May 9, 2014

May 9, 2014

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Charlotte seminarian Michael Kitson passes away Hundreds of friends, seminarians, clergy gather for funeral Mass, 6

Charlotte Catholic names new football coach, 21 INDEX

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Church cheers two new saints

THANK YOU!

Pope Francis, in Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s presence, canonizes John Paul II and John XXIII INSIDE: 14-17 Coverage of the two historic canonizations Bishop Jugis’ connection to both popes

Relic of John Paul II venerated in Winston-Salem Parishes celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday

OUR LADY OF THE HIGHWAYS

Thomasville church celebrates 60 years, 3, 18

‘Do you know him to be worthy?’

Meteorologist-turnedmonk ordained priest at Belmont Abbey; 5 novices also join the community, 7

Our faith 2

catholicnewsherald.com | May 9, 2014 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

Pope Francis Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk

Never forget to pray!

Speak from the heart, ask God for help

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ever forget to pray, even while commuting, taking a walk or when waiting in line, Pope Francis said. And don’t just stick to prayers memorized from childhood, but include heartfelt requests and pleas for help, advice and guidance, he said. During his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square May 7, the pope continued a series of audience talks on the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord.

Looking at the gift of counsel, Pope Francis said people know how important it is to go to the right person – to “people who are wise and who love us” – to get the best advice, especially concerning difficult or “thorny” situations.

Through the Holy Spirit, God is there to enlighten people’s hearts and “help us understand the right things to say, the right way to act and the right road to take” when it comes to an important decision, the pope said. By opening one’s heart to God, “the Holy Spirit immediately begins to help us perceive His voice and guide our thoughts, our feelings and our intentions” to be in harmony with His will.

Jesus becomes the reference point for modeling one’s behavior and finding the right way to interact with God and other people, he said.

The Holy Spirit helps people to grow in the virtues, to stop being “at the mercy of egoism” and to see the world and its difficulties with “the eyes of Christ,” he said.

The Holy Spirit “enables our conscience to be able to make a concrete choice that’s in communion with God, and according to the logic of Jesus and His Gospel.”

But how can people make sure God is the one speaking to them and not their own biases, fears, limitations and ambitions? he asked. The right counsel comes through prayer, he said.

“We have to give room to the Holy Spirit so that He can counsel us. And giving Him room means praying, praying that He come and always help us.”

“Prayer is very important,” he said, and “never forget to pray, never!”

“Nobody can tell when we are praying on the bus, on the road – we pray in silence, with the heart – so let’s take advantage of these opportunities to pray.”

Don’t just recite the prayers “that we all know from childhood, but also pray with our own words, pray to the Lord: ‘Lord, help me, advise me, help me right now, let me know what we should do.’”

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A path of renewal for the Catholic sterilized couple

mong married men and women who undergo surgical sterilization through a vasectomy or a tubal ligation, it has been estimated that anywhere from 10 to 20 percent will come to regret the choice. Sometimes there may be an immediate awareness of wrongdoing following the surgery, while in other cases, as Patrick Coffin, radio host and author of “Sex au Naturel” notes, sterilized couples may “…drift for years before acknowledging that something between them is no longer in sync. After the initial pregnancy fear subsides, and the vision of 1,001 erotic nights turns out be something of a scam, spouse may (subtly) turn against spouse while doing their best to ignore the silent, disturbing ‘presence’ of the choice they made.”

Their decision to seek out a permanent form of contraception can also affect their marriage in other important ways. As Dr. John Billings has noted, there is “an effect that is even more tragic than the clinical, and it is that in many cases the use of contraceptive methods in marriage has been followed by an act of infidelity of one of the members. It would seem that contraception diminishes the mutual respect of husband and wife... Additionally, the abandoning of self-control diminishes the capacity to exercise this self-dominion outside the marriage.”

The “abandonment of self-control” that can follow permanent sterilization raises ongoing spiritual and moral challenges for couples who later repent and confess the sin of having undergone a vasectomy or a tubal ligation. A unique and vexing problem arises because sterilized individuals may find themselves, as Coffin observes, “sorely tempted to delight in the very sexwithout-babies mentality that led to the sterilization in the first place.”

Repentant couples, out of an abundance of spiritual caution, may thus wonder what they should do, and whether they are obliged to get a surgical reversal of the procedure. The Church has never declared this to be a required step, in part because of the risks and burdens associated with surgical interventions, in part because of the high uncertainty of a successful outcome, and in part because of the potentially significant expenses involved.

Even though a reversal may not be feasible or obligatory, the repentant couple may nonetheless become aware of the need to order their sexual activity and appetites in the face of their original sterilization decision and its extended consequences.

They may recognize a pressing interior need to grow in the virtue of marital chastity and to engage in a lifestyle that authentically embodies their new, albeit delayed, rejection of the contraceptive mentality.

In these situations, clergy and spiritual advisors will often encourage couples to pattern their sex life on the same cycle of periodic abstinence that fertile couples follow when using Natural Family Planning. During times of abstinence, the couples actively exercise self-control, thereby reordering the sensual and sexual appetites. This strengthens spouses in their resolve not to reduce each other to objects for pursuing sexual self-gratification. This is important because various forms of contraception, including permanent sterilization, often involve the phenomenon of the woman feeling as if she is being “used” by her husband.

Abstinence, therefore, assists couples in learning to express their mutual love in other ways. St. John Paul II explains this perspective in his famous work “Love and Responsibility”: “Inherent in the essential character of continence as a virtue is the conviction that the love of man and woman loses nothing as a result of temporary abstention from erotic experiences, but on the contrary gains: the personal union takes deeper root, grounded as it is above all in the affirmation of the value of the person and not just in sexual attachment.” In one of his weekly general audiences as pope, he further noted that “…continence itself is a definite and permanent moral attitude; it is a virtue, and therefore, the whole line of conduct guided by it acquires a virtuous character.”

Fertile couples who incorporate NFP into their marriages to avoid a conception often end up acquiring a different attitude towards life as they chart and practice periodic abstinence: they can have a change of heart and discern a call to have one or several additional children. A similar spiritual conversion to a culture of life might reasonably be expected to occur among some sterilized couples who resolve to live out an NFP-oriented lifestyle, perhaps becoming more open to adopting a child, or more open to other forms of spiritual parenthood in their communities such as Big Brother/Big Sister programs.

By abstaining during fertile times, then, the sterilized couple reintegrates the same positive behaviors that they might have practiced had they not chosen to be sterilized. In this way, the science of NFP offers the repentant sterilized couple a school of opportunity to acquire virtue within their marriage and their conjugal relations.

Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk earned his doctorate in neuroscience from Yale and did post-doctoral work at Harvard. He is a priest of the diocese of Fall River, Mass., and serves as the director of education at the National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia. See www.ncbcenter.org.

Your daily Scripture readings MAY 11-17

Sunday: Acts 2:14, 36-41, 1 Peter 2:2025, John 10:1-10; Monday (Sts. Nereus and Achilleus, St. Pancras): Acts 11:1-18, John 10:1118; Tuesday (Our Lady of Fatima): Acts 11:1926, John 10:22-30; Wednesday (St. Matthias): Acts 1:15-17, 20-26, John 15:9-17; Thursday (St. Isidore): Acts 13:13-25, John 13:16-20; Friday: Acts 13:26-33, John 14:1-6; Saturday: Acts 13:44-52, John 14:7-14.

MAY 18-24

Sunday: Acts 6:1-7, 1 Peter 2:4-9, John 14:1-12; Monday: Acts 14:5-18, John 14:21-26; Tuesday (St. Bernardine of Siena): Acts 14:19-28, John 14:27-31; Wednesday (St. Christopher Magallanes and Companions): Acts 15:1-6, John 15:1-8; Thursday (St. Rita of Cascia): Acts 15:7-21, John 15:9-11; Friday: Acts 15:2231, John 15:12-17; Saturday: Acts 16:1-10, John 15:18-21

MAY 25-31

Sunday: Acts 8:5-8, 14-17, 1 Peter 3:15-18, John 14:15-21; Monday (St. Philip Neri): Acts 16:11-15, John 15:26, 16:4; Tuesday (St. Augustine of Canterbury): Acts 16:22-34, John 16:5-11; Wednesday: Acts 17:15-22, 18:1, John 16:12-15; Thursday (The Ascension of the Lord): Acts 1:1-11, Ephesians 1:17-23, Matthew 28:16-20; Friday: Acts 18:9-18, John 16:2023; Saturday (The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary): Zephaniah 3:14-18, Isaiah 12:2-6, Luke 1:39-56.

Our parishes

May 9, 2014 | catholicnewsherald.com catholic news heraldI

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InternationalNational Combined Collection set for May 17-18

Photos by Patricia L. Guilfoyle | Catholic News Herald

Hundreds of parishioners attended the 60th anniversary Mass April 27 at Our Lady of the Highways Church in Thomasville – so many, in fact, that chairs were set up outside every entrance to provide extra seating for the special occasion. Bishop Peter Jugis celebrated the Mass. Also pictured is Oblates of St. Francis de Sales Father James Turner sharing the sign of peace with parishioners.

OUR LADY OF THE HIGHWAYS

Thomasville church celebrates 60 years Patricia L. Guilfoyle Editor

THOMASVILLE — On a hill overlooking the highway which inspired the parish’s name, members of Our Lady of the Highways Church gathered last Sunday to worship and give thanks to God – just as they have done every Sunday since 1954.

So many people came to the church’s 60th anniversary Mass and celebration on April 27, in fact, that the church wasn’t big enough to contain them all. Hundreds more chairs had to be set up on the front lawn. The shade of nearby dogwood trees and a soft breeze kept everyone comfortable under the bright April sky.

“We come to Almighty God this day with joyful hearts to thank Him for this parish church, Our Lady of the Highways, on its 60th anniversary,” said Bishop Peter J. Jugis in a bilingual homily for the anniversary Mass, which was celebrated in both English and Spanish.

A church is a unique and sacred place set aside exclusively for the celebration of the Mass, Jugis noted. “The church is important because the Mass is important. Where would we be without the Eucharist – the Body and

Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ?”

The worship of God at Mass is first and foremost what we do as a parish family, Jugis said. The Eucharist and the other sacraments strengthen each of us on our personal spiritual journey, sanctify us and enable us to grow in holiness. Everything else a parish family does flows from that.

“It is a lifelong journey, to be transformed day after day, to become more like Jesus,” he said. “We need to be constantly converted to Christ. That happens in this place, with the celebration of the Mass.”

The church is also meaningful as “a physical presence of the Catholic Church here in Thomasville, here on this prominent highway.

And that’s important, for people in the community to be able to see where the Catholic church is,” he said.

The church and its members share in the Christian mission to help transform society, “to bring Christ into the world,” Jugis emphasized.

We “are to go out into the world and bring Christ to others,” not “stay locked up in this church.”

We must be Jesus to their neighbors who do not go to church or who do not believe in God, he continued. That means living as an example to others, demonstrating our Christian faith

More online At www.catholicnewsherald.com: See more photos from the 60th anniversary Mass at Our Lady of the Highways

with our actions, such as by keeping the Lord’s Day holy.

We must also be Jesus to those who do not recognize the intrinsic value of all human life from conception to natural death, and to those who are confused about the institution of marriage as the union of one man and one woman, he also said.

“We need to bring Christ and His truth and His teaching into the culture, to transform society by our Christian witness, by our love, and by bringing the Gospel. We have a mission as Jesus’ disciples – each one of us – to bring Jesus’ truth and His love into our society,” he said.

“I am grateful for all of the work of all of the members of Our Lady of the Highways Parish, ANNIVERSARY, SEE page 13

Pastors 1952-1953 1954-1958 1958-1959 1959-1968

Father Clarence Hill Father Lawrence Hill Father James Keenan Priests of Immaculate Heart of Mary Mission

1968-1970 1970-1975 1975-1976 1976-1977 1977-1997

Father Ron McLaughlin Father William Stahl, OSFS Father William Lyman, OSFS Father William Stahl, OSFS Father John Murphy, OSFS

1997-2007 Father Thomas Fitzpatrick, OSFS 2007-present Father James Turner, OSFS

CHARLOTTE — Parishes around the Diocese of Charlotte will take up a second collection the weekend of May 17-18 to benefit international and national charities.

Donations received from this annual collection will benefit five entities: Catholic Relief Services, the Holy Land, the Works of the Holy Father, The Catholic University of America and the Catholic Communications Campaign.

Monsignor Mauricio West, vicar general and chancellor of the Diocese of Charlotte, has issued an informative letter on what the diocese calls the International-National Combined Collection that will be mailed to all registered Catholics in the diocese next week.

“In the Gospel for the 5th Sunday of Easter Jesus says to us, ‘Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in Me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these because I am going to the Father.’ (John 14:12) “He clearly calls us to continue the work that He started,” Monsignor West writes in his letter to parishioners.

The InternationalNational Combined Collection will help feed the hungry, heal the sick, help those who are vulnerable and in need, educate the laity and clergy, help spread the Gospel message and preserve Christianity in the Holy Land.

More detailed information about each of the charities will be included with the letter from Monsignor West.

Envelopes for the second collection on May 17-18 can be found in your parish envelope packet for May. — SueAnn Howell, senior reporter

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catholicnewsherald.com | May 9, 2014 OUR PARISHES

Diocesan calendar of events BELMONT QUEEN OF THE APOSTLES church, 503 North Main St.

Bishop Peter J. Jugis Bishop Peter J. Jugis will participate in the following events over the coming weeks: May 9 – 7 p.m.

Sacrament of Confirmation St. Ann Church, Charlotte May 12 – 9 a.m.

Mass for Charlotte Catholic Women’s Group Cathedral of St. Patrick, Charlotte May 13 – 11 a.m.

Presbyteral Council Pastoral Center, Charlotte May 14 – 7 p.m.

Sacrament of Confirmation St. John the Evangelist Church, Waynesville May 16 – 10 a.m.

Diocesan Finance Council Meeting Pastoral Center, Charlotte

May 19 – 7 p.m.

Sacrament of Confirmation Our Lady of the Highways Church, Thomasville

May 23 – 7:30 p.m.

Baccalaureate Mass for Bishop McGuinness High School St. Pius X Church, Greensboro May 24 – 4 p.m.

Sacrament of Confirmation St. John Baptist de la Salle Church, North Wilkesboro May 28 – 5 p.m.

Baccalaureate Mass for Charlotte Catholic High School St. Matthew Church, Charlotte

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

CANDLER ST. JOAN OF ARC CHURCH, 768 ASBURY ROAD — Chocolate Party Fellowship: 1:30 p.m. Sunday, May 18.

Hosted by the Catholic Daughters of the Americas. All women are welcome to attend.

PASTORAL CENTER, 1123 South Church St.

May 21 – 7 p.m.

Sacrament of Confirmation Our Lady of Grace Church, Greensboro

Volume 23 • Number 15

— Protecting God’s Children Workshop: 9 a.m.-noon, Saturday, May 17, in the Room D/E of the Education Building. All volunteers, in any capacity and program, must complete this training. To sign up, visit wwww. virtus.org or call Sue Sforza at 704-370-3357.

OUR LADY OF CONSOLATION CHURCH, 2301 Statesville Ave. — Community Shredding Event Fundraiser: 9 a.m.noon, Saturday, May 10. Have your personal and confidential documents shredded and recycled and help raise money for energy efficiency projects and environmental stewardship. Event partner PROSHRED Security will destroy your documents in a mobile shredding truck while you watch. Bring paper items only. Donations requested.

May 17 – 5 p.m.

Sacrament of Confirmation St. Joseph Church, Newton

May 9, 2014

— Ministry of Mothers Sharing: 9-11 a.m. Tuesday, May 13. Meetings are for moms with children of all ages. Ministry is intended for fellowship and study for spiritual growth. For details, email Marianne at marianne@gcube.com.

CHARLOTTE

May 16 – 7 p.m.

Sacrament of Confirmation Sacred Heart Church, Salisbury

May 31 – 11 a.m.

Diaconate Ordination for Permanent Deacons St. Mark Church, Huntersville

— El Grupo “Porque Ser Católico” se reúne todos los miércoles a las 8 p.m. en la casa de la Señora Carmen Mirón. Si estas interesado(a) en iniciar tu formación a cerca del catolicismo, te invitamos a participar. Para más información, llamar a la Señora Alba Cadavid 704-904-7988.

— Estate Planning Seminar: 7 p.m.- 8:30 p.m.

Wednesday, June 25. Focus will be on wills, trusts, powers of attorney, probate and bequests as well as Catholic teaching on end of life issues. Christian Cherry, attorney with Grier, Furr & Crisp will present legal information. His presentation will include Q&A session. Registration required. To register, contact Judy Smith at 704-370-3320 or jmsmith@ charlottediocese.org ST. GABRIEL CHURCH, 3016 Providence Road — Young Widowed Support Group: 6 p.m. Meets second Tuesday of the month. Group is intended for widowed persons, around 55 years of age and younger. For details, call Sister Marie Frechette at 704-543-7677, ext. 1073.

— Polish Prayer Group: 7 p.m. Meets first Thursday of the month in the chapel. For details, call Evona Cholewa at 704-488-7490.

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

St. Matthew church, 8015 BALLANTYNE COMMONS PKWY. — Natural Family Planning Introduction and Full Course: 1-5 p.m. Saturday, May 17. Topics includes: Effectiveness of modern NFP, health risks of popular contraceptives and what the Church teaches about responsible parenting. Sponsored by Catholic Charities. RSVP to Batrice Adcock, MSN, RN, at 704370-3230.

— Healing Mass and Service: 7:30 p.m. Mass followed by the healing service. Wednesday, May 14, with Father Joseph Lionel, from Bangalore, India. Healing may be spiritual, physical, emotional or generational. For details, contact Janet Garbison at JanetAAICW@aol. com or 704-661-7849. Everyone welcome.

— St. Peregrine Healing Prayer Service: 7:30 p.m.

Thursday, May 22, in the church. St. Peregrine is the patron saint of cancer and grave diseases.

The healing prayer service is offered for all those suffering with cancer or other diseases. For details, call the parish office at 704-543-7677.

— Called to be Mom Support Group: 10 a.m.-noon, Thursday, May 15. Group supports the vocation of motherhood by strengthening faith through various Scriptures readings. For details, call Kerry Long at 704-243-6319.

— Living the Faith Book Club: 7-8 p.m., second Thursday of the month. For details, call Kevin Berent at 803287-7898.

GREENSBORO Our Lady of Grace Church, 2205 West Market St. — Evening Reflection: 6:30 p.m. Friday, May 9, followed

by Father Eric Kowalski’s address. Reception to follow in the school gym. For details, call Theresa Hansen at 336-420-8500.

ST. PIUS X Church, 2210 N. ELM ST. — Senior Mass and Luncheon: 11 a.m. Tuesday, May 13, in the Kloster Center. For details, call Eva Shea at 336-286-8469.

— Blood Drive: 9:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m. Friday, May 30, in the Kloster Center. For details, call David Ray at 336-404-1933.

HUNTERSVILLE St. Mark Church, 14740 Stumptown Road — The Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians welcomes all women who are practicing Roman Catholics, and who are Irish by birth, who are the wife of a member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, or the mother of a junior member to join. For details, call Bernadette Brady at 704-210-8060.

— Charlotte Athletes for Christ Youth Ministry: 7-8:30 p.m., meets the first and third Wednesday of the month. The ministry provides an evening of fun, athletic activities, a great meal, and featured speakers who address faith and athletics. For details, contact Tim Flynn at 704-948-0231.

St. Patrick Cathedral, 1621 Dilworth Road East — Annual Spring Luncheon: 9 a.m. Monday, May 12, in the Family Life Center. Bishop Peter J. Jugis will celebrate Mass. The meeting and lunch will follow in the Family Life Center. All ladies of the diocese are invited to attend. Details at www. charlottecatholicwomensgroup.org.

— Young Adult Ministry Evening Reflection: 7-8:30 p.m. in the Cathedral with a reception to follow. This ministry is open to all area Catholics aged 20-30s.

ST. Thomas aquinas church, 1400 suther road — “Divine Mercy Holy Hour”: Exposition and readings from the Diary of St. Maria Faustina Kowalska: 7-8 p.m. every first Friday. For questions, call Paul Deer at 704-948-0628.

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

LENOIR St. Francis of Assisi Church, 328 B Woodsway Lane — The rosary, led by Father Gabriel Meehan, is prayed every Monday evening at 7 p.m., in the Our Lady of Guadalupe Chapel. All are welcome.

MAGGIE VALLEY ST. MARGARET OF SCOTLAND CHURCH, 37 Murphy Dr. — Life in Spirit Seminar: 7-8:30 p.m. every Wednesday until June 4 — Healing Mass: 2 p.m. Sunday, May 18

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

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

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May 9, 2014 | catholicnewsherald.com

Bishop Peter J. Jugis thanks St. Matthew parishioners for their history of stewardship and asks them for their continued support of the “Forward in Faith, Hope, and Love” campaign, which will provide for the longterm financial needs of parishes and ministries in the Diocese of Charlotte.

SueAnn Howell | Catholic News Herald

Diocesan campaign moves ‘Forward in Faith, Hope and Love’

Bishop Jugis visits St. Matthew Parish May 3-4 to kick off its campaign SueAnn Howell Senior reporter

CHARLOTTE — On a picture-perfect spring weekend, Bishop Peter J. Jugis visited the diocese’s largest parish, St. Matthew Church in south Charlotte to personally help kick off the parish’s effort for the diocesan campaign, “Forward in Faith, Hope and Love” and encourage all families to pray about their participation.

Parishioners were pleased to see Bishop Jugis process into the church behind pastor Monsignor John McSweeney at the vigil Mass May 3. Bishop Jugis served as homilist, taking time during his remarks to thank parishioners for their long history of stewardship.

St. Matthew Parish was recently named one of seven certified “stewardship parishes” in the U.S. by the International Catholic Stewardship Council.

“I am grateful for the volunteers here at St. Matthew Parish who have already been working on the campaign,” Bishop Jugis said. “The reason why we are conducting this diocesan-wide campaign is to address the tremendous growth of our diocese.

Since the foundation of our diocese some 40 years ago, we began with 34,000 Catholics and today we are 340,000 Catholics – over 10-fold the number we began with in 1972.”

He acknowledged that growth can certainly be seen at St. Matthew Parish, but he also assured them that the growth is apparent in all 46 counties that comprise the Diocese of Charlotte.

“There is growth on a tremendous scale – increasing the need for critical ministries, which currently forecasted funding is not able to support. There is a need to be proactive and transformational, preparing our diocese for the future,” he told parishioners.

The Forward in Faith, Hope and Love campaign has raised $46.5 million in pledges from 8,000 families and individuals during the first eight months since it was launched last fall. The diocesan campaign goal is $65 million after expenses, which includes $16.25 million for parishes and $48.75 million for broader ministries.

Besides funds being used for capital projects at

St. Matthew South is under construction in Waxhaw.

Photo courtesy of Facebook

parishes throughout the diocese, money committed to the campaign will also go towards enriching faith formation programs, the priest retirement trust fund, seminarian education, and college campus ministries, among other efforts.

Of the 92 parishes within the diocese, 61 will be wrapping up their campaign drives in 2014. The other 31 parishes completed their campaigns in 2013.

There are 13 different components to the diocesan campaign. Twenty-five percent of the goal goes towards specific parish projects. The other 75 percent goes towards 12 other components which directly or indirectly impact each parish.

At St. Matthew Parish, the parish portion of the campaign – $2.5 million of the total $10 million goal – launched last weekend will fund the future costs of the “St. Matthew South” campus expansion in Waxhaw.

The 34-acre satellite facility about 10 miles away from St. Matthew Church is designed to alleviate overcrowding and to enlarge the parish’s outreach and education efforts.

With more than 9,200 registered families, St. Matthew Parish is the largest in the diocese and one of the largest in the United States.

“We need to aim for long-term sustainability, instead of just going year by year – which we are doing now and are doing successfully,” Bishop Jugis explained.

“But as we see the growth that is coming – and that is already here crashing upon us – critical programs and facilities need to be sustained for the long term to help our parishes, to help our ministry programs, to help our Catholic charities, to be of better service to the faithful.”

He pointed out that the campaign is “forward-looking – ‘forward in faith, hope and love.’ It’s meant to be proactive. It’s meant to be transformational for the diocese.”

— David Exum, correspondent, also contributed.

OUR PARISHESI

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Photo provided by Donna F. Smith

More than 150 children and teenagers enjoyed a spirit-filled week at St. Mark Church in Huntersville last year with Totus Tuus, the summer Catholic youth program dedicated to sharing the Gospel and promoting the faith through evangelization, catechesis, Christian witness and Eucharistic worship.

Totus Tuus summer programs set for June, July CHARLOTTE — Parishes around the Diocese of Charlotte will once again host Totus Tuus Catholic youth programs this summer, dedicated to sharing the Gospel and promoting the Catholic faith through catechesis, evangelization, Christian witness and Eucharistic worship.

Totus Tuus, a Latin phrase meaning “totally yours,” was the motto of Pope St. John Paul II. Taken from St. Louis de Montfort’s “True Devotion to Mary,” it signifies the desire to give oneself entirely to Jesus Christ through Mary.

“The goal of Totus Tuus is to help young people develop their relationship with Jesus Christ so that there is an intimate friendship whereby he may lead them to the Father by the power of the Holy Spirit,” said Chris Beal, diocesan coordinator of Totus Tuus.

This is the fourth year parishes in the diocese have offered Totus Tuus summer programs, which are a combination of fun and faith for children in rising first grade through the 12th grade. This year’s theme is “The Ten Commandments and the Luminous Mysteries.”

“We emphasize a devotion and love for Our Lord in the Eucharist and for Mary our Mother,” Beal said. “We strive to help young people understand their faith through catechesis so that they may live it in today’s world. We do this in such a way that it is fun for both teachers and youth alike.”

This summer there will be three teams of catechists, serving 17 parishes throughout the diocese. The search for this summer’s Totus Tuus team members has just been completed. They will come from all over the country, and their training will be conducted at Belmont Abbey College from May 28 to June 6.

“We have a number of priests from around the diocese who will be assisting and teaching at the training this summer to help prepare our teachers,” Beal added.

He said he believes that Totus Tuus programs “express our effort to give our all to every young person we encounter.

Through the teams’ example of joy and service, the youth see that these men and women are on fire with the Catholic faith and long for the same thing in their lives.”

Totus Tuus will be held in these parishes in the diocese this summer: n June 15-20 – St. Joseph Church, Asheboro; Sacred Heart Church, Salisbury; St. Patrick Cathedral, Charlotte n June 22-27 – St. Mark Church, Huntersville; St. Mary Help of Christians Church, Shelby; Holy Spirit Church, Denver n July 6-July 11 – St. Barnabas Church, Arden; St. Aloysius Church, Hickory; Our Lady of Grace Church, Greensboro n July 13-18 – St. John the Baptist Church, Tryon; St. Michael the Archangel Church, Gastonia; St. James the Greater Church, Concord n July 20-25 – St. Bernadette Church, Linville; St. Dorothy Church, Lincolnton n July 27-Aug. 1 – St. John Neumann Church, Charlotte; St. Thomas Aquinas Church, Charlotte; St. Pius X Church, Greensboro For more information about the Totus Tuus program, go to www.education.charlottediocese.net/faith-formation/totustuus.

catholicnewsherald.com | May 9, 2014 OUR PARISHES

6

Friends remember Kitson’s piety, focus on priesthood SueAnn Howell and Patricia L. Guilfoyle Catholic News Herald

A funeral Mass for seminarian Michael Kitson was celebrated April 30 at St. Ann Church in Charlotte. Father Timothy Reid, pastor, gave the homily and eulogy, calling Kitson one of his “spiritual sons.”

Patricia L. Guilfoyle| Catholic News Herald

Michael G. Kitson

CHARLOTTE — Michael Gerard Kitson, 20, of Waxhaw, passed away on Sunday, April 27, 2014. He was a seminarian for the Diocese of Charlotte, studying for the priesthood at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio.

His Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated on April 30, 2014, at St. Ann Church in Charlotte. Interment followed at Belmont Abbey Cemetery in Belmont.

Kitson was born Oct. 12, 1993, in Newark, Del., to Michael John Kitson and Nancy Lorraine Kitson. He was a graduate of Marvin Ridge High School, in the class of 2012, and he was a member of St. Ann Parish.

He loved playing the tuba, the piano, and all sports. Though a fierce competitor, he had a great sense of humor, a gentle disposition, and a charitable heart. He was most at home serving Holy Mass.

He is survived by his parents, Michael J. Kitson and Nancy L. Kitson of Waxhaw; sisters, Kelly A. Kitson of Lexington and Courtney L. Kitson of Waxhaw; and several uncles, aunts and cousins. He will be greatly missed by his family, his brother seminarians and the parishioners of St. Ann Church.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Diocese of Charlotte, Office of Vocations, 1123 S. Church St., Charlotte, N.C. 28203.

Harry & Bryant Funeral Home of Charlotte was in charge of the arrangements.

— Catholic News Herald

Charlotte seminarian Michael Kitson passes away Hundreds of friends, seminarians, clergy attend funeral Mass Patricia L. Guilfoyle Editor

CHARLOTTE — Altar boys, seminarians, deacons, priests and hundreds of parishioners and friends said goodbye to one of their own Wednesday morning, in a Mass of Christian Burial for Michael Gerard Kitson at St. Ann Church in Charlotte.

The 20-year-old seminarian and St. Ann parishioner passed away in the early morning hours of Sunday, April 27 – Divine Mercy Sunday. It is the only death of a seminarian for the Diocese of Charlotte that anyone can remember.

Kitson’s sudden and unexpected death – he had just served at the vigil Mass that previous night at St. Ann’s – shocked family and friends, brother seminarians, priests and mentors from around the diocese. They came together around the altar April 30 for a Mass of Christian Burial to console each other, to pray, and to give thanks to God for having known the young man with the wide grin who loved sports and bow ties and always desired to be a priest.

In his homily, St. Ann’s pastor Father SEMINARIAN, SEE page 12

Timothy Reid called Kitson one of his spiritual sons. He recalled how he

More online At www.catholicnewsherald.com: See more photos and the video of Father Timothy Reid’s homily from the funeral Mass for Michael Kitson

Photo provided by Ruben Tamayo

Seminarian Michael Kitson helped out during the Diocese of Charlotte’s successful “Quo Vadis Days” vocation retreat last summer.

CHARLOTTE — In a wake service April 29 at St. Ann Church, grieving family and friends prayed the rosary and Divine Mercy Chaplet for Michael Kitson – just as the late seminarian had done every day in recent years. Eulogies were given by Father Matthew Kauth and Deacon Paul McNulty, a fellow seminarian.

McNulty remembered Kitson as “a gentle soul” who he felt blessed to call a brother. He praised Kitson’s dedication to serving at Mass, his diligence in his seminary studies, and his sense of humor.

“He gave his all in everything that he did,” Deacon McNulty said.

With his death after having served Mass Saturday night and receiving the Eucharist, Deacon McNulty said, Kitson “received his viaticum, if you will.”

And now, he added, “We give back to Him the gift He gave to us.”

Father Matthew Buettner, who served as Kitson’s confirmation sponsor, also spoke to the Catholic News Herald about the young man’s piety and intense conviction of becoming a priest, even from a young age.

When he was in middle and high school, Kitson prayed the Liturgy of the Hours, Father Buettner said, and he remembered Kitson serving at Mass with him at both his former parish of St. Dorothy and present parish of St. Michael, as well as serving at the Eucharistic Congress and other diocesan events.

When Father Buettner was ordained in 2003, the 9-year-old Kitson told him that he wanted to become a priest, too. At the start of his eighth-grade year, Kitson asked Father Buettner to be his confirmation sponsor.

That was how focused he was on the priesthood, Father Buettner said. He knew he would become a priest, and he wanted a priest to support and sponsor him as he received the sacrament of confirmation.

For his confirmation saint, Kitson chose St. Paul. Just like St. Paul, Father Buettner said with a smile, Kitson was outspoken, courageous and not afraid to speak his mind.

“I think he saw in St. Paul a kindred soul.”

“I think more than any other young man I’ve known, he just had this clear sense and drive that (the priesthood was) what he was going to do with his life. It was written all over him,” he said.

Unlike some young men, he said, “Michael was pretty clear about it. He had that real clear sense – without any fear – that this is what God wanted. He pursued it with his whole heart.”

Kitson inspired him as well as so many others, Father Buettner said.

“I think in heaven we’ll finally find out what effect people have on us, and we don’t realize it. Having said that, I think Michael has had an effect on a tremendous number of people that surprises all of us.”

Retired Father Frank Cintula passes away, aged 83

Cintula

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Father Frank M. Cintula, 83, of Boca Raton, Fla., died April 27, 2014, at Good Samaritan Hospital in West Palm Beach, Fla. A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated on Friday, May 2, 2014,at St. Ambrose Church in Deerfield Beach, Fla. Interment followed at Queen of Heaven Cemetery in North Lauderdale, Fla. Father Cintula was a graduate of John Bosco Seminary in New Jersey. He was ordained to the holy priesthood on May

27, 1965.

His first parish was St. Joseph of the Hills in Eden. He served various parishes in North Carolina, including St. Pius X Church in Greensboro. He served at St. John Baptist de la Salle Church in North Wilkesboro and St. Stephen Mission in Elkin before retiring from the Diocese of Charlotte and moving to Florida, where he served at St. Joan of Arc Church in Boca Raton and St. Ambrose Church in Deerfield Beach.

Father Cintula was a veteran of the U. S. Army.

He was uncle to many, father to all.

He is survived by his sister, Helen Cuchna of Boynton

Beach, Fla.; brother, Joe Cintula of Cypress Springs, Fla.; nieces, Connie Cuchna of Boynton Beach, Faye McConnell of Boca Raton, Francine Wellock of Akron, Ohio, and Christine Chiara of Boca Raton; nephews, Frank Cuchna of Boynton Beach, and Logan Cuchna of Homerville, Ohio.

He was preceded in death by his parents; a sister, Mary Scott; and brother, John Cuchna.

The family has requested that memorial donations in Father Cintula’s memory be made to the donor’s choice.

Babione Funeral Home of Boca Raton, Fla., was in charge of the arrangements.

— Catholic News Herald

May 9, 2014 | catholicnewsherald.com

OUR PARISHESI

7

‘Do you know him to be worthy?’

Meteorologist-turned-monk, Father Correa-Torres ordained a Benedictine priest at Belmont Abbey SueAnn Howell Senior reporter

BELMONT — Bishop Peter J. Jugis ordained Father Elias Correa-Torres to the priesthood in the Mary Help of Christians Basilica at Belmont Abbey on April 25.

Hundreds of people and more than a dozen priests, including Bishop Emeritus William G. Curlin, filled every pew in the basilica to witness the ordination of the meteorologist-turned Benedictine monk.

Father Correa-Torres, 42, processed joyfully into the basilica for his ordination. His parents Antonio and Deidad Correa were present for the ordination, as well as his grandmother Josephina Alvarez, and his brother Antonio and young nephew Alejandro.

Father Correa-Torres was born in Oklahoma. His parents are originally from Puerto Rico, so he grew up speaking Spanish at home. His father served in the U.S. Air Force, so the family moved frequently and they even lived abroad at times. He holds a Ph.D. in meteorology from Florida State University in Tallahassee, Fla. “I was working as a meteorologist for a private company at the time I made the decision to come to Belmont Abbey (in 2008),” Father Correa-Torres said. “In studying for the priesthood, I did my theology studies at the School of Theology-Seminary of St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minn.”

Father Correa-Torres was ordained to the transitional

Photos by SueAnn Howell | Catholic News Herald

Abbot Placid Solari of Belmont Abbey prays over Father Elias during the ordination mass April 25 at Belmont Abbey Basilica.

Bishop Peter J. Jugis (left) and the newly ordained Father Elias (right) pray for the Holy Spirit to consecrate the gifts to become the Body and Blood of Christ.

diaconate on April 3, 2013, and he finished his seminary studies last December. After a Benedictine monk is ordained to the transitional diaconate, he takes on the title of “Father.”

During the ordination Mass, after the Gospel reading, Benedictine Abbot Placid Solari called Father CorreaTorres to come forward to stand before Bishop Jugis and state the Benedictine’s preparedness and eligibility for priestly ordination.

“Let Father Elias Correa-Torres of the Order of St.

Benedict who is to be ordained a priest, come forward,” Abbot Placid said.

“Present,” Father Correa-Torres responded. He then stood before Bishop Jugis at the base of the steps to the altar.

“Most Reverend Father, Holy Mother Church asks you to ordain Elias, our brother, to the responsibility of the BENEDICTINE, SEE page 13

Belmont Abbey welcomes five novices Emily Williams Correspondent

BELMONT — For the first time since the 1970s, Belmont Abbey Monastery counts among its community of brothers five novices who are in the process of discerning their spiritual vocation.

All five men are from different backgrounds, yet all have been called to the Abbey and share a common trait of wishing to fully devote their lives to God as they begin their novitiate year.

Brother Joseph Boyle grew up with his parents and older sister in Dallas, Texas.

He moved to Washington, D.C., where he attended Georgetown University and later earned a law degree from the University of Notre Dame. He practiced law, both in private practice and on Capitol Hill as the general counsel for the House Committee on Education and Labor.

Brother Anselm Cundiff hails from North Texas. Prior to coming to Belmont Abbey, he was a Ph.D graduate student in classical and medieval philosophy at the University of Dallas where he has completed all studies except his dissertation. He converted to Catholicism at age 19 from Quakerism. He attributes his conversion to the aid of the Blessed Mother.

Brother Ephrem Obermeyer, originally from Newburgh, N.Y., earned a Master of Arts in medieval history from SUNYBinghamton, a STB from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium, and a Ph.D in historical theology from The Catholic University of America. He lived

in the Washington, D.C., area for the past 17 years, where he taught at Catholic University, the Education for Parish Service Program for the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., and the Diocese of Arlington, Va., and for the local diaconate formation programs. Additionally, he had been the assistant curator in the Rare Books and Special Collections Department at Catholic University for five years.

Brother George Rumley was born and raised in Randolph County. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in classics and U.S. History from Washington & Lee University in 2004. Having been a lifelong Quaker, he was received into the Catholic Church in 2009. He has worked in the non-profit sector and discerned with the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land before coming to Belmont Abbey.

Brother Boniface Smith graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a Bachelor of Arts in political science and a minor in aerospace studies. He served as a commissioned officer with the U.S. Air Force, where he was stationed at Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota and Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland. He held the rank of captain when he separated from the Air Force. He holds a certificate in broadcasting, as well as being a licensed mixologist.

The novitiate is a year-long time of preparation for men testing their call to serve God as monks of Belmont Abbey.

While it is usually a relatively uneventful year in the process of becoming a monk, it is nonetheless a busy time for each man spiritually, as he becomes better

Photo provided by Emily Williams

Belmont Abbey’s five newest novices are (from left) Brother Anselm, Brother George, Brother Joseph, Brother Ephrem and Brother Boniface. acquainted with the monastery and college community through work and prayer while studying Benedictine spirituality and history. Upon being received as a novice, he receives the monastic habit and often given a new name as well.

Once the year is complete and the discernment of both the novice and the monastic community goes well, the

monastery receives the former novice as a new junior monk under temporary vows for an additional three-year period of formation. When that is completed, God willing, the junior monk will be accepted as a full member of the monastic community and take solemn or permanent vows with the intention of remaining a monk at Belmont Abbey for life.

8

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Members of Good Shepherd Mission in King welcomed back familiar friends as well as greeted new ones during a special luncheon they recently hosted called “Welcome Home Sunday.”

Good Shepherd hosts Welcome Home Sunday Annette K. Tenny Correspondent

KING — Good Shepherd Mission recently held a celebration luncheon it called “Welcome Home Sunday.” The luncheon was the culmination of weeks of outreach by mission members and their new pastor Father Anthony Forte. Their goal was twofold: to welcome back those members who, for whatever reason, had stopped coming to Mass and to extend an invitation to any Catholic in the surrounding area who might be searching for a new church home.

Oscar Hernandez, sacred music director, invited three colleagues from nearby Wingate University to sing with the Good Shepherd choir. Hernandez is finishing his degree in music at Wingate. Levi Lowdermilk, Noel Reese and Caleb Skinner joined the choir and also sang solos.

The small choir works diligently every week to prepare for Masses and special celebrations, Hernandez said, and he hopes that more of the members might be inspired to join the group after hearing the highly-trained voices of the Wingate students.

Also at the event, the Good Shepherd Knights of Columbus Council 12267 was presented with an award from the

North Carolina Knights of Columbus District Deputy Mac McGaffigan (left) presents an award to Good Shepherd’s Knights of Columbus Council 12267 for service to the mission in King. Bernie Mathon (right) accepts the award on behalf of the council.

North Carolina Knights of Columbus in recognition for all the work the council has done for the mission over the past year.

The Good Shepherd Mother Teresa Guild provided sandwiches, salads, fruits and desserts for the luncheon, and middle school volunteers manned the serving tables. The Knights of Columbus provided parking attendants and greeters as well as other assistance at the event.

Let’s keep talking.

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Pictured from the NFP mission with Father Daniel McCaffrey are David and Meg Foppe with their five children (Philip, Frank, Nathanael, Maggie and Elizabeth), Joe and Normalinda Hammond and their three children (Thomas, John Patrick and Valentina) and Dr. Lewis and Leslie Lipscomb and their three children (Webb, Mary Grace and Ave).

Speakers educate parishioners on NFP, Church teaching Glenn Lanham Special to the Catholic News Herald

GREENSBORO — Father Daniel McCaffrey of NFP (Natural Family Planning) Outreach Inc. recently came to speak at all the Masses for St. Paul the Apostle Church in Greensboro.

A retired military chaplain, Father McCaffrey also served as a missionary in Pakistan for eight years. While serving as chaplain at Fort Hood, Texas, the chaplain was reflecting on the Encyclical “Humanae Vitae,” which explains the Church’s teaching against artificial contraception.

This was 1973, and his parishioners were struggling how to receive this sometimes difficult teaching into their lives. Later that year, his local bishop sent him to an NFP seminar near Austin. He came away excited about the recent discovery of the Billings Ovulation Method, a medical breakthrough which helped him preach about “Humanae Vitae” with “new vigor.” Thus he began his non-profit ministry, and he is now joined

by Benedictine Father Matthew Habiger in this outreach effort.

His talks the weekend of March 22-23 began with applause, to which Father McCaffrey replied, “I hope you will applaud me afterwards!” It was one of many humorous attempts to lighten the difficulties people may have had with the Church’s message on artificial contraception.

Father McCaffrey spoke about marriage as a sacrament instituted by Christ.

He noted that matrimony is a difficult vocation, and each spouse gets to heaven in part by being faithful to their marriage and its responsibilities. He noted how Pope St. John Paul II in his writings on the Theology of the Body compared marriage to the union of the Blessed Trinity. This union between persons is so real it brings forth new life, he noted.

Continuing this theme, Father McCaffrey preached how the marital act must not be separated from openness to life, which is exactly what artificial contraception does.

Sterilization is another practice that many Catholics do not consider sinful, he noted, although Catholic teaching forbids

it. Nonetheless, he said he has found a positive response to his talks on reversing this, once people became aware of its moral gravity. People’s ignorance of Church teaching, he said, is because many priests do not preach about it in their homilies.

He also noted that sterilization is an offence against the Fifth Commandment by destroying one’s own health and reproductive system.

He recounted an incident in which the Protestant President Teddy Roosevelt told a group of women that the “country that supports contraception supports national suicide.”

After Mass, Dr. Lewis D. Lipscomb also spoke to parishioners. Lipscomb is an obstetrician/gynecologist in WinstonSalem who operates North Carolina’s only purely pro-life, non-contraceptive OB-GYN practice in association with Novant Health.

Raised a Methodist, Lipscomb’s pro-life ideas at first basically amounted to a vague opposition to abortion. Then he married a Catholic, and he and his wife practiced artificial contraception without really thinking about it. However, through the gradual awakening of his wife’s conscience, along with medical complications related to artificial contraception, they decided to stop. Then she confronted him with the decisive question: “What about what you do for a living? You’re leading people into sin.”

Lipscomb decided to investigate further, and a one-week course at the Paul VI Institute for the Study of Human Reproduction in Omaha led him to consider abandoning all contraceptive counseling or sterilization surgeries. He was eventually called to start his own practice in Winston-Salem, and has been blessed with supportive and enthusiastic office staff and a thriving, growing practice. He asked his listeners a poignant question: “Is fertility a disease?”

After his speech, David and Meg Foppe of Greensboro gave their own witness to the life-changing effects of NFP and how God always provides for their needs in this matter.

Glenn Lanham is a member of Our Lady of Grace Parish in Greensboro.

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Office of Youth Ministry announces 2014 award winners CHARLOTTE — The Diocese of Charlotte Office of Youth Ministry recently announced the 2014 award winners of three annual awards.

Paul Kotlowski, director of youth ministry for the diocese, presented two of the awards at the Diocesan Youth Conference in Black Mountain at the Ridgecrest Conference Center the weekend of May 3-4, which drew hundreds of youth from across the diocese (pictured above).

The Pope St. John Paul II was awarded to Father Matthew Kauth, chaplain of Charlotte Catholic High School, who received a landslide of nominations. Father Kauth received the award May 3 at the DYC. The St. Timothy Award was presented to Katelyn Townsend of St. Ann Church in Charlotte, who is a graduating high school senior. She also received her award at the DYC on May 3.

Townsend commented that “Jesus has guarded and guided me my whole life, even though I am usually kicking and screaming.

Receiving the St. Timothy Award was a reminder to me of how Christ is the One who can and will make something awesome out of His little children.”

The third award, the Bishop Curlin Award, will be presented to Deacon Ton Rasmussen and Shelley Glanton for their work with the pro-life movement and Rachel’s Vineyard. Charlotte Bishop Emeritus Curlin served the diocese from 1994 to 2002. He worked with Blessed Mother Teresa of the Missionaries of Charity in reaching out to the poor and also served as one of her spiritual directors during her lifetime.

The presentation date for the Bishop Curlin Award has not yet been set.

— SueAnn Howell

Holy Angels youth receive sacrament of confirmation MOUNT AIRY — More than 20 youths at Holy Angels Parish in Mount Airy received the sacrament of confirmation from Bishop Peter J. Jugis on March 25.

— Daisy Mae Bustos

BREVARD — Father Andrew Nowak, pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Brevard, recently presented a check for $14,000 to Shelly F. Webb, executive director of Sharing House. This was in addition to the $16,506 that had already been donated by Sacred Heart and its ministries last year.

Sharing House was founded in 1981 to provide food and help to the needy of Transylvania County. Since that time, its services have expanded as needs have grown and Sacred Heart Church has been instrumental in providing non-perishable foods as well as financial and volunteer support. Last year alone, Sacred Heart donated almost 5,000 pounds of food and volunteers from the parish generously contributed thousands of hours of service. In addition to the funds given directly to Sharing House, Sacred Heart Church makes a yearly donation to the Koinonia Furniture fund which is managed through Sharing House. This fund provides vouchers for gently-used furniture for those in need.

After receiving the recent donation, Shelly Webb said, “Thank you so much for everything your congregation gives to the ministry of Sharing House. We cannot do this ministry without our congregations, driven by faith and the command to love.”

— Dorice Narins

Estate planning seminar coming up in Charlotte CHARLOTTE — The Diocese of Charlotte will present a free estate planning seminar from 7 to 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 25, at the Diocesan Pastoral Center, 1123 S. Church St. The focus will be on wills, trusts, powers of attorney, probate and bequests as well as Catholic teaching on end-of-life issues. If you are preparing or updating a will, if you have recently moved here from another state, or if you have an interest in learning more about the probate process and estate planning in general, you will want to attend.

Christian Cherry, an attorney with Grier, Furr & Crisp, will present legal information. He is an estate planning attorney with a concentration in wills, estates, trusts and probate, and his presentation will include an open question and answer session. Judy Smith, diocesan gift planning director, will provide information on planned giving and bequests.

“This seminar offers a great way to learn more about these important topics in a relaxed environment along with the opportunity to have your questions answered by an attorney and it is absolutely free” said Ray Paradowski, president of the Diocese of Charlotte Foundation Board of Directors.

This is the third greater Charlotte area seminar offered by the diocese. Last year’s seminar was attended by parishioners from thirteen parishes in the Charlotte area.

The event is free but registration is required to reserve a take-home packet of materials. Parking is also free and light refreshments will be served.

To register or get more information for this seminar, contact Judy Smith at 704-370-3320 or jmsmith@charlottediocese.org.

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

May 9, 2014 | catholicnewsherald.com

OUR PARISHESI

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St. Matthew Knights host ‘Pins for Priests’ $5,000 raised for seminarians, priests’ needs SueAnn Howell Senior reporter

MATTHEWS — Bowlers donned bright green T-shirts at AMF Matthews Lanes on April 26 for a ‘Pins for Priests’ Bowl-a-thon. The festive fundraiser sponsored by the St. Matthew Knights of Columbus Council 10852 helped raise $5,200 for seminarians and priests in the Diocese of Charlotte.

St. Matthew Church in south Charlotte has three parishioners who are currently in seminary at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio: Brian Becker, Casey Coleman and Britt Taylor. All three seminarians and another diocesan seminarian, Christopher Bond of St. Patrick Cathedral in Charlotte, participated in the event.

Fifteen lanes were filled with enthusiastic bowlers who wanted to make a difference for Charlotte seminarians and priests.

Norman Gemignani, St. Matthew Knights of Columbus chairman of the Pins for Priests Bowl-a-thon, shared that his council faithfully prays for vocations and has generously supported seminarians and priests.

“We give each of our three seminarians a monthly stipend for expenses,” Gemignani said. “We looked

for a fundraiser that would allow us to do more and that would be a familyoriented and fun activity. And from all the reactions on Saturday, it looks like it does everything we hoped for.”

Gemignani is himself a former seminarian who after discernment did not pursue the priesthood. He is close friends with Joe Becker, the father of current seminarian Brian Becker.

The money raised has been earmarked for a special purpose.

“Seminary is a time of continued discernment, learning and personal growth for these young men who have answered God’s call to the priesthood,” Gemignani explained.

“It’s also important for them, just like traditional university students, to have recreational time. Currently, the recreation room at the Josephinum is in desperate need of upgrades and repairs. We have earmarked some of the funds raised through Pins for Priests to support the renovation of these facilities.”

He said he hopes that Pins for Priests will become an annual event for the community.

“We anticipate that Pins for Priests will become an annual event at St. Matthew, and will grow to include other parishes throughout our diocese.”

photo provided by norman gemignani

Charlotte seminarians (from left) Christopher Bond, Casey Coleman, Britt Taylor and Brian Becker pose at AMF Matthews Lanes during the “Pins for Priests” fundraiser April 26.

CCDOC.ORG

Happy Mother’s Day We pray for young mothers, who give life and count toes and tend to our every need; May they be blessed with patience and tenderness to care for their families and themselves with great joy.

We pray for our own mothers who have nurtured and cared for us; May they continue to guide us in strong and gentle ways.

We remember mothers who are separated from their children because of war, poverty, or conflict; May they feel the loving embrace of our God who wipes every tear away.

We pray for women who are not mothers but still love and shape us with motherly care and compassion.

We remember mothers, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers who are no longer with us but who live forever in our memory and nourish us with their love.

Amen. ccdoc.org/respectlife

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catholicnewsherald.com | May 9, 2014 OUR PARISHES

SEMINARIAN: FROM PAGE 6

watched as Kitson grew up over the past 12 years at the parish, serving at Mass and then going to study for the priesthood at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio. While everyone was gathered “in grief today to mourn the loss of our common son and our common brother, we do so with a very confident hope,” Father Reid said.

Not a sentimental kind of hope, “not the simple wishing that something will happen,” he said, but “a virtue that gives us unlimited confidence in God’s goodness and mercy.”

This is an action, a “muscular movement within our souls that keeps us directed toward God, even when our faith and charity fail. And our greatest hope, of course, is that all of us will be joined with God forever in Heaven,” he said.

For that reason, he said with a comforting smile, “You can say what you want about Michael, but the kid picked a great day to die. That Michael died as he did should be a great consolation to us all, and a cause for us to hope. For while we can never know for certain the eternal state of anyone’s soul, the circumstances of Michael’s untimely death have the unmistakable fingerprints of our Lord’s providence and mercy.

“Michael’s death on Divine Mercy Sunday wasn’t simply a gift or favor from God to one of His beloved sons. Nor is it merely a consolation for us. It’s much more. Indeed, Michael dying on the day of God’s great outpouring of mercy upon the world is an invitation for us to trust more deeply in God’s will, to open ourselves to the gift of His mercy. Because God wants to give us His mercy! He wants to gather all of us to Himself.”

He continued, “Normally when someone so young dies, we grieve the loss of what that young person could have been in this life. Yet with Michael, we rejoice in what our faith tells us he has become in the next life. In this thought, we can find hope and even joy. Joy in the midst of suffering: it seems almost contradictory, and of course to those who belong to this world, it is a contradiction.

“But for those of us who belong to the world to come, those of us who bear the name Christian on our souls, we know that joy and suffering are not mutually exclusive, but that they often exist together in one’s soul.”

“Through suffering,” he said, “we become more like our Savior. Our suffering configures us to Him who suffered for us and because of us. And for a Christian, this is cause for great joy indeed.”

And through suffering – through coming “face to face with the cross” – we learn “how amazing God’s grace really is,” he added. If we embrace that cross, then God’s grace can sustain us through the pain.

“Pain is not erased by the grace, but the grace is sufficient to help us bear the awful weight of the cross. God’s grace is always sufficient.”

The funeral Mass for Kitson was celebrated by Bishop Peter Jugis and concelebrated by clergy from the Diocese of Charlotte and the Pontifical College Josephinum, where Kitson had been due to return this week.

Included among the clergy were Monsignor Christopher Schreck, the Josephinum’s rector and president; Monsignor Mauricio West, vicar general and chancellor of the diocese,

St.Ann

SueAnn Howell, Catholic News Herald

Michael Kitson’s family said he was most at home serving at Mass, pictured here at St. Ann Catholic Church on Palm Sunday.

Dorice Narins | Catholic News Herald

Monsignor John McSweeney, pastor of St. Matthew Church in Charlotte who gave Kitson his first Holy Communion; Father Christopher Gober, current vocations director; Father John Putnam, pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in Salisbury and judicial vicar; and Father Matthew Buettner, pastor of St. Michael Church in Gastonia and Kitson’s confirmation sponsor.

Surrounding the altar were Kitson’s brother seminarians, the “mighty army of St. Ann’s altar boys,” as Father Reid called them, and women religious from the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration and the Missionaries of Charity, among others.

The number of people present at the Mass, Bishop Jugis noted, was a “sign of several loves that are part of the people of God.” The first is for Jesus Christ our Savior, and the second is for our shared diocesan family, he said. “I also see a great love of the faithful for the seminarians,” because the people of the diocese love the Church and the future of the Church in western North Carolina.

“Please know of our constant prayers and our love for you,” he said to Kitson’s parents, Michael and Nancy, and Kitson’s sisters, Kelly and Courtney.

Then Bishop Jugis read a letter of condolence from Pope Francis’ apostolic nuncio to the United States, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, who is also chancellor of the Josephinum.

As the Kitson family and the clergy processed out of St. Ann Church to the waiting hearse, into which Kitson’s casket was placed, students from St. Ann School stood along Park Road at the church’s entrance, praying the rosary for the peaceful repose of Kitson’s soul. The littlest children waved as the hearse passed by on its way to Kitson’s final resting place at Belmont Abbey cemetery, and everyone who saw it smiled through their tears.

Catholic Church

O Holy St. Jude!

Concert Series

Apostle and Martyr, great in virtue and rich in miracles, near kinsman of Jesus Christ, faithful intercessor for all who invoke your, special patronage in time of need; to you I have recourse from the depth of my heart, and humbly beg you, to whom God has given such great power, come to my assistance.

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In return I promise to make your name known and cause you to be invoked.

St. Jude pray for us who invoke your aid.

(Say 3 Our Fathers, 3 Hail Mary’s, 3 Glory Be)

First Communicants assist at Mass BREVARD — The children who are making their first Holy Communion at Sacred Heart Parish assisted at a recent Mass by serving as lectors, presenting the offertory gifts, and reading the Mass intentions. Each child received a Bible and a rosary to commemorate the occasion.

First Holy Communion SALISBURY — Children made their first Holy Communion at Sacred Heart Parish on May 3-4. Pictured is Paul Harrison receiving the Body of Jesus from pastor Father John Putnam on May 3.

Bill Washington | Catholic News Herald

May 9, 2014 | catholicnewsherald.com

BENEDICTINE: FROM PAGE 7

priesthood,” Abbot Placid said.

Bishop Jugis then inquired about the young monk’s readiness to accept the duties of the priesthood.

“Do you know him to be worthy?”

Bishop Jugis asked.

Abbot Placid then testified that all those responsible found him to be worthy.

“Relying on the help of the Lord God and our Savior Jesus Christ, we choose Elias, our brother, for the order of the priesthood,” Bishop Jugis said.

All those gathered then responded, “Thanks be to God,” and a resounding round of applause went up.

During his homily, Bishop Jugis explained that Father Correa-Torres will share ministerially in the one priesthood of Jesus Christ, the great High Priest.

“Jesus Himself established this priesthood in the Church,” he said. “He chose certain disciples, His Apostles, to carry out the priestly office among the whole people of God, so that through these Apostles, and through their successors the bishops, Jesus might continue to exercise His office of teacher, priest and shepherd in the Church.”

Bishop Jugis then stated that by his ordination to priesthood, Father CorreaTorres’ becomes a co-worker with the order of bishops in service to the people of God and in service to Christ the Teacher, Christ the Priest and Christ the Shepherd to build up the Church.

“Brother Elias will now be configured to Christ the High Priest to preach the Gospel, to shepherd God’s people and to

celebrate the sacred liturgy, especially the Lord’s Sacrifice.”

He encouraged Father Correa-Torres to share the joy of the Gospel as Pope Francis does.

“You must share joyfully the Word of God with others as you teach the faith,” Bishop Jugis encouraged Father CorreaTorres. “The faithful are hungering to know Jesus and to know His love and His truth. By your priestly ministry you will nourish them on Jesus’ teaching and the Church’s teaching, and you will help build up the Church.”

After the homily, Father Correa-Torres lay prostrate on the stone floor of the Abbey basilica as the Litany of the Saints was chanted by all those present. He then arose and knelt before Bishop Jugis while Bishop Jugis laid on hands. All of the priests present then took turns laying on hands, invoking the Holy Spirit upon Father Correa-Torres.

He was then vested in his priestly vestments by Abbot Placid and presented to the bishop for the anointing of hands.

Next he received the paten holding the bread and the chalice containing the wine mixed with water for the celebration of the Mass.

After being embraced by both Bishop Jugis and Abbot Placid, Father CorreaTorres was then embraced by all of his brother priests and Benedictine monks.

At the conclusion of the ordination Mass, Abbot Placid thanked Bishop Jugis, Bishop Emeritus Curlin, all the clergy, the monks and those gathered for the Mass for their support and prayers.

He noted, “St. Benedict says that if the abbot wishes to have one of his monks ordained, he is to choose someone whose life makes him worthy of that. And we have certainly done that today.”

PROPERTIES MANAGER The Diocese of Charlotte is currently accepting applications for the position of “Properties Manager” within the Diocesan Properties & Risk Management Department. This position is primarily responsible for the oversight of diocesan construction projects; the relationships with tenants and property management companies; and for the communication, implementation, and monitoring of risk management policies and procedures, as well as processing and tracking of insurance related claims, in conjunction with diocesan insurance carrier.

Requirements include: • Bachelor’s degree • Minimum of five years related experience • Ability to read and interpret blueprints, submittals, and contracts.

• Knowledge of Federal / State - Building & Safety regulations and codes.

• Knowledge of Insurance concepts, requirements, and procedures.

• Must be process driven and proficient in MS Word, Excel, and Project.

• Ability to work both independently and with a team • Strong written, verbal and inter-personal skills Please send resume and salary history by May 30th 2014 to: Anthony J. Morlando – Diocesan Properties Department Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte 1123 South Church Street Charlotte, NC 28203 Or email to ajmorlando@charlottediocese.org.

The Diocese of Charlotte is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

ANNIVERSARY: FROM PAGE 3

all that you do to further the mission of Christ, which is salvation. This is a vibrant parish, and I’m very proud of what you are doing, to further Christ’s mission,” he concluded.

Our Lady of the Highways’ 60th anniversary Mass and celebration was the result of more than a year’s worth of planning by a half-dozen committees totaling about 100 volunteers, said event chairman Joseph Feliciano, who has been a member of the parish for six years.

At first organizers didn’t know how they were going to accommodate the 600-plus people for the anniversary celebration, as the church itself seats only a couple hundred, Feliciano said. But they threw open all the doors to the church, put out a few hundred folding chairs on the front lawn, and shuttled people down Ball Park Road with traffic control provided by the Thomasville Police Department.

Both English-speaking and Spanishspeaking parishioners came together to put on the event, and “it was a great effort,” he said.

From T-shirts and a new history book, to food and entertainment, to parking and setup, every family of the parish got involved, added Oblates of St. Francis de Sales Father James Turner, who has served as pastor of Our Lady of the Highways Church since 2007.

It was through the presence of sports that the Catholic Church first arrived in Thomasville more than 60 years ago.

Catholic members of the Hi-Toms Ball

OUR PARISHESI

13

Team, a minor league baseball squad, attended the first Mass celebrated in the area in the late 1940s. In the summer months, Father Robert McMillan of Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in High Point celebrated Mass at the Green Funeral Home and the Women’s Club. Masses were later said at a home on College Street.

Increasing numbers of local Catholics soon led to expansion. Twin priests Father Clarence Hill and Father Lawrence Hill designed plans for the church in 1953, and then-Bishop Vincent S. Waters picked the present site. The three-and-one-half-acre location was purchased and the church was built by the 40 parishioners at a cost of more than $50,000. Dubbed Our Lady of the Highways Parish, its first liturgy was a reading of St. John’s Passion of Our Lord on Good Friday, April 16, 1954. Bishop Waters dedicated the church on June 29, 1954.

Our Lady of the Highways Church continued as a mission church until 1970, either under Our Lady of the Rosary Church in Lexington or Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in High Point. In July 1970, the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales assisted Bishop Waters in establishing Our Lady of the Highways as a separate parish.

The parish now has a little more than 500 families, comprised of 21 different nationalities.

“The amazing part of this church is the architecture,” once said Oblates of St. Francis de Sales Father Thomas Fitzpatrick, who was pastor in 2001 when the church underwent an extensive renovation and expansion. “It looks like a Spanish mission, and there wasn’t a Hispanic in sight when the church was built. Now, half our parish is Spanish. It was a prophecy. It’s wonderful.”

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catholicnewsherald.com | May 9, 2014 FROM THE COVER

Religious, political leaders share joy in canonizations of popes n Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Ky., president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops: “The Church’s formal proclamation makes officials what so many of us already believed: that by God’s grace these two beloved leaders of our Church modeled courage, holiness, charity and attentiveness to the call of Jesus. Both of them, in their own unique way, have shown us what Pope Francis has rightly called ‘the joy of the Gospel,’ the joy of knowing and following Jesus Christ. In celebrating and imitating their lives, may we all hear anew the call of Jesus and, with enthusiasm, follow in the footsteps of these two great saints to be ‘full of fervor, joy, generosity, courage, boundless love and attraction.’”

CNS | Paul Haring

Pope Francis celebrates the canonization Mass for Sts. John XXIII and John Paul II in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican April 27.

Pope Francis, with retired pope, canonizes Sts. John and John Paul Francis X. Rocca Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY — Canonizing two recent popes in the presence of his immediate predecessor, Pope Francis praised the new Sts. John XXIII and John Paul II as men of courage and mercy, who responded to challenges of their time by modernizing the Catholic Church in fidelity to its ancient traditions.

“They were priests, bishops and popes of the 20th century,” the pope said April 27, in his homily during Mass in St. Peter’s Square. “They lived through the tragic events of that century, but they were not overwhelmed by them. For them, God was more powerful.”

“John XXIII and John Paul cooperated with the Holy Spirit in renewing and updating the Church in keeping with her original features, those features which the saints have given her throughout the centuries,” he said.

Speaking before a crowd of half a million that included retired Pope Benedict XVI, Pope Francis praised St. John for his best-known accomplishment, calling the Second Vatican Council, which he said “showed an exquisite openness to the Holy Spirit.”

“He let himself be led, and he was for the Church a pastor, a servantleader,” the pope said of St. John. “This was his great service to the Church. I like to think of him as the pope of openness to the Spirit.”

Pope Francis characterized St. John Paul as the “pope of the family,” a title he said the late pope himself had hoped to be remembered by.

Pope Francis said he was sure St. John Paul was guiding the Church on its path to two upcoming synods of bishops on the family, to be held at the Vatican this October and in October 2015.

The pope invoked the help of the two new papal saints for the synods’ success, and he prayed, “May both of them teach us not to be scandalized by the wounds of Christ and to enter ever more deeply into the mystery of divine mercy, which always hopes and always forgives, because it always loves.”

Pope Francis has said the agenda for the family synods will include Church teaching and practice on marriage, areas he has said exemplify a particular need for mercy in the Church today.

The pope repeatedly mentioned mercy in his homily, which he delivered on Divine Mercy Sunday, an observance St. John Paul put on the Church’s universal calendar in 2000. The Polish pope died on the vigil of the feast in 2005 and was beatified on Divine Mercy Sunday in 2011.

In addition to Pope Benedict, making only his third public appearance since he resigned in February 2013, Pope Francis’ concelebrants

included some 150 cardinals and 700 More online bishops.

At www.catholicnewsherald.com: Check Pope Benedict did out more coverage and photos of the not join the procession historic canonizations of two popes of bishops at the start of Mass, but arrived half an hour earlier, wearing white vestments and a bishop’s miter and walking with a cane. Pope Francis greeted his predecessor with an embrace at the start of the Mass, drawing applause from the crowd, and approached him again at the end.

During the canonization ceremony, which took place at the beginning of the Mass, devotees carried up relics of the new saints in matching silver reliquaries, which Pope Francis kissed before they were placed on a small table for veneration by the congregation.

St. John’s relic was a piece of the late pope’s skin, removed when his body was transferred to its present tomb in the main sanctuary of St. Peter’s Basilica.

Floribeth Mora Diaz, a Costa Rican woman whose recovery from a brain aneurysm was recognized by the Church as a miracle attributable to the intercession of St. John Paul, brought up a silver reliquary containing some of the saint’s blood, taken from him for medical testing shortly before his death in 2005.

The Vatican estimated that 800,000 attended the ceremony in Rome.

The 2011 beatification of Pope John Paul drew more than 1 million people, according to Italian police estimates at the time.

The Vatican said 93 countries sent official delegations to the Mass, and more than 30 of the delegations were led by a president or prime minister. Pope Francis spent half an hour personally greeting the delegations following the Mass. He then rode in his popemobile through the square and adjacent avenue, drawing cheers and applause from the crowds, for about 20 minutes.

The canonizations of both popes came after extraordinary measures by their successors to expedite the process. Pope Benedict waived the usual five-year waiting period before the start of a sainthood cause for Pope John Paul shortly after his death, when he was mourned by crowds shouting “Santo subito!” (“A saint at once!”). In the case of St. John, Pope Francis waived the usual requirement of a second miracle before a blessed can added to the Church’s canon of saints.

n Bishop Peter J. Jugis: “On this Divine Mercy Sunday we thank Almighty God for the inspiring examples of holiness in the lives of the two popes who are canonized as saints today: Pope St. John Paul II and Pope St. John XXIII.” n Rabbi David Rosen, international director of interreligious affairs, American Jewish Committee: “We rejoice with our Catholic friends at this unique recognition being given to the two popes who were also the ones most responsible for the dramatic revolution in CatholicJewish relations in our times.

Thanks to the their vision and leadership, the Catholic Church today affirms its unique profound rootedness in Judaism, promotes the closest of respectful relations with the Jewish people and condemns anti-Semitism as a sin. It is no exaggeration to say that in terms of the ChristianJewish relationship, these great men took us from darkness to light, from pain to joy and from alienation to brotherhood.” n President Barack Obama: “The work and witness of both Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II shaped not only the Catholic Church but the world.

Pope John XXIII articulated powerful roles for the Church in the cause of global peace and justice, and by convening the Second Vatican Council he revolutionized not only aspects of worship but the Catholic Church’s relationship with other faith communities.

Pope John Paul II helped inspire the Solidarity movement in Poland, a movement that spread and eventually helped to end communism in Eastern Europe, and he spoke out forcefully against apartheid in South Africa and genocide in Rwanda.

He had a special rapport with young people, drawing many of them to the Church’s work and teachings.”

— Catholic News Service

May 9, 2014 | catholicnewsherald.com FROM THE COVERI

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(Far right) Pope John Paul II embraces then newly-ordained Father Jugis during his ordination Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica on June 12, 1983. He first met the popeturned saint in 1980 (right), when he went to Rome to begin seminary studies at the Pontifical North American College.

(Below) Bishop Jugis meets with Pope John Paul II during his first “ad limina” visit to Rome in 2004.

File | Catholic News Herald

Photo provided by Aleksandra Gonzalez

Cuauhtemoc and Aleksandra Gonzalez received a blessing from Pope John Paul II three days after their wedding in 1985. Also pictured is Aleksandra’s brother, Father Adam Banasik.

Clemmons couple recalls friendship with St. John Paul II Rico De Silva Hispanic Communications Reporter

Bishop Jugis: Thank God for their examples of holiness Catholic News Herald

More online CHARLOTTE — Bishop Peter J. Jugis, who was ordained a priest by now St. John Paul II in Rome in 1983, was all smiles on April 27 when he considered the ceremony that was being held at St. Peter’s Basilica that day for the canonizations of the former pope and Pope John XXIII. “On this Divine Mercy Sunday we thank Almighty God for the inspiring examples of holiness in the lives of the two popes who are canonized as saints today: Pope St. John Paul II and Pope St. John XXIII,” he said at the conclusion of his homily in Thomasville, where he celebrated a Mass in honor of the 60th anniversary of the dedication of Our Lady of the Highways Church.

Bishop Jugis actually first met the pontiff in 1980, when he went to Rome to begin seminary studies at the Pontifical North American College. It was also the first year of John Paul II’s historic pontificate, and it wasn’t the last time that the two men would cross paths.

The pope ordained Father Jugis on June 12, 1983, at St. Peter’s Basilica. Then 20 years later, the pope appointed him the fourth Bishop of Charlotte on Aug. 1, 2003, succeeding Bishop William G. Curlin.

In a 2012 book chronicling John Paul II’s lasting influence on the Church, “Living Miracles: The Spiritual Sons of John Paul the Great” by Randall J. Meissen, Bishop Jugis recalled his memories of the late pontiff – especially the phone call he received from the apostolic nuncio in 2003 about his appointment, when he was the 46-year-old pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Monroe. A year later, at Bishop Jugis’ first “ad limina” visit to Rome in 2004, Pope John Paul II remarked about Bishop

At www.catholicnewsherald.com: Read more and see a video of Bishop Jugis’ homily from the Mass he celebrated at the altar of Pope St. John XXIII.

Jugis’ youthfulness and reminisced, “When I was named bishop, I was 38. I was much younger.”

And then in 2012, during his second “ad limina” visit to Rome as Bishop of Charlotte, a happy coincidence occurred that connected him to both John Paul II and now St. John XXIII. Each day the bishops on the “ad limina” visit celebrated Mass, and on May 8, 2012, it was Bishop Jugis’ turn. He planned to celebrate Mass at John Paul II’s tomb in St. Peter’s Basilica, but as he and his brother bishops processed to that altar, they found it unexpectedly occupied by another priest who was already saying Mass. They kept walking, and instead celebrated that day’s Mass at the altar of – yes, you guessed, it – John XXIII. In his homily that day, Bishop Jugis noted, “As shepherds of our respective dioceses we ask for the grace to ‘never stop preaching and proclaiming the good news of Jesus the Messiah.’ We realize that we have to set the tone in our diocese. We need to be men of prayer, men after the Lord’s own heart, who have an intimate union with Christ, seeking Him with all our heart. We know this is where strength for our ministry comes from.”

In this regard, he said, John Paul II and John XXIII set a good example of holiness for all bishops.

CLEMMONS — Cuauhtémoc and Aleksandra González, parishioners at Holy Family Church in Clemmons, rubbed elbows with Pope St. John Paul II on a daily basis during the 1980s and ’90s.

And as the late pope’s canonization was being celebrated on Divine Mercy Sunday, the couple shared fond memories of the new saint.

“He was like a second father to me,” said Aleksandra, who is Polish. “He was always concerned about my future while I worked and studied at the Vatican.”

Both Cuauhtémoc and Aleksandra worked at the Vatican’s Propaganda Fide, now known as the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, from 1984 to 1992, where they met and married in 1985.

“Before Temoc and I got married, the pope told me, ‘Remember to bring your husband, so I can talk to him,’” Aleksandra remembered, laughing. The newlyweds did speak with the pontiff three days after their wedding. John Paul II gave them a special blessing, and the pope shared some words of wisdom with the young couple.

“Cuauhtémoc and I come from very different cultures (he is from Mexico), so the pope told us to always remain close and to remember that first and foremost, God is the foundation of every home. And to always work hard for our happiness and that of our children,” Aleksandra said.

Two of their three children, Teresa Emilia and Steve, were baptized in Rome during John Paul II’s papacy. “Teresa’s middle name, ‘Emilia,’ was John Paul II’s mother’s name. All our kids have pictures of themselves with the pope, and Teresa was extremely close to him,” Cuauhtémoc said.

Aleksandra promoted a Thanksgiving Prayer Vigil held at St. Leo the Great Church in Winston-Salem on April 26, in honor of the April 27 canonizations of John Paul II and John XXIII. The service included recitation of the rosary, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and veneration of a first-class relic of John Paul II. The relic was entrusted to the Gonzálezs by Father John Hanic, pastor of St. John Baptist de la Salle Church, where it has been kept since it was given to the parish last year, to help foster vocations and family life throughout the Diocese of Charlotte. The relic contains a tiny drop of his blood encased in a gold reliquary.

The blood had been saved when medics drew some for testing while he was in Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, not long before he succumbed to Parkinson’s disease.

“There’s a small Polish community in Winston-Salem, so a few of us in the Polish community asked Father Brian Cook if we could do the vigil at his parish, and he graciously agreed to let us do it there.

And of course, Father Hanic has a big heart and let us borrow the relic,” Aleksandra said.

“We want to unite ourselves tomorrow night with the people that will be in Rome for the canonizations on Sunday,” she said.

“We’re so happy that the pope is going to be canonized this Sunday. Not only because we were close friends with him, but because Pope John Paul II was a holy man and everybody that knew him closely or came in contact with him knows that,” they said.

16

catholicnewsherald.com | May 9, 2014 FROM THE COVER

Celebrating Divine Mercy Sunday

Photo provided by Cindy Giarrusso

LINVILLE — In his homily at Mass on Divine Mercy Sunday, Father Christopher Gober, pastor of St. Bernadette Church in Linville, spoke to parishioners about the importance of the feast day.

“There is no sin too great that our Father cannot forgive,” Father Gober preached. “God continually offers us three things: His Love, His Mercy and His friendship.”

After Mass, parishioners gathered in the parish hall for a luncheon, followed by Eucharistic Adoration and a Eucharistic procession on the church grounds. While processing with the Blessed Sacrament, Father Gober led the faithful to four altars set up representing the four corners of the world and extended a blessing to each corner. As they walked together, they sang hymns in honor and reverence to Our Lord. The celebration then concluded with the recitation of the Divine Mercy Chaplet.

Photos by Vicki Dorsey | Catholic News Herald

SYLVA — Members of St. Mary, Mother of God Church in Sylva also gathered to celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday and the canonizations of Sts. John XXIII and John Paul II. Pictured are Rita Goffinet and Belle Harcourt. Also pictured are Della Bryson and Lacey Dodge praying before the Divine Mercy image on the altar.

HUNTERSVILLE — For Divine Mercy Sunday, parishioners at St. Mark Church watched a movie about St. Faustina, hosted by St. Mark’s Eucharistic Apostles of Divine Mercy group. Afterwards, Father Roger Arnsparger, pastor, led parishioners in the Divine Mercy Chaplet before the Exposed Blessed Sacrament and then offered a reflection about Divine Mercy before Benediction.

Mike FitzGerald | Catholic News Herald

People gather at St. Leo’s to give thanks for two new saints Rico De Silva Hispanic Communications Reporter

WINSTON-SALEM — A small crowd of about 50 faithful gathered at St. Leo the Great Church in Winston-Salem April 26 to participate in a Thanksgiving Prayer Vigil in honor of the canonizations of the new saints Pope John Paul II and Pope John XXIII that took place in Rome the following day.

Father Brian Cook, pastor, led the service that included recitation of the rosary, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and veneration of a first-class relic of Pope St. John Paul II. After the recitation of the luminous mysteries, which alternated decades in both English and Polish, members of the Polish community sang hymns in English, Polish and Spanish in honor of Our Lady and the newlycanonized late popes.

Those gathered, equally representing in number both the Polish and Anglo-American community, and almost entirely St. Leo parishioners, had the opportunity to venerate a relic containing a tiny drop of blood from Pope St. John Paul II. The relic was encased in a gold reliquary. The blood had been saved when medics drew some for testing while he was in Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, not long before he succumbed to Parkinson’s disease.

The relic was given to St. John Baptist de la Salle Parish in North Wilkesboro, where it has been kept since it was given to the parish last year. Father John Hanic, pastor, entrusted the relic to Aleksandra González, a Polish parishioner at Holy Family Church in Clemmons, for its veneration that night.

More online At www.catholicnewsherald.com: See more photos and video highlights from the Thanksgiving Prayer Vigil at St. Leo Church

“We gathered here tonight to unite ourselves with the people that will be in Rome for the canonizations tomorrow (Sunday),” González said after the service.

“The devotion of the Polish community here in Winston-Salem is a beautiful

reminder of the universality of the Church on a local level,” Father Cook noted.

The event was organized by Elzbieta Kubak and Ola Furmanek, members of the Polish community in the area and both St. Leo parishioners.

Long-time St. Leo parishioner Jack Stack called the late pontiff “the pope of my life.”

Stack reminisced, “I remember when he became pope. I remember when he died…

Now my pope is going to be a saint.”

May 9, 2014 | catholicnewsherald.com FROM THE COVERI

Celebrating Divine Mercy Sunday More online At www.catholicnewsherald.com: See more photos from Divine Mercy Sunday observances around the Diocese of Charlotte

Parishioners of St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Charlotte, including Cintia Yasmin Rios Alonso, gathered to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet on Divine Mercy Sunday. See more pictures from Divine Mercy Sunday at St. Thomas Aquinas Church on the Catholic News Herald’s Spanish Facebook page at www. facebook.com/CNHespanol.

Rico De Silva | Catholic News Herald

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catholicnewsherald.com | May 9, 2014 18

Nuestra Señora de los Caminos en Thomasville celebra 60 aniversario Patricia L. Guilfoyle Editor

THOMASVILLE — En una colina viendo hacia una carretera, lo cual fue la inspiración para el nombre de la parroquia, los fieles de Nuestra Señora de los Caminos se reunieron el domingo 27 de Abril para alabar y dar gracias a Dios – de la misma manera que han hecho cada domingo desde 1954.

Muchísimas personas fueron a la Misa del 60 aniversario de la parroquia el 27 de Abril. Es más, fueron tantas personas, que la iglesia no fue lo suficientemente grande para que cupieran todas las personas que fueron a la celebración. Cientos más de sillas se tuvieron que poner en la hierba frente a la entrada de la parroquia. La sombra de los árboles y la briza leve refrescó a esos participantes bajo un brillante día de Abril.

“Venimos hoy en la presencia de Dios Todopoderoso con corazones contentos para darle gracias por esta parroquia, Nuestra Señora de los Caminos, en este 60 aniversario,” dijo el Obispo Peter J. Jugis en su homilía bilingüe durante la Misa de aniversario, la cual fue celebrada en inglés y español.

Una iglesia es un lugar único y sagrado consagrado exclusivamente para la celebración de la Santa Misa, explicó el Obispo Jugis. “La iglesia es importante porque la Misa es importante. ¿A dónde irían sin la Eucaristía – el Cuerpo y Sangre, Alma y Divinidad de Jesucristo?”

La adoración a Dios en la Misa es la primera y más importante acción que realizamos como una familia parroquial, dijo Jugis. La Eucaristía y los otros sacramentos nos dan fortaleza a cada uno de nosotros en nuestro camino espiritual, nos santifican y nos permiten el crecimiento espiritual hacia la santidad.

Todo lo demás que hace la comunidad parroquial fluye de eso.

“Es un camino de toda la vida, el de ser transformado día tras día, para convertirnos más como Jesús,” dijo el Obispo. “Tenemos que estar convertidos constantemente en Cristo. Eso ocurre en este lugar con la celebración de la Misa.”

La iglesia también tiene un gran significado como una “presencia física de la Iglesia Católica aquí en Thomasville, aquí en esta autopista de tanta prominencia. Y eso es importante, para la gente de esta comunidad el de ver dónde está la Iglesia Católica,” dijo él.

La parroquia y sus miembros comparten la misión cristiana de ayudar a transformar la sociedad, “de llevar a Cristo al mundo,” recalcó Jugis. “Estamos supuestos a salir al mundo y llevar a Cristo a los demás,” y “no quedarnos encerrados en esta iglesia.”

Debemos ser Jesús para nuestros vecinos que no van a la iglesia, o que no creen en Dios continuó el Obispo. Eso quiere decir

Joseph Feliciano, coordinador a cargo de la planeación de los eventos del aniversario, durante la señal de la Paz con otros miembros de la parroquia durante la Misa.

Más por la internet At www.catholicnewsherald.com: Vean más fotos del 60 aniversario, y de la Misa en Nuestra Sra. de los Caminos

Fotos Patricia L. Guilfoyle | Catholic News Herald

(Arriba) Cientos de fieles asistieron a la MIsa del 60 aniversario de la Parroquia de Nuestra Señora de los Caminos en Thomasville el 27 de Abril – tantos asistieron, que se tuvieron que poner sillas extras afuera de la entrada de la iglesia para acomodar a todos los que asistieron a esta ocasión especial.

(Abajo) El Obsipo Peter Jugis acepta las ofrendas de una joven miembro de la parroquia Gireani Alvarez, 4, y del resto de los miembros de la familia Álvarez (José, Nohemí, Giselle and Genelle). que nuestras vidas deben dar un ejemplo, deben demostrar nuestra fe cristiana con nuestras acciones, como la de santificar la fiesta del domingo.

También ser como Jesús para aquellos que no reconocen el valor intrínseco de toda vida humana desde la concepción hasta la muerte natural, y para aquellos que están confundidos acerca de la institución del matrimonio como la unión entre un hombre y una mujer, dijo Jugis también.

“Necesitamos llevar a Cristo y su Verdad, y sus enseñanzas a la calle para

transformar la sociedad a través de nuestro testimonio cristiano, por medio de nuestro amor, y llevando el Evangelio. Tenemos una misión como discípulos de Jesús, cada uno de nosotros, de llevar la verdad de Jesús y su amor a nuestra sociedad,” dijo él.

El Obispo Jugis concluyó, “Estoy muy agradecido por toda la labor de todos los miembros de la Parroquia de Nuestra Señora de los Caminos, todo lo que Uds. han hecho para avanzar la misión de Cristo, la cual es la salvación. Esta es una parroquia vibrante, y estoy muy orgulloso

de todo lo que han hecho y continúan haciendo aquí para avanzar más la misión de Cristo.”

La Misa y la celebración del 60 aniversario de Nuestra Sra. de los Caminos fue el resultado de más de un año de planeamiento por seis comités con un total de 100 voluntarios, dijo el coordinador del evento, Joseph Feliciano, quien ha sido miembro de la parroquia por seis años.

Feliciano dijo que originalmente ellos no sabían cómo iban a acomodar a las más de 600 personas para la celebración del aniversario porque la iglesia solo tiene capacidad para unas 200 personas. Pero decidieron abrir las puertas de la Iglesia y pusieron unos cientos de sillas portables en el patio de la entrada de la iglesia, y llevaron a las personas en un ‘shuttle’ desde la calle Ball Park Road, y la Policía de Thomasville proporcionó el control del tráfico de automóviles durante la celebración.

Miembros, tanto de la comunidad Anglo y Latina de la parroquia, unieron fuerzas para organizar el evento, “fue un gran esfuerzo,” dijo Feliciano.

Desde camisetas, un nuevo libro de la historia de la parroquia, comida, entretenimiento, estacionamiento, etc., toda familia de la parroquia participó en la organización del evento, dijo el Padre de los Oblatos de San Francisco de Sales, James Turner, quien ha sido el Párroco de Nuestra Sra. de los Caminos desde el 2007.

— Artículo traducido por Rico De Silva

May 9, 2014 | catholicnewsherald.com catholic news heraldI

P. Gabriel Carvajal-Salazar

19

La Virgen María y las Sagradas Escrituras

El mes de Mayo es el mes que la Iglesia Católica dedica como el Mes de la Virgen María para honrar a María como la Madre de Dios; la Madre de Nuestro Salvador Jesucristo. Es importante que todos nosotros sepamos cómo defender el papel que María jugó en la Historia de la Salvación como la Madre de Jesús, y el papel que ella juega en el día de hoy como la Madre de la Iglesia, y la Madre de todos nosotros los cristianos.

Hoy en día hay personas que minimizan el papel de la Virgen María. Sin embargo, como católicos, todos nosotros debemos saber las respuestas a las siguientes preguntas: De acuerdo a la Biblia, ¿Hay que respetar a María, la madre de Jesús, o hay que despreciarla?

Según la Biblia, hay que respetar y honrar a María, la Madre de Jesús, y no hay que despreciarla.

“Alégrate, llena de gracia, el Señor está contigo,” (Lucas 1: 28).

“Al oír Isabel su saludo, el niño dio saltos en su vientre. Isabel se llenó del Espíritu Santo y exclamó en alta voz: Bendita eres entre todas las mujeres y bendito el fruto de tu vientre. ¿Cómo he merecido yo que venga a mí la madre de mi Señor? Apenas llegó tu saludo a mis oídos, el niño saltó de alegría en mis entrañas. ¡Dichosa por haber creído que de cualquier manera se cumplirán las promesas del Señor!” (Lucas 1: 41-45).

“De hoy en adelante todas las generaciones me llamarán bienaventurada,” (Lucas 1:48). ¿Por qué Jesús no le hizo caso a María en las Bodas de Caná?

Jesús respondió: “Mujer, ¿cómo se te ocurre? Todavía

no ha llegado mi hora,” (Juan 2: 4).

Esta expresión no indica desprecio, sino familiaridad y confianza mutua. De hecho, Jesús hizo caso a su madre y realizó el milagro. Además, cabe destacar que el milagro de las Bodas de Caná fue el primer milagro que realizó Nuestro Señor Jesucristo, y el principio de su ministerio mesiánico. ¿Dónde dice en la Biblia que María es nuestra intercesora?

En las Bodas de Caná. Ahí vemos claramente cómo Jesús no pensaba hacer el milagro. Si después lo hizo, fue precisamente por la intercesión de María, su Madre, y fue a petición de María que el Señor actuó de esa manera. También recordemos que decimos en la segunda parte del Ave María, “ruega por nosotros pecadores ahora y en la hora de nuestra muerte, amén,” pidiendo siempre la poderosa e infalible intercesión de la Virgen María ante la misericordia infinita de Dios. ¿Por qué María es nuestra Madre?

María es nuestra Madre, porque es la Madre de Jesús, nuestro Hermano Mayor.

“Jesús, al ver a la madre y junto a ella a su discípulo más querido, dijo a la Madre: Mujer, ahí tienes a tu hijo. Después dijo al discípulo: ahí tienes a tu madre.

Desde ese momento el discípulo se la llevó a su casa,” (Juan 19: 26-27).

Tomado del libro, “La Respuesta está en las Escrituras,” página 85, Apóstoles de La Palabra.

El Padre Gabriel Carvajal-Salazar es el Vicario Parroquial de la Parroquia de St. Aloysius en Hickory.

“La Anunciación” por Pierre Auguste Pichon

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Our schools 20

catholicnewsherald.com | May 9, 2014 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

Principal O’Herron releases another Egg Drop project with a parachute; one of the projects that survived the fall unscathed; students react to the sights and sounds of the Egg Drop.

Photos by sueann howell | catholic news herald

St. Matthew Elementary School principal Kevin O’Herron (at right, on rooftop) watches one of 90 Egg Drop projects descend to the tarp below during the second annual Egg Drop at the school on May 1.

Egg Drop a smashing success at St. Matthew School SueAnn Howell Senior reporter

CHARLOTTE — All eyes were raised to the sky the morning of May 1 at St. Matthew Elementary School in south Charlotte.

It was the day of the second-annual Egg Drop, and the students were watching with delight as Principal Kevin O’Herron hoisted specially designed “Egg Drop” projects off the school gymnasium roof – more than 40 feet above a tarp stretched out below.

The students, kindergartners through fifth-graders, used ingenuity and tested their science and deduction skills to build vehicles that would protect a raw egg during its gravity-induced journey to the ground.

This year’s theme for the Egg Drop projects was “He is Risen.” Some students opted to decorate their egg “parachutes” and containers in an Easter theme. Some students colored pictures of Jesus, added crosses and fish symbols and used bright, Easter colors on their containers.

Some of their Egg Drop projects floated to safety thanks to well-designed parachutes, while others made a huge “splat” on the ground. The crazier the landing, the more the children, parents and staff roared with laughter.

O’Herron tossed a total 90 Egg Drop projects from the gym roof. Eighty-one percent of the projects “survived.”

“I think it’s exciting to see these kids use their problemsolving skills and their engineering skills to come up with these fun ‘Egg Drop Protection Devices.’ It’s a good time for families, too, because they are coming together to work on the projects,” he said.

Michelle Kuhn is the Learning Enriched Activities Program teacher at St. Matthew School. She has taught there for the past 11 years and helped organize the Egg Drops.

“The children learned a lot about engineering principles and physics and gravity principles,” Kuhn said. “Hopefully, they had fun doing it.”

Nathan Zelenz, 9, is a third-grader at St. Matthew School.

“It was kind of fun making the project and having to make something,” he said. His project was a plastic container with a parachute.

“I think it survived,” Zelenz said, smiling.

“I did it last year and I hope we do it again next year,” said Kara Bivens. The third-grader learned that “you don’t use bread for an Egg Drop Project,” and stated wisely, “It probably won’t survive.”

Biven’s mom Diane used to be an assistant teacher at the school before Kara was born.

More online At www.catholicnewsherald.com: See video highlights and more photos from St. Matthew Elementary School’s Egg Drop

“She (Kara) did hers with bread. She carved out a center of a loaf of bread, put the egg in and packed bread on top of it. I don’t know if it cracked, but we’ll go back inside and unpack them and see if it survived.”

Bivens said she believes her daughter and the other children learned ingenuity, creativity and how to think outside the box.

Kindergartner Lily McGuire was participating in the Egg Drop for the first time. She selected materials that were bright pink – her favorite color – and used a clear parachute to soften the landing for her egg.

“First we made it and then we tested it over my balcony, and so it did work,” McGuire said. “But once it did crack when my dad was trying to put one of the eggs in,” she admitted with a grin.

May 9, 2014 | catholicnewsherald.com catholic news heraldI

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Charlotte Catholic High School names Mike Brodowicz new football coach Rico De Silva Catholic News Herald

CHARLOTTE — Charlotte Catholic High School has named Michael Brodowicz, formerly a defensive assistant coach, the new head coach of the school’s football team.

Kevin Christmas, Charlotte Catholic’s athletic director, made the announcement May 2.

Brodowicz, a parishioner of St. Matthew Church, is a physical education and health teacher at Charlotte Catholic High School. He has been chosen to continue the school’s long-standing football legacy left by Coach Jim Oddo, who recently announced his retirement after 40 years of service to the school and the Diocese of Charlotte.

Brodowicz expressed great joy at the announcement and is looking forward to the new football season.

“I waited a long time to be a head coach, and ever since I started working here 10 years ago, I knew this would be the perfect job to be a head football coach... It’s like a dream come true to me, so I’m very excited about it,” Brodowicz said.

Christmas said Brodowicz will be a perfect fit for his new role leading the Cougars, and said the deciding factor was, “We feel like he (Brodowicz) is going to continue the tradition. He knows the culture here at Charlotte Catholic.

That’s something that he is going to be able to just keep up.”

Brodowicz has been with Charlotte Catholic since 2002 and has been a member of a staff that won two state championships, three state runner-­up titles and three state semi-­finalist titles. Most recently, Brodowicz has shared the defensive coordinator post with Charlotte Catholic coach Bob Sherman.

Brodowicz began his extensive coaching career as a graduate assistant in charge of receivers and quarterbacks at Elon College.

Rico De Silva| Catholic News Herald

Charlotte Catholic High School’s new head football coach, Mike Brodowicz, talks with the Catholic News Herald on the morning of the announcement of his new post.

More online At www.catholicnewsherald.com: See an exclusive video interview with Charlotte Catholic High School’s new football coach

Coach Brodowicz then went to Eastern Alamance High School, where he coached the defensive line and served as the junior varsity defensive coordinator. In 1993,

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Brodowicz returned to Elon to coach the defensive line.

Two years later, he was elevated to recruiting coordinator and running backs coach. He was also the head track coach.

Coach Brodowicz left Elon to become the defensive coordinator at Providence Day High School. He was the head junior varsity football coach at Providence Day from 1999 to ­2001.

Brodowicz has some big shoes to fill. Oddo’s winning tradition spanned more than 40 years, and Brodowicz’s predecessor was a staple of Charlotte Catholic football and has achieved living-legend status in the eyes of many local high school football fans.

Oddo, 78, announced his retirement Feb. 25. Under Oddo, Charlotte Catholic football was 358-145-2, with three state championships (1977, 2004 and 2005). From 2004 to 2005, Oddo’s teams went undefeated, 32-0.

“I think he’ll be able to blend in his new fresh ideas with the tradition that has already been set,” Christmas said.

Brodowicz said Coach Oddo’s legacy is something that will never be duplicated.

“Nobody is going to fill those shoes. He’s a legend. He is a legend in North Carolina. That’s an impossible thing to do at this school.

“I was fortunate that I got to coach with him (Oddo) for the last 10 years. To walk on out on his field, which is named after him, is first of all a great honor. It’s big shoes, but I’m going to be who I am, and coach who I am. That’s all I can do.”

With the players and the coaching staff, and the community that is in place at this school, Brodowicz said he found out real quickly what Coach Oddo has taught: “You are not alone here. You know one man can’t do it.”

“I’ve been blessed to have this opportunity to hopefully carry on what he has so firmly established at Charlotte Catholic,” he said.

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catholicnewsherald.com | May 9, 2014 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

For the latest news 24/7: catholicnewsherald.com

In Brief

Photo provided by Karen L. Hornfeck

Helping out Backpack Beginnings GREENSBORO — Our Lady of Grace School students recently worked together on making fleece blankets for the Backpack Beginnings program. Twice a month, Big Buddies (students in fifth through eighth grade) visit classrooms of their Little Buddies (students in pre-kindergarten through fourth grade) and work on projects together to benefit the larger community. In April, students worked hard to make blankets for Backpack Beginnings, an organization that provides school supplies and more to needy children.

time, he again was honored by the NCATA and received the 2005 NCATA Athletic Trainer of the Year for Secondary Schools, making him the first two time-winner ever – and still the only athletic trainer to have won the ATOY in two different categories.

He now lives in Charlotte, where he works at Carolinas Medical Center-Northeast in the sports medicine/special events department.

Scott Barringer, president of the N.C. Athletic Trainers’ Association, has known Bazluki for 20-plus years as an athletic trainer. Barringer said, “He has a passion for providing the highest quality health care to all the athletes he encounters. His commitment to serving the athletic training profession in the state is unsurpassed. This is shown by the various leadership roles he has held in the North Carolina Athletic Trainers’ Association.

Jim is definitely a role model for the young professionals entering into athletic training profession.”

Pictured are Jim Bazluki (left) and Scott Barringer (right).

— Marjorie Bazluki

CCDOC.ORG Charlotte Catholic grad wins N.C. Athletic Trainer Award

Discover Natural Family Planning Modern Natural Family Planning (NFP) provides a practical and empowering alternative used to achieve or avoid pregnancy. It upholds the dignity of the person within the context of marriage and family and promotes openness to life by respecting the love-giving and life-giving natures of marriage.

CHARLOTTE — Jim Bazluki, a graduate of Charlotte Catholic High School, has been inducted to the North Carolina Athletic Trainers’ Association Hall of Fame. Bazluki is not only the 21st overall inductee but the youngest ever to win this award.

Bazluki started his career accompanying his father, Coach Greg Bazluki Sr., to football practices and games at Charlotte Catholic High School.

After graduating from Charlotte Catholic, he attended East Carolina University, who had one of the premiere athletic training programs in the country. While earning his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from ECU and eventually becoming a certified athletic trainer for the Pirates, he continued to refine his skills and began teaching the next generation of athletic trainers. During 16 years spent at East Carolina University, he was presented with the 1997 NCATA College/University Athletic Trainer of the Year award.

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May 17 – St. Matthew Catholic Church, Charlotte June 21 – St. Matthew Catholic Church, Charlotte July 12 – St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church, Waynesville July 26 – St. Aloysius Catholic Church, Hickory For more information visit our website or contact Batrice Adcock, MSN at 704.370.3230 or bnadcock@charlottediocese.org.

Bishop McGuinness Model UN earns awards KERNERSVILLE — The Bishop McGuinness Model United Nations team ended its 10th season in fine form starting with a “Best High School Team” win at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. Award winners included: Honorable mention: Alex Strasser, KT Watterson and Rebecca Lassiter. Outstanding Delegate: Bobby Mason and Caleb Carmichael and Best Delegate: Tanner Owen. The team then went on to a successful competition sponsored by The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. More than half of the team won individual awards including Honorable Mention: Derek Wright, Brendan Malone, Tommy Boyers, Davis Temple and Harrison Dearmin. Best Position Paper: Joseph Spillane and Logan Smith. Outstanding Delegate: Bobby Mason, Rebecca Lassiter, Matt Basel and Tanner Owen.

Best Delegate: Casey Martin, Kable Young and KT Watterson. The team enjoys a strong reputation and continues to maintain a high ranking position in the National Forensic League Carolina West Division, finishing third in the point standings.

— Jeff Stoller

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May 9, 2014 | catholicnewsherald.com catholic news heraldI

IN BRIEF:

their ancestors. The journey began with a stop at Ellis Island where students were interviewed, went through a medical check, had their bags checked, and some were even deported. The day culminated with an “Exchange of Cultures” luncheon where families shared authentic recipes from their homelands. Pictured are students waiting in line to be checked during the third-grade Ellis Island immigration simulation.

— Jessica DeMartine

FROM PAGE 22

Eighth-graders learn about public speaking GASTONIA — The eighth-grade class of St. Michael School in Gastonia recently completed a six-week session on Youth Leadership and Public Speaking. All the students prepared and delivered a speech about themselves. They also learned how to be prepared for spontaneous talks such as interview questions or making conversation with individuals at events. The school has offered these sessions over the past five years with the assistance of Gastonia Toastmaster Club members. Pictured are the eighth-grade students and their teacher Gregory Davidowitz.

— Reine Smirz and Pat Burr

Students run in Color 5K GREENSBORO — Several Our Lady of Grace Catholic School eighth-graders competed in the recent Color 5K Run in Greensboro. Pictured are Angelina Bassi, Ali Southard, Skyler Ahmuty and Madeline Kern.

— Karen Hornfeck

St. Matthew students learn about immigration CHARLOTTE — Third-grade students at St. Matthew School recently participated in an immigration day. Students researched their family heritage and assumed the role of one of

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23

Celebrate Spring

Join us for the 28th Annual Spring Fling Catholic Charities invites senior adults from across the diocese to join us for fun and fellowship at the 28th Annual Spring Fling days in Charlotte. Come reconnect with friends, while meeting new ones, in a daylong experience where you can learn about health information that could transform your life. Build upon your faith, while enjoying exciting activities and performances, creating wonderful memories and friendships.

Tuesday, May 20 - St. Matthew Catholic Church 8015 Ballantyne Commons Pkwy, Charlotte, NC 28277 Visit ccdoc.org for a complete schedule of events and registration forms.

For more information contact Sandra Breakfield at: 704.370.3220 or email sabreakfield@charlottediocese.org.

Mix 24

catholicnewsherald.com | May 9, 2014 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

For the latest news 24/7: catholicnewsherald.com

On TV n Sunday, May 11, noon-3 p.m.

(EWTN) “Mass, Procession & Divine Mercy Chaplet in Thanksgiving for the Canonizations of Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II.” Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl of Washington, D.C., is scheduled to serve as the principal celebrant and homilist at this liturgy, broadcast live from Washington’s Basilica of the National Shrine of Immaculate Conception.

In Brief

n Monday, May 12, 4:30-6 p.m. (EWTN) “Our Lady of Fatima: International Rosary and Candlelight Procession.”

Groups throughout the world participate in an international rosary recitation and a candlelight procession with the statue of Our Lady of Fatima.

‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2’ Overstuffed but diverting 3-D comic-book sequel in which the title character, aka average teen Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield), grapples with the conflict between his superhero mission and his desire to safeguard his girlfriend (Emma Stone), tries to solve the mystery of his parents’ long-ago disappearance and battles a succession of villains (most prominently Jamie Foxx). He also has a fraught reunion with his best friend from childhood (Dane DeHaan) who’s afflicted with a fatal hereditary disease. Giddy special effects and a lively pace help disguise the fact that director Marc Webb’s follow-up to his 2012 reboot covers enough material for at least a movie and a half. Much action violence, including torture.

CNS: A-II (adults and adolescents); MPAA: PG-13

‘The Quiet Ones’ Old-fashioned, reasonably satisfying chiller, set in 1974 England, in which an Oxford don (Jared Harris) hires a young amateur filmmaker (Sam Claflin) to document the experimental treatment he and two of his students (Erin Richards and Rory Fleck-Byrne) are carrying out on a mental patient (Olivia Cooke) who shows symptoms of demonic possession.

Though the rationalist professor is out to prove that science can explain, and cure, his subject’s condition, a series of unnerving experiences causes those around him to have their doubts.

Writer-director John Pogue avoids an excess of gore. But Satanism plays a prominent role in his script, while faith is also dealt with, at least peripherally, in a way that might confuse youngsters. Occult themes, intermittent violence, some of it bloody, a casually physical relationship, flashes of nudity, some profanity.

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

‘Brick Mansions’ Combat, albeit of a stylized kind, is the whole point of this action picture in which a dedicated undercover police officer (Paul Walker) and an anti-narcotics vigilante (David Belle) team to bring down the drug lord (rapper RZA) who rules the dilapidated Detroit housing project of the title. As bullets fly and cars race in director Camille Delamarre’s adaptation of the 2004 French-language film “Banlieue 13,” a wildly unrealistic plotline has the Motor City’s ruling class scheming to use apocalyptic means to gentrify the slum. Pervasive and sometimes brutal action violence, threat of rape, frequent crude language and a couple of obscene MOVIES, SEE page 25

n Tuesday, May 13, 5-8 a.m.

(EWTN) “Holy Mass in Honor of Our Lady Of Fatima.” From the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal, this liturgy marks the anniversary of Mary’s first apparition to the shepherd children. The Mass will re-air 11 a.m.-2 p.m.

Photo provided by Walking the Camino

Pilgrims walk the Camino in Spain in this still from “Walking the Camino: Six Ways to Santiago,” which will be shown in Asheville at Carolina Cinemas starting this weekend. The film will be shown in Charlotte on June 3.

Documentary ‘Walking the Camino’ coming to Asheville theater May 9 ASHEVILLE — For many Catholics, taking the 500-mile journey through Spain along the Camino de Santiago is an ambition.

This weekend the pilgrimage is coming to Asheville and Charlotte through a special screening of the award-winning documentary “Walking the Camino: Six Ways to Santiago.”

“Walking the Camino” follows six pilgrims from different walks of life – as young as 3 and as old as 73 – as they cross Spain on the ancient Catholic pilgrimage. Walking alongside the pilgrims, the audience gets to experience the pilgrims’ spiritual growth, physical pain and joy.

For centuries, the 1,200-year-old Catholic pilgrimage has attracted several hundreds of thousands of walkers yearly and ends in the city of Santiago de Compostela where the bones of Apostle St. James are said to be buried.

The documentary provides Catholics of all ages with a wonderful opportunity to learn more about this important part of Catholic history and faith.

Director and producer Lydia B. Smith will be in attendance at The Carolina Asheville Theater Friday, May 9, and Saturday, May 10, for a question-and-answer session after the screening about the film and her experiences on the Camino.

Smith first walked the trail in 2008 after a broken wedding engagement and created the film to share the magic of the pilgrimage she calls “a Catholic gift to the world.”

Chris Slater, who is a coordinator for the Western North Carolina Chapter of the national organization American Pilgrims on the Camino, said he saw the film last month.

“I was struck by its refreshing authenticity

More online At www.catholicnewsherald.com: View the movie trailer At www.carolinacinemas.com/Asheville: Find movie times and buy tickets At www.caminodocumentary.org and www.americanpilgrims.com: Learn more about the Camino

and the balance achieved by having real pilgrims, not just actors,” said Slater, who is a parishioner at St. Lawrence Basilica in Asheville.

He calls his first camino nearly a decade ago a “life changer,” and he has been going back as a pilgrim or as a volunteer warden in pilgrim hostels most years since.

“The simplicity, comradeship and togetherness in what can be difficult times are mind-opening, particularly when the sharing is with pilgrims from all over the world,” he said.

The 90-minute film runs at The Carolina Asheville, 1640 Hendersonville Road, through May 15. Tickets cost $10 each for adults ($7.50 matinee) and $7 each for children.

There will also be a special screening of the film in Charlotte on June 3 at 7:30 p.m. at the Visulite Theatre.

The filmmakers plan to have a DVD of the film available to the public by this fall. They also are raising $85,000 to get the film aired on PBS in the next few years.

— Kimberly Bender, online reporter

n Saturday, May 17, 8 p.m. (EWTN) “The Way of Life.” God calls men to follow Him in mysterious ways. The story of a young man who travels the road of Saint James and his zeal to learn about religious life. n Saturday, May 17, 9 p.m. (EWTN) “El Camino – The Way of Saint James.” Young American men between the ages of 17-22 make a pilgrimage on the historic route in Spain known as the Way of St. James. The men explain their decision in taking part and the crosses they bear along the way. n Monday, May 19, 2:30 p.m.

(EWTN) “Super Saints: St. Bernardine of Siena.” Bob and Penny Lord present the life of St. Bernardine of Siena, “the Apostle of Italy,” and how he was said to have a mouth on fire with the Word of God. n Monday, May 19, 10 p.m. (PBS) “God Loves Uganda.” Filmmaker Roger Ross Williams’ documentary explores how religion and African culture intersect in Uganda. n Wednesday, May 21, 5:30 p.m.

(EWTN) “Super Saints: St. Rita of Cascia.” Bob and Penny Lord walk in the footsteps of St. Rita of Cascia, from her birthplace in Roccaporena to Cascia where she lived. n Thursday, May 22, 3:49 p.m. (EWTN) “Litany of the Precious Blood.” The Franciscan Missionaries of the Eternal Word recite this beautiful prayer in honor of the Precious Blood of Jesus shed for our salvation.

May 9, 2014 | catholicnewsherald.com catholic news heraldI

MOVIES:

violence and gore, a brief nongraphic marital bedroom scene, a couple of uses of profanity and of crass language.

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

FROM PAGE 24

gestures.

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

‘Transcendence’ Fatally wounded in an assassination bid by a band of anti-technology extremists (led

by Kate Mara), a dying expert on artificial intelligence (Johnny Depp) uploads his entire consciousness to a super-computer with the aid his wife (Rebecca Hall) and best friend (Paul Bettany). His subsequent acquisition of all the factual knowledge on the Internet, however, leaves the physically deceased but intellectually flourishing scientist veering between benevolence and megalomania. With society’s future at stake, a leading researcher (Morgan Freeman) teams with an FBI agent (Cillian Murphy) to try to stop the hyperpowerful hybrid. Philosophical confusion reigns in director Wally Pfister’s meandering sci-fi drama, beginning with the implicit idea that all human mental functions are purely physical and ending with virtual reality somehow permeating the world of nature. Mature viewers, however, are likely to be too bored to be much misled.

Complex themes, including atheism, some

‘Neighbors’ This smutty comedy charts the escalating conflict between a thirtysomething married couple (Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne) and the fraternity chapter (led by Zac Efron and Dave Franco) that has taken up residence in the house next door after the suburbanites break a promise to Efron’s character by turning to the police to quell the brothers’ noisy partying.

Hazing, narcotics and casual hook-ups are all ill-advisedly mined for laughs in director Nicholas Stoller’s celebration of collegiate irresponsibility. Some harsh nonlethal violence, strong sexual content, including graphic marital and nonmarital activity, full nudity and samesex kissing, a benign view of drug use, pervasive sexual and occasional scatological humor, a handful of profanities, continuous rough and crude language.

CNS: O (morally offensive); MPAA: R

Additional reviews: n ‘A Haunted House’: CNS: O (morally offensive); MPAA: R n ‘The Other Woman’: CNS: L (limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling; MPAA: PG-13

Let’s keep talking.

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

Consider a career with the Diocese of Charlotte.

The Diocese of Charlotte is accepting applications for the position of full-time General Ledger Accountant. Responsibilities include journal entries, month-end closing, financial statement preparation, bank reconciliations, stock gift processing, monitoring investments, and other accounting related duties. This position works closely with the Senior Accountant for the Central Administration of the Diocese.

Requirements include: • Degree in Accounting (Bachelor’s degree preferred) • At least three years’ experience in accounting, preferably with a not-for-profit organization.

• Excellent computer skills – specifically with Microsoft Excel.

• Experience with Blackbaud software a plus.

Please send resume and salary history by May 16, 2014 to: Mason Beaumont, Controller Diocese of Charlotte 1123 South Church Street Charlotte, NC 28203 Or email to mtbeaumont@charlottediocese.org.

The Diocese of Charlotte is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

CCDOC.ORG

FINANCE MANAGER – ST MARK CATHOLIC CHURCH St. Mark Catholic Church is accepting applications for the position of full-time Finance Manager. Responsibilities include supervision of accounting and payroll functions, budget preparation, monthly, semi-annual and annual financial reporting, participation in monthly finance council meetings, and other accounting related duties, as needed. This position reports directly to the Director of Operations.

Requirements include:

Regional Office Director Catholic Charities is seeking a Regional Office Director based out of Asheville, NC who is a highly energetic professional with a forward vision and who is passionate about the Church’s social mission to strategically lead our services in western North Carolina. The successful candidate will possess strong development and communication skills, including the ability to organize fundraisers, cultivate relationships with donors, and partner with parishes to carry out the Church’s charitable work. Graduate degree, at least three years of experience, or a combination of education and experience is required.

Cover letter and resume must be submitted electronically by 5 p.m. on Monday, May 19 to sbluc@charlottediocese.org.

No telephone calls, please.

For a complete job description visit ccdoc.org/jobs.

• A working knowledge and understanding of Catholic teachings, practices and organizational structure to facilitate working for the mission of the Church.

• Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting • At least five years experience in accounting, preferably with a not-for-profit organization.

• At least three years’ experience in a supervisory role.

• Excellent computer skills – specifically with Microsoft Excel and accounting software.

Please send resume and salary history by May 18, 2014 to: Mr. Barry McCaa, Director of Operations St. Mark Catholic Church 14740 Stumptown Rd Huntersville, NC 28078 Or email to barry.mccaa@stmarknc.org St. Mark Catholic Church is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

25

Our nation 26

catholicnewsherald.com | May 9, 2014 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

Bishops to hear reports on marriage, family, sex abuse at June meeting Carol Zimmermann Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. bishops, meeting in New Orleans June 11-13, will discuss today’s economy and its impact on marriages and evangelization.

They will also review their efforts in preventing sexual abuse of children, strengthening marriage, helping typhoon victims and preparing for upcoming church-sponsored events on family life.

The bishops will hear presentations on “Marriage and the Economy” and “the New Evangelization and Poverty” on the second day of their gathering before they close for executive sessions.

The first day will be filled with reports on upcoming events, including presentations on the Oct. 5-19 extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the family and the World Meeting of Families, set for Sept.

22-27, 2015, in Philadelphia. The synod at the Vatican this October will bring together presidents of bishops’ conferences, the heads of Eastern Catholic churches and the heads of Vatican offices to discuss “pastoral challenges to the family in the context of evangelization.” Pope Francis has said the synod will take up the subject of Church teaching and practice on marriage, including the eligibility of divorced and civilly married Catholics to receive Communion.

The bishops will hear a presentation by Philadelphia Archbishop Charles J. Chaput and Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family, on the World Meeting of Families taking place in Philadelphia next September.

The bishops will also hear a report from Catholic Relief Services regarding relief efforts in the Philippines in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan. U.S. dioceses raised $24.5 million for these relief efforts.

Other items on the agenda for the meeting include an update and vote on a proposal by a working group on the bishops’ statement linking Church teachings to political responsibility; the annual progress report of the bishops’ efforts to protect children and young people from sexual abuse; debate and vote on the renewal of the bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty, formed in 2011; and debate and vote on the request for renewal of the “recognitio,” or Vatican approval, for the national directory for the formation, ministry and life of permanent deacons.

CNS | Sam Oldenburg, Catholic Courier

Father Peter Enyan-Boadu, pastor of St. John the Evangelist in Greece, N.Y., prays at the beginning of a Greece Town Board meeting May 5 at the Greece Town Hall. Earlier that day the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in favor of the town of Greece, allowing prayers at the beginning of town board meetings to continue.

Supreme Court ruling allows prayers before public meetings Carol Zimmermann Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Supreme Court ruled May 5 that prayers said before town council meetings in Greece, N.Y., do not violate the Constitution.

In their 5-4 decision, the judges noted a historical precedent to opening local legislative meetings with a prayer and stressed that the predominantly Christian nature of the prayers in the New York town were not coercive to those in attendance.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the majority, said the prayers delivered before public meetings in Greece, a suburb of Rochester, “evoked universal themes” such as “calling for a ‘spirit of cooperation.’”

He also noted the historical precedence of such prayers, pointing out that the U.S. House and Senate have official chaplains and a majority of the states have the practice of legislative prayer.

Kennedy wrote that the “inclusion of a brief, ceremonial prayer as part of a larger exercise in civic recognition suggests that its purpose and effect are to acknowledge religious leaders and the institutions they represent, rather than to exclude or coerce nonbelievers.”

He said that unless the prayers “over time denigrate, proselytize or betray an impermissible government purpose” they will “not likely establish a constitutional violation.” He also wrote that because the town had followed a policy of nondiscrimination it was not required by the Constitution to search beyond its borders for those who could offer non-Christian prayers in an attempt to provide balance.

Public prayers have been offered in Greece by local clergy members before town council meetings since 1999. In 2008, two residents sued the town arguing that the prayers violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the Constitution.

Since the lawsuit, the town has made an effort to invite a variety of faith leaders to present these prayers but the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2012 found the prayer practice unconstitutional

and emphasized that the majority of the prayers were specifically Christian.

The appeals court said the Supreme Court’s 1983 ruling in Marsh v. Chambers – where it upheld the Nebraska Legislature’s practice of opening its legislative sessions with a prayer as part of a deeply embedded tradition – did not apply because the town council meetings in Greece are not just for elected officials but local residents.

In the Marsh ruling, Chief Justice Warren Burger described opening prayers as “part of the fabric of our society.” The ruling only prohibited prayers that would advance or disparage a particular religion.

Justice Elena Kagan, writing the dissent in the Greece v. Galloway case, said the case before the court differed from the Marsh ruling because “Greece’s town meetings involve participation by ordinary citizens, and the invocations given – directly to those citizens – were predominantly sectarian in content.”

The majority opinion May 5 relied on the Marsh decision, pointing to the historical precedence of opening legislative sessions with prayer and the reluctance of the government to supervise or censor such prayers.

John Vile, dean of the University Honors College at Middle Tennessee State University and co-editor of The Encyclopedia of the First Amendment, said all the justices were “respectful both of prayers in general and of religious diversity.”

He said the majority “appeared to recognize that undue scrutiny of prayers by public officials was more likely to lead to establishment issues than opening invitations to individuals from diverse denominations.”

Vile said he found it interesting that none of the justices sought to overturn the Marsh decision nor did they stress the 1971 case, Lemon v. Kurtzman, in which the Supreme Court allowed prayer if it passed a three-pronged test: It has a secular purpose, its primary effect “neither advances nor inhibits religion,” and it does not excessively entangle government with religion.

May 9, 2014 | catholicnewsherald.com catholic news heraldI

For the latest news 24/7: catholicnewsherald.com

In Brief Archbishop: Botched execution highlights death penalty’s brutality OKLAHOMA CITY — Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City said the botched execution April 29 of an Oklahoma inmate “highlights the brutality of the death penalty” and should bring the nation to “consider whether we should adopt a moratorium on the death penalty or even abolish it altogether.” The planned execution of convicted killer Clayton Lockett in McAlester, Okla., using a new threedrug lethal injection protocol, failed, leaving Lockett showing signs of pain and causing prison officials to halt the procedure. Lockett later died of a heart attack.

Archbishop Coakley, in an April 30 statement, said: “How we treat criminals says a lot about us as a society. We certainly need to administer justice with due consideration for the victims of crime, but we must find a way of doing so that does not contribute to the culture of death, which threatens to completely erode our sense of the innate dignity of the human person and of the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death.”

Politics called a moral vocation, with pitfalls for moral actions WASHINGTON, D.C. — Catholic teaching may view politics as “a central element in building up the kingdom of God” and a “deeply moral” vocation, as San Francisco Auxiliary Bishop Robert W. McElroy described it, but politicians acknowledged at an April 28 forum that that can be a punishing standard. In the fifth public forum of the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life at Georgetown University, Bishop McElroy laid out a theological basis for viewing politics as, “one of the highest forms of charity, because it serves the common good in humility and love,” as Pope Francis said in September. In practice, that can be more of a lofty ideal than the reality, said other participants in the forum.

Rep. Walter B. Jones Jr., R-N.C., former Democratic Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper, now county executive in Erie, Pa., and former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele each described being alienated by their parties when they held to policy positions that grew out of their shared Catholic faith. Jones, a one-time Democrat who changed parties in 1994 and a former Southern Baptist who became Catholic as an adult, told of the political repercussions he’s felt since he changed his mind about supporting the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Atlanta archbishop to restrict weapons in Catholic institutions ATLANTA — Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory of Atlanta pledged to restrict the presence of guns in Catholic institutions in response to a new Georgia law that would allow licensed gun owners to carry arms into schools, churches and other locales. Set to take effect July 1, the law was opposed by the Georgia Catholic Conference.

Writing in his column in the May 1 issue of the Georgia Bulletin, newspaper of the Atlanta Archdiocese, the archbishop said he regrets the enactment of the new law “more than I can possibly express. Before this legislation takes effect in July, I will officially restrict the presence of weapons in our Catholic institutions except for those carried by the people that civic authorities have designated and trained to protect and guard us – and those who are

duly authorized law and military officials,” Archbishop Gregory explained.

Previously in Georgia, licensed gun holders were not permitted to carry a firearm into a house of worship.

Catholic Charities helping storm-damaged southern U.S. WASHINGTON, D.C. — Catholic Charities agencies were on the ground assessing damage after a series of storms with deadly tornadoes and massive floods swept through the southern United States April 27-29. The storms killed 35 people and left thousands without power while razing homes and businesses. Arkansas and Mississippi were the hardest hit, but deaths also were reported in Oklahoma, Iowa, Alabama and Tennessee. Georgia residents lost power, and the Carolinas and Florida experienced flash floods.

Deportations bring a bitter rift among immigration reform advocates WASHINGTON, D.C. — The united front of President Barack Obama and advocates for comprehensive immigration reform has tarnished and taken on an increasingly bitter tinge over deportations. Building on huge increases in U.S. Border Patrol resources that began in the George W. Bush administration, Obama’s Department of Homeland Security and Justice Department ramped up deportations, in part to try to build support for comprehensive reform among politicians who demand tougher enforcement as the price of their votes. An analysis of deportation trends released April 30 by the Migration Policy Institute said that because of a combination of a 1996 law requiring tougher immigration enforcement and changes in policy, procedures and funding, the number of people deported annually has soared in the past 20 years. Also dramatically higher is the number of people who are deported under more formal legal removals, which carry longerterm repercussions and sometimes criminal implications. Nearly 2 million people have been deported in the first five years of the Obama administration, compared with about the same number during the eight years of the Bush administration. Marc R. Rosenblum, deputy director of MPI’s immigration policy program and one of the study’s authors, said during a teleconference where the report was released that “it’s clear that the law is being enforced” and that enforcement has increased in scope and intensity, especially in the last five years, using “any metrics you want to look at.”

Deportation order seen as justice ‘finally’ served WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A deportation order for El Salvador’s former defense minister who lives in Florida but presided over an era of atrocities and torture in his own country underscores a new era of U.S. foreign policy, according to one of the lead attorneys who sued the official, retired Gen. Jose Guillermo Garcia, in U.S. District Court in 2002. In late February, the U.S. departments of Justice and Homeland Security concluded “removal proceedings,” ordering Garcia’s deportation on the grounds that he fostered an atmosphere in impunity during the bloody civil war in El Salvador from roughly 1979 to 1992. More than 75,000 Salvadoran civilians, clergy and missionaries were killed during that era, including Archbishop Oscar Romero and four U.S. churchwomen.

Garcia has been retired in Florida since 1989.

A 66-page decision from Judge Michael C. Horn of Immigration Court in Miami and made public in April states that Garcia, as defense minister, was essentially the most powerful position in El Salvador at that time, and Garcia “assisted or otherwise participated” in numerous atrocities during the war.

— Catholic News Service

CCDOC.ORG

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Designed specifically with the mobile audience in mind, the CCDOC app is an integrated tool that compliments the website and provides a fast, easy resource to keep up with what’s going on across western North Carolina. With your support, CCDOC can strengthen families, build communities and reduce poverty.

The app is free to download and available for all mobile devices, iPhone and iPad.

27

Our world 28

catholicnewsherald.com | May 9, 2014 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

Vatican official: Church making progress in stopping sexual abuse Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY — Appearing before a U.N. committee monitoring adherence to an international treaty designed to fight torture, a Vatican official insisted that, over the past 10 years, the Catholic Church has “in a systematic, constructive and effective way,” worked to prevent clerical sexual abuse of minors and assist victims.

Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Holy See representative to U.N. agencies in Geneva, told the Committee Against Torture May 6 that the sexual abuse of children “is a worldwide plague and scourge” that the Vatican, national bishops’ conferences, religious orders and individual dioceses have worked seriously to eliminate within the Catholic Church.

While the archbishop mentioned “some divergence of opinion” about whether child sexual abuse legitimately falls under the concern of the U.N. Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment, he answered the committee members’ questions about Vatican efforts to investigate allegations against clergy, punish offenders and cooperate with civil authorities.

The Holy See signed the international treaty in 2002 and submitted its first report on adherence to the treaty in 2012. The committee met in Geneva in late April and in May to review the reports of the Holy See and seven other countries.

The committee members’ questions to Archbishop Tomasi and the rest of the Vatican delegation May 5-6 focused on the handling of the abuse crisis, but also included challenges to the Holy See’s affirmation that in fulfilling its treaty obligations, it has direct jurisdiction only over the territory of Vatican City State and not over bishops, priests or other Catholics outside the Vatican.

The archbishop told the committee, “It is one thing to be able to exercise jurisdiction and another to encourage a certain type of activity” or adoption of certain policies in Catholic communities around the globe.

On May 5, the committee had asked Archbishop Tomasi to provide statistics about cases of clerical sexual abuse reported to the Vatican and the outcome of those cases.

Between 2004 and 2013, he said May 6, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith – which is charged with investigating abuse claims against clergy – received “credible accusations” against 3,420 priests.

In the majority of cases, he said, the abuse was alleged to have occurred between 1950 and 1989. Many of those priests are or have been jailed by civil courts for their crimes, he said.

Between 2004 and 2013, he said, the Holy See dismissed 848 priests from the priesthood as a result of the allegations being found to be true. In another 2,572 cases – mainly involving priests of an advanced age – the men were ordered to have no contact with children and were ordered to retreat to a life of prayer and penance.

The Committee Against Torture has advocated for compensation to victims of torture, and members asked Archbishop Tomasi how much the Church has paid out to victims of clerical sexual abuse.

The Vatican does not have global figures, he said, but in the United States dioceses and religious orders have paid an estimated $2.5 billion to victims since 1950 and have spent another $78 million providing therapy and other support.

On the first day of the hearing, Archbishop Tomasi told the committee, “there has been in several documentable areas a stabilization and even a decline in cases” of abuse of minors. “Measures undertaken in the last 10 years on the part both of the Holy See and local churches are bringing about a positive result.”

Jesuit Father Michael Schultheis distributes Communion during Mass held in a camp for internally displaced families inside a U.N. base in Juba, South Sudan.

The camp holds Nuer families who took refuge there in December 2013 after a political dispute within the country’s ruling party quickly fractured the young nation along ethnic and tribal lines.

CNS | Paul Jeffrey

Bishop: South Sudan has become ‘the place where God weeps’ Paul Jeffrey Catholic News Service

SEATTLE — South Sudan’s civil war has taken a brutal turn, despite appeals from the country’s Church leaders to stop the violence.

In the oil hub of Bentiu, rebels loyal to ousted Vice President Riek Machar, an ethnic Nuer, killed more than 200 civilians and wounded more than 400 in mid-April, the United Nations reported April 21. People were slaughtered inside a mosque, a hospital and the city’s Catholic church.

The U.N. said hate speech was broadcast on local radio stations, urging certain groups to leave the city and encouraging men to rape women.

In a separate incident April 17, at least 58 civilians were killed and more than 100 injured when an armed group of largely Dinka youth attacked a U.N. base in Bor, where some 5,000 mostly Nuer civilians had taken refuge. The U.N. Security Council said the attack may “constitute a war crime.”

President Salva Kiir, a member of the Dinka tribe, addressed the incident April 20, telling worshippers at a Catholic Mass in Juba that the Bor attack was an “irresponsible act by irresponsible people.”

A Catholic bishop involved in peace talks to end the fighting said this year’s bloodshed could not be blamed on Arabs in the North, as was the case during the long liberation struggle to free the South from control by Sudan.

“During the civil wars, you could see the blood of our people dripping from the hands of others. But from whose hands is the blood dripping now? Who is killing Christians now? It is we, the Christians. And we’re not ashamed. If we were ashamed, we would stop it,” Bishop Paride Taban said in an April 4 interview in Juba.

Bishop Taban is the retired bishop of Torit, and in January he mediated an end to an armed conflict between the government and forces loyal to David Yau Yau, a dissident general in restive Jonglei state. Yau Yau had led an armed rebellion of ethnic Murle since 2012.

In March, Bishop Taban took his peace effort to neighboring Ethiopia, where peace talks between representatives of Kiir and Machar have sputtered along since January, and where representatives of South Sudan’s Catholic bishops are part of a civil society delegation.

Bishop Taban said someone there referred to the Church as a watchdog in the current peace process.

“But I said the Church is a guide dog. We cannot just watch. There are people watching football who never play, they just clap their hands. The Church has to be a player.

We are not people who watch. We should be involved in guiding, not watching. But that’s how the Church has been treated in our country. We are just watchers,” he said.

Bishop Taban, 78, compared the situation in South Sudan to Rwanda, which recently commemorated the 20th anniversary of a genocide that killed more than 500,000 people.

“I saw mass graves in Rwanda, but in all my life I never saw mass graves in South Sudan. Until this current conflict began in December.”

“I used to tell people that when God created South Sudan he laughed, but this has become the place where God weeps,” he added.

Catholic hospital damaged in bombing by Sudanese air force, bishop says WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Catholic-run hospital in the Nuba Mountains of war-torn South Kordofan in Sudan was targeted by the Sudanese air force over two days, said a retired bishop.

Bishop Macram Max Gassis, who retired in October as head of the Diocese of El Obied, Sudan, charged that Mother of Mercy Hospital was deliberately targeted by the Sudan government, causing patients and medical staff to seek cover May 1 and 2.

“The bombing is an outrage against innocent civilians who are seeking medical assistance from our hospital,” Bishop Gassis said in a statement May 5. “The sick have nothing to do with the conflict that has devastated the Nuba Mountains since June 2011.

They are innocent civilians protected by international law from direct targeting by military forces. International law demands that civilians are protected during conflict, but the attack today is a direct violation of this fundamental humanitarian principle. It is a violation of the sacredness of all human life, which we must protect at all costs.”

The facility is the only functioning hospital in the Nuba Mountains and serves more than 150,000 annually, according to Caritas Internationalis.

Let’s keep talking.

May 9, 2014 | catholicnewsherald.com catholic news heraldI

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In Brief Vatican official rebukes nuns’ group for ‘fundamental errors’ VATICAN CITY — Using what he acknowledged was unusually “blunt” language, the head of the Vatican’s doctrinal office rebuked officers of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious for honoring a Catholic theologian whose work was judged “seriously inadequate” and for promoting futuristic ideas he described as “opposed to Christian revelation.” Cardinal Gerhard Muller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, made the remarks April 30 in an address to the presidency of the LCWR, a Maryland-based umbrella group that claims about 1,500 leaders of U.S. women’s communities as members, representing about 80 percent of the country’s 57,000 women religious.

In 2012, the Vatican announced a major reform of the LCWR to ensure its fidelity to Catholic teaching in areas including abortion, euthanasia, women’s ordination and homosexuality. The Vatican appointed Archbishop J. Peter Sartain of Seattle to implement the congregation’s “doctrinal assessment,” by providing “review, guidance and approval, where necessary, of the work” of the LCWR.

Cardinal: Pro-abortion officials should not receive Communion ROME — Catholic politicians and judges who support laws in conflict with Church teaching on abortion, euthanasia, marriage and related issues commit “sacrilege” and cause “grave scandal” if they receive Communion, said the U.S. cardinal who heads the Vatican’s highest court. “The Church’s discipline, from the time of St. Paul, has admonished those who obstinately persevere in manifest grave sin not to present themselves for Holy Communion,” Cardinal Raymond L. Burke, prefect of the Supreme Court of the Apostolic Signature and a former archbishop of St. Louis, said May 3.

The cardinal explained that the “discipline is not a punishment but the recognition of the objective condition of the soul of the person involved in such sin. It prevents them from committing sacrilege by violating the incomparable sanctity of the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ, and safeguards the Christian community at large from scandal, that is, from being led to believe that the violation of the moral law, for example in what pertains to the inviolable dignity of human life, the integrity of marriage and the family, and the freedom of conscience, is not sinful, does not gravely break communion with our Lord.”

Cardinal O’Malley: Sex abuse panel to stress accountability, education VATICAN CITY — The new papal commission for protecting minors from clerical sex abuse will recommend stricter standards for accountability of abusers and those who fail to protect children, and will fight widespread denial of the problem within the Church, said Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley of Boston. “In some people’s minds, ‘Oh, this is an American problem, it’s an Irish problem, it’s a German problem,’” the cardinal told reporters May 3. “Well, it’s a human problem, and the Church needs to face it everywhere in the world. And so a lot of our recommendations are going to have to be around education, because there is so much ignorance around this topic, so much denial.”

The cardinal spoke on the third and final day

of the commission’s first meeting at the Vatican.

Reading a statement on behalf of the entire eight-member panel, he said the commission planned to draft statutes for approval by Pope Francis to clarify the body’s “nature, structure, activity and the goals. The commission will not deal with individual cases of abuse, but we can make recommendations regarding policies for assuring accountability and best practice,” the statement said. Later, in response to a reporter’s question, the cardinal said such policies were necessary to fill gaps in Church law.

Pope: Attitude of ‘evangelical service’ must take hold VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis told his new economic oversight council that it must be “courageous and determined” in its critical role of helping the Church not waver from its real mission of bringing the Gospel to the world and helping those most in need. The Church has a duty to use its assets and manpower responsibly in promoting its spiritual mandate, and “a new mentality of evangelical service” must take hold throughout the Vatican, the pope said May 2.

The pope’s comments came the same day the new Vatican Council for the Economy met for the first time since the pope established the council in February. The council is an international group of eight cardinals and seven lay experts appointed to set policies for the administrative and financial activities of all Vatican offices and bodies. The council “has the task of supervising economic activities and monitoring the structures and administrative and financial activities” of the Vatican’s various offices and agencies, the pope said.

Pope: Holy Spirit, not human smarts, helps us see God’s plan VATICAN CITY — Human smarts are not enough to truly understand God’s word and how he is working in people’s lives, Pope Francis said. Christians need the help of the Holy Spirit to “go beneath the surface of reality and peer into the depths of God’s thinking and His plan of salvation,” he said.

During his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square April 30, the pope returned to a new series of audience talks on the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord. In his catechesis, the pope focused on the gift of understanding, which, he said, is not the same as “human intelligence or intellectual ability.” Rather, he said, it is a gift of the Holy Spirit that comes from sharing in God’s life through faith and baptism.

Vatican statistics: Church growth remains steady VATICAN CITY — The number of Catholics in the world and the number of priests, permanent deacons and religious men all increased in 2012, while the number of women in religious orders continued to decline, according to Vatican statistics. The number of candidates for the priesthood also showed its first global downturn in recent years. The statistics come from a recently published Statistical Yearbook of the Church, which reported worldwide Church figures as of Dec. 31, 2012. By the end of 2012, the worldwide Catholic population had reached 1.228 billion, an increase of 14 million or 1.14 percent, slightly outpacing the global population growth rate, which, as of 2013, was estimated at 1.09 percent.

Catholics as a percentage of the global population remained essentially unchanged from the previous year at around 17.5 percent.

However, the latest Vatican statistical yearbook estimated that there were about 4.8 million Catholics that were not included in its survey because they were in countries that could not provide an accurate report to the Vatican, mainly China and North Korea.

— Catholic News Service

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catholicnewsherald.com | May 9, 2014 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

Letters to the editor

Death penalty is not un-Christian Allison Schumacher

A tribute to motherhood O

ften we take the very important things in life completely for granted. How many times today have you stopped to appreciate the air you breathe? Do you think twice before taking a drink of water? Yet without these elements our lives would wither away, and we would die.

The most important person in the world is a mother. Obviously without her, our physical existence would have remained a thought and a hope in God’s divine plan. When she said “yes” to the gift of life, though, that dream and that future soul for the heavenly court became a person. For nine months she literally gave her body to the Creator’s hand, as a new life developed and grew within her.

On her baby’s birthday her role as mother took on an even greater depth and swept over larger horizons, carrying her on an adventure that she would never have been able to predict. Her incredible vocation as mother reaches beyond the physical sphere alone. She is mother to a person – a person with a body and a soul – having a body to nourish, a mind to instruct, a soul to direct toward God, and a vocation to foster. And through that one little person’s formation, she reaches into the lives of future generations. It is incredible!

The Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen wrote, “Culture derives from woman – for had she not taught her children to talk, the great spiritual values of the world would not have passed from generation to generation. After nourishing the substance of the body to which she gave birth, she then nourishes the child with the substance of her mind. As guardian of the values of the spirit, as protectress of the morality of the young, she preserves culture, which deals with purposes and ends, while man upholds civilization, which deals only with means.”

God made woman with a tremendous capacity for loving and suffering because she was not meant to live for herself alone, but ultimately for others.

I have seen this with my own mother and with friends who are mothers. They possess a beautiful ability to reach out to their children, to fix problems, to heal sibling relationships, to intercede before ad, to bring calm in the midst of a storm.

From the mundane to the sublime, mothers have walked with their children on their life journeys, sharing in joys and sorrows, laughter and tears.

When the time comes for the children to venture out on their own, she cannot hold their hands anymore; but she carries them with her sacrifices and prayers, for motherhood never ends.

Again from the Venerable Archbishop Sheen, “A wife is essentially a creature of time, for even while she lives she can become a widow; but a mother is outside time. She dies, but she is still a mother. She is the image of the eternal in time, the shadow of the infinite on the finite. Centuries and civilizations dissolve, but the mother is the giver of life. Man works on this generation: a mother on the next. A man uses his life; a mother renews it.”

Of course, even while a mother lays her imprint on culture and future generations, she often sacrifices the joy of seeing the results or feeling the satisfaction of her daily climb up Calvary. As Pope Paul VI said, “Every mother is like Moses. She does not enter the Promised Land. She prepares a world she will not see.”

We live in a society that tramples motherhood and tries to distort its beauty. In some ways, these attempts have been successful, but in other ways they will never prevail. In the heart of every single woman – whether a biological mother or not – God has placed the desire and the capacity to nurture and to love life.

This gift of nurturing life manifests itself in many ways – the inclination to help solve problems or bring harmony between others, the gift for caring for the sick, the natural love for children, caring for priests by offering prayer and sacrifices for their vocations. Without women and without the gift of motherhood lived out in these ways by women, hearts would grow cold and civilization would be destroyed.

Pope St. John Paul II wrote, “Thank you, every woman, for the simple fact of being a woman!

Through the insight which is so much a part of your womanhood you enrich the world’s understanding and help to make human relations more honest and authentic.”

As we spend much time this month in public witness to the culture of life, we echo the late Holy Father with these words especially, “Thank you, women who are mothers! You have sheltered human beings within yourselves in a unique experience of joy and travail. This experience makes you become God’s own smile upon the newborn child, the one who guides your child’s first steps, who helps it to grow, and who is the anchor as the child makes its way along the journey of life.”

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

Most-read stories on the web Through press time on May 7, 34,500 visitors to www.catholicnewsherald.com have viewed a total of 79,713 pages in April and the beginning of May. The top 7 headlines were: n Dominican nun at heart of Charlotte Catholic controversy..............................................................................................................................21,329 n Hundreds gather for seminarian Michael Kitson’s funeral Mass........................................................................................................ 6,605 n Charlotte Catholic student petition taken offline................................................................................................................................ 6,254 n Angry parents condemn Charlotte Catholic student assembly on sexuality...................................................................................... 5,173 n Bishop Jugis calls Charlotte Catholic controversy ‘difficult’.. ............................................................................................................ 3,802 n Funeral held for Monsignor Kerin, Charlotte diocese’s second chancellor..........................................................................................2,901 n Charlotte Catholic speaker sparks student petitions.......................................................................................................................... 1,836

In response to the April 25 commentary “The Ethic of Life and the Death Penalty” by James Cooney, I can respect that he makes his living defending murderers and that he opposes the death penalty, but I disagree with his position that the death penalty is un-Christian. There are passages in the Bible that do, indeed, refer approvingly to the death penalty.

Genesis 9:6 states, “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed.” Matthew 18:6 states, “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it were better for him to have a great millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.”

Where in the Bible, either in the Old or the New Testament, does God the Father or Jesus disapprove of the death penalty?

As per both Matthew 18:6 and Mark 9:42, Jesus advocates that a man be drowned for causing a child to sin – not even for murdering a child, but for causing a child to sin.

Either the Bible, both Old and New Testaments, are the Word of God, or they are not. And if they are, then what is so wrong about the instructions of God that it is permissible to take “an eye for an eye”? I do understand that God was putting a limit on what a man could do if injured by another – that is, an eye for an eye and no more than an eye, but also a life for a life.

Sadly, we in America have a legal system that all too often is perverted and precludes justice.

Anthony J. Chibbaro is a member of Our Lady of Grace Church in Greensboro.

We have a duty to behave as Christians I thought it important to respond to a recent letter to the editor from a Charlotte Catholic High School parent regarding the parents’ meeting on April 2. I was also present at the meeting and disagree with how this writer and as well as some Catholic bloggers (who were not present) are portraying the events and discord of the evening. Their perception of the evening is very different from mine, and many others with whom I have spoken.

Everyone who addressed the panel, as directed, was extended much courteousness and consideration by the audience and panel. Perhaps the fact the writer directed his comments directly to the audience and took the opportunity to cast judgments on the other attendees created an unwelcomed and unexpected response. Regardless, he was granted the opportunity to finish his statements and assured the full amount of time to make them, as were all other speakers.

Our faith makes demands on us and requires responsibility as well as accountability. We cannot hand select at which times and under which circumstances we will behave in a Christ-like manner, or to whom we will extend charity or kindness. We have a duty to behave as Christians in every part of our life – each and every day, not only when it serves our own message or purpose.

Parents are recognized by the Church as the primary educators of their children, and have the right and obligation to be involved and guide them in their faith journey.

Casey Corser is a member of St. Matthew Church in Charlotte.

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

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

The Catholic News Herald does not publish poetry, form letters or petitions. Items submitted to the Catholic News Herald become the property of the newspaper and are subject to reuse, in whole or in part, in print, electronic formats and archives.

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

May 9, 2014 | catholicnewsherald.com catholic news heraldI

Deacon James H. Toner

Peggy Bowes

Faith advice from a fashion magazine?

I

rarely spend money on magazines, but an opportunity to convert my not-enough-fora-vacation airline miles to free magazine subscriptions intrigued me. One magazine I chose was the fashion periodical “Lucky.” I wasn’t terribly impressed and usually flipped through the pages briefly before giving it away. When the May issue arrived, however, I felt somehow compelled to read the editor’s letter. She described her experience at the fall fashion week – a whirlwind trip to several of the world’s largest cities – and the challenge of dressing for the events. At one point, a photographer approached her and told her that she was “very brave” to have worn the same skirt to several different events. Her response startled me: “’Brave,’ to me, is being on the front lines of a war or standing up for your beliefs. Not wearing the same thing twice.”

This, from of all people, a fashion editor?

I pondered her response and how it applied to my life. As a U.S. Air Force veteran, I wasn’t sent to the front lines and never had to be particularly brave (unless you count getting up at 3 a.m. for a 14-hour work day), but I’m feeling obligated lately to be brave in standing up for my beliefs.

Today’s secular society doesn’t want to hear the Catholic teachings about traditional marriage, birth control, abortion, chastity and family values. Our culture embraces the “have it all and have it now” approach to pleasure and personal choices. We Christians are expected to keep our opinions to ourselves, or in some cases, not to have them at all. It’s time to start standing up for our beliefs, or we may lose our freedom to express them. Here are a few ideas that involve a little bravery: Make the sign of the cross. There is nothing that says “Catholic” louder than making the sign of the cross. At work, I say grace over my meals. Several co-workers have (timidly) asked me if I’m Catholic, and I am often asked about religious topics at work. Another idea is to quietly make the sign of the cross when someone uses the Lord’s name in vain.

It’s a non-confrontational way to show your disapproval.

Pray at an abortion facility. Although the 40 Days for Life vigil ended recently, there’s no reason why you can’t keep it going. It takes only about 20 minutes to pray a rosary outside your local abortion mill. Order or make a simple sign (the less confrontational, the better, in my experience) and pray on the sidewalk.

You might want to contact your local 40 Days for Life coordinator for more information and to find where you can legally park and stand.

Be brave in little ways. Ask the Holy Spirit daily to make you an instrument of God’s will.

When you hear that little urging to speak up, follow it! Take courage, “for the holy Spirit will teach you at that moment what you should say.” (Luke 12:12) If a fashion editor can be brave, then so can you!

Peggy Bowes is a parishioner at Holy Angels Church in Mount Airy. She is a motivational speaker and author of “The Rosary Workout” (www.rosaryworkout.blogspot.com).

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Is our way of speech our way of acting?

‘The Lord is going to teach you letter by letter, line by line, lesson by lesson.’ (Isaiah 28:13 GNB)

C

‘I am not trying to argue here that bad grammar means defective character ... I do contend, though, that language is defective and even potentially dangerous when its use condones what is wrong, or compromises about it.’

lassical, Christian education at one time insisted – and in some places still insists, thank goodness – upon instilling into its fortunate students what is known as “The Trivium” of logic, grammar and rhetoric. Following instruction in “The Trivium,” the student learns the subjects of “The Quadrivium”: arithmetic, music, geometry and astronomy. The master teacher will also be simultaneously inculcating into his students the four cardinal virtues (see Catechism of the Catholic Church 1805 or Wisdom 8:7).

But isn’t all of this irrelevant to the world today? No one, surely, would hold that these liberal arts in themselves constitute an adequate education.

The great English writer Dorothy Sayers, however, put it this way: “Is the trivium, then, a sufficient education for life? Properly taught, I believe that it should be.” I would go even farther: the misuse of language, particularly (but not only) the deliberate and frequent violation of the essential structure of language, leads by the short route to chaos. Spanish philosopher Ortega y Gasset, for instance, held that “barbarism is the absence of norms and of any possible appeal based on them.” If everyone follows his own standards of communication and ethics, there will be disorder and moral turmoil – about which both the Old and New Testaments warn us (see Judges 17:6 and 21:25, and 2 Cor 10:12).

“The Trivium,” as a unit, teaches order, reason and respect for the expression of truth, bound by the internal coherence of language itself. For example, in English, one may understand the double negative in the sentence “He don’t have no money,” as meaning that the subject of that sentence is poor, even if the grammatical structure of the sentence is incorrect. The difficulty is that, after a time, the use of such language wears down, and finally wears out, the understanding of the listener; it undermines, and finally destroys, the sense and substance of the very language the speaker is employing to convey his message. In time, the “ear” of the listener – his ability to understand clearly what is spoken to him – will be compromised by his constantly hearing ungrammatical, illogical or improvisational language.

There is a danger that when someone uses the language as he chooses, according to his own rules and his own logic, we will have precisely the situation Humpty Dumpty defended: “When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less.” In his 1965 encyclical “Mysterium Fidei,” Pope Paul VI wrote: “Having safeguarded the integrity of the faith, it is necessary to safeguard also its proper mode of expression, lest by the careless use of words, we occasion (God forbid) the rise of false opinions.”

Well, as one of our presidents once asked, “What is the meaning of ‘is’”? Some ask what (not who) is in the womb? Their response: A cell cluster. And we don’t kill; we “neutralize.” Years ago, George Orwell wisely told us that we see the first manifestation of corrupt politics in corrupt language. Pope St. John Paul II told us in “Evangelium Vitae” that “we need now more than ever to have the courage to look truth in the eye and to call things by their proper name.”

There is a place for idiomatic expression (“I am fixing to go to Raleigh”) and for local color. Language can change, after all.

When speakers routinely deliberately ignore “The Trivium,” though, paying little or no heed to reason, to grammar and to the rules of communication, we invite moral confusion.

With a little effort, we can understand the centuries-old text

of “Hamlet” precisely because, although English expression has changed, the language of “Hamlet” is true to English form and structure.

Students formerly learned, for example, how to diagram sentences – the function of infinitives, participles and gerunds; the parts of speech, and so on. Some today will contend that we can be quite successful and not be able, say, to distinguish the subjective mood from the superlative degree, or know what such words as “imperative mood” may mean. Such people may also safely drive cars and know next to nothing about gasoline, or oil or spark.

When the car grinds to a halt after it has been used for a year without an oil change, however, the driver might concede that basic mechanical instruction would have proved useful. If we understand the basic vocabulary of language, we can more effectively “repair” defective expression. If your children’s teachers insist upon their learning parts of speech and gerunds and participles and sentence diagramming, thank them!

I am not trying to argue here that bad grammar means defective character or that instances of local language “color” lead to the gas chamber. I do contend, though, that language is defective and even potentially dangerous when its use condones what is wrong, or compromises about it. For example, we don’t lie; we “get over”; we don’t cheat, we “get around”; we don’t steal, we, um, “liberate goods.” A shoplifter is thus an “unconventional shopper.” “Woe to those,” as the prophet Isaiah said, “who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness” (5:20).

These are, in fact, not harmless euphemisms. Using them first diminishes, and then finally destroys, our character and our ability to distinguish right from wrong, good from evil, the virtuous from the vicious. Shortcuts in logic, grammar and rhetoric – sloppy style and confused constructions – breed misunderstandings and, in time, lead to a kind of anarchy in communication. When St. Paul commanded us to speak the truth to one another (Eph 4:25), he was assuming respect both for the substance of what we say and for the manner and means by which we express the truth.

Some years ago, as an Army officer, I explained to a group of soldiers why minor matters are of such legitimate importance in military affairs. Having proper haircuts or straight gig lines (ask a veteran) or sharp salutes would not be important as isolated matters; their importance is that they create a cast of mind. Much the same is true of precision in thinking, writing and speaking. As Sir Francis Bacon taught: “Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man.” Today, we would likely substitute the “seminar” for conference and allow the broader use of “person.” Bacon’s point, though, is still secure.

It was the Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen who once said that if we don’t start behaving the way we believe, then we’ll end up believing the way we behave. Our behavior is the product of what goes on in our souls and our minds – and our speech is the manner of expression we use to communicate our strongest convictions (see Eph 5:4).

To insist upon clear, concise and coherent spelling, grammar, punctuation and expression in daily communication (whether in speech or in writing) helps to develop not just language skills, but a cast of mind which helps form people who say what they mean and mean what they say. Now, couldn’t our country use a great deal more of that?

Deacon James H. Toner serves at Our Lady of Grace Church in Greensboro. His most recent book is “Worthy of the Promises” (Borromeo).

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catholicnewsherald.com | May 9, 2014 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

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