Feb. 5, 2016

February 5, 2016

catholicnewsherald.com charlottediocese.org S E RV I N G C H R I ST A N D C O N N EC T I N G C AT H O L I C S I N W E ST E R N N O R T H C A R O L I N A

Pope Francis’ philosophy of the Church mirrors St. John XXIII, Georgetown professor explains

Catholic Schools Week ‘What better teacher of mercy do we have than Jesus?’ 16-17

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INDEX

Contact us.......................... 4 Events calendar................. 4 Our Faith............................. 2 Our Parishes................. 3-10 Schools......................... 16-17 Scripture readings............ 2 TV & Movies........................11 U.S. news...................... 18-19 Viewpoints.................. 22-23 World news.................. 20-21

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Super Bowl 50: Catholics, bishops bet on charity 3

2016 DSA campaign reflects Year of Mercy 12-14

Lent begins

Get meatless recipes, details on CRS Rice Bowl campaign

6-7

Year of Mercy 2

catholicnewsherald.com | February 5, 2016 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

Communion with the Church Editor’s note: We are gratified to publish this series about the rights and obligations of the Christian faithful, as set forth in canon (Church) law, written especially for the Catholic News Herald by Mercy Sister Jeanne-Margaret McNally. Sister Jeanne-Margaret is a distinguished authority on canon law, author of the reference guide “Canon Law for the Laity,” and frequent lecturer at universities and dioceses. A graduate of The Catholic University of America with multiple degrees including a doctorate in psychology and a licentiate of canon law (JCL), she is a psychologist for the Tribunal of the Diocese of Charlotte and a judge in the Metropolitan Tribunal of the Archdiocese of Miami.

Pope Francis

God wants to save you; will you let Him?

G

od doesn’t want to condemn anyone; He wants to save every person in the entire world, Pope Francis said. “The problem is letting Him enter one’s heart” to transform one’s life, the pope said during his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square Feb. 3.

“This is the heart of God, the heart of a father who loves His children and wants them to live rightly and justly and, therefore, to live in fullness and be happy,” he said.

The pope continued a series of talks dedicated to divine mercy, looking specifically at how divine mercy and divine justice go hand in hand. “It might seem that they are two things that contradict each other,” he said, but they don’t because “it is precisely God’s mercy that brings true justice to fruition.”

God’s justice is different from the human administration of legal justice, which is “retributive, that imposes a penalty on the guilty,” the pope said. “This path still does not lead to true justice because it doesn’t actually conquer evil but simply contains it,” the pope said. “Rather, it is only by responding to (evil) with the good that evil truly can be overcome.”

The Bible shows that true justice bypasses a court system, he said. The one who is wronged goes directly to the one who is guilty “in order to invite him to conversion, to help him to understand that he is doing wrong, to appeal to his conscience.” Through this act of persuasion, the one guilty of wrongdoing “can open himself to the forgiveness that the injured party is offering him. And this is beautiful,” he said.

This is the way that families try to work out their conflicts, he said. The one who has been offended “loves the culprit and wants to salvage the relationship that binds them, not cut off this relationship,” he said.

But it is not an easy path to take, he added. “It requires that the person who was wronged be ready to forgive and desire the salvation of and what’s best for the one who has wronged him.”

These reciprocal acts of forgiveness and conversion are the only way true justice can triumph, the pope said, because “if the guilty one recognizes the evil committed and stops doing it, then the evil is no more and the one who was unjust becomes just.”

“This is how God acts with us sinners,” he said. God constantly offers forgiveness and helps people recognize their sin in order to set them free.

That is because “God doesn’t seek our condemnation, but our salvation.

His immense heart “goes beyond our small concept of justice” and opens This is the kind of paternal heart people want to encounter in the confessional, he said.

Photo provided by rick rotundi

Parishioners at St. Vincent de Paul Church in Charlotte register for the “Doors of Mercy” program, which begins at the parish Feb. 17.

Experience God’s mercy ‘Doors of Mercy’ program offered throughout diocese during Year of Mercy SueAnn Howell Senior reporter

CHARLOTTE — Pope Francis has declared a Jubilee Year of Mercy in the Church this year and has asked Catholics to work and pray to learn the truth and beauty of God’s mercy and to extend mercy to others and to ourselves. Local Catholic publisher Saint Benedict Press has responded to the Holy Father’s call by creating an eightweek program that takes participants on a journey through salvation history of God’s merciful promises to Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses and David, to the prophets’ call to renewal and to the fulfillment of God’s promises in Christ.

“Doors of Mercy” is not a Bible study and there is no written homework. Each session is only 90 minutes and will allow you to experience God’s hope, healing and loving mercy. “‘Doors of Mercy’ has been a labor of love for us,” says Conor Gallagher, publisher of Saint Benedict Press. “And it has called forth all our talents. It is the most complex work we have ever done, and we created it on an unbelievably tight schedule.”

“When the Holy Father called for a Year of Mercy last April, we knew as a Catholic publisher we had to respond with resources that would help the faithful fully live this special time. ‘Doors of Mercy’ is a program to experience God’s mercy here and now, through prayer, the sacraments and good works. It ends with a look at St. Faustina Kowalska – the ‘Apostle of Mercy’ who Pope Francis has pointed to as a patron of this special year.”

Each weekly session is led by Father Jeffrey Kirby, a priest of the

The Christian faithful are obliged to maintain communion with the Church and to fulfill their duties to the universal and particular church to which they belong. This Church law, Canon 209 in the section “The Obligations and Rights of All the Christian Faithful,” does not give a list of the responsibilities to be carried out.

However, clearly, these responsibilities include the love of God and of neighbor.

Canon 209 also expresses the fundamental obligations of all the baptized. The obligation and right expressed refers to one’s internal relationship with a particular community or church through prayer, common worship, participation in the sacraments, and service to others – all “with great diligence.”

All the faithful, each according to his or her own condition, must make a wholehearted effort to lead a holy life and to promote the growth of the Church and its continued sanctification, Church law also states in Canon 210. This canon reflects the teaching of Vatican II, and its theme runs throughout Church law for all the faithful.

The means by which each person strives to fulfill this participation can occur either individually or through an association.

The Christian faithful are obliged to assist with the needs of the Church so that the Church has what is necessary for divine worship, for the works of the apostolate and of charity, and for the decent support of ministers (Canon 222 section 1).

The faithful are also obliged to promote social justice and to help the poor from their own resources (Canon 222, section 2). These are natural, mutual obligations incumbent on everyone and not specifically on Christians, where justice is concerned. The dignity of the human person demands social justice. The “option for the poor” cannot remain on the abstract level, but must be translated at all levels into concrete action. We are frequently reminded of this by Pope Francis.

Canon 211 reminds us that all of Christ’s faithful have the duty and right to work for evangelization in every age and every land. Again, this is a prime directive of Pope Francis. Evangelization is bringing the Christian message to all. This means include the entire face of the Church: sacramental life; all the vocations on its membership (laity, both single and married; parents; clerics; religious’ families; parishes; dioceses; and associations through personal witness, preaching, catechetical instructions, missionary action and social media).

Coming next: Right of Free Speech and Opinions

MERCY, SEE page 15

Your daily Scripture readings FEB. 7-13

Sunday: Isaiah 6:1-8, 1 Corinthians 15:1-11, Luke 5:1-11; Monday (St. Jerome Emiliani, St. Josephine Bakhita): 1 Kings 8:1-7, 9-13, Mark 6:53-56; Tuesday: 1 Kings 8:22-23, 27-30, Mark 7:1-13; Wednesday (Ash Wednesday): Joel 2:12-18, 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2, Matthew 6:1-16, 16-18; Thursday (Our Lady of Lourdes): Deuteronomy 30:15-20, Luke 9:22-25; Friday: Isaiah 58:1-9, Matthew 9:14-15; Saturday: Isaiah 58:9-14, Luke 5:27-32

FEB. 14-20

Sunday (First Sunday of Lent): Deuteronomy 26:4-10, Romans 10:8-13, Luke 4:1-13; Monday: Leviticus 19:1-2, 11-18, Matthew 25:31-46; Tuesday: Isaiah 55:10-11, Matthew 6:7-15; Wednesday (Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order): Jonah 3:1-10, Luke 11:29-32; Thursday: Esther C:12, 14-16, 23-25, Matthew 7:7-12; Friday: Ezekiel 18:21-28, Matthew 5:2026; Saturday: Deuteronomy 26:16-19, Matthew 5:43-48

FEB. 21-27

Sunday: Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18, Philippians 3:17-4:1, Luke 9:28-36; Monday (The Chair of St. Peter): 1 Peter 5:1-4, Matthew 16:13-19; Tuesday (St. Polycarp): Isaiah 1:10, 16-20, Matthew 23:1-12; Wednesday: Jeremiah 18:1820, Matthew 20:17-28; Thursday: Jeremiah 17:5-10, Luke 16:19-31; Friday: Genesis 37:34, 12-13, 17-28, Matthew 21:33-43, 45-46; Saturday: Micah 7:14-15, 18-20, Luke 15:1-3, 11-32.

Our parishes

February 5, 2016 | catholicnewsherald.com catholic news heraldI

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Super Bowl 50: Catholics, bishops bet on charity Denver’s Catholic Charities agency if the Broncos win the Super Bowl. However, confident the Panthers will win, Bishop Jugis tweeted that he expects Archbishop Aquila to send a $500 check to Charlotte’s Catholic Charities. Archbishop Aquila accepted on Twitter with, “Bishop Jugis, I accept the challenge, but we know the Broncos will win.”

— Catholic News Herald

CHARLOTTE — Catholics in the Diocese of Charlotte are upping their spiritual game with charitable donations in preparation for Super Bowl 50 between their home team, the Carolina Panthers, and the Denver Broncos.

Each city’s Catholic Charities agency is trying to raise $50,000 before the end of the Super Bowl on Feb. 7, in a friendly competition they are calling “Charity Bowl 50.” The project aims to help serve those in most need and show the most team spirit.

Anyone can participate to help one of the charities raise the most money by donating online at www.

CharityBowl50.org before the game ends.

Bishop Peter Jugis and Archbishop Samuel Aquila are among those who have made a friendly wager for “Charity Bowl 50.” Through a challenge on Twitter, Bishop Jugis vowed to donate $500 to

Catch the game day spirit online At www.catholicnewsherald.com: Read more about “Charity Bowl 50,” see a video interview with Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly, and more On Twitter @CatholicnewsCLT: Join the conversation and get daily updates on the fundraising totals for “Charity Bowl 50.” Use #PrayforPanthers and #CharityBowl50.

Pope Francis’ philosophy mirrors St. John XXIII, Georgetown professor explains Patricia L. Guilfoyle Editor

CHARLOTTE — ­ The distinctive “ethos of the new papacy” under Pope Francis echoes that of St. John XXIII, a theologian and scholar from Georgetown University explained during a lecture in Charlotte.

This radical, yet traditional mindset is grounded in the new pope’s ecclesiology –­ his understanding of what the Church is and what its mission should be, said Dr. Gerard Mannion, the Amaturo Chair in Catholic Studies at Georgetown and a senior research fellow of the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs. Mannion has written extensively on the theology of the Church, and on Jan. 30 he delivered “Remembering the Future and Re-engaging the People of God: Pope Francis and Vatican II” for the 16th annual Kennedy Lecture at St. Peter Church in Charlotte.

In his talk, Mannion compared Pope Francis’ understanding of what the Church is with previous popes St. John XXIII, St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI. He argued that Pope Francis’ pontificate most closely mirrors that of John XXIII, who opened the Second Vatican Council in 1962 with the aim of revitalizing the Church and engaging with the wider world.

First of all, Mannion pointed out, no one should be surprised or dismayed by the discontinuity of the new pope with Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, whose resignation in 2013 paved the way for the election of the first pope from the Americas and the first Jesuit pope.

While continuity on doctrine are naturally to be expected, Mannion said, continuity on leadership style is “almost non-existent.” Every pope differs in the style of his papal ministry, he said.

“Why should anyone expect or even desire otherwise?

Continuity in and of itself is not a virtue,” he said.

He pointed out, “Benedict XVI did not agree with John Paul II on many issues. For example, there were differences between the two concerning interreligious and ecumenical dialogue. John Paul II had radically different priorities from Pope Paul VI. For example, John Paul II had a much more authoritarian view, shaped by his upbringing first under the Nazis and the under the totalitarian state in Poland, of how Magisterium should be practiced. ... Pope Paul VI was markedly different from John XXIII, not least of all in how both wished to see the Second Vatican Council progress in terms of its core focus. For Pope John, the Church’s key priority, so also that of the Council, was opening up to and engaging with the wider world beyond the Church. Paul (VI) also acknowledged that priority, but believed that a more urgent priority was addressing the internal problems

‘Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful’

Youth invited to Bishop’s Lenten Youth Pilgrimage March 19 SueAnn Howell Senior reporter

Patricia L. Guilfoyle | Catholic News Herald

“For Francis, change is necessary,” said Dr. Gerard Mannion of Georgetown University, who gave the 16th annual Kennedy Lecture at St. Peter Church Jan. 30. and divisions within the Church itself. The tensions between Popes Pius XII and Pius XI are legendary; those two gentlemen did not get on very well together. Benedict XV was in many ways elected precisely because he would pursue a very different agenda from Pius X.” Each pope shepherded the Church and emphasized different priorities based on what he saw as the needs of his time, Mannion said. “Pope Francis is no exception.”

As the first pontiff from the developing world, and the first modern pope who did not attend the Second Vatican Council, Pope Francis has a different perspective on how the Church today should live out the teachings of Vatican II, Mannion noted.

