May 24, 2019

May 24, 2019

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Bishop Jugis announces ongoing review of clergy files 3, 16

Christ the King High School kicks off Athletic and Activity Center campaign with $1M gift 23 INDEX

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St. Joseph College Seminary construction under way

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FUNDED BY THE PARISHIONERS OF THE DIOCESE OF CHARLOTTE

Fundraising continues as enrollment, need increases 3 Aumenta necesidad de recaudación de fondos ante incremento de inscripciones

THANK YOU!

Pro-life advocates launch prayer efforts, political action in wake of Planned Parenthood expansion in Charlotte 2.35M Memorare initiative has spiritual connection to Mother Teresa

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‘It’s been a blessing’ Donor gives $990K to help renovate St. Michael School 22 St. Michael parishioners also launch campaign to repair damaged roof 7

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‘El Camino de Santiago te camina a ti por el resto de tu vida’ Experiencias de la peregrinación del Diácono Sigfrido Della Valle

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Our faith 2

catholicnewsherald.com | May 24, 2019 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

St. Boniface: ‘apostle to the Germans’ Feast day: June 5

Pope Francis

Prayer not possible without the Holy Spirit

T

he Holy Spirit gives Christians the courage and the strength needed to engage in a loving dialogue with God that is like the dialogue of a child with his or her father, Pope Francis said.

“Do not forget this: The protagonist of all Christian prayer is the Holy Spirit.

We can never pray without the strength of the Holy Spirit; it is He who moves us to pray well,” the pope said May 22 during his weekly general audience.

Greeting an estimated 20,000 pilgrims as he toured St. Peter’s Square in the popemobile, Pope Francis occasionally stopped to kiss children’s foreheads and drink mate tea offered to him.

Alessandro Gisotti, interim Vatican spokesman, said in a tweet published after the audience that the pope also greeted Denis Mukwege, a Congolese gynecologist who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2018 for his efforts to end the use of sexual violence against women in war and armed conflict.

In his main audience talk, the pope concluded his series of talks on the Lord’s Prayer, meditating on the theme, “Wherever you are, invoke the Father.”

Christian prayer, he said, “is born from the audacity of calling God by the name ‘Father.’”

“This is the root of Christian prayer: to call God ‘Father.’ But this requires courage. It is not so much a formula as it is a filial intimacy into which we are introduced by grace,” he said. “Jesus is the one who reveals the Father and gives us familiarity with Him.” The “filial trust” that Jesus’ exhibited toward God, especially in times of trial, is a call for Christians to embrace a “spirit of prayer” that “must be insistent and, above all, it must bear the memory of our brothers and sisters, especially when we have difficult relationships with them.”

Recalling Christ’s prayer of “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” as He was crucified on the cross, the pope said that even in that moment of abandonment, Jesus still remembered His heavenly Father.

“In that ‘my God,’ one can find the nucleus of the relationship with the Father, there the nucleus of faith and prayer can be found,” Pope Francis said.

For this reason, he added, “a Christian can pray in every situation” for themselves and for others.

“Let us never cease to tell the Father about our brothers and sisters in humanity, so that none of them, especially the poor, may remain without a consolation and a portion of love,” the pope said.

St. Boniface was very bold in his faith, and he was well known for being very good at using the local customs and culture of the day to bring people to Christ.

St. Boniface was born as Wynfrid – also written as Wynfrith, Winfrid or Winfrith – sometime around the year 675 in Wessex (present-day Devon), England.

Overcoming the initial disapproval of his Anglo-Saxon family, he was able to pursue a career in the Church. He was educated at Benedictine monasteries (first Exeter, then Nursling), and became an ordained priest at the approximate age of 30.

Instead of remaining in England, Wynfrid decided to become a missionary.

In 716, he traveled to Frisia (now part of The Netherlands), following in the footsteps of other Anglo-Saxon missionaries. However, he found the local ruler unwelcoming and soon left the area.

After his return to England, Wynfrid was chosen to be the abbot of his monastery.

Still wishing to evangelize, he turned down the position and proceeded to Rome in 718.

There, he met with Pope Gregory II, who gave him the name Boniface.

On May 15, 719, the pope sanctioned Boniface’s desire to spread the Gospel.

Boniface once again visited Frisia, where the political climate had changed. This allowed him to gain valuable experience as a missionary, which he then put to use in Hesse.

In 722, Boniface was made a bishop.

He soon received the protection of Charles Martel, the Carolingian ruler of the Franks. His path made easier by this protection, Boniface returned to missionary work.

One story about St. Boniface tells about when he met a tribe in Saxony that was worshiping a Norse deity in the form of a huge oak tree. Boniface walked up to the tree, removed his shirt, took an ax, and without a word, chopped it down.

Then he stood on the trunk, and asked: “How stands your mighty god? My God is stronger than he.” Conversions followed when its worshipers saw that Boniface was not immediately punished for his actions.

Boniface focused on Thuringia (part of present-day Germany) from 725 to 735. He received the pallium in 732,

Prayer to St. Boniface

“St. Boniface Felling Donar’s Oak” by Johann Michael Wittmer

May the Martyr Saint Boniface be our advocate, O Lord, that we may firmly hold the faith he taught with his lips and sealed in his blood and confidently profess it by our deeds.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

which made him an archbishop and gave him the ability “to consecrate bishops wherever the faithful have increased.”

As his proselytizing took effect, Boniface also did his best to stem any heresies he encountered. He applied the same zeal to his next task, that of organizing the Church in Bavaria.

After their father’s death, Boniface coordinated with Carloman and Pepin, Martel’s sons, over Church reforms. This resulted in Frankish clergy growing closer to Rome. Boniface, whom Pope Zachary had named the archbishop of Mainz, also may have crowned Pepin III as king in 751. Whether or not Boniface oversaw the

coronation, he had laid the groundwork for papal authority to influence religious and political development in a large swath of Europe in the coming years.

After returning to missionary work, he was martyred on June 5, 754, while on mission in Holland, where a group of pagans attacked and killed him and his 52 companions. His body was taken to the monastery at Fulda, which he had founded in 744.

St. Boniface, deemed the “apostle to the Germans,” is regarded as the patron saint of brewers and tailors, as well as of Germany.

— Biography.com, Catholic News Agency

Daily Scripture readings MAY 26-JUNE 1

Sunday: Acts 15:1-2, 22-29, Revelation 21:10-14, 22-23, John 14:23-29; Monday (St. Augustine of Canterbury): Acts 16:11-15, John 15:26-16:4; Tuesday: Acts 16:22-34, John 16:5-11; Wednesday: Acts 17:15, 22-18:1, John 16:12-15; Thursday (The Ascension of the Lord): Acts 1:1-11, Hebrews 9:24-28, 10:19-23, Ephesians 1:17-23, Luke 24:46-53; Friday (The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary): Zephaniah 3:14-18, Isaiah 12:2-6, Luke 1:39-56; Saturday (St. Justin): Acts 18:2328, John 16:23-28

JUNE 2-8

Sunday: Acts 7:55-60, Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20, John 17:20-26; Monday (St. Charles Lwanga and Companions): Acts 19:1-8, John 16:29-33; Tuesday: Acts 20:17-27, John 17:1-11; Wednesday (St. Boniface): Acts 20:28-38, John 17:11-19; Thursday (St. Norbert): Acts 22:30, 23:611, John 17:20-26; Friday: Acts 25:13-21, John 21:1519; Saturday: Acts 28:1620, 30-31, John 21:20-25

JUNE 9-15

“The Last Supper” by Oswaldo Guayasamín (19191999)

Sunday (Pentecost Sunday): Acts 2:1-11, Romans 8:8-17, John 14:15-16, 23-26; Monday (The Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church): Genesis 3:9-15, John 19:25-34; Tuesday (St. Barnabas): Acts 11:21-26, 13:1-3, Matthew 5:13-16; Wednesday: 2 Corinthians 3:4-11, Matthew 5:17-19; Thursday (St. Anthony of Padua): 2 Corinthians 3:15, 4:1, 3-6, Matthew 5:20-26; Friday: 2 Corinthians 4:7-15, Matthew 5:27-32; Saturday: 2 Corinthians 5:14-21, Matthew 5:33-37

Our parishes

May 24, 2019 | catholicnewsherald.com CATHOLIC NEWS HERALDI

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Bishop Jugis welcomes new Vatican norms; announces ongoing review of clergy files CHARLOTTE — In a May 13 statement, Bishop Peter Jugis said he welcomes new procedures issued by Pope Francis that will govern the reporting of child sexual abuse and the accountability of Church leaders worldwide – and he noted that many of the procedures are already in place in the Diocese of Charlotte.

The bishop also announced the diocese is conducting a “comprehensive review” of its records for allegations of child sexual abuse by clergy before the 2002 adoption of the Charter for the Protection of PAGE 28: Children and Young People by the U.S. Conference of Read more Catholic Bishops. about the The names of any clergy found to be credibly new child accused will be made public, Jugis said. abuse On May 9, Pope Francis issued the motu proprio prevention “Vos estis lux mundi” (“You are the light of the and world”), laying out a set of procedures in reporting reporting suspected abuse, carrying out initial investigations and procedures protecting victims and whistleblowers that will apply from Pope to the universal Church and will take effect June 1.

Francis — Catholic News Herald

For more

Full statement from Bishop Peter Jugis The Diocese of Charlotte welcomes new procedures announced last week by Pope Francis for reporting suspected child sexual abuse, conducting investigations and protecting victims and whistleblowers, which include a number of measures already in place here in Charlotte.

The new measures apply to the Catholic Church worldwide beginning June 1 and largely reflect comprehensive steps taken in 2002, when the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops adopted the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. Among other measures, the 2002 Charter mandated zero tolerance of abuse, outreach to victims, reporting allegations to civil authorities and lay expertise on review boards that advise bishops in cases of abuse.

In addition, the Diocese of Charlotte has been conducting a comprehensive review of our historical records to search for any allegations of sexual abuse of minors by clergy who have served in the Charlotte diocese since its inception in 1972.

