s 19th annual liturgy held in remembrance of the nation’s war dead.

“We are able to be here in prayer,” Archbishop Broglio said, “because women and men have set aside their security, their plans, their families and what is familiar in order to serve this nation whose foundation is based on principles: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.’”

He added, “Those sentences from the Declaration of Independence mean that the United States was not established, because of a common ethnic or racial origin, or a common language, or those other elements that characterize many other nations of the world.

It is based on certain self-evident truths: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

“How can we fail to pray for those who have assured those principles throughout the 237 years of our national existence? How can we fail to be true to our own?”

“We also pray for the fallen so that they might also dwell in the presence of the Author of all.

Many are buried not far from here in Arlington National Cemetery,” Archbishop Broglio said.

“Do not those rows of white markers urge us to beg the Holy Spirit to move the minds and hearts of those who govern to seek peace, to engage in dialogue, and to consider the force of arms as a last resort?”

Archbishop Broglio serves as national spokesman for the Catholic Cemetery Conference’s Memorial Day weekend project, “Serving God and Country: A Memorial Day Salute to Our Heroes.” More than 2,000 cemeteries across the country were scheduled to participate in the project with such activities as wreath-laying ceremonies, tribute boards and military choirs.

The archbishop also noted in his homily that May 24 he was scheduled to lead a group of wounded warriors and their families from the U.S. to the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in France for the 55th International Military Pilgrimage, which draws soldiers and family members from 35 countries. The U.S. military archdiocese, the Knights of Columbus and the Lourdes Volunteers organization were cosponsoring the trip.

As for those who never made it back home, “the remains of others rest in France, Italy, Germany, and elsewhere,” Archbishop Broglio said at the shrine. “Those of Father Emil Kapaun (a Korean War chaplain whose sainthood cause has been advanced) have never been found.

However, he and all the rest continue to live in the hearts of their loved ones and in the fabric of this nation.”

— Catholic News Service

27

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In Brief Judge stops Ark. abortion ban

CNS | Gene Blevins, Reuters

Two girls stand in rubble after a tornado struck Moore, Okla., May 20. The tornado touched down outside Oklahoma City leaving a 20-mile path of death and destruction.

Tornadoes exact deadly toll; region needs ‘a lot of prayers right now’ Catholic News Service

OKLAHOMA CITY — Even after the initial death toll was cut by more than half, the human and material devastation of tornadoes that buffeted areas of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City May 19-20 was incalculable.

“Our first concern is for the victims who have lost their lives or loved ones and suffered injury or loss of property,” said a May 21 statement by Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City.

“We are moved by the efforts of the first responders who have put their own lives on hold to help in this time of need. We owe them a debt of gratitude and assure them of our prayers,” Archbishop Coakley said.

St. Andrew the Apostle Church in Moore, an Oklahoma City suburb that bore the brunt of the EF-5 tornado that hit mid-afternoon May 20, was spared, although it lost phone service, power and water in the wake of the twister. Archbishop Coakley said May 21 he planned to visit the site that day. He added the Our Lady of Guadalupe Youth Camp had suffered “some pretty severe structural damage” in the initial round of tornadoes May 19.

The revised number of those confirmed dead stood at 24, including at nine children, as of May 22, down from the original estimate of 51. The May 20 twister left a 20-mile path of death and destruction and injured more than 200.

Archbishop Coakley said the consensus is that this twister “even surpasses the one that’s become even the most well-known one in Oklahoma – May 3, 1999.

They’re saying that this one appears to have been even greater in terms of damage and property that has been destroyed.”

Officials with the Society of St. Vincent de Paul were expected to arrive in Norman May 21 to meet with members of the society’s local conferences in the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City to assess needs of tornado victims.

“We’re trying to make a determination of unmet needs and what our appeal will be,” Elizabeth Disco-Shearer, executive director of the society’s south-central region, said as her three-member team traveled from West, Texas, where she was assisting families who lost homes in a mammoth fertilizer factory explosion April 17.

Her office has also been assisting families in the north Texas communities of Granbury and Cleburne struck by violent tornados in mid-May. “In the southcentral region, we certainly need a lot of prayers right now,” she said.

“Catholic Charities OKC and we as an archdiocese will work with many others to ensure a smooth and comprehensive response not only to the immediate needs of those affected by the violent storms, but also to their long-term needs as they rebuild their lives,” Archbishop Coakley said. “We’re not as evident as other first responders,” citing the American Red Cross as an example. “We focus on the longterm recovery efforts to help people rebuild their lives long after the disaster’s struck.”

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Opponents of Arkansas’ newest abortion law made good on their promise of legal action May 17, asking a federal court to grant a preliminary injunction of Arkansas’ Human Heartbeat Protection Act, enacted during the General Assembly in March. The U.S. District judge granted the motion, meaning the law cannot go into effect in August as scheduled, pending the legal issues.