“It is clear that Francis is seeking to follow Pope John XXIII’s example in many respects,” he said. “Doctrinal minutiae and disputes are not more important than living out the faith and putting it into practice. He appears to want a Church open to and engaging with the wider world on every level. He accentuates what people share in common, rather than what divides them. He preaches mercy, compassion and forgiveness rather than stern admonishments. He has stated that mercy, and not moralizing, lies at the heart of the Gospel. And also like John XXIII, he has said that within the Church itself, charity must prevail in all things.”

Mannion said Pope Francis clearly signaled his ecclesiological philosophy with “Evangelii Gaudium” FRANCIS, SEE page 15

BELMONT — All middle school and high school youth of the diocese are invited to rejuvenate their faith and reflect upon God’s mercy during this Jubilee Year of Mercy at the annual Bishop’s Lenten Youth Pilgrimage Saturday, March 19, at Belmont Abbey College. It will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

This year’s theme reflects the focus of the Year of Mercy: ‘Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful’ (Luke 6:36). It is also the theme of this year’s diocesan Eucharistic Congress which will be held Sept. 9-10.

It is the 12th year for the youth pilgrimage at Belmont Abbey College. During this day-long event, youth will enjoy live music, a vocations fair and motivational speakers, as well as Eucharistic Adoration and a Eucharistic Procession on the historic campus grounds. There will be separate program tracks for middle and high school youths, and the sacrament of confession will also be available from priests of the diocese.

Catholic recording artist Kara Klein will share her musical talents, her joy and her wisdom as the keynote speaker. Klein has appeared on four international television programs, sung beside other widely acclaimed artists such as Aaron Neville and Matt Maher, and at venues such as Carnegie Hall and World Youth Day. In the past five years, Klein has won six Unity Awards by the United Catholic Music and Video Association, including “Best Female Vocalist of the Year” in 2008.

Mass will be celebrated starting at 9:40 a.m., and Bishop Jugis will share an inspirational message with the youth during Eucharistic Adoration in the afternoon.

Registration for the Lenten Youth Pilgrimage is $15 and is required. The fee includes a pizza lunch, a soft drink and a specially designed pilgrimage T-shirt if you register by Monday, Feb. 15. For details, go online to www.goeucharist.com.

Bishop’s Lenten Youth Pilgrimage 2016 n Deadline to register: Monday, Feb. 15 n Cost: $15 per person – youth and adults (includes T-shirt, lunch and drink. Bring your own snacks and drinks for the day) n Send registration fees for your group ($15 per participant), making checks payable to: “Eucharistic Congress” Eucharist Congress Office Attn: Father Roger Arnsparger 1123 S. Church St. Charlotte, NC 28203-4003

UPcoming events 4

catholicnewsherald.com | February 5, 2016 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

Bishop Peter J. Jugis will participate in the following upcoming events: FEB. 6 – 11 A.M. Mass for World Day of Consecrated Life St. Patrick Cathedral, Charlotte

FEB. 18 – 10 A.M. Diocesan Foundation Board Meeting Catholic Conference Center, Hickory

FEB. 10 – 12:10 P.M. Mass for Ash Wednesday St. Patrick Cathedral, Charlotte

FEB. 19 – 10 A.M. Diocesan Finance Council Meeting Pastoral Center, Charlotte

FEB. 14 – 3 P.M. Rite of Election Holy Family Church, Clemmons

FEB. 20 – 1 P.M. Rite of Election St. Thérèse Church, Mooresville

FEB. 27 – 11 A.M. Rite of Election St. Barnabas Church, Arden

Diocesan calendar of events February 5, 2016

ENTERTAINMENT

Volume 25 • Number 9

Lenten devotional “Adoramus te, Christe”: 7:30 p.m. Friday Feb. 19, at St. Michael Church, 708 St. Michael’s Lane, Gastonia, and 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 26, at Sacred Heart Church, 375 Lumen Christi Lane, Salisbury.

Presented by Carolina Catholic Chorale, the program features chant and polyphonic settings of the Adoramus text. Donations welcome. For details, go to www. carolinacatholicchorale.com.

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

STAFF 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

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

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

ADVERTISING: Reach 165,000 Catholics across western North Carolina! For advertising rates and information, contact Advertising Manager Kevin Eagan at 704-370-3332 or keeagan@charlottediocese.org. The Catholic News Herald reserves the right to reject or cancel advertising for any reason, and does not recommend or guarantee any product, service or benefit claimed by our advertisers.

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

POSTMASTER: Periodicals class postage (USPC 007-393) paid at Charlotte, N.C. Send address corrections to the Catholic News Herald, 1123 S. Church St., Charlotte, N.C. 28203.

Lectures & Workshops ‘From Anglican Priest to Catholicism – Our Conversion as a couple to the catholic Faith’: 6:45 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 6, at Tequila’s Mexican Restaurant, 238 West Main St., Gastonia. Part of St. Michael Church’s Holy Happy Hour ministry.

Sidewalk Counseling TRAINING: Learn how to be an effective and prayerful witness at Charlotte abortion facilities as well as get involved with the growing local pro-life movement. After the 8 a.m. Mass, Saturday, Feb. 6, in the Family Life Center at St. Patrick Cathedral, 1621 Dilworth Road East, Charlotte. Sponsored by C-PLAN of Charlotte. Register at www.prolifecharlotte.org/events.

WORKSHOPS ON POPE FRANCIS’ ENCYCLICAL LAUDATO SI’ ‘ON CARE FOR OUR COMMON HOME’: 1-2:30 p.m. or 7-8:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 12, at St. Eugene Church, 72 Culvern St., Asheville. Speaker Dr. Catherine Wright will discuss why Pope Francis wrote this encyclical and the idea that faith and science need to be in dialogue. The purpose is to give participants an overview of the letter and discuss how it is a part of Catholic Social Teaching. Q&A following the presentation.

For details, contact Cynthia Gibbs at 828-684-3555 or cynthia@gibbsco.com.

Valentine’s Date Night with Marriage Vow Renewal and Dr. Mary Healy: 6:30-8:30 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 13, in the parish hall at St. Mark Church, 14740 Stumptown Road, Huntersville. Married and engaged couples are invited to this evening with Dr. Mary Healy, author of “Men and Women are from Eden.” In a simple style, she will present St. John Paul II’s “Theology of the Body,” a biblical understanding of God’s original plan for men and women. In addition, there will be a marriage vow renewal and refreshments. To RSVP, visit www.stmarknc.org.

SIXTH Annual Charlotte Catholic Men’s Conference: Saturday, Feb. 27, St. Matthew Church, 8015 Ballantyne Commons Pkwy., Charlotte. Speakers: Brian Pusteri of Broken Door Ministries, Joe McClane, speaker, author, evangelist; Father Chris Alar, MIC, director of the Association of Marian Helpers; Benedictine Abbot Placid Solari of Belmont Abbey; and Bishop Emeritus William Curlin. For details, visit www. catholicmenofthecarolinas.org.

NATURAL FAMILY PLANNING NFP Introduction and Full Course: 1-5 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 20, at St. Matthew Church, 8015 Ballantyne

Commons Pkwy., Charlotte. Topics include: effectiveness of modern NFP, health risks of popular contraceptives and what the Church teaches about responsible parenting. Sponsored by Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte. RSVP to Batrice Adcock, MSN, RN, at 704-3703230.

PRAYER SERVICES & Groups Pro-Life Rosary: 11 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 6, 901 North Main St. and Sunset Drive, High Point. Outdoors, rain or shine.

Parking available nearby. For details, call Jim Hoyng at 336-882-9593 or Paul Klosterman at 336-848-6835.

Charlotte catholic women’s group morning reflection: Mass at 9 a.m. Monday, Feb. 8, at St. Vincent de Paul Church, 6828 Old Reid Road, Charlotte, followed by fellowship and reflection at 10:30 a.m. by Father Thomas Kessler, pastor of St. Philip the Apostle Church in Statesville. For details, contact Connie Hudack at 704-488-6822 or email cshudack@gmail.com.

Lenten Series ‘THROUGH LENT and EASTER SUNDAY with the Gospel of Luke’: 3-4 p.m. Saturdays, Feb. 13, 20 and 27 in the Family Life Center at St. Luke Church, 3700 Lawyers Road, Mint Hill. Three-part series will provide better understanding of the Scriptures this Lent and how to apply them in everyday life. Parishioner Dave Galusha will use a video presentation to cover essential information and lead group discussion. Bring a Bible or Missal. Light refreshments served. For details, call the parish at 704-545-1224.

Anointing of the Sick: 10 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 20, at St. Luke Church, 13700 Lawyers Road, Mint Hill. Anointing is presented to those who need healing from physical or mental illness or someone who will be under-going surgery. Refreshments following Mass. For details, call Mary Adams at 704-545-1224.

Blessing of Easter Food Baskets: Noon, Saturday, March 26, at St. Thomas Aquinas Church, 1400 Suther Road, Charlotte. Deacon James Witulski will bless Easter food, part of an Eastern and Central European tradition also called “The Blessing of the Easter Baskets,” (“Swieconka” in Polish). The blessings will be in English and Polish. Bring your Easter foods to the church in a basket: traditional foods such as sausage, eggs, bread and butter, or use your imagination and include your own cultural foods. Children can even bring their own baskets with their own treats. For details, call Deacon James Witulski at 704-960-3704.

Healing Mass and Anointing of the Sick: 2 p.m. every third Sunday of the month, St. Margaret of Scotland Church, 37 Murphy Dr., Maggie Valley. Individual prayers over people after Mass by Charismatic Prayer Group members. For details, call the parish office at 828-926-0106.

Holy spirit charismatic prayer meeting: Meets every Wednesday from 7 to 8:30 p.m., St. Margaret of Scotland Church, 37 Murphy Dr., Maggie Valley. For details, call Don Zander at 828-400-9291.

Evening Novenas: Every Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at Christ the King Church, 1505 East Kivett Dr., High Point. All are invited to pray the Novena to Our Lady of

Perpetual Help. Join them in praying for the needs of your families and for our hurting world. For details, call the parish at 336-883-0244.

SAFE ENVIRONMENT TRAINING “Protecting God’s Children” workshops are intended to educate parish volunteers to recognize and prevent sexual abuse. Upcoming workshops are listed below.

For details, contact your parish office. To register and confirm workshop times, go to www.virtus.org.

Asheville: 9 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 6, St. Lawrence Basilica, 97 Haywood St. GREENSBORO: 9 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 13, St. Benedict Church, 109 West Smith St. Huntersville: 10 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 6, St. Mark Church, 14740 Stumptown Road, Swannanoa: 9:30 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 6, St. Margaret Mary Church, 102 Andrew Place.

SUPPORT GROUPS Alzheimer’s Caregiver and Family Support Group: Meets the first Monday of the month, 6:30-8 p.m., in the Family Center Room 203 at St. Mark Church, 14740 Stumptown Road, Huntersville. Organized with the Alzheimer’s Association, the monthly meetings are for the caregivers and family members of people with Alzheimer’s. For details, email Janet Urban at jgraceart@ yahoo.com.

POST-ABORTION HEALING: Rachel’s Vineyard is a weekend retreat for women and men to begin their healing journey after abortion. For details, go to www. rachelsvineyard.org or contact Jennifer Ganser, diocesan Respect Life coordinator, at 336-209-2161 or jmganser@ charlottediocese.org.

Grieving the loss of a spouse: Support group for husbands and wives who are mourning. Meets the second Monday of each month from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at St. Matthew Church, 8015 Ballantyne Commons Pkwy., Charlotte. For details, call Sister Marie Frechette at 704-543-7677.

Year of mercy Year of Mercy website: Keep up to date on all Jubilee Year of Mercy events, download catechetical resources on the spiritual and corporal works of mercy, watch videos on the theme of mercy, and much more, at the Diocese of Charlotte’s Year of Mercy website: www. yearofmercy.rcdoc.org.

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

February 5, 2016 | catholicnewsherald.com

Father Vollkommer, formerly of St. Michael Church and Belmont Abbey, passes away CHAPIN, S.C. — Father Andrew J. Vollkommer, 60, of Chapin, S.C. died Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2016.

A Mass of Christian Burial was offered Feb. 2, 2016, at Our Lady of the Lake Church in Chapin.

Born in Oceanside, N.Y., on June 26, 1955, he was the son of the late Joseph and Florence Vollkommer. He graduated from Belmont Abbey College in Belmont in 1977 with a Bachelor of Arts in sociology and a minor in theology. He entered the Benedictine order in 1978 and professed first vows in 1979. He taught sociology at Belmont Abbey College and was director of religious education at Queen of the Apostles Church in Belmont. In 1982, he began theological studies for the priesthood Vollkommer at Saint John’s Abbey and School of Theology in Collegeville, Minn. He earned a Master of Arts in religious education with distinction and a Master of Divinity with honors from Saint John’s University in Collegeville.

He was ordained to the priesthood on June 28, 1986. Father Vollkommer pursued the Degree of Master of Arts in Liturgical Studies at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., in 1987-1988 and upon completion of his advanced theological studies, returned to Gastonia, where he served at St. Michael the Archangel Church from 1988 to 1993. He also served as a member of the Presbyteral Council in the Diocese of Charlotte and on the diocesan liturgical commission.

In 1993, feeling that he was called more to a life as a parish priest, he petitioned the Holy See and was accepted by South Carolina Bishop David B. Thompson and was assigned to St. Joseph Church in Columbia, S.C., and then to Our Lady of the Lake Church, where he served continuously until his death. He celebrated the 25th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood on May 29, 2013, at a Solemn High Mass at Our Lady of the Lake Church.

Following the celebration of his jubilee, he participated in a program of spiritual renewal and sabbatical for priests in the Holy Land on the Gospel of Mark and Biblical Archeology and then in Mexico City studying in an Intermediate Spanish program specifically for parish priests, which was useful to the parish in expanding its outreach to the growing Latino community of the area.