Any allegations discovered in these historical files have and will be forwarded to our Lay Review Board for evaluation and/ or further investigation. And, just as we have done since I

became bishop in 2003, the names of any clergy found to be credibly accused by the Board in consultation with me will be made public and appropriate disciplinary action will be taken.

This process of reviewing personnel files and other historical records was set in motion last fall, upon recommendation by the Review Board and in consultation with me and other diocesan leadership. To ensure this research is thorough, it is difficult to predict exactly when this process will be complete, however, the diocese is committed to finishing the investigation and publishing a list of credibly accused clergy before the end of the year. Through my discussions with abuse survivors, I have come to believe that a full airing of abuse from the past is crucial in the healing process for victims and for the entire Church.

The Holy Father’s message is clear: We are all called to holiness, to a “continuous and profound conversion of hearts… attested by concrete and effective actions that involve everyone in the Church.” Please join me in continuing to pray for healing for all victims of sexual abuse.

— The Most Reverend Peter J. Jugis, Bishop of Charlotte

St. Joseph College Seminary construction under way Fundraising continues as enrollment, need increases SUEANN HOWELL SENIOR REPORTER

MOUNT HOLLY — St. Joseph College Seminary continues to see steady growth as its permanent location starts to take shape.

Construction work and fundraising efforts on the $20 million project have picked up pace since ground was broken last September on the site near Belmont Abbey College. Enrollment is also on the rise and expected to be higher than this year, although it’s too early to report an official number yet for this fall.

Unusually wet weather over the winter and spring initially hampered work at the site, said Emmett Sapp, Diocese of Charlotte construction manager.

“We had a challenging winter. I believe it was the wettest winter on record and it made clearing and grading work on site very challenging,” Sapp said. “Right now, the weather appears to be cooperating, but that could change anytime.”

Most recently, the structural steel was erected for the residential wing of the building and the first- and secondfloor concrete slabs were poured for the residential wing. More steel and concrete structure work will be completed soon, then in July workers will start the exterior masonry.

“The exterior masonry is beautiful and complex,” Sapp said, noting that this work is expected to run into February 2020.

If weather cooperates, he said, the framing and roofing should be complete and windows installed by the end of July.

Sapp also expects that the plumbing, mechanical and electrical rough-in work will be at least half finished by then, too.

The two-story, Gothic-styled building is expected to be substantially completed in March 2020, Sapp said.

It will include a chapel, classroom,

Help build the college seminary At www.stjosephcollegeseminary.org: Get more information on construction progress at St. Joseph College Seminary and learn how you can donate to the project to help build future vocations in the Diocese of Charlotte library, conference rooms, a kitchen and refectory (cafeteria), faculty offices, and a guest room for speakers and visiting priests. It will also include 40 dorm rooms or “cells” for the college seminarians.

The original plans called for 20 cells, but enrollment at the college seminary has already exceeded that number.

Opened in 2016, St. Joseph College Seminary has been a magnet for young men wanting to discern the priesthood.

Enrollment growth has been faster than the diocese had anticipated, from eight students in its first year to 20 during the 2018-’19 academic year. The college seminary has attracted men from across the Charlotte diocese, with eight of the diocese’s 10 vicariates currently represented.

The growing interest in priestly vocations is welcomed by Bishop Peter Jugis, who has commented, “Although the number of priests serving our diocese has increased by 76 percent since it was founded in 1971, the number of Catholics has grown by 900 percent. Adding to that, we have had 13 priests retire in the last 10 years, and still 27 more are expected to retire in the next 10 years. Though we’ve been blessed with many good and holy priests, we need more to meet the needs of our rapidly growing flock.”

Until the permanent college seminary building can be completed, students are living spread out across four temporary homes on or near the campus of St. Ann SEMINARY, SEE PAGE 14

PHOTO PROVIDED

St. Joseph College Seminary students recently visited the construction site of the permanent college seminary in Mount Holly.

SUEANN HOWELL | CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

St. Joseph College seminarians honored at Baccalaureate Mass CHARLOTTE — Two seminarians graduated from St. Joseph College Seminary and were honored at a Baccalaureate Mass May 12 at St. Ann Church. Seminarians Christopher Brock and Peter Rusciolelli will begin formal studies towards priestly formation at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary at the Athenaeum in Cincinnati, Ohio, this fall. They are the second set of seminarians to graduate since the college seminary was founded three years ago. Pictured are (from left): Peter Rusciolelli; Father Jason Barone, diocesan promoter of vocations; Father Matthew Kauth, rector of St. Joseph College Seminary; Father Matthew Buettner, house spiritual director to St. Joseph College Seminary; and Christopher Brock.

UPcoming events 4

catholicnewsherald.com | May 24, 2019 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

Bishop Peter J. Jugis will participate in the following upcoming events: MAY 25 – 10 A.M. Sacrament of Confirmation St. Mark Church, Huntersville MAY 27 – 11 A.M. Mass for the Military St. Patrick Cathedral, Charlotte

MAY 28 – 5 P.M. Baccalaureate Mass Charlotte Catholic High School St. Matthew Church, Charlotte

JUNE 2 – 10:30 A.M. Mass celebrating 25 years of Perpetual Adoration Pennybyrn at Maryfield, High Point

JUNE 5 – 6 P.M. Sacrament of Confirmation St. Joseph Church, Newton

MAY 30 – 5 P.M. Baccalaureate Mass Christ the King High School St. Mark Church, Huntersville

JUNE 3 – 6 P.M. Sacrament of Confirmation St. Dorothy Church, Lincolnton

JUNE 8 – 10 A.M. Ordination to the Transitional Diaconate St. Patrick Cathedral, Charlotte

Diocesan calendar of events May 24, 2019

ESPAÑOL

Volume 28 • NUMBER 17

VIGILIA DE ADORACIÓN: 6 p.m. los jueves, en la Catedral San Patricio, 1621 Dilworth Road East, Charlotte. Nos reunimos para una Vigilia de Adoración por la Paz y la Justicia en Nicaragua, que en estos últimos meses están pasando por momentos turbulentos y ataques físicos contra la Iglesia Católica, sus templos, y sus Obispos.

Todos son bienvenidos a unirse a la Adoración, rezar el Santo Rosario, la hora santa de reparación, y terminando con la oración de exorcismo de San Miguel Arcángel.

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

NATURAL FAMILY PLANNING

STAFF EDITOR: Patricia L. Guilfoyle 704-370-3334, plguilfoyle@charlottediocese.org ADVERTISING MANAGER: Kevin Eagan 704-370-3332, keeagan@charlottediocese.org

NFP INTRODUCTION AND FULL COURSE: 1:30-5 p.m.

Saturday, July 20, St. Vincent de Paul Church, 6828 Old Reid Road, 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 704-370-3230.

SENIOR REPORTER: SueAnn Howell 704-370-3354, sahowell@charlottediocese.org ONLINE REPORTER: Kimberly Bender 704-808-7341, kdbender@charlottediocese.org HISPANIC COMMUNICATIONS REPORTER: Cesar Hurtado, 704-370-3375, rchurtado@charlottediocese.org GRAPHIC DESIGNER: Tim Faragher 704-370-3331, tpfaragher@charlottediocese.org COMMUNICATIONS ASSISTANT/CIRCULATION: Erika Robinson, 704-370-3333, catholicnews@ charlottediocese.org

THE CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD is published by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte 26 times a year.

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

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.

PRAYER SERVICES & GROUPS MASS FOR MILITARY PERSONNEL: 11 a.m. Monday, May 27, St. Patrick Cathedral, 1621 Dilworth Road East, Charlotte. The Mass and Rosary will be offered for all military personnel who have died, retired, and for those who are now serving. Military personnel are invited and encouraged to come in uniform. Bishop Peter J. Jugis will be celebrant. For details, call the parish office at 704-334-2283 FORTY HOURS DEVOTION: Adoration and prayer at 1 p.m. Thursday, May 30, and continues through 8 a.m.

Mass, Saturday, June 1, at St. Patrick Cathedral, 621 Dilworth Road East, Charlotte. A Solemn High Mass in the Extraordinary Form will be offered on Friday, May 31, at 7 p.m. in honor of the Queenship of Mary as well as our Lord’s Precious Body and Blood. Following Mass June 1, join a procession behind a relic of the True Cross to the site of a planned abortion facility to pray for the protection of the unborn. To serve as an adorer during the Forty Hours of Adoration and prayer, sign up online at www.stpatricks.org/forty-hours.

PRO-LIFE ROSARY: 10 a.m. Saturday, June 1, 901 North Main St. and Sunset Drive, High Point. Come and help pray for the end of abortion, and feel free to invite anyone who would be morally supportive of this very important cause. For details, email Jim Hoyng at Ajhoyng@hotmail. com or Paul Klosterman at Pauljklosterman@aol.com.

25TH ANNIVERSARY OF PERPETUAL ADORATION: 10:30 a.m. Mass, Sunday, June 2, Maryfield Chapel at Pennybyrn, 109 Penny Road, High Point. Bishop Peter Jugis will be the main celebrant. Following Mass there will be an outdoor picnic on the lawn to help all continue this wonderful celebration. For details, call Sister Lucy Hennessy at 336-821-6500.

HEALING MISSION: Saturday, June 1-Wednesday, June 5, St. Margaret of Scotland Church, 37 Murphy Dr., Maggie Valley. Father Albert MacPherson, of the Augustinian Healing Ministry, will lead the parish mission. Everyone

can be anointed and prayed over both evenings. Bring the whole family as everyone is welcome. For details, call the parish office at 828-926-0106.

WOMEN’S MORNING OF REFLECTION, ‘THE FEMININE GENIUS – GOD’S GIFT TO WOMEN AND OUR GIFT TO GOD’: 8:30-11:30 a.m. Saturday, June 15, in the Our Lady of Grace School library, 201 South Chapman St., Greensboro. Start exploring this theme through Father John Bartunek’s new retreat “The Apostle of the Apostles: St. Mary Magdalene.” Mass is available at 8 a.m. in the church prior to the reflection. The morning will include time for refreshments and discussion.

Donations are accepted at the door. To register, go to www.rcwomenjune15.eventbrite.com. For details, contact Kate Boschini at 336-430-8856 or regnumchristitriad@ gmail.com.

TOUR OF ST. PIO RELICS: 9 a.m.-8 p.m. public veneration, Tuesday, June 11, at St. Patrick Cathedral, 1621 Dilworth Road East, Charlotte. Mass in honor of St. Pio will be celebrated at 8 a.m. by Father Christopher Roux.

A Mass in the Extraordinary Form will be offered at 5:30 p.m. by Father Jason Barone. For details, contact the parish office at 704-334-2283 or stpiovisit@stpatricks. org. Sponsored by the Saint Pio Foundation.

DIVINE MERCY HOLY HOUR: 7 p.m. each first Friday at St. Thomas Aquinas Church, 1400 Suther Road, Charlotte.

The Divine Mercy Holy Hours are celebrated (except for Lent) and consist of Eucharistic Adoration, readings from the diary of St. Maria Faustina Kowalska, the sung chaplet of Divine Mercy and benediction. Is Divine Mercy needed today? St. John Paul II had this to say: “There is nothing more man needs than Divine Mercy – that love which is benevolent, which is compassionate, which raises man above his weakness to the infinite heights, to the holiness of God.” The Lord told St. Faustina: “I promise that the soul that will venerate this image will not perish.” For details, call Paul Deer at 704-577-3496.

24-HOUR ADORATION: First Friday of every month at Good Shepherd Mission, 105 Good Shepherd Dr., King. For details, call the parish office at 336-983-2680.

SAFE ENVIRONMENT TRAINING ‘Protecting God’s Children’ workshops are intended to educate parish volunteers to recognize and prevent sexual abuse. For details, contact your parish office. To register and confirm workshop times, go to www.virtus. org. Upcoming workshops are:

SEMINARS & WORKSHOPS EDUCATIONAL WORKSHOP, ‘SENIOR FRAUD & SCAMS PREVENTION’: 1:30-3:30 p.m., Thursday, June 13, in the Our Lady of Mercy Church cafeteria, 1730 Link Road, Winston-Salem. Presented by Hugh A. Harris, outreach and policy counsel for the N.C. Department of Justice – Public Protection. Sponsored by Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte. For details and registration, contact Sandra Breakfield at 704-370-3220 or sabreakfield@ charlottediocese.org.

FIRST FAMILY ENCOUNTER: Friday-Saturday, June 21-22, in Winston-Salem. Mission to offer the family a chance to rekindle and affirm each family member’s love and relationship with one another. Spiritual Director, Monsignor Paul Schetelick, will host the encounter. For details and registration, call Aimee Pena at 908-510-0053 or Lith Golamco at 732-453-4279.

‘I FIRMLY RESOLVE’ SERIES OF TALKS BY FATHER MATTHEW KAUTH: Seven-day online devotional series designed to help you get your life on the right spiritual track. Free viewing at www.catholiccompany.com/goodcatholic/about-family-resolve.tr.

SUPPORT GROUPS RACHEL’S VINEYARD: Are you or a loved one seeking healing from the effects of a past abortion? Rachel’s Vineyard weekend retreats are offered by Catholic Charities for men and women in the western, central and eastern regions of the Diocese of Charlotte. For details about upcoming retreats, contact Jackie Childers at 980-241-0251 or Jackie.childers1@gmail.com, or Jessica Grabowski at 910-585-2460 or jrgrabowski@ charlottediocese.org.

YOUNG ADULTS ASHEVILLE THEOLOGY ON TAP: For Catholics in their 20s and 30s in the Asheville region. For details, check them out on Facebook, Twitter or MeetUp. ST. LAWRENCE BASILICA: www.saintlawrencebasilica. org/young-adult-ministry.

ST. MICHAEL CHURCH IN GASTONIA: For Catholics in their 20s and 30s in the Gastonia area. Meets once a month. Online at www.stmichaelsgastonia.org/young-adult

ASHEVILLE: 9 a.m. Saturday, June 1, St. Lawrence Basilica, 97 Haywood St.

GREENSBORO WAY OF CHRIST: The young adult ministry at St. Pius X Church in Greensboro: at www.stpiusxnc. com/woc, on Facebook at “wayofchrist” and Twitter @wocgreensboro or email Dan McCool at wocgreensboro@gmail.com.

CHARLOTTE: 6 p.m. Thursday, June 6, St. Thomas Aquinas Church, 1400 Suther Road

ST. LEO THE GREAT CHURCH IN WINSTON-SALEM: online at “Winston Salem Frassati,” www.wsfrassati.com.

GASTONIA: 7 p.m. Thursday, June 6, St. Michael Church, 708 St. Michael’s Lane GREENSBORO: 9 a.m. Wednesday, June 5, St. Paul the Apostle Church, 2715 Horse Pen Creek Road

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.

May 24, 2019 | catholicnewsherald.com

OUR PARISHESI

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Pro-life advocates launch prayer efforts, political action in wake of Planned Parenthood expansion in Charlotte KIMBERLY BENDER ONLINE REPORTER

CHARLOTTE — Pro-life advocates are springing into action following news that a fourth abortion mill is expected to open in Charlotte and that city leaders are considering changes to a noise ordinance that would limit protest activity outside medical buildings. They are calling on all Catholics to get involved in standing up for the protection of life.

“A Catholic presence is needed in this fight for the unborn, and the time for action is now,” says Jessica Grabowski, director of the Diocese of Charlotte’s Respect Life program.

Grabowski, members of the Carolina Pro-Life Action Network (C-PLAN) and other pro-life leaders in Charlotte have been organizing ways for people to mobilize, including a Forty Hours Devotion coming up May 30-June 1 at St. Patrick Cathedral.

The cathedral is situated only about a mile from the new site of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic’s Charlotte Health Center, which is expected to offer expanded services including abortions. Planned Parenthood reportedly plans to move to 700 S. Torrence St. in July from its current location on Albemarle Road.

“As a diocese, we can come together to pray to have abortion ended in our city,” says Andrea Hines, a pro-life activist who had an abortion in college and now speaks about her experience as part of Silent No More and has helped coordinate 40 Days for Life campaigns. “We’re hoping people from all over the diocese participate.”

Since May 1, pro-life supporters have already been taking part in a 40 Day Vigil outside the new Planned Parenthood facility. Every day until Pentecost, June 9, at least one person is praying silently near the facility for at least one hour.

“The theme throughout all of this is love and peace,” Hines says. “Being silent really makes a difference.”

In partnership with the diocese’s Respect Life Office, C-PLAN is also facilitating communication and coordination among Catholic pro-life advocates and clergy to mobilize the faithful both in the public square and in parishes.

Father Peter Ascik of St. Matthew Church, Hines and other pro-life advocates recently talked to neighbors of the new facility in the historic Cherry neighborhood and handed out informational fliers about Planned Parenthood to mixed reviews.

“As people who live nearby the new facility have gotten word about it, there are some people who wish it success,” Hines says. “There are others who are upset about it.”

Pro-life organizers are also fighting proposed changes to Charlotte’s noise ordinance, which would limit amplified noise within 200 feet from the boundaries of schools, houses of worship and medical facilities during business hours. City officials have said this change is aimed at quelling protests outside abortion facilities.

Here is a list of upcoming prayer efforts being organized:

FORTY HOURS DEVOTION

In response to the new Planned Parenthood facility opening in Charlotte, all the faithful of the diocese are invited to participate in a special Forty Hours Devotion.

The 40 consecutive hours of Eucharistic Adoration

FILE | CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

Mother Teresa opened the first convent for the Missionaries of Charity in Charlotte in 1995, accompanied by then Bishop William Curlin. The convent, now a private residence, is just a few blocks away from Planned Parenthood’s new abortion facility on South Torrence Street.

PHOTO PROVIDED BY MARKUS KUNCORO

Homeschool students at St. Ann Church, led by Father Timothy Reid, pastor, pray the Memorare after Mass May 19 as part of a grassroots prayer effort in response to Planned Parenthood’s plan to expand its abortion services in Charlotte. will take place at St. Patrick Cathedral, located at 1621 Dilworth Road East, only about a mile from the new Planned Parenthood facility. It will be held Thursday, May 30, through Saturday, June 1, ending with a silent, prayerful procession to the site of the facility.

The prayerful effort is in honor of Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart and her Queenship, as well as our Lord’s Precious Body and Blood.

Adoration and prayer begins at 1 p.m. May 30 and continues through 8 a.m. June 1. Following Mass at 8 a.m., people will process behind a relic of the True Cross to the site of the planned abortion facility to pray for the protection of the unborn.

A Solemn High Mass in the Extraordinary Form will also be offered at 7 p.m. Friday, May 31, at St. Patrick Cathedral in honor of the Queenship of Mary.

To serve as an adorer during the 40 hours of Adoration and prayer, sign up online at www.stpatricks.org/forty-hours.

MEMORARE PRAYERS

Students in a Charlotte homeschooling group have begun praying the Memorare in response to the news about Planned Parenthood, and everyone in the diocese is encouraged to join with them. The goal is to pray one Memorare for every dollar that Planned Parenthood spent on its new facility – that’s 2,350,000 prayers for the $2.35 million price tag – by the feast of the Assumption, Aug. 15.

Help them out with their Memorare prayer effort by praying as individuals, families, groups or parishes. To PRO-LIFE, SEE PAGE 14

Vigil outside Latrobe abortion mill CHARLOTTE — More than a dozen St. Mark parishioners prayed for an end of abortion at the Latrobe abortion facility April 27 and were also joined by St. Mark Deacon Ron Sherwood.

The event was a special Divine Mercy weekend vigil organized by the parish’s Respect Life Ministry.

PHOTO PROVIDED

BY MEGAN HILTON

Memorare effort has spiritual connection to Mother Teresa CHARLOTTE — The neighborhood where Planned Parenthood plans to open an abortion facility was once visited by a saint.

The Missionaries of Charity used to have a convent on South Torrence Street – just a couple blocks away from Planned Parenthood South Atlantic’s new Charlotte Health Center. St. Teresa of Calcutta herself opened the convent on June 13, 1995, during her visit to Charlotte in which she was also keynote speaker for an ecumenical prayer service that drew over 19,000 people to the Charlotte Coliseum.

“Today the greatest destroyer of peace is abortion because it is a war against the child, a direct killing of the innocent child, murdered by the mother herself,” Mother Teresa said during her visit to Charlotte. “If we can accept that the mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell people not to kill one another?”

Members of her order quietly care for the poorest and most vulnerable people, including pregnant women in need, in east Charlotte. In 2010, they moved to a poorer area of the city to continue their mission.

The current owners of the home, Nicholas and Gloriana Felten, bought the former convent at 236 S. Torrence St. from the Sisters, and they consider their home a gift that comes with responsibility.

“Mother Teresa stepped foot on this street,” Gloriana Felten says. “It’s a gift from heaven. It’s a blessing, but also a responsibility. Every gift comes with responsibility. We have to take care of that gift.”

Mother Teresa’s example helped to inspire the Memorare prayer effort against Planned Parenthood’s new facility, Felten notes. The saint prayed the Memorare any time she had a great need in support of her ministry.

“She prayed, and something happened,” Felten says. “If we have the faith, then we can do it, with the help of God. ‘Ask and you shall receive.’ We can do something with our prayers – whether it’s one Memorare or 20, every prayer counts. God is listening to our prayers.”

Catholics are being asked to pray the Memorare 2,350,000 times – one prayer for every dollar Planned Parenthood spent to buy the property on Torrence Street. Pray for this specific intention: “For the protection of the unborn, especially in Charlotte that the new abortion clinic may not be opened.” Catalog your prayers online at www. signupgenius.com/go/8050e4dada629a5ff2-stop. The link will track the number of decades (sets of 10) of Memorares that have been prayed so far. The goal is to achieve 235,000 decades of Memorare prayers prayed by the Feast of the Assumption, Aug. 15.

“Children are a gift, and it is our responsibility to protect children, especially the unborn,” Felten said. “Even children can help by praying Memorares. Everyone can do something. Even a small child can be really helpful with their prayers.”

— Patricia L. Guilfoyle, editor

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catholicnewsherald.com | May 24, 2019 OUR PARISHES

Perpetual Adoration at Maryfield to celebrate its 25th anniversary HIGH POINT — Pennybyrn at Maryfield has hosted Perpetual Adoration of the Eucharist every day for 25 years – that’s 9,125 consecutive days, or 219,000 hours.

To mark this remarkable anniversary of Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, the continuing care retirement community run by the Sisters of the Poor Servants of the Mother of God is planning a celebration for Sunday, June 2, and adorers and supporters are welcome to attend.

The celebration will feature Holy Mass in the Maryfield Chapel, offered by Bishop Peter Jugis, starting at 10:30 a.m. After Mass, there will be an outdoor picnic on the lawn.

Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament began in the Maryfield Chapel on June 5, 1994, the Feast of Corpus Christi. Following the celebration of Holy Mass at 3 p.m. with Bishop William G. Curlin of the Diocese of Charlotte as principal celebrant and seven priests from local parishes as concelebrants, there was a procession of the Blessed Sacrament around the Rose Garden that concluded with Benediction in the Chapel at 4 p.m. After Benediction, Our Lord was enthroned in the monstrance and placed on the altar – thus beginning Eucharistic Adoration at Maryfield Chapel that continues unbroken to this day.

“Now looking back at our brave beginnings, we understand how the Holy Spirit guided our lay leaders to bring the awareness of this treasure of the presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament into the lives of so many people in the Triad,” notes Mission leader Sister Lucy Hennessy, SMG. Eucharistic Adoration originated in the area with Joe Lanham, a parishioner at Our Lady of the Highways Church in Thomasville. His then-pastor, Father John Murphy, OSFS, gave his blessing to the project and suggested Dick Kellenbarger, a fellow parishioner, help chair the committee to launch the effort.

Adoration started in Thomasville with 12 hours of Adoration on the fourth Saturday of each month. The parish’s Knights of Columbus and their families rallied behind the idea, and it wasn’t long before 100 people had signed up.

Thanks to encouragement from then-Bishop John Donoghue, local priests and lay leaders, and the intervention of Divine Providence, people wanted to expand Eucharistic Adoration to 24 hours – and the chapel of Pennybyrn at Maryfield was the perfect home for it.

By 1994, when Bishop Curlin came to Pennybyrn, more than 400 people had signed up to participate at least one hour per week in Eucharistic devotion.

Anne Carr of Our Lady of the Highways Church, Eileen Rohan and Colette Woelfel of Our Lady of Grace Church in Greensboro, and Edna Corrigan of Immaculate Heart of Mary Church High Point have been instrumental in the prayer effort from the early years, Sister Lucy also notes.

“These leaders, in whatever capacity, worked long and hard for months and weeks before the chapel was opened to make sure there was a least one adorer in front of Our Lord every single hour of the day and night,” she says. “But the real heroes continue to be the adorers, who sign up to spend one hour once a week to be with the Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament.”

The constant flow of traffic to and from the chapel, she adds, demonstrates that more and more people have been drawn to visit the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament and that Perpetual Adoration has fostered a deeper prayer life for those who participate.

“One could say that people have opened up to the spiritual side of what is offered here at Maryfield,” Sister Lucy says. “We have many adorers who committed at the beginning and who are still with us.

One young man who has never missed his hours, smiled and told me, ‘The pay is low, but the benefits are great!’

Many people like to have two hours, because the first one goes by too fast.”

Pennybyrn at Maryfield is located at 109 Penny Road in High Point. To learn more about this unique community in the Diocese of Charlotte, go online to www.pennybyrnliving.org.

— Catholic News Herald

Series of talks takes closer look at U.S. bishops’ new pastoral letter against racism JOSEPH PURELLO AND ROSHEENE ADAMS SPECIAL TO THE CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

CHARLOTTE — Members of several Charlotte area parishes gathered May 11 at St. Gabriel Church to learn more about “Responding to the Sin of Racism,” an effort to continue the dialogue and raise awareness about racism in light of the U.S. bishops’ 2018 pastoral letter against racism entitled “Open Wide Our Hearts – the Enduring Call to Love.”

The event was one of four educational opportunities being offered in May and June that are being jointly sponsored by Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte, the Diocese of Charlotte’s African American Affairs Ministry, and the Sisters of Mercy to reflect on themes presented in the bishops’ pastoral letter.

Presenters included Donna Toliver Grimes, assistant director of the U.S. bishops’ Office of African American Affairs, and Deacon Clarke Cochran of St. Peter Church in Charlotte.

Grimes addressed how to implement “Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love,” and Deacon Cochran’s presentation covered “Promoting Racial Justice and Ending Health Disparities in the USA.” St. Charles Borromeo Church in Morganton hosted the first event on May 6, entitled “Saved by Grace in Striving for a More Racially Just Church and Society” presented by Mercy Sister Cora Marie Billings.

St. Eugene Church in Asheville was also expected to host a program May 23.

The fourth program will be held Saturday, June 15, at St. Mary Church in Greensboro. All are welcome: details can be found online at www.ccdoc.org/education and www.charlottediocese.org/africanamerican-affairs-ministry/events.

JOSEPH PURELLO is director of Catholic Charities’ Office of Social Concerns and Advocacy, and ROSHEENE ADAMS is director of the Diocese of Charlotte’s African American Affairs Ministry.

Pray for an end to racism This prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary closes the U.S. bishops’ 2018 pastoral letter against racism entitled “Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love,” and attendees at the four Diocese of Charlotte events have been concluding their discussions with this prayer to Our Lady: Mary, friend and mother to all, through your Son, God has found a way to unite Himself to every human being, called to be one people, sisters and brothers to each other.

We ask for your help in calling on your Son, seeking forgiveness for the times when we have failed to love and respect one another.

We ask for your help in obtaining from your Son the grace we need to overcome the evil of racism and to build a just society.

We ask for your help in following your Son, so that prejudice and animosity will no longer infect our minds or hearts but will be replaced with a love that respects the dignity of each person. Mother of the Church, the Spirit of your Son Jesus warms our hearts. Pray for us.

PHOTOS PROVIDED BY ROSHEENE ADAMS AND JOSEPH PURELLO

Mercy Sister Cora Marie Billings discussed the U.S. bishops’ pastoral letter against racism during one of four such events May 6 in Morganton. Similar programs were held May 11 at St. Gabriel Church in Charlotte and May 23 at St. Eugene Church in Asheville, with a fourth planned for June 15 at St. Mary Church in Greensboro. People involved in planning this series of talks include (pictured from left) Mercy Sister Rose Marie Tresp, Deacon Clarke Cochran, Rosheene Adams, Donna Toliver Grimes, Chanele Jackson and Joseph Purello.

PHOTOS PROVIDED BY AMY H. LOESCH

Celebrating Catholic Charities Week CHARLOTTE — Father Gregory Gay and the parishioners of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church prepared lunch for Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte staff May 8 to celebrate Catholic Charities Week. This was a great opportunity to meet each other, share a meal and discuss ways that Catholic Charities and the parish can work together to help those in need and serve the local community. Learn more about the range of services and volunteer opportunities available with Catholic Charities online at www.ccdoc.org.

May 24, 2019 | catholicnewsherald.com

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Damaged roof inspires St. Michael parishioners to unite and rebuild PATRICIA L. GUILFOYLE EDITOR

GASTONIA — Parishioners at St. Michael Church are being called to “raise the roof” in a unique campaign to repair what has become a very leaky church building.

Nearly 20 inches of rain has fallen on Gastonia since January, more than 40 percent higher than usual. The heavy rainfall has exacerbated originally shoddy workmanship on the church roof, causing more than 70 leaks that are now damaging the church itself.

“After the bad installation, and with all the rain we’ve had, it’s come to a head,” explains Deacon Tim Mueller, the parish’s facilities manager.

St. Michael Church was completed in 2003. During construction, the parish experienced several key changes that leaders now say led to the problems they now have to tackle. First, the building project was shifted from one construction company to another one that was doing other work in the Diocese of Charlotte, and the new contractor was not supervised as closely as parish leaders expected. Changes in pastors and parish lay leadership followed, and the project ended up over budget and with substandard results.

The contractor, Mount Airy-based John S. Clark Co., went out of business in 2012 and the parish is currently unable to rely on insurance to cover the damages.

Over the years when leaks have sprung up, the 24,500-square-foot roof has been patched with tar. But, the parish’s sevenmember facilities commission says, the poorly-built roof just couldn’t handle all the rain the area has received in the past few months. They can no longer ignore the original construction flaws and the resulting damage: shingles that were never nailed down and are now falling off, improperly installed flashing and gutters, cracking brickwork, warped plywood and water-logged drywall. Recently, the ceiling of the side entryway to the church suddenly collapsed due to water damage.

Inside the church, one of the Stations of the Cross on the wall is now covered with plastic because of a persistent leak right overhead. Wooden pews and carpeting have been damaged from water dripping from the ceiling. It has become common for parishioners to find pieces of drywall on the floor that have fallen from the cracked and soggy ceiling.

St. Michael Parish still carries over $1 million of debt from the original Secure donations construction work and can be made online other loans, so parish at St. Michael Parish’s new website leaders did not want to incur more debt to fix at www.stmccg. these problems. org, or by mail to St. Instead, pastor Michael Parish, c/o Father Lucas Rossi and “Raise Our Roof,” the parish fundraising 708 St. Michael’s commission have Lane, Gastonia, N.C. launched a “Raise Our 28052.

Roof” campaign to raise $155,000 to replace the roof and repair all the water damage.

The parish has already raised $57,620 as of May 21.

As important as the money is, however, Father Rossi sees this campaign as an opportunity to draw his parishioners together to address a common need. For that reason, the campaign is emphasizing 100 percent participation from the parish’s 721 families.

“The rebuilding of our roof is going to strengthen our parish family,” Father Rossi says. “We are a family united in Christ. I want all of us to join together and unite our funds to rebuild our roof.”

Father Rossi himself donated $1,000 on Mother’s Day to the campaign in honor of his own mother.

“I love my mother and I love my parish,” he smiles, adding that he wants to “lead the charge.” “One hundred percent participation includes me,” he says.

Once the parish reaches its $155,000 goal,

How can you help?

St. Pio relics to visit St. Patrick Cathedral June 11 CHARLOTTE — The Diocese of Charlotte will host a collection of relics of St. Pio of Pietrelcina – more commonly known as Padre Pio – from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, June 11, at St. Patrick Cathedral.

A Mass in honor of St. Pio will be offered

by Father Christopher Roux, rector, at 8 a.m. Veneration of the relics will begin after Mass at 9 a.m. A Mass in the Extraordinary Form will also be offered by Father Jason Barone, promoter of vocations for the diocese, at 5:30 p.m.

The sacrament of reconciliation will also be available during the day.

Padre Pío St. Pio was born on May 25, 1887, in Pietrelcina, Italy, and baptized Francesco Forgione. He first expressed his desire for priesthood when he was 10. The future saint entered the Capuchin order when he was 15, taking the name Pio. He was ordained a priest in 1910 at the age of 23.

During his lifetime, Padre Pio was known as a mystic with miraculous powers of healing and knowledge and who bore the stigmata, wounds that correspond to the crucifixion wounds of Jesus Christ. They

can appear on the forehead, hands, wrists and feet. The stigmata remained with him until his death on Sept. 23, 1968.

Pope John Paul II canonized him in 2002.

The relics of St. Pio that will be available for public veneration are: his glove; crusts of the wounds; cotton gauze with blood stains; a lock of his hair; his mantle; and a handkerchief soaked with his sweat just hours before he died.

The Saint Pio Foundation, which is sponsoring the tour, will provide books and items related to St. Pio in the entryway of the cathedral.

St. Patrick Cathedral is located at 1621 Dilworth Road East in Charlotte. Limited parking is available along city streets adjoining the cathedral. There is also a parking lot and an additional parking area behind St. Patrick School on Buchanan Street which runs alongside the cathedral.

— SueAnn Howell, senior reporter

Learn more Information about the relic tour at St. Patrick Cathedral can be found at www.stpatricks. org. More details about the relics and the Saint Pio Foundation can be found at www. saintpiofoundation.org.

with diocesan approval, it hopes to contract with Southern Star Roofing and Construction to undertake the project. The work is expected to take around six weeks, notes facilities commission member Dan Frazeur, because the project entails replacing the entire roof – not just the shingles, but also the plywood sheathing – besides critical repairs to the gutters, walls, ceilings and entryways, as well as fixes to waterdamaged areas and mold abatement.

“We really can’t know the full extent of what’s going on until we can take everything off and take a look at it,” Frazeur explains.

During the repairs, Masses may need to move to the St. Michael School gymnasium, Father Rossi notes.

The facilities commission recommended Southern Star Roofing and Construction for the job because of the company’s flexibility and wide-ranging expertise on the specific problems that need to be addressed, Frazeur says.

Aiding the parish are the professional

Father Lucas Rossi points to a small statue of St. Joseph that he placed inside the crumbling entryway of St. Michael Church on May 1, the feast of St. Joseph the Worker.

PATRICIA L. GUILFOYLE | CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

staff in the diocese’s Properties Office, and Father Rossi, Deacon Mueller and Frazeur praised the staff’s responsiveness in providing assistance.

Father Rossi, Deacon Mueller and Frazeur emphasize that this project needs the participation of everyone in the parish – not just to pay for the repairs, but to set straight the church building they love.

“This is our parish home. This is where I ROOF, SEE PAGE 14

His Excellency The Most Reverend Peter J. Jugis Bishop of Charlotte requests the honor of your presence at the Liturgy of Ordination to the Diaconate Mr. Jonathan David Torres Saturday, the eighth day of June Two thousand and nineteen at ten o’clock in the morning Cathedral of Saint Patrick 1621 Dilworth Road East Charlotte, North Carolina Reception immediately following Great Hall

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catholicnewsherald.com | May 24, 2019 OUR PARISHES

News from the Knights of Columbus and the Columbiettes Knights in the news Jefferson council makes donation JEFFERSON — Through the LAMB (Least Among our Brethren) program, St. Francis of Assisi Council 16839 recently donated more than $400 to Ashe County school officials for their exceptional students School program.

— Patrick Hession, correspondent

SPX Knights essay contest winners named GREENSBORO — St. Pius X Knights of Columbus Council 11101 annually sponsors an essay contest giving St. Pius X students an opportunity to define themselves and their role as students and citizens grounded in faith in the community as well as to strengthen bonds between the student body and the Knights of Columbus.

This year, judges chose four essays that they determined merited equal recognition. The committee, therefore, decided to award certificates to each of them as well as a cash prize of $50. Winners were Eliza Ofsanko, Tate Chappell, Olivia Henn and Eliza Trotter.

Pictured are (from left) Deacon Bob Morris; Chris Kloesz, principal of St. Pius X School; Olivia Henn; Tate Chappell; Monsignor Anthony Marcaccio, pastor; Eliza Ofsanko; and Bill Parker, religion teacher.

— John Russell PHOTO PROVIDED BY MAGGIE HERBSTRITT

Knights earn award JEFFERSON — Deputy Director Jim Taylor recently presented the Father McGivney Award to Knights of Columbus Council 16839 for recruiting new members during this past year.

This council was number two in the United States, out of 10,000 councils.

— Patrick Hession, correspondent

New Santa Maria Columbiette Auxiliary 2829 WINSTON-SALEM — The new Santa Maria Auxiliary 2829 was welcomed March 9 at St. Leo the Greater Church in Winston-Salem by the North Carolina Columbiettes, sponsored by the Knights of Columbus. Twenty-five women joined the ranks of the new auxiliary, which will be part of the Western North Carolina Chapter. District Deputy Ruth Anne Adams helped organize the auxiliary along with its newly-elected president, Danielle Rose.

The ladies held the exemplification in the presence of Knights of Columbus Grand Knight Scott Stewart, along with Bobby Page, Financial Secretary Santa Maria Council; David McWilliams, Past Grand Knight, Santa Maria Council; Jimmy Lasecki, Deputy Grand Knight, Santa Maria Council; and Dan Stanley, Faithful Navigator, Santa Maria Assembly; Ginny Grant, State President N.C. Columbiettes; Maggie Herbstritt, Vice President N.C.

Columbiettes; Megan Hauser, Territorial Deputy, New Mexico; and Supreme Director Marlene Korn. After the ceremony, a welcoming reception was held in the social hall.

Pictured are: (front row) Grace Waldrip (Sentinel), Susanne McWilliams (Secretary), Brenda Stewart (Vice President), Danielle Rose (President), Shelby Stewart (Treasurer) and Erin Zebrowski (Financial Secretary); (middle row) Kim Nichols, Janice P (Holy Cross), Marguerite Clark, Sister Emma Yondura, Gloria Ortiz, Laurin Eastling, Shannon Casey and Kelli Ashline; and (back row) Kelly Thomas, Rebecca Obendorf, Kathy Dissosway, Natalie Holton, Jo Ann Freeman, Eva Li, Olga Esparza, Corrine Zajicek, Marion Killoran, Marianne DeCristo, Kathy Flynn, Nicole Witten and Kay Triplett.

Knights honor emergency responders GREENSBORO — Piedmont Council 939 of the Knights of Columbus hosted its Emergency Responders Awards Dinner in March, continuing a long tradition dating back to 1973. Thirty-eight people representing the four services and nearly 80 Knights and wives were in attendance. Honored in 2019 for their service were: Greensboro Police Dept.: Sgt. Mike Overman, introduced by Capt. Jon Franks Greensboro Fire Dept.: Engineer Arthur E. Dunkel Jr., introduced by Capt. Scott Kilpatrick Guilford County Sheriff’s Dept.: Deputy Christopher O’Bryant, introduced by Capt. Hall and Sheriff Danny Rodgers Guilford County EMS: Katie Lynch, introduced by Scott O’Connor This year the Knights introduced an award in memory of fallen officer Jared William Franks. This was presented to Officer Jared’s parents, Capt.

Jon Franks and his wife Karyn. This presentation brought home the reason for their program of recognizing these people, who put their lives on the line every time they report to work.

The Knights had an added pleasure of hearing the poem “Unsung Heroes,” by Mary Eastwood, sharing a good message about appreciating these professionals who protect their community every day.

PHOTOS PROVIDED BY TOM THOMPSON

PHOTO PROVIDED BY JOHN RUSSELL

Eighteen St. Pius X Knights elevated to fourth degree GREENSBORO — At an exemplification ceremony earlier this year at St. Pius X Church’s Simmons Center, 18 Knights of Father Francis Connolly Assembly 3253 were elevated to “Sir” Knight, the highest rank in the Knights of Columbus.

Additionally, this gathering of Knights from throughout the North Carolina district chose as exemplification honoree their own Sir Knight Walter A. Kulla Jr. for his lifetime service to the Knights of Columbus and the Catholic Church which it serves. The Assembly, led by Faithful Navigator John Joyce, welcomes the participation of these new fourth-degree Knights: Daniel Allen, Nicholas Bursche, Daniel Curran Jr., John Donohue, Walter Edwards, Dominick Freda, Kurt Gabriel, Desmond Morrissey, Rafael Arvelo, Charles Cheney, Sean Duffy, Dominick Fillippa, Dominick Freda, Mark Garland, Phillipe Lian, Scott Richter, Joseph Stachly and Samuel Waters.

May 24, 2019 | catholicnewsherald.com

OUR PARISHESI

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PHOTO PROVIDED BY JAMES SARKIS

‘All the good that you do will last forever’ BELMONT — Belmont Abbey College’s chancellor, Benedictine Abbot Placid Solari, served as the main celebrant and homilist for a Baccalaureate Mass May 18 in front of Mary, Help of Christians Basilica. He encouraged the Class of 2019 to “be a blessing to yourselves and to others. If you do that well, you will inevitably make a mark on this world that will last.

It will last because that will be the way you build your lives into something beautiful, worthy of the honor and glory of God. It will last because good things – goodness and truth and beauty – are the only things that last. All the good that you

do will last forever.” Concelebrating the Mass prior to the 2019 commencement were monks of Belmont Abbey and priests of the Diocese of Charlotte. More than 300 people received bachelor’s degrees during the college’s 141st commencement ceremony May 18. James David Hartley was named Abbey Student of the Year, and Mark Trompeter and Christopher Brock (who is also a St. Joseph College Seminary graduate) were co-valedictorians.

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catholicnewsherald.com | May 24, 2019 OUR PARISHES

Celebrating First Holy Communion

BILL WASHINGTON | CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

Children at Sacred Heart Church in Salisbury received their first Holy Communion during Mass offered by Father John Eckert, pastor, on May 4.

JEAN MOREE AND AMBER MELLON | CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

Children at St. Elizabeth Church in Boone received their first Holy Communion during a May 4 Mass celebrated by Father Matthew Codd, pastor.

Children at Our Lady of Mercy Church in WinstonSalem received their first Holy Communion during a May 4 Mass offered

by Conventual Franciscan Father Carl S. Zdancewicz, pastor.

PHOTO PROVIDED BY ALEX MOREIRA

Twenty-four children received their first Holy Communion at Holy Spirit Church in Denver during Mass May 4.

PHOTO PROVIDED

BY NICOLE WAER

PHOTOS PROVIDED BY CONNIE RIES

Fifty-five children and young adults received their first Holy Communion at St. Philip the Apostle Church in Statesville during two Masses celebrated May 5. After each of the Masses, one of the First Communicants crowned a statue of the Blessed Mother and the rest processed behind, bringing up blue and white carnations to make a bouquet.

PHOTOS PROVIDED BY ED TEPERA

Many children received their first Holy Communion during two Masses celebrated by Father Benjamin Roberts, pastor, at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Monroe May 4.

May 24, 2019 | catholicnewsherald.com

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Celebrating First Holy Communion Children at Our Lady of Grace Church in Greensboro received their first Holy Communion during two Masses in May celebrated by Father Paul Buchanan, pastor, and Father Christian Cook, parochial vicar.

PHOTOS BY MELINDA STOVALL AND RACHEL YARBROUGH

PHOTOS PROVIDED BY JAMES SARKIS

Thirty-one children at St. Patrick Cathedral in Charlotte received their first Holy Communion during Masses celebrated May 4 and May 11. Receiving their first Communion May 4 were: Marcelo Dawson, Samuel Hughes, Oliver Leonard, Madelyn Meacham, Oliver Melvin, Jaylen Moody, Ignacio Mueller Mage, Ava Murphy, John Orell, Maria Spisso, Callan Reilly, Sofia Smith, Colin Weigman, Brett Wilson and Adele Wintering. Receiving their first Communion May 11 were: William Bauer, Hayden Beasley, Nicholas Bergren, Luke Byron, Christopher Caruso, Wyatt Criswell, Franco DeLuca, Maria Felten, Olivia Harrison, Jack Jones, Jasper Nelson, Logan Pace, Oliver Powell, Berkeley Tobar, Coby Truang and Joshua Vari.

Children at St. Peter Church in Charlotte received their first Holy Communion during two Masses offered May 4

by Jesuit Father Jim Shea, pastor, and Jesuit Father John Michalowski, parochial vicar.

PHOTO PROVIDED BY MARKUS KUNCORO

Four children celebrated their first Holy Communion during a Mass in the Extraordinary Form at St. Ann Church in Charlotte earlier this month.

PHOTOS PROVIDED BY CATHY CHIAPPETTA

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catholicnewsherald.com | May 24, 2019 OUR PARISHES

Honoring the Blessed Virgin Mary (Far right, middle) Students at St. Mark School also held a May crowning last week. In addition, the school honored Monsignor Richard Bellow, who is retiring from ministry at the school this year after nearly 15 years of service, unveiling a Prayer Corner in his name. Second-graders Mary Walsh and David Balmaceda crowned the newly-painted image of Mary in the school’s courtyard.

(Right) On May 12, children at St. Mark Parish also crowned a statue of Mary – a unique one that depicts her pregnant with Our Lord.

PHOTOS PROVIDED BY AMY BURGER

GIULIANA POLINARI RILEY | CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

A May crowning was held after Mass May 12 at St. Mary Help of Christians Church in Shelby. Participating children wore their First Communion attire.

PHOTO VIA FACEBOOK

Second-grade students at St. Gabriel School, who recently received their First Communion, honored our Blessed Mother.

PHOTO PROVIDED BY AGNES LYON

St. Joseph Church in Asheboro held its annual May Crowning May 12 before Mass with Father Philip Kollithanath, pastor. Leading the outdoor procession were the parish’s First Communicants and children carrying baskets of rose petals to toss along the path. Members of Knights of Columbus Council 10891 carried an image of Mary on a platform decorated with flowers for the procession. The Columbiettes led a prayer for Mary in front of the Grotto of St. Joseph before everyone processed back into the church singing hymns. The children completed the celebration by offering flowers to an image of Mary and placing a crown of flowers on her head.

PHOTOS VIA FACEBOOK

First Communicants and children who attend St. Patrick Cathedral in Charlotte were invited to place flowers in a vase before the statue of Our Lady on Mothers’ Day. Two of the First Communicants were chosen to crown her statue in the Marian grotto.

PHOTO VIA FACEBOOK

A youth makes a new crown for Mother Mary to place on her head at Good Shepherd Mission in King.

More online At www.catholicnewsherald.com: See more photos from around the Diocese of Charlotte

PHOTO PROVIDED BY MARKUS KUNCORO

Homeschooled students in St. Ann Parish crowned a statue of Mary inside the church after Mass May 19.

May 24, 2019 | catholicnewsherald.com

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bachelor’s degree in philosophy.

Deacons Gamez, Taylor and Michael Carlson, who is concluding his studies in Rome, are expected to be ordained to the priesthood this June.

— Carolyn A. Dinovo

In Brief

Seminarians’ summer assignments announced

Seminarians graduate from the Josephinum COLUMBUS, Ohio — Diocese of Charlotte transitional deacons Alfonso Gamez Jr. and Britt A. Taylor and seminarian Chinonso A. Nnebe-Agumadu have graduated from the Pontifical College Josephinum, one of the steps in their journey to the priesthood.

The Josephinum celebrated its 120th commencement exercises on May 11. Members of the graduating class – 32 seminarians from 11 dioceses in the United States – became alumni of the only pontifical seminary outside of Italy.

Degrees were conferred by Monsignor Christopher J. Schreck, rector/president, in the presence of Bishop Robert J. Brennan, bishop of Columbus and vice chancellor of the Josephinum.

Deacons Gamez and Taylor each earned a Master of Divinity. Nnebe-Agumadu earned a

CHARLOTTE — The Diocese of Charlotte Vocations Office announces the following summer parish assignments for seminarians: Darren P. Balkey: St. Patrick Cathedral, Charlotte; Lee A. Benson IV: St. John the Evangelist Church, Waynesville; Christopher A. Brock: Sacred Heart Church, Salisbury; Aaron Z. Huber: St. Elizabeth Church, Boone; Jacob A. Mlakar: St. Vincent de Paul Church, Charlotte; Chinonso A. Nnebe-Agumadu: St. Ann Church, Charlotte; Harry T. Ohlhaut: Our Lady of Grace Church, Greensboro; Peter M. Rusciolelli: St. Mark Church, Huntersville; Camilo X. SalasBowen: Divine Redeemer Church, Boonville; Juan Miguel Sanchez: St. John the Baptist Church, Tryon; Jonathan D. Torres: St. Therese Church, Mooresville; and Joseph Wasswa: St. Mary, Mother of God Church, Sylva.

Most assignments will be effective from June 4 to Aug. 7.

— Catholic News Herald

Charlotte parish honors St. Peter palms tradition CHARLOTTE — Continuing what has become an annual tradition, the Charlotte Latin Mass Community marked the feast of St. Peter Martyr (also called St. Peter of Verona) by distributing St. Peter palms to parishioners at St. Ann Parish May 5. St. Peter Martyr, a Dominican friar, was a contemporary of St. Dominic, who preached against the Manichean heresy in Italy during the 13th century. Pope Gregory XI appointed him as an inquisitor in 1251 and he was martyred the next year. The

palms, blessed by St. Ann’s pastor Father Timothy Reid on St. Peter’s feast day of April 29, are an ancient tradition found only in the Extraordinary Form and tradition holds that the palms can protect property against natural disaster when buried in four corners of a property.

For more information about the Latin Mass, contact Chris Lauer at info@charlottelatinmass. org or www.charlottelatinmass.org.

— Mike FitzGerald, correspondent

Leadership Day camps offered for middle school youth in WNC WAYNESVILLE — St. John the Evangelist Parish will offer Leadership Day Camps for middle school youth this June. Father Richard Sutter (Ironman triathlete, former Atlanta Braves chaplain, former U.S. Army Airborne Ranger Infantry Officer, and member of the Belmont Abbey College Sport Virtue Initiative) will serve as day camp director for the inaugural Middle School Youth Summer Leadership

OUR PARISHESI

Training Program. The five-day camps will be held June 10-14 for boys and June 17-21 for girls.

The camps will run from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. each day and will focus on the four cardinal virtues: prudence, temperance, fortitude and justice.

For more information email stjohnwaynesville@ gmail.com. Registration details are online at www.stjohnrcc.org.

— St. John the Evangelist Church

Parish members honored JEFFERSON — The St. Francis of Assisi Parish community honored of its two oldest members at a birthday reception recently. Alberta Raysinger turned 100 and Frank Turnmire turned 99 on April 16.

— Patrick Hession, correspondent

Risk & Insurance Manager The Diocese is currently accepting resumes for a “Risk & Insurance Manager” position within the Diocesan Properties & Risk Management Department.

The Risk & Insurance Manager will be required to perform a wide range of insurance and risk management tasks, and be directly involved in and accountable for implementing effective Risk Management strategies throughout the diocese.

This position is directly responsible for developing risk management policies and procedures, providing training throughout the diocese in safety, security, and risk management, have direct responsibility for diocesan insurance policies, be involved in claims management, while overseeing the implementation of risk solutions with the goal of reducing preventable claims.

Requirements include: • Bachelor’s degree or greater in relevant field required.

• Ten years minimum related experience required.

• Certified Risk Manager (CRM) or Associate Risk Manager (ARM) certificate is a plus.

• Computer skills and knowledge of relevant software including Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook, Adobe Acrobat Pro, PowerPoint, and Publisher.

• Knowledge of principles and practices of risk management activities such as risk transference, loss control, asset protection, employee safety, workers’ compensation programs, etc.

• Knowledge of claims processing techniques and budgetary practices and controls.

• Strong communication skills – both written and verbal.

• Strong critical thinking and problem solving skills.

• Ability to work both independently and with a team.

• Strong written, verbal and inter-personal skills.

Please submit your professional resume and salary history by June 15, 2019 to:

Anxiety / Depression Acid Reflux / Sleep Hormones / Allergies Cholesterol / Fatigue

13

Anthony J. Morlando Diocesan Director of Properties & Risk Management Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte 1123 South Church Street Charlotte, NC 28203 Or email directly to ajmorlando@charlottediocese.org.

The Diocese of Charlotte is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

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catholicnewsherald.com | May 24, 2019 OUR PARISHES

SEMINARY FROM PAGE 3

Church in Charlotte, and they commute to classes at Belmont Abbey College.

The completion of a permanent home for the college seminary can’t come soon enough, said its rector, Father Matthew Kauth. Living, working and praying together in community is an essential aspect of the college seminary program.

He and Sister Mary Raphael of the Daughters of the Virgin Mother, which supports the college seminary and priests of the diocese, went out to the site recently to bury Miraculous Medals, St. Benedict Medals and palm branches all around the perimeter of the footings before the concrete was poured.

Fundraising for the project is also going positively, diocesan leaders report.

To date, more than $9 million – including two donors who committed a total of $3 million – has been raised through private donations towards the $20 million goal for the project, which will be the only college seminary located between northern Virginia and southern Florida.

Jim Kelley, diocesan director of development, noted that the campaign is going particularly well despite coming on the heels of the diocese’s unprecedented $65 million “Forward in Faith, Hope, and Love” campaign to fund current and future needs for all 92 parishes, as well as diocesan ministries and schools.

Kelley believes the St. Joseph College Seminary project is having positive results because of Bishop Jugis’ long-held commitment to nurturing vocations in the growing diocese.

“Bishop Jugis made vocations one of four priorities he set as bishop,” Kelley said. “He started Quo Vadis Days (a week-long discernment retreat for young men held each summer), which is bearing fruit with hundreds of young men taking part over the last few years.

“An outcrop of participation in Quo Vadis Days is St. Joseph College Seminary, to provide a place right here in the diocese for men who want to begin to study for the priesthood right out of high school.”

A 2019 Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate survey of the Ordination Class of 2019 found that nationally this year’s ordinands on average began thinking about becoming a diocesan priest at the age of 15. And a previous CARA study found that 350,000 Catholic men had seriously considered the priesthood in high school but only 1,000 of those men entered formation after college, Kelley noted.

The building project is an outward sign of God’s hand at work in the diocese, Father Kauth said.

“As we have said from the beginning, the building simply helps us to build the man,” he said. “So while I am excited, I am yet more interested in the men who are being built. As beautiful and noble as the structure will be which houses them, I am confident that much more beautiful are the souls of the men who are graduating. Anyone who has contact with them would agree.”

PRO-LIFE FROM PAGE 5

collect the numbers of Memorares prayed, record your prayers at www.signupgenius. com/go/8050e4dada629a5ff2-stop. Pray for the intention of the protection of the unborn, especially in Charlotte that new abortion clinic may not be opened.

The Memorare prayer is: “Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thine intercession was left unaided.

Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me. Amen.”

SPEAK OUT AGAINST NOISE ORDINANCE

The Charlotte City Council will consider changes to the city’s noise ordinance at several upcoming meetings at the Charlotte Mecklenburg Government Center, located at 600 E. Fourth St., Charlotte. You can bring signs and there is free parking at the parking garage off Davidson Street. Sign up to speak at either meeting at www.

charlottenc.gov/CityClerk/Pages/Speak.aspx or call 704-336-2248.

Pro-life supporters are encouraged to attend and sign up to speak at the Tuesday, May 28, meeting. A public forum is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Monday, June 10. This will be a great opportunity to speak about the proposed “quiet zone amendment” to the noise ordinance, prolife advocates say.

The City Council is scheduled to vote on the proposed changes during its June 24 meeting, which starts at 6:30 p.m. To speak at the meeting, you must sign up in advance.

For more about how you can help make your voice heard to city leaders, contact Linda Mooney at vpmooney@aol.com or 704-589-3930.

Get involved All Catholics are called to defend the intrinsic dignity of all human life, from conception to natural death. Get involved with ongoing pro-life work by joining your parish’s Respect Life Ministry, and also in the Charlotte area by going online to C-PLAN’s website, www.prolifecharlotte.org. If your parish does not have an active Respect Life ministry, start one yourself – contact Respect Life Program Director Jessica Grabowski at JRGrabowski@ charlottediocese.org for help.

ROOF

“I ask you to join me in praying to St. Joseph for the success of this highly extensive project to repair our church home,” he told parishioners.

He offered the following prayer: “O, FROM PAGE 7 Saint Joseph, you who taught Our Lord the carpenter’s trade, and saw to it that he was always properly housed, hear my earnest plea. worship,” says Frazeur. “I want this place to be Help our parish now as you helped your fosterlike my own home.” child Jesus, and as you have helped many others Father Rossi blessed a small statue of St. in the matter of housing. St. Joseph, pray for us, Joseph on May 1, the feast of St. Joseph the and1 the success roof Worker, and tucked it in the ceiling structure of Prod_Term2_SWilliams 5.1042 x 6.25.qxp_Layout 5/3/19 3:28 of PMour Page 1 campaign that we may protect the house of Our Lord.” the collapsed side entryway.

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May 24, 2019 | catholicnewsherald.com CATHOLIC NEWS HERALDI

“I am not afraid; I was born to do this”

DUC IN ALTUM June 24 - 28, 2019 * Belmont Abbey College

Retreat open to young women 15 thru 19 years old Register by June 18, 2019 www.charlottevocations.org

— St. Joan of Arc

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FACEBOOK.COM/ CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD ESPAÑOL

catholicnewsherald.com | May 24, 2019 16

Ángela Acosta

I challenge you! ¡Te desafío!

A

yer por la mañana llevé a mi abuelita al quiropráctico.

Saliendo de la cita ella me dijo: “Ángela, tengo hambre”. Yo le respondí “abue, mejor comemos en casa y así ahorramos dinero”.

Bueno pues, como tenía que comprarle comida a mi conejito, pasé a Walmart y ahí tienen un pequeño local de comida rápida en el que preparan sándwiches. Entonces le dije a ella: “bueno abuelita, ya estamos aquí, vamos a pasar”.

Cuando estaba en el mostrador ordenando nuestros sándwiches, el muchacho que tomaba mi orden me preguntó si era hispana. Yo, en mi mente, estaba pensando, “este ha de ser uno de esos muchachos que molestan por la raza de uno”, pero le respondí: “sí soy hispana”. Y para mi sorpresa me dijo: “es que hablas muy bien el inglés”.

Ahí comenzamos a platicar de nuestra niñez y, de un momento a otro, me dijo: “yo soy de Cozumel, pero mis padres abusaban de mí cuando era chiquito y me enviaron a Estados Unidos donde me adoptó una familia. Pero no supe que era adoptado hasta que cumplí los quince años de edad. Ahora tengo 21”.

En ese momento no supe qué responder. Solo le dije que la vida puede ser difícil a veces, pero que tenemos que aprender a vivir y sacar lo mejor de ella.

Me entregó mi comida y me senté con mi abuelita a comer, pero dentro de mí me decía que tenía que hacer algo, que tenía que responder de alguna manera.

No sabía qué hacer y de repente le pedí a mi abuelita papel y lápiz y comencé a escribir una carta para este joven.

En ella le dije “¡gracias por tu grandioso servicio!

Recuerda que la vida a veces puede ser difícil, pero siempre hay ángeles en ella para protegernos.

Dios te ama y tiene un propósito para ti. Te invito a que asistas al grupo juvenil de nuestra iglesia.

(Información) Nosotros no sólo vamos a orar sino que vamos a crecer humana y espiritualmente. Dios te bendiga, Ángela”. ¡Cuántas veces vemos a jóvenes o escuchamos de tiroteos y qué hacemos! Los criticamos. Pero, ¿por qué nunca nos sentamos a escucharlos? ¿Qué hubiera pasado si el joven que mató e hirió a sus compañeros estudiantes de la Universidad de Carolina del Norte hubiese sido escuchado? No lo sabemos, quizás la balacera no hubiera ocurrido.

Tenemos que aprender a escuchar a la gente y a Dios.

Ahora, te desafío a que cuando un joven o una persona se abra a ti sin saber quién eres, en vez de solo decir “lo siento”, ¿por qué mejor no tomas acción y lo invitas a aferrarse a Dios?

Este joven, sin conocerme, se abrió a mí, a platicarme algo tan íntimo y privado. Por favor, tomemos acción en situaciones de este tipo porque no sabemos cómo podemos impactar la vida de alguien.

Con una sencilla sonrisa ya estamos evangelizando.

Dios te bendiga. ÁNGELA ACOSTA, graduada de Stuart W. Cramer High School, es coordinadora del grupo juvenil Grupo Fruto de Fe y catequista de la parroquia Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe en Charlotte.

‘Se acabó la época de encubrimiento’ Carta Apostólica del Papa Francisco establece normas y exige responsabilidad en casos de abuso CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

CIUDAD DEL VATICANO — Las nuevas directrices del Papa Francisco, sobre la protección de menores y fortalecimiento de responsabilidades, es el más reciente paso para dejar claro el mensaje de que se acabó la época de ocultar o ignorar acusaciones de abuso, dijo el principal investigador de abusos del Vaticano.

En el pasado, algunas personas pueden haber pensado que estaban protegiendo a la iglesia al permanecer callados, pero ese comportamiento nunca fue aceptable --dijo el arzobispo Charles Scicluna de Malta, subsecretario de la Congregación para la Doctrina de la Fe, a reporteros. “Por el bien de la iglesia hay que denunciar” a autoridades pertinentes cuando se trata de abusos de menores y de poder, dijo.

El arzobispo conversó con reporteros sobre la más reciente carta apostólica del Papa Francisco, “Ustedes son la luz del mundo” (Vos estis lux mundi), durante una conferencia de prensa realizada el 9 de mayo en el Vaticano.

El nuevo documento establece y clarifica las normas y procedimientos para exigir responsabilidad a obispos y superiores religiosos, cuando se trata de salvaguardar a menores, así como también de abusos contra adultos (cometidos con violencia o amenazas) o de abuso de autoridad.

Las nuevas normas son importantes,

dijo el arzobispo Scicluna, porque claramente le manifiestan a la gente que tienen la obligación de reportar los ya existentes crímenes, negligencias y comportamientos inapropiados a las autoridades de la Iglesia.

Esa obligación “siempre ha estado allí, pero la experiencia CNS | PAUL HARING nos muestra que una Con la publicación de la carta apostólica, el Papa Francisco pretende mentalidad de círculo que “se persiga eficazmente, de acuerdo con la ley, todo abuso o cerrado o un interés maltrato a menores o personas vulnerables”. Que “se reconozca a equivocado para aquellos que afirman haber sido víctimas de explotación, de abusos proteger la institución, sexuales o de maltrato, así como a sus familias, el derecho a ser han sido impedimentos acogidos, escuchados y acompañados”. para que se dé a conocer”, dijo. cardenal, patriarca o superior religioso La ahora ley universal exige a y cómo las acusaciones de abuso o todos los clérigos, así como también a conducta impropia hechas contra el religiosos y religiosas, reportar a las liderazgo deben ser reportadas. autoridades eclesiásticas competentes Por ejemplo: “Si un sacerdote utiliza sobre abusos de los cuales ellos tienen la fuerza con un adulto, es el obispo conocimiento. Esto es importante, dijo, quien se encarga del caso”. A la vez “porque divulga al público la política agregó que, “cuando una persona en principal de la Iglesia”. el liderazgo es culpable de conducta Los procedimientos ya habían inapropiada, es competencia de la sido establecidos cuando se trata de Santa Sede”. acusaciones de abuso a menores por Las nuevas normas y claros parte de sacerdotes, de modo que las nuevas normas indican qué hacer cuando el acusado es un obispo, ENCUBRIMIENTO, PASA A LA PÁGINA 19

El Obispo Jugis da la bienvenida a nuevas normas del Vaticano; anuncia revisión en curso de archivos de clérigos CHARLOTTE — En una declaración emitida el 13 de mayo, el Obispo Peter Jugis dijo que da la bienvenida a los nuevos procedimientos dictados por el Papa Francisco que regirán la denuncia del abuso sexual infantil y la responsabilidad de los líderes de la Iglesia en todo el mundo, y señaló que muchos de los procedimientos ya están vigentes en la Diócesis de Charlotte.

El Obispo también anunció que la diócesis está realizando una “revisión exhaustiva” de sus registros en la búsqueda de denuncias de abuso sexual infantil por clérigos, antes de la adopción de la Carta para la Protección de los Niños y los Jóvenes por la Conferencia de Obispos de Estados Unidos, ocurrida en 2002.

Los nombres de cualquiera de los clérigos que se encuentren creíblemente acusados serán dados a conocer públicamente, dijo Jugis.

El 9 de mayo, el Papa Francisco emitió de motu proprio “Vos estis lux mundi” (“Ustedes son la luz del mundo”), estableciendo una serie de procedimientos para denunciar sospechas de abuso, llevar a cabo investigaciones iniciales y de protección a víctimas y denunciantes que se aplicarán a la Iglesia universal.

Las normas, que tomarán efecto el 1 de junio, son producto de la reunión del Papa con los presidentes de las conferencias episcopales de todo el mundo, ocurrida en febrero pasado.

Estas nuevas normas reflejan

los procedimientos de protección infantil que actualmente se aplican en la Iglesia en Estados Unidos, según ordenó la Carta para la Protección de los Niños y los Jóvenes emitida en 2002, resaltó el Obispo Jugis en su declaración del 13 de mayo.

— Catholic News Herald

Declaración completa del Obispo Jugis La Diócesis de Charlotte da la bienvenida a los nuevos procedimientos anunciados la semana pasada por el Papa Francisco para denunciar sospechas de abuso sexual infantil, llevar a cabo investigaciones JUGIS, PASA A LA PÁGINA 19

May 24, 2019 | catholicnewsherald.com CATHOLIC NEWS HERALDI

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Construcción del Seminario Universitario San José está en marcha Aumenta necesidad de recaudación de fondos ante incremento de inscripciones SUEANN HOWELL REPORTERA SENIOR

CHARLOTTE - El Seminario Universitario San José continúa experimentando un crecimiento constante a medida que su ubicación permanente comienza a tomar forma.

El trabajo de construcción y los esfuerzos de recolección de fondos para el proyecto de 20 millones de dólares han acelerado el ritmo desde que se colocó la primera piedra en septiembre pasado en Mount Holly, cerca a la Universidad Belmont Abbey.

Las inscripciones también están aumentando y se espera que crezcan este año, aunque es muy pronto para proporcionar una cifra oficial para este otoño.

El clima inusualmente húmedo durante el invierno y la primavera dificultó inicialmente las labores, dijo Emmett Sapp, gerente de construcción de la Diócesis de Charlotte.

“Tuvimos un invierno con retos.

Creo que fue el invierno más húmedo del que se tenga registro, lo que hizo que el trabajo de desmonte y nivelación del lugar fuera muy arduo”, dijo Sapp. “En este momento, el clima parece estar cooperando, pero eso podría cambiar en cualquier momento”.

Recientemente, se erigió el acero estructural del ala residencial del edificio y se vertieron las losas de concreto del primer y segundo piso para ese sector. Pronto se completarán más trabajos en estructuras de acero y concreto; luego, en julio, los trabajadores comenzarán la mampostería exterior.

“La fachada es hermosa y compleja”, dijo Sapp, señalando que se espera que este trabajo se realice hasta febrero de 2020.

Si el clima lo permite, añadió, la estructura y el techo deberían estar completos y las ventanas instaladas a fines de julio. Sapp también espera que el trabajo de plomería, mecánico y eléctrico esté concluído, al menos a la mitad, para ese entonces.

El edificio de estilo gótico, de dos pisos, debe estar sustancialmente terminado en marzo de 2020, subrayó Sapp.

Incluirá una capilla, salones de clase, biblioteca, salas de conferencias, cