Jan. 3, 2014

January 3, 2014

catholicnewsherald.com charlottediocese.org S E RV I N G C H R I ST A N D 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

Diocesan Support Appeal campaign surpasses $5M goal in 2013,

MARCHING FOR

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LIFE

INDEX Contact us.......................... 4 Events calendar................. 4 Our Faith............................. 2 Our Parishes................. 3-10 Scripture readings............ 2 TV & Movies........................11 U.S. news...................... 18-19 Viewpoints.................. 22-23 World news.................. 20-21

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FUNDED by the parishioners of the diocese of charlotte THANK YOU!

2013 Christmas spirit evident across the diocese,

A look back at the year’s top stories,

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Our faith 2

catholicnewsherald.com | January 3, 2014 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

Pope Francis

Pope: In new year, step outside your comfort zone, get involved

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he new year will be brighter only if everyone steps outside their safe havens, gets involved and works together to solve local problems with generosity and love, Pope Francis said.

As 2013 comes to a close, let everyone ask God for forgiveness and thank Him for His patience and love, the pope said as he presided over a Dec. 31 evening prayer service in St. Peter’s Basilica.

May Mary “teach us to welcome God made man so that every year, every month, every day be overflowing with His eternal love,” he said on the eve of the feast honoring her as Mother of God. Leading the annual “Te Deum” prayer service to thank God for his blessings in 2013 and the gift of salvation in Christ, the pope asked people to reflect on how they have spent the past year – the precious days, weeks and months the Lord has given as a gift to everyone.

“Have we used it mostly for ourselves, for our own interests, or did we know to spend it for others, too? How much time did we set aside for being with God, in prayer, in silence, in adoration?”

People should also reflect on how they used their time to contribute to their communities.

The quality of life in a community – how it runs and looks – depends on everyone, he said in his homily, which he delivered standing from a lectern.

“A city’s face is like a mosaic in which the tiles are all those who live there.”

While public officials and other leaders certainly have more responsibility, “everyone is coresponsible, for the good and bad.”

“Have we contributed, in our small way, to making (our communities) livable, orderly, and welcoming? What will we do, how will we act in the new year to make our city a little bit better?”

“Everyone has the right to be treated with the same attitude of welcome and fairness because everyone possesses human dignity” and is part of the same human family, he said.

Pope Francis said Rome, like all communities, will be more beautiful, hospitable, welcoming and kind “if all of us are attentive and generous toward whoever is in difficulty; if we know how to collaborate with a constructive and caring spirit for the good of all people.”

Every community will be a better place “if there are no people who watch it ‘from afar,’ like a picture postcard, who observe its life only ‘from the balcony’ without getting involved” directly with the many problems of the men and women who, “whether we want it or not, are our brothers and sisters.”

St. Anthony of Egypt remembered for his radical monastic legacy Feast day: Jan. 17 On his Jan. 17 feast day, both Eastern and Western Catholics will celebrate the life and legacy of St. Anthony of Egypt, the founder of Christian monasticism whose radical approach to discipleship permanently impacted the Church.

In Egypt’s Coptic Catholic and Orthodox Churches, which have a special devotion to the native saint, his feast day is celebrated on Jan. 30.

Anthony was born around 251 to wealthy parents who owned land in the present-day Faiyum region near Cairo. During this time, the Catholic Church was rapidly spreading its influence throughout the vast expanses of the Roman empire, while the empire remained officially pagan and did not legally recognize the new religion.

In the course of his remarkable and extraordinarily long life, Anthony would live to see the Emperor Constantine’s establishment of Christianity as the official religion of the Roman empire. Anthony himself, however, would establish something more lasting – by becoming the spiritual father of the monastic communities that have existed throughout the subsequent history of the Church.

Around the year 270, two great burdens came upon Anthony simultaneously: the deaths of both his parents, and his inheritance of their possessions and property. These simultaneous occurrences prompted Anthony to reevaluate his entire life in light of the principles of the Gospel – which proposed both the redemptive possibilities of his personal loss, and the spiritual danger of his financial gains.

Attending church one day, he heard – as if for the first time – Jesus’ exhortation to another rich young man in the Biblical narrative: “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow Me.” Anthony told his disciples in later years that it was as though Christ had spoken those words directly to him.

He sold everything he owned and donated the proceeds, setting aside a portion to provide for his sister. Although organized monasticism did not yet exist, it was not unknown for Christians to abstain from marriage, divest themselves of possessions to some extent, and focus their lives on prayer and fasting. Anthony’s sister would eventually join a group of consecrated virgins.

Anthony himself, however, sought a more comprehensive vision of Christian asceticism. He found it among the hermits of the Egyptian desert, individuals who chose to withdraw physically and culturally from the surrounding society to devote themselves more fully to God. But these individuals’ radical way of life had not yet become an organized movement.

After studying with one of these hermits, Anthony made his own sustained attempt to live alone in a secluded desert location, depending on the charity of a few patrons who provided him with enough food to survive. This first period as a hermit lasted between 13 and 15 years.

Like many saints both before and after him, Anthony became engaged in a type of spiritual combat against unseen forces seeking to remove him from the way of perfection he had chosen.

These conflicts took their toll on Anthony. When he was around 33 years old, a group of his patrons found him seriously ill and took him back to a local church to recover.

Photo courtesy of www.gardenvisit.com

This Coptic Christian monastery, founded by disciples of St. Anthony, is located near the mountain cave where the saint retreated from the world to pray and on the site where he is said to have been buried. Monks and pilgrims still make the journey to his cave every day to pray – 2,000 feet up the mountain, connected to the monastery by a steep, mile-long staircase.

This setback did not dissuade Anthony from his goal of seeking God intensely, and he soon redoubled his efforts by moving to a mountain on the east bank of the Nile River. There he lived in an abandoned fort, once again subsisting on the charity of those who implored his prayers on their behalf. He attracted not only these benefactors, but a group of inquirers seeking to follow his example.

In the first years of the fourth century, when he was about 54, Anthony emerged from his solitude to provide guidance to the growing community of hermits that had become established in his vicinity. Although Anthony had not sought to form such a community, his decision to become its spiritual father – or “abbot” – marked the beginning of monasticism as it is known today.

Anthony himself would live out this monastic calling for another four decades, providing spiritual and practical advice to disciples who would ensure the movement’s continued existence. According to Anthony’s biographer, St. Athanasius, the Emperor Constantine himself eventually wrote to the abbot, seeking advice on the administration of an empire that was now officially Christian.

“Do not be astonished if an emperor writes to us, for he is a man,” Anthony told the other monks. “But rather: wonder that God wrote the Law for men, and has spoken to us through His own Son.” Anthony wrote back to Constantine, advising him “not to think much of the present, but rather to remember the judgment that is coming, and to know that Christ alone is the true and Eternal King.”

St. Anthony may have been up to 105 years old when he died, sometime between 350 and 356. Following his instructions, two of his disciples buried his body secretly in an unmarked grave.

— Catholic News Agency

Your daily Scripture readings JAN. 5-11

Sunday (Epiphany of the Lord): Isaiah 60:1-6, Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6, Matthew 2:1-12; Monday: 1 John 3:22-4:6, Matthew 4:12-17, 23-25; Tuesday: 1 John 4:7-10, Mark 6:34-44; Wednesday: 1 John 4:11-18, Mark 6:45-52; Thursday: 1 John 4:19-5:4, Luke 4:14-22; Friday: 1 John 5:5-13, Luke 5:12-16; Saturday: 1 John 5:14-21, John 3:22-30

JAN. 12-18

Sunday (Baptism of the Lord): Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7, Acts 10:34-38, Matthew 3:13-17; Monday: 1 Samuel 1:1-8, Mark 1:14-20; Tuesday: 1 Samuel 1:9-20, Mark 1:21-28; Wednesday: 1 Samuel 3:1-10, 19-20, Mark 1:29-39; Thursday: 1 Samuel 4:1-11, Mark 1:40-45; Friday (St. Anthony): 1 Samuel 8:4-7, 10-22a, Mark 2:1-12; Saturday: 1 Samuel 9:1-4, 17-19, 10:1, Mark 2:13-17

JAN. 19-25

Sunday: Isaiah 49:3, 5-6, 1 Corinthians 1:1-3, John 1:29-34; Monday: 1 Samuel 15:16-23, Mark 2:18-22; Tuesday (St. Agnes): 1 Samuel 16:1-13, Mark 2:23-28; Wednesday (Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children): 1 Samuel 17:32-33, 37, 40-51, Mark 3:1-6; Thursday: 1 Samuel 18:6-9;19:1-7, Mark 3:7-12; Friday (St. Francis de Sales): 1 Samuel 24:321, Mark 3:13-19; Saturday (Conversion of St. Paul): Acts 22:3-16 or Acts 9:1-22, Mark 16:15-18

Our parishes

January 3, 2014 | catholicnewsherald.com catholic news heraldI

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2013 DSA campaign surpasses $5M goal SueAnn Howell Senior reporter

Photos by Doreen Sugierski | Catholic News Herald

Father Peter West of Human Life International accompanied a replica of the icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa, otherwise known as the “Black Madonna,” to Greensboro and Charlotte earlier this week. Besides its presence at Masses and periods of veneration at St. Paul the Apostle Church in Greensboro and St. Patrick Cathedral in Charlotte, the icon was taken to abortion facilities in both cities where hundreds of Catholics prayed for renewed respect for all human life. See more photos and a video of the icon’s visit to the Charlotte diocese online at www.catholicnewsherald.com.

Hundreds gather to pray for end to abortion Carolina Medical Clinic on Randleman Road in Greensboro, and another 125 people prayed with the icon outside A Preferred Women’s Health Center on Latrobe Drive CHARLOTTE — St. Paul the Apostle in Charlotte. They were led by Father Church in Greensboro and St. Patrick Peter West, vice president for missions Cathedral in Charlotte hosted a with Human Life International, which is traveling icon of the “Black Madonna” sponsoring the icon’s “Ocean to Ocean of Czestochowa for several days earlier Campaign in Defense of Life” pilgrimage this week. The image is on a nationwide across the U.S. pilgrimage to encourage prayer for Our Outside the controversial Latrobe clinic Lady’s help in the defense of the most – the busiest of Charlotte’s three abortion mills – the vigil participants prayed the rosary and the Divine Mercy chaplet even as the abortion mill’s security guard played obscene music loudly on her car’s stereo just a few feet away.

It’s a “clash between good and evil,” Father West noted. “Eventually we know that good will triumph over evil.”

“One day we will see this place close,” he told the prayer Photo provided by Bobby Singleton vigil participants as they concluded the final prayer. vulnerable and to ask her intercession for “Amen,” they replied. the protection of the family and the sanctity One of the participants, Mary Pat of all human life from conception to natural Arostegui, said she has been praying death. In Greensboro and Charlotte, the outside Charlotte’s abortion mills for years. icon was taken out to two abortion facilities “This is the defining issue of our age,” where hundreds of people gathered to pray Arostegui said. for an end to abortion.

Approximately 40 people gathered with the icon for a vigil outside PiedmontCZESTOCHOWA, SEE page 24 Patricia L. Guilfoyle Editor

CHARLOTTE — For the second consecutive year, parishioners in the Diocese of Charlotte have fulfilled their commitment to funding diocesan-wide ministries with generous donations of more than $5,087,881 in paid pledges to the Diocesan Support Appeal Campaign as of Dec. 23, with one more week to go in the campaign.

The total amount of pledges received for the 2013 campaign is $5,302,699. This total is 108 percent of the 2013 goal. A total of 17,222 donors participated, with an average gift of $308.

“Those who were able to make a pledge really stepped forward,” said Barbara Gaddy, assistant development director for the Diocese of Charlotte.

She noted that many of the smaller parishes and parishes in the outlying areas of the diocese met or exceeded their goal.

Those parishes also have 100 percent of their pledges fulfilled. Some of the top parishes include: Our Lady of the Mountains Mission in Highlands, St. Andrew the Apostle Church in Mars Hill, St. Jude Mission in Sapphire Valley, Sacred Heart Mission in Burnsville, Our Lady of the Angels Mission in Marion and St. Joseph Church in Bryson City.

“It really does my heart good to see every person who made a pledge be able to fulfill that commitment. It shows a closeness, a sense of community,” Gaddy said.

Gaddy acknowledged that for some of those smaller parishes in areas where parishioners are affected by greater economic hardships, their donations signify “a real sacrifice and commitment.”

As of Dec. 23, the total percentage of participation among registered parishioners in 2013 was 30 percent. Out of the 92 parishes and missions in the diocese, 74 parishes exceeded their DSA goals in pledges and 63 went over their DSA goals in payments, as of Dec. 23.

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catholicnewsherald.com | January 3, 2014 OUR PARISHES

Diocesan calendar of events ALBEMARLE OUR LADY OF THE ANNUNCIATION CHURCH, 416 N. SECOND ST. — Forever Young Club: 10 a.m. Jan. 8, board games and lunch at the Fresh House following the meeting.

Bishop Peter J. Jugis Bishop Peter J. Jugis will participate in the following events over the coming weeks: Jan. 6-10 Annual Retreat for Bishops WEDNESDAY, JAN. 22 11:30 A.M. NORTH CAROLINA MASS PRIOR TO THE MARCH FOR LIFE NATIONAL SHRINE OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION, GREAT UPPER CHURCH WASHINGTON, D.C.

ARDEN ST. BARNABAS CHURCH, 109 CRESCENT HILL DR. — Children’s Christmas Play “One Holy Night”: 6 p.m.

Jan. 6 in the social hall.

ASHEVILLE ST. EUGENE CHURCH, 72 CULVERN ST. — El grupo de oración se reúne todos los sábados a las 7 p.m. en la iglesia — Crafty Ladies Meeting: 10 a.m. on the first and third Monday of the month in Room 2. Bring your knitting, crocheting or other project and join us for fellowship and fun. For questions, call Anna at 828-645-3727.

st. ann church, 3635 park road — Missionaries of the Poor food/supplies collection: Jan. 5 through 19. Help fill a shipping container for the Missionaries of the Poor in Kingston, Jamaica.

Nearly 40,000 pounds of food and dry goods are needed to fill a 40-foot shipping container. Drop off donations on Sundays (Jan. 5, 12, 19). Sponsors are needed for single pallets of rice or beans at a cost of $1,000 each. For more information, call Terry Alderman at the parish office at 704-523-4641, ext.

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st. Matthew church, 8015 BALLANTYNE COMMONS PKWY. — Natural Family Planning Introduction and Full Course: 1- 5 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 11. 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 704-370-3230.

ST. PATRICK CATHEDRAL, 1621 DILWORTH RD. EAST

BELMONT QUEEN OF THE APOSTLES CHURCH, 503 NORTH MAIN ST. — Young At Hearts Covered Dish Supper: Saturday, Jan. 11, following 5 p.m. Mass. All parishioners aged 50 and older invited. Call Charlie or Cathy Boyd at 704-8254669 for details.

— Joe Mattingly with The Newman Singers: 7 p.m.

Sunday, Jan. 12. They will be performing favorites including “Holy Mountain” and “Lay Down the Spirit.”

— Ministry of Mothers Sharing meeting: 9-11 a.m. Jan. 14, a new group for moms. Meetings will take place twice monthly. A time for moms with children of all ages to come together for study and fellowship for spiritual growth. Call the church office at 704-825-9600 for details.

— Lessons & Carols to commemorate the Feast of the Epiphany: 4 p.m. Jan. 5, in the cathedral. Reception to follow in the Family Life Center. Visit www.stpatricks. org for more information and to RSVP.

ST. PETER CHURCH, 507 S. TRYON St. — 14th Annual Kennedy Lecture “Dying to Live: Migration, Human Trafficking and Theology”: Presented by Holy Cross Father Daniel Groody, associate professor of theology at Notre Dame University. The Jan. 25 talk will be followed by a panel discussion that will include Anne Tompkins, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Coffee at 8:30 a.m. Lecture and panel 9 a.m. to noon. For details, call 704-332-2901 or go online to www.stpeterscatholic.org.

— Eighth Annual March For Life Charlotte: Friday, Jan. 10. Begins with 9 a.m. Mass at St. Vincent de Paul Church, 6828 Old Reid Road. At 11 a.m. everyone will gather at the diocesan Pastoral Center and at noon will march to Trade and Tryon streets where Father Fidelis Moscinski, CFR, will preach, then proceed to the federal courthouse where everyone will pray the rosary and Divine Mercy chaplet.

Charlotte Catholic High School Chapel, 702 Pineville-Matthews Road Pro-Life Prayer Vigil: 10 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 18, Mass at CCHS Chapel with Father Matthew Kauth, followed by prayer outside Family Reproductive Health abortion mill, 700 E. Hebron St., Charlotte. Sponsored by the local chapter of Helpers of God’s Precious Infants.

ST. STEPHEN Church, 101 HAWTHORNE RD. — Epiphany Dinner: 5:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 5, youth play “Hoity-Toity Angel”

HAYESVILLE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY Mission, 1433 HWY. 64 WEST — Medjugorje Prayer Group: Meets at 7 p.m. every Tuesday in the upper kitchen — Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) meeting: 5 p.m. Thursdays beginning Jan. 9, with a presentation on prayer. All are welcome.

HIGH POINT IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY CHURCH, 4145 JOHNSON St. — First Saturday Pro-Life Rosary: First Saturday of each month, at 901 North Main St. and Sunset Drive, to pray for the end of abortion. For details, contact Jim Hoyng at 336-882-9593 or Paul Klosterman at 336-848-6835.

HUNTERSVILLE ST. MARK CHURCH, 14740 STUMPTOWN RD. — All married couples are invited to attend Marriage: Sign of God’s Love in the World, presented by Christine Wisdom, MS, LPCA, 6:30-9 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 11. Topics covered during the evening will be Building Love Maps, nurturing fondness and admiration, managing conflict and more. The evening will conclude with a recommitment ceremony. To register, go to www.stmarknc.org. For questions, email dsmith18@bellsouth.net.

MINT HILL ST. LUKE CHURCH, 13700 LAWYERS Road — Book Club: 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 28, in the Family Life Center. The Book Club will discuss “Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game” by Michael Lewis.

For details, call Marilyn Armstrong at 704-753-1112.

CHARLOTTE DIOCESE OF CHARLOTTE

ELKIN

ST. thomas aquinas church, 1400 suther road — “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.

— “Divine Mercy Holy Hour”: Exposition and readings from the Diary of St. Maria Faustina Kowalska: 7-8 p.m. every first Friday. For questions, call Paul Deer at 704-948-0628.

— Scriptural Rosary: 10:30 a.m. Mondays in the chapel.

For details, call Madeleine McGuinness at 704-8454008.

MURPHY ST. WILLIAM CHURCH, 765 ANDREWS Road — Grief Support Group: 10:30 a.m. Tuesdays in the conference room. “Embracing Your Grief” should be helpful for those grieving a recent death.

CLEMMONS HOLY FAMILY CHURCH, 4820 KINNAMON RD. — Charismatic Prayer Group: 7:15 p.m. Mondays. All are welcome.

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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January 3, 2014 Volume 23 • Number 6

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 Hispanic communications reporter: Rico De Silva, 704-370-3375, rdesilva@charlottediocese.org

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January 3, 2014 | catholicnewsherald.com

‘Forward in Faith, Hope, and Love’ halfway to $65M goal

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‘Be a light to the nations’ Combined Mission Collection set for Jan. 19

SueAnn Howell Senior reporter

CHARLOTTE — Generous participation in the Diocese of Charlotte’s “Forward in Faith Hope, and Love” campaign has propelled the fundraising initiative past the halfway point just six months after being launched.

Half of the $65 million campaign goal – more than $32.5 million in pledges – has been received so far from more than 4,500 households.

The campaign took in pledges of nearly $12.5 million during just the past six weeks, from November to late December.

“Gifts to date range from under $1,000 to more than $1 million, pledged over the five-year campaign,” noted Jim Kelley, diocesan development director.

“We are so grateful to everyone who has made commitments to this transformational effort.”

The “Forward in Faith Hope, and Love” campaign began with seven “pilot” parishes over the summer and now includes another 38 parishes that started their pledge drives late in 2013.

Twenty-two of those 45 parishes are still in the middle of their campaigns. The remaining 47 parishes will start their pledge drives in mid-2014.

“Given that we are still in the early stages of the campaign across the diocese, we are excited with the response we have received so far,” Kelley said.

Goals for the diocesan campaign focus on three areas: growth, the future and our parishes.

“There are 13 different components to the campaign,” Kelley said. “Twenty-five percent of the campaign goal goes toward specific parish projects. The other 75 percent goes to 12 other components – all of which directly or indirectly impact each parish.”

Among the list of campaign goals are the financing of parish life and ministries, clergy support, Catholic education, Catholic outreach, as well as pastoral and temporal needs of the parishes and the diocese’s retreat and conference centers.

Kelley also said he would like to remind parishioners about the difference between the diocesan “Forward in Faith, Hope, and Love” campaign and the annual Diocesan Support Appeal.

“The DSA funds annual operating expenses for diocesan ministries and programs, whereas the ‘Forward in Faith, Hope, and Love’ campaign will address longrange extraordinary needs over time,” he said.

For more about the campaign, go to www.forwardfaithhopelove.org.

OUR PARISHESI

Patricia L. Guilfoyle | Catholic News Herald

The Holy Family, along with a few animals in the stable, is depicted in the Nativity scene in the sanctuary of St. Patrick Cathedral Dec. 25.

Make room for Jesus in your heart this Christmas Bishop Jugis celebrates midnight Mass at St. Patrick Cathedral Patricia L. Guilfoyle Editor

CHARLOTTE — The inn or the stable: where do we want to be?

Luke’s Gospel account of the birth of Jesus – that there was no room at the inn in Bethlehem for His mother and Joseph, but they found shelter in a lowly stable – is more than a familiar Nativity story. It’s an unambiguous choice we as Christians must make, Bishop Peter Jugis said in his homily at midnight Mass Dec. 25 at St. Patrick Cathedral in Charlotte.

The Christian must choose between staying at the inn – with an unfeeling heart, separated from Jesus – or going to the stable – to be at Jesus’ side, surrounded by His love.

This Christmas narrative – “this study in contrasts” – is “a reflection on us: what takes place at the inn and what takes place in the stable at the manger,” Bishop Jugis explained.

Taken simply at face value, the Gospel story doesn’t appear to make much sense, he said.

“Was there really no room for this couple at the inn? Could it be really true that there was no guest at the inn willing to share his room?” No room either in the hallway, or the kitchen, or the lobby?

“Or was it really the case that there was no room in the heart?”

Notably, Bishop Jugis said, everyone who had traveled to Bethlehem for the census count ordered by Caesar Augustus was of the house of David – kinsmen of Joseph’s. The Gospel tells us that not even Joseph’s own relatives were willing to offer the needy couple a place to stay.

We all find ourselves choosing to remain at the inn from time to time, he said.

But it is at the manger where we ought to be.

“Where does the Christian heart really yearn to be? Not at the inn, not in coldness of heart. The Christian heart longs to be at the stable. The Christian heart longs to be with Jesus, Mary and Joseph – wherever they are, even if it is in a stable on the outskirts of Bethlehem.”

And, he noted, the Christian heart wants to be with Jesus even if that place isn’t safe or comfortable.

What do we find at the manger?

The Holy Family: the newborn Jesus, looking up into the faces of His holy mother Mary and the righteous man Joseph. The hearts of Mary and Joseph were completely open to God and His love, Bishop Jugis said, and God dwelled there.

And just as Mary “is the door through which the Son of God enters into the world and becomes man,” he said, “we must also be that portal of love, opening our hearts to Jesus.”

“That is the message of Christmas. That is the task and responsibility of each one of us.”

While we cannot ever match His saving gift of Himself to us, we can give Jesus our entire selves, with our repentant hearts seeking His saving grace. This conversion, this change of heart, Bishop Jugis said, is what enables God’s love to act through us. And that divine love in action is what changes the world.

“Christmas calls us to conversion. Christmas calls us to a change of heart. Let the love of our Savior change us and change the world once again.”

CHARLOTTE — Catholics in the Diocese of Charlotte will join in the worldwide effort to support missions in the United States and abroad in the Combined Mission Collection that will be taken up in all parishes the weekend of Jan. 19.

This annual collection funds five separate initiatives: the Collection for the Church in Latin America; the Collection to Aid the Church in Central and Eastern Europe; the Catholic Home Missions Appeal; the United States Mission Collection; and the Solidarity Fund for the Church in Africa.

Here is how donations to the Combined Mission Collection make a difference: n The Collection for the Church in Latin America funds formation programs for priests, religious, lay leaders, missionaries and pastoral workers, and supports the Church’s work with the poor in the poorest areas of Latin America. n The Collection to Aid the Church in Central and Eastern Europe helps to rebuild the Church in those countries where communism once prohibited public acts of religion. n The Catholic Home Missions Appeal provides funding for evangelization efforts in remote parishes throughout rural America. n The United States Mission Collection supports evangelization programs among African Americans and Native Americans in almost every diocese in our country. n The Solidarity Fund for the Church in Africa supports the pastoral works of the Church through grants for projects like pastoral care for the sick, evangelization, youth ministry, religious education, and peace-building workshops.

In his letter to parishioners of the Diocese of Charlotte, Monsignor Mauricio West, vicar general and chancellor of the diocese, urged Catholics in western North Carolina to remember the words of the prophet Isaiah: “I will make you a light to the nations that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”

“We are all called to bring the Good News of Salvation to the ends of the earth,” Monsignor West wrote. “The 2014 Combined Mission Collection, which will be taken at all Masses on the weekend of Jan. 19, gives each of us an opportunity to reach out and be a light to the nations.”

Last year, parishioners in the Diocese of Charlotte contributed $281,416 to the Combined Missions Collection.

— SueAnn Howell, senior reporter

Diocese of Charlotte 2014 second collection schedule Each year, parishioners in the Diocese of Charlotte help fund critical needs in the Church through special second collections. The second collection schedule for 2014 is: n Jan. 19: Combined Mission Collection, benefitting the Church in Latin America, Church in Central and Eastern Europe, United States Mission Appeal (Black and Indian Missions), Catholic Home Missions and the Church in Africa n April 20: Seminary and Priests’ Continuing Education n May 18: International/National Combined Collection, benefitting Catholic Relief Services, Collection for the Holy Land, Collection for the Works of the Holy Father (Peter’s Pence), Catholic University of America, Catholic Communications Campaign n Sept. 7: Priests’ Retirement and Benefits n Oct. 19: World Mission Sunday (Propagation of the Faith) n Nov. 23: Catholic Campaign for Human Development n Dec. 14: Religious Retirement

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catholicnewsherald.com | January 3, 2014 OUR PARISHES

Scenes of Christmas spirit Doreen Sugierski | Catholic News Herald

(Right) A detail from the altar at Holy Spirit Church in Denver on Christmas Eve. Photo provided by Mary Stapleton

(Middle) Students at St. Mark Preschool in Huntersville put on a Christmas pageant Dec. 18. Don’t miss the cute hobby horse on the left!

Photo provided by Marty Schneider

(Far right) Lessons and Carols was a highlight of Advent at St. John Neumann Church in Charlotte. It featured performances by the choir and youth choir led by the parish music director, Soo-Jin Ridgell, along with assistant organist Dr. Robert Ridgell and the church’s Brazilian and Spanish musicians.

Photo provided by Pat Burr

(Above) At St. Michael School in Gastonia, Betsy Pruitt’s second-graders celebrated Las Posadas Dec. 20. For nine days in this Spanish Christmas custom, people process from home to home, dressed as the Holy Family to remember Mary and Joseph’s difficult journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem.

Students processed from classroom to classroom and finished the day sampling traditional Spanish foods and breaking a piñata.

Vicki Dorsey | Catholic News Herald

A cool, sunny day welcomed the faithful to a beautiful celebration of the Mass on Christmas Day at St. Lawrence Basilica in Asheville. The streets of Asheville were empty but the church was filled to capacity, holding around 500 people who left filled with the spirit of Christmas.

Photo provided by Karen Hornfeck

(Above) Students at Our Lady of Grace School in Greensboro recently performed in an annual Christmas musical. Shown is OLG lower school music teacher Joyce Carroll, with (back, from left) Emma Myers, Nicole Hill, Jessica Taylor, Anna Claire Tysinger and Kate Nettles; (front, from left) Abby Gwinnet, Autumn Wilde and Mary Quaqliano.

Dorice Narins | Catholic News Herald

(Right) Faith formation youths sang and signed “Silent Night” at Mass as their Christmas gift to the people of Sacred Heart Church in Brevard.

More online At www.catholicnewsherald.com: See lots more Christmas photos from around the diocese

Parishioners at St. Michael Church and other community volunteers brought Christmas joy to hundreds of Gastonia area children recently with their “Traveling Santa” event at local public schools. Carolyn Bergman, manager of the parish’s thrift store, organized the event, in which each child in the schools was allowed to pick out a new or gently-used item for themselves or someone else. Volunteers were amazed to see all the happy Photo provided by Beverly Shepard children and even more amazed at the number of children who picked out something for another person, which is what the Christmas season is really all about.

Cupcakes were a part of a “Happy Birthday Jesus” party at St. Benedict the Moor Church in Winston-Salem Dec. 28.

Faith formation students brought canned goods for the parish food pantry as “presents” for Jesus, learned about the symbolism of candy canes, and enjoyed games and prizes as well as prayer and a Scripture reading.

Photo provided by Syveria Hauser

January 3, 2014 | catholicnewsherald.com

OUR PARISHESI

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Hendersonville parish shares ‘Bounty of Bethlehem’ Christmas Day event at Immaculata School feeds about 2,400 people David Exum Correspondent

HENDERSONVILLE — The Bounty of Bethlehem Christmas Day dinner at Immaculate Conception Church has become much, much more than a meal for the less fortunate during its 30 years of existence.

“It’s not so much that people have the poverty of not being able to feed themselves, it’s the poverty of loneliness that is the biggest thing we feed here,” said Randy Hair, facilities manager at Immaculate Conception Parish.

Since Hair became facilities manager at the Hendersonville church in 2001, he and his family have become heavily involved in the Bounty of Bethlehem dinner that takes upwards of eight days to set up and orchestrate. Each Dec. 25, Hair and the parish’s army of more than 600 volunteers convert the gym at Immaculata School into an ecumenical bastion of goodwill.

In the span of four hours, church volunteers served an amazing 900 meals in sit-down dining style. Between delivery and take-out, they served about 2,400 people.

During those eight days, they also feed all the volunteers.

“That’s a large number of individuals to serve in a four-hour window,” Hair said.

“That’s a lot of people fed.”

The volunteers also provide take-out meals for people who would rather pick up their dinners for themselves and their families. Hair also said several volunteers deliver meals to people through the parish’s meals-on-wheels program.

Volunteers also come from every walk of life, according to Hair. Take for instance one volunteer this year named Tom, who recently became homeless after he lost his job. Hair explained Tom worked alongside him from start to finish. “(Tom) mentioned while the dinner is for the less fortunate and people experiencing loneliness, it should also be for families and we’ve seen an increase in participation from young families,” Hair said.

In an effort to experience and understand the true meaning of Christmas, Hair said he has seen an outpouring from the community of young families wanting to get their children involved in the volunteering aspect of the event.

“I’m seeing more young families coming

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up to me and saying, ‘How can I get my 6-year-old involved in this?’” Hair said.

“We’re being creative to allowing these children to come in and be a part of it.

(Although) they cannot be involved with the food prep, we’ve got them wrapping silverware and decorating Christmas trees, and it’s really something I’ve seen pick up.

We have enough going on in order not to turn volunteers away.”

Hair also explained how the dinner service was able to bring comfort and companionship to two women currently going through the hardship of separation.

“One of the women came in at about the high point of the event and I was able to find a job for her. She stayed with us until the end and just had a great time.

She would have been by herself otherwise.

There are a lot of situations like this, and sometimes people can find friends here that they can talk to.”

Hair also said that the powerful message of either volunteering or just enjoying the event comes straight from the Scriptures.

“It’s very much what Jesus does. He brings people together for a meal and to talk about their commonality,” said Hair, who is also a secular Franciscan. “I was reading parts of St. Francis’s rule from his early writings and he talks about in his rule to never hide your need from a brother, to always tells a brother what your needs are – because not only are you served, but you allow the other person to give service.”

Pianist Laryon Owen, who along with her late husband Gary Owen started the annual Christmas dinner in 1983, performed during the event.

“She asked me through her son (Derrick, who also works at the school) if she could play the piano this year in honor of her late husband,” Hair said. “(The Owen family) was the original Bounty of Bethlehem.

They did the very first one. They owned a restaurant here and the Owen family used their restaurant and put on the very first one at the gym.”

Owen told Hair that the Bounty of Bethlehem is so important to her because it gives people some place to go on Christmas Day. “The Bounty of Bethlehem really becomes more than a community coming together. They become family,” said Hair.

“We have people come in and are complete

Photos provided by Capuchin Franciscan Father Martin Schratz

Each Dec. 25, an army of more than 600 volunteers at Immaculate Conception Church in Hendersonville convert the gym at Immaculata School into an ecumenical bastion of goodwill and in the span of four hours, serve an amazing 900 meals in sit-down dining style. Between delivery and take-out, they serve about 2,400 people.

(Below) Pianist Laryon Owen, who along with her late husband Gary Owen started the annual Christmas dinner in 1983, performed during the dinner. strangers, and by the time they leave they’ve become good friends.”

Hair also remains impressed by the outpouring of generosity from businesses in the community.

Jeff Miller, who owns Miller’s Cleaners in Hendersonville, delivered 300 coats to the parish on Christmas Eve. “I think I have about 15 coats left,” Hair said. “He cleans all the coats the schools collect from coat drives. A local florist also donated undelivered poinsettias and we gave them out to people as they left.”

The Martinez family, parishioners at Immaculate Conception Church, donated apples, citrus and sweet potatoes. The Hendersonville Council on Aging donated leftover gifts.

“We in turn, gave out the leftover gifts to seniors as they left the Bounty,” said Hair.

Parishioner Dismas Padilla volunteered his time as Santa Claus and made one little girl’s Christmas a Christmas she might never forget.

“This little girl came up and was bashful

and Dismas told her he had something special for her, that he was going to do some Christmas magic for her,” said Hair.

“He asked her to close her eyes and asked her how many gifts she’d like, and she said, ‘Two.’ He then said, ‘Keep your eyes closed and the Christmas magic will be here in just a second.’ He then made this ta-da sound and the gifts magically appeared.

Her eyes went wide and she just had the biggest smile on her face. It really was Christmas magic. He is just a wonderful, wonderful guy, and it’s really become a photo op with Santa.”

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catholicnewsherald.com | January 3, 2014 OUR PARISHES

For the latest news 24/7: catholicnewsherald.com

In Brief

Filipino Catholics celebrate Simbang Gabi

New mobile ultrasound unit blessed for pregnancy center CHARLOTTE — In an attempt to end abortion in Charlotte, the Pregnancy Resource Center of Charlotte has acquired an ICU Mobile Ultrasound vehicle for the purpose of giving free ultrasounds to pregnant woman. This unit was commissioned Dec. 8 at the PRC on Fourth Street. At the commissioning ceremony, Deacon Mark King of St. Gabriel Church blessed the vehicle with holy water and prayed that it would be a tool used to reach and to serve women and families all over Charlotte.

The ICU Mobile will be parked in front of abortion clinics in Charlotte Monday through Saturday mornings during the times abortions are performed. The vehicle will then be deployed to various neighborhoods throughout Charlotte.

— Shannon C. Habenicht

CHARLOTTE — More than 300 Filipino Catholics from around the Charlotte area came together last month to celebrate Simbang Gabi.

Filipino for “Night Mass,” Simbang Gabi is a 400-year-old tradition that consists of nine Masses celebrated pre-dawn from Dec. 16 to Dec. 24. The novena of Masses was celebrated in the Filipino language at St. Matthew Church in Charlotte by Adorno Father Ted Kalaw, parochial vicar at Jesus Our Risen Savior Church in Spartanburg, S.C. This marked the first time ever that a Mass was celebrated in the Filipino language in the diocese, and it was also the fifth year since the re-introduction of Simbang Gabi in the diocese. Cecilia Velasco and Aleth Cababa were the main organizers of the event.

— Dr. Cris Villapando

Local results of survey analyzed CHARLOTTE — Response to a survey requested by Bishop Peter J. Jugis has been strong. In late November Bishop Jugis sought input from local Catholics for a preparatory document for the Extraordinary Synod of Bishops, “Pastoral Challenges of the Family in

the Context of Evangelization,” to be held this October in Rome.

The survey, produced by Archbishop Lorenzo Baldisseri, General Secretary of the Synod, contained 38 essay questions. Pope Francis asked that the survey be distributed widely.

In the Diocese of Charlotte, 298 online surveys were completed and several others were received by mail. About half of the surveys were filled out completely.

All of the survey results are being analyzed by a team of doctoral students at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte using a technique called quantitative analysis that organizes and interprets the voluminous data.

The survey results will be sent to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which will then forward the results to the Vatican.

— David Hains

chapter of the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta – better known as the Order of Malta – who were inspired to help after hearing a presentation by Father Andre Mangongo, formerly parochial vicar at the parish, who talked about the needs of his hometown of Boyange.

Father Mangongo’s account of the plight of the Congolese people struck a chord with the Order of Malta members, who were so moved that Jerry Schmitt, Charlotte Regional Hospitaller, and John Gannon, chair of the Order of Malta Cares committee, asked him how they might help. They formed a team that included Schmitt, Gannon and Dr. Don Joyce, who met with Father Mangongo on a regular basis to develop the outreach effort. They connected with the Mission Outreach ministry of the Springfield, Ill.-based Hospital Sisters of St. Francis to ship 12 tons of medical supplies to the Congo in the 40-foot shipping container.

— Jerry Schmitt

Aid shipment reaches Congo CHARLOTTE — A large shipping container carrying tons of medical supplies, equipment and a generator funded by parishioners of St. Gabriel Church in Charlotte recently reached St. Paul Church in Boyange, Democratic Republic of Congo, after traveling more than 10,000 miles.

The aid effort was led by members of the local

St. Aloysius holds final centennial celebration HICKORY — St. Aloysius Church held its final centennial celebration recently after a year of special events marking the occasion. The

1 th Annual Kennedy Lecture 14 Dying To Live

Migration, Human Trafficking and Theology

Daniel Gerard Groody, C.S.C. ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF THEOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME

Father Groody, a Holy Cross priest, will speak about what it means to live freely as human beings in the image and likeness of God.

Saturday, January 25, 2014 8:30a.m. coffee 9:00–12:00 Lecture and Panel St. Peter Catholic Church | 507 South Tryon Street, Charlotte, NC Parking is free underground at “The Green” (enter to the left of the church) www.stpeterscatholic.org | 704-332-2901

January 3, 2014 | catholicnewsherald.com 1_3_MrchFrLfChrlt.pdf

Hickory parish brought in three internationally known recording artists for their “Story and Song Tour.” Steve Angrisano, Jesse Manibusan and Sarah Hart gave an Advent Concert Dec. 13, followed by a retreat on Saturday at the church.

Many parishioners came out to enjoy the event and prepare their hearts for the coming of our Lord.

According to Kellie Light, event coordinator, the three artists each have their own ministry and tour individually. Light said, “Sarah, Steve and Jesse began their ‘Story and Song Tour’ last year. They only come together to do this tour a few times a year. We are so fortunate to have had the opportunity to host this event and to have, not just one, but three of the top names in Catholic contemporary music here in our own church.”

— Kathy Succop

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OUR PARISHESI

1:33 PM

8,104 babies killed in Mecklenburg County alone last year!

Come and save our children today… join the 8th Annual March for Life Charlotte and pray.

Friday, January 10

Room At The Inn of the Triad aids new mother

Be a witness for the sanctity of human life and an act of reparation for an end to abortion.

March for Life Schedule

GREENSBORO — Father Eric Kowalski of Our Lady of Grace Church in Greensboro welcomed Katalina Avalos into the Church Nov. 9. While at residence at Room At The Inn of the Triad, Katalina’s mom returned to the practice of her Catholic faith as part of Room At The Inn of the Triad’s CREDO program. Pictured from left are Myolo Avalos, Maria Trinidad, Katalina Avalos, Father Kowalski and Albert Hodges (president of Room At the Inn of the Triad).

9:00 am Mass for the Unborn, Fr. Mark Lawlor – main celebrant St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church, 6828 Old Reid Road, Charlotte, NC 28210 Guest Preacher Fr. Fidelis Moscinski, CFR of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal 11:00 am Start to gather in overflow parking lot across from the Pastoral Center at 1123 S. Church St. Charlotte, NC to prepare for march

— Marianne Donadio

11:45 am Instructions for march and prayer before march 12:00 pm Begin march to Trade and Tryon Streets where Fr. Fidelis Moscinski will preach; then to the courthouse at 401 W. Trade St. to pray the Rosary and Chaplet of Divine Mercy

Five students complete Loyola theology studies MOORESVILLE — Five students have completed a four-and-a-half year program of practical theology and will be awarded their certificates and master’s degrees in May. Loyola University of New Orleans Ministry Extension Program has been offered in the Diocese of Charlotte since 1985. Three students – Kathy Johnson of St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Charlotte; and John Carter and Philipp Bischoff, both of St. Thérèse Church in Mooresville – will receive master’s degrees.

Two students, also from St. Thérèse Church, Rosemary Hyman and Carmen San Juan, have completed the requirements for the certificate.

The program is offered as an extension course. The students met weekly to process their readings in a discussion format, with video presentations of the Loyola staff to supplement the required texts. The students focus on their personal ministries to apply the theology of their faith as a practical application.

Loyola provides the texts and trains facilitators to guide the groups through the 12 required courses. There is another learning group in Greensboro that will complete their studies in 2015.

Pictured are Philipp Bischoff, John Donohoe (facilitator), Kathy Johnson, Carmen San Juan, Rosemary Hyman and John Carter.

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Go to www.marchforlifecharlotte.org for details on parking and signs

All Saints Day celebrated GASTONIA — The Latin Mass choir, led by Nichole Foreman, sang for the first time at St. Michael the Archangel Church in Gastonia during the All Souls Day Mass celebrated by Father Matthew Buettner, pastor, Nov. 2.

Also, the annual All Saints Day celebration at St. Dorothy Church in Lincolnton was held Nov. 2. Everyone was encouraged to dress as saints.

The celebration began with Father David Miller, dressed as St. Polycarp, leading everyone in praying the Litany of the Saints.

— Narda Magness and Lindsay Magness

Knight receives award

11:54 AM

— Peg Ruble

Grand Knight Steve Zidek recently received the Columbian Award for Christ the King Council 14767 from C District Deputy Boyce Williams M on the Feast of Y Christ the King.

CM — Boyce Williams MY

Retired or Semi-retired CPAs and Internal Auditors C

M

Y

CM

MY

CY

CMY

K

Interested in a unique opportunity to match-up your profession with your faith?

Looking for an opportunity to use your time & talent for the Church?

The Diocese of Charlotte is seeking qualified volunteers to serve as a financial liaison with parishes in various regions of the Diocese.

Interested in learning more?

Please contact Bill Weldon, diocesan Chief Financial Officer at wgweldon@charlottediocese.org.

CY

CMY

K

St.Eliz.pdf

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12:52 PM

Director of Music St. Elizabeth Catholic Church- Boone, NC St Elizabeth of the Hill Country Catholic Church is looking for a part-time music director to continue to serve a 400 family parish located in Boone, NC. This vibrant parish is made up of many diverse communities including Appalachian State University students and professors, local families and residents, retirees, summer residents, Hispanics, and winter and summer tourism.

Job Description: The music director is responsible for the total music program at St. Elizabeth of the Hill Country Catholic Church. The director is to plan and lead the liturgical music for all Sunday liturgies and Holy Days. This position reports directly to the pastor.

In addition, the director of music is to coordinate with the Director of Faith Formation and Youth Ministry as well as Catholic Campus Ministry to facilitate youth and college involvement with music in the parish. Extended responsibilities also include coordinating music for weddings, funerals, as well as assisting with The Church of the Epiphany, a summer mission church in Blowing Rock, NC

Education: Bachelors Degree Preferred.

Work Experience/Special Skills Ability to lead and direct many different musicians at all Masses/services throughout the year. Must be an experienced musician, have knowledge of the Catholic liturgy and liturgical planning as appropriate to weekly Masses and services. Must show leadership skills as related to managing different personalities. Ability to play a music instrument (of liturgical nature: i.e. organ, piano or guitar) recommended. Knowledge of electronics and amplification systems that relate to musical performance is necessary. Previous experience in music ministry preferred.

Position to be filled as soon as possible. Please send resume with cover letter to Saint Elizabeth Parish, 259 Pilgrims Way Boone, NC 28607 or stelizabethcc@bellsouth.net

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catholicnewsherald.com | January 3, 2014 OUR PARISHES

Confirmations held

Photos provided by Paul Vincent Photography

Bishop Peter J. Jugis administered the sacrament of confirmation to youths at St. Barnabas Church in Arden Oct. 22 (pictured above) and Immaculate Conception Church in Hendersonville Oct. 28 (pictured below).

Are You Walking with Christ?

Jeff’s East Coast Launch Of His Ne west “WALKING TOWA RD ETERNITY” Seminar!

Register ASAP Space is limited!

A Live Seminar with Jeff Cavins As Catholics our Faith is meant to be put into practice. Christianity is more than a set of beliefs; it’s a way of life. Walking Toward Eternity is a powerful seminar that will help you to put your faith into practice, draw you closer to Christ, and challenge you to make real and lasting changes in your life, changes that will help you to become the person you hope to be.

Saturday, February 8, 2014 Walking Towards Eternity

Friday Night Talk February 7, 2014

Registration: 8:30 am

$5 per person “Hearing the Voice of God”

Mass: 9:00 am Seminar: 10:00 am-4:00 pm Location: St. Mark Catholic Church Parish Hall in the Msgr. Kerin Family Life Center 14740 Stumptown Rd. Huntersville, NC 28078 Cost: $37 (Includes seminar packet and lunch)

For More Information, Contact: Donna Smith Phone: 704-948-1306 Email: dsmith18@bellsouth.net

Time: 7:00-9:00 pm Location: St. Mark Catholic Church Parish Hall in the Msgr. Kerin Family Life Center 14740 Stumptown Rd. Huntersville, NC 28078 Online Registration Website: http://jeffcavinsfeb72014.eventbrite.com Jeff Cavins is the creator of The Great Adventure Catholic Bible Study Program and director of the Archbishop Harry J. Flynn Catechetical Institute.

Online Registration Website: http://jeffcavinssat82014.eventbrite.com Photo provided by Ruben Tamayo

Bishop Peter J. Jugis confirmed 68 youth at St. Vincent de Paul Church in Charlotte Nov. 5.

Mix

January 3, 2014 | catholicnewsherald.com catholic news heraldI

For the latest news 24/7: catholicnewsherald.com

In Brief

‘Saving Mr. Banks’ Director John Lee Hancock’s fact-based film recounts the behind-the-scenes circumstances surrounding the making of the classic 1964 Walt Disney musical “Mary Poppins.” Having promised his daughters he would make a movie from the children’s books they loved – tales of the magical nanny Poppins written by P.L. Travers (Emma Thompson) – Disney (Tom Hanks) lobbied for the film rights for two decades, to no avail. But when Travers’ fortune eventually dried up, she was forced to reconsider. So she headed to Hollywood, determined to protect her prized creation from being “Disney-fied.” A battle of wills ensued, until Disney learned the personal side to the volumes, including the story of Travers’ beloved father (Colin Farrell), the inspiration for the fictional George Banks of the title. A handful of emotional scenes may be too intense for pre-teens. But the overall sincerity and wholesomeness of this blend of comedy and tearjerking drama make for a welcome change at the multiplex. Mature themes, one use of profanity CNS: A-II (adults and adolescents); MPAA: PG-13

‘The Secret Life of Walter Mitty’ Strange blend of comedy, drama and travelogue in which a soft-spoken, office-bound photo editor (Ben Stiller) at a fictionalized version of Life magazine finds his endless daydreams of grand adventure coming true as he trots the globe in pursuit of a missing negative sent in to the periodical by the glamorous photographer (Sean Penn) he idolizes. Supporting him from afar along his urgent quest – he faces unemployment if the crucial item fails to turn up – is the fetching coworker (Kristen Wiig) for whom he secretly pines.

But looking on with impatience is the overgrown adolescent of an executive (Adam Scott) who holds the woolgatherer’s professional future in his callous hands. Stiller, who also directed this very loose adaptation of humorist James Thurber’s classic short story, shifts the tone of his tale erratically, with humor about awkward workplace situations and executive bullies giving way to a serious study in self-realization augmented with social commentary. Brief but harsh violence, at least one use of profanity, a few crude terms.

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

‘Grudge Match’ Two long-retired boxing rivals (Robert De Niro and Sylvester Stallone), each of whom scored a single victory against the other, are lured back into the ring for a tiebreaking rematch. Besides their professional competition, their mutual antagonism is also fueled by unresolved personal issues, De Niro’s character having had a one-night stand with his adversary’s true love (Kim Basinger) that resulted in the couple’s breakup – and in the birth of her now-grown son (Jon Bernthal). Director Peter Segal’s comedy – which also features Kevin Hart as the promoter who arranges the big event – amuses intermittently. But its theme of family reconciliation is undercut by the misuse of a child actor’s (Camden Grey playing Bernthal’s son) age-appropriate innocence to forward some of the script’s frequent sex jokes. More predictably, screenwriters Tim Kelleher and Rodney Rothman’s

dialogue is chockablock with foul vocabulary.

Mature themes, including promiscuity, pugilistic violence, an off-screen nonmarital encounter, much sexual humor, about a dozen uses of profanity, pervasive crude language.

CNS: L (limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling); MPAA: PG-13

‘American Hustle’ Con-game comedy set in the late 1970s centers on a pair of flimflam artists (Christian Bale and Amy Adams) forced by an FBI agent (Bradley Cooper) to entrap politicians using a fake Arab sheik eager to invest in Atlantic City casinos.

Inspired by the real-life Abscam scandal and concerned with the theme of self-creation, the fictionalized story makes dynamic use of the period’s music, fashion, beauty, and decor trends.

Director and co-writer David O. Russell adopts a simultaneously mocking and sympathetic tone; laudable tolerance and hints of moral relativism are both detectable. Some violence, a nongraphic nonmarital sexual encounter, constant sensuality, several brief instances of drug use, much profanity, pervasive rough language, considerable banter and innuendo.

CNS: O (morally offensive); MPAA: R

‘Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues’ The one-note joke of a clueless TV anchor played

by Will Ferrell goes all stale and moldy when he enters the dawn of 24-hour cable news in 1980.

This satire, directed by Adam McKay, who cowrote the script with Ferrell, is done in by gags left over from the first film, 2004’s “Anchorman.”

Additionally, the racism on display, though intended as comic, is instead off-putting. A scene of nongraphic premarital sexual activity, drug use, some racist dialogue, fleeting sexual banter and profane language, frequent crass terms.

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

On TV n Sunday, Jan. 5, 10-11 p.m. (EWTN) “Renewal: The Catholic Church Today.” Host Michael Hernon and theology professors Regis Martin and Scott Hahn welcome Anne Hendershott, director of the Veritas Center for Ethics and Public Life at Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio, to discuss signs of renewal in the Church. Part of the series “Franciscan University Presents.” n Monday, Jan. 6, 4-5:30 a.m. (EWTN) “Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord.”

Live coverage as Pope Francis celebrates the Mass of the Epiphany from Rome’s St. Peter’s Basilica. The program will be rerun noon-1:30 p.m. n Tuesday, Jan. 7, 10-11 p.m. (PBS) “To Catch a Trader.” This special tracks an ongoing seven-year investigation into the largest insider trading scandal in U.S. history. A “Frontline” presentation. n Wednesday, Jan. 8, 10-11 p.m.

(PBS) “Chasing Shackleton.” First episode of a three-part series that follows a modern expedition as it re-creates Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Trans-Antarctic Expedition, which launched in 1914. In this installment, adventurer, scientist and author Tim Jarvis examines Shackleton’s journey of survival after his ship, “Endurance,” was crushed by ice and sank. The series continues Wednesday, Jan. 15, and concludes Wednesday, Jan. 22, 1011 p.m. each night.

Our Lady of

Mercy

Catholic School

Faith Academics Values

A Blue Ribbon School of Excellence for PreK-8th - Thursday, January 16 from 5:00 - 7:00 p.m.

Join us for an Open House:

- Tuesday, January 28 from 9:00 - 11:00 a.m.

A Gift for the Ages Our daughter’s baptism. Her first Ccommunion and confirmation. Last week she was married. We are grateful that we were able to establish a charitable gift annuity with the Foundation of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte to

- Tuesday, February 11 from 5:00 - 7:00 p.m.

benefit our Catholic school.

- Thursday, February 27 from 9:00 - 11:00 a.m.

To receive the free brochure, “A Simple Guide to Gift Planning”

1730 Link Road, Winston-Salem, NC 27103 (336) 722.7204 www.ourladyofmercyschool.org Welcoming students of all races, religions, ethnic and national origins.

contact Judy Smith, Director of Planned Giving at 704-370-3320 or jmsmith@ charlottediocese.org

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January 3, 2014 | catholicnewsherald.com

FROM TH

MARCHING FOR

LIFE Stand up for human rights

Join the Jan. 10 March for Life Charlotte – in person or online CHARLOTTE — Pope Francis has urged Catholics and all people of good will to stand up for the rights of the most vulnerable around the world, especially the unborn. In the Diocese of Charlotte, people have an opportunity to witness to the intrinsic right to life during the Eighth Annual March for Life Charlotte on Friday, Jan. 10.

Catholics of all ages, local clergy and Catholic students are encouraged to participate in this powerful witness for the sanctity of human life and to pray for the millions of babies killed by abortion since 1973, including 24,439 in North Carolina in 2012, as well as to pray for the mothers and fathers who are victims of this violence.

Mass will be celebrated at 9 a.m. at St. Vincent de Paul Church, located at 6828 Old Reid Road in Charlotte.

People should gather for the march starting at 11 a.m. outside the Diocese of Charlotte Pastoral Center, 1123 South Church St. The march will start at noon.

Signs conveying pro-life messages will be available for participants who want them.

The march will take participants from the Pastoral Center into uptown Charlotte to the corner of Trade and Tryon streets to Independence Square.

At Independence Square, marchers will pray and listen to speakers’ testimonies.

This year, Father Fidelis Moscinski of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal will be the guest preacher for the march. Other speakers include women from Silent No More, a national organization which helps women who have had abortions who want to share their journey from suffering to healing.

Marchers will then continue to the federal courthouse at 401 West Trade St. a little after 1 p.m. to pray the rosary and Divine Mercy Chaplet.

Even if you cannot attend, donations to underwrite the Charlotte march are always welcome. Go online to www.marchforlifecharlotte.org for details, or mail contributions to: March for Life Charlotte, P.O. Box 78575, Charlotte, N.C. 28271.

WATCH THE MARCH LIVE ONLINE! The March for Life Charlotte will be broadcast live online starting at noon on Friday, Jan. 10. Go to www.catholicnewsherald.com to walk alongside the marchers, hear their testimonies and join your voices in prayer for an end to abortion.

JOHN W. MO R

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The March for Life will Jan. 10. Line up beginn the diocesan Pastoral C the corner of West Palm streets. Free parking w accessible from West P from the Pastoral Cent cannot park in the over buses should park whe sides of West Palmer S nearby. The LYNX rail s Boulevard is also one b are available on the firs Center.

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January 3, 2014 | catholicnewsherald.com i

March for Life events in D.C. and Raleigh

END HERE

NATIONAL PRAYER VIGIL FOR LIFE

Marchers will then proceed down West Trade Street toward the federal courthouse. After the recitation of the rosary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet, the march will conclude.

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At the corners of Trade and Tryon streets, presentations and testimonies will be given, including preaching by Father Moscinski.

A time of quiet prayer will conclude the presentations. March organizers caution everyone to be mindful of the busy uptown traffic and obey all laws for pedestrians.

The National Prayer Vigil for Life set for Tuesday, Jan. 21, is an all-night pro-life prayer vigil held on the eve of the March for Life each January since 1979. More than 20,000 pilgrims from across the nation pray through the night for an end to abortion and a greater respect for all human life.

It is held at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. The vigil schedule includes the opening Mass celebrated

by Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley, O.F.M. Cap., chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, in the Great Upper Church. Prayer continues throughout the night with the National Rosary for Life, Night Prayer and Holy Hours for Life. The following morning, the prayer vigil concludes with Morning Prayer, Benediction and the closing Mass.

Charlotte Bishop Peter J. Jugis and Raleigh Bishop Michael F. Burbidge will celebrate a Mass for North Carolina pilgrims at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 22, in the Great Upper Church.

MARCH FOR LIFE RALLY AND MARCH

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Marchers will proceed up South Church Street, turning right onto West Carson Boulevard.

LYNX STATION CARSON BLVD.

Marchers will then turn left at the intersection of South Tryon Street and West Carson Boulevard, towards uptown Charlotte, and will continue past St. Peter Church to the corner of Trade and Tryon streets.

Signs conveying pro-life messages will be available for any marchers who want them.

The line-up for the march will be: the crucifix (carried by Father Mark Lawlor, pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Church in Charlotte), the Knights of Columbus, the image of Divine Mercy carried by a brother of the Missionaries of the Poor, the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary carried by members of the Knights of Columbus Council 770, Silent No More witnesses carrying an image of an unborn child, other Knights of Columbus members, priests and deacons, and the laity.

RALEIGH MARCH FOR LIFE The N.C. Rally and March for Life will be held Saturday, Jan. 18, at 1 p.m. at Nash Square in downtown Raleigh. Speakers include: Barbara Holt, president of N.C. Right to Life; Raleigh Bishop Michael F. Burbidge; Steven Mosher, president of the Population Research Institute; and William Moore, the 2014 N.C. Scholarship for Life recipient and attendee at the NRL Academy.

For more information about the events in Raleigh, go to www.ncrtl.org.

— SueAnn Howell, senior reporter

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start at noon Friday, ning at 11 a.m. outside Center parking lot at mer and South Church will be in the overflow lot Palmer Street, across ter. Non-MACS buses erflow lot – instead, ere available along the Street or elsewhere stop at Carson block away. Restrooms rst floor of the Pastoral

The 41st Annual March for Life Rally is from noon to 1 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 22, on the National Mall, featuring a concert and speakers from the U.S. government and the pro-life movement.

The march will begin immediately after the rally and follow its route up Constitution Avenue to the U.S. Supreme Court Building on Capitol Hill.

Find out more information about the March for Life D.C. at www.marchforlife.org.

Photos by SueAnn Howell | Catholic News Herald graphic by Tim P. Faragher | Catholic News Herald

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catholicnewsherald.com | January 3, 2014 FROM THE COVER

2013 A look back at the year’s top stories

CNS | L’Osservatore Romano via Reuters

(Above) Retired Pope Benedict XVI greets Pope Francis at the Mater Ecclesiae monastery at the Vatican Dec. 23. (Below) Pope Francis greets the thousands of people gathered in St. Peter’s Square after being elected pontiff.

1. Year of two popes: Pope Francis captures imaginations well beyond the Church

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CNS | Paul Haring

ess than a year into his pontificate, following Pope Benedict XVI’s unprecedented retirement as pontiff in March, Pope Francis has become a phenomenon far beyond the Catholic Church.

As Time magazine observed in naming him Person of the Year, Pope Francis has captured the imagination of “young and old, faithful and cynical,” by placing himself at the center of important conversations of the times: “about wealth and poverty, fairness and justice, transparency, modernity, globalization, the role of women, the nature of marriage, the temptations of power.”

“At a time when the limits of leadership are being tested in so many places, along comes a man with no army or weapons, no kingdom beyond a tight fist of land in the middle of Rome but with the immense wealth and weight of history behind him, to throw down a challenge,” said Nancy Gibbs, Time’s managing editor, in explaining the choice.

By changing not the doctrine of the Church but the tone and focus given to everyday issues, Pope Francis has become a part of admiring dinner table and happy hour conversations among people who

previously may have given little thought to anything a pope did.

Among the indicators of the pope’s broad popularity are polls showing “strongly favorable” views of Pope Francis among Catholics and non-Catholics alike.

That interest is reflected in the wide range of nonreligious news organizations that have devoted significant reporting to the pope.

Websites such as HuffPost and Daily Kos, both often associated with liberal politics, have devoted considerable space to Pope Francis. Esquire and Us magazines, neither typically big on religion reporting, have featured him in recent weeks as well.

Within the U.S. Catholic Church, immediate effects of the new pope’s influence have been subtle. The Pew Research Center said that it has found no increase in Mass attendance over the past nine months, despite reports of such by Catholic clergy in Italy, Britain and other countries.

Pew also reported that there’s been no change in the percentage of Americans who identify as Catholics, which has been about 22 or 23 percent of the population since 2007.

— Patricia Zapor, Catholic News Service

TAKE A LOOK BACK: MORE PHOTOS, VIDEOS AND STORIES ONLINE At www. catholicnewsherald. com: Review the year’s big local, international and national news, download a past print edition you may have missed, and look back over the Year of Faith At www.facebook.com/ catholicnewsherald: Tell us: What was your favorite story of 2013?

At lentholyland.tumblr. com: Relive walking in the footsteps of Jesus on our Holy Land pilgrimage during Lent 2013 At www.pinterest. com/charlottecnh: Read all these stories and see more photos and videos, all in one place, on our Year in Review board

January 3, 2014 | catholicnewsherald.com

2. Contraception mandate and the courts: ‘unequal patchwork of justice’

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over the past 14 years, including at least nine cases of women being rushed to the emergency room following botched abortions.

The Latrobe clinic’s brief closure in May, and a similarly brief closure in 2007, were the only times state regulators had closed an abortion clinic in nearly two decades until July, when regulators revoked the licenses of The Baker Clinic for Women in Durham and Femcare Inc. in Asheville.

Femcare reopened after correcting its problems, but the Baker Clinic for Women in Durham permanently closed after being open only six months, and its physician owner was publicly reprimanded by the N.C. Medical Board, an independent oversight group for the state’s physicians,

ore than 70 lawsuits challenging a federal law requiring most employers to provide free contraceptives in their health insurance plans are winding their way through the federal courts, and so far judges’ rulings have been mixed. Religious institutions say the contraception mandate – part of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act – unconstitutionally infringes on their First Amendment rights.

Among those fighting the mandate, the Washington Archdiocese said in a recent unfavorable court ruling that the rulings create “an unequal patchwork of justice in our country, where fundamental liberties seem to depend on where one lives.”

Legal observers expect the fight to end up at the U.S. Supreme Court, which agreed Nov. 26 to take up two cases that challenge the contraceptive mandate of the law for secular, for-profit businesses whose owners object to all or part of the mandate on moral grounds.

Employers must comply with the mandate starting Jan. 1 or face thousands of dollars of daily fines.

Among those continuing to oppose the mandate is Belmont Abbey College, which was the first to sue in 2011. The college filed a fresh lawsuit Nov. 20, as it faces fines of more than $7 million by this time next year if it does not accept the mandate.

“Religious liberty, a fundamental right of all American citizens, has enabled our Benedictine community to found and operate our college according to the principles of our Catholic faith for 137 years,” said Abbot Placid Solari, chancellor of the 1,600-student college. “We cannot abandon these principles at the whim (Above) Our Lady of Grace Parish broke ground in late October for a new school building. (Above right) Bishop Peter Jugis and of the government without Bishop Emeritus William Curlin dedicated Good Shepherd Gardens, a senior housing community in Salisbury, in January. (Above destroying the distinct mission middle) As it celebrated its 50th anniversary year, St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Jefferson also continued construction on its new of the school as well as the church building. (Right) St. Francis Springs Prayer Center dedicated its San Damiano Chapel in April. fundamental rights we enjoy in this country.”

The contraception mandate requires nearly all employers Parishes continued to respond to growth in 2013 with groundbreakings, expansions and renovations – all to meet to provide free preventative the needs of an estimated 325,000 Catholics: health care coverage specifically for women. That n Our Lady of Grace School in Greensboro breaks n St. Matthew Church Waxhaw Campus land coverage includes services ground on new education building purchased, education center expansion planned such as mammograms, n St. Thérèse Church in Mooresville breaks ground on n Christ the King High School in Huntersville is prenatal care and cervical new church building dedicated and opens in new permanent facility cancer screenings, but it also n ‘Forward in Faith, Hope, and Love’ diocesan n San Damiano Chapel at St. Francis Springs Prayer mandates free contraceptives, fundraising campaign kicks off Center in Stoneville is dedicated and open for prayer sterilizations and abortionn Good Shepherd Gardens is dedicated in Salisbury n St. Vincent de Paul Church in Charlotte breaks inducing drugs – which are n Bishop Emeritus William G. Curlin Memorial ground on new Ministry Center and daily chapel contrary to Catholic teaching.

Staircase is dedicated at St. Patrick Cathedral in n St. Francis of Assisi Church in Jefferson starts Charlotte construction on new church building n St. Mark Church dedicates Memorial for Life n St. John Neumann Church in Charlotte beautifies interior, upgrades technology

Growth, growth and more growth

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Pro-life leaders protested the reopening of a Charlotte abortion clinic briefly shut down by state regulators in May. The abortion clinic has a history of health code violations dating back more than a decade. Catholics across the diocese also took part in the spring and fall 40 Days for Life campaigns and formed “Life Chains” along major thoroughfares to mark October as Respect Life Month.

3. Abortion clinics close, controversies remain Preferred Woman’s Health Center on Latrobe Drive – the busiest of Charlotte’s three abortion clinics – was shut down in May after state health inspectors found it was improperly administering a chemical abortion drug, among other health code violations dating back several months.

But then state regulators with the Department of Health and Human Services bypassed its own appeals process and allowed the Latrobe clinic to open just four days after calling its practices “an imminent danger to the health, safety and welfare of the clients...”

State regulators have documented more than 40 problems inside the Latrobe clinic

FROM THE COVERI

and fined $3,500 for blood testing procedure violations as well as two cases of lying on patients’ records.

State regulators’ inability to address chronic violations at the state’s 16 abortion clinics spurred state lawmakers to approve legislation requiring the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services to adopt stricter regulations making abortion clinics conform to similar safety standards as outpatient surgery centers – the first regulatory overhaul since 1994.

DHHS must give a progress report to state legislators this month on their efforts to set up the new regulations, but the law does not specify when any new clinic regulations must take effect.

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catholicnewsherald.com | January 3, 2014 FROM THE COVER

4. At 2013 Eucharistic Congress, Catholics ‘open the door to Christ’

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ore Catholics than the police could count gathered inside the Charlotte Convention Center Sept. 13-14 for the ninth-annual Eucharistic Congress, where they focused on the call to “open the door to Christ.”

The annual gathering of Catholics is the largest of its kind in the Carolinas, and this year’s event echoed the Year of Faith theme.

The day featured a Eucharistic Procession through the streets of uptown Charlotte, led by Bishop Peter J. Jugis and the clergy and religious of the Diocese of Charlotte; followed by educational programs for adults in English, Spanish and Vietnamese as well as

5. Ordinations bring days ‘of great joy’

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ishop Peter J. Jugis ordained another of the diocese’s native sons, Deacon Jason M. Christian, to the priesthood during a joyful two-hour ordination Mass at St. Patrick Cathedral June 22.

“This is a day of great joy for the Church of Charlotte,” Bishop Jugis said. “Today, we humbly present our brother, Deacon Jason Christian, to Almighty God for ordination to the holy priesthood.”

In separate happy occasions, seminarians Paul McNulty, Paul Buchanan and Noah Carter were ordained transitional deacons, one step further on their journey to becoming priests.

The diocese also inaugurated an intensive, week-long discernment retreat for young men contemplating the priesthood. “Quo Vadis Days” – from the Latin for “Where are you going?” – drew approximately 60 men to Belmont Abbey College June 24-28 to meet seminarians and priests and to ask themselves questions about a call to either the religious, married or single life.

programs for kindergartners through high school seniors.

During the congress, participants also had the opportunity to spend time in Eucharistic Adoration, seek the sacrament of reconciliation, and gather to worship during the closing Mass celebrated by Bishop Jugis and priests of the diocese.

“The Eucharistic Congress is a great gift to all of us here in the Diocese of Charlotte. Again this year, the Congress focused our attention on the gift of the Holy Eucharist, and the central place the Eucharist has in our lives,” Bishop Jugis noted.

Photos by SueAnn Howell | Catholic News Herald

(Left) Paul McNulty, pictured exchanging peace with his father, Deacon Brian McNulty, was ordained to the transitional diaconate June 1.

(Above) The Bishop’s Youth Lenten Pilgrimage at Belmont Abbey College drew hundreds of youths.

SueAnn Howell | Catholic News Herald

Hundreds of local Catholics joined Bishop Jugis for the March for Life in Washington, D.C., last January.

The three bishops of the Carolinas hosted the first Carolinas Catholic Family Day at Carowinds in September.

Doreen Sugierski | Catholic News Herald

Parishes marking anniversaries in 2013 n St. Aloysius Church in Hickory, 100 n St. Francis of Assisi Church in Jefferson, 50 n Holy Cross Church in Kernersville, 40

January 3, 2014 | catholicnewsherald.com

FROM THE COVERI

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Jubilarians EPISCOPAL ORDINATIONS: n 25 years ago, Bishop Emeritus William G. Curlin was appointed auxiliary bishop of Washington, D.C. n 10 years ago, Bishop Peter J. Jugis was ordained the fourth Bishop of Charlotte.

60 YEARS: Monsignor Thomas R. Walsh, Father M. Joseph Kelleher, Mercy Sister Bessie McCarthy 55 YEARS: Father Richard R. Benonis, Benedictine Father David Kessinger 50 YEARS: Father James F. Hawker, Father Edward J. Sheridan, Mercy Sister Mary Carmelita Hagan, School Sister of St. Francis Sister Jane Elysse Russell 45 YEARS: Jesuit Father Vincent C. Curtin, Conventual Franciscan Father Charles A. Jagodzinski, Father George M. Kloster, Jesuit Father Thomas P. McDonnell 40 YEARS: Father Peter Tan Van Le, Father Wilbur N. Thomas 35 YEARS: Father C. Morris Boyd, Father Michael J. Buttner, Father Michael S. Klepacki, Deacon Myles Decker, Deacon Robert Gettelfinger 30 YEARS: Father John D. Hanic, Father John W. Schneider, Capuchin Franciscan Father Martin Schratz, Redemptorist Father Vang Cong Tran; Deacons Andrew Cilone, Robert DeSautels, Charles Knight, Harold Markle, Dennis O’Madigan, Joseph Schumacher and Rudolph Triana 25 YEARS: Father Kenneth L. Whittington; Deacons Charles Brantley, Ron Caplette, Peter Duca, Gene Gillis, Art Kingsley, Guy Piché, Tom Rasmussen, Tim Rohan, Vince Shaw, Curtis Todd and Ben Wenning

Kimberly Bender | Catholic News Herald

A group of pilgrims from the Charlotte diocese traveled to the Holy Land during Lent to walk in the footsteps of Jesus. Relive the virtual pilgrimage, as documented in stories, photos and videos by the Catholic News Herald’s Kimberly Bender, online at lentholyland.tumblr.com.

In memoriam RETIRED BISHOP MOSES B. ANDERSON, SSE, who as then-Father Anderson served Our Lady of Consolation Church in Charlotte from 1958 to 1959, died Jan. 1, 2013, aged 84.

Milestones celebrated

REDEMPTORIST FATHER DANIEL JOHN CARBOY, who served St. James the Greater Church in Concord from 1993 to 1999, died Aug. 22, 2013, aged 73.

n St. John Baptist de la Salle Church in North Wilkesboro received a relic of Blessed John Paul II Jan. 18, one of only a few first-class relics in the United States of the pontiff who will be canonized on Divine Mercy Sunday. Polish Catholics also celebrated their heritage with a Polish Mass at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Charlotte.

BISHOP EMERITUS F. JOSEPH GOSSMAN, who served as the fourth bishop of the Diocese of Raleigh from 1975 to 2006, died Aug. 12, 2013, aged 83.

n In solidarity with Pope Francis, Bishop Peter J. Jugis consecrated the diocese to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on Oct. 13.

Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary was also expressed during a visit of an icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa in December. n For the first time in its 19-year history, the Foundation for the Diocese of Charlotte dispersed more than $5 million through its endowments to benefit more than 181 churches, schools, agencies and organizations, with total assets now totalling $24 million. n Thanks to approval from the Vatican and the blessing of Bishop Jugis, the diocese began offering the traditional Latin Mass regularly on Sundays at St. Ann Church in Charlotte. Support for the Mass in the Extraordinary Form continued to grow.

FATHER RICHARD P. HOKANSON JR., who served St. Joseph Church in Newton from 1991 to 1996, and Queen of the Apostles Church in Belmont from 1997 to 2009, died April 29, 2013, aged 64.

MARYKNOLL SISTER ELEANOR KEENEY, who served the Hendersonville area from 1997 to 2007, died Nov. 29, 2013, aged 90. n Catholic Social Services was renamed Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte, renewing its roots in charity in gratitude for more than 40 years of service to the diocese.

Top stories on the web In 2013, 226,290 pages on www.catholicnewsherald.com were visited by a total of 73,269 visitors. The top 10 stories of the year were: n Altar desecrated at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Charlotte.......7,528 n Priest assignment list for 2013................................................................ 7,337 n Walk in the footsteps of Jesus: Holy Land pilgrimage blog...........5,946 n Rallying for the sanctity of life: March for Life coverage.................5,723 n Pope Benedict resigns...............................................................................3,645 n Catholic bishops to leave N.C. Council of Churches...........................3,217 n Eucharistic Congress blog and coverage.............................................2,898 n State regulators shut down Latrobe abortion mill in Charlotte....2,338 n Charlotte diocese welcomes its newest priest.....................................1.922 n Quo Vadis Days: Prayer, discernment and fun ..................................... 450

FATHER RICHARD T. McCUE, who served St. Francis of Assisi Church in Franklin and Our Lady of the Mountains Mission in Highlands from 1987 to 1998, died Aug. 28, 2013, aged 85.

FATHER ROBERT F. SHEA, who served St. John the Baptist Church in Tryon, Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Monroe, Our Lady of the Rosary Church in Lexington and St. Francis of Assisi Church in Lenoir, died on Easter Sunday, March 31, 2013, aged 85.

DEACON PAUL ARMAND TEICH, who served Our Lady of Grace in Greensboro from 1995 to 2013, died March 13, 2013, aged 62.

BISHOP EMERITUS DAVID B. THOMPSON, who served the Diocese of Charleston from 1990 to 1999, died Nov. 24, 2013, aged 90.

Father John Joseph Tuller, who served many years as a priest in North Carolina until retiring in 2000, died Dec. 16, 2013, aged 83.

Our nation 18

catholicnewsherald.com | January 3, 2014 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

Judge sets $250,000 bail after court reverses priest’s conviction Catholic News Service

PHILADELPHIA — Bond was set at $250,000 for a Philadelphia priest Dec. 30, four days after an appeals court reversed his conviction for endangering child welfare by his handling of a sex abuse case.

Monsignor William Lynn, former secretary for clergy for the Philadelphia Archdiocese, was told by Common Pleas Court Judge Teresa Sarmina to surrender his passport and submit to electronic monitoring and weekly reporting while out on bail. His attorney told reporters it would likely be about a week before Monsignor Lynn is released.

On Dec. 26, a panel of judges for a Pennsylvania Superior Court reversed the priest’s conviction in handling a clerical abuse case and ordered his release from prison. Sarmina told the courtroom Dec. 30 that she had been Lynn grappling with how to respond and that she considered simply affirming her original ruling and continuing to deny bail.

Sarmina had rejected Monsignor Lynn’s requests for bail during his 2012 trial and while his case was on appeal. But because the higher court ruled she had erred in applying the law under which Monsignor Lynn was convicted, she said Dec. 30 that she had to acknowledge that if the conviction was in question, the punishment also would be in question.

Monsignor Lynn has served 18 months of a 2012 prison sentence of three to six years after he was found guilty of endangering the welfare of a child, a felony.

Prosecutors had argued that the priest had reassigned abusive priests to new parishes in the Philadelphia Archdiocese in his diocesan role as clergy secretary. However, Monsignor Lynn’s attorneys argued that Pennsylvania’s child-endangerment law at the time applied only to parents and caregivers, not to supervisors, which was Monsignor Lynn’s role.

The Superior Court’s 43-page opinion described Monsignor Lynn’s conviction under the state’s original child endangerment law of 1972 as “fundamentally flawed.”

Prosecutors could appeal the Superior Court panel’s decision or ask the full Superior Court to rehear the case.

Monsignor Lynn’s lawyers told The Associated Press they will try to get the priest released from the state prison in Waymart by Jan. 2.

Monsignor Lynn, 62, who recommended priest assignments to the archbishop of Philadelphia and investigated claims of sexual abuse of minors by clergy from 1992 to 2004, became the first official of the U.S. Church to be convicted of a felony for his responsibilities in managing priests, some of whom abused children.

Rulings in HHS lawsuits deliver mixed results for Catholic employers Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A U.S. District Court judge Dec. 20 changed a preliminary injunction to a permanent one barring enforcement of the federal health care law’s contraceptive mandate against the Pittsburgh and Erie dioceses.

Judge Arthur J. Schwab of the U.S. District Court for Western Pennsylvania issued the ruling after attorneys representing the federal government said they had no new evidence to offer in support of the mandate. The government was expected to appeal his decision to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Two months earlier, in granting the preliminary injunction, Schwab said a religious employer’s right to adhere to moral objections to the contraceptive mandate outweighs a government decision to widen access to contraceptives.

But the same day Schwab issued his permanent injunction, rulings handed down in lawsuits filed by other Catholic entities brought mixed results for the plaintiffs.

Suits brought by the Washington Archdiocese, Priest for Life and the University of Notre Dame were dismissed in their respective jurisdictions; both the Catholic organization Legatus and a group of ministries associated with the Southern Baptists were granted preliminary injunctions in their respective courts.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed the lawsuit filed by the Archdiocese of Washington and its related affiliates, saying they have “no right to challenge” the federal contraceptive mandate and arguing that the Catholic entities are not being forced to act contrary to their religious beliefs. The archdiocese in a Dec. 21 statement called the decision “astonishing” and “perplexing.”

Within an hour of the judge’s decision in its case, the Washington Archdiocese filed an emergency request with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit for an “injunction to maintain the status quo” while its appeal to the same court can be heard and decided.

The same District Court dismissed the lawsuit filed by Priests for Life, headed by Father Frank Pavone. The organization also planned to file an appeal.

Employers must comply with the mandate starting Jan. 1 or face thousands of dollars of daily fines.

The University of Notre Dame refiled its HHS lawsuit Dec. 3 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, arguing the mandate’s purpose “is to discriminate against religious institutions and organizations that oppose abortion and contraception.”

On Dec. 20 that court denied Notre Dame a preliminary injunction and criticized the university for waiting too long to refile.

Notre Dame had originally filed suit last year, but the District Court ruled it premature because the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services had yet not finalized the rules for implementing the contraceptive mandate, which is part of the Affordable Care Act. The university engaged in talks with the Obama administration over the past year to find an acceptable resolution, but the effort failed.

When the final rules were issued in June, many Catholic employers, like Notre Dame, said they still did not address their moral objections to the mandated coverage.

Elsewhere Dec. 20, Judge Robert Cleland of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan/Southern Division granted a preliminary injunction to Legatus, an organization for Catholic business leaders.

“The harm in delaying the implementation of a regulation that may later be deemed constitutional must yield to the risk presented here of substantially infringing the sincere exercise of religious beliefs” he said.

In October 2012 Cleland denied Legatus an injunction, saying the organization fell under the temporary “safe harbor” provision the Obama administration had in place to protect employers from immediate government action against them if they failed to comply with the mandate. He, too, noted the final rules were still to come, but told Legatus it could approach the court again if the government “acts in a way inimical” to the rights it sought to protect.

In his Dec. 20 ruling he said that “the court appears to have been unduly hopeful” about the government’s action in implementing the mandate. “The balance of harms tips strongly in favor of Legatus. A preliminary injunction is warranted.”

More online At www.catholicnewsherald.com: Keep up with the latest in the legal battle over the federal contraceptive mandate

In a class-action lawsuit filed by close to 200 ministries associated with the Southern Baptists, Judge Timothy DeGiusti of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma issued a preliminary injunction against enforcement of the mandate.

The ministries involved in the suit include a Georgia Baptist college and an organization called Reaching Souls International, which trains pastors and cares for orphans in Africa and a couple of other countries.

Employees are covered through the health benefits arms of the Southern Baptist Convention called GuideStone Financial Resources.

The Washington Archdiocese in its statement called the court ruling in its case “an astonishing decision that conflicts with the well-reasoned rulings of many other federal courts around the country.”

“The District Court’s ruling is perplexing. It creates an unequal patchwork of justice in our country, where fundamental liberties seem to depend on where one lives,” the statement said.

“The ruling is contrary to the recent favorable decisions of federal courts in Pennsylvania and New York, upholding the challenge to the HHS mandate brought by dioceses and a host of Catholic schools, health care systems and charities,” it continued.

“These cases are virtually identical to ours, involving the same law, the same arguments, and the same essential facts and circumstances.”

The statement referred to the decision in favor of the Pittsburgh and Erie dioceses as well as another federal judge’s Dec. 13 decision to grant Catholic organizations in the New York Archdiocese and the neighboring Diocese of Rockville Centre, N.Y., a permanent injunction on having to comply with the federal contraceptive mandate in the health care law.

It noted the lower court’s decision is also contrary to a recent D.C. circuit court’s that blocked enforcement of the mandate against for-profit organizations with religious objections to it.

The Washington Archdiocese and its related affiliates “are extremely disappointed and troubled by the court’s failure to uphold the Church’s freedom to maintain a health care plan consistent with its religious beliefs,” it said.

“Since the regulations take effect on Jan. 1, 2014, and would force the archdiocese’s affiliated ministries to violate their deeply held Catholic beliefs or face crippling fines and penalties for noncompliance, we will appeal this decision and seek immediate relief from the appellate court,” it continued. “We believe the court erred in its reasoning and application of the law and look forward to advancing a successful appeal.”

Currently, there are more than 70 lawsuits against the mandate filed by Catholic and other religious entities and some for-profit companies working their way through the courts.

The HHS mandate requires nearly all religious and other employers to provide free preventative health care coverage specifically for women.

That coverage includes services such as mammograms, prenatal care and cervical cancer screenings, but it also mandates free contraceptives, sterilizations and abortion-inducing drugs – which are contrary to Catholic teaching. It includes a narrow exemption for some religious employers that fit certain criteria.

For religious employers who are not exempt, there is an accommodation for them to use a third party to pay for coverage they find objectionable, but Catholic entities that have brought the lawsuits say the accommodation still does not solve their problem over being involved in providing coverage they reject for moral reasons.

The mandate does not include a conscience clause for employers who object to such coverage on moral grounds.

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Nov. 26 to take up two cases that challenge the contraceptive mandate of the law for secular, forprofit businesses whose owners object to all or part of the mandate on moral grounds.

January 3, 2014 | catholicnewsherald.com catholic news heraldI

For the latest news 24/7: catholicnewsherald.com

In Brief New Mexico court, federal judge in Utah OK same-sex ‘marriage’ WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge Dec. 20 struck down Utah’s ban on samesex “marriage,” arguing it violated the U.S. Constitution’s guarantees of equal protection and due process. A day earlier the New Mexico Supreme Court ruled that barring same-sex couples from marrying violates the equal protection clause of that state’s constitution.

In a Dec. 23 statement issued in Washington, the chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Subcommittee on the Promotion and Defense of Marriage said both the court and judge “imposed a wrong decision about the meaning of marriage onto the people of their respective states.” San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone quoted Blessed John Paul II, who said: “Vast sectors of society are confused about what is right and what is wrong, and are at the mercy of those with the power to ‘create’ opinion and impose it on others.’”

In Utah, Bishop John C. Wester of the statewide Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City said while some see U.S. District Court Judge Robert J. Shelby’s decision “as a joyful

moment” in the debate on “the definition of marriage in our society,” others “see it as an affront to an institution that is at once sacred and natural. As Catholics, we seek to defend the traditional, well-established and divinely revealed reality of the marriage covenant between one man and one woman, a permanent and exclusive bond meant to provide a nurturing environment for children and the fundamental building block to a just society.”

Cardinal O’Malley urges action on Dominican citizenship issue BOSTON — Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley of Boston is urging action on a citizenship controversy that has strained relations between the Dominican Republic and Haiti, the two nations that share the island of Hispaniola. In a Dec. 16 letter to the Dominican Republic’s ambassador to United States, Anibal de Castro Rodriguez, Cardinal O’Malley called on the government and people of the Dominican Republic to reject a high court decision that could render hundreds of thousands of Dominicans of Haitian descent stateless. On Sept. 23, the country’s Constitutional Court ruled that children born to undocumented immigrants since 1929 would no longer be considered citizens.

Rape of elderly nun shocks community; teen charged in case PITTSBURGH — An 18-year-old Pennsylvania

man has been charged in the Dec. 13 rape of an 85-year-old retired member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Baden. The sister, who has not been identified out of respect for her privacy, was attacked in the parking lot of St. Titus Church in Aliquippa, about 30 miles northwest of Pittsburgh. Andrew Bullock, 18, of Aliquippa, was arrested later that day in connection with the attack on charges of felony rape, aggravated assault, sexual assault, indecent exposure, simple assault and reckless endangerment.

He was taken to the Beaver County Jail in Beaver where he was held on $50,000 bond pending a preliminary hearing Dec. 19 before District Judge James DiBenedetto. Aliquippa police said Bullock admitted to the attack during questioning after initially denying any involvement. The victim was taken to Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh for treatment and released Dec. 14.

“The Sisters of St. Joseph are deeply saddened and heartbroken by the assault of one of our sisters,” Sister Mary Pellegrino, congregational moderator, said in a statement released to the media.

Let’s keep talking.

Boston auxiliary bishop named to head Maine diocese WASHINGTON, D.C. — Auxiliary Bishop Robert P. Deeley of Boston has been appointed bishop of Portland, Maine, by Pope Francis. Bishop Deeley, 67, succeeds Bishop Richard J. Malone, who became bishop of Buffalo, N.Y., May 29, 2012.

— Catholic News Service

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The March for Life Charlotte Charlotte Diocese Pastoral Center, Charlotte January 10, 2014 – 12pm Mass for Life with Bishop Jugis and Bishop Burbidge Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception Washington, D.C. January 22, 2014 - 11:30am Rally and March for Life National Mall, Washington, D.C. January 22, 2014 - 12pm Visit ccdoc.org/respectlife for more information on ways to get involved.

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Our world 20

catholicnewsherald.com | January 3, 2014 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

Jerusalem Church leader says pope will visit in May Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY — Latin-rite Patriarch Faoud Twal of Jerusalem told reporters he expected to host Pope Francis on a visit to the Holy Land in May. Listing “upcoming events for next year,” Patriarch Twal began with “the pope’s visit to the Holy Land planned for next May, first in Jordan, then in Israel-Palestine.”

At his Dec. 19 meeting with the press, the patriarch did not give specific dates for the trip. At the Vatican, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, the spokesman, told reporters it would be up to Pope Francis to decide when to announce the trip’s dates, although the spokesman confirmed a Vatican advance team had already visited.

Israeli newspapers were reporting a May 24 papal flight to Amman, Jordan, and a May 2526 visit to Jerusalem and to Bethlehem in the Palestinian territories.

Pope Francis had told reporters in July that he hoped to travel to Jerusalem to fulfill a plan proposed by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople. The Orthodox patriarch suggested they meet in Jerusalem in 2014 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Pope Paul VI’s meeting with Patriarch Athenagoras, a meeting that set the stage for Catholic-Orthodox reconciliation and dialogue.

Speaking to reporters about the Holy Land in general, the Latin-rite patriarch said he met Pope Francis on the day of the pontiff’s March 19 installation and several times since then.

“He cares about the Holy Land and the Middle East. His statements clearly express that the Holy See maintains a consistent interest for our region,” the patriarch said.

As Christmas drew near, he said the eyes of the world look toward Bethlehem, West Bank.

“It is from here, in the midst of conflict and violence tearing our Middle East apart, that the mystery of Christmas gently rises and spreads throughout the world.”

While the patriarch insisted that the entire Middle East would not be at peace until the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is settled, he also urged special prayers and assistance for the people of Syria and for the many foreign workers from the Philippines who are suffering far from home because their families were impacted by the deadly typhoon in November.

“The situation in the Middle East is becoming more complex and more dramatic,” he said. “The instability affects everyone, but especially our faithful who are tempted to emigrate.”

Christmas is time to feel God’s closeness, experience peace, pope says Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY — Celebrating the first Christmas since his election, Pope Francis preached the goodness and tenderness of God, and prayed that men and women around the world would allow God’s grace to transform them into peacemakers.

“Let us allow our hearts to be touched, let us allow ourselves to be warmed by the tenderness of God; we need His caress,” the pope said Dec. 25, standing on the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica and addressing an estimated 70,000 people in the square below.

“God is peace,” the pope said. “Let us ask Him to help us to be peacemakers each day, in our life, in our families, in our cities and nations, in the whole world. Let us allow ourselves to be moved

by God’s goodness.”

“My hope is that everyone will feel God’s closeness, live in His presence, love Him and adore Him,” Pope Francis said before delivering his Christmas blessing “urbi et orbi” (“to the city and the world”).

Instead of reading Christmas greetings in more than 50 languages – from Chinese to Swahili – as his predecessors had done, Pope Francis spoke only in Italian.

As is traditional, his Christmas address included prayers and pleas for peace in war-torn and tense countries around the world, including Syria, Central African Republic, South Sudan, Israel and Palestine and Iraq, where a car bomb exploded outside a church a few hours earlier, killing at least a dozen people.

Looking at the Christ Child, “our thoughts turn to those children who are the most vulnerable victims of wars,” he said. Offering a prayer, he asked God to “look upon the many children who are kidnapped, wounded and killed in armed conflicts, and all those who are robbed of their childhood and forced to become soldiers.”

“Wars shatter and hurt so many lives,” he said.

“True peace is not a balance of opposing forces,” he said, and it is not “a lovely façade” simply covering conflicts and divisions. Rather, “peace calls for daily commitment – it’s homemade – starting from God’s gift, from the grace which He has given us in Jesus Christ.”

Departing from his prepared text, Pope Francis asked nonbelievers who feel

CNS | L’Osservatore Romano via Reuters

Pope Francis waves as he delivers his Christmas blessing “urbi et orbi” (to the city and the world) from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican Dec. 25. unable to pray to “enlarge their hearts” by ardently desiring peace.

Pope Francis also prayed for the elderly, for battered women, for the sick, for migrants and refugees, for those persecuted for their faith, for the victims of human trafficking and for the conversion of traffickers.

The pope’s Christmas celebrations began in the crisp air of a cloudless winter night when he celebrated Christmas Mass Dec. 24 in St. Peter’s Basilica, starting his homily with the first line from the night’s reading from Isaiah: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.”

The reading gave the pope an opportunity to combine reflections on the Christmas symbolism of light and a verb he has emphasized since his first Mass as pope: “to walk.”

Thousands of people packed into the basilica for the Mass and hundreds stood outside watching on big video screens; already in November people were being told there were no more of the free tickets left.

Pope Francis carried a statue of the baby Jesus to a golden manger in front of the altar at the beginning of Mass. After the liturgy, walking behind children from Italy, the Philippines, Argentina, Congo and Lebanon, he carried the statue to a

Nativity scene.

In his homily, the pope said that from the moment God called Abraham, believers in the one God have been a walking, pilgrim people, and through all the wandering, God has never left His people’s side.

“Yet on the part of the people,” he said, “there are times of both light and darkness, fidelity and infidelity, obedience and rebellion; times of being a pilgrim people and times of being a people adrift.”

In individual stories as well, “there are both bright and dark moments,” the pope said. “If we love God and our brothers and sisters, we walk in the light; but if our heart is closed, if we are dominated by pride, deceit, self-seeking, then darkness falls within us and around us.”

The glad tidings of Christmas reveal that God has broken into the world with light and salvation, he said. “Jesus, born of the Virgin Mary, true man and true God,” has entered human history and is sharing the human journey.

“Jesus is love incarnate,” Pope Francis said. “He is not simply a teacher of wisdom, He is not an ideal for which we strive while knowing that we are hopelessly distant from it. He is the meaning of life and history who has pitched His tent in our midst.”

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In Brief Pope, on feast of first martyr, prays for persecuted Christians VATICAN CITY — Observing the feast of the Church’s first martyr, Pope Francis prayed for Christians suffering persecution and discrimination around the world, even in countries that nominally honor religious liberty.

The pope made his remarks Dec. 26, the feast of St. Stephen, before praying the Angelus from his window overlooking St. Peter’s Square.

“Today we pray in a particular way for Christians who undergo discrimination because of their witness to Christ and the Gospel,” he said. “We are close to these brothers and sisters who, like St. Stephen, are unjustly accused and made targets of violence of various kinds. I am sure that, unfortunately, there are more of them today than in the early days of the Church. There are so many. “This (persecution) happens, especially where religious liberty is not yet guaranteed and fully realized,” Pope Francis said. “But it also happens in countries and societies that protect liberty and human rights on paper, but where, in fact, believers, especially Christians, encounter abridgements of liberty and discrimination.”

Pope’s morning Masses to include parishioners from Rome VATICAN CITY — Ordinary members of parishes in Rome will be able to attend Pope Francis’ private morning Masses in 2014.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, said the cardinal vicar of Rome would tell local pastors how to apply on behalf of their parishioners beginning in January, according to a Dec. 27 report by Vatican Radio.

The pope celebrates Mass every morning in the Vatican guesthouse, where he lives.

Most of Pope Francis’ morning congregations so far have consisted of Vatican employees.

The guesthouse chapel was constructed to accommodate 120 cardinal electors and a few attendants during a papal conclave. Father Lombardi said Rome parishioners would probably be admitted in groups of 25 at a time.

Amid sadness, refugees in Lebanon hear Christmas message of hope BEIRUT — More than 800 Syrian and Iraqi refugees were bused to the National Shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon for a Christmas Mass in an atmosphere of “great sadness.” “The assembly could not stop their tears, especially upon seeing many young children and youngsters moving their arms, imploring the mercy and help from on high,”

said Syriac Patriarch Ignace Joseph III Younan.

The patriarch told Catholic News Service that among the offertory gifts at the Dec. 21 Mass were large maps of Syria and Iraq dotted with photographs of some clergy members and laypeople “murdered by terrorist fanatics.”

The patriarch said he told the faithful that they should never lose hope, but instead “renew their hope, against all hope, that the light of the Divine Infant of Bethlehem will conquer the darkness, and justice will be made to all those persecuted or uprooted from their land.”

He also told them their plight could resemble the hardship of the Holy Family fleeing their homeland following the birth of Jesus.

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Vatican hires firms to streamline communications, bookkeeping VATICAN CITY — In an effort to streamline and modernize its communications structures and bring its accounting practices in line with international standards, the Vatican hired two international consulting agencies. The global management-consulting firm McKinsey & Company and the Netherlands-based financial and administrative consultation firm KPMG were hired after a “bidding and selection process,” the Vatican said in a written statement Dec. 19. The new partnerships were initiatives of the Pontifical Commission for Reference on the Organization of the economic-administrative structure of the Holy See, a panel of business and legal experts Pope Francis created in July to help the Vatican simplify and better coordinate its scattered resources, budgets, properties and assets. McKinsey & Company was hired to provide recommendations for an “integrated plan” that would help make the Holy See’s communications’ outlets more “efficient and modern,” the Vatican statement said.

The Vatican has nearly a dozen separate communication outlets and offices that operate independently of each other.

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Vatican hosts top world leaders; experts push for end to Syrian war VATICAN CITY — Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and former Egyptian Vice President Mohamed ElBaradei are among the key political experts invited by the Vatican for a one-day meeting aimed at promoting a cease-fire in Syria, the protection of Christians there and a transitional and unified government.

The Vatican meeting Jan. 13 will come ahead of major peace talks Jan. 22 in Geneva between the Syrian government and opposition forces.

Sponsored by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, the daylong Vatican “workshop” will seek to propose “a cease-fire to make humanitarian aid possible” in Syria; an end to “persecutions against Christians to encourage interreligious dialogue; a transitional authority to organize elections (and) a unified national government also responsible for the military sector and security;” as well as an end to human trafficking and prostitution in the war-torn nation.

— Catholic News Service

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ViewPoints 22

catholicnewsherald.com | January 3, 2014 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

Deacon James H. Toner

The Poor Clares

Education is about forming hearts, not just minds W E

What comes first?

“Be concerned above everything else with the Kingdom of God and with what He requires of you” (Mt 6:33 GNB).

ducation is no longer one of the primary goals or focuses of our culture.

It has truly fallen by the wayside in contemporary times, becoming thoroughly and sadly neglected.

Perhaps this sounds confusing. Aren’t we all supportive of improving our schools, dedicated to upholding academic excellence, and worried about our kids getting good grades? Isn’t finding the “right” college the apparent ultimate goal of many parents?

The answer to each of those questions is “yes.” And that’s exactly the problem.

Education has been reduced to the institutional standards: 12 years of the three “Rs” followed by an often unclear, twisting stint in college.

Unfortunately, it is plain fact that our country’s level of education is not exactly stellar. The future is not looking too hopeful either, as new approaches to the grading system and altering of the actual substance of the education imparted threaten a downward spiral. But, to be honest, this is beside the point.

Even if we had the most superior educational institutions on earth, the situation would remain the same.

The true problem lies deeper. Our schools have been saddled with the formation of the entire human person. Parents have, essentially, signed off in many cases as the primary educators of their children. This role has been handed over either to the State, or in best-case scenarios, to the Church in our Catholic schools. Many parents seem to expect, in return for their act of enrolling their children as students, the receipt of a mature, well-rounded person who is confident in their own dignity and worth as an individual. And, as years and generations pass, are we truly reaping such results?

In large part, this scenario is why we find a new surge in the counter-cultural practice of homeschooling. Recent decades have witnessed an inspiring increase in parents who are courageous enough to take this effort fully onto their own shoulders. It is no small

task, and a step that needs to be discerned carefully and responsibly. Admirable as such generosity is, it’s not for everyone.

However, the duty of providing for the education of one’s children is inescapable. Every parent is called to recover the role of educator.

We need to take a glance first at the real meaning of the word “educate.” It comes from the Latin “educere,” which means “to bring out or develop.” Already, this seems to point us beyond the learning of reading, writing and arithmetic.

Plumbing to the depths of what this definition implies was a passionate pursuit of the great philosopher and phenomenologist Edith Stein, also known as St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. After the laws of Nazi Germany forced her resignation as a university professor due to her Jewish heritage, she focused her brilliant mind on the fundamental principles and problems of education, speaking and writing extensively on this topic. She was able to use her incredible gifts for teaching in a girls’ Catholic school for several years before entering a cloistered Carmelite community.

She defined education this way: “Education is not an external possession of learning but rather the form which the human personality assumes under the influence of manifold external forces. Just as an inner form resides in the seed of plants…there is in this way an inner mold set in human beings which works towards a certain form in blind singleness of purpose. The small child with its physicalpsychic disposition and its innate singleness of purpose is delivered into the hands of human sculptors. The fulfillment of his goal depends on whether or not they furnish the necessary formative materials for body and soul.”

Stein clearly sees the grave responsibility of those entrusted with the tremendous role of educators. Not one of us is self-made. Our

‘The duty of providing for the education of one’s children is inescapable. Every parent is called to recover the role of educator.’

POOR CLARES, SEE page 24

hat should come first in our lives? The success of our favorite football team? How much money we make? How much respect we receive or how much prestige we have?

Our cars? Our houses? Our retirement nest egg?

May we be a little more serious?

What’s first? Our jobs? They are important: ask doctors and their patients. Ask lawyers and their clients.

Ask military officers and their soldiers.

Not to be competent at what we do is unethical. But if the surgery, the trial and the mission are not just, then they should not be accomplished. No, the job can’t come first.

If the job or mission came first, there would be no unjust laws, no illegal commands, and no authority to consult beyond the power of the state, beyond the order of our superior officer, beyond the civil law which may tell us, for instance, that abortion is permissible. Abortion is legal; it will never be just.

Perhaps the family always comes first. Our family is always ours, no matter what (see 1 Tim 5:8). That does not mean, though, that if a family member is jeopardizing his immortal soul we should stand idly by. It is a spiritual work of mercy to admonish the sinner. Christians conclude that there are standards according to which we praise or counsel our loved ones.

For instance, if a family member joined the KKK, would we not warn him that he was terribly mistaken? That is the sense of the Bible passage in which Our Lord tells us that families will be divided (Luke 12:49-53).

The same is true of our friends. To borrow from the play by Robert Bolt about St. Thomas More: We do not want to go to hell. But if our friends were going there, would we accompany them for “good fellowship”? Friendship is beautiful, but our friends can mislead us. We must have a standard according to which we determine true from false friends.

“If you have your health, then you have everything!” Surely health is important, and we should strive to maintain it. Such an effort, however,

is inevitably bound to fail, for we are mortal. We can therefore change it this way: “If you have your spiritual health, you have everything,” for our souls (and, after the Parousia, our bodies) are immortal.

Then how about “Me First”! If you really believe that, we can’t have a genuine conversation.

Finally: Suppose we put country first. The journalist Carl Schurz had it exactly right: “My country, right or wrong! If right to be kept right, and if wrong to be set right.” Then we must have a transcendent source to consult in order to correct the course of our country – especially in these dark days.

We should “render to Caesar.” But we must always “render to God” first, as St. Peter firmly tells us in Acts 5:29.

Then what does come first?

Conscience? Be careful: if you see conscience only as what you judge to be right or wrong at a given time, you may implicitly be saying that, in fact, you really are first in everything after all.

We have asked the wrong question: It’s not what comes first, but Who. As the epigraph to this column tells us, we must first be concerned with God. There is a reason that the First Commandment is first. Get that wrong, and everything else will be wrong.

But how do we know what God wants for us? We have the full revelation of God in His divine Son, Jesus Christ, who is the head of the Church. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us (795), St. Joan of Arc, in responding to her judges in 1431, summed up the faith of us who have the honor of calling ourselves Catholic: “About Jesus Christ and the Church, I simply know they’re just one thing, and we shouldn’t complicate the matter.”

In the settled teaching of the Church (see CCC 888-892), we find the truth which will set us free; we find the right standard to consult (see 2 Cor 4:16, 10:12); we find the right authority to follow (see CCC 88). As Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI put it in 2004, “There may be legitimate diversity of opinion even among Catholics about waging war and applying the death penalty, but not, however, with regard to abortion and euthanasia.”

TONER, SEE page 24

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January 3, 2014 | catholicnewsherald.com catholic news heraldI

W.S. Melton Jr.

Allison Schumacher

Christ’s coming was pre-announced, and not just by Jewish prophets

W

hether Christian or atheist or anything in between, everyone knows Christmas Day is the day set aside by the Christian Church and, even our own government, to celebrate the historical birth of Jesus Christ.

And most everyone knows the story, too. Christians believe Christ is the Savior whose birth on that first Christmas fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies that heralded His coming.

But what may be less known is something I learned in the book “Life of Christ” by the late Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen. Archbishop Sheen was a prolific communicator and preacher of the Gospel who wrote more than a hundred books and whose television program “Life is Worth Living” was so popular it competed in the same time slot as Milton Berle.

Archbishop Sheen died in 1979 and the cause for his canonization and sainthood is under way.

In “Life of Christ,” which is a wonderful book, Archbishop Sheen pulls together all the synoptic Gospels to give us a full and complete picture of Christ on earth and His heavenly mission. But it is the first chapter of the book that to me is most compelling. Its title gives it away: “The Only Person Ever Pre-Announced.”

In this chapter Sheen makes several points, one of which is this: Human history is full of people who claimed to be gods, or came to us from God, or had some message to give us from God. Archbishop Sheen includes in this list Buddha, Mohammed, Confucius and Lao-tze, and as he says, thousands of others “right down to the person who founded a new religion this very day.” But Archbishop Sheen says that if God were in fact to have sent any of these men to speak on His behalf, reason would then dictate that He would have at least preannounced their coming. In the case of all these, Sheen notes, only Christ can claim pre-announcement.

Now, of course, any Christian with at least one first-grade Sunday school class under their belt knows the Old Testament is full of prophesies concerning the coming of the Son of Man. As St. Augustine put it, “The New is in the Old contained, the Old is in the New explained.

The New is in the Old concealed, the Old is in the New revealed.”

So, the kicker to all this it that Archbishop Sheen says there were actually prophesies other than Jewish messianic prophesies that foretold His coming as well. And that, of course, is just plain exciting!

For instance, Archbishop Sheen tells us that the noted Roman historian and senator Tacitus “speaking for the ancient Romans says, ‘People were generally persuaded in the faith of the ancient prophesies, that the East was to prevail, and that from Judea was to come the Master and Ruler of the world.’ And

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that Suetonius, a Roman writer and biographer from the same period, when writing of the life of Vespasian tells of the Roman tradition that ‘the Jews were to obtain the highest power.’” Archbishop Sheen writes that Suetonius also quoted an author from that period “to the effect that Romans were so fearful about a king who would rule the world that they ordered all children born that year to be killed.” That was a horrific order later fulfilled by King Herod.

Archbishop Sheen says the Chinese also

Make room for Jesus in your heart “She gave birth to her first-born son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn” (Luke 2:7).

T

his verse from the Gospel of St. Luke is basically the joyous birth announcement of Christ’s birth.

We visualize the Blessed Mother gently covering her Son, so as to shield Him from the piercing cold. Then she tenderly lays Him in the manger. Yet the added phrase at the end of the verse abruptly interrupts that warm and beautiful moment to the chilling reality – there was no room for

Doreen Sugierski | Catholic News Herald

A detail of the Nativity scene in the sanctuary of Holy Spirit Church in Denver during the children’s Christmas Mass on Dec. 24. expected a great Wise Man who would be born in the West. Even the Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle spoke of the Logos and of the Universal Wise Man “yet to come.” And Confucius spoke of “the Saint.”

So, from Archbishop Sheen’s presentation of history by secular historians, not only were the Jews expecting a savior and king, but so were the Romans who ruled the west and the Chinese who ruled the east. Even the great philosophical minds of Greece pondered and spoke of His coming.

So when we read in the sacred Scriptures that Magi from the east came seeking Him, it should therefore come as no surprise. They were just at the head of the line.

And it is all the more true today that wise men (and women) still seek Him! Merry Christ’s Mass!

W.S. “Bill” Melton Jr. is a Southern writer, humorist, sheriff’s deputy and Catholic convert. He is a member of St. Michael the Archangel Church in Gastonia.

them in the inn.

As a child, were you ever excluded from a group of other youngsters who did not want you around? Or as an adult, did you ever really desire to spend time with someone, but he or she ignored you or were simply too busy to make time for you? Have you ever given a gift that the recipient seemed completely disinterested in? Something as little as the rushed phone call or distracted conversation can really sting. No matter what the scenario or situation, rejection is a cruel blow to the human heart, but it is a pain our dear Lord endured from the beginning of His human life on earth.

Immediately after the sin of Adam and Eve, God in His great and incomprehensible mercy promised a Redeemer. Then for hundreds of years He prepared humanity for the coming of the Savior. He spoke to the prophets about the Promised One. He sent figures like Abraham and Isaac to be types of the Messiah. He chose a definite time, a specific place, and the very circumstances

surrounding the birth of Jesus; everything was planned for the moment when He intended to give the perfect gift of His Son to the world.

How was He received? There was no room for Him in the inn. Very few are recorded in Scripture to have recognized His presence. Most people busied themselves with their own accommodations, their own needs, their own ambitions. They were too occupied, too self-absorbed, too distracted to recognize their Creator.

It was not beyond man’s capability to know that the Christ was born. God did not prepare everything so perfectly and then simply send His Son secretly into the world. In fact, He sent angels to announce the glad tidings to the shepherds. They in turn shared the news of this manifestation.

The wise men told Herod about the birth of the King, and chaos broke out – not because people were flocking to worship Jesus, but because the power-hungry king was determined to kill the King of Kings.

It is true, Christ’s coming was not what people expected. It was humble, even degrading. Perhaps many missed Him because they were blind to the ways of God. Whatever category they fell into, the sad reality is that many people rejected God-made-man through their self-absorbed business, their own ambitions, or their ignorance.

They had no room for Him in the inn: these words should burn our consciences and remain branded in our hearts. Why? We were not in Bethlehem for Christ’s birth. We did not dismiss the Holy Family from our house. We did not fail to visit the stable to pay Him our homage. What does this passage mean for us?

Christmas actually comes to us every day of our lives, and Christ comes to us in many ways. We must be careful not to be too busy, too self-absorbed, too greedy, or oblivious to Christ’s presence around us.

First of all, He comes to us Himself in the Holy Eucharist. At the moment of Holy Communion, our hearts become His manger. How do we receive Him? Where are our thoughts and where is our attention?

He comes to us in the guise of our neighbors. Beneath the cold and hungry person on the street awaits the cold and hungry Jesus. In the family member we have not taken time for, we find the lonely Jesus, longing for love and company.

Who were the ones who recognized the Lamb of God and the King of Kings? The humble and simple shepherds possessed the purity and simplicity of heart to recognize the Agnus Dei. The Magi, who were wise enough to know the limits of their own knowledge, could offer gifts to the King. Joseph and Mary, who were focused on the one thing necessary, remained at the stable and were overjoyed in the presence of Jesus. They made room for Him in the inn of their hearts.

Allison Schumacher is a freelance writer who works with MiraVia in Belmont.

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catholicnewsherald.com | January 3, 2014 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

POOR CLARES: FROM PAGE 22

wholeness of development is dependent on others! If we are parents, that duty lies squarely on our shoulders.

And, what a beautiful and sacred duty that is – to be entrusted by God with the task of cooperating with Him in the physical, psychological, moral and spiritual

formation of a human person with an immortal soul!

Formation is not a popular word these days. We seem to think of it as implying some kind of curbing or stunting of one’s unique individuality – when it is exactly the opposite. We cannot be fully ourselves or fully whole as human persons without the molding, training hand of formation at work in our lives! Parents must tune out our culture’s rejection of what it considers to be a constricting influence.

This is not easy. And our children will probably not be begging us to take on this task, either. But one day they will be so grateful for the time, patience and love which was poured into their formation.

These days, true education is countercultural from the ground up. It used to be that parents had to focus on raising godly men and women. Now they must teach them first how to be men and women.

The good news is, we are not alone in the struggle. There are many wonderful resources available for parents today to encourage them in the good fight. In upcoming articles, I hope to unpack more of the treasures of St. Edith Stein’s forays in the principles of education, particularly for young women. Her insights are invaluable and amazingly prophetic of our times.

The essentials of education for the development of the human person cannot be limited to the classroom, and cannot be found in a textbook. This vital formation is a daunting task, but one that is possible with God’s grace, and richly rewarding in this life and the next. Let’s not be afraid to embrace it!

Sister Marie Thérèse of the Divine Child Jesus is professed with the Poor Clare Nuns of Perpetual Adoration St. Joseph Monastery in Charlotte. Learn more about the Poor Clares at www.stjosephmonastery.com.

In 2010, Haiti was hit by a devastating earthquake.

Today, the country is still reeling.

Watch the Mercy for Haiti film and help us continue to make a difference for those forgotten. Visit urgentcares.org/haiti

Visit urgentcares.org to make a donation, or mail your gift (payable to CMMF) to P.O. Box 16367, Asheville, NC 28816

TONER: FROM PAGE 22

When we hear the magisterial voice of the Church, we hear the voice of God. As we read in sacred Scripture, Jesus said to His disciples: “He whoever listens to you, listens to Me; whoever rejects you rejects Me” (Luke 10:16). Keeping Christ paramount in our thoughts, words and deeds means forming our consciences on the rock of authoritative Church teaching.

The poet Joyce Kilmer once wrote: Lo, comfort blooms on pain, and peace in strife, And gain on loss.

What is the key to Everlasting Life?

A blood-stained cross.

As much as we may prize having an open mind, it is not to be confused with having an empty head. The Church must

CZESTOCHOWA: FROM PAGE 3

The Black Madonna icon is a replica of the original housed in the Monastery of Jasna Góra in Poland, and according to tradition liturgically united with the original.

The pilgrimage of the icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa started in Vladivostok, Russia, in 2012. So far the icon of the “Black Madonna” has already traveled more than 40,000 miles, traversed 24 countries, visited 75 cathedrals and 60 Orthodox churches in more than 400 cities;

‘As much as we may prize having an open mind, it is not to be confused with having an empty head.’ be preeminent in our hearts and minds, for it is our mother and our teacher (“mater et magistra”) in all matters related to the salvation of our souls.

What, then, comes first? We respond: “The Church, for it is the mystical Body of Christ, and only He is the path to salvation” (Acts 4:12).

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

and has been venerated by hundreds of thousands since the “Ocean to Ocean Campaign in Defense of Life” began.

“This pilgrimage is intended to awaken the faithful about the urgency of defending life from the moment of conception,” said Father West. “Hundreds of thousands, in venerating the image, have recommitted to restoring a Culture of Life, while hosting discussions, lectures and contests around the visitation of the icon. Truly, our Blessed Mother, as Mediatrix of all grace, is interceding on our behalf with her Son, the Lord of Life, and we will see a return to respect for life and family.”