Father Vollkommer loved being a priest and serving the Church. He enjoyed traveling and his cars, and embraced many different cultures. He is survived by sisters, Carol Morris (Alex) of Sarasota, Fla., and Mary Cutler (Bill) of Jacksonville, Fla.; many nieces and nephews, including those whom he grew up with, Christine, Jayni and Jack; and his beloved cats, Sophie, Ralphie and Bruno.

The family suggest memorials be made to Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church Building Fund, 195 Amicks Ferry Road, Chapin, SC 29036. Memories and condolence messages may be shared with the family at www.whitakerfuneralhome.com.

Whitaker Funeral Home of Chapin was in charge of the arrangements.

— Catholic News Herald

OUR PARISHESI

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Sister Gretchen Reintjes, formerly of Greensboro, advocate for North Carolina’s refugees and immigrants, dies Jan. 22 ST. PAUL — Sister Gretchen Reintjes, CSJ, a long-time Greensboro resident and passionate advocate for North Carolina’s refugees and immigrants, particularly the Montagnard people from the central highlands of Vietnam, died in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Jan. 22, 2016. She was 83.

Reintjes, who described herself as “pugnacious and assertive” was a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, St. Paul Province, a Roman Catholic community of women religious.

She served the Greensboro area for more than 20 years, retiring in 2013 to move back to her community’s mother house in Minnesota.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be offered at 11 a.m. Monday, Feb. 8,

2016, at Our Lady of the Presentation Chapel, adjacent to the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, St. Paul Province Administration Center, 1884 Randolph Ave., St. Paul, MN 55105. A visitation will be held one hour prior to Mass.

In her words, Sister Gretchen said, “The people I work with experience prejudice – Reintjes people looking the other way or not speaking to them or assuming they don’t understand,” she said in a 2006 interview. “Justice is a virtue. It’s recognizing that everyone

has the same rights of the pursuit of happiness, health and home, and an untrammeled, unpersecuted life – a life that isn’t threatened or endangered – life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. It’s the golden rule.”

Memorial donations may be made to Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte for the purpose of immigration services and refugee resettlement services, by going online to www.ccdoc.org or by mail to Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte, Attn: Administration Office, 1123 South Church St., Charlotte, NC 28203-4003.

— Catholic News Herald

Praying for St. Peregrine’s intercession Deacon Jim Hamrlik blesses a couple with the first-class relic of St. Peregrine during the healing prayer service Jan. 28 at St. Matthew Church in Charlotte. The service was led by Father Christopher Krymski, OSM, director of the National Shrine of St. Peregrine and associate pastor at Our Lady of Sorrows Basilica in Chicago, who traveled to the Charlotte diocese for the occasion.

Hundreds gathered for the joyful yet sometimes tear-filled service marking the seventh anniversary of the St. Peregrine healing prayer ministry at the parish.

At www.catholicnewsherald. com: Read more about the service and see more photos

sueann howell | catholic news herald

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catholicnewsherald.com | February 5, 2016 OUR PARISHES

Assist globally and locally with CRS Rice Bowl

ent is our time of preparation. During these 40 days, we ponder what it means to “give up, take up and lift up.”

Using the spiritual practices of prayer, fasting and almsgiving, we deepen our relationship with Christ and discern where God is working in our lives.

Starting on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 10, millions of Catholics around the country will place a colorful cardboard box and calendar in their homes to begin a spiritual journey that changes lives around the world. They will be participating in the 41st year of CRS Rice Bowl, a program with an effect that goes far beyond the funds it raises for those who need help in communities throughout the U.S. and overseas.

CRS Rice Bowl is Catholic Relief Services’ Lenten

program for families and faith communities in the U.S. who want to put their faith into action. Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States, assisting poor and suffering people in more than 100 countries on the basis of need, without regard to race, religion or nationality. Through CRS Rice Bowl, participants are invited to hear stories about their brothers and sisters in need around the world, and devote their Lenten prayers, fasting and alms to change the lives of those who suffer in poverty.

In the Diocese of Charlotte, the coordination of CRS programming takes place out of Catholic Charities’ Office of Social Concerns and Advocacy, whose director serves as the CRS diocesan liaison, appointed to that role by Bishop Peter J. Jugis. This diocesan-based work is assisted by the CRS Southeast regional office in Atlanta, a team of volunteers from the diocese who serve on an advisory

PRAY Resources available online

FAST

STORIES OF HOPE For each of the six weeks of Lent, download a recipe and read a story from a different country, focusing on a family or individual – lives that are being changed for the better by a CRS program. Each story illustrates a principle of Catholic Social Teaching and makes the connection between the gift of service and our faith – the “what” with the “why” of charity.

Go to www. crsricebowl.org/ stories-of-hope/ week-1.

FAMILY LENTEN KITS

FREE MOBILE APP Bring Lent into your life anytime, anywhere with CRS’ free Rice Bowl app for both Android and Apple devices. It features videos, recipes, reflections and a collection of “Stories of Hope” from people around the world helped by CRS. Join the conversation on social media, receive daily Lenten reflections on your device, set and track progress towards a personal Lenten goal, and use a variety of simple, meatless recipes to prepare and share on Fridays throughout Lent.

Go to www.crsricebowl.org or download the free app from the iTunes or Google Play stores.

— Catholic Relief Services, Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte’s Office of Social Concerns and Advocacy

GIVE

Catholic Relief Services has a lot of resources for you and your family this Lenten season. Besides the traditional CRS Rice Bowl cardboard bowl kit you can download online, there is a free mobile app, daily Lenten reflections, “Stories of Hope” from people who have been aided by CRS, a video series exploring the meaning of Lent, and meatless recipes from the countries featured each Lent. All materials are available in English and Spanish.

Fasting from meat on Fridays during Lent helps us “acquire a mastery over our instincts and freedom of heart.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 2043). Fasting is meant to free us. It helps us feel our physical hunger, and in turn, our spiritual hunger for the infinite love found only in God. When you’ve cleaned your plate, put the money you saved by not buying meat – an average of $3 per person per meal – into your CRS Rice Bowl to feed our brothers and sisters in need around the world. It takes just $1 per day ($40) to provide a family with food for one month.

Go to www.crsricebowl.org/families for prayer resources and activities to use during dinner, in the car on the way to school or whenever you have just a few moments to gather together, pause and pray. Download a family kit to make your own CRS Rice Bowl, print Lententhemed placemats, activity sheets and coloring pages, a Lenten calendar, prayer cards and more.

committee, and many parish and school Rice Bowl coordinators.

During Lent, through CRS Rice Bowl, parishes and schools engage in global solidarity through activities that promote prayer, fasting, learning and giving. The 2016 CRS Rice Bowl theme is “For Lent, For Life – What You Give Up For Lent Changes Lives.”

For every $3 in CRS Rice Bowl funds that go from the Charlotte diocese to CRS for its global projects, $1 remains in the diocese for local poverty and hunger alleviation projects funded by Catholic Charities’ CRS Rice Bowl MiniGrants, such as community gardens, food pantries, soup kitchens, support groups and job centers.

Visit www.ccdoc.org/cchdcrs for more information about these grants.

DAILY REFLECTIONS CRS Rice Bowl will offer daily reflections for each day of Lent, from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday. Go to www. crsricebowl.org/daily-reflections.

STATIONS OF THE CROSS DIGITAL RETREAT One-minute video reflections immerse you in Jesus’ walk to Calvary.

VIDEO SERIES: ‘HOW TO PRACTICE LENT’ So, what is Lent? A series of videos featuring Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, Jesuit Father James Martin, Christopher West, Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles, CRS staffer Thomas Awaipo, Kerry Weber of America Magazine, CRS President/CEO Dr. Carolyn Woo and others seek to answer this question from different angles. Go to www. crsricebowl.org/about/how-to-practice-lent to watch the entire series.

How to give

If your parish or school participates in the CRS Rice Bowl campaign, giving guidelines are provided. You can also give directly to CRS Rice Bowl securely online at www.crsricebowl.org; by phone at 1-877-435-7277; or mail to CRS Rice Bowl, P.O. Box 17090, Baltimore, MD 21297-0303.

February 5, 2016 | catholicnewsherald.com

OUR PARISHESI

Lenten recipes Need ideas for meatless meals this Lenten season? Not to worry! The Catholic News Herald has compiled a full range of creative yet affordable vegetarian options for you on our Pinterest page (just search “charlottecnh”).

Here are a few suggestions to help get you cooking: Zucchini Oven Chips 1/4 cup dry bread crumbs 1/4 cup (1 oz.) grated fresh Parmesan cheese 1/4 tsp. seasoned salt 1/4 tsp. garlic powder 1/8 tsp. freshly ground black pepper 2 tbsp. fat-free milk 2 1/2 cups (1/4-inch thick) slices zucchini (about 2 small) Cooking spray Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Combine first 5 ingredients in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk. Place milk in a shallow bowl. Dip zucchini slices in milk, and dredge in bread crumb mixture. Place coated slices on an ovenproof wire rack coated with cooking spray; place rack on a baking sheet. Bake at 425 degrees for 30 minutes or until browned and crisp. Serve immediately.

— Cooking Light

Sloppy Veg-Head Joe 1 tbsp. vegetable oil 1 red, green or yellow bell pepper, seeded and chopped 2 jalapeño chilies, seeded and finely chopped 1 red onion, chopped 2 large cloves garlic, grated or finely chopped Two cans black beans (15 oz. each) , rinsed 1 tsp. ground cumin 1 tsp. ground coriander Salt and pepper One can diced fire-roasted or crushed tomatoes (15 oz. each) 1 tbsp. brown sugar 1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce Juice of 1 lime 4 crusty rolls, split and lightly toasted 2 large dill pickles, chopped 1/3 cup chopped cilantro (a generous handful) In a large skillet, heat the oil, one turn of the pan, over medium-high heat. Add the bell pepper, jalapeños, red onion and garlic and cook, stirring, until tender, 6-8 minutes. Stir in the black beans, cumin and coriander; season with salt and pepper.

In a small bowl, combine the tomatoes, brown sugar and Worcestershire sauce. Add to the black beans and simmer for a few minutes. Stir in the lime juice. Serve the Sloppy Veg-Head Joe on the rolls. Top with the pickles and cilantro.

Serves 4.

— Rachael Ray at www.rachaelray.com

Clip these recipe cards and find more CRS Rice Bowl recipes and stories on our Pinterest page:

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catholicnewsherald.com | February 5, 2016 OUR PARISHES

St. Joseph Vietnamese Church to host Tet Festival Feb. 5-7 CHARLOTTE — To celebrate the beginning of the Lunar New Year, St. Joseph Vietnamese Church in Charlotte will host its annual Lunar New Year Festival Feb. 5-7.

The Lunar New Year – Tet Nguyen Dan in Vietnamese — is an important celebration in Vietnamese culture. Translated to mean “the first morning of the first day,” it is called Tet for short and is marked by traditional dress, food, music and dance.

Vietnamese people decorate their homes with flowers and fruit trees during this festive time to symbolize the fertility and fruitfulness that their families hope to gain in the coming year.

They also offer greetings and best wishes to one another for a prosperous new year. They enjoy traditional Tet food and dancing as they come together to celebrate.

The Tet Festival at St. Joseph Vietnamese Parish will be held from 6 to 11 p.m. Friday, Feb. 5; 6-11 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 6; and 9:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 7. There will be traditional Vietnamese food, games, family activities, live entertainment including lion dancers, and raffles. Admission is free.

A special Mass for the festival will be celebrated at the church on 4929 Sandy Porter Road at 10:30 a.m., Sunday, Feb. 7. The Mass File | Catholic News Herald will be offered in Vietnamese. All are welcome to attend the Tet Festival and the Mass to celebrate the Lunar New Year 2016, which on the Chinese zodiac is the Year of the Monkey.

For details, contact Bao Vu at 704-504-0907.

— Catholic News Herald

ONLINE EXCLUSIVE

RICO DE SILVA | CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

St. Gabriel Church holds annual Peanut Butter Sunday CHARLOTTE — Parishioners at St. Gabriel Church pitch in each January for “Peanut Butter Sunday,” collecting food and donations to benefit Loaves and Fishes, the food pantry serving Mecklenburg County. The annual food collection is held on the last Sunday in January. “We’ve always had a fantastic response from folks here at St. Gabe’s,” said Kelli Yarbrough, coordinator of the Peanut Butter Sunday collection, on Jan. 31. “We typically average about 5,000 pounds in collections.

This year seems to be larger than normal.”

On the Diocese of Charlotte’s YouTube channel: Watch a short video about this year’s collection effort

Start Them Early. Start Them Right.

Developing The Whole Child Begins With Faith.

St. Ann and OLA offer both half-day and full-day Pre-Kindergarten options. The curriculums promote readiness for Kindergarten and a foundation for Christian life. Teachers provide expertise in music, art and Spanish, as well as the building blocks for reading, writing, math and science.

Now Enrolling! Call to schedule a private tour.

Two Programs. Two Locations.

One Mission.

St. Ann Catholic School

Pre-K - 5th Grade 600 Hillside Ave 704.525.4938 www.stannscatholicschool.com

Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic School

Pre-K - 8th Grade 4225 Shamrock Drive 704.531.0067 www.olainfo.com

February 5, 2016 | catholicnewsherald.com

For the latest news 24/7: catholicnewsherald.com

In Brief Deacon Ricart assigned to Charlotte parish CHARLOTTE — Deacon Martin Ricart III has been assigned to St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Charlotte Ricart

by Bishop Peter J. Jugis, effective on the parish’s patronal feast day Jan. 28.

Deacon Ricart will also continue in his assignment as spiritual advisor to the Diocesan Scouting Program.

He was ordained on Jan. 29, 2011, by Bishop Jugis and has been serving at St. James the Greater Church in Concord.

— Catholic News Herald

Science, faith, business leaders converge to discuss climate change, Pope Francis CHARLOTTE — Pope Francis’ powerful encyclical “Laudato Sí” (“Praised Be”) will be the topic of a panel discussion Feb. 16 in Charlotte featuring three nationally recognized experts on environmental justice.

The event begins at 7 p.m. at the Wake Forest University Charlotte Center (200 N. College St., Charlotte) and is free and open to the public.

Advance registration is requested.

The human species has managed to run up a sizeable ecological deficit on all our earthly accounts – soil, water and climate. And as Pope Francis’ encyclical makes clear, Christianity has a key role to play in preserving our common home.

The panel discussion will include entrepreneur and conservative philanthropist, Jay Faison, founder and managing partner of ClearPath Foundation, who recently pledged $175 million in creating conservative-based solutions for global warming; School of Divinity professor Elizabeth O’Donnell Gandolfo, who teaches in the area of Catholic and Latin American studies; and Miles Silman, the Andrew Sabin Family Foundation Presidential Chair in Conservation Biology at Wake Forest University. The discussion will be moderated by Fred Bahnson, assistant professor of the Practice of Ecological Well-Being and director of the Food, Faith, and Religious Leadership Initiative at Wake Forest’s School of Divinity.

Winston-Salem-based Wake Forest University School of Divinity also offers programs in addressing ecological well-being, climate change, and food justice, with a specific niche in training and equipping faith leaders. Through the Food, Faith, and Religious Leadership Initiative, the school trains future leaders through a 15-credit certificate program in Food and Faith nested within the Master of Divinity degree. Every June the school convenes a fiveday summer immersion course in Food, Faith, and Ecology in the North Carolina mountains.

For details about the upcoming discussion, go to www.divinity.wfu.edu/ourcommonhome.

OUR PARISHESI

HECHT REALTY

Selling Lake Norman Since 1971 hechtrealty.com

885 N. NC 16 Business - Denver, NC 28037 David Fuller, Realtor david@hechtrealty.com C: 704-530-2632

O: 704-489-1183

F: 704-625-1250

Estate Planning, Elder Law and Probate PLANNING TODAY FOR YOUR FAMILY’S TOMORROW St. Matthew’s Parishioner

704.843.1446 | www.ncestateplanninginfo.com

15720 Brixham Hill Ave, Suite 300

|

Charlotte/Ballantyne

Save the Date for the 13th Annual

Partners in Hope Thursday, March 3, 2016 Benton Convention Center 301 West Fifth Street Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27101 The event is complimentary; however, you will be invited to make a generous gift to help raise our goal of $225,000. Your donation will enable Catholic Charities to sustain its mission of strengthening families, building communities, and reducing poverty.

Photos by Travis Burton | Catholic News Herald

For reservations or inquiries, call 336-714-3227 or go to ccdoc.org/partnersinhope

Praying for Christian unity CHARLOTTE — Christians from several Charlotte churches gathered at St. John Neumann Church Jan. 28 for an ecumenical prayer service to mark the Annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Pastor In-Yong Lee of Cokesbury United Methodist Church gave an address, and music was directed by Soo-Jin Ridgell of St. John Neumann Church. Participating churches included Christian Faith Assembly, Joy Church, Morning Star Lutheran Church and Cokesbury United Methodist Church.

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catholicnewsherald.com | February 5, 2016 OUR PARISHES

A Valentine’s Date Night with

Dr. Mary Healy

Wine & Appetizers Renewal of Marriage Vows February 13 ¤ 6:30-8:30 pm

“Deep in every human heart is inscribed the desire to love and be loved in an intimate and lasting relationship — a love that touches on the very core of our identity as human beings.” ~ Dr. Mary Healy

True lasting love is possible here and now.

Come enjoy a lovely evening with Dr. Healy as she presents Saint John Paul the Great’s Theology of the Body, a warm, deeply biblical understanding of God’s original plan for men and women — a plan that brings with it healing of mind in regard to intimacy and the body.

Dr. Healy’s simple style changes lives and marriages.

St. MARK CATHOLIC CHURCH 14740 Stumptown Road, Huntersville, NC Off I-77 between Exits 23 and 25

Free Event. Information and Registration: www.stmarknc.org

Photos by Doreen Sugierski | Catholic News Herald

CCDOC.ORG

A St. Blaise blessing DENVER — Parishioners at Holy Spirit Church in Denver had the opportunity to have their throats blessed earlier this week in honor of the feast of St. Blaise. St. Blaise, a bishop who lived in the fourth century in Sebaste (historical Armenia, now near present-day Sivas, Turkey), was renowned as a healer. In one famous instance, he healed a boy who was choking on a fishbone. According to one telling of the story, in 316 Bishop Blaise was arrested by the Roman governor for being a Christian. On his way to jail, a distraught woman set her only son, who was chocking to death on a fish bone, at Blaise’s feet. Blaise cured the child, and though the governor was amazed, he could not get Blaise to renounce his faith. Therefore, he beat Blaise with a stick and tore at his flesh with iron combs before beheading him. His remains are entombed at St. Blaise Basilica in Maratea, Italy.

St. Blaise has been invoked on behalf of the sick, especially those afflicted with illnesses of the throat, since at least the eighth century. The Blessing of the Throats is a sacramental, usually done on or near the saint’s feast day of Feb. 3. In the rite, a priest or deacon holds two blessed candles joined in the shape of a cross over a person’s head or touching their throat, and then says the following prayer: “Through the intercession of St. Blaise, bishop and martyr, may God deliver you from every disease of the throat and from every other illness.”

For the latest news 24/7: catholicnewsherald.com

Grieving Loved Ones Are Not Alone Last year, Catholic Charities provided 118 individuals with a dignified burial in Mecklenburg County. Catholic Charities is the only such program in the Char-Meck area to help families who do not have the means to bury their loved ones. Without such a program, these individuals would be left unclaimed at the morgue.

The Burial Assistance program serves families who have no insurance, are unable to negotiate with a funeral home or do not have the finances to pay the costs associated with death expenses.

If you need assistance, call 704.370.3232 to speak with a social worker. The program relies on the generosity of individual donors and community supporters. To donate, visit the website ccdoc.org.

Abbot Placid Solari of Belmont Abbey, and Bishop Emeritus William Curlin. For details, go to www.catholicmenofthecarolinas.org.

In Brief

Chorale to give Lenten musical performances

Catholic Men’s Conference coming up Feb. 27

The Carolina Catholic Chorale will present two performances of the Lenten devotional “Adoramus te, Christe,” featuring chant and polyphonic meditations on the Stations of the Cross: 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 19, at St. Michael the Archangel Church in Gastonia, and 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 26, at Sacred Heart Church in Salisbury.

The performances are free; donations gladly accepted to defray expenses. For details, go to www.carolinacatholicchorale.com.

CHARLOTTE — The sixth annual Charlotte Catholic Men’s Conference will be held Saturday, Feb. 27, at St. Matthew Church in south Charlotte. Speakers will include Brian Pusteri of Broken Door Ministries, author Joe McClane, Father Chris Alar, MIC, director of the Association of Marian Helpers; Benedictine

Mix

February 5, 2016 | catholicnewsherald.com catholic news heraldI

For the latest movie reviews: catholicnewsherald.com

In theaters

‘Room’ Poignant study of the love between a mother (Brie Larson) and her 5-year-old son (Jacob Tremblay) both of whom are held captive in a backyard shed by a sexual predator (Sean Bridgers) who kidnapped the young woman and fathered the boy. Born and raised within this confined space, the lad is confused by tales of the outside world but must rally his courage when an opportunity for escape presents itself. In adapting her own 2010 novel, screenwriter Emma Donoghue successfully renders everyday life as an alien environment for her bewildered protagonist, who also narrates, while subtly examining human adaptability, the power of imagination and the ironies underlying what appears on the

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On TV

surface to be an all-too-straightforward situation. Viewers of faith will particularly appreciate the biblical overtones of director Lenny Abrahamson’s somber but ultimately hopeful parable, the moral impact of which may make it acceptable for some mature adolescents. Brief abusive violence, mature themes, some profane and crude language.

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

n Saturday, Feb. 6, 11 p.m. (EWTN) “The Father James Alberione Story.” After being dismissed from the seminary, a young man turns his life around and goes on to eventually complete his studies and found a worldwide Catholic media empire

‘13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi’

n Monday, Feb. 8, 6:30 p.m. (EWTN) “Tiny Piece of Heaven.” Explore the lives and faith of a community of believers in the small coastal town of Magadan, Siberia, which at one time was a slave labor camp.

Working from the 2014 book by Mitchell Zuckoff, director Michael Bay offers a gripping, fact-based account of what happened on the ground when the U.S. consulate in the Libyan city of the title was overrun on Sept. 11, 2012, and four American lives, most prominently that of Ambassador Chris Stevens (Matt Letscher), were lost. John Krasinski plays the central figure in a band of security operatives, hired to defend a top-secret CIA base. When the nearby diplomatic compound is attacked, with a visiting Stevens inside, and calls for help go unanswered, the men defy a wrongheaded official’s order not to intervene, and enter the fray. As it chronicles a modern-day Battle of the Alamo, the film is awash in sometimes bloody mayhem. While unsuitable for casual moviegoers of any age, this drama’s thematic significance and real-world resonance may make it an appropriate choice for at least some adults who would normally shun a picture showcasing so much armed conflict.

Constant graphic war violence, some profane and crude language.

CNS: L (limited adult audience); MPAA: R

n Tuesday, Feb. 9, 6:30 p.m. (EWTN) “Rising from the Ashes.” A documentary on infant mortality in Sierra Leone and the alliance effort of the Healey International Foundation to bring hope and healing.

‘Other movies’ n ‘Ride Along 2’: CNS: A-III (adults); MPAA: PG-13 n ‘The Boy’: CNS: A-III (adults); MPAA: PG-13 n ‘The 5th Wave’: CNS: A-II (adults and adolescents); MPAA: PG-13

n Thursday, Feb. 11, 4 p.m. (EWTN) “Bernadette: Princess of Lourdes.”

Bernadette and her friends went out to gather firewood, but found something of far greater value, a true understanding of their faith through a special encounter with “The Immaculate Conception.” n Thursday, Feb. 11, 6:30 p.m. (EWTN) “Bernadette: Saint of Lourdes.”

The life of Bernadette Soubirous, peasant girl of Lourdes, France, to whom Our Lady appeared in 1858. The film calls us to find peace of mind and heart, as Bernadette did, even in the midst of chaos. n Saturday, Feb. 13, 2 p.m. (EWTN) “Guadalupe: The Miracle and the Message.” Jim Caviezel narrates the history of Our Lady of Guadalupe, from the miraculous apparition to the relevance her message still holds for Catholics today. n Tuesday, Feb. 16, 6:30 p.m. (EWTN) “Providence Will Provide.” A look into the life of Mother Mary Lange, who despite cultural hostility established the first religious community of black women in the history of the Catholic Church. n Thursday, Feb. 18, 6:30 p.m. (EWTN) “The Angels of the Artic Circle.” An inside look at Carmelite nuns who have become an oasis of healing and wisdom for believers and nonbelievers alike in secular Norway.

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FROM TH

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‘Your financial gift to the Diocesan Support Appeal is an act of mercy for thousands of people who are helped by these ministries.’ Bishop Peter J. Jugis

2016 DSA campaign reflects Year of Mercy SueAnn Howell Senior reporter

CHARLOTTE — “Whatsoever you do to the least of My people, that you do unto Me” are the words gently sung to the people of the Diocese of Charlotte in the informational video created for this year’s Diocesan Support Appeal. The words remind us during this Jubilee Year of Mercy decreed by Pope Francis that we are to reach out to our community to help whomever we can however we can.

That is the aim of the annual DSA campaign, which this year has a goal of $5.3 million.

The DSA campaign funds more than 50 programs, including the core operations of 23 ministries and agencies that serve thousands of people across the diocese – most notably, Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte for its counseling, food pantries, pregnancy support, refugee resettlement, elder ministry, Respect Life and other programs, as well as the programs and ministries of the Education Vicariate. It also supports multicultural ministries, seminarian education, the permanent diaconate, the annual Eucharistic Congress, and the diocese’s housing corporation.

Education programs in the diocese receive 31 percent of the funds collected through the DSA. Among the ministries funded by the DSA is the diocese’s RCIA program. Located in every parish of the diocese, RCIA educates adults who are interested in joining the Church and prepares them to receive the sacraments.

In this year’s DSA video, Capuchin Franciscan Father Martin Schratz, pastor of Immaculate Conception Church in Hendersonville and chaplain of the diocese’s RCIA program, explains how RCIA ignites the Catholic faith.

“We see it over and over again. When they go through this process, they are on fire, they are excited. It becomes contagious in the parish,” Father Schratz said.

“Part of what we are doing is to have a lot of workshops and different programs we can offer. That’s how the DSA gets involved. We have a lot of these programs that the funds (from the DSA) help us put the programs on.”

The DSA also funds some of the work of Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte.

Catholic Charities receives 35 percent of the funds collected in the campaign.

Okima, a pregnant teenager and Catholic Charities client, received the help she needed to carry her child to term.

“I wasn’t going to school because I was pregnant,” Okima remembers. “I wasn’t too sure I wanted to even keep my child. I don’t know what I would have done without the help I received. Catholic Charities offered so many different things. I’m so glad this agency is here for people like me.”

She did graduate from high school and felt supported. “I never thought I was going to do it,” Okima recalls. “It made me feel good when someone was on my side, so I have to be there for my son.”

Other DSA funds are allocated to: multicultural ministries (15 percent); vocations (8 percent); Eucharistic Congress and housing ministry (7 percent); and campaign costs (5 percent).

Parishioners in all 92 parishes and missions in the Charlotte diocese fund the annual DSA. Each parish is assessed a goal based on its average weekly collection.

Parishes that exceed their goal get to keep the extra funds they collect, while parishes which fall short of their goal in donations from parishioners make up the shortfall from their operating budgets.

Last year, the DSA campaign raised a record $5,295,300 from 16,628 donors across the diocese.

Bishop Peter J. Jugis, in his message in the 2016 DSA video, encourages the faithful to continue their charitable works through the DSA campaign.

“The corporal and spiritual works of mercy are evident throughout the Diocese of Charlotte during this Jubilee Year of Mercy declared by Pope Francis. …Your financial gift to the Diocesan Support Appeal is an act of mercy for thousands of people who are helped by these ministries.

“I pray that whatsoever you do to support the DSA you feel the humility and mercy of God Our Father as we continue to do His work here in the Diocese of Charlotte.”

Where does your money go?

The purpose of the Diocesan Support Appeal (DSA) is to help provide the annual funding necessary to carry out the mission of our diocese – namely to fulfill our call to “grow ever more perfectly into a community of praise, worship and witness, and to become a leaven of service and sign of peace through love in the Piedmont and Western North Carolina.” The DSA provides funding for the following:

35% CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF THE DIOCESE OF CHARLOTTE CC Administration CC Charlotte Office CC Triad Office Western NC Office Refugee Resettlement Office Office of Economic Opportunity 15% Family Life Ministries MULTICULTURAL MINISTRIES Social Concerns and Advocacy, Respect Life Hispanic Ministries Counseling Services Hmong Ministry Adoption and Pregnancy Support African Am American Ministry ce Direct Assistance (Food Pantries)

15%

35%

8% 7% 31%

31%

EDUCATION Adult Education/Evangelization Evangelization Campus Ministry Faith Formation Office Youth Ministry Catholic Schools Offices Office of the Vicar of Education

5%

8% VOCATIONS Seminarian Education Permanent Diaconate

7% 7 O OTHER E Eucharistic Congress Housing Ministry

5% DSA CAMPAIGN COSTS

All parishes and missions in the diocese help fund the annual DSA. Parishes that exceed their goal in donations receive a rebate for the additional funds collected.

Parishes which fall short of their goal in donations from parishioners have the shortfall taken out of their operating budgets.

Note: This chart reflects projected 2016 DSA funding for $5.3 million which is allocated to these offices and ministries.

How to support the DSA Make a pledge in response to a mailing you receive or in-pew appeal at your local parish.

An individual DSA pledge may be paid in up to 10 installments by EFT, credit card or check.

Pledging allows you to make a greater gift over time, without overburdening your budget. When you make a pledge, you will receive monthly reminder statements in the mail until your pledge is paid, or until December 2016.

ONE-TIME DONATIONS: Give a one-time contribution in response to a mailing you receive or in-pew appeal at your local parish.

Please make checks payable to the “DSA” and note the name of your parish in the memo line of the check. Do not send cash through the mail.

DONATE ONLINE: Donate online at www. charlottediocese.org/dsa, either with a one-time gift or recurring monthly gifts via credit or debit card. (If you give online, please do not complete

a pledge envelope at your local parish. This could result in having two gift records.)

STOCK DONATION: Make a donation of publicly traded securities and receive the tax benefits for giving appreciated stock. A stock donation form and instructions can be downloaded at www.charlottediocese.org/ donations.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: contact Kerry Ann Tornesello, associate director of development, at 704-370-3302 or email katornesello@ charlottediocese.org.

Learn more View the 2016 DSA video on the Diocese of Charlotte’s YouTube channel and on www. catholicnewsherald.com.

14

catholicnewsherald.com | February 5, 2016 FROM THE COVER

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Christ the King Mission Christ the King Church Divine Redeemer Church Good Shepherd Mission Holy Angels Church Holy Cross Church Holy Family Church Holy Infant Church Holy Redeemer Church Holy Spirit Church Holy Trinity Church Immaculate Conception Church Immaculate Conception Church Immaculate Conception Mission Immaculate Heart of Mary Church Immaculate Heart of Mary Mission Our Lady of Consolation Church Our Lady of Fatima Mission Our Lady of Grace Church Our Lady of Guadalupe Mission Our Lady of Guadalupe Church Our Lady of Lourdes Church Our Lady of Mercy Church Our Lady of the Americas Church Our Lady of the Angels Church Our Lady of the Annunciation Church Our Lady of the Assumption Church Our Lady of the Highways Church Our Lady of the Mountains Our Lady of the Rosary Church Prince of Peace Mission Queen of the Apostles Church Sacred Heart Church Sacred Heart Mission Sacred Heart Mission Sacred Heart Church St. Aloysius Church St. Andrew the Apostle Church St. Ann Church St. Barnabas Church St. Benedict Church St. Benedict the Moor Church St. Bernadette Mission St. Charles Borromeo Church St. Dorothy Church St. Elizabeth Church St. Eugene Church St. Frances of Rome Mission St. Francis of Assisi Church St. Francis of Assisi Church St. Francis of Assisi Church St. Francis of Assisi Church St. Gabriel Church St. Helen Mission St. James Church St. James Church St. Joan of Arc St. John Baptist de La Salle Church St. John Lee Korean Church St. John Neumann Church St. John the Baptist Church St. John the Evangelist Church St. Joseph Church St. Joseph Church St. Joseph Church St. Joseph Church St. Joseph - Vietnamese Church St. Joseph of the Hills Church St. Jude Mission St. Lawrence Basilica St. Leo the Great Church St. Lucien Church St. Luke Church St. Margaret Mary Church St. Margaret of Scotland Church St. Mark Church St. Mary Church St. Mary Church St. Mary, Mother of God Church St. Matthew Church St. Michael the Archangel Church St. Patrick Cathedral St. Paul the Apostle Church St. Peter Church St. Philip the Apostle Church St. Pius X Church St. Stephen Mission St. Thérèse Church St. Thomas Aquinas Church St. Vincent de Paul Church St. William Church

Kings Mountain High Point Boonville King Mount Airy Kernersville Clemmons Reidsville Andrews Denver Taylorsville Forest City Hendersonville Canton High Point Hayesville Charlotte Winston-Salem Greensboro Cherokee Charlotte Monroe Winston-Salem Biscoe Marion Albemarle Charlotte Thomasville Highlands Lexington Robbinsville Belmont Brevard Wadesboro Burnsville Salisbury Hickory Mars Hill Charlotte Arden Greensboro Winston-Salem Linville Morganton Lincolnton Boone Asheville Sparta Franklin Jefferson Lenoir Mocksville Charlotte Spencer Mountain Concord Hamlet Candler North Wilkesboro Charlotte Charlotte Tryon Waynesville Asheboro Bryson City Kannapolis Newton Charlotte Eden Sapphire Asheville Winston-Salem Spruce Pine Mint Hill Swannanoa Maggie Valley Huntersville Greensboro Shelby Sylva Charlotte Gastonia Charlotte Greensboro Charlotte Statesville Greensboro Elkin Mooresville Charlotte Charlotte Murphy

DSA GOAL $4,407 $10,932 $20,591 $10,879 $21,450 $74,699 $135,616 $17,410 $5,051 $57,509 $6,739 $38,476 $125,995 $4,280 $129,572 $19,251 $44,661 $9,013 $108,665 $5,090 $55,180 $51,659 $72,315 $26,953 $9,644 $28,043 $46,769 $16,614 $14,307 $21,418 $2,585 $79,768 $50,367 $2,081 $8,595 $94,936 $113,092 $8,021 $87,197 $75,230 $22,397 $11,279 $30,137 $44,190 $27,178 $37,853 $70,547 $7,796 $27,304 $14,413 $26,198 $17,725 $316,768 $4,989 $107,964 $12,066 $24,284 $15,360 $16,484 $98,389 $41,961 $18,866 $31,271 $6,647 $14,062 $22,638 $38,024 $12,551 $17,698 $66,643 $145,282 $7,799 $93,781 $24,403 $16,135 $242,054 $42,522 $22,767 $15,224 $781,347 $67,009 $82,226 $104,168 $122,246 $47,107 $169,206 $12,408 $147,438 $104,446 $112,542 $21,145

TOTAL $5,300,000

February 5, 2016 | catholicnewsherald.com catholic news heraldI

MERCY

FRANCIS

FROM PAGE 2

FROM PAGE 3

Diocese of Charleston, who guides group members through God’s covenant with His people, by explaining the events of the Bible and showing how God pours out His mercy even after they stray from Him. Each session is capped by insights from various Catholic authors, speakers and clergy, which demonstrate the power of Divine Mercy in the world today inspiring participants to seek God’s mercy and to foster a closer relationship with Christ.

Several parishes in the Diocese of Charlotte have already ordered their materials in preparation for running the program this Lent. St. Vincent de Paul Church in Charlotte, Holy Spirit Church in Denver, St. Mary’s Church in Shelby and St. Lawrence Basilica in Asheville are several of the parishes which plan to offer the program.

Cindy Shaffer, a member of the St. Vincent de Paul Parish Council, will be co-leading the Wednesday evening sessions at her church beginning Feb. 17.

“As a parish, we’ve been looking for ways to live out the Year of Mercy called for by our Holy Father Pope Francis.

“The Doors of Mercy program offers our parishioners another powerful way to reflect upon – and encounter – God’s mercy during this special year.

It’s also an invitation to others in the community, including those who may have been away from the Church, to come learn about God’s mercy, too.”

Father Mark Lawlor, pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Church, says the parish is seeking to follow Pope Francis’ initiative.

“The Doors of Mercy series will provide our parishioners with reflections on the mercy of God and our response in the spiritual life. I am confident that this series will have a profound impact on those who participate,” he said.

(“The Joy of the Gospel”), in which he described a new path forward for the Church.

“For Francis, change is necessary, and he denounces – in his words – as ‘complacent’ the ecclesial establishment’s ‘we have always done it this way.’”

The Rome-centered hierarchy has not always been how the Church has governed itself, Mannion said, and despite an undercurrent of opposition particularly from younger priests formed under the Rome-centric ecclesiology of John Paul II, Pope Francis is reshaping the Church.

Pope Francis has warned against those who have a nostalgia for ossified structures and customs “which are no longer life-giving,” Mannion said, and he is stressing collegiality among the world’s bishops and a “healthy decentralization” of Church governance.

Mannion cited Pope Francis’ words in “Evangelii Gaudium”: “For those who long for a monolithic body of doctrine guarded by all and leaving no room for nuance, this might appear as undesirable and leading to confusion. But in fact such variety serves to bring out and develop different facets of the inexhaustible riches of the Gospel” (40).

To Francis, the heart of the Church is not rooted exclusively in doctrine, but in its evangelizing mission, Mannion said, recalling the words of John XXIII: “The deposit of faith is one thing. The way it is expressed is another.”

This philosophy is rooted firmly in the Second Vatican Council, particularly in its constitutions “Gaudium et Spes” and “Lumen Gentium,” he said.

Pope Francis is also strongly emphasizing the Church’s essence as the People of God, a

Learn More At www.mercystudy.com: Get more information about the ‘Doors of Mercy’ program.

To order materials for your parish, email Lynn Klika at Lynn@stbenedictpress.com or call 800-437-5876.

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term which entails a renewed focus on the role and responsibilities of the laity in reviving the Church and evangelizing the Gospel, Mannion said. Rather than seeing clergy as teachers and the laity as passive students, Francis seeks collaboration among the clergy and the laity, for the Church’s ultimate goal is helping all people along on their pilgrim journey to God. Pope Francis’ understanding of the People of God affirms unity amid differences – something he calls “reconciled diversity.” While the Church must preserve unity on fundamental doctrine, it must also remove internal stumbling blocks that have held the Church back from its evangelizing mission in recent times, Mannion said.

“It’s not jettisoning fundamental teachings of the Church. It’s about emphasizing core teachings of the Church – justice, mercy, compassion, inclusion. The Church has been at its best when it’s held up these teachings. The Church has often been at its worst when it held up doctrinal issues or particular interpretations and beat people up over them.”

In addition, the Church must reach out to other faiths, Christian and non-Christian alike, and focus on what they believe in common.

“He knows the doctrinal differences will not be solved overnight,” Mannion said, but those issues should not be obstacles to working together now on issues of common concern like the environment, poverty or migration.

Pope Francis is guiding the Church along a path that looks back to Vatican II yet also clearly eyes the challenges of present times, Mannion concluded.

“He’s engaging people. He’s using his ministry just like Pope John XXIII, who constantly stressed what we have in common is more than what divides us. Pope Francis is taking that into a new century,” he said. “It’s all about the Gospel. And if it’s not about the Gospel, then you’ve got your priorities backwards.”

Our schools 16

catholicnewsherald.com | February 5, 2016 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

For the latest news 24/7: catholicnewsherald.com

In Brief Diocesan School Board has openings

Celebrating Catholic Schools Week ‘What better teacher of mercy do we have, of course, than Jesus?’

The Diocese of Charlotte School Board has vacancies beginning with the 2016-2017 school year. Knowing that this Board is advisory/ consultative to the Superintendent and Bishop on matters relating to all diocesan schools, the board members put aside individual school or parish needs to work in the framework of the entire Diocese.

To be eligible to serve, a board member must be a practicing Catholic, be a participating member of a diocesan parish, be at least 25 years old, have a genuine interest in and commitment to the Catholic Schools in the Diocese of Charlotte, be able to work effectively with others in achieving consensus, and be able and willing to make necessary and substantial time commitments to attend meetings and related board activities including active participation on board committees.

The term of office shall be three years.

Board members may serve two full or partial consecutive terms.

For an application, contact Theresa Ramirez in the Catholic Schools office at tramirez@ charlottediocese.org.

The application and a letter of verification/ recommendation by your pastor should be submitted by Feb. 18.

Interviews will be conducted for selected applicants. Final appointments to the Diocesan School Board are made by the bishop.

Purello wins St. Michael’s Geography Bee GASTONIA — Thomas Purello, a seventhgrader, won the first round of the 2016 National Geographic Bee at St. Michael School Jan. 12.

Sam Cook, a fifth-grader, won second place, and Austin Rios, a fourth-grader, won third place.

St. Michael School has participated in the National Geographic Bee for more than two decades.

Thousands of students in the fourth through eighth grades at schools around the United States and in the five U.S. territories are participating in the National Geographic Bee. Purello School champions, including Purello, will take a qualifying test. Up to 100 of the top scorers on that test in each state will then be eligible to compete in their state bee on April 1.

The National Geographic Society will provide an all-expenses paid trip to Washington, D.C., for state winners to participate in the Bee national championship rounds May 22-25. The firstplace national champion will receive a $50,000 college scholarship, a lifetime membership in the Society including a subscription to National Geographic magazine, and a National Geographic Expeditions trip to a national park in recognition of the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service.

The national finals will air on television on the National Geographic Channel and PBS stations.

Check local listings for dates and times.

— Pat Burr

Bishop Jugis celebrates Catholic Schools Week Mass SueAnn Howell Senior reporter

GASTONIA — Students, faculty and families of St. Michael School in Gastonia began Catholic Schools Week with their shepherd, Bishop Peter J. Jugis, who celebrated an all-school Mass Feb. 1. The annual celebration for U.S. Catholic schools runs Jan. 31-Feb. 6.

The Mass was one of two the bishop offered for the annual Catholic Schools Week celebration, with the other Feb. 4 at Charlotte Catholic High School.

Students at St. Michael School, ranging from prekindergarteners through eighth grade, welcomed their bishop with one of his favorite hymns, “O God Beyond All Praising,” sung by some of the youngest members of the school.

Father Matthew Buettner, pastor of St. Michael Church and Deacon John Weisenhorn, assisted at Mass. Students also served as altar servers, lectors and gift bearers.

During his homily, Bishop Jugis thanked God for the gift of Catholic schools and asked for a blessing on the parents, families and staff involved in Catholic education in the Diocese of Charlotte.

He then directed his comments directly to the students: “This year we are also celebrating the Year of Mercy, the Jubilee of Mercy throughout the entire Church with the theme, ‘Be Merciful, just as your Heavenly Father is Merciful.’ In this Mass I want to ask you students to be merciful, to take that theme of our Year of Mercy seriously and to put mercy into practice in your own lives, to treat others with mercy just as Jesus taught us.

“What better teacher of mercy do we have, of course, than Jesus?”

“Jesus wants you to experience His mercy and to know His peace,” he emphasized.

“Who among us does not have any difficulties or problems that we can turn to Jesus and say, ‘Jesus, please have mercy on me’?

Look at this problem I have, or this difficulty that I am going through. Or this struggle that my family is going through.

Tell Jesus, he said, “Please have mercy. Please help us. Please strengthen us and come to be with us.”

Bishop Jugis reminded the students that when we have done wrong or committed a sin, our conscience will tell us.

“That’s when we turn to Jesus and ask for His mercy and for His forgiveness. He does bring peace. He responds with His merciful love and forgiveness. What results is peace of soul, peace of mind. All we have to do is turn to Him.” He encouraged the students to pray for those they know who are sick or those who are facing difficulties.

Bishop Jugis recalled the Lord’s words: “Come to me, all you who are weary and find life burdensome, and I will refresh you.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble of heart and your souls will find rest, you will receive peace. For my yoke is easy and my burden light.”

“He’s talking about mercy there,” he said.

The Year of Mercy provides a beautiful theme for the People of God to meditate upon and proclaim what the Lord has done, he said.

“Be merciful, then, to others. Treat others with mercy as God has been merciful to you. It’s is a beautiful program of life, treating others with mercy. It is what the Lord asks of us – not only during the Year of Mercy, but always,” he said.

More online At www.catholicnewsherald.com: Watch a video of Bishop Jugis’ homily for Catholic Schools Week (Left) Bishop Peter Jugis blesses a student from St. Michael School in Gastonia during the all-school Catholic Schools Week Mass at St. Michael Church on Feb. 1.

(Above) Bishop Jugis gives third-grader Jean-Paul Younan a “low five” as he toured the school Feb. 1 with Father Matthew Buettner, pastor of St. Michael Church, for Catholic Schools Week.

Photos by sueann howell | catholic news herald

February 5, 2016 | catholicnewsherald.com catholic news heraldI

17

Michael Miller

Catholic education equips students to tackle life’s problems

T

Photo via Facebook Photo via Facebook

CHARLOTTE — Deacon Daren Bitter discusses vocations with fourth-graders at St. Matthew School during Catholic Schools Week.

ASHEVILLE — Students from Asheville Catholic School spoke at Masses Jan. 31 to start Catholic Schools Week.

Photo provided by Michele Snoke

CHARLOTTE — Students at St. Gabriel School created original prayer cards for Catholic Schools Week, with all kindergarten through fifth-graders submitting a drawing for the front of the card and all second- through fifth-graders writing a prayer. Fifth-grader Luke Guthrie was the winning illustrator and fifth-grader Joey Baisley won for his prayer, which read in part: “God, help us to become Your disciples everyday as we walk down the road of life with faith, spread our knowledge, give service to our community, and acknowledge our privileges.” The winning prayer card, which was blessed by Father Ed Sheridan, was printed and given out to every student and faculty member.

Photos provided by Carrie Vest

KERNERSVILLE — Bishop McGuinness High School students help kick off Catholic Schools Week by reading and playing with their pre-kindergarten and first-grade friends at Immaculate Heart of Mary School. To thank them for their service, IHM students delivered handmade cards and gift baskets to the EMS, police, fire and American Red Cross in their community.

Photo provided by Melissa Kinsley

WINSTON-SALEM — St. Leo students dressed up to honor careers in public service. Also, at the school’s “Year of Mercy” assembly, the Pesavento family was honored with the PTO Family Service Award for their exceptional volunteerism.

At www.catholicnewsherald.com: See lots more photos from Catholic Schools Week activities at the diocese’s 19 schools

he Diocese of Charlotte school system, including Asheville Catholic School, focuses on how best to weave our faith throughout the curriculum so that students understand how they are connected, and establishing a context for other things they learn. In common conversation, we often ask how we can ensure the “Catholicity” of our schools remains strong and continues to grow.

A natural inclination is to look back through the history of the Church and identify the monumental impact the Catholic Church has had on education. We might recall Gregor Mendel, the Augustinian monk, called “the father of genetics” because of his discoveries while conducting genetic experiments with pea plants. Or, we might remember St. Augustine and his profound teachings as a Doctor of the Church. As an isolated approach, teaching students about these historical figures, while very important, makes it difficult for our students to see the relevancy, meaning and connection that our faith has to what they are learning each day in school. We must also show our students how they fit into the contemporary world with all of its challenges.

In understanding that all knowledge comes from God, we must not neglect to teach our students that the wisdom of how to use that knowledge also comes from God. Choose any admired thinker from any era, and you’ll find someone whose knowledge and wisdom came from God. As educators, we must impress upon our students the enormous opportunity they have to make choices about how they might change the world with what they have learned in the classroom – in other words, how to use wisdom, a gift of the Holy Spirit, to guide their free will so they may fulfill God’s mission for them.

This is where our focus should be when it comes to the “Catholicity” of our schools. What are we teaching our students to do with the knowledge gained in our classrooms? What problems are we facing that our students could grow up to solve because of what they learned from a Catholic education?

Pope Francis made the following statement about the struggles our schools face when it comes to instilling a Catholic worldview and finding solutions to the world’s problems: “Again and again, the Church has acted as a mediator in finding solutions to problems affecting peace, social harmony, the land, the defense of life, human and civil rights, and so forth. And how much good has been done by Catholic schools and universities around the world!

This is a good thing. Yet, we find it difficult to make people see that when we raise other questions less palatable to public opinion, we are doing so out of fidelity to precisely the same convictions about human dignity and the common good.”

In his statement, not only does the Holy Father identify the major areas where we continue to see global concerns, but he does so while acknowledging the challenges of current public opinions.

At Asheville Catholic School, students experience a high level of academic challenge, while they also learn the virtues and other guiding principles needed to weather the storms of public opinion. Seeing to such a task must be intentional, or the prevailing winds that buffet our students while they navigate the narrow straits of today’s culture will blow them off course.

For example, at Asheville Catholic School, we have developed a model for global leadership that relies heavily on making the theological and cardinal virtues ubiquitous in the school culture. We combine these seven virtues with Stephen Covey’s “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” to build a values system to serve students well when combined with the academic knowledge they gain. The principles found in the virtues are timeless and applicable to any situation – enormously important in today’s society. If we have a student who combines a commitment to living out the virtues of our faith along with strong academic knowledge, even in the challenging culture of today, then we have someone who is well prepared to take on the problems of our world.

In 2014, Pope Francis identified three areas of focus for Catholic education: the value of dialogue, the qualified preparation of educators, and the responsibility of educational institutions to express the living presence of the Gospel in the fields of education, science and culture.

On his first point, he compared the task at hand for Catholic schools to that of Christ Himself when He proclaimed the Good News in a region that was a crossroads of people, culture and religion. The Holy Father acknowledges the profound changes that have led to an “ever wider diffusion of multicultural societies.” This educational environment requires dialogue, as Pope Francis says, “…with courageous and innovative fidelity that enables Catholic identity to encounter the various ‘souls’ of multicultural society.”

Addressing the preparation of Catholic educators, he went on to emphasize that the current educational environment is “guided by a changing generation,” and that even the Church as a whole (as an educating mother) “is required to change, in the sense of knowing how to communicate with the young.”

On his third point, Pope Francis reiterated that Catholic academic institutions should avoid “isolating themselves in the world.”

Instead, he said, Catholic schools should “know how to enter, with courage, into the Areopagus of contemporary cultures and to initiate dialogue, aware of the gift they are able to offer to all.”

So, as we consider the value of a Catholic education in celebration of Catholic Schools Week, let us consider “Catholicity” not solely by looking back at history, but as an integral part of charting a path forward for our students so that they can make history – relying on Christ to guide them in solving the problems of our world.

Michael Miller is the principal of Asheville Catholic School.

Our nation 18

catholicnewsherald.com | February 5, 2016 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

For the latest news 24/7: catholicnewsherald.com

In Brief USCCB files brief in Texas abortion law case

March for Life marks 43rd anniversary of Roe decision legalizing abortion Kurt Jensen Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Texas Catholic Conference joined other faith-based groups in filing a friend of the court brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of a Texas law requiring health and safety standards protecting women who undergo abortions.

The filing comes in the case of Whole Women’s Health v. Hellerstedt, on which the Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments on two provisions of the law regulating abortion clinics in the state later during its current term.

The 2013 Texas law requires that clinics to meet the same standards as ambulatory surgical centers when performing abortions and also requires abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at a hospital near an abortion clinic.

The brief argued that the Texas law should be upheld in its entirety. The document said the Supreme Court has held since the advent of Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 case legalizing abortion in the U.S., that states may enforce standards regarding the qualifications of doctors who perform abortions and the conditions of facilities in which abortions are carried out.

— Catholic News Service

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human life, is different. It is built by you, the grass roots. We come her to show that we cannot be intimidated.”

Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., co-chairman of the Congressional ProLife Caucus and a Catholic, praised efforts by state legislatures.

“The gains have been historic – 282 pro-life laws have been enacted since 2010 including laws to stop dismemberment abortions, require a 72-hour waiting period, and informed consent.”

The rally was the evangelical community’s first formal involvement in the annual March for Life, which is held on the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision, which legalized abortion virtually on demand in the U.S. “We are grateful for your leadership on the culture of life,” said Jim Daly, president of Focus on the Family. “It’s taken us time to come to the party, but we are here with you!”

Daly also was headlining the first major pro-life conference for evangelicals to be held in conjunction with the March for Life.

He was joined at the conference and the rally by Russell Moore, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Catholic admonitions about inclusion mixed with strong political language before the March of Life got underway Jan. 22 in Washington.

At a Jesuit-sponsored Mass for life at St. Aloysius Gonzaga Church that morning, Father Paddy Gilger’s homily reminded a small group of students that because Jesus made an effort to be inclusive when he chose his disciples, they, too, should be respectful of others’ opinions.

“As we join in the fight against the scourge of abortion, our differences remain, and that’s OK,” he said.

Father Gilger also told the students to combine prayer and penance to create a culture of life. “Our efforts are to be able to create the same amount of space for people to change their hearts.”

Later, at the March for Life rally at the Washington Monument, attended by nearly 50,000, Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard who is running for the Republican presidential nomination, reminded the audience that the next president “will have the awesome responsibility to pick up to four Supreme Court justices who will decide issues of life and religious liberty. ... Make no mistake, ladies and gentleman, this election is a fight for the character of our nation.”

They grew quiet when Fiorina said the issue before them was “whether we, as a nation believe, as the Democrat platform says that a life isn’t a life until it leaves the hospital. Yes, that is the Democrat platform, that a life isn’t a life until it’s born. And they call us extreme.

It is Democrats, the pro-abortion industry, that is extreme.”

Silent symbols of religious liberty, however, got a roar. A group of Little Sisters of the Poor who work at the order’s nursing home in Washington drew a sustained ovation when they were introduced.

The Denver-based order is fighting a mandate from the Department of Health and Human Services that requires employers, including most CNS | Gregory A. Shemitz religious employers, to provide Pro-life advocates pray across from the Supreme Court building during the March for Life in Washington Jan. 22, the 43rd contraceptive coverage to its anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion in the U.S. employees under the Affordable Health Care Act even if they have Southern Baptist Convention. moral objections to doing so.

In the days leading up to the March for Life as forecasters In her remarks, Fiorina also expressed her continued support announced the impending blizzard headed for Washington, for the series of videos released last summer by David Daleiden organizers of the annual event said it would not be canceled. and the Center for Medical Progress that purport to show It drew “what appeared to be tens of thousands” of participants, California representatives of Planned Parenthood discussing the according to an estimate from Jeanne Monahan-Mancini, sale of parts of aborted fetuses. president of the March for Life Education and Defense Fund.

A lawsuit against Daleiden and the center over the videos has “The world may think that we’re a little bit crazy to be here on a reached the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, with the National day like today, but those that are standing here know that there is Abortion Foundation and Planned Parenthood accusing him of no sacrifice too great to fight the human rights abuse of abortion,” misrepresenting his organization and illegally taping without Monahan-Mancini told the crowd. permission, and aiding in violent threats against abortion clinics After the rally, participants marched up Constitution Avenue to and the women who go there. the U.S. Supreme Court as snow began to fall – the beginning of Planned Parenthood officials claim the videos were edited to what turned into a major blizzard and left more than 2 feet of snow manipulate the interviews and any mention of money for tissue in Washington, with outer suburbs receiving even more. and body parts is related to customary handling fees. But Daleiden and the Center for Medical Progress stand by its videos.

Patrick Kelly, the Knights of Columbus vice president for public More online policy, said opponents of the pro-life movement, “insist on dividing At www.catholicnewsherald.com: Read more from North Carolina pilgrims and bullying those who disagree with them by speaking of a who attended the March for Life fictional war on women. Our movement, the movement to protect

February 5, 2016 | catholicnewsherald.com catholic news heraldI

Supreme Court to hear oral arguments in HHS mandate cases March 23 Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments March 23 in seven pending appeals in lawsuits brought by several Catholic and other faith-based entities against the Obama administration’s contraceptive mandate.

Among the plaintiffs are the Little Sisters of the Poor, the Archdiocese of Washington, the Pittsburgh and Erie dioceses, Priests for Life, Southern Nazarene University and Texas Baptist University.

The cases are being referred to collectively as Zubik v. Burwell. Bishop David A. Zubik heads the Diocese of Pittsburgh and Sylvia Mathews Burwell is the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Under the federal Affordable Care Act, most employers, including religious ones, are required to cover employees’ artificial birth control, sterilization and abortifacients, even if employers are morally opposed to such coverage.

In all of the cases to be argued before the high court in March, appellate courts in various jurisdictions sided with the Obama administration. The rulings said the religious entities’ freedom of religion was not burdened by having to comply with the mandate as they have argued, because the federal government has in place an accommodation, or “work around,” for a third party to provide the contested coverage.

These employers must notify HHS in

writing of their religious objections.

Then HHS or the Department of Labor in turn tells insurers and third-party administrators that they must cover the services at no charge to employees.

But the religious groups object to that third-party notification, saying they still would be complicit in supporting practices they oppose.

While their appeals worked their way to the high court, the government has not been able to force the groups to comply with the mandate or face daily fines for noncompliance.

Only those religious employers that meet narrow criteria set by the Obama administration are exempt from the mandate. Houses of worship are exempt, for example, but most Catholic and other religious employers are not.

Music Director Looking for an energetic, self-motivated team minded individual who can work well with staff members and parishioners of various ages. Experienced with Catholic liturgy preferred or a willingness to learn. Salary negotiable Please send inquires and resumes to: HS#103, P O Box 85, Denver, NC 28037

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Our world 20

catholicnewsherald.com | February 5, 2016 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

Pope: Live your faith during Lent, perform works of mercy

For the latest news 24/7: catholicnewsherald.com

In Brief Church must respect, dialogue with China, pope says in new interview VATICAN CITY — The Catholic Church must respect China’s rich traditional culture and “age-old” wisdom, Pope Francis said.

Dialogue between China and the rest of the world, including the Church, is necessary because it is the only way to achieve peace, he said. “Dialogue does not mean that we end up with a compromise, half the cake for you and the other half for me. No, dialogue means ‘Look, we have got to this point, I may or may not agree, but let us walk together.’ This is what it means to build,” he said in a lengthy interview with Asia Times. The interview, published online in English Feb. 2, took place at the Vatican Jan. 28 with Francesco Sisci, a longtime Italian correspondent based in China and senior researcher at China’s Renmin University. The pope also included “my best wishes and greetings to President Xi Jinping and to all the Chinese people” for Chinese New Year Feb. 8.

At close of congress, pope urges Catholics to be missionaries to world CEBU, Philippines — Pope Francis urged Catholic families and young people, especially in the Philippines, to go out and be missionaries to the world. In a video message to the closing Mass of the 51st International Eucharistic Congress, the pope said Christ’s presence is a promise of everlasting joy and peace, and a summons.

“It is also a summons to go forth as missionaries to bring forth the message of the Father’s tenderness, forgiveness and mercy to every man, woman and child,” he said as the crowd of about 1 million focused on large video screens. “How much our world needs this message.” With conflicts, injustice and “the urgent humanitarian crisis” of today, “we realize how important it is for every Christian to be a true missionary disciple,” he said Jan. 31.

BRIEFS, SEE page 21

Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service

CNS | Paul Haring

Religious attend a Mass with Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican Feb. 2. The Mass concluded the Year of Consecrated Life.

Show world God’s closeness and care, pope tells religious Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY — An encounter with Jesus changes people’s lives, and that should be especially noticeable in those who are consecrated completely to serving God, the Church and others, Pope Francis said.

“One who has this encounter becomes a witness and makes the encounter possible for others, too,” he said Feb. 2, the feast of the Presentation of the Lord.

Overlapping by two months, the Catholic Church’s special Year of Consecrated Life has led to the Jubilee Year of Mercy, emphasizing God’s love and mercy for each individual and the mission to share that experience with the world, the pope told thousands of consecrated men and women who joined him in St. Peter’s Basilica and hundreds of others who watched on screens outside once the basilica was full.

The Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica began with the traditional blessing of candles and a prayer that God would guide His people toward His Son, “the light that has no end.”

The feast day commemorates the 40th day after Jesus’ birth when, in accordance with ancient Jewish practice, Mary and Joseph took Him to the temple and presented Him to the Lord. The feast’s Gospel reading from St. Luke recounts how the aged Simeon and Anna were praying in the temple at the time and recognized Jesus as the Messiah.

The event, the pope said, is a “feast of encounter,” not just the meeting of Jesus with Simeon and Anna, but the encounter of people’s hopes and expectations for a savior with the fulfillment of those hopes in Jesus.

Christ’s birth is the ultimate encounter, he said; God’s decision to have His Son born into the world, to live and suffer and die for the salvation of humanity, shows that He did not want to “remain outside of our drama, but wanted to share our lives.”

In the same way, whether living in a cloistered convent or traveling the world as a missionary, Pope Francis said, “consecrated men and women are called to be a concrete and prophetic sign of this closeness of God and of sharing with the fragile, sinful and wounded condition of people today.”

Pope Francis, a Jesuit, spoke as one of the consecrated people, telling the congregation that as Christians and as religious “we are guardians of awe.”

The experience of an encounter with Jesus constantly must be renewed, he said. One’s spiritual life must never be simply routine, the mission and charisms of an order must never be “crystallized into abstract doctrine” and the spiritual insights of the order’s founder “are not to be sealed in a bottle. They aren’t museum pieces.”

“Our founders were moved by the Spirit and weren’t afraid to get their hands dirty” as they ministered in Jesus’ name to real people living real lives, the pope said. “They didn’t stop in the face of obstacles or when others misunderstood them because they preserved in their hearts the awe of having encountered Christ.”

“They did not domesticate the grace of the Gospel,” he said, but lived with an “allconsuming desire to share it with others.”

“We, too, are called today to make prophetic and courageous choices,” the pope said. In that way, “others will be attracted to the light and can encounter the Father’s mercy.”

VATICAN CITY — Lent is a time of conversion and a time to deepen one’s faith, demonstrating and sharing it through the corporal and spiritual works of mercy, Pope Francis said.

“Faith finds expression in concrete everyday actions meant to help our neighbors in body and spirit,” the pope said in his message for Lent, which begins Feb. 10 for Latin-rite Catholics.

Feeding the hungry, visiting the sick, welcoming strangers, offering instruction, giving comfort – “on such things will we be judged,” the pope wrote in the message, Particularly during the Year of Mercy, he said, Catholics are called to recognize their own need for God’s mercy, the greatness of God’s love seen in the death and resurrection of Christ and the obligation to assist others by communicating God’s love and mercy through words and deeds.

“The root of all sin” is thinking that one is a god, something often expressed in a total preoccupation for accumulating money and power, the pope wrote. And just as individuals can be tempted to think they have no need of God, social and political systems can run the same risk, ignoring both God and the real needs of human beings.

“Love alone is the answer to that yearning for infinite happiness,” Pope Francis wrote. It is the only response to the longings “that we think we can satisfy with the idols of knowledge, power and riches.”

“The danger always remains that by a constant refusal to open the doors of their hearts to Christ who knocks on them in the poor,” he said, “the proud, rich and powerful will end up condemning themselves and plunging into the eternal abyss of solitude which is hell.”

But through acts of mercy and charity, “by touching the flesh of the crucified Jesus in the suffering,” he wrote, “sinners can receive the gift of realizing that they too are poor and in need.”

“In the corporal works of mercy we touch the flesh of Christ in our brothers and sisters who need to be fed, clothed, sheltered, visited,” he wrote. “In the spiritual works of mercy – counsel, instruction, forgiveness, admonishment and prayer – we touch more directly our own sinfulness.”

In the Christian life, Pope Francis said, “the corporal and spiritual works of mercy must never be separated.”

Monsignor Giampietro Dal Toso, secretary of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum, the office that promotes and coordinates Catholic charity, told reporters that Pope Francis wants to help Catholics rediscover the traditional corporal and spiritual works of mercy, which seemed to have been left on the shelf with dusty old books. Maybe, he said, “it was no longer fashionable” to preach about the daily actions of believers or maybe “our ecclesial practice has become quite institutionalized and politicized.”

Cor Unum has developed materials for a retreat day for people engaged in church charitable activity, online at www. corunumjubilaeum.va.

February 5, 2016 | catholicnewsherald.com catholic news heraldI

BRIEFS FROM PAGE 20

Faith is a revelation, not investment or negotiation with God, pope says VATICAN CITY — Faith is not an “investment” people make in God, thinking that eventually they can negotiate special favors from Him, Pope Francis said. A true experience of God’s love can be found in “abandoning oneself in His hands” without privilege or protection, he said Jan. 31 before praying the Angelus with visitors in St. Peter’s Square.

The day’s Gospel reading, which recounted Jesus being driven out of the synagogue of Nazareth after declaring that “no prophet is accepted in his own native place,” was not just a simple story of a fight within a community like what can happen in any neighborhood today, the pope said.

Rather, it sheds light on a temptation that religious people are often vulnerable to and must avoid, he said.

Religious people in Nazareth, like many people today, are tempted to think they can negotiate with God for their own special interests, he said. However, “true religion is about receiving the revelation of a God who is a Father and who cares for each one of His creatures, even the smallest and most insignificant in the eyes of humankind,” he said.

Pope: Prayers, care for sick are common ground for believers

asking very human questions about why people suffer are experiences Christians, Muslims and Jews all share, Pope Francis said.

In his message for the World Day of the Sick, celebrated Feb. 11, the pope expressed his hope that the day of prayer – and the entire Year of Mercy – would promote an encounter of people of different religions and lead to greater understanding among them.

Doctrinal congregation must work collegially, pope says VATICAN CITY — Diversity in the Catholic Church springs from its reality as a communion of different people with different gifts, and a collegial approach to facing challenges ensures that those differences strengthen communion rather than harm it, Pope Francis told members of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

“On all levels of Church life, a correct synodality must be promoted,” the pope said Jan. 29, referring to a process of discernment and decision making based on listening with respect to differing opinions and experiences and discussing them in an atmosphere of prayer.

The members of the doctrinal congregation, which is charged with promoting and defending authentic Catholic teaching and practices, were holding their annual plenary meeting at the Vatican.

Pope Francis used his audience as an opportunity to thank the theologians and other specialists who collaborate with the staff and cardinal members of the congregation, and he encouraged the congregation “to continue and intensify collaboration” with bishops’ conferences and individual bishops around the world.

VATICAN CITY — Praying for a loved one’s health and healing, tenderly caring for them and

— Catholic News Service

YEAR OF MERCY PILGRIMAGE TO

■6

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Charlotte Catholic Men’s Conference

Saturday, February 27th, 2016 Saint Matthew’s Catholic Church

Brian Pusateri Broken Door Ministries brokendoorministri es.com

Joe McClane Speaker, Author, Evangelist Catholichack.com

Fr. Chris Alar, MIC Director of the Association of Marian Helpers

Poland

with Fr. Christopher Roux OCTOBER 30-NOVEMBER 6, 2016

Join Fr. Christopher Roux on an 8 day pilgrimage to Poland. Walk in the footsteps of the Saints of Mercy John Paul II & St. Faustina. Visit the concentration camp at Auschwitz, our Lady’s miraculous image at Czestochowa, the famous Salt Mines of faith and much more including the rich history and culture of the Polish people.

There will also be an opportunity for an extension to Rome led by Fr. Roux if there is interest in continuing the journey!

Pricing starts $3699 for reservations received by March 11, 2016.

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Chancellor Abbot Placid Solari

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Step Up, Find Your Strength www.catholicmenofthecarolinas.org

21

ViewPoints 22

catholicnewsherald.com | February 5, 2016 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

Robert Potter

Deacon Kevin Bezner

The Byzantine Rite – Jesus, Zacchaeus and mercy

T

he Church has opened holy doors of mercy at cathedrals and churches around the world to signal the beginning of the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy 2016. As I thought about what this grand gesture might mean for those of us who belong to the Byzantine Rite, I began to think about how often we pray for God’s mercy in our rite.

In the Byzantine Rite, the holy doors of mercy are opened every day in daily prayer and in Divine Liturgy.

At the beginning of the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, the priest and deacon pray together words that have been prayed by others before them since the fifth century: “Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us. We sinners bring this appeal to You, O Master, for we have no defense.”

They follow these words with a prayer that begins: “Lord, have mercy on us, for we have put our trust in you.”

Before kissing the icon of Christ and that of the Mother of God, they pray: “Open the doors of mercy to us, O blessed Mother of God, that we who hope in you may not perish but be delivered by you from danger, for you are the salvation of the Christian people.”

In every Divine Liturgy, we pray for God’s mercy for ourselves and others 75 or more times. In each of the hours of the daily office, we pray for mercy at least 30 times and often more than 50.

The deacon prays Psalm 51 at the start of every Divine Liturgy, and this great psalm of confession and repentance is prayed at four of the eight daily hours.

“Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy great mercy. And according to thy tender mercies blot out my iniquity.”

In preparation for Lent, we hear the clearest statement about mercy in Scripture: Our Lord’s parable of the Publican and the Pharisee as written by Luke (18:10-14).

In the parable Our Lord teaches that the prayer of the Publican will win this humble supplicant salvation, while that of the proud and self-centered Pharisee will not. Our Lord begins the parable with these words: “Two men went up into the temple to pray.”

The prayers of these men could not be more different. The Pharisee’s prayer is self-congratulatory. He gives thanks to God for being unlike moneylenders, adulterers and men like the Publican, a tax collector.

A man who values the actions he takes, he recounts that he fasts twice a week and tithes. “O God, I give thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men...”

The Publican, however, stands away from others in the temple. His eyes are lowered, and he beats his chest. His prayer is simple: “O God, be merciful to me a sinner.”

His humility will save him. Perhaps

like the Pharisee he fasts twice a week and tithes, but unlike the Pharisee he seeks God’s mercy.

In the Byzantine Rite, the Sunday of the Publican and Pharisee is the first of four Sundays of preparation for Lent. It is preceded by Zacchaeus Sunday and the gospel about a different tax collector Our Lord encounters in Jericho (Luke 19:1-10).

Zacchaeus is filled with joy when the Lord tells him that He wishes to reside in his house during His time there. The crowd murmurs that Our Lord will stay with a sinner, but Zacchaeus stands before the Lord and says: “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have wronged any man of any thing, I restore him fourfold.”

Zacchaeus condemns no other. Rather, he opens his heart to the Lord, and Our Lord responds that salvation has come to his house.

At the core of Byzantine spirituality is the ancient “Jesus Prayer.” Repeating this prayer of mercy over and over again, hundreds of times a day, is transformative: “O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

The Byzantine Rite is a school of mercy that teaches us to recognize our sins and to pray always for God’s mercy. Through this constant prayer, we learn to be humble and merciful.

Father Deacon Kevin Bezner serves at St. Basil the Great Ukrainian Catholic Mission in Charlotte.

Begin Lent with Eastern Catholic rite mission St. Basil the Great Ukrainian Catholic Mission in Charlotte will enter the season of Lent on Sunday, Feb. 7, with “Forgiveness Vespers” at 4 p.m., following a Typica (Communion) Service at 3 p.m.

In general, “Forgiveness Vespers” begins as any other vespers, but in the middle it shifts to mark the beginning of “Great Lent.”

The prayers become mournful chants: “Turn not away thy face from thy servant; for I am in trouble: hear me speedily. Attend to my soul, and deliver it. From the ends of the earth I cried unto thee. I shall be protected under the cover of thy wings. I will praise thy name forever.” At the end of the service, every person present asks from and offers forgiveness to each other. Everyone then exchanges the sign of peace. St. Basil Mission will offer an abbreviated form of the service.

St. Basil Mission gathers at the chapel of Aquinas Hall, on the campus of St. Thomas Aquinas Church, 1400 Suther Road. Services are celebrated in English, and practicing Catholics of any rite are welcome.

For details, go to www.stbasil.weebly.com.

How gay ‘marriage’ and ‘bathroom bills’ go together

O

n Feb. 8, the Charlotte City Council is expected to discuss opening virtually all public bathrooms and showers in the city to members of the opposite sex by prohibiting discrimination on the basis of gender identity or gender expression.

Because gender identity is totally subjective, the effect of the ordinance would be to prevent any objection to men using a bathroom with women.

If you recall, an attempt to pass a similar ordinance was rejected by the city council, 6-5, last year. But the intervening election has changed the political composition of the council. The proposed City Code would allow the awarding of “damages, including compensation for humiliation and embarrassment and punitive damages ... and ... attorneys fees” to anyone refused admission to a bathroom.

Genesis 5:2 tells us: “Male and female He created them.” Christ repeated that passage in Matthew 19:4: “Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female.’” The Church, therefore, has always recognized that men and women are created by God to be different.

That teaching, however, is being directly challenged in today’s society. A difference in sexual identity conflicts with the current radical ideology which attacks the very idea of sexual identity. That ideology contends that the differences between men and women are merely created by society, rather than biological in origin. Proponents have therefore tried to break down all societal distinctions between the sexes. The campaign began with language, attempting to deconstruct completely the meaning of sexual identity itself. Instead of referring to the biological sex of individuals as male or female, the term “gender” is now used to describe a purely subjective state of mind.

And in addition to gays and lesbians, there can now be “transgenders,” “transwomen,” “transmen”,” genderqueer” and “gender fluid,” among many others.

Gay “marriage” and abolition of sex-specific bathrooms are merely two examples of this campaign against the understanding of sexual identity, and ultimately, the Church. This is because the Church is the only institutional obstacle to the ideological views of these radical thinkers.

If the proposed “bathroom bill” passes the Charlotte City Council, it will further undermine our societal values and put innocent people at risk. Until now, Charlotte’s ordinance against sex discrimination contained three exceptions: (1) “Restrooms, shower rooms, bathhouses and similar facilities which are in their nature distinctly private,” (2) “YMCA, YWCA and similar types of dormitory lodging facilities,” and (3) “A private club or other establishment not, in fact, open

to the public.” Although, at the time of writing this article, the specific language to be voted on this year has still not been disclosed, the proposal rejected last year would have eliminated those exceptions – thereby making almost all public restrooms and showers open to everyone regardless of sex.

Why do we care? For that matter, why do we have separate public bathrooms and showers for men and women? The simple answer is: modesty and safety.

These reasons are obvious to anyone with common sense.

The first reason for having separate public facilities for men and women is to allow for the virtue of modesty. Modesty is a part of the virtue of temperance and refers to restraint in speech, dress and actions in order to avoid creating the temptations that are part of human nature.

Modesty also protects the intrinsic dignity of the person against exploitation by those who would treat that person as an object.

The second reason for having separate public facilities for men and women is safety. Not every man who goes into a women’s locker room will commit a sexual assault, but the expectation of privacy and lack of public view characteristic of bathrooms, dressing rooms and athletic facility locker rooms make them ideal places of exploitation by sexual predators.

The risk is real. A group opposed to the Houston “bathroom bill” collected reported instances of sexual violence against women by men claiming to be transgender or dressing as women to gain access to women’s facilities. Although prohibiting men from showering or dressing with women would not prevent all sexual assaults, putting them together would make such assaults much easier to commit.

Aside from these risks, businesses compelled by the ordinance to open their women’s restrooms and shower facilities to men would also face an increased risk of lawsuits for negligence. Negligence is the failure to take reasonable care to avoid injury. Businesses could be forced to put guards in restrooms to avoid claims that they failed to take reasonable steps to prevent crimes.

Like the push for official recognition of gay “marriage,” proponents are using bathrooms as the next step in their campaign to force society to conform to their radical ideas about sexual identity.

Ultimately, the failure to successfully oppose these ideas by teaching and political opposition will result in persecution of the Church itself. The Church must recognize what is happening and speak out. The rest of us can be involved and pray.

Robert D. Potter Jr. is an attorney in Charlotte.

February 5, 2016 | catholicnewsherald.com catholic news heraldI

23

Parish spotlight

Deacon James H. Toner

What we know that ain’t so:

“What you think is the right road may lead to death” (Prv 14:12)

Being a ‘conformist’ What we think is the right road

T

he poet Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, “Whosoever would be a man, must be a nonconformist.” Today, we would add “...or woman” to Emerson’s advice, while still mostly agreeing that, of course, everyone should be left to his or her own devices. After all, my body (and mind) are my own to do with as I please, when I please. Except for popular legislation, nothing can tell me what to do or how to act. I am the judge of myself.

But it’s the wrong road Among the mistakes made by many well-intended Christian apologists is the proposition that if we can cite the “right” Biblical chapter and verse, its persuasive power will convert any reader or listener, for God’s word is – truly – “sharper than any doubleedged sword” (Heb 4:12).

The problem, though, is that if one doubts the divine validity of that Scriptural passage, then its value will be thwarted – at least in the mind of the doubter.

So we who Pope Francis seek to convert the doubters are mistaken in merely quoting the Bible. Still, the Bible is constantly corroborated by what has “Morality: The transpired in Catholic View,” history – and in

by Dominican Father our own lives.

Servais Pinckaers For example, so (South Bend, Ind: St. often we or our Augustine’s Press, 2001). leaders think that we have the answers to various enduring problems, only to discover that we were mistaken or gullible (see Ps 81:11-12).

In 2 Chronicles, the Israelites pray to God: “We do not know what to do, but we look to you for help” (20:12).

That conviction is amplified in the New Testament, which teaches that “there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism; there is one God and Father of all mankind, who is Lord of all, works through all, and is in all” (Eph 4:5-6 GNB). Our ultimate goal is

‘It is not possible to love Christ without the Church, to listen to Christ but not the Church, to belong to Christ outside the Church.’

Suggested reading

not independence, or autonomy, or “doing it my way.” Our ultimate goal is union with Christ, in and through His Church.

Other paths lead to chaos and corruption.

Emerson was terribly wrong about our having to be nonconformists. Quite the reverse: we must be conformists. “Do not model yourselves on the behavior of the world around you, but let your behavior change, modeled by your new mind” (Romans 12:2 JB). The “new mind,” of course, is that of Christ (1 Cor 2:16), to which we must conform, to which we must “configure” ourselves. Such moral conformity, configuring or modeling is accomplished by and through the grace of God, with which we cooperate (see Catechism of the Catholic Church 1460, 1505 and 1847).

The logic is this: God exists and has given us His divine Son, who, in turn, has given us the Church as Mother and Teacher. We are fulfilled by conforming our lives to that divine teaching. The poet Dante Alighieri, whom Pope Francis wishes us to read this coming year, captures this with his words: “In His will is our peace.” When we configure ourselves and our societies to His will, we have peace.

And happiness. And meaning. When we dismiss, distort or deny that teaching, we have misery and a culture of death.

In short, if you want happiness, follow Christ. Conform to His way and to His will.

Is any of this, though, susceptible to empirical testing? That is, can we prove it by factual evidence? I think so. A Pharisee named Gamaliel once said this about the new Christian Apostles: “If what they have planned and done is of human origin, it will disappear, but if it comes from God, you cannot possibly defeat them” (Acts 5:38). Which institution existing today will be here – if the world endures – 1,000 years from now? Which institution existing today has taught, is teaching, and will teach an unchanging core of truth addressed to the nature and destiny of all human beings ever to walk the earth?

In Chapter 14 of Hebrews appear three sentences which flesh out the bones of this short argument. First, we have no permanent city here (v. 14), but we look always for our ultimate destiny, which, please God, lies with Him in Heaven.

Second, Jesus Christ is “the same yesterday, today, and forever” (v. 8). Jesus is not a truth, or some truth, or temporary truth; Jesus is the full truth, now and always. Third, “Do not let all kinds of strange teachings lead you from the right way” (v. 9).

The chief “strange teaching” is that we should conform to nothing and to no one, except to our own prideful selves. That way lies moral disaster, not moral destiny.

We humans want to follow the right path and the true leader. That path and that leader shine in (and above) the pages of history and, if we have the eyes to see, in the events of our own lives. It is to Him that we should conform.

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

Photo provided by Father Herbert Burke

Forest City parish mural completed FOREST CITY — A new mural has been installed at Immaculate Conception Church in Forest City. The unique design by artist Lisa Autry of Concord, in collaboration with Father Herbert Burke, pastor, is based on Genesis and the Gospel according to John. Father Burke’s idea was to feature a statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus welcoming people, with an image of the staircase to heaven behind Him. Jesus would be looking as if He has come down from heaven to welcome them to His church and encourage them to come inside and learn about the way to heaven.

The artwork is situated on the wall separating the narthex from the nave, so that people will see it as they enter and leave the church.

The image of the staircase to heaven originates in Genesis 28:12: ”He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.” Also, this imagery reemerges in the Gospel of John 1:51: “Very truly I tell you, you will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on’ the Son of Man.” The artwork also depicts the apparition of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque and the great revelation of 1675 where Jesus tells her, “Behold this heart which has so loved man...”

Immaculate Conception Church is located at 1024 W. Main St. in Forest City.

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‘Faith finds expression in concrete everyday actions meant to help our neighbors in body and spirit.’

Pope Francis

From online story: “Pope: Live your faith during Lent, perform works of mercy” Through press time on Feb. 3, 14,069 visitors to www.catholicnewsherald.com have viewed a total of 24,737 pages. The top five headlines in January and February so far were: n Carolina Panthers linebacker Kuechly talks about his Catholic faith........................................3,067 n St. Matthew Church surpasses 10,000 registered families...........................................................1,447 n Faithful brave rain for March for Life in Charlotte.............................................................................. 833 n Charlotte bishop challenges Denver archbishop about Super Bowl 50...................................... 563 n Weaver Chorale in Greensboro invited to sing at the Vatican........................................................446

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catholicnewsherald.com | February 5, 2016 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD