Feb. 28, 2014

February 28, 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

St. Patrick Cathedral begins 75th anniversary year

¡Ave María!

Hundreds gather for 2014 Marian Congress in Kannapolis

Bishop Peter Jugis designates it a ‘place of pilgrimage’ starting on St. Patrick’s Day,

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INDEX Contact us.......................... 4 Español............................14-15 Events calendar................. 4 Our Faith............................. 2 Our Parishes................. 3-13 Schools......................... 16-19 Scripture readings............ 2 TV & Movies..................20-21 U.S. news.......................... 22 Viewpoints.................. 26-27 World news................. 24-25

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Rwandan massacre survivor also shares powerful testimony of the rosary

A family’s test of faith When their son was paralyzed in a diving accident, the Andrades began a spiritual journey that has shaken – and strengthened – their love of God. 8

3, 14-15

Snow? What snow?

Christ the King students keep learning despite recent snowstorm, thanks to advanced technology, 16

PREPARING OUR HEARTS INSIDE: Resources for reflection and practice

during this Lenten season of prayer and penitence,

2, 5, 14, 20, 26

Our faith 2

catholicnewsherald.com | February 28, 2014 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

Pope Francis

Sacrifice key to reaping wealth of God’s love, fighting misery

C

ourageously follow Jesus in seeking out the poor and sinners, and in making difficult sacrifices to help and heal others, Pope Francis said.

Christians are called to confront the material, spiritual and moral destitution of “our brothers and sisters, to touch it, to make it our own and to take practical steps to alleviate it,” the pope said in his first message for Lent, which begins March 5 for Latin-rite Catholics.

Saving the world will not come about “with the right kind of human resources” Read more and token alms, but only “through the poverty of At www.catholicnewsherald.com: Christ,” who emptied Read the full text of Pope Francis’ Himself of the worldly and message for Lent made the world rich with God’s love and mercy, he said.

The text of the pope’s message focuses on the theme of Christ’s poverty, with the title: “He became poor, so that by His poverty you might become rich,” which is from a verse from St. Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians.

Pope Francis said he chose the passage to explore what St. Paul’s references to poverty and charity mean for Christians today.

There are many forms of poverty, he said, like the material destitution that disfigures the face of humanity and the moral destitution of being a slave to vice and sin.

But “there is only one real kind of poverty: not living as children of God and brothers and sisters of Christ,” he said.

People experiencing the spiritual destitution of believing they don’t need God and can make it on their own “are headed for a fall,” the pope wrote. “God alone can truly save and free us.”

“The Gospel is the real antidote to spiritual destitution,” he said, and the greatest treasure of all is “boundless confidence in God” and the desire to always do His will.

All Christians are called “to proclaim the liberating news that forgiveness for sins committed is possible, that God is greater than our sinfulness, that He freely loves us at all times and that we were made for communion and eternal life.”

Spreading the joy of the Gospel, consoling broken hearts and offering real hope means “following and imitating Jesus, who sought out the poor and sinners,” and by opening up “new paths of evangelization and human promotion” with courage, he said.

Imitating Christ also includes confronting the abuses, discrimination and violations against human dignity, which often cause the material poverty suffered by those who lack the basic rights to food, water, work, development and “equal access to education and healthcare.”

Sometimes the unjust social conditions that rob people of their dignity lead to moral destitution – a kind of “impending suicide,” he said.

Think of how much pain is caused by people, especially the young, when they turn to alcohol, drugs, gambling, pornography or other vices because they “no longer see meaning in life or prospects for the future,” he said. “How many have lost hope!”

“By loving and serving the poor, we love and serve Christ,” but such service also entails conversion.

“When power, luxury and money become idols, they take priority over the need for a fair distribution of wealth. Our consciences thus need to be converted to justice, equality, simplicity and sharing.”

While Lent is a time for “self-denial,” don’t forget that real sacrifice and poverty have a “dimension of penance” and pain, he said. “I distrust a charity that costs nothing and does not hurt.”

“God did not let our salvation drop down from heaven, like someone who gives alms from their abundance out of a sense of altruism and piety.” God operates according to “the logic of love, the logic of incarnation and the cross” – to be with those who need Him most, “to take upon Himself the burden of our sins” and to comfort, save and free people from their misery.

“What gives true freedom, true salvation and true happiness is the compassion, tenderness and solidarity of His love, Christ’s poverty, which enriches us,” he said.

File Photo | Catholic News Herald

Ash Wednesday March 5

Ash Wednesday marks the start of Lent. It is a day of fast and abstinence, though not a holy day of obligation. During the Ash Wednesday Mass, ashes are marked on the foreheads of the faithful with the Sign of the Cross. The ashes are a symbol of penance and remind us that we are creatures of the earth and mortal beings: “For dust you are and to dust you shall return” (Gen. 3:19).

In 325 the Council of Nicea set the 40-day preparation period for Easter. Originally the Lenten season began on Quadragesima (which means “40th day”) Sunday, the sixth Sunday before Easter. But because no fast was kept on Sundays, the penitential season consisted of only 36 days of fasting. So that the faithful may imitate Jesus’ 40 days of fasting in the desert, in the sixth century Pope St. Gregory the Great moved the start of Lent to the Wednesday before Quadragesima Sunday.

The ashes, which help us to develop a spirit of humility and sacrifice, are made from the blessed palms used in the previous year’s Palm Sunday celebration. While the ashes symbolize contrition, “they are also a reminder that God is gracious and merciful to those who call on Him with repentant hearts,” states Catholic.org.

The customary use of ashes as a sign of repentance is seen in the Old Testament books of Jeremiah, Daniel and Jonah. And in the Book of Judith, acts of repentance involved ashes

being put on people’s heads: “All the Israelites in Jerusalem, including women and children, lay prostrate in front of the Temple, and with ashes on their heads stretched out their hands before the Lord” (Judith 4:1).

Dallas Bishop Kevin Farrell notes in his blog, “The first liturgy for Ash Wednesday appeared in the 10th century and in the 11th century Pope Urban II called for the distribution of ashes on that day. Although Ash Wednesday is not a holy day of obligation, many Catholics treat it as one and would not think of missing being marked with ashes on the forehead. Originally, ashes were sprinkled on men’s heads and only women received them on the forehead, but the sprinkling for men soon gave way to the forehead. Ashes symbolize the first theme of Lent, repentance.

They are the traditional symbol of repentance in the Old and New Testaments.”

Beyond the practice of receiving ashes, Bishop Farrell points out, Ash Wednesday and the Lenten season are about our spiritual preparation as Christians: “In short it is about repentance, forgiveness and baptism. It is one of the most ancient Christian observances recognizing the need to prepare for Easter, the celebration of Jesus’ Resurrection, the greatest of Christian feasts.”

— Catholic News Herald

Your daily Scripture readings MARCH 2-8

Sunday: Isaiah 49:14-15, 1 Corinthians 4:1-5, Matthew 6:24-34; Monday (St. Katherine Drexel): 1 Peter 1:3-9, Mark 10:17-27; Tuesday (St. Casimir): 1 Peter 1:10-16, Mark 10:28-31; Wednesday (Ash Wednesday): Joel 2:12-18, 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2, Matthew 6:16, 16-18; Thursday: Deuteronomy 30:15-20, Luke 9:22-25; Friday (Sts. Perpetua and Felicity): Isaiah 58:1-9, Matthew 9:14-15; Saturday (St. John of God): Isaiah 58:9-14, Luke 5:27-32

MARCH 9-15

Sunday (First Sunday of Lent): Genesis 2:7-9, 3:1-7, Romans 5:12-19, Matthew 4:1-11; Monday: Leviticus 19:1-2, 11-18, Matthew 25:31-46; Tuesday: Isaiah 55:10-11, Matthew 6:7-15; Wednesday: Jonah 3:1-10, Luke 11:29-32; Thursday: Esther C:12, 14-16, 23-25, Matthew 7:7-12; Friday: Ezekiel 18:21-28, Matthew 5:20-26; Saturday: Deuteronomy 26:16-19, Matthew 5:43-48

MARCH 16-22

Sunday (Second Sunday of Lent): Genesis 12:1-4, 2 Timothy 1:8-10, Matthew 17:1-9; Monday (St. Patrick): Daniel 9:4-10, Luke 6:36-38; Tuesday (St. Cyril of Jerusalem): Isaiah 1:10, 16-20, Matthew 23:1-12; Wednesday (St. Joseph): 2 Samuel 7:4-5, 12-14, 16, Romans 4:13, 16-18, 22, Matthew 1:16, 18-21, 24; Thursday: Jeremiah 17:5-10, Luke 16:19-31; Friday: Genesis 37:3-4, 12-13, 17-28, Matthew 21:33-43, 45-46

Our parishes

February 28, 2014 | catholicnewsherald.com catholic news heraldI

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Marian Congress honors Mary in both English and Spanish RICO DE SILVA HISPANIC COMMUNICATIONS REPORTER

KANNAPOLIS — Most of them called her Our Lady of Guadalupe, or simply “La Virgen.” Others called her Our Lady of the Rosary. But for the 600 people who attended the 2014 Marian Rosary Congress in Kannapolis Feb. 22, all came to honor the same woman: Mary, the Mother of God. The event was sponsored by Concord’s Jesus through Mary Ministry of North Carolina, and it featured conferences in both English and Spanish. The English talks took place in the morning at St. Joseph Church in Kannapolis, while all the Spanish talks were held simultaneously at the Kannapolis Performing Arts Center. The Congress brought everyone together in the afternoon at the Performing Arts Center.

Redemptorist Father Alvaro A. Riquelme, pastor of St. Joseph Church, then led the faithful in a bilingual rosary and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Following Adoration, participants took part in a Marian procession around the center’s campus. The event concluded with a bilingual Mass there, with Bishop Peter J. Jugis as the main celebrant.

Preaching to a predominately Latino congregation, Bishop Jugis spoke during his homily about the beauty of the Hail Mary and the need for all Catholics to pray the rosary – for peace and the conversion of sinners, but first and foremost, for internal peace and personal ongoing conversion.

“How beautiful it is to pronounce that name ‘Jesus’ and the name ‘Mary’ in the same prayer, the Hail Mary – Mary and Jesus, together in the same prayer,” Bishop Jugis said. “The mysteries of the rosary provide us with the perfect vehicle to spend time with Jesus and Mary, as we meditate on the events of those mysteries.”

“The rosary brings us peace, and also the rosary brings conversion from our sins,” he said.

photos by RICO DE SILVA | CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

Rwandan massacre survivor Immaculée Ilibagiza shares her powerful testimony of hope and forgiveness during the 2014 Marian Rosary Congress at St. Joseph Church in Kannapolis Feb. 22.

Rwandan massacre survivor shares powerful testimony at Marian Congress RICO DE SILVA HISPANIC COMMUNICATIONS REPORTER

KANNAPOLIS — We normally connect the words “heart” and “love” in the same sentence to convey the meaning of real and sincere love. “We must love God with all our hearts…” We tell our “sweethearts”: “Honey, I love you with all my heart.” Psalm 51 tells us that “A humble and contrite heart, O Lord, you will not spurn” (Ps 51:17).

Catholic speaker Immaculée Ilibagiza tells everybody to pray the rosary from the heart, as one speaks to a friend, as a way to deal with the struggles and pains of everyday life.

Ilibagiza was the keynote speaker for the English segment of the 2014 Marian Rosary Congress in Kannapolis Feb. 22. Nearly 150 people came to hear her testimony at St. Joseph Church.

Ilibagiza is a survivor of the 1994 Rwandan genocide that took the lives of nearly one million Tutsis. Men, women and children, including her entire family except for her brother, were massacred at the hands of Hutu marauders. Ilibagiza found shelter at a Protestant pastor’s home, where she and seven other women hid from the deadly rebel mob in a 3-by-4-foot bathroom for 91 days.

During the ordeal, she prayed without ceasing throughout the day to help her mind escape the impending daily threat of being found and executed on the spot.

“I prayed 27 rosaries and 14 Divine Mercy Chaplets every day, so I wouldn’t have to hear the voices inside my head that were telling me that they would find us and kill us all,” Ilibagiza said. “Those were the only times I wouldn’t hear those voices and think about that.”

But the speaker was quick to tell the attendees that her message was one of faith in God and forgiveness – not one of victimhood.

“I want to share the lessons, not the horror, with the whole world.

We all go through our own pain,” she said.

But during those 91 days, faith preceded forgiveness. Ilibagiza recalled a time when the Hutus stormed in the pastor’s home and searched every corner of the house.

“I remember hearing this voice telling me, ‘Just open the door and

get it over with!’ But then I thought, ‘God, You are Almighty, if You can hear me now, spare our lives and don’t let them open this door.’”

Later, she said, the pastor “told us that they looked everywhere in the house: on the roof, under beds, everywhere, and then one of them came to the bathroom door, touched the knob, but immediately turned around and told the pastor, ‘Nah, we trust you. We know there’s no one here.’”

After that miraculous intervention, Ilibagiza clung even more to her rosary beads, which her father, a devout Catholic, had given her the last time she saw him alive. The biggest obstacle in her spiritual growth, she said, then became lack of forgiveness and recurring thoughts of revenge against the genocide perpetrators.

“I started skipping ‘forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us,’ whenever I prayed the Our Father,” she shared, laughing. Then one day, while meditating on the Crucifixion, Christ Crucified opened her eyes and her heart to the burning love God has for all sinners, she said.

“I remembered Jesus telling the Father from the Cross, ‘Father, forgive them for they don’t know what they do.’ And I felt Jesus was asking me, ‘If you deserve a chance to change, why not a killer?’ And at that point, I stopped being a victim and began to see them as my brothers. And saw them as just blind.”

“If I could tell you my story in one single word, it would be the rosary,” Ilibagiza said. “To this day, I pray the rosary every day, and ask Our Lady to help me with all I need… I have realized that we need very little. And that what we need the most is a change of heart.”

More online At www.catholicnewsherald.com: Watch a short video of Immaculée Ilibagiza’s talk and see more photos from the Marian Congress

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catholicnewsherald.com | February 28, 2014 OUR PARISHES

Diocesan calendar of events ARDEN ST. BARNABAS CHURCH, 109 Crescent Hill Drive

Bishop Peter J. Jugis Bishop Peter J. Jugis will participate in the following event over the coming weeks: March 1 Fourth Annual Catholic Men’s Conference St. Mark Church Huntersville March 5 – 7 p.m.

Holy Mass for Ash Wednesday ST. Patrick Cathedral, Charlotte March 6 - 10 a.m.

Diocesan Foundation Board Meeting Catholic Conference Center, Hickory March 9 – 2:30 p.m.

Rite of Election St. Gabriel Church, Charlotte March 11 – 11 a.m.

Presbyteral Council Meeting Pastoral Center, Charlotte March 15 – 2 p.m.

Rite of Election St. Joan of Arc Church, Candler March 17 – 7 p.m.

Holy Mass for Solemnity of St. Patrick St. Patrick Cathedral, Charlotte March 19 – 7 p.m.

Holy Mass for Solemnity of St. Joseph St. Patrick Cathedral, Charlotte

— Women’s program entitled, “Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross: Embracing Sacrifice”: 9 a.m.-2:30 p.m.

Saturday, March 15. The speakers will be Sheryl Peyton and Mary Ann Poli, members of St. Barnabas lay Carmelites. To register, contact Marcia Torres at 828-684-6098 ext. 306.

Lenten activities ARDEN

ST. PATRICK CATHEDRAL, 1621 Dilworth Road

ST. BARNABAS CHURCH, 109 Crescent Hill Drive — Ash Wednesday: 7:30 a.m. Distribution of ashes, 9 a.m. Mass and distribution of ashes, 7 p.m.

Mass and distribution of ashes.

BELMONT BELMONT QUEEN OF THE APOSTLES church, 503 North Main St. — Young at Hearts Covered Dish Supper: 5 p.m.

Saturday, March 8, following 5 p.m. Mass. All parishioners aged 50 or older invited. For details, contact Charlie or Cathy Boyd at 704-825-4669.

CHARLOTTE ST. Thomas aquinas church, 1400 suther road — Open Columbiettes meeting: 7 p.m. Monday, March 10. Any Catholic women aged 17 or older is invited to attend and find out more about who the Columbiettes are, what they do and how to get involved in the many outreach and social events of the Columbiettes. For details, email Gen Rollin at gen526@aol.com.

GREENSBORO ST. PIUS X Church, 2210 N. ELM ST. — Senior Mass and Luncheon: 11 a.m. Tuesday, March 18.

To RSVP, contact Eva Shea at 336-286-8469.

HIGH POINT IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY CHURCH, 4145 JOHNSON St. — Pro-Life Rosary: 11 a.m. Saturday, March 1, at 901 North Main St. and Sunset Drive, to pray for the end of abortion. For details, contact Jim Hoyng at 336882-9593 or Paul Klosterman at 336-848-6835.

— Six-week session of “Welcome Back Catholics”: 7 p.m.

Thursday, March 6. Will meet once a week. These free sessions are for Catholics not currently active in their faith. For more information or to register, call Jan Hitch at 336-884-5097.

QUEEN OF THE APOSTLES CHURCH, 503 North Main St. — Ladies Lenten Bible Study: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 6, in the Family Life Center. Five-week study based on the book, “Adide, Keeping Vigil with the Word of God” by Macrina Wiederkeher, OSB. Light refreshments will be served. To register and get details, call the parish office at 704-825-9600.

— Stations of the Cross: 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. all Fridays during Lent

CANDLER ST. JOAN OF ARC Church, 768 Asbury Road — Ash Wednesday Services: 12 p.m. and 7 p.m.

— Soup and Stations of the Cross: 6:30 p.m. All Fridays of Lent.

— Healing Mass: 11 a.m. March 8, followed by a light reception in the Fellowship Hall.

— Pancake Breakfast: Sunday, March 9, between the 10 a.m. and the 12 p.m. Mass. Sponsored by the Knights of Columbus.

CHARLOTTE ST. ANN CHURCH, 3635 Park Road — Ash Wednesday Mass: 7 a.m., 8:30 a.m. and 7 p.m.

St. Mark Church, 14740 Stumptown Road — Women of the diocese are welcome to join the Charlotte Catholic Women’s Group for an evening reflection at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 28, hosted by Dr. Allen Hunt and Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers. Light refreshments served. For details, call Anita Di Pietro at 704-543-0314.

MORGANTON ST. CHARLES Borromeo CHURCH, 728 WEST UNION ST. — “Make a Move” Concert Tour: 7 p.m. Saturday, March 1. Catholic musician Lee Roessler will perform. Free admission. For tickets, call 828-437-3108.

February 28, 2014 Volume 23 • Number 10

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

— Vespers: 6 p.m. All Sundays during Lent.

— Eucharistic Adoration: 8 a.m.-6 p.m. All Wednesdays during Lent.

ST. THOMAS AQUINAS Church, 1400 suther road — All Fridays of Lent: 6 p.m. Knights of Columbus dinner, 6 p.m. Spanish Stations of the Cross, 7 p.m. Lenten reflection, 7:30 p.m. English Stations of the Cross ST. LUke Church, 13700 Lawyers Road — Adult Education Lenten Series: 3-4:30 p.m.

Saturday, March 8, in the Family Life Center.

Five-week study based on the book, “Reason Informed by Faith: Foundations of Catholic Morality.” Light refreshments available. For details, call Dave Galusha at 704-256-9294.

ST. Peter Church, 507 South Tryon St. — Ignatian Lenten Retreat “Impelled by the Spirit”: Opening, 9 a.m.-noon Saturday, March 8; closing, 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, April 5, in Biss Hall. For details, go online to www. stpeterscatholic.org.

GREENSBORO OUR LADY OF GRACE CHURCH, 2205 West Market St. — Ash Wednesday Mass and Services: 8:45 a.m., noon, 5 p.m. and 7 p.m.

— Stations of the Cross: 6 p.m. All Fridays during Lent.

— Stations of the Cross: 7 p.m. All Fridays of Lent.

ST. GABRIEL CHURCH, 3016 Providence Road — Ash Wednesday Mass and Services: 7 a.m. Mass, 9 a.m. Mass, 11 a.m. Prayer Service, Noon Mass, 5 p.m. Prayer Service and 7 p.m. Mass.

— Misa del Miercoles de Ceniza: 9 p.m.

HUNTERSVILLE

— Stations of the Cross: 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. All Fridays during Lent.

— Stations of the Cross: Noon and 7 p.m. Every Friday during Lent.

ST. John Neumann CHurch, 8451 Idlewild Road — Lenten Mission, “Filling the World with the Gospel of Christ”: 9 a.m. Mass and 6:30 p.m. discussions, April 5-9. Hosted by Father John Anglin, OFM. — El Padre John Anglin predicará sobre el siguiente tema, “Un Dios de amor que nunca se cansa de perdonarnos”: Domingo 6 de Abril, despues de la Misa de 12:30 p.m.

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

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— Lenten Penance Service: 6:30 p.m. Monday, March 10.

MOCKSVILLE ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI Church, 862 Yadkinville Road — Ash Wednesday Mass and Services: 8 a.m. Mass, noon service, 7 p.m. Mass, — Stations of the Cross: 7 p.m. All Fridays during Lent.

MOORESVILLE St. ThÉrÈse of Lisieux church, 217 Brawley School road — Ash Wednesday Mass: 9 a.m., noon, 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

— Mass: Noon, Tuesday, March 11, followed by soup lunch — Stations of the Cross, 7 p.m. Friday, March 14

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

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St. Patrick Cathedral begins 75th anniversary year CHARLOTTE — St. Patrick Cathedral is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, and to mark the occasion Bishop Peter J. Jugis has designated the cathedral a “place of pilgrimage.”

Bishop Jugis encourages the faithful to visit the cathedral to pray and go to Mass over the next 12 months, starting on the cathedral parish’s patronal feast day, March 17. Those who visit the cathedral on six particular feast days from March 17, 2014, to March 17, 2015, as noted in his decree, may receive a plenary (or full) indulgence.

Pilgrims should recite an Our Father and the Creed during their pilgrimage to the cathedral, and within a few days either before or after their visit, receive Communion, go to confession, and pray for Pope Francis’ intentions. “An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporary punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven,” according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

“This celebration is a moment of joy and celebration for the entire Diocese of Charlotte,” Bishop Jugis writes in his decree.

To celebrate St. Patrick’s Day on March 17, the cathedral parish always hosts a festive celebration for parishioners, and this year will be no different. Bishop Peter J. Jugis will celebrate Mass starting at 7 p.m. After Mass, there will be a corned beef dinner in the cathedral’s Family Life Center, Irish music and dancing, and plenty of

Irish hospitality.

St. Patrick Cathedral began as St. Patrick Church, built to accommodate the growing presence of Catholics in the Charlotte region.

John Henry Phelan of Beaumont, Texas, donated funds to have a church built next to the O’Donoghue School in Charlotte (now St. Patrick School) in memory of his parents.

Construction began in March 1938. On Sept.

1, 1939, Bishop Eugene J. McGuinness of Raleigh dedicated the church under the patronage of St. Patrick, and then on Sept.

4, 1939, the bishop consecrated the church. It became the first church in North Carolina to be consecrated immediately upon completion, and in 1942 it became a parish. On Jan. 12, 1972, Pope Paul VI established the Diocese of Charlotte, and St. Patrick Church was designated its cathedral church.

The cathedral has undergone extensive renovations over the past 75 years, including the construction of a new front entrance last year, but it remains a beloved religious site for faithful across the diocese.

Other anniversary events are planned this year, most notably an anniversary Mass on Monday, Sept. 1, celebrated by Bishop Jugis.

“This anniversary year offers a perfect opportunity for parish groups to come on pilgrimage to pray at the cathedral,” Bishop Jugis said. “The cathedral is the mother church of the diocese. Many new Catholics have moved into the diocese in recent years, and if they have not yet seen their cathedral, St. Patrick’s definitely is worth visiting.

Every week, the cathedral hosts visitors who come for Mass and prayer.”

— Patricia L. Guilfoyle, editor

Decree designating the Cathedral of Saint Patrick a place of pilgrimage for the 75th anniversary of the dedication of the Cathedral church The infinitely precious merits of Jesus, Divine Redeemer of the human race, and their abundant progeny, the merits of the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the saints, have been entrusted to Christ’s Church as an unfailing treasury, that they may be applied to the remission of sins and of the consequences of sin, by virtue of the power of binding and loosing which the Founder of the Church himself conferred on Peter and the other Apostles, and through them on their successors, the Supreme Pontiffs and Bishops. This remission is given primarily, and in the case of mortal sins necessarily, through the sacrament of Reconciliation.

However, even after mortal sin has been forgiven and, as a necessary consequence, the eternal punishment it deserves has been remitted, and even if slight or venial sin has been remitted, the forgiven sinner can need further purification, that is, be deserving of temporal punishment to be expiated in this life or in the life to come, namely, in Purgatory. An indulgence, whose purpose is to remit this punishment, is drawn from the Church’s wonderful treasury mentioned above. The doctrine of faith regarding indulgences and the praiseworthy practice of gaining them confirm and apply, with special efficacy for attaining holiness, the deeply consoling mysteries of the Mystical Body of Christ and the Communion of Saints.

The Successors of the Apostle Peter have long encouraged the faithful, prompted by the teaching and pastoral concern of their Bishops, to make use of sacred indulgences with heartfelt devotion to increase their piety, for the greater glory of the Divine and Most Holy Trinity.

The Cathedral of Saint Patrick is celebrating the seventy-fifth anniversary of the dedication of its church and this celebration is a moment of joy and celebration for the entire Diocese of Charlotte.

Now, therefore, I the undersigned Bishop of Charlotte, hereby declare that from the seventeenth day of March in the year of Our Lord 2014 (Saint Patrick’s Day) until the seventeenth day of March in the year of Our Lord 2015 (Saint Patrick’s Day) to be a Year of Celebration for the clergy and faithful of the Diocese of Charlotte as we observe the seventy-fifth anniversary of the dedication of our Cathedral church, and I exhort all of the faithful to make a devout

pilgrimage there.

Furthermore, I decree that during this time a plenary indulgence is granted to the faithful who visit the Cathedral and there devoutly recite an Our Father and the Creed on: n The Solemnity (in the Cathedral) of Saint Patrick (March 17, 2014); n The Solemnity of the Apostles Peter and Paul (June 29, 2014); n The Liturgical Celebration of the Anniversary of the Dedication of the Church of Saint Patrick (September 1, 2014); n The Feast of the Dedication of the Archbasilica of the Most Holy Savior, Saint John Lateran (November 9, 2014); n The Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God (January 1, 2015); n The Solemnity (in the Cathedral) of Saint Patrick (March 17, 2015).

The three necessary conditions for acquiring a plenary indulgence are: 1) receiving Holy Communion; 2) sacramentally confessing one’s sins; and 3) praying for the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff.

The three conditions may be fulfilled several days before or after the performance of the prescribed work, all being done with an interior disposition that is free from all attachment to sin, even venial sin.

When one or more of these conditions is lacking, a partial indulgence can be acquired instead, provided that one is in a state of grace at least when completing the prescribed work.

The faithful can obtain partial or plenary indulgences for themselves and for the holy souls in Purgatory.

Given at Charlotte on the twenty-second day of February, the Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter the Apostle, in the year of our Lord 2014.

Most Reverend Peter J. Jugis, J.C.D.

Witnessed:

Bishop of Charlotte

Reverend Monsignor Mauricio W. West, V.G. Chancellor

SUEANN HOWELL| Catholic News Herald

“St. Patrick” waves to his fans during the 2012 St. Patrick’s Day Parade through uptown Charlotte. This year’s parade will be held Saturday, March 15.

St. Patrick’s Day events include Masses, parade and festival CHARLOTTE — St. Patrick’s Day is coming up on Monday, March 17, and there are several events planned for the holiday: n Bishop Peter J. Jugis will celebrate Mass on the patronal feast day at St. Patrick Cathedral, starting at 7 p.m. A dinner in the cathedral’s Family Life Center will follow Mass. This year’s celebration marks the start of the cathedral’s 75th anniversary year.

(See related story at left.) n The Ancient Order of Hibernians will celebrate Mass at the old St. Joseph Church in Mount Holly on March 17.

Father James Ebright will lead a prayer service held graveside in the cemetery adjacent to the small church on Sandy Ford Road where Father T.J. Cronin, first pastor, is buried. The prayer service begins at 9 a.m. Mass will immediately follow. All are welcome to attend. n The 18th annual Charlotte St. Patrick’s Day Parade will be held Saturday, March 15, in uptown Charlotte starting at 11 a.m. More than 70,000 people attended last year’s parade, which makes its way down Tryon Street between Ninth and Third streets in the heart of the Queen City.

Pipe bands, floats, marching and step bands, dance groups, beauty queens and Irish fraternal organizations are hallmarks at this annual event. This year’s grand marshal is Thomas P. Murray, CEO of the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority. n Going to the parade and want to attend Mass first? Mass will be celebrated at St. Peter Church, located at 507 S. Tryon St., starting at 9 a.m. March 15. n The Charlotte Goes Green Festival, a fun experience for the whole family, coincides with the St. Patrick’s Day Parade on March 15. From 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., enjoy Irish music, Irish dancing, Irish food and beverages.

Vendors selling Irish and Celtic merchandise will be on hand.

Festival admission is free. For more information, go to www. charlottestpatsday.com.

— SueAnn Howell, senior reporter

6

catholicnewsherald.com | February 28, 2014 OUR PARISHES

Scottish philosopher lectures on roots of Western civilization Emily Williams Correspondent

BELMONT — Belmont Abbey College welcomed Dr. John Haldane, a professor of philosophy and director of the Centre for Ethics, Philosophy and Public Affairs at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, to deliver the annual Cuthbert Allen Lecture on Feb. 18.

Dr. Haldane’s lecture, “The Cultural, Philosophical and Educational Foundations of a Decent Society” was an argument for recognizing how the fruits of a civilized society are only attainable once the foundations of its morals are acknowledged.

In his introduction, Haldane referred to the lecture given by Dr. Robert George, a professor of jurisprudence at Princeton University, who was last year’s Cuthbert Allen lecturer at the Abbey. George listed four “pillars” that make up a “dynamic and decent society”: a decent society is comprised of respect for the human person, a flourishing family based on heterosexual marriage and parenting, and justice in upholding the law. A dynamic society is also outlined as a combination of higher education and thriving businesses in a sound economy, he said.

Haldane said while “this conversation needs to go a bit further, we have to ask the question: What do the pillars rest on? They need a firm foundation and cannot be built on sand, as Scripture tells us.”

Haldane noted he is “more interested in the foundations of a decent society than a dynamic society.”

“The foundations of a dynamic society are shallower and a bit less dependable,” he said, because of shifting economic conditions.

Haldane listed four elements of Western civilization (“those societies that take their root from European culture and its extension across the Atlantic”) that make up the major foundation on which George’s “pillars” rest: Hebraic monotheism, Christian incarnationalism, Greek aletheism and Roman legalism.

As described in the Book of Genesis, the Covenant with Abraham is the vital moment in human history when monotheism becomes rooted. It is through God’s assurance that “all the peoples on

earth will be blessed” through Abraham that we eventually receive Christ through a new promise: “The question that arises out of this covenant is basically to ask what the role of the Gentiles is and particularly the Jews’ relationship with the Gentiles,” Haldane said.

The answer, he said, can be found in the New Testament when Simeon, presented with the infant Jesus at the Temple, refers to Isaiah 49: “I shall make you a light to the nations so that my salvation may reach the remotest parts of the earth.” Christ, as the Incarnation of the Word of God, becomes the agent of a new universal covenant.

“Monotheism is absolutely central to this foundation for a decent society – the idea that there is one God who progressively extends His covenant beyond the people of Israel to the world.”

In addition, Greek philosophy describes a “unity of truth,” Haldane continued, or “aletheism.”

“The Hebrews have this unity of the divine, while the Greeks have a unity Haldane of truth that we find through Aristotle and Socrates.”

Lastly, Roman legalism established a “unity of law or, rather, oneness” that can be found through the writings of Cicero, particularly “De Re Publica Book III,” in which a “true law…which is unchangeable and eternal…bind(s) at all times upon all peoples” with one “master and ruler of men, namely God, who is the author of this law.”

When these come together, Haldane said, one finds an overall unity which the four pillars George references may securely rest upon: “The firm foundation is a kind of Monism – that God is one, that reason and truth are one, that law is one, and the concept that all humanity is one through an extension of the Hebraic covenant.

These ideas are absolutely at the heart of Western civilization.”

The philosophy professor said his field can readily play a part in discussing this topic through “probing contemporary society, exposing its contradictions, and showing that the things it asserts are only credible on the basis of assumptions that are rooted in these four foundations.”

The American tradition is grounded in these four foundations, he said, although he noted that increasingly the public rhetoric on concepts such as equality has lost sight of its religious roots.

“The very same people who will often use this equality rhetoric will argue against a conception of a common human nature and will ultimately reject the religious ideas where it came from,” Haldane said.

“We have become very used to the idea of treating each other as equals, but we have lost the sense of the reason for that, which can be found in these historical Christian and Jewish concepts.

“What makes all men equal is not some empirical feature. At the end of the day, they are equal because they are all creatures created by one providential God.”

sueann howell | catholic news herald

The Diocese of Charlotte Office of Properties and Risk Management welcomed two new staff members, Anthony Morlando, assistant director, and Randy Gettys, superintendent of properties. Pictured are (from left) Anthony Morlando, assistant director; Deacon Guy Piché, director of diocesan properties; and Randy Gettys, superintendent.

Morlando and Gettys join diocesan properties team SueAnn Howell Senior reporter

CHARLOTTE — The Diocese of Charlotte Office of Properties and Risk Management welcomed two new employees this month. Deacon Guy Piché, properties director, says both Anthony Morlando and Randy Gettys “bring a wealth of experience and knowledge to the Properties Department.”

Morlando is the new assistant director of properties and risk management. He is a registered architect with more than 20 years of experience in all phases of design, construction, and real estate development, and he is accredited in the “green” building rating systems known as LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). He ran a successful architectural practice for nine years before joining the diocese.

He, his wife Anne, and their daughters Hannah and Danielle are parishioners at St. John Neumann Church in east Charlotte. He is an active member of the parish and served six years on the parish council, acting as chairman for four years. He is also a Fourth Degree member of the Knights of Columbus.

In his new role, Morlando will help oversee the design, maintenance and construction of building projects within the diocese, which covers 92 parishes and missions, 19 schools, the central administration offices, several conference and religious retreat centers, low-income and Catholic senior housing properties, as well as various land assets across the 46 counties of western North Carolina.

“I look forward to the challenges ahead of both leading and growing this department, working closely with our project teams to improve our new and existing buildings, investing in needed technology, and promoting the creation of reverent, healthy and long-lasting buildings,” Morlando said. “I truly feel blessed and full of gratitude for the wonderful opportunity to work with the incredible people at the Charlotte Catholic diocese. In the short time

I’ve been here, everyone has been so welcoming and supportive. What a privilege it is for me to not only utilize the strengths and talents that God has given, but to be able to use these gifts in service to the Charlotte diocese and the Roman Catholic Church, which I love so dearly.”

Randy Gettys, the new diocesan properties superintendent, is a certified facilities manager who has 30 years’ facilities management experience in a wide variety of building and property types.He is also a LEED-accredited professional. He, his wife Sara, and their son Spencer live in Spencer.

Gettys will focus his efforts on the Mecklenburg Area Catholic Schools facilities and the diocesan properties which are under the direct operation of the diocese.

“I was attracted to work with the diocese because I view the Catholic Church as a pillar of support to many in the world and a leader in education,” Gettys said. “Those are strong personal values of my own. For me, the story of Jesus and His disciples was one of accomplishing great things through the use of ordinary people.”

Gettys, who is Presbyterian, shared that he “was raised by parents who taught me to care about things greater than myself.

They were always actively involved in our community and church. Even as a child it wasn’t lost on me that they weren’t selfish with their time, and with greatest of ease they did the Lord’s work in their own way.

“As an adult, I have spent 30 years learning to be a good property and facilities manager. So what better place for me to be than one where I can share my personal gifts within an organization that exists to serve the greater good? This is a really good fit for me.”

Morlando and Gettys are based out of the Diocesan Pastoral Center on South Church Street in Charlotte. To contact them, email ajmorlando@ charlottediocese.org or rsgettys@ charlottediocese.org. By phone, call 703370-3311 to reach Morlando, or 704-3703322 to reach Gettys.

February 28, 2014 | catholicnewsherald.com

OUR PARISHESI

7

Seven abortion clinics renew state operating licenses Patricia L. Guilfoyle Editor

CHARLOTTE — All seven abortion mills located in western North Carolina received operating licenses from the state for 2014, a review of state documents shows – and the three busiest are located in Charlotte.

Abortion clinics in North Carolina are licensed annually and must pay a fee to renew their operating licenses with the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.

According to their license renewal applications, which included data from Oct. 1, 2012, to Sept. 30, 2013, the three busiest facilities are in Charlotte: n A Preferred Women’s Health Center, located at 3220 Latrobe Drive, performed the most abortions last year – a total of 4,285. That’s up 1.5 percent from 2012, when Latrobe performed 4,220 abortions. It also sent only one woman to the hospital in 2013, compared to three women in 2012. n Carolina Women’s Clinic, located at 421 N. Wendover Road, had the secondhighest number of abortions last year – 3,091. That’s up slightly over 2012, when it performed 3,062 abortions. n Family Reproductive Health, located at 700 E. Hebron St., performed 2,056 abortions last year, a decline of nearly 6 percent from 2012, when it performed 2,185 abortions.

A Preferred Women’s Health Center has a history of health code violations. DHHS has documented more than 40 problems there at least six different times over the past 14 years. The state shut down the clinic for five days last May, after DHHS’ health inspectors found it was improperly administering chemical abortions, among other health code violations.

That temporary shutdown, and a

Abortion facilities within the Diocese of Charlotte Number of abortions Oct. 1, 2012-Sept. 30, 2013

GREENSBORO Piedmont-Carolina Medical Clinic

WINSTON-SALEM Planned Parenthood / Winston-Salem Health Center

1,064

HIGH POINT ^ Carolina Birth Center

550*

1,134

ASHEVILLE ^ Femcare

803

CHARLOTTE

* Surgical abortions only ^ Licensed as an outpatient surgical center

A Preferred Women's Health Center Carolina Women's Clinic Family Reproductive Health

4,285 3,091 2,056

Tim P. Faragher | Catholic News Herald

similarly brief closure in 2007, were the only times DHHS regulators had closed an abortion clinic in nearly two decades – until last summer. After the Latrobe clinic was allowed to reopen, regulators took swifter action: Femcare Inc. in Asheville was temporarily shut down in July and allowed to reopen in August, and The Baker Clinic in Durham was permanently shuttered in August after its owner decided not to fight the state’s order to close.

The two abortion facilities with the fewest number of abortions performed in western North Carolina last year were Femcare Inc. in Asheville, with 803, and Carolina Birth Center Inc./Carolina

Womancare P.A. in High Point, with 550.

Femcare, owned and operated by Dr. Lorraine Marie Cummings, and Carolina Birth Center/Carolina Womancare, owned and operated by Dr. Robert Cecil Crawford Jr. and Dr. Julian Goode Busby Jr., are the only two clinics in North Carolina licensed as outpatient surgical centers, unlike all other abortion clinics in the state.

Outpatient surgical centers have more health and safety regulations than abortion clinics, and those rules are more detailed when it comes to clinic management, infection control policies and medical services.

State regulators are in the process of

rewriting abortion clinic regulations. A state law passed last year directed DHHS to overhaul the rules for the first time since 1994, putting in place stricter rules similar to those for outpatient surgical centers.

According to a recent report to state legislators, the work to draft new rules is still in the early stages.

Dr. Stuart Lee Schnider, the medical director for the violation-plagued Latrobe clinic, is among six “stakeholders” DHHS has consulted over the past few months as it begins revising the regulations.

Notably, Carolina Birth Center/Carolina Womancare is the only abortion clinic in western North Carolina that performs only surgical abortions, not chemical abortions, according to its license. The other six clinics perform both types of abortion procedures: chemical abortions (the “abortion pill”) are typically used to abort babies up to 6-7 weeks’ gestation, and surgical abortions are used to end laterterm pregnancies up to 20 weeks’ gestation.

To renew their licenses, each abortion clinic submitted a renewal application to DHHS and paid a $700 application fee.

Femcare and Carolina Birth Center/ Carolina Womancare filled out more detailed applications and paid a $1,000 application fee.

The license renewal process does not include an on-site inspection by state regulators.

The application includes information about who owns and manages the clinic, the number of abortions it performed over the past year and other services it offered (if any), its operating hours and the average number of abortions performed per day, the number of patients it sent to the hospital, nursing staff (but not physicians), and where it disposes of the aborted fetuses and other medical waste.

Catholic Charities grant will fund more outreach efforts to aid incoming refugees Tracy Winsor Special to the Catholic News Herald

CHARLOTTE — Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte has received a grant from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to aid in its refugee resettlement work, particularly with its outreach to potential new employers and to local youth.

The diocesan Catholic Charities agency resettles refugees from all over the world to the Charlotte area, as part of a partnership agreement with the USCCB and the U.S. State Department. In 2013, Catholic Charities welcomed 308 refugees from 12 different countries. Most of the new arrivals were from Bhutan, Burma and Cuba.

The $15,000 grant comes from Parishes Organized to Welcome Refugees, a national program of the USCCB’s Migration and Refugee Services. POWR funding is provided to selected resettlement programs to assist staff in developing important community and parish-based resources for refugees. This program is inspired by the U.S. bishops’ statement “Welcoming the Stranger Among Us,” which challenges Catholics to receive newcomers with a genuine spirit of welcome.

“We are very excited to have this new POWR funding,” said Sandy Buck, volunteer coordinator for Catholic Charities’ Refugee Resettlement Office.

“We are using POWR to develop several initiatives that address areas in which we think increased awareness of and

sensitivity to refugees will rally greater community support,” added Cira Ponce, who directs the Refugee Resettlement Office.

Two of these initiatives involve greater outreach to area youth.

“I will be working with faculty members in our local high schools to develop a storytelling project,” Buck said. “We will connect students with former refugees so that they can tell those refugees’ stories.”

“In our work with the refugee community,” added Ponce, “we experience firsthand the individual stories of struggle and success. We know these stories will not only inspire the youth involved, but will also impact the community as more people learn about who refugees are.”

Catholic Charities will also provide opportunities for parish youth to engage in a mock refugee experience by way of a simulation game called Passages created by the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR. Groups of teens can participate and host collections of household items and food to be distributed to refugees in the Charlotte area.

The POWR grant will also be used to support Catholic Charities’ employment program.

Its employment staff helps refugees with obtaining employment and becoming self-sufficient in their new home country – a vital aspect of the resettlement process. Upon arrival, refugees receive an orientation to the local work

environment, including an assessment of their educational levels, skills and work experiences. The staff helps each refugee put together an employment plan, helps them navigate the application and interview process, and even provides ongoing job counseling and support once they find employment. The staff also connects with potential employers to develop job opportunities.

“We are always looking for employers who are willing to hire refugees, and this effort will allow us to find those potential employers within the Catholic community,” Ponce said.

Buck and the Catholic Charities employment staff are planning to host informational workshops at local parishes.

These workshops will focus on educating parishioners about the refugee crisis, the resettlement process and the benefits of hiring refugees.

“From these events, we hope we will identify new employers to add to our existing database,” Buck said.

The employment staff will then schedule site visits with each employer to further explore potential opportunities.

“What I’ve got to do now is hit the ground running,” Buck said. “I will be visiting schools and reaching out to youth ministries and parishes in the next month.”

Anyone interested in either the youth initiatives or the employment program should contact Sandy Buck at skbuck@ charlottediocese.org or 704-370-3283.

More online At www.ccdoc.org: Learn more about how you can help welcome refugee families coming to the Charlotte diocese

8

catholicnewsherald.com | February 28, 2014 OUR PARISHES

‘I do truly believe God is real. This is hard. This is tough. But there’s a reason for it. We are not going to be that tragic family.

We’re “pick yourself up by your bootstraps.”

Nicholas certainly is. We’re definitely overcomers.

Something deep inside my soul says, “You keep fighting forward and the right doors will be opened and the wrong ones will be closed.” That’s where we’re at.’ — Karen Andrade

Nick (center), Karen and Viktor Andrade (right) attended the Arena Grand Prix Series Ultra Swim at the Mecklenburg Aquatic Center in Charlotte last May. Nick was a champion swimmer and a 2012 Charlotte Catholic High School graduate.

(At left) In this photo taken prior to his accident, Nick is pictured with his siblings Viktor, Natasha, Marissa and Michael. photos provided by karen andrade and prayers for nick andrade facebook page

A family’s test of faith SueAnn Howell Senior reporter

CHARLOTTE — It’s every parent’s nightmare: your child gets critically injured in an accident.

For St. Matthew parishioners Karen and Robeson Andrade, that nightmare began more than 15 months ago when their son Nicholas, a Charlotte Catholic High School graduate and champion swimmer, became paralyzed in a diving accident.

Nick had traveled to Brazil, where his father owned a business, to visit family. A day of fun swimming with friends turned tragic when Nick dove headfirst into a shallow river and broke his neck. He did not sever his spinal cord, but stretched it, causing an edema. The 19-year-old now lies bedridden, unable to speak or move from the neck down. He needs a ventilator to breathe most of the time and requires intensive physical therapy to keep his muscles from atrophying. His parents and his siblings are at his side around the clock to tend to his every need.

Since the accident, the Andrade family has focused on caring for Nick – praying, seeking the most advanced medical treatments possible for their son, and struggling with their faith. This journey toward healing is an arduous and intimate one with no clear end in sight, but the Andrades remain confident in God’s plan for their son.

A MOTHER’S AND FATHER’S AGONY

“It’s shaken our faith for a long time, for months,” Karen says. “I wasn’t sure what I really believed in for a while. I was really lost. I kept falling into despair and fear, saying, ‘Is he going to stay like this? Is he ever going to get better?’

Nick is “just a regular good kid that has been well raised.

All of a sudden you’re like, why? Why did this happen?”

They’ve been through hard times before, but not anything as life-altering as this, she says.

“God has shown me that He will take me through something difficult, but in the end, if I cooperate and if am not fighting Him, there will be a blessing.”

During the first three months after Nick’s accident, Karen says, she stayed strong. But when Nick started rehabilitation therapy, the doctors gave “doom and gloom scenarios of his prognosis.” That was hard to hear.

“I thought when we got back to Charlotte big things would happen, but no. From January through July (of last year) my faith was shaken. I was lost, I was crying ...

I couldn’t go to my husband – he couldn’t do anything to make it better – and the doctors said things were finished.

It was horrible.”

Robeson admits he has struggled with his faith, too, and his inability to provide for his family the way he had before the accident. He sold his business in Brazil to move the family back to the U.S. for Nick’s treatment.

“I feel like it was God and myself ... I was supposed to be providing for the family,” he says.

“I am learning to give or to hand it over to Him. I pray now with more conviction. Some days more than others, I feel peace in my heart because I know this is just temporary.

I have days where I wake up in the morning and say, ‘Today is going to be the day.’ As sinners, we expect everything to happen right now. I’m hoping in my lifetime that Nicholas – in one, five or 10 years – will get better.”

Robeson admits he questions God quite a bit.

“But I have to be obedient. What I ask for is the power to be obedient and serve. I wish I could be the answer.” But, he adds, he feels “the core of our relationship with God is deeper. We’re not afraid to ask the questions of God, which is a big step.”

LETTING GO AND LETTING GOD WORK

The first fundraiser for Nick was held last spring at Providence Country Club. “Help Nick Breathe” raised more than $70,000 for his non-profit foundation that allowed the family to help offset his rehabilitation costs and seek surgery.

That surgery helped repair nerve damage and get Nick off the ventilator for hours at a time, so he can breathe on his own.

Karen recalls, “After I got through the first six months and Nicholas got the nerve surgery in July, as a mom I had to ‘let go’ and tell God, ‘If You mean for him to live he’ll live, and if You mean to take him then You’re going to take him.’

TEST, SEE page 10

February 28, 2014 | catholicnewsherald.com

OUR PARISHESI

9

St. Matthew invests in moms through ANSWER Scholarship Endowment CHARLOTTE — What chance would you have to go to college if you were born to a 14-year-old mother? What if you had to work since you were 14 to care for your two younger brothers?

That’s what Katrina Mitchell experienced.

“I was actually raised by my grandmother,” says Mitchell, a former Charlotte resident now living in Fort Mill, S.C. “When my grandmother passed, it was sudden. She always said, ‘One day, Katrina, I’m going to do this. One day, I’m going to do that.’ That day never came for her. When she passed, it was the driving moment for me to put things into motion and say, ‘That “one day” is today. I’m going to go back to college. I’m going to get my degree.’”

Mitchell graduated with a bachelor’s degree in education from Belmont Abbey College with scholarship assistance from the ANSWER Scholarship Endowment in Charlotte.

Her story and others have inspired St. Matthew Church in Charlotte to make a gift to ANSWER. The $1,000 donation will help local moms attend college and enable them to set an example for their children of the value of pursuing an education.

“We are a tithing parish, which means we give at least 10 percent and try to make a difference in the world, nation and community,” says Jane Balbirnie, chief financial officer of St. Matthew Parish.

“What ANSWER does really resonated with us. It’s such a simple idea, and it’s successful.”

ANSWER – or Andersen Nontraditional Scholarship for Women’s Education and Retraining – was created by Charlottean

More online At www.answerscholarship.org: Learn more about this scholarship program or make a donation to support its work

Susan Andersen in 2005 to award college scholarships exclusively to mothers raising school-aged children in Mecklenburg and surrounding counties in the Carolinas. By far, most are single mothers. Scholarship recipients must be earning their first four-year degree or a two-year nursing degree. Since the fall of 2006, ANSWER has awarded nearly $100,000 in scholarships to 29 women. Some have gone on to earn master’s degrees.

Eight recipients received scholarships for the 2013-’14 school year. Through ANSWER’s Mentors for Moms program, each recipient receives a mentor to provide advice and support with the challenges of raising children, working and attending college simultaneously.

Andersen began ANSWER because she once received a scholarship that allowed her to attend and graduate from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

She vowed to give back someday and quickly realized the need surpassed what one individual could do alone.

“The gift from St. Matthew means so much to our organization,” Andersen says.

“It demonstrates that a donation doesn’t have to be tens of thousands of dollars to have a huge impact.”

Photo provided by ANSWER Scholarship Endowment

Katrina Mitchell and her children are pictured at graduation.

Foundation For The Carolinas provides financial oversight for ANSWER and helps with the selection of scholarship recipients.

St. Ann Church in Charlotte has also been a donor to ANSWER. — St. Matthew Church and the ANSWER Scholarship Endowment

Principal of Immaculata Catholic School Hendersonville, North Carolina Beginning July 1, 2014 Pre-School, 27; K – 8, 124; Faculty 18 Requirements – Must be a practicing Catholic, eligible for North Carolina Principal Certification. Must have a Master’s Degree in Educational Administration or related Master’s degree with 18 hours of administrative coursework.

2014 Catholic Camporee April 4-6, 2014 Calling all Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts and Venture Crews!

Attend or visit the 38th Annual Catholic Camporee for the Diocese of Charlotte Camporee will conclude on Sunday with Holy Mass celebrated at 10 am by Bishop Peter Jugis. The Bishop will recognize all Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts who have earned the Religious Awards.

For Information visit our website www.cdccos.info Belk Scout Camp 9408 Belt Road - Midland, North Carolina 28107

Qualifications – Spiritually strong, innovative, a good interpersonal and collaborative leader, bringing creative, best practices; at least 5 to 10 years’ experience, elementary or high school, some in leadership; encourages professional growth of staff; proven ability to manage an operating budget, recruiting, marketing, and development to increase enrollment, stakeholder relationships and revenue; enjoys a diverse school and parish. Fluency in Spanish, technology and outdoor activities are pluses.

Submit application, available on the Charlotte Diocese web site, and resume, by March 5, 2014, to: Fr. Martin Schratz, OFM Cap., Pastor Immaculate Conception Parish 208 7th Avenue West, Hendersonville, NC 28791 icccwnc@bellsouth.net

Enjoy Western North Carolina Mountains…Every Day!

10

catholicnewsherald.com | February 28, 2014 OUR PARISHES

TEST:

‘Help Nick Move’ CHARLOTTE — Registration is now open for the second annual “Night For Nick” fundraiser.

This year’s event is entitled “Help Nick Move” and donations will help provide funding for necessary medical procedures that will help Nicholas Andrade move toward mobility.

The dinner will be held starting at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, March 29, at Providence Country Club, with keynote speaker Father Jonathan Morris, author and FOX News contributor.

To make a reservation for the fundraiser, call Mary Summa at 704-560-3473 or email Sherry Williams at swilliams25@carolina.rr.com. Donations can also be mailed to: Nicholas Andrade SNT, c/o Sherry Williams, 3425 Loch Stone Ct., Charlotte, N.C. 28210.

For details, go to www.teamnickandrade.com.

— SueAnn Howell, senior reporter

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FROM PAGE 8

“I meant that going into July through December. I had to face that and mean it.

You can’t fool God. I had to get to that place where I could let go. At the same time, I had to do everything in my power to follow the doors that were opened to me.”

The Andrades have driven around the country meeting with specialists to seek medical advice since Nick’s condition has been stable enough for them to travel.

Many of the medical professionals are faith-filled, praying over him in this fight to help him heal, says Karen.

And Nick’s parents say they saw some amazing things happen to Nick’s nerves after the surgery. Two of the nerves that were operated on responded quickly to the procedure. The left nerve, close to his diaphram, was shorter and responded almost immediately. The right nerve which was operated on had a much farther distance to grow, so “the fact that the nerves both did what they did at the same time is miraculous,” Karen says.

“I feel like we got to a place where God was creating the possibilities and showing Himself in Nicholas’ body. My hope and my deepest prayer is that Nicholas realizes that God is real – I don’t doubt that anymore, no matter what happens – and that God is loving.”

She acknowledges that “Nicholas made a decision. He has free will. He chose to dive in that river. He did break his neck. But from that point forward he lived.

“I believe, truly, that God meant for him to live and meant for him to have this fight back. I think God wanted to deepen the essence of who Nicholas is, helping him in realizing the priorities of life and who he is. And also show him ‘you’re not just this physically beautiful human being and I need you to develop that.’ I think He needs Nicholas for something.

“I don’t think that He means for Nicholas to be paralyzed for the rest of his life, not moving, because He built in Nicholas’ personality these gifts of restoration and strategy – we’ve studied those gifts and talents at St. Matthew (Church).