The law narrows the window for most abortions in the state to prior to 12 weeks, the point at which a baby’s heartbeat can typically be detected. It makes exceptions for cases of rape, incest, threat to the life of the mother or lethal fetal abnormalities.

The law was, at the time of passage, the most restrictive abortion law in the country.

Bishop: Vermont ‘death state’ with doctor-assisted suicide WASHINGTON, D.C. — Now that Vermont allows “doctor-prescribed” suicide, “the magnificent landscape of this state, which echoes life from its majestic mountains to its powerful waterways, no longer is reflected in the laws which govern the Green Mountain State,” said the head of the statewide Diocese of Burlington. “Vermont is now identified as one of the few death states where it is legal for life to be terminated at its beginning and end stages,” said Bishop Salvatore R. Matano May 20, a little more than an hour after Gov. Peter Shumlin signed into law a bill legalizing physician-assisted suicide.

“It is a tragic moment in the rich history of our state that our elected officials have passed and signed into law legislation placing medical professionals in the position of legally prescribing medicines with the sole intention of terminating human life,” the bishop said.

Vermont is the first state to have such a law passed by the legislature. Physicianassisted suicide was legalized in Oregon and Washington by ballot initiatives and in Montana by court ruling.

Annual audit: Number of abuse allegations has dropped WASHINGTON, D.C. — The annual audit of diocesan compliance with the U.S. Catholic Church’s “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People” found a drop in the number of allegations, number of victims and number of offenders reported in 2012. Georgetown University-based Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, which gathered data for the report, found “the fewest allegations and victims reported since the data collection for the annual reports began in 2004.”

Most allegations reported last year were from the 1970s and 1980s with many of the alleged offenders dead or removed from active ministry. StoneBridge Business Partners, which conducts the audits, said law enforcement found six credible cases among 34 allegations of abuse of minors in 2012. The credibility of 15 of the allegations was still under investigation. Law enforcement officials found 12 allegations to be unfounded or unable to be proven, and one was a boundary violation.

— Catholic News Service

Our world 28

catholicnewsherald.com | May 24, 2013 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

Pope, visiting shelter, says Christian charity is witness of God’s love Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY — Marking the 25th anniversary of the Missionaries of Charity soup kitchen and women’s shelter at the Vatican, Pope Francis said that while unbridled capitalism has taught people that money is more important than anything else, works of Christian charity witness to God’s love for each person.

“Unbridled capitalism has taught the logic of profit at any cost, of giving in order to receive, of exploitation without looking at the person,” Pope Francis said May 21, visiting the “Dono di Maria” or “Gift of Mary.” The results of such attitudes, he said, “we see in the crisis we are now living through.”

The facility is inside the Vatican walls near the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Paul VI audience hall; it serves meals to about 60 people each day and offers accommodation to 25 women.

“In these years, how many times you have bent down to those in need like the good Samaritan,” the pope told the sisters. “You have looked into their eyes, you have given them a hand to help them up. How many mouths you have fed with patience and dedication.

How many wounds, especially spiritual ones, you have bound up.”

Following the Indian tradition, the sisters placed a garland of flowers around the pope’s neck as he arrived for the visit.

Pope Francis said modern men and women need to recover their understanding of what a gift is, what it means to offer something without expecting anything in return and what it means to be in solidarity with the suffering.

For Christians, he said, charity is not a social obligation, but a sharing of “the love of God, the charity of God.” Pope Francis said the shelter, “on the border between the Vatican and Italy,” should be “a strong reminder to us all – the Church, the city of Rome – to be ever more a family, a ‘home’ that is ready to welcome, to give attention, to foster brotherhood.”

Blessed John Paul II gave the building to Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta May 21, 1988, and visited the facility and the people it serves eight times. Pope Benedict XVI also visited the shelter.

Pope Francis said that between the beatified pope and the beatified founder of the Missionaries of Charity, the Dono di Maria is “something between saints, between the blessed.”

He told the women who live at the shelter that the house really is theirs since it was planned and opened for them.

And, he said, while it may have been a gift to them in their need, “you are a gift to this house and to the Church. You tell us that loving God and your neighbor isn’t something abstract, but profoundly concrete; that means seeing in every person the face of the Lord to be served and to serve Him concretely.”

CNS | Stefano Rellandini, Reuters

Pope Francis waves at the end of a Mass where he canonized the first Colombian saint, as well as a Mexican nun and some 800 Italians martyred by Ottoman Turks in the 15th century.

Recent words from Pope Francis Diversity is a blessing when all are united in faith VATICAN CITY — Calling for unity – not uniformity – in the Church, Pope Francis said diversity is a blessing only when all Catholics recognize and follow Church teaching. “It is the Church which brings Christ to me and me to Christ; parallel journeys are dangerous,” he told some 200,000 members of Catholic lay movements and groups during a Pentecost Mass in St. Peter’s Square. “When we venture beyond the Church’s teaching and community, and do not remain in them, we are not one with the God of Jesus Christ,” he said during his homily at the Mass May 19, concluding a weekend dedicated to movements, including the charismatic renewal, Focolare movement, Neocatechumenal Way, Regnum Christi, Communion and Liberation and others. Pope Francis said Church leaders and Church members need to allow the Holy Spirit to inspire different movements and gifts within the Church, but also to allow the Holy Spirit to unite them all in one Church under the authority of their pastors.

End to cult of money and global, ethical finance reform needed VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis called for global financial reform that respects human dignity, helps the poor, promotes the common good and allows states to regulate markets. “Money has to serve, not to rule,” he said in his strongest remarks yet as pope concerning the world’s economic and financial crises. A major reason behind the increase in social and economic woes worldwide “is in our relationship with money and our acceptance of its power over ourselves and our society,” he told a group of diplomats May 16. “We have created new idols” where the “golden calf of old has found a new and heartless image in the cult of money and the dictatorship of an economy which is faceless and lacking any truly humane goal.” The pope made his remarks during a speech to four new ambassadors to the Vatican presenting their letters of credential. The new ambassadors from Kyrgyzstan, Antigua and Barbados, Luxembourg and Botswana will not be residing in Rome. The Vatican spokesman, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, told journalists it was the pope’s “first forceful speech on the economic and financial crisis,” social justice, and the attention needed to the world’s poor.

Church needs believers with zeal, not couch-potato Catholics VATICAN CITY — The Church doesn’t need couch-potato Catholics, it needs

believers with “apostolic zeal,” willing to preach the uncomfortable words of Christ, Pope Francis said. “And if we annoy people” with this zeal for Christ, then “blessed be the Lord,” he said in his daily morning Mass homily May 16. The pope celebrated Mass in the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae, where he lives. In his homily, the pope talked about the day’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles. St, Paul caused a near riot during his trial in Jerusalem when he addressed a group of men divided over the belief in the resurrection of the dead. “Paul is a nuisance” in his preaching, his work and his attitude, the pope said, “because he proclaims Jesus Christ.”

Focusing on self rather than Jesus makes prayer boring VATICAN CITY — If a person’s prayer life is boring, that generally means that he or she is focused too much on the self and not enough on Jesus and the needs of others, Pope Francis said during a morning Mass homily.

“True prayer leads us out of ourselves toward the Father in the name of Jesus; it’s an exodus out of ourselves,” the pope said May 11 during Mass in the chapel of his residence, the Domus Sanctae Marthae.

Pope Francis said prayer typically involves two forms of exodus: one “toward the wounds of Jesus, and the other toward the wounds of our brothers and sisters. This is the path Jesus wants our prayer to take.”

Ascending to heaven after His death and resurrection, Jesus “went to the Father, leaving the door open,” not because “He forgot to close it,” but because “He Himself is the door.”

Comfortable living causes ‘gentrification of the heart’ VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis warned against “gentrification of the heart” as a consequence of comfortable living, and called on the faithful to “touch the flesh of Christ” by caring for the needy. The pope’s words came in a homily during Mass in St. Peter’s Square May 12, when he canonized the first Colombian saint, as well as a Mexican nun and some 800 Italians martyred by Ottoman Turks in the 15th century.

Mexico’s St. Maria Guadalupe Garcia Zavala (1878-1963), the pope said, gave up a “comfortable life to follow the call of Jesus, taught people to love poverty, in order the more to love the poor and the sick. How much damage does the comfortable life, well-being, do,” the pope added, looking up from his prepared text. “The gentrification of the heart paralyzes us.” The Mexican saint, known as Mother Lupita, “knelt on the floor of the hospital before the sick, before the abandoned, to serve them with tenderness and compassion,” and in doing so, “touched the flesh of Christ.”

— Catholic News Service

May 24, 2013 | catholicnewsherald.com catholic news heraldI

reported worldwide Church figures as of Dec. 31, 2011.

For the latest news 24/7: catholicnewsherald.com

Pope says Catholics, Coptic Orthodox united by ‘ecumenism of suffering’

In Brief Portuguese cardinal entrusts Pope Francis to Our Lady of Fatima FATIMA, Portugal — Entrusting Pope Francis’ pontificate to Our Lady of Fatima, Cardinal Jose da Cruz Policarpo of Lisbon, Portugal, asked Mary to give the pope courage and strength, particularly as he moves to renew and reform the Church. “Give him the gift of discernment to know how to identify the ways of renewal of the Church; give him the courage not to hesitate to follow the ways suggested by the Holy Spirit; support him in the hard hours of suffering to overcome with the charity the trials that the renewal of the Church will bring,” the cardinal prayed May 13, the feast of Our Lady of Fatima.

Cardinal Policarpo recited the prayer, which he wrote himself, at the end of a Mass concluding a major international pilgrimage to Fatima for the feast day marking the 96th anniversary of the apparition of Mary to three children. “We consecrate to you, Our Lady, mother of the Church, the ministry of the new pope,” he prayed. “Fill his heart with the tenderness of God that you experienced so that he can embrace all the men and women of our age with the love of your Son Jesus Christ.”

Police evacuate Notre Dame Cathedral after reported suicide PARIS — Visitors were evacuated from Notre Dame Cathedral after a man committed suicide in the 850-year-old church, police said. News agencies reported that the man in his 70s walked up to the main altar and shot himself the afternoon of May 21 as tourists and worshippers were in the church. France’s BFMTV reported the man was writer and essayist Dominique Venner, who was identified as a conservative who was a staunch opponent of same-sex “marriage.” The news outlet said a suicide note was found next to his body.

The reports were not clear whether the cathedral was closed. Church officials said only that it had been evacuated. It was not immediately clear how many people were inside the building at the time of the incident. Some 13 million people visit the cathedral annually.

French Catholic leaders have been outspoken as they led opposition to the country’s samesex “marriage” law, signed by President Francois Hollande May 18.

Syriac bishop: Extremism in the region jeopardizes Syrian Christians’ safety JERUSALEM — Growing extremism in Syria could jeopardize the safety of all Christians, said Syriac Catholic Bishop Gregoire Melki of Jerusalem. “It is a very sad situation and we are really anxious,” he said May 18, following a special prayer service in Jerusalem. “We are very anxious when we remember what happened to the Christians in Iraq. We fear the same thing will happen to the Christians in Syria.”

“Those who can, escape,” said Bishop Melki, who said he remains in contact with Church leaders in Syria. “For more than two years there has not been a solution (to the violence). We have to pray.” Although the situation is dire for all Syrians, it is even more so for the Christians because they are a minority, and in such chaotic situations it is always the minority which is attacked first, he said.

He said hoped this would not signal the end of the Christian community in Syria. “We have the

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CNS | Ricar do Moraes, Reuters

Young people carry the World Youth Day cross during its arrival in Icarai beach in Niteroi, Brazil, May 19. Pope Francis will travel to Brazil on his first international trip as pontiff to attend the World Youth Day gathering July 23-28. hope of Jesus, that is our faith, but if we look at this with human eyes (we see the situation) is dangerous,” he said.

C.A.R. bishops: Christians subject to pillage, rape

on him rather than on the papal election.

Sainthood cause of 16th-century Jesuit moves to Vatican

BANGUI, Central African Republic — Islamist rebels who have taken over Central African Republic are targeting Christians and their churches, and the population is “living in permanent anguish,” said the Catholic bishops’ justice and peace commission. “What abominable acts, what humiliating, degrading and inhuman forms of treatment: Not knowing what to do next, the population is living in permanent anguish, amid fear, pillage, rape, injustice, violence and the settling of scores,” the commission said in a May 5 statement signed by its president, Bishop Albert Vanbuel of Kaga-Bandoro.

In a statement that named numerous Church workers and buildings attacked, the commission said that, in the early days of May, people had been left scarred and traumatized by gun battles in the capital, Bangui, while rebel alliance members “continue to kill each day. Our country has shifted very negatively since the arrival in power of a rebel chief, self-proclaimed as a republic president,” said the commission.

VATICAN CITY — Although it has taken more than 400 years, the sainthood cause of Jesuit Father Matteo Ricci, the 16th-century missionary to China, appears to be back on track. Bishop Claudio Giuliodori, apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Macerata, Italy, where Father Ricci was born in 1552, formally closed the diocesan phase of the sainthood process May 10. The cause now moves to the Congregation for Saints’ Causes at the Vatican.

Bishop Giuliodori had met Pope Francis, a Jesuit, at the Vatican the first week of May. He wrote in the Macerata diocesan newspaper, “I never imagined I’d be able to speak about the cause of Father Matteo Ricci with a Jesuit pope.

After the great attention given by Benedict XVI, who never missed an occasion to encourage us to promote the cause, we now have the joy of placing it into the hands of a Jesuit.” The bishop said when he spoke to Pope Francis about the cause, the pope highlighted Father Ricci’s “innovative method of evangelization based on the inculturation of the faith” and the missionary’s courage and humility in learning from the Chinese.

Vatican tells cardinal to leave Scotland for period of prayer, penance

Vatican: Church growing worldwide, especially in Asia, Africa

VATICAN CITY — Scottish Cardinal Keith O’Brien, who resigned as archbishop after admitting to sexual misconduct, will leave Scotland “for several months for the purpose of spiritual renewal, prayer and penance,” the Vatican said. Any decision about when the period will end or where the cardinal will live permanently will be made in agreement with the Vatican, said a Vatican statement May 15.

Retired Pope Benedict XVI accepted Cardinal O’Brien’s resignation Feb. 25 after a British newspaper reported details about complaints of three priests and a former priest who alleged Cardinal O’Brien had made homosexual advances toward them.

The cardinal initially denied the allegations but said he would not be in Rome for the conclave to elect a successor to Pope Benedict because he did not want media attention to be

VATICAN CITY — The number of Catholics in the world and the number of bishops, priests, religious men and seminarians all increased in 2011, while the number of women in religious orders continued to decline, according to Vatican statistics. The number of permanent deacons is showing “strong expansion” globally, but especially in Europe and the Americas, it said. At the end of 2011, the worldwide Catholic population reached 1.214 billion, an increase of 18 million or 1.5 percent, slightly outpacing the global population growth rate, which was estimated at 1.23 percent, said a statement published May 13 by the Vatican press office.

Catholics as a percentage of the global population remained “essentially unchanged” at around 17.5 percent, it said. The statement reported a handful of the statistics contained in the Statistical Yearbook of the Church, which

VATICAN CITY — Marking 40 years of ecumenical dialogue, Pope Francis told the leader of 10 million Coptic Orthodox that their churches are united by an “ecumenism of suffering. Just as the blood of the martyrs was a seed of strength and fertility for the Church, so too the sharing of daily sufferings can become an effective instrument of unity,” Pope Francis told Pope Tawadros II May 10. The remark appeared to refer to increased violence over recent decades against Coptic Christians in Egypt, including a car bomb that exploded outside a church in Alexandria on New Year’s Eve 2011, killing at least 21 people.

The principle of unity through suffering “also applies, in a certain sense, to the broader context of society and relations between Christians and non-Christians,” Pope Francis said. “From shared suffering can blossom forth forgiveness, reconciliation and peace, with God’s help.”

Orthodox Christians make up about 9 percent of Egypt’s population of 85 million, which is 90 percent Muslim. Catholics in Egypt, who are in full communion with Rome, number about 165,000.

Pope tells sisters the Church needs them, they need the Church VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis told 800 superiors of women’s orders from around the world that the Church needs religious women and that religious women need to be in harmony with the faith and teachings of the Church.

“What would the Church be without you?” the pope told the women May 8. “It would be missing maternity, affection, tenderness and a mother’s intuition.” Religious superiors, Pope Francis said, need to ensure their members are educated in the doctrine of the Church, “in love for the Church and in an ecclesial spirit.”

Quoting Pope Paul VI, he said: “It’s an absurd dichotomy to think one can live with Jesus, but without the Church, to follow Jesus outside the Church, to love Jesus and not the Church.”

The sisters, who came from 76 countries, were in Rome for the plenary assembly of the International Union of Superiors General.

— Catholic News Service

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catholicnewsherald.com | May 24, 2013 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

Father Patrick Winslow

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‘The Christian should never approach the Church as a means of simply personal satisfaction, concerned only about being fed.’

What can we learn from Pope Francis?

and indefatigable enemy. The Holy t appears as if popes have Father does not shy from speaking about something on their mind when the devil in clear and decisive terms. first elected. One might call it a Second, there is the fallen state of man diagnosis and a proposed remedy for and his tendencies. Specifically, we have current ails. With Pope John Paul II, an aversion to the cross and the conflict it was a message of hope to a world that lies therein. Finally, he points to filled with fear. One can still hear him the worldly forces of secularism, which repeating the admonition of Christ, tell us that there is no place for God “Be not afraid.” (John 6:20) Pope in the modern world. Christians may Benedict XVI heralded a message of believe what they want, but only if the continuity, affirming that the teaching message stays locked up inside church of Christ and the nature of His sacred buildings. The message of the Gospel is mysteries do not change from one era not welcome in the world. to another. Benedict stressed, “Jesus With all of these forces working Christ is the same yesterday and together, the picture is clear. Pope today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8) Francis has sized up the origin of the So what of Pope Francis? Is it too Church’s current ailment of selfearly to glean his take on the current referentialism in classic spiritual terms: situation in which the Church finds the world, the flesh and the devil. herself ? I think not. Having paid close If a renewed sense of the evangelical attention to his public statements, it spirit is the Holy Father’s prescription seems there is a concern foremost on for this problem, then it must be his mind. It can be summed up in a asked what does an unencumbered simple word: evangelization. If I were and healthy evangelical zeal look to ascribe to him a scriptural moniker like? Having entered the seminary it would be: “Go, therefore, and make Detail of the St. Francis of Assisi window at 20 years ago, I have heard the term disciples of all nations.” (Matthew 28:19) Immaculate Conception Church in Forest City “evangelization” used in just about Consider the emergent theme Pope every possible context. The trend of recent times has Francis presents after only a short period of time. He been to speak about everything as evangelization. warns that if the Church does not evangelize the world But if everything is evangelization, then nothing is she becomes sickly and lethargic. He cautions of spiritual evangelization. If something cannot be distinguished from worldliness, a self-serving spirituality that is little more anything else, then it has lost all meaning. It seems Pope than self-absorption wrapped in the garments of religion.

Francis means to reclaim the term, to express it in its Recall his first homily to the College of Cardinals: “We can walk all we want, we can build many things, but if we don’t simplest and most concrete way.

Specifically, evangelization is the bringing the light of proclaim Jesus Christ, something is wrong.” He went on the Gospel and of Jesus Christ into the darkness of a fallen to say, “When we don’t proclaim Jesus Christ, we proclaim world. To do so is a constitutive dimension of the Christian the worldliness of the devil, the worldliness of the demon.” life apart from which the Christian turns in on himself.

If the Church is not about the work of proclaiming “No one who lights a lamp hides it away or places it under Jesus Christ to the world, then she turns in on herself. She a bushel basket, but on a lampstand so that those who becomes self-absorbed. Afflicted in this way, the Christian enter might see the light.” (Luke 11:33) For this reason Our is primarily concerned about how the Church serves him Lord commands us to “go, therefore, and make disciples of or her, and the practice of one’s faith becomes a mere all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and pacifier. It becomes self-referential, a common phrase of Pope Francis. Churches become places where the Christian of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 28:19) Herein soul falls asleep, and pastors turn into babysitters. To avoid lies the mission of the Church – of all the baptized, not just priests and religious. this affliction the Holy Father calls us to set aside our In short, Pope Francis reminds us that bringing the self concern and is keen to remind us of the Christian’s light of the Gospel to the world is the evangelical mission responsibility to proclaim Jesus Christ to the world, to instituted by Christ. The Christian should never approach those who do not know Him. Not doing so, from his point the Church as a means of simply personal satisfaction, of view, warrants a stern critique. We become complicit concerned only about being fed. To be nourished by the with the evil one, entering into something of a truce with vast riches of our faith is only half the equation. The the devil and his worldliness.

Christian must then come out of himself and proclaim to Why are we susceptible to self-referentialism? What is behind this tendency to be self-serving that prevents us from the world, “Jesus Christ is Lord.” bringing the Gospel out to the world? From his short time Father Patrick Winslow is the pastor of St. Thomas Aquinas Church in in office, it is fairly clear that Pope Francis sees the classic Charlotte. spiritual enemies at work. First, there is the devil, an active

David Hains

Close that unhealthy health center

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he Gosnell abortion mill in Philadelphia and A Preferred Woman’s Health Center in Charlotte have something in common: little regard for human life. It should come as no surprise that women are being mistreated in these facilities since unborn children are in mortal danger whenever their pregnant mothers cross the threshold.

The mistreatment of the unborn is a slippery slope that now has adult women on the downslide inside abortion facilities. The back alleys that pro-abortion forces fear have been exchanged for dreary office park “clinics.” Shoddy treatment in these facilities routinely puts women in danger.

The state of North Carolina and its Department of Health and Human Services appeared to be vigilant when it closed A Woman’s Preferred Health Center on May 10, citing an “imminent danger” in the treatment of women. But this thorough investigation and a careful attentiveness to patient safety evaporated when the center was allowed to reopen a few days later.

State records show that the clinic staff swore – a notary seal proves this – that they wouldn’t do the offensive things again and – presto! – A Woman’s Preferred Health Center was back in operation. Our investigation shows that the center never even stopped taking appointments.

It almost seems that state regulators are more concerned about unemployed abortionists than they are about the patients in a medical facility.

There is no justification for making it easy for A Woman’s Preferred Health Center to resume business so quickly because this isn’t the first time inspectors have found problems at the abortion mill on Latrobe Drive. The center was cited for serious violations as recently as December 2012 and it was shut down for infractions in 2007.

What does it take for the state to recognize that a business presents an ongoing threat to the public?

What has to happen before the Department of Health and Human Services admits that this disgusting facility not only provides little benefit to the public but also endangers the unfortunate people who dare to enter?

We know that if A Woman’s Preferred Health Center is closed permanently, another abortion mill will probably take its place. There are two others already operating in Charlotte, and more across our diocese.

Bishop Peter Jugis, on hearing of the brief closing, was not triumphant, but had sober words of advice.

He said we need to continue to pray, “until the right to life of every innocent child in the womb is protected by law.”

Amen. But closing this abortion center permanently will make a clear statement that even the women who enter the killing floor of A Preferred Woman’s Health Center, who are making a wrong, sinful decision, should not be treated like the discarded lives they are about to deliver.

David Hains is the communications director for the Diocese of Charlotte.

Most-read stories on the web Through press time on May 22, 5,053 visitors to www.catholicnewsherald.com have viewed a total of 12,435 pages. The top 10 headlines in May so far are: n LATROBE: Charlotte’s troubled abortion clinic......................1,822

n Former Belmont and Newton pastor, Fr. Hokanson, dies........ 140

n Photos: Honoring Mary, the Mother of God.................................133

n Monroe pastor leads pilgrimage to Shrine of St. Dymphna...275

n Catholic Charities: Renewing roots in charity.............................131

n Father Matthew Buettner: Radical Christianity...........................80

May 24, 2013 | catholicnewsherald.com catholic news heraldI

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Letter to the editor

Peggy Bowes

Honor thy mother: Devotions to Mary “We never give more honor to Jesus than when we honor His Mother, and we honor her simply and solely to honor Him all the more perfectly. We go to her only as a way leading to the goal we seek – Jesus, her Son.” — St. Louis de Montfort, “The True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin”

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s the month of May is devoted to the Blessed Mother, it’s a perfect time to start or renew a Marian devotion. Here are a few ideas: 1. First Saturdays: At Fatima, Mary gave us this devotion to make reparation for the blasphemies and ingratitude directed toward the mother of Jesus. There are many blessings for those who participate in this devotion for five consecutive first Saturdays. There are four elements: confession, Holy Communion, rosary prayer, and meditation on one or more of the mysteries for 15 minutes.

2. The Angelus: This prayer honoring the Annunciation is traditionally said at 6 a.m., noon and 6 p.m. daily but can certainly be prayed at any time. It’s easy to memorize and teach to children.

3. Total Consecration to Mary: This devotion definitely requires some time and commitment but will bring tremendous blessings to your life. It’s outlined in the books “True Devotion to Mary” and “The Secret of Mary” by St. Louis de Montfort (or find information online). Choose a date for the consecration (traditionally an important Marian feast day), prepare for 33 days, and then make the final consecration on the feast day.

4. Mary Undoer of Knots: A painting of Mary by an unknown artist around 1700 inspired this devotion, based on the quote

by St. Irenaeus, “Eve, by her disobedience, tied the knot of disgrace for the human race; whereas Mary, by her obedience, undid it.”

The devotion is a novena during which you pray the rosary with daily meditations. You can order an inexpensive booklet at www.

MaryUndoerOfKnots.com or search for the prayers online.

5. The Miraculous Medal: When worn around the neck, this medal brings great graces. It is not a “good luck charm” but serves as a reminder to ask the Blessed Mother for her powerful intercession.

6. Plant a Mary Garden: A beautiful Catholic tradition is to plant a garden of flowers and place a statue of Mary in their midst. You could also place a bench or outdoor chair nearby as a quiet and peaceful place for prayer and meditation.

7. Our Lady of Surprises: I’d never heard of this until just recently. A simple little prayer that I plan to say often: “O Mary, my mother and Our Lady of Surprises, what a happy joy you caused the wedding guests, when you asked your Divine Son to work the miracle of water into wine. What a happy surprise for them since they thought the wine had run dry.

I, too, Mary, love surprises and as your child, may I ask you to favor me with one today? I ask this only because you are my ever caring mother. Amen.”

Peggy Bowes is a member of Holy Angels Church in Mount Airy and author of “The Rosary Workout” (www.rosaryworkout. com).

Deacon James H. Toner

Which Bible should you read?

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omeone recently asked me what the letters mean in the Bible citations I give in this column. I explained that NAB means New American Bible, RSV is the Revised Standard Version, and the DRB is the Douay-Rheims Bible.

“That’s very confusing,” he said. “Yes and no,” I replied.

Since May 19, 2002, the revised Lectionary, based on the New American Bible, is the only English-language lectionary that may be used at Mass in the dioceses of the United States, but there are also many other translations of the Bible available to suit your personal preference. Immediately, we find ourselves at the center of a debate about language, however, for each version translates from the original text a bit differently. For example, Psalm 1 in the NAB reads, “Happy those who do not follow the counsel of the wicked.” The New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE) translates Psalm 1 as “Blessed is the man...”

Is it all right to refer to God as “Father”? Or should there be use of, say, the word “Creator” to refer to God? There can be debate about such translations in some cases, but not always. Baptisms must never be done in the name of the “Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier” instead of “Father, Son and Holy Spirit,” for example.

The Revised Standard Version-Catholic edition (RSV-CE) is customarily the translation used for academic work in the Church, and the explanatory notes in the RSV-CE are excellent.

“Man” is the word it uses in Psalm 1. I often use the NAB Catholic Study Bible, but some may be unhappy with its more contemporary explanatory notes. The Jerusalem Bible (JB), translated from French, is among my favorites. If you seek “gender-neutral” or “politically correct” language, then the New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) would be a good choice. It consistently translates “Lord” as “Yahweh.”

The brilliant priest-editor of an excellent Catholic journal recently accused me – in jest – of a catalogue of mental and moral errors when I “dared” to use a quotation in my article from the Good News Bible-Catholic Study Edition, which offers a contemporary translation. Psalm 1 starts with “Happy are those.” I find that, upon occasion, its contemporary translation can complement more traditional translations.

Some will contend that the Bible should be — Hebrews 4:12 RSV gender-neutral, while others will contend that the only Bible we should ever use is the DouayRheims Bible – not views that I share.

The DRB version of the New Testament was published in 1582, and the Old Testament was published in 1609, so it preceded the King James Version of 1611. The DRB employs very traditional language, beautiful in many ways, if sometimes a little difficult for modern ears. Compare the GNB Proverbs 10:13: “Intelligent people talk sense but stupid people need to be punished” with the DRB translation, “In the lips of the wise is wisdom found: and a rod on the back of him that wanteth sense.” In many cases, the psalms in the DRB are one number lower than those found in other Catholic bibles (so that the 23rd Psalm in the NAB is the 22nd in the DRB). That said, the DRB is an excellent translation, and its language and imagery are often majestic. If a man (or person) gains the whole world and loses everything, how would you translate that loss? The NAB, RSV and GNB state it (in Matthew 16:26) as “life.” The DRB: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul?” That does make the point clearer and more cogent! Be aware, too, that the DRB uses traditional names for many biblical books: 1 and 2 Chronicles in, say, the NAB are 1 and 2 Parlipomenon in the DRB. No matter what translation of the Bible that you prefer to use, here are a few recommendations: n Be sure that the Bible you’re reading has an imprimatur, which is found usually on or near the title page. The imprimatur is not intended to endorse a certain translation but only to testify that the Bible in your hands is free from doctrinal heresy. n When possible, read two or three translations of the same text. For example, pair the NAB or GNB with the DRB to more fully understand the meanings of the scripture. n Use the Bible feature at www.newadvent.org – a splendid guide and reference.

Which Catholic Bible should you read and study? Answer: the one (or two) you will read and study!

“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12 RSV). Amen!

‘For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit ...’

Deacon James H. Toner serves at Our Lady of Grace Church in Greensboro.

Vatican II called for post-conciliar liturgical adaptations The April 26 Catholic News Herald commentary entitled “The Honest 411 on Vatican II” discussed a participant’s experience at an adult education series in the diocese. The course, “The 411 on Vatican II,” was sponsored by the Growing in Faith and Theology (GIFT) program, a collaborative adult education effort among eight Catholic parishes in the Charlotte area.

The commentary was upsetting in both content and tone. While the author has clearly studied the documents of Vatican II, he would like us to understand the teaching of the council through a strict reading of the texts, ignoring the work of post-conciliar groups called for by the council itself (see “Sacrosanctum Concilium,” 21-22, 35-36) and appointed

by Pope Paul VI. He is right that the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy did not mention the reorientation of the priest at Mass or mandate a shift to the uniform use of vernacular languages in the liturgy. The council did, however, leave room for both when it gave the authority to legitimately established territorial bodies of bishops to determine the extent to which the liturgy should be adapted to meet local needs, including the use of vernacular languages.

More upsetting was the way in which fellow Catholics who positively view these legitimate reforms were critiqued. The claim that “opinion and misinformation about Vatican II often triumph over honest and objective catechesis” implied that the presenter was dishonest and subjective.

While the author is entitled to his opinion, we would hope he would try to foster unity among the faithful, instead of building walls which divide us.

The Second Vatican Council was clear that elements of the liturgy “ought to be changed with the passage of time if they have suffered from the intrusion of anything out of harmony with the inner nature of the liturgy or have become unsuited to it” (“Sacrosanctum Concilium,” 21). As our Catholic community continues its ongoing discernment of ways to enhance the liturgy’s ability to make God’s ever-present grace more perceptible, let us do so in ways which lift up, not tear down. As the “reform of the reform” continues in Charlotte, may no Catholic hold in contempt those who experience God’s grace through different liturgical forms.

Monsignor John J. McSweeney is the pastor of St. Matthew Church in Charlotte.

Letters policy The Catholic News Herald welcomes letters from readers. We ask that letters be originals of 250 words or fewer, pertain to recent newspaper content or Catholic issues, and be in good taste.

To be considered for publication, each letter must include the name, address and daytime phone number of the writer for purpose of verification. Letters may be condensed due to space limitations and edited for clarity, style and factual accuracy.

Mail: Letters to the Editor Catholic News Herald 1123 S. Church St. Charlotte, N.C. 28203 E-mail: catholicnews@charlottediocese.org

catholicnewsherald.com | May 24, 2013 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

‘ The Mystery of Faith: Open the Door to Christ Ninth Eucharistic Congress, September 13 & 14, 2013 Charlotte Convention Center

Father Thomas J. Loya The Mystery of Faith and the Theology of the Body

Bishop Oscar Cantú The Eucharistic Lord Jesus - the Door to Heaven

Dr. Christopher Kaczor Seven Big Myths about the Catholic Church

Padre Julio Domínguez Profesamos Nuestra Fe Cada Domingo en la Misa

Father Michael Gaitley Hearts Afire: Parish Based Evangelization

Mother Dolores Hart, OSB The Ear of the Heart and the Door to Christ

Jesús Heriberto Félix Guerra Hombre Distinguido por su Fe

GoEucharist.com

OF FAITH RY R TO CHRIST: O

THE MYS

Bishop Peter J. Jugis Holy Mass Celebrant

T EN THE D E OP O

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NINTH EUCHARISTIC CONGRESS DIOCESE OF CHARLOTTE, SEPTEMBER 13 &14, 2013