“Nicholas had the gifts of feeling the sand between his toes and swimming as he swam. I believe that’s going to come back, but I believe God is still wanting to develop something much more profound in him, so that his life has more meaning than it might have had, had he just merrily skipped along and gone to college, been a handsome young man that young ladies liked.”

She believes her son “has the depth if he taps into it.”

“I don’t think he was meant for a superficial life. That’s between God and Nicholas.”

A DEEPER CONNECTION TO MARY

The accident has also brought Karen closer to the Blessed Virgin Mary than before in her life.

“I prayed my Hail Marys, but I have a deeper connection to Mary than I ever had.

When I pray, I wake up at random times during the middle of the night. I woke up one night and heard Mother Angelica (on EWTN) say, ‘Anything can be solved through the rosary.’ So I just kept praying it.

“Instead of rote prayer, now it’s really getting into a deep connection with Mary, envisioning Mary with her arms around my son, my family, me. She has been right there going to the Father creating possibilities.

Every time I hit a wall, I go to Mary.”

She did a dedication to Mary and believes some doors opened right when that finished.

“I believe that was her saying, ‘It’s gonna be a journey. You’re not going to get an instant healing, but it’s going to be worth it. Remember

who we are in your life – Mary, Jesus, God the Father.’ And so I’m holding on to that.

“I do truly believe God is real. This is hard. This is tough. But there’s a reason for it. We are not going to be that tragic family.

We’re ‘pick yourself up by your bootstraps.’

Nicholas certainly is. We’re definitely overcomers. Something deep inside my soul says, ‘You keep fighting forward and the right doors will be opened and the wrong ones will be closed.’ That’s where we’re at.”

A COMMUNITY OF PRAYER

People across Charlotte have rallied support for Nick and the entire Andrade family – from St. Matthew Church, Charlotte Catholic High School, the SwimMAC community, and elsewhere. The Andrades say that has been a source of support and comfort.

“So many people are praying for Nicholas,” Karen says. “Somebody who knows somebody, who knows somebody, came up to me at a store and said she was praying for my son. She doesn’t know Nicholas or us, but she said she was praying for us.”

Robeson has experienced the same thing.

“I was in the post office sending something and I was wearing a jacket with the family name on the back of it. A lady came up to me and asked if I was related to Nick, and I said, ‘Yes, I am Nick’s dad.’ She said she and her family were praying for us.”

The accident has had an impact on their neighbors and their families, too.

“I’ve heard from many neighbors that it has changed our neighborhood. Nicholas taught many of the children to swim. So many families are praying for Nicholas and for us,” says Karen.

Besides their prayers, the community has helped to defray the family’s expenses, as monthly costs just for Nick’s rehabilitation are more than $2,000 out of pocket. And when Nick first came home, 26 women from the church and community received training to help Nicholas with his motion therapy routine. Others have dropped off meals. Last September a Team Nick 5K race was also held in Charlotte which raised $31,000 for the family’s needs.

“They had more than enough volunteers,” Karen recalls. “So many came out to make that happen – over 700 people came out. That just blew us away, to be loved that much and for people to be touched. That’s the Holy Spirit working.”

The Andrades have also been thankful to the priests who have come to their home to visit and to celebrate Mass over the past year, as the Andrades have largely been housebound.

Both Karen and Robeson get emotional when they remember how they used to be the family that was always helping others in their need.

“We’ve learned how prideful we are,” Karen says. “Before this happened, we loved doing for others and helping others.

We really enjoyed being those people.

When we went into the country club (for the fundraiser) last year, it was so hard. We cried. Humbling is not even the word.”

Robeson adds, “When you’re giving, it’s much easier. Receiving is much harder. A lot of that was my pride.”

No one knows how long Nick will remain paralyzed, or what his recovery will look like exactly. The Andrades say they are learning to leave the answers to all those questions up to God. And Karen admits she is “praying now more than I ever prayed before.”

“My biggest fear is that people will forget about Nicholas. It’s normal, life goes on.

But I think the real key is to keep people praying. When he comes to mind, just say a quick prayer. It doesn’t have to be a whole rosary, just say a quick prayer for him.

Whenever he comes to mind, say a quick prayer.”

February 28, 2014 | catholicnewsherald.com catholic news heraldI

Salt of the Earth…

Light of the World When we live as people of “salt and light” we are called to enhance the lives of others.

Diocese of Charlotte 2014 Diocesan Support Appeal

As people of “salt and light” we are called to bring the “light of Christ” to others.

We do this by the way we live our everyday lives. Some parishioners are called be “the light of the world” as catechists, youth ministers, RCIA team members, and lay ministers. Others serve on our college campuses.

Did you know?

• •

that the DSA funds certification and in-service programs for your parish catechists your catechists have free access to an extensive diocesan media library thanks to DSA donations

•

your DSA funds provide pastoral care on 17 college and university campuses in western North Carolina

Your DSA gifts provide funding for ten different educational ministries. Thank you for being “the light of the world” to the children, youth, college students and adults in our educational programs!

You can make a donation to the Diocesan Stewardship Appeal with any major credit card. Go to https://charlottediocese.thankyou4caring.org/DSAdonations

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catholicnewsherald.com | February 28, 2014 OUR PARISHES

For the latest news 24/7: catholicnewsherald.com

In Brief Deacon joins St. John Parish WAYNESVILLE — Deacon Frank Camacho has been assigned to St. John the Evangelist Parish in Waynesville by Bishop Peter J. Jugis. Ordained in 1980 Camacho for the Diocese of Fall River, Mass., he is now a deacon of the Diocese of Venice, Fla. Bishop Jugis granted him faculties for the Diocese of Charlotte, and he and his wife Lillian will serve in the western North Carolina parish seasonally from May through September.

Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers, one of the most sought-after Catholic speakers in the Church today, will also speak at the conference. Among other endeavors, he hosts the popular EWTN series “Behold the Man: Spirituality for Men.” Also speaking will be Dr. Allen Hunt, a bestselling author and Catholic convert. Hunt is a self-described former Protestant “megapastor” who now is vice president of strategy and content at the Dynamic Catholic Institute.

Bishop Peter Jugis will celebrate Mass during the conference, and Bishop Emeritus William G. Curlin will give a reflection during a period of Eucharistic Adoration in the afternoon.

Registration fee is $40 at the door, or $35 in advance and includes a continental breakfast and lunch. Discounts apply for seniors, students and Knights. Get more information and register at www.cltcmc.org.

— Rico De Silva

certificate marks the third stage in the NPM certificate program for cantors. Haigler is one of 13 cantors out of approximately 2,400 in the NPM who have earned this certificate.

Applicants are tested on liturgical knowledge by completing a three-hour written exam on church music and liturgy. Musical knowledge and skills are tested through an eight-part written music theory test, singing two prepared psalms from the approved Examination Repertoire List, sight singing a Gospel Acclamation and a standard chant psalm, which are assigned pieces, and a personal interview.

Applied knowledge is tested through explaining the biblical and liturgical background and the genre of each psalm the applicant has chosen to proclaim as part of the exam and by answering a question about the cantor as minister.

— Lisa Cash

School voucher program on hold, for now Nearly 5,000 students have applied for vouchers to offset the cost of private or religious schools, but that money is on hold as a judge recently halted the program.

A Superior Court judge issued an injunction Feb. 21 blocking the North Carolina law that allows low-income parents to send their children to private schools, including area Catholic schools, with help from taxpayer money.

Judge Robert Hobgood’s ruling prevents the state from holding a random lottery next month to award about 2,400 vouchers for next school year. The Opportunity Scholarships given by the State Education Assistance Authority are annual grants are up to $4,200 per child.

Lawsuits, filed by the North Carolina Association of Educators and the North Carolina School Boards Association, challenge the voucher law which was passed by the General Assembly last year. School boards across the state are also challenging the legality of the program.

More information about the scholarship program is available at www.ncseaa.edu.

— Kimberly Bender

Catholic Men’s Conference set for March 1 HUNTERSVILLE — The fourth annual Charlotte Catholic Men’s Conference, “Transformed by Christ, Men on a Mission,” will take place Saturday, March 1, at St. Mark Church, located at 14740 Stumptown Road in Huntersville. All men of the diocese are invited to attend this conference, which will be held from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

This year’s speakers include Carl Anderson, Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus, who will address the role of charity in evangelization. As the leader of the largest Catholic fraternal service organization of 1.8 million members, Anderson has overseen the donation of more than $1.4 billion and 653 million hours of service to charity.

consultant and public speaker specializing in senior living sales, marketing and customer service. After recovering from a heart transplant on New Year’s Eve of 2007, Rick Hunsicker decided that the best contribution to enhance seniors’ lifestyles across America would be to share his experience and knowledge with seniors, their family members and those who serve seniors in senior living communities across the country.

— Pamela Olson

Recovery is goal of Charlotte Center for Women CHARLOTTE — Brice Griffin, pro-life advocate and Silent No More Awareness Campaign activist, is spearheading an effort to open a center for ongoing recovery for post-abortive parents in the Charlotte area. Griffin hopes to raise $30,000 to kick off the ministry, Charlotte Center for Women Inc., which will offer women and men a place for fellowship and counseling during the post abortive healing process. For more information or to donate, go to www. charlottecenterforwomen.com or contact Griffin at brice@charlottecenterforwomen.org.

— SueAnn Howell

Five women become CND Associates

Lee Roessler performs at SJN CHARLOTTE — More than 200 parishioners at St. John Neumann Church in Charlotte came to watch Catholic musician Lee Roessler Feb. 9 during a stop on his “Make A Move” tour. It was an evening filled with music, witness by Roessler and worship. Roessler is a Catholic artist who has played at the National Catholic Youth Conference. His song “Let Love” was featured on ABC’s “Extreme Weightloss,” and his song “Be Seen” was the 2013 theme song for Catholic Heart Work Camps.

— Marty Schneider and Jennifer Noto

Haigler earns Cantor Colleague Certification MOORESVILLE — Phillip D. Haigler, music ministry director at St. Thérèse Church, has earned the Cantor Colleague Certificate for Cantors serving Roman Catholic Parishes from the National Association of Pastoral Musicians.

The NPM Cantor Haigler Colleague Certificate certifies a musician’s advanced skills for serving as cantor and psalmist of the liturgy and an understanding of a spirituality of ministry. This

For the past 18 years it has been my pleasure to help the employees of the Diocese of Charlotte plan for a secure retirement.

I would also like to be your trusted financial advisor.

Retirement planning – Life – LTC – Auto & Home Insurance Call: 704-839-3755 or email: kaltman1@metlife.com Member: National Association of Insurance & Financial Advisors (NAIFA) St. Mark Catholic Church – Huntersville L0213304211(exp1215) NC

Ken Altman

HAYESVILLE — Barbara McGrattan, Maureen Gustafson, Jean Cooper, Betty Cooper and Linda Cagle recently made a commitment to become a Congregation of Notre Dame Associate for one year. The commitment ceremony took place during Mass at Immaculate Heart of Mary Mission in Hayesville on Jan. 12, the feast of St. Marguerite Bourgeoys, the foundress of the Congregation of Notre Dame.

The community of religious sisters has approximately 1,020 associates who assist in the order’s mission to serve God and neighbor through teaching and community outreach efforts.

In the Diocese of Charlotte, Notre Dame Sister Therese Martin has fulfilled this mission through her service in Clay and Cherokee counties for the past 22 years. This year Sister Terry is celebrating her 65th anniversary as a woman religious.

The Congregation of Notre Dame was founded in 1658 by St. Marguerite Bourgeoys, who at 33 years old traveled with 100 French colonists to the New World. She established a school in a stone stable and taught the orphan girls whom King Louis XIV of France sent to the colony, as well as educated the native peoples.

The Congregation of Notre Dame was among the first non-cloistered religious communities for women, and it was inspired by the model of the Blessed Virgin Mary’s visitation to her cousin Elizabeth.

Pennybyrn hosts senior living expert HIGH POINT — Pennybyrn at Maryfield hosted Rick Hunsicker, a senior living expert, Jan. 22 for an interactive presentation filled with information regarding lifestyle and financial issues of homeownership for an older person.

Attendees were also given Hunsicker’s popular “Planning Guide for Seniors.” Hunsicker has provided more than 100 of these seminars sponsored by senior living communities over the past few years and has educated seniors about the lifestyle and financial issues of homeownership in today’s environment.

Hunsicker started his professional career in real estate in El Paso. Eventually, he applied his background and personal experience in moving from a larger house into a residence in a retirement community to his career as a

St. Mark hosts talent show HUNTERSVILLE — Parishioners at St. Mark Church in Huntersville enjoyed a Talent Show Fundraiser Dinner Feb. 1. Pictured are Irish dancers Emma Stump, Maggie Desormeaux and Sarah Stump. The event was sponsored by St. Mark High School Ministry as a fundraiser for a summer service trip.

— Tim Flynn

Parish recognized for blood drive efforts CHARLOTTE — St. Thomas Aquinas parishioner Lana DeWitte was recently recognized by the American Red Cross for her years of dedicated service coordinating the biannual blood drive at the parish and for the many lives she has helped to save. Amber Cassar, the Red Cross’s donor recruitment representative, also presented a certificate to Father Patrick Winslow, pastor, for the parish’s “outstanding support” by collecting 592 pints and helping to save 1,776 lives since 2006.

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

February 28, 2014 | catholicnewsherald.com

OUR PARISHESI

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More M.O.P. supplies needed CHARLOTTE — St. Ann Church at 3635 Park Road is collecting supplies to fill a second 40-foot shipping container to send to the Missionaries of the Poor in Jamaica. More than 80,000 pounds of supplies have been collected to date.

Father Timothy Reid, pastor of St. Ann Church in Charlotte, is shown with the Missionaries of the Poor who live in Monroe, before the first container of donated goods was shipped to the M.O.P. Center in Kingston, Jamaica. Pictured (from left) are Brother Peter, Brother Augusto Silot (head of the Guardian Angels Mission in Monroe), Brother Pius, Brother Francis and Father Reid.

Please drop off packs of diapers (jumbo packs if possible) and cash donations to the parish office in the Monsignor Allen Activity Center. Questions?

Call Terry Alderman at the parish office at 704-523-4641, ext. 224, or email Lucie Tonon at lucietonon123@gmailcom.

CRS Rice Bowl Lenten program has new twists: an app, recipes, contest

photo provided by john kenny

WASHINGTON, D.C. — When trying to change one’s eating habits, especially cutting calories, there’s nothing like getting some made-toorder recipes from a popular chef to help keep one motivated.

At least that’s part of the thinking behind one of the new approaches to Catholic Relief Services’ annual Rice Bowl program for Lent.

Weekly recipes created by a celebrity chef of sorts -- Father Leo Patalinghug, host of Grace Before Meals, a family apostolate focused around meals – this year have been linked to Rice Bowl, the 39-year-old CRS campaign to raise awareness about hunger and raise funds to combat hunger and poverty.

Five recipes – one for each week of Lent – and short videos about them by Father Patalinghug, a Baltimore archdiocesan priest, that will be available on YouTube or the CRS website will feature low-cost, meatless ingredients, explained Joan Rosenhauer, CRS executive vice president for U.S. operations.

In addition to the recipes, CRS has a free Rice Bowl app available for smartphones and tablets. It will allow users to schedule delivery of daily reflections during Lent, to set and track progress toward a Lenten goal, and view the recipes or see stories about people whose lives have been changed by the program, notes a CRS release.

Also this year, CRS will host a photo contest in conjunction with Rice Bowl. Weekly winners will receive a small fair-trade prize and a grand prize winner at the end will receive an Easter basket full of fairtrade items.

In 2013, CRS raised more than $7 million to support Rice Bowl programs internationally. The dioceses where funds are raised keep 25 percent of the revenue for local needs.

— Patricia Zapor, Catholic News Service

More online At www.crsricebowl.org: Download the free Rice Bowl app, get weekly Lenten recipes, daily prayers and reflections, and learn more about how your Rice Bowl contributions help families around the world

AOH hosts lecture on Irish history HUNTERSVILLE — The St. Brendan Division of the Ancient Order of Hibernians hosted a free lecture about the history of Ireland during the First World War, 1914 to 1918. History professor Dr. Patrick Wadden, an Irish-born associate professor of history at Belmont Abbey College in Belmont, was the guest speaker at the Feb. 21 event, held at St. Mark Church in Huntersville.

Mike Fitzgerald | Catholic News Herald

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catholicnewsherald.com | February 28, 2014 14

Father Joshua Voitus

N

El Miércoles de Ceniza

osotros como católicos tenemos diferentes maneras de marcar las diferentes temporadas en la Iglesia. Los sacerdotes visten casullas de diferentes colores durante la Misa para diferenciar las temporadas penitenciales de las gozosas. Cantamos diferentes himnos para recordar diferentes eventos en la vida de Cristo, o para conmemorar a diferentes santos de la Iglesia. Hacemos diferentes prácticas litúrgicas durante diferentes épocas del año para recordar que las diferentes fiestas y temporadas de la Iglesia no son solo para influenciar nuestra conducta cuando estamos dentro de una iglesia, sino que estas cosas están supuestas a impactar nuestras vidas en cualquier lugar en que estemos y cualquier cosa que estemos haciendo.

Una de las costumbres más conocidas en la Iglesia es la de poner cenizas en nuestras frentes los Miércoles de Ceniza. Al igual que todas estas prácticas, esto se hace como una señal externa de algo interior. Estas cenizas que recibimos son un recordatorio de que todos somos pecadores, y que debemos arrepentirnos de nuestros pecados, darle la espalda al mal y encaminarnos hacia Dios. Esto es muy importante porque el Miércoles de Ceniza marca el principio de la Cuaresma, y la Cuaresma es una temporada en la cual todos estamos supuestos a incrementar nuestra vida de oración, ayunar y dar limosna a los pobres, para así entonces, con la ayuda de Dios, dejar el pecado atrás y crecer en la gracia de Dios en preparación para celebrar la Resurrección de Cristo durante la Pascua.

Un dato interesante acerca de las cenizas que usamos el Miércoles de Ceniza es que estas se hacen tradicionalmente quemando las palmas que han sido bendecidas el año anterior durante el Domingo de Ramos cuando conmemoramos y celebramos la entrada de Jesús en Jerusalén la semana antes de su Pasión. ¿Es increíble, no? Las mismas palmas que usamos para celebrar alegremente y proclamar a Jesús como el Mesías, las usamos después, no para celebrar, sino para recordar que somos pecadores. Los objetos que utilizamos menos de un año atrás para expresar alegría ahora expresan tristeza y arrepentimiento, y cerca de un mes después, tomamos otra vez las palmas y proclamamos de nuevo que

Jesús es el Mesías.

Esto revela un gran misterio acerca de la vida cristiana, y el porque de la importancia de conmemorar las diferentes temporadas de la Iglesia año tras año. Este ciclo anual que hacemos con las palmas y las cenizas nos recuerdan que, como fieles cristianos y católicos, debemos recordar tristemente nuestra propia debilidad, y al mismo tiempo regocijarnos de la gracia salvadora de Dios.

Si queremos crecer en nuestra vida cristiana, debemos darle muerte a nuestros pecados, y al mismo tiempo darle gracias a Dios por el gran don de su misericordia (especialmente por medio del sacramento de la Confesión). Si queremos crecer en santidad con Dios, también debemos celebrar con alegría su revelación como Mesías y también su Resurrección, pero también al mismo tiempo, debemos recordar que fueron nuestros pecados los cuales causaron que Él tuviera que morir y resucitar para salvarnos.

Entonces, al recibir las cenizas este Miércoles de Ceniza, arrepentámosnos de nuestros pecados, y reconozcamos que no hemos vivido una vida de acuerdo al plan que Dios tiene para nosotros.

Sin embargo, no nos lamentemos de nuestros pecados como aquellos que no tienen esperanza, cuando recibamos las cenizas, recordemos también nuestra proclamación de Jesús como el Mesías, como también su muerte y Resurrección, las cuales nos salvan del pecado si cooperamos con su gracia divina.

Recordemos también cuando recibamos las palmas nuevas el próximo Domingo de Ramos de las cenizas que recibimos al principio de la Cuaresma. Recordemos también en ese entonces, que Jesús entró a Jerusalén para salvarnos de nuestros pecados; que Jesús murió en la Cruz para salvarnos de nuestros pecados, y que es por medio de su Resurrección, que Jesús nos llama a la vida eterna.

Utilicemos estos símbolos externos para que nos ayuden a cambiar internamente nuestras mentes y corazones para que siempre permanezcamos unidos a Dios en su amor en esta vida, y para así permanecer unidos a Él para siempre en la vida del mundo futuro.

El Padre Joshua A. Voitus es el Párroco de la Iglesia Saint Mary, Mother of God, en Sylva. El Padre Voitus celebra Misa de Vigilia Dominical en español todos los sábados a las 7 p.m.

Congreso Mariano del Rosario 2014 se celebra en Kannapolis RICO DE SILVA HISPANIC COMMUNICATIONS REPORTER

KANNAPOLIS — Cerca de 600 católicos, la gran mayoría hispanos, asistieron el 22 de Febrero al Kannapolis Performing Arts Center para honrar a la Virgen María, y participar en el Congreso Mariano del Rosario 2014.

Jorge Morel y su banda amenizó las sesiones de la mañana, y el Padre Inocencio Llamas de la Diócesis de Cabimas en Venezuela, dio tres conferencias acerca de la Virgen y su rosario. El Diacono Guido Pozo, de la Parroquia de San Gabriel en Charlotte, dio la bienvenida al público y al Padre Llamas al

inicio del Congreso. En su primera charla, el Padre Llamas habló acerca de una verdadera y auténtica devoción a María, y exhortó a los participantes a imitar las virtudes de la Madre de Dios, ejemplo perfecto de cristiandad.

Entre las conferencias de la mañana, los participantes también tuvieron la oportunidad de alabar al Señor con cantos de alabanza al son de la música de Jorge Morel. Morel, con guitarra en mano, afirmó a los presentes que “Mi Dios es Poderoso,” mientras que muchos levantando sus brazos repetían ‘Aleluia!’

Durante su segunda charla, el Padre Llamas habló acerca de la “Eficacia del Santo Rosario,” “El rosario es el arma que la Santísima Virgen

February 28, 2014 | catholicnewsherald.com catholic news heraldI

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(De izquierda a derecha) Participantes del Congreso Mariano del Rosario 2014 celebrado el 22 de Feb. en el Kannapolis Performing Arts Center durante la Comunión. (Abajo) El Obispo Peter Jugis celebrando la Misa bilingüe durante la clausura del Congreso. (Centro) Los participantes en la Procesión Mariana en la tarde. (Abajo a la izquierda) Jorge Morel y su Banda ensalzando a los participantes con su música de alabanza durante las sesiones de la mañana. (Abajo a la derecha) El Padre Inocencio LLamas durante una de sus conferencias.

FOTOS por RICO DE SILVA | CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

nos da para vencer al Enemigo, el Demonio,” dijo el Padre Llamas. “El Rosario no es para llevarlo como un adorno en el carro, no es para tenerlo como un adorno en la casa, el Rosario es para meditarlo y rezarlo todos los días.”

“La Santísima Virgen María nos ha dicho que el Santo Rosario rezado con fervor y con perseverancia es el remedio en contra de cualquier mal y que no hay problema personal, familiar, comunitario, nacional e internacional que no se pueda resolver con el Santo Rosario,” afirmó el sacerdote a los presentes.

Después del intermedio del almuerzo, el Padre Llamas dio su última charla y habló acerca de la importancia de la Virgén y el papel crucial de los laicos en la nueva evangelización. “Lo que la Iglesia necesita más que nada ahora es otra Pentecostés. María es la clave. Porque como es la esposa del Espíritu Santo, ella es inseparable del Espíritu Santo. El Espíritu Santo y la Virgen María siempre trabajan juntos,” dijo él.

El Padre Alvaro Riquelme, Párroco de la Iglesia San José en Kannapolis, expuso el Santísimo después de la última conferencia del Padre Llamas. El Padre Riquelme y el resto de los presentes después rezaron el rosario frente al Santísimo. Al culminar el rosario, los presentes participaron en una

More online At www.catholicnewsherald.com: Para ver un video-corto en español acerca del Congreso

procesión Mariana alrededor de la manzana del Performing Arts Center.

El Obispo Peter Jugis clausuró el evento con la celebración de una Santa Misa bilingüe.

El Padre Riquelme, el Padre llamas y dos sacerdotes más concelebraron la Misa con el obispo.

Durante su homilía, el Obispo Jugis comentó acerca del Ave María y dijo, “Que bonito es el poder decir el nombre de ‘Jesus’ y el nombre de ‘María’ en una misma oración. ‘Bendito es el fruto de tu vientre Jesús, Santa María, Madre de Dios…”

Rolando Blanco, de la Parroquia de San Gabriel en Charlotte, manifestó su alegría por haber asistido al Congreso, “Es la primera vez que vengo a uno de estos eventos. Aprendí mucho hoy. Muchas cosas que no sabía de la Virgencita y su Rosario,” dijo Blanco.

Our schools 16

catholicnewsherald.com | February 28, 2014 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

Photos by Doreen Sugierski | Catholic News Herald

Using web-based programs including GoToMeeting and Skype, students at Christ the King High School are able to attend live classes virtually if they cannot be on campus. Teachers and students connect seamlessly across the web for lectures, class discussions, homework reviews and one-on-one assistance.

Pictured are math teacher Bill Fountain, and students Tim Hayes, Angela Arce and Gianna Caminiti.

Snow?

What snow?

Kimberly Bender Online reporter

HUNTERSVILLE — As snow crippled the Carolinas and forced schools throughout our region to close earlier this month, students at Christ the King High School didn’t miss out on their education.

Using web-based programs including GoToMeeting and Skype, students were able to attend live classes virtually, from the safety and warmth of their homes. Teachers and students connected seamlessly with each other across the web in what the school is calling the future of Catholic education.

“Good schools today are much better defined as learning communities than the traditional brick-and-mortar school we all have in our minds,” said Principal Dan Dolan, who leads the school of about 100 students.

“We have a very dynamic learning community here.

Technology has some downsides. We try to max the upsides. It allows us to talk to people in other countries, have university professors in our classes and even have classes from home.”

The mid-February snowstorm closed every other school in the diocesan schools system Feb. 12-14, but at Christ the King High, math teacher Bill Fountain taught all five of his classes remotely.

“It’s almost as efficient as being in the classroom,” Fountain said. “It’s very productive. I could ask each student to solve a problem and write their comments on the tablet, and it would display on all of the students’ screens. I can see them and know who is talking.”

Christ the King students keep learning despite recent snowstorm, thanks to advanced technology

Dolan sat in on some of the classes and was impressed.

“Students were engaged, focused and not missing a beat,” Dolan said. “The teacher led the class as though he was in front of the room on a dry-erase board – except he worked problems through on the students’ laptop screens.

It was great!”

Tenth-grader Hannah Yelanich said the virtual classes are similar to being physically in school.

“It is a little more difficult because you can’t see the other students in the class and what they are doing,” she said. “It’s better than having to make up the day, I guess.”

Fellow sophomore Evan Hendrickson agreed.

“It really puts the responsibility on the individual student to pay attention and learn,” he noted. “Using the software, it’s almost like being right in front of the board in the classroom. There are pros and cons to it, but keeps us from getting behind in our classes.”

Using this technology isn’t meant to rob students of the joy of a snow day, Dolan said, just to avoid losing time and momentum in the classroom. In the recent snowstorm, students were released early on Tuesday and didn’t return to the Huntersville campus until the following Tuesday because of President’s Day. “I told the students to enjoy the snow the first day, but if it turns into a multiple-day event, log in to Edline on Thursday for classes and assignments. We wanted to be productive during that time. And they didn’t miss a beat.”

If the students lost power at home or were unable to attend a live class during that time, they were responsible for making it up as though they were absent that day, Dolan said.

Last year, teachers tested this technology at the school’s former temporary campus by having the teachers deliver lectures in one part of the building and have them webcasted to another part of the building.

“It works pretty well,” Dolan said. “We’ve used this technology a few times when students haven’t been able to meet at the building.”

As part of the flexible learning, teachers are able to hold class when they can’t be in school, either. When he was sick, Fountain said he used GoToMeeting to dial into his classroom and teach without the risk of sharing his illness with the students.

Similarly, when students have had unique travel opportunities, they simply Skype into their classes and are able to participate in real time, Dolan said.

Some teachers have also videotaped their lectures and made them available through Dropbox, an online cloudbased sharing system, to students who may have missed something or just wanted to hear it again.

Another flexible option the teachers have tried is hosting evening office hours for when students have problems with their homework.

Many students at Christ the King High also take other courses online, allowing them to learn foreign languages or a specialty science or business class.

“Christ the King is incredibly flexible in meeting the unique needs of every student,” Dolan said. “We believe we are preparing our students to successfully meet the challenges of tomorrow, today. I really believe that Christ the King represents the next generation of Catholic education.”

February 28, 2014 | catholicnewsherald.com catholic news heraldI

Asheville Catholic School Shamrock Run set for March 15 ASHEVILLE — The eighth annual ACS Shamrock Run on Saturday, March 15, has special significance this year. The event will be dedicated to the memory of Mark Davis, longtime race organizer and Asheville Catholic School parent volunteer, who passed away last August. His daughter is a sixth-grader at the school.

The ACS Shamrock Run offers a Fun Run as well as 5K and 10K races. All events begin at the school on Culvern Street. There is an entry fee to participate and registration is required.

Awards will be presented to the top three overall male and female winners, and top three male and female masters (aged 40 and over) in each race. Awards will be given to the top three male and female finishers in various age groups for each race. Fun Run participants will receive a finisher medal.

There will be a costume contest for both children and adults. The best St. Patrick’s Day themed costume (one child and one adult) will receive a prize during the awards ceremony of the 5K race.

“The Shamrock Run has been a great vehicle for bringing the wider Asheville community together with the community of Asheville Catholic School,” said Principal Michael Miller.

“Our race attracts many participants because it is billed as having the toughest 10K route in the area. The more participants we can bring to the race, the more familiar citizens become with ACS and what we have to offer.

“The funds we raise always go towards a worthy need at the school (this year is technology), but the real benefit comes from bringing people together for a fun and healthy way to support a great resource in the area: Asheville Catholic School.

I cannot thank our race coordinators enough for their hard work in planning and carrying out this event.”

For more information about the Shamrock Run, go to www.gloryhoundevents. com/shamrock_run.

— SueAnn Howell, senior reporter

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Charlotte Catholic wins 13th straight swim title David Exum Correspondent

CHARLOTTE — It’s lucky 13 for the Charlotte Catholic girls swim team.

In its first season at the 4A level, the Cougars amassed a perfect 8-0 record and defeated two-time state champion Hough to win its 13th consecutive state title at the Triangle Aquatic Center in Cary on Feb. 7.

At the state championship, Charlotte Catholic defeated Hough, 360.5308.5. Only the Cougars and Hough scored over 300 points.

“I think it’s a huge milestone and to my knowledge, I don’t think it’s ever been done in any (high school) sport in North Carolina,” said coach Brian Gross. “It does speak a lot to how hard the kids work and their dedication to the program and their studies.”

After dominating the 1A/2A and 3A divisions for the past decade, Charlotte Catholic entered into 4A competition and competed in the elite South Meck 8 Conference this season.

Besides defeating tough conference opponents such as Ardrey Kell, Berry Academy, Providence and South Mecklenburg, the Cougars also defeated two-time Georgia state champion Marist School at a traveling meet in Chattanooga, Tenn.

“That was a really competitive meet and we had good turnout there,” said Gross. “Hough was our competition and we knew they had a lot of talent going into regional and state meets.”

Junior Nora McCullagh, the Cougars’ team captain, won most valuable accolades in both regional and state competition.

“She is incredible and is great in the water and spectacular to watch when she swims,” said Gross. “She also has a tremendous drive for success and works hard at it in and out of the pool. She’s a great studentathlete and is really a pleasure to be around. I also see her helping next year’s freshmen.”

In the state championship, McCullagh won the 100-yard backstroke and 50-yard freestyle.

Senior Lauren Rhodes, who will swim at N.C. State in the fall, finished second in the 100-yard freestyle and the third in the 200-yard freestyle.

“She adds a lot of depth to freestyle and was captain this year. She was really there for our younger swimmers,” said Gross.

Gross also said senior Maria Sheridan, Rhodes and McCullagh were high school All-Americans this year. Sheridan will swim at Duke University in the fall.

“You can put four girls that swim competitively against each other, but when you put them in a relay they are very successful as a team,” said Gross. ”In the 200-yard freestyle relay and 400-yard freestyle relay, our girls came very close to breaking national high school records.”

The Cougars finished second in the 200-yard medley relay behind the efforts of Sheridan, and fellow seniors Nicole Emery, Sara Stranick and Elsa Welshofer. McCullagh, Welshofer, Rhodes and junior Rebecca Postoll also won the 400-yard free relay.

“Every year, it seems our relay teams get faster and faster and faster, and I wonder where the speed comes from, but they work hard for it,” said Gross.

In individual events, Postoll finished second and Rhodes finished third in the 200-yard freestyle. Emery also won the 200-yard individual medley and Stranick finished third. Welshofer tied for first in the 100-yard butterfly, Postoll finished second in the 500-yard freestyle and Stranick finished third in the 100-yard breaststroke.

“It’s just such an honor to coach a great group of kids, both the girls and the boys teams. Every year I thank the parents and the kids for allowing me to do what I do,” said Gross, who began coaching at Charlotte Catholic in 2002. “I swam in college (Wright State, Dayton, Ohio), so I love the sport, and it’s my chance to give something back.”

And, he added, “We’re going for (number) 14 next year.”

Let’s keep talking.

GLOBAL CATHOLIC TOURS OF VIRGINIA 2014 PILGRIMAGES

9 Days HolyLand. Sep 7-15, $2725.

5 nights in Jerusalem and 2 nights in Nazareth.

With Fr Joe Arledge from Woodward, OK. 11 Days Catholic Ireland Sep 8-18, $3200.

Photo provided by Lorri Mercer

Special visitor ASHEVILLE — Olympic athlete Lauren Tamayo (holding medal) visited with the middle school students at Asheville Catholic School Feb. 6.

Tamayo is a 2012 Olympic Games silver medalist on the track cycling team and lives in Asheville.

3 nights each in Dublin and Galway, 2 nights Killarney, 1 night in Limerick. .

With Fr Art Bufogle from Kingwood, WV. 13 Days Spain-Fatima. Sep 15-27, $3749.

4 nights Madrid, 1 night Burgos, 2 nights Santiago de Compostela, 3 nights Fatima, 1 night Lisbon.

With Fr Dan Pisano from Wellsburg, WV. 12 Day Pilgrimage to Italy. Sep 16-27, $3950.

100 days of school CHARLOTTE — St. Ann School’s kindergarten and second-grade students, along with their teachers, recently celebrated the 100th day of school by dressing as if they were 100 years old.

Photo provided by Kathy McKinney

3 nights Venice, 2 nights Florence, 1 night Assisi, 4 nights Rome. Visit Padua and Siena. With Fr Krempa from Winchester, VA. 11Day Poland -Prague. Sep 29-Oct 9 $3280 From Dulles AP. 2 nights Warsaw, 1 night Czestrochowa, 3 nights each in Krakow & Prague.

Visit Wadowice, D.Mercy Shrine. With Fr Joe Goldsmith from Harrisonburg, VA.

For brochures or information, contact John Tagnesi PH 1-888-544-4461 or jtag1964@ verizon.net

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catholicnewsherald.com | February 28, 2014 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

For the latest news 24/7: catholicnewsherald.com

In Brief

Rademaker, Matthew Hammes and Noah Saffer received an Honorable Mention.

From OLG: Will Hornfeck and Owen Morris received an Excellent Delegation Award; Mickey Brigham, Frances Byungura, Adam Lucek, Gavin Myers, Cecie Moncla and Erin Silva received an Honorable Mention; and Ashley Appel and Emily Snell won an award for Superior Delegation.

Model UN enables students to debate current issues while representing various countries around the world. Students research issues and debate those issues during the course of daylong simulations.

Geography bee winners named at St. Pius X School

WINSTON-SALEM — Seventh-grader Anissa Gatland recently won St. Leo School’s spelling bee and also went on to win in the WinstonSalem Non-Public Schools’ Bee. She will compete in the Regional Spelling Bee March 23.

GREENSBORO — St. Pius X eighth-grader Brendan Chase won the final school-wide competition of the National Geography Bee Jan. 15.

The competition also included classroom finalists from grades 4 through 8: Ben Dahlstedt, Evan Stoller, Owen Griffith, George Seifert, Pierce Hudson, Elizabeth Haslam, Trevor Bode, Anthony Vanore and Beth Palmisano.

Chase will advance to the next level of competition, a written examination to determine state competitors. The national championship will be held May 19-21 in Washington, D.C. The top award is a $50,000 college scholarship.

For the 26th year, the National Geographic Society has sponsored the competition for students fourth through eighth grades in thousands of schools across the United States and in the five U.S. territories. The 2014 Bee is sponsored by Google.

Pictured are (from left) Evan Stoller, Ben Dahlstedt, George Seifert and Owen Griffith; (back, from left) Trevor Bode, Elizabeth Haslam, Brendan Chase, Beth Palmisano, Pierce Hudson and Anthony Vanore.

— Donna Birkel

— Jean Navarro

Debate team excels CHARLOTTE — Twelve members of the Charlotte Catholic High School Debate and Speech Team, led by head coach Mary A. Morales, attended the First Corona Rostrensis Tournament hosted by Charlotte Latin School Feb. 1. Charlotte Catholic was awarded third place.

— Mary A. Morales

Model UN winners recognized KERNERSVILLE — During the Model United Nations competition at Bishop McGuinness High School Feb. 4, students from Our Lady of Mercy School in Winston-Salem and Our Lady of Grace School in Greensboro received special recognition.

From OLM: Anthony Cancro, Vance Jacobsen, Gennaro Coppola and Matthew Kelly received a Best Delegation Award; Michael Boose, Ashton Pryce, Heidi Bleyer, Niel Ingle, Marilyn Butterworth and Samuel Wooten received an Excellent Delegation Award; and Christopher Atala, Olivia Doyle, Hayden Davenport, Jake

Gatland is spelling bee champ

OLM spelling bee winners named WINSTON-SALEM — Eighth-grader Hayden Davenport (right) won Our Lady of Mercy School’s Spelling Bee Jan. 24. Sixth-grader Jordan Duncan (left) came in second place.

Seventh-grader Olivia Dioli and sixth-grader Matthew Golamco (not pictured) tied for third place. This was the second time Davenport won the school spelling bee in four years.

— Lara Davenport

History bee finalists announced SALISBURY — Four students from Sacred

In His Presence…

A New Chapter of Evangelization

Father Richard Fragomeni Diocese of Albany Mission Homilist

This 3 day mission based on Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium will explore this new chapter of Evangelization for our Catholic Church, our World and for the Christian Faithful.

Monday, March 10th – Wednesday, March 12th from 7:00pm – 8:30pm St. Mark Catholic Church – Huntersville, NC We will kick-off this 3 day mission on Sunday evening from 7-8 pm with an evening of adoration and music led by Psalm 150. Monday and Tuesday evening we will have our Children’s Mission running simultaneously with the parish mission in parish hall.

To sign up for the Children’s Mission go to website www.stmarknc.org. For questions or more information please contact Donna Smith (704-948-1306/dsmith18@bellsouth.net)

12th Annual Conference March 28-29, 2014 North Carolina State Fairgrounds, Jim Graham Building, Raleigh, NC

Dr. Scott hahn St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology

Kimberly hahn Author of “Beloved and Blessed: Biblical Wisdom for Family Life”

Jennifer Fulwiler Former Atheist & Blogger at Conversion Diary

Jason Simon Executive Director of Evangelical Catholic

FRee FRiDAy eveninG For a full list of speakers and to register for Saturday, visit: www.IgnitedByTruth.com “Bringing to light the truth of the teachings of the Catholic Church and igniting in our hearts a love for our Faith”

Who Will you invite?

Bishop Michael F. Burbidge Diocese of Raleigh, NC | Vigil Mass Celebrant and Homilist

February 28, 2014 | catholicnewsherald.com catholic news heraldI

Heart School in Salisbury – Emilee Hibshman, Elly Burks, Johnson Huynh and Eric Turnbull – qualified in an online national exam to advance to the regional finals of the National History Bee in Charlotte Feb. 10.

Founded in 2010, the National History Bee is in its fourth school year of high school regional and state qualifying tournaments, leading to the national championships in Washington, D.C., and Arlington, Va., this spring. The National History Bee offers separate divisions for elementary and middle school students. The elementary and middle school division features an intramural bee and an online qualifying test before its 35-40 separate regional tournaments take place.

— Robin Fisher

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their opinion as to why religious freedom is important for everyone.

Pictured are the contest winners – Alexander Loya, essay contest winner, and Clara Hahn, poster contest winner – with Knights David Barker, John O’Daly, Chuck Culbertson and Roger Shepard.

— Pat Burr

St. Michael students win at Beta Club convention GASTONIA — St. Michael School recently had a historic, record-breaking year at the Junior National Beta Club Convention in Greensboro Feb. 3-4. More than 3,000 middle school students from 60 schools across the state attended the convention, including 21 Beta Club members from St. Michael School.

Seventh-grader Teresa Purello won first place in the essay competition. Seventh-grader Jacob Younan won second place in the social studies competition. Eighth-grader Bailey Gardin won second place in the speech competition. Second place in the poster competition was shared by eighthgraders Gina Smirz, Carmella Shindler, Rebecca West and Harrison Marisiddaiah.

They were led by seventh-grade teacher Carol Hubbard and eighth-grade teacher Greg Davidowitz.

Yeo ranks among best in math contest

Knights poster, essay contest winners named GASTONIA — St. Michael Church’s Knights of Columbus recently held a poster and essay contest for the eighth-grade students at St. Michael School. Students were asked to make an awareness poster for drug and alcohol abuse, and students were asked to explain in an essay

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GREENSBORO — Our Lady of Grace middle school students Brian Yeo, Katherine Silknitter, Ashley Appel, Diana Fernandez, Gabriella Angiolino, Peter Ryu, Francis Byungura, Sam Kim, Jacob Mims and Peter Lee competed in the Guilford County Math Day Feb. 1 at Jamestown Middle School, led by OLG math teacher Suzanne Blaya.

Yeo, a sixth-grader, ranked within the top 10 of all seventh-grade participants of the math contest.

— Pat Burr

Burks also wins at Beta Club convention SALISBURY — Eighth-grader Elly Burks of Sacred Heart School in Salisbury was named the N.C. Junior Spelling Contest Champion during the Junior National Beta Club Convention in Greensboro Feb. 3-4.

— Karen Hornfeck

— Robin Fisher

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For seniors, a new place really means a place to move forward.

Seniors often discover that moving to a community frees them to move forward with what they really want to do!

You may believe that selling your home and moving to a senior living community is only about changing your address. But it’s really more about how that change of address can help you move forward.

A place with a thriving, interdependent community Community living offers a built-in support system, with a daily opportunity to share a meal and enjoy festive occasions with like-minded individuals, with no loss of privacy when alone time is desired.

A place to grow, learn and breathe

A place where the real estate market is primed for sellers

Your place should be Pennybyrn

Residents at Pennybyrn can enjoy many fitness activities—with great spaces, equipment and motivation to do it—as well as a full schedule of activities and programs that range from discussion groups, to concerts and performances.

With your other needs met, you still need to know that selling your home will allow you to enjoy an active, senior living community lifestyle. North Carolina real estate professionals predict an increase in sales and home values1, good reasons to sell now.

At Pennybyrn, Catholic seniors will find a large Catholic population, a celebration of Mass each day, two lovely chapels and chances to volunteer through projects begun by The Sisters of the Poor Servants of the Mother of God.

A place where priorities are easily shifted

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Life in a senior living community is maintenance-free, with a friendly staff to handle daily tasks, freeing you to do whatever you like. And those staff members, over time, become like members of the family.

A place where the future is secure When the future brings changes in health, Pennybyrn’s on-campus continuum of care, provides priority access to assisted living and skilled nursing. On-campus care keeps couples together, even when a spouse requires a different level of care.

housingpredictor.com/2013-north-carolina-housing-market/

Call 336-821-4050 to receive your copy of Rick Hunsicker’s Planning Guide for Seniors.* *Published by Hunsicker Senior Living Services, a nationally known expert in senior living.

Mr. Hunsicker is a frequent guest speaker at Pennybyrn.

109 Penny Road • High Point, NC 27260 • www.PennybyrnAtMaryfield.org M field org Located less than a mile from downtown Jamestown and only 10 minutes from Greensboro. All faiths welcome.

CNH

Mix 20

catholicnewsherald.com | February 28, 2014 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

For the latest news 24/7: catholicnewsherald.com

In Brief

‘Pompeii’ The cataclysmic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. is the backdrop for this swords-andsandals tale of forbidden love, revenge and a whole lotta lava. In the fabled Italian town on the Bay of Naples, a slave-turned-gladiator (Kit Harington) falls for the daughter (Emily Browning) of a wealthy merchant (Jared Harris). As he fights for love and his freedom, he befriends a veteran of the arena (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) and seeks vengeance on the Roman senator (Kiefer Sutherland) who killed his parents and cast him into slavery. A climactic swordfight in the arena is interrupted when the volcano roars to live and all heck breaks loose. Much gory violence.

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

‘Winter’s Tale’ Set mostly in a fantastical version of early 20th-century New York City, this sappy supernatural love story pairs a good-hearted burglar (Colin Farrell) with the sequestered invalid (Jessica Brown Findlay) he unexpectedly meets while trying to rob her wealthy father’s (William Hurt) home. Out to thwart the unlikely couple’s bliss is the demonic crime lord (Russell Crowe) who was once the thief’s mentor; assisting the duo is a magical flying horse.

Characters in writer-director Akiva Goldsman’s adaptation of Mark Helprin’s celebrated 1983 novel spout sentimental twaddle and subscribe to a version of metaphysics that might have been lifted from a Hallmark greeting card.

Some harsh but bloodless violence, at least one instance each of crude and crass language.

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

‘Endless Love’ This remake of Franco Zeffirelli’s 1981 romantic drama jettisons much of the original source material, the 1979 novel by Scott Spencer, in favor of a predictable tale of star-crossed teens (Gabriella Wilde and Alex Pettyfer) who cast caution and morality to the winds one fateful summer, all in the name of “love.” Misguided values, semi-graphic nonmarital sexual activity with brief partial nudity.

CNS: 0 (morally offensive); MPAA: PG-13

Additional reviews: n ‘About Last Night’: CNS: 0 (morally offensive); MPAA: R n ‘Robocop’: CNS: A-III (adults); MPAA: PG-13 n ‘3 Days to Kill’: CNS: L (limited adult audience); MPAA: PG-13

Learn more Get more information about the Lenten DVD series “Puzzle of Life/Finding My Peace,” check out portions of the video series, and sign up for a faith sharing group at www.lentenfriends.org. You can also email info@lentenfriends. org or call the St. Matthew Parish office at 704-543-7677, ext. 1191.

‘Finding My Peace’ St. Matthew Church produces Lenten DVD series for faith sharing groups SueAnn Howell Senior reporter

CHARLOTTE — As the largest Catholic parish in the country with 9,400 registered families, St. Matthew Church leaders work diligently to make the parish feel more welcoming and closeknit. A vital part of that effort involves creating smaller faith communities within the larger parish community, offering a variety of programs to help people connect and explore their faith more deeply.

The latest effort to help these small faith sharing groups is a Lenten DVD series called the “Puzzle of Life/Finding My Peace.”

This six-week program is conducted in parishioners’ homes.

During each of the six weeks of Lent, parishioners come together in a host’s home for an hour and a half to watch a specially created presentation on the readings for the upcoming Sunday liturgy.

A study guide offers questions for reflection and discussion.

Each small group of three to 12 people uses the materials to help gain an understanding of the Scripture, how it applies to their lives and to help build fellowship in the community. Groups can consist of family, friends, neighbors, co-workers or fellow parishioners – anyone who desires to grow in their faith with others this Lent.

Monsignor John J. McSweeney, pastor, provides the teachings in the DVD series and many parishioners give their inspirational faith testimonies in the series as well. In the promotional video for the series, Monsignor McSweeney shares with the congregation some of his wisdom as he pulls out an actual jigsaw puzzle.

“So often you have heard me over the years talk about jigsaw puzzles,” he says as he pours out the pieces onto a table. “It’s amazing with a jigsaw puzzle, what I call the ‘jigsaw puzzle of life,’ of all the aspects of life that a jigsaw puzzle will tell us about.

“This thing is going to be hard to put together. Sometimes, we think life is hard to put together. We have so many things that are going on. If we don’t find a little space, a little time for prayer in our life, we’re never going to get this thing together.”

Each of the six sessions has its own distinct title and topic:

Session 1 is “The Busy-ness of Life”; Session 2 is “The Borders and Boundaries of My Life”; Session 3 is “Letting Go of Burdens and Trials”; Session 4 is “Discovering Our True Selves”; Session 5 is “Need for Community”; and Session 6 is “Our Journey to Peace.”

Mark Schuler, parish council president at St. Matthew Church, worked with nine other parishioners to produce and promote the DVD series.

“There is a core team of us plus staff and another 20 to 30 (people) that are on related committees, and then another 100plus parishioners and staff that have helped in some aspect of the program, whether that be planning the work, researching the work, writing prayers, videotaping, logistics, publishing – any number of things. It’s really been great to see a number of our folks participate in the preparation of the program,” Schuler said.

“Our goal is to keep reaching out to people. We hope to get faith sharing groups with five to 10 people per group, which means we can potentially impact thousands of our parishioners for Lent.”

He stresses that at St. Matthew Parish there is a strong belief that engaged parishioners have a higher sense of belonging, and thus of believing.

“We continue to look for ways to engage parishioners, make our large community small, make people connect to each other, and small groups is a way for us to do that.”

Longtime parishioner Don Garbison is an expert at engaging parishioners in parish life and helped bring about the DVD series.

“Part of our process was to talk to all the people who have been in small groups in the past to see what they liked about it, why they did it, why did they continue to do it,” Garbison said.

“Listening to that developed into what we have and what we designed for this year.

“We also studied what other churches were doing, Catholic and not Catholic, and our history at St. Matthew with what we had done back to the beginning of the parish. That all ended up with this curriculum. It’s a guide for people. The goal is for people to build relationships.”

Organizers hope to host 300 to 400 groups which should impact between 3,000 to 5,000 people with the Lenten DVD series this year.

February 28, 2014 | catholicnewsherald.com catholic news heraldI

21

On TV n Friday, Feb. 28, 6:30 p.m. (EWTN) “Men, Women and the Mystery of Love – Building Greater Trust and Intimacy in Marriage.” Dr. Edward Sri considers the importance of total acceptance of the other person in a relationship.

Get your own copy “Rock and A Hard Place: A Lithuanian Love Story” will be released in March by Shari Parker Publishing. St. Jude Mission will host a book release party from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday, March 9. Meet Vytas and Donna Sarka, enjoy Lithuanian food and music, and listen to a reading from the book by author Deanna Klingel. St. Jude Mission is located at 3011 Hwy. 64 East in Sapphire.

Klingel also wrote “Bread Upon the Water,” the true story about former Vietnamese refugee Father Tien Duong, who is now pastor of St. Francis of Assisi Church in Franklin. Klingel also received the Seal of Approval from the Catholic Writers Guild for her young adult novels, “Cracks in the Ice” and “Just for the Moment.”

Learn more at www.BooksByDeanna.com.

St. Jude parishioners’ faith, love inspire new book ‘Rock and A Hard Place’ Dave Exum Correspondent

SAPPHIRE — In the pages of her latest book, “Rock and A Hard Place: A Lithuanian Love Story,” author Deanna Klingel tells the emotional and heartfelt story of Vytas and Donna Sarka and the ordeal the couple experienced as children during World War II. Klingel spent two years interviewing her fellow members at St. Jude Mission in Sapphire about their experiences at the clutches of Stalin-led Russia and Nazi Germany.

In 1940, as the Third Reich was increasing its military might over all of Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union occupied and annexed Lithuania in accordance with the secretive Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, or Nazi-Soviet Pact. Nonetheless, Nazi Germany ignored the pact and invaded Lithuania on June 22, 1941. The Nazis also exterminated an estimated 190,000 Lithuanian Jews during its occupation from 1941 to 1945.

“The title of the book is ‘Rock and A Hard Place’ because it’s where they were – caught between the Russian invasion and the German betrayal,” says Klingel. “Looking to Germany, who had promised their protection, Donna’s and Vytas’ families traipsed across Eastern Europe with thousands of displaced persons who had lost their homelands, to be captured and enslaved by Nazi Germany.”

Klingel first met Vytas Sarka when she and her husband moved to the picturesque area in 1990. Vytas’ first wife, Aldona, passed away in 2002 and Klingel recalls seeing him tend to her grave each Sunday after Mass.

“We all noticed when Donna suddenly appeared at his side at Mass and we were all hopeful Vytas would find love again,” Klingel recalls.

“Donna was outgoing and friendly, though she had a touch of shyness about her, blushing easily. The parish rejoiced when they announced they were married by Father Bill Evans.”

Klingel explains that the subtitle of her new book, “A Lithuanian Love Story,” tells of how despite the horrors Vytas and Donna Sarka witnessed during their childhood, love and a strong faith truly conquers all.

“Their love of country strengthened them with patriotism. Their love of their family gave them purpose, a reason to keep walking,” Klingel says. “Their love of God and their faith gave meaning to their hopelessness. It was hope that God would prevail in the world of evil.”

The book tells of how while in a refugee camp during Christmas in the 1940s, Donna created Christmas greetings by peeling labels off canned goods and pressing them under her mattress.

“She made them into Christmas greetings, writing verses and drawing pictures on them for people in the camp,” says Klingel.

“Some were speechless, some wept. Christmas can be anywhere, she bravely told them.”

During the span of two years Klingel spent interviewing the couple and working on the book, she recalls how gracious the

Sarkas were with their time.

“They are gracious in their hospitality. I often showed up unannounced at their door over the last two years of interviewing them for this book. I’d show up, legal pad in hand with my pencil, to ask a quick question or get a quick verification,” she says. “They always seemed delighted I was there, take my coat, pour a drink, sit down, have something.”

Klingel says Vytas is considered the “Fix-it Man” at St. Jude Mission, who is never afraid of rolling up his sleeves whenever a repair job is needed.

“They both have a quiet serenity about them – that is part of their faith. They’ve lived through it all and nothing can harm them,” she explains.

Reliving the past wasn’t easy for either Vytas or Donna. Klingel recalls that as children the couple led completely different lives: Vytas was a farm boy and Donna lived in the city. Many times the stories each of them remembered would be the first time either had heard about it from the other.

“I was amazed at the detail they both remembered,” Klingel says. “How long they were here, where they went next, what they were eating when something was said, who they were beside when the sky fell.”

Like others of their generation who experienced persecution at the hands of the Third Reich, retelling those memories often comes with consequences.

“The details will never be forgotten,” Klingel says. “On one visit when Vytas was telling me more about their journey, he confided that since we started that part of the story he wasn’t sleeping well. He said he was having bad dreams about it. He was looking forward to finishing the bombing part of his story. When Donna talked about an incident on a train, she rubbed her arms and laughed. ‘Look,’ she said. ‘It still makes me shudder.’ She had gooseflesh on her arms. So did I.” Similar to her previous works of nonfiction, Klingel wrote her newest book not only because it represents the importance of having a strong Catholic faith, it’s also a inspirational and powerful story that must never be forgotten.

“These are real people who lived through real history. They’ve witnessed murder, destruction, despair – horrific things that the rest of us will only read about. But we must read about them. We can’t forget these things happened. If we don’t remember, we are destined to relive it.”

Although “Rock and A Hard Place: A Lithuanian Love Story” is not specifically geared at the author’s fan base of young adults, she believes the book’s powerful message can still relate to that age group.

“One of the messages I want the young readers to embrace is how this happened,” she says. “What led up to this? Were there warnings we should recognize? I want them to know that in the adult world they are entering, they must know history in order to move forward and not repeat it.”

n Monday, March 3, 6 p.m. (EWTN) “Authentically Free at Last – The Mystical Hook up.” Gloria Purvis, Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers and Damon Owens explain about the graces from the sacraments and the strength it provides us for evangelization. n Wednesday, March 5, 9:30 a.m. (EWTN) “Light of the East II – Liturgical Year: Great Lent.” Fathers Sopoliga and Berta continue their study of the rich traditions found in the Byzantine Catholic Church, with a look at the holy season of Lent. n Thursday, March 6, 10 p.m. (EWTN) “St. Francis and Brother Leo.” A docudrama presenting the life and spirituality of Brother Leo, the secretary and confessor of St. Francis of Assisi, who is also believed to have been his favorite disciple. Filmed on location in Assisi, Italy. n Saturday, March 8, 11 p.m. (EWTN) “Russia’s Catholics.” The current state of the Catholic Church and faith in Russia, including the years of persecution Catholics and Orthodox Christians suffered during the country’s Communist rule. n Monday, March 10, 6:30 p.m. (EWTN) “An American Apparition – Our Lady of Good Help.”

An original EWTN documentary, host Bob Dolan shares the story of the Marian apparition and Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help, located in the Diocese of Green Bay, Wis.

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Our nation 22

catholicnewsherald.com | February 28, 2014 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

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In Brief Appeals court denies Notre Dame injunction on HHS mandate CHICAGO — The University of Notre Dame must provide free coverage of contraceptives as required by the federal health care law despite its moral objections to doing so, said a panel of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a late Feb. 21 ruling that denied the university an injunction against enforcement of the mandate.

The decision was handed down in the university’s appeal of a Dec. 20 ruling by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana denying it a preliminary injunction. Notre Dame then sought to obtain emergency relief from the 7th Circuit before the Jan. 1 deadline for the mandate to take effect and was denied.

In its lawsuit, Notre Dame argued that the mandate’s purpose “is to discriminate against religious institutions and organizations that oppose abortion and contraception.”

Judge Richard Posner, joined by Judge David Hamilton, wrote the majority opinion in the 2-1 ruling, saying the university has the option of following a so-called accommodation in the mandate that says employers who object to the coverage on moral grounds can fill out a form and direct a third party to provide the coverage to their employees.

In a brief statement Feb. 24, Notre Dame spokesman Paul J. Browne said: “Our concern remains that if government is allowed to entangle a religious institution of higher education like Notre Dame in one area contrary to conscience, it’s given license to do so in others.”

Brooklyn bishop calls Church to unite in faith with immigrants WASHINGTON, D.C. — Catholic parishes are called to build communion with immigrants and newcomers so people unite in faith rather than solely because of their cultural backgrounds, said the bishop of Brooklyn, N.Y., who has worked for 38 years to improve immigrant relations. Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, former executive director of Migration and Refugee Services for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, told a Feb. 24 conference on the integration of immigrants into the Catholic Church that in U.S. parishes, immigrants and longtime members can learn from each other if they are open to doing so.

“Migration really is not a problem to be solved, but rather something we must naturally grow into understanding ourselves better,” Bishop DiMarzio said. He said the “idea of welcome is what’s important. We’ve seen this unity based on faith with many different struggles over the years, but the immigration perhaps presented the Church with an opportunity to build communion between culturally diverse peoples, both natives and newcomers. It was not easy.

And it’s not complete. But we’ve learned a lot over these two centuries that we have been an immigrant church in the United States.”

Bishop DiMarzio once served on the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, now known as the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Travelers.

Bishop Pates urges White House to sign treaty to ban land mines WASHINGTON, D.C. — The chairman of the

U.S. bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace urged the United States to sign and ratify a treaty to ban the use of land mines. Bishop Richard E. Pates of Des Moines, Iowa, said in a letter Feb. 12 to National Security Advisor Susan E. Rice that signing and ratifying the accord – called the Convention on the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and Their Destruction – would further demonstrate the United States’ commitment to ending the use of mines worldwide. A copy of his letter was released Feb. 20 by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The bishop wrote that the Catholic Church has long called for a ban on land mines on moral grounds because they indiscriminately kill and maim innocent civilians, even after hostilities end.

“There is a legacy of devastation in places such as Iraq, Laos, Cambodia, Afghanistan, Angola, Colombia and Lebanon while land mines appear to have been used in more recent conflicts such as Syria,” Bishop Pates said. “The Holy See has noted the ‘deplorable humanitarian consequences of anti-personnel land mines.’”

Nun, two activists go to prison for protest at weapons facility WASHINGTON, D.C. — A religious woman and two Catholic peace activists were sentenced to prison for several years for breaking into a Tennessee nuclear weapons facility and defacing its walls in July 2012.

Sister Megan Rice, 84, of Washington, a member of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus, was sentenced Feb. 18 to 35 months in prison on each of two counts – one count of depredation of property and one count of sabotage. Michael Walli, 65, also of Washington, and Greg BoertjeObed, 58, of Duluth, Minn., were sentenced to 62 months in prison each on the same counts. All of the sentences were to be served concurrently and the three were to be credited for the nine months they have been held in prison since their conviction in May. The defendants were part of the group “Transform Now Plowshares.”

In announcing the sentences in a courtroom overflowing with supporters of the protesters, U.S. District Judge Amul R. Thapar said he respected the trio’s commitment to peacemaking but that he settled on the sentences, in part, to act as a deterrent to future actions by the defendants or by others at the country’s nuclear weapons facilities.

All three faced sentences of about six to 10 years on each count under federal sentencing guidelines. They have participated in similar protests prior to their 2012 action.

Washington state’s bishops back governor’s moratorium on death penalty SEATTLE — Washington state’s Catholic bishops praised Gov. Jay Inslee for declaring a moratorium on the use of the death penalty in the state and applauded him for urging there be “a public conversation on capital punishment.”

As pastoral leaders of the state’s more than 1 million Catholics, “we favor abolishing the death penalty, but also recognize the obstacles to achieving that goal,” the bishops wrote in a Feb. 13 letter to the governor. “We therefore pledge our assistance by working to raise awareness among Catholic people and all people of good will about the moral and practical reasons for ending executions in our state.”

The letter was released by the Washington State Catholic Conference, the bishops’ public policy arm. In it, they pointed Inslee to previous statements issued by the conference about the death penalty. The most recent

statement, released in 2009, “called into question the justification for the use of capital punishment. At that time we wrote: ‘The people of Washington are confronted with unanswered questions regarding capital punishment. Is it fairly applied? Are innocent people executed?

Are our motives revenge or safety? Is the punishment of death a cost-effective means of ensuring public safety?”

The bishops told Inslee he took a positive step Feb. 11 when he temporarily halted executions in Washington.

“We hope this will lead to a fruitful discussion about the dignity of human life, help us find answers to the compelling questions surrounding the death penalty and eventually lead to permanently abolishing the practice of executions” in the state. They said that like the governor, “we also recognize that criminals must be answerable for their crimes.”

‘Restorative justice,’ not death penalty, urged for Tsarnaev WASHINGTON, D.C. — In light of the proposed death penalty for 20-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, “Jesus weeps ... again” at the injustice, the Conference of Major Superiors of Men said in a Feb. 19 statement. “Christ calls us to love our enemies and travel the long, difficult, but humanizing and liberating road to reconciliation,” the conference said. The CMSM statement came in response to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announcing the federal government will seek the death penalty against Tsarnaev, currently being held in federal prison for his alleged role in the Boston Marathon attacks.

The Catholic Church opposes the death penalty in nearly all cases, saying that “the cases in which the execution of the offender is an absolute necessity are very rare, if not practically nonexistent.”

For some, Tsarnaev’s case is no exception.

“The death penalty is sort of an illusion (that) we can protect life by taking it,” said Catherine Jarboe, director for Catholic State Networks and Organizations at the Catholic Mobilizing Network to End the Use of the Death Penalty.

“We’re perpetuating the cycle of violence.”

CMSM said it weeps for “all the harm done” at the bombings in April, including the harm Tsarnaev and his family felt.

Constitutional amendment urged to protect traditional marriage WASHINGTON, D.C. — A marriage amendment to the U.S. Constitution “would secure in law throughout the country the basic truth known to reason that marriage is the union of one man and one woman,” said San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone. In a Feb. 19 letter, he urged the U.S. House of Representatives to pass the Marriage Protection Amendment, a joint resolution sponsored by Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Kan., and introduced last August. The archbishop, who is chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage, urged other House members to cosponsor the measure.

To amend the U.S. Constitution, it must be approved by two-thirds of the House and the U.S. Senate and then be ratified by threefourths of the states.

“An amendment to the U.S. Constitution is the only remedy in law against this judicial activism that may ultimately end with federal judges declaring that the U.S. Constitution requires states, and consequently the federal government, to redefine marriage,” the archbishop wrote in the letter, which was addressed to Huelskamp. Archbishop Cordileone was referring to recent federal court decisions striking down a number of state marriage laws.

N.Y. bishops urge ‘love, respect’ for people with mental illness ALBANY, N.Y. — The Catholic bishops of New York urged compassion and acceptance for people suffering from mental illness in a new pastoral statement, and the state Catholic conference, their public policy arm, issued specific policy recommendations related to those with mental illness. The bishops’ statement, “’For I Am Lonely and Afflicted’: Toward a Just Response to the Needs of Mentally Ill Persons,” cited the example of Jesus in the Gospels in demonstrating how society should respond to those with mental illness.

“We must reject the twin temptations of stereotype and fear, which can cause us to see mentally ill people as something other than children of God, made in His image and likeness, deserving of our love and respect,” they said.

The bishops noted that fewer than 5 percent of violent acts are committed by people with mental illness, adding that “persons with mental illness are more often victims than perpetrators of violent acts, and they also are more likely to be victims of sexual abuse.”

They also urged Catholics to be welcoming of people with mental illness.

Persecution of Christians ‘widespread, flagrant,’ archbishop says WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Vatican’s apostolic nuncio to the United Nations told a congressional hearing Feb. 11 that “flagrant and widespread persecution of Christians rages in the Middle East even as we meet.” Chaired

by U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., the House subcommittee on global human rights listened to international experts testify about the rise in Christian persecution throughout the world.

The archbishop has witnessed the violence firsthand. Before taking the post as the permanent observer of the Holy See to the U.N., Archbishop Francis A. Chullikatt served as apostolic nuncio to Iraq and Jordan and lived in Baghdad from 2006 to 2010.

“This tragedy is all the more egregious when one pauses to consider that these men and women of faith ... have been living at peace with their neighbors for untold generations,” he said.

The persecution of Christians in Iraq has increased in the wake of the country’s democratic transition. There and elsewhere religious minorities had enjoyed some amount of protection under the strict law and order enforced by previous rulers. Archbishop Chullikatt said that today, “because of the conflict, Christians are caught in the crossfire.”

He denounced the emerging “tradition” of bombing Catholic and other Christian churches on Christmas Eve, which has happened in the Middle East for several years.

Pope Francis appoints bishops WASHINGTON, D.C. — Pope Francis has appointed the following as bishops: Monsignor Carl A. Kemme, vicar general and moderator of the curia in the Diocese of Springfield, Ill., will succeed as bishop of Wichita, Kan., Archbishop Michael O. Jackels, who was named to head the Archdiocese of Dubuque, Iowa, in April 2013.

Monsignor Peter Baldacchino, chancellor of the Turks and Caicos Islands, a juridical mission of the New Jersey archdiocese, will be auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Miami.

Monsignor Edward B. Scharfenberger of the Diocese of Brooklyn, N.Y. will succeed the retiring Bishop Howard J. Hubbard of Albany, N.Y. — Catholic News Service

February 28, 2014 | catholicnewsherald.com catholic news heraldI

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23

Our world 24

catholicnewsherald.com | February 28, 2014 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

Pope Francis leads opening prayer during a meeting of cardinals in the synod hall at the Vatican Feb. 20. The pope asked the world’s cardinals and those about to be made cardinals to meet at the Vatican Feb. 20-21 to discuss the Church’s pastoral approach to the family.

CNS | Paul Haring

Cardinals say synod on family will seek to balance truth, God’s mercy Carol Glatz Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY — Balancing the need to uphold Christ’s teaching about the permanence of marriage and the call for the Church to show God’s mercy for those who have failed their marriage vows will be a major theme of discussion by the world’s bishops.

The Church needs to find ways to let all of its members find a home in the Church without compromising its teachings, said Cardinals Vincent Nichols of Westminster, England, and Wilfrid F. Napier of Durban, South Africa.

They and 148 other cardinals from around the world gathered with Pope Francis in Rome earlier this week to talk about the family, ahead of October’s extraordinary synod on the family and a 2015 world Synod of Bishops on the same theme. Pope Francis has said that the situation of divorced and civilly remarried Catholics will be one of the key topics of discussion at the synod.

Opening the meeting, Pope Francis said the Church’s pastoral approach to helping couples must be “intelligent, courageous and full of love” because the family today is “looked down upon and mistreated. Our reflection must keep before us the beauty of the family and marriage, the greatness of this human reality, which is so simple, yet so rich, made up of joys and hopes, of struggles and sufferings.”

The family, he said, “is the basic cell of human society. From the beginning, the Creator blessed man and woman so that they might be fruitful and multiply,” being a reflection of God, one and triune, in the world.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, noted that the cardinals’ meeting would not preempt the synod in any way.

“At this stage, what the cardinals were really interested in was, how do we balance the justice of God with his mercy?”

Cardinal Napier said. “The justice of God

means you must keep His law, but when you’ve broken that law, how does His mercy come into play? That, I think, is the dilemma that we are having to handle and we have to keep that before us leading up to the synod, at the synod and beyond the synod.”

The same day, Cardinal Nichols said when it comes to family life and marriage, many people “feel failure, feel themselves to have failed, and they have a desire to start again.”

Many divorced and civilly remarried Catholics see not having the Eucharist available to them as “a kind of punishment, as a sign of not being accepted in the Church,” Cardinal Nichols said. So there is a need to explore more deeply “what part does the Eucharist play?” and not to forget that “these are people we are talking about” who are experiencing “real hurt in their lives.”

The 68-year-old English cardinal said that when he was growing up, there was a more “moral, reserved attitude” toward the Eucharist, that “it was something that actually made demands on us, that to receive the Eucharist was a highpoint” and not a given.

While the Church is concerned about properly ministering to people who are divorced and civilly remarried, he said it sees it must continue to uphold the truth of Christ’s teachings about the unity and indissolubility of marriage, which are “of central importance.”

“There must be ways in which people can live a very fruitful life in the Church,” Cardinal Nichols said, even though they may not have access to the Eucharist.

It also calls for “much more positive ways we engage with people whose marriages have broken down” and to let them know that there could be solutions that apply to them if there are questions about the validity of their first marriage, he said.

Cardinal Napier said the Church will be looking more closely at whether the way it prepares couples for marriage is adequate.

There are couples whose marriage seems

like “a sacramental marriage, but when you look more closely, do they have the right disposition, do they have the right understanding even to actually contract that kind of a marriage that’s permanent, exclusive and for life.”

There is a sense of a real lack of understanding among Catholics about what marriage really is, he said.

Another issue, the South African cardinal said, is that, in many cases, the people who are requesting Communion were not “guilty of breaking up the first marriage, but were innocent parties that have not always been given credit for the amount of suffering they’ve had to go through.”

For example, he said, “a woman who was abandoned by her husband. What does she do? She has children to bring up, she needs security, she meets somebody, she marries.

Now is she really to blame? And is the Church not going to find a way to exercise God’s merciful love?”

Cardinal Nichols said “for marriage to be what it’s meant to be – that is, a sacramental covenant – there has to be some understanding not just of the faith in general but of the faith in its specific insights and gift into the nature of marriage. Maybe it’s not enough that people marrying today have permanence and indissolubility as an aspiration, as a hope: ‘We hope it will work out,’ because actually the sacrament requires more than that. It requires a commitment to the indissolubility and an openness and reliance on the gift of grace in married life.”

Many Catholic marriages do endure, he said, and those who do give witness to a faithful marriage can play a role showing how marriage is “a work of grace.”

Cardinal Nichols said he has “great admiration for the resilience and dedication of people in family life.”

People really do struggle to be faithful and make their marriage work, he said, because they know divorce is a tragedy “and really scars people.”

Synod official says survey shows great suffering, need to rebuild trust VATICAN CITY — The responses to the Vatican questionnaire about Catholics’ family life reflect a great amount of suffering around the world, said the general secretary of the synod. As of Feb. 19, about 80 percent of the world’s bishops’ conferences and 60 percent of the Vatican congregations and councils had turned in formal responses to a questionnaire distributed by the synod office in October. Cardinal-designate Lorenzo Baldisseri, general secretary of the synod, said the responses show “much suffering, especially by those who feel excluded or abandoned by the Church because they find themselves in a state of life that does not correspond to the Church’s doctrine and discipline.”

The volume of responses, which also include about 700 submissions from Catholic groups and individuals, demonstrates great interest in the synod’s plans to discuss the family when it meets at the Vatican Oct. 5-19, said the general secretary. By urging bishops around the world to conduct the broadest consultation possible given the brief amount of time allotted, synod officials “sparked a spontaneous reaction that may seem surprising, but is actually proof of how necessary it is to go out of our offices” to where people really live, he said.

Cardinal Nichols said parishes should offer support and “build a family of the Church” that spans multiple generations, backgrounds and experiences to help “society knit its families together again.”

February 28, 2014 | catholicnewsherald.com catholic news heraldI

For the latest news 24/7: catholicnewsherald.com

In Brief Vatican starts hiring freeze, forbids overtime VATICAN CITY — The Vatican announced an immediate end to new hires, wage-increases and overtime in an effort to cut costs and offset budget shortfalls. Pope Francis, with input from the Vatican’s central accounting office, also determined that volunteers could be used to help provide the labor needed to make up for the hiring freeze and eventual attrition.

Cardinal-designate Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, sent a letter, dated Feb. 13, to the heads of all Vatican offices, institutions and agencies. He said the budget forecast for 2014 “necessitated the immediate adoption of some measures needed to contain” personnel costs. In its last published report, the Vatican said it had a slight budget surplus of $2.7 million in 2012 after experiencing one of its largest budget deficits of the past decade in 2011. The secretary of state’s letter said the budget forecast expected a cash shortfall for 2014, prompting the pope to approve several measures that would apply to all Vatican dicasteries, offices, institutions and bodies; the measures were to start immediately and stay in effect until further notice.

Pope Francis, with retired pope present, creates new cardinals VATICAN CITY — On a feast day

commemorating the authority Jesus gave to St. Peter and his successors – the popes – Pope Francis created 19 new cardinals in the presence of retired Pope Benedict XVI. To the great surprise of most people present, the retired pope entered St. Peter’s Basilica about 15 minutes before the new cardinals and Pope Francis. Wearing a long white coat and using a cane, he took a seat in the front row next to Lebanese Cardinal Bechara Rai, patriarch of the Maronite Catholic Church.

Pope Benedict’s presence at the consistory Feb. 22, the feast of the Chair of Peter, marked the first time he had joined Pope Francis for a public prayer service in the basilica. Pope Benedict resigned Feb. 28, 2013, becoming the first pope in almost 600 years to do so.

Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, retired archbishop of Washington, said all the already existing cardinals went over to greet Pope Benedict. “The ushers kept saying, ‘Please, your eminences, take your seats, the Holy Father is coming,’ and we thought, ‘But, but ....’” Before beginning the service, Pope Francis walked over to Pope Benedict, who removed his zucchetto to greet Pope Francis.

Belgium passes law to allow euthanasia for small children BRUSSELS — Belgian legislators voted to make their country the world’s first to allow euthanasia for small children, despite vigorous opposition from the Catholic Church and all main religious groups. “We are saddened and fearful for the future after this vote to extend euthanasia to children without any age limit,” said the Catholic bishops’ conference. “We totally uphold the rights of the child, of which love and respect are the most important. But the right of the child to demand its own death is a step too far. It transgresses the prohibition of killing, which is the foundation of our human

society,” the bishops said in a statement Feb. 13. The same day, Belgium’s lower house of Parliament passed the legislation, which permits the doctor-assisted killing of terminally ill children facing “unbearable physical suffering.” The legislation passed the Senate late last year and must now go to the king for approval. The bishops said they had frequently “expressed fears” about the proposed law, which had been unanimously deplored “with a single voice” by heads of all faiths in November.

Pope establishes panel, with lay members, to oversee Vatican finances VATICAN CITY — In a move reflecting both his drive to reform the Vatican bureaucracy and his oft-stated desire to include laypeople in the leadership of the Church, Pope Francis established a new panel, to include almost as many lay members as clerics, to oversee the finances of the Holy See and Vatican City State.

Another new office, to be headed by Cardinal George Pell of Sydney, will implement the panel’s policies.

The Vatican announced the changes in a statement Feb. 24, explaining they would “enable more formal involvement of senior and experienced experts in financial administration, planning and reporting, and will ensure better use of resources,” particularly for “our works with the poor and marginalized.” The Council for the Economy will include “eight cardinals and bishops to reflect the universality of the Church” and “seven lay experts of different nationalities

Classified

with strong professional financial experience,” the Vatican said. They will “meet on a regular basis to consider policies and practices and to prepare and analyze reports on the economicadministrative activities of the Holy See.”

Pope: Professing the faith without good works is just spouting hot air VATICAN CITY — Understanding God’s commandments and Church doctrine is useless if those truths aren’t put into practice, Pope Francis said. “A faith without bearing fruit in life, a faith that doesn’t bear fruit in works is not faith,” the pope said in a Mass homily, focusing on the day’s first reading from the Book of James (2:14-24). Professing the faith without giving a witness makes the Gospel “words and nothing more than words,” he said Feb. 21 during his early morning Mass in the Domus Sanctae Marthae, where he lives. “We, too, make this mistake many times,” he said. It’s often the case when a person thinks, “’But I have lots of faith. I believe everything.’” However, look at how that person lives life. It may be “a lukewarm, weak life” where “faith is like a theory” and not lived out in practice, the pope said. “You may know all the commandments, all the prophesies, all the truths of the faith, but if this isn’t put into practice, is not translated into works, it serves nothing.” As the Apostle James noted, even demons know the Creed, but that doesn’t mean they have faith, the pope said.

— Catholic News Service

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Help to end hunger Catholic Charities has food pantries in Asheville, Charlotte and Winston-Salem. Each pantry provides walk-in assistance on a first-come, first-served basis during scheduled hours. At the pantries, clients can help choose their food items – because providing food and assistance with dignity is what we believe in.

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25

Asheville: 828-255-0146 Charlotte: 704-370-3232 Winston-Salem: 336-727-0705

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catholicnewsherald.com | February 28, 2014 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

26

What is God’s forgiveness like?

T

he 97 second-grade faith formation students at Holy Family Church in Clemmons, who are preparing for reconciliation and first holy Communion this year, were recently asked to complete a sentence about God’s forgiveness. As we prepare to enter the season of Lent, here are a few of their responses to consider yourself:

cotton God’s forgiveness is like outer sweet. space because it never ends.

God’s forgiveness is like because it’s very

candy

God’s forgiveness is like because a . it

peace happiness

God’s forgiveness is like because the sun the comes back every morning after it’s dark.

God’s forgiveness is like because He forgives.

Band-Aid heals sun

God’s forgiveness is like because .

God’s forgiveness is like because it . brings

infinity always

God’s forgiveness is like because it .

sunshine medicine lightens it cures you up my day God’s forgiveness is like hugs God’s forgiveness is like freedom because it makes me feel good. because He takes away God’s forgiveness is like a circle our sin. because it has no end.

God’s forgiveness is like God’s forgiveness is like we never did it Heaven because it is endless. because God is so loving.

God’s forgiveness is like love God’s forgiveness is like rushing because He is nice to us. water because it forgives God’s forgiveness is like happiness very quickly. because He loves me.

— Submitted by Peggy Schumacher, faith formation director at Holy Family Church in Clemmons

Kristin Collins

Secret executions are not the solution

A

n execution is the gravest duty a government will ever carry out. If the process for killing a human being isn’t deserving of public scrutiny, what is our government accountable for? And yet, last week, the state of Georgia went to court to defend a law that classifies information about its lethal injection protocol as a “confidential state secret.”

Georgia is not alone. With a nationwide shortage of lethal injection drugs, caused in part by the unwillingness of drug companies to sell their medications for the purpose of executions, states are resorting to all kinds of shady methods to execute prisoners.

Using compounding pharmacies that are not subject to the same oversight as typical drug manufacturers. Trying untested drug combos, as in Ohio’s disastrous January execution of Dennis McGuire, who appeared to gasp and convulse for roughly 10 minutes before he died by lethal injection using a new combination of drugs.

And fighting to avoid public scrutiny of the process.

North Carolina argued last month in the Court of Appeals that its execution protocol should not be subject to rule-making procedures that allow for public input.

Meanwhile, the state has just created a new protocol of lethal injection chemicals that calls for the use of pentobarbital, the very drug that other states have struggled to find.

Is this really the kind of national conversation we want to be having? Do we want our states scheming to find new and innovative ways of killing people? Fighting to keep their execution methods secret from the people they are supposed to be accountable to?

There is a simple solution to this problem.

Six states in the past six years have figured it out, and more are on their way. Last week Washington and New Hampshire took big steps toward abolishing capital punishment.

Replace the death penalty with life imprisonment with no possibility of parole.

The worst offenders will still die in prison, but without the need for “state secrets.”

Kristin Collins writes for the N.C. Coalition for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, a non-partisan network of organizations and citizens across the state who are working to end North Carolina’s capital punishment system.

This commentary was originally published Feb. 21.

More online At www.nccadp.org: Learn more about the systemic problems with North Carolina’s death penalty, including racial bias, mental illness and prosecutorial errors.

February 28, 2014 | catholicnewsherald.com catholic news heraldI

Michael Hoefling

Deacon James H. Toner

The lawyer: reasonable (and faithful?)

“Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth ...” – Blessed Pope John Paul II, “Fides et Ratio”

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or many, the lawyer is rightfully associated with reason. The daily task of a lawyer, especially one involved in the world of conflict and lawsuits, is to analyze the facts of a given dispute, and present to the opposing side or judge the most reasonable arguments for the benefit of his client. These arguments may highlight how one did not in fact breach the provisions of the agreement, or how, using reason and evidence, it would be impossible for the alleged criminal to have committed such a heinous act. The above quotation from Blessed Pope John Paul II challenges the everyday lawyer (and non-lawyer alike) to use skill, intellect and reason outside the confines of the courtroom and focus them on the world in which he or she was born.

Following the lead of those great thinkers who studied law and things’ deeper meaning – St. Thomas More, Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Gandhi, St. Thomas Becket, Martin Luther, and St. Charles Borromeo, to name a few – the reasonable lawyer ought to apply his mind in an effort to decipher the truth about himself and the world.

This pursuit, using reason to uncover the truth about the world, was undertaken most notably by the famous Greek philosopher Aristotle. In the “Metaphysics,” without any appeal to religious revelation or scripture, Aristotle argues that there must be a being that has set in motion the world and whose form is being-as-being. St. Thomas Aquinas, the noted Christian theologian of the 13th century, later builds upon these arguments and reminds us that God revealed in the Old Testament identifies Himself to Moses in a similar way: “I Am Who Am.” In other words, God is Being Itself or the foundation of all being.

In Book XII of the “Metaphysics,” Aristotle, using his reason, claims “there is that which as first of all things moves all things,” followed by, “there must, then, be such a principle, whose very substance is actuality,” and concludes with, “there is a mover which moves without being moved, being eternal, substance, and actuality.” Moreover, in his “Physics,” Aristotle reasons through the dynamics of motion to propose an eternal first mover: “…nevertheless there is something that comprehends them all, and that as something apart from each one of them, and this it is that is the cause of the fact that some things are and others are not and of the continuous process of change… motion, then, being eternal, the first mover,

if there is but one, will be eternal also.”

Aristotle, seeking the origins and causes of the things-that-are, concludes there is one unmoved mover given nature’s antipathy for excess and superfluity. Quoting Homer’s “Illiad” regarding the good of one ruler, Aristotle reasons, “The world must not be governed badly. ‘The rule of many is not good; let there be one ruler.’”

Before Aristotle, the Greek philosopher Plato similarly applied reason to investigate what lies beyond the material world. Plato’s sympathy for the supernatural presents itself in his famous idea of the forms and through his belief in the immortality of the soul argued within the “Phaedo” by the wisest man of Athens, Socrates. For Plato, philosophy is undertaken so man learns how to die – a dying, which consists of weaning himself from the things of this world to seek the transcendent realities of the next world.

Plato reminds us: “I pray that as heavenly souls longing with desire for our heavenly home we may cast off the bonds of our terrestrial chains; cast them off as swiftly as possible, so that, uplifted on Platonic wings and with God as our guide, we may fly unhindered to our ethereal abode...”

An intimate link exists between the thoughts of the great pagan truth seekers and later Christian minds. Such an “encounter between the Biblical message and Greek thought did not happen by chance,” wrote Pope Benedict XVI. The Church has always reminded us of the importance of reason and has recalled the great Greek tradition, but it is important to recall John Paul’s quotation above about the significance of faith (in building upon reason) and the gift of God’s self-revealing in time. In fact, as St. Thomas Aquinas reminds us, given the arduousness of the task of natural theology, the limited number of its participants, and its tendencies for error, God in His mercy revealed Himself in the Person of Christ.

Ultimately, the lawyer and non-lawyer alike, following John Paul II’s reminder, should continue to use his or her reason and remember: “Hidden away in every man’s search for truth and goodness is the desire for God. He who would separate philosophy from holy religion separates the pursuit of wisdom from the honor and reverence of it, for philosophy seeks what religion worships” (“The Secular is Sacred: Platonism & Thomism in Marsilio Ficino,”

by Ardis Collins).

Michael Hoefling is a parishioner of St. Patrick Cathedral in Charlotte, a lawyer and a member of the St. Thomas More Society.

The St. Thomas More Society The St. Thomas More Society Inc. is an independent charitable organization sponsored by members of the North Carolina Bar. We believe that the legal profession is a high calling in which the principal objective of every lawyer should be to promote and seek justice in society. Ultimately, we believe that the duty of a Christian lawyer is to remain faithful to Jesus Christ and His Church at all times regardless of the personal consequences. We look to the example and ideals of St. Thomas More in our pursuit of the highest ethical principles in the legal profession generally and, in particular, in the community of Catholic lawyers.

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Proverbial thinking

proverb is a short, wise saying used by many people over a long time.

In some ways, a proverb is like a shibboleth, a test word or password associated with or employed by a certain group. “Shibboleth” comes from the Hebrew for “stream,” and it was used in the Bible as a password by the Gileadites to distinguish the fleeing Ephraimites, because the Ephraimites could not pronounce “sh” (see Judges 12:4-6).

There are times we think in proverbs and speak in shibboleths. There are serious problems with both. Consider this: “If you answer a silly question, you are just as silly as the person who asked it” (Prov 26:4). Make sense? The very next proverb, however, tells us: “Give a silly answer to a silly question, and the one who asked it will realize he’s not as smart as he thinks.” I have used the Good News Bible translation of the two proverbs, but the apparent contradiction between the verses exists in every translation. Verse 4 tells us not to reply to a silly question, so that we don’t participate in foolishness.

Verse 5 tells us that there are times when foolishness must be challenged.

So whether we rely on the wisdom of verse 4 or on the wisdom of verse 5 depends upon the situation. If a matter were trivial, then we should probably heed the sense of verse 4. If a matter were critical, however, then we should probably reply, challenging the foolishness we have just heard. Here we are helped by another Old Testament book, Sirach, which tells us, “You can lose all your self-respect by being reluctant to speak up in the presence of stupidity” (20:22 GNB).

“Shibboleth thinking” means willingness to consider only those ideas that are expressed in the sound bites or favored phrases of the day. Every group has its own words, terms or phrases used to convey a particular belief. Years ago, the late Dobie Gray sang about “The ‘In’ Crowd,” which had “our own way of talking and our own way of walking.”

Sometimes if we don’t use the favorite language of the group, we will not be heard, our presentation will be rejected, or our convictions will be dismissed.

Pretty cool, eh, dude?

There are times, though, that thinking in proverbs can be useful; there are times that speaking in shibboleths, or using them as passwords, can be sensible.

They can occasionally serve well as shortcuts. If we use them, however, to screen out others’ ideas or to remain deaf to those outside our circle of friends, we are truncating our thinking – we are refusing to think logically, diligently and reflectively. “The Holy Spirit,” we know, “can use the humblest to enlighten the learned and those in the highest positions” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 2038).

By the same token, the Old Testament book of Tobit tells us: “Take the advice of sensible people, and never treat any useful advice lightly” (4:18 GNB). I knew fairly well the former military affairs commentator on MSNBC and CNN. Over the years, he developed a list of “sensible people” whom he would consult by phone or email whenever he wanted wise

counsel. I had the honor of serving as his ethics advisor. He was a man of high integrity. When one network refused to research a story (and, subsequently, to retract it when their reporting proved wrong – as this man had correctly insisted), he promptly resigned, saying he would have no part of the organization.

We all develop “screens” for our thinking. Such screens are frequently necessary, for we are daily bombarded by literally thousands of commercial messages. Other times, though, we engage in “proverbial thinking” or in “shibboleth thinking,” shutting out concepts we should consider. One person recently told me, for instance, that, when it comes to the Latin Mass, we should not look backward.

The Latin Mass, though, is not only the ancient liturgy of the Church, it is also increasingly widely prayed today and may have a promising future. Now why could that be true? Is it worth considering, reading about, praying about? I think so.

But if we simply say “Nope, it’s old,” it amounts to shibboleth thinking.

Is it true that “all good things come to those who wait”? Maybe, but how about “time and tide wait for no man”? “Many hands make light work,” right? But “too many cooks spoil the broth.” “Silence is golden,” but the “squeaky wheel gets the grease.” Of course, “absence makes the heart grow fonder,” but then again, “out of sight, out of mind.” “Opposites attract,” but “birds of a feather flock together.” You can’t teach an old dog new tricks,” but “you’re never too old to learn.” “Look before you leap,” but “strike while the iron is hot.”

Even the most useful proverb or maxim still requires prudence, the cardinal virtue that “disposes practical reason to discern our true good in every circumstance and to choose the right means of achieving it” (CCC 1806). “A fool will believe anything,” says Proverbs; “smart people watch their step” (14:15; cf.

3:5-6). Precisely!

Maxims and mottoes, aphorisms and apothegms, sayings and slogans – all these can be useful in our thinking. But they must not replace extensive reading, serious conversation with “sensible people,” and prayerful examination of the circumstances and consequences of what we think, do and say.

Deuteronomy may provide the best starting point of all: “This is why you must now know, and fix in your heart, that the Lord is God in the heavens above and on earth below, and that there is no other” (4:39 Confraternity-Douay). And Blessed Pope John Paul II is always the wise counselor: “Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth – in a word to know himself – so that by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves” (“Fides et Ratio”).

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

catholicnewsherald.com | February 28, 2014 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

Behold I make all things new.

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BISHOP’S LENTEN YOUTH PILGRIMAGE 2014 9 AM - 3 PM SATURDAY, April 5, BELMONT ABBEY COLLEGE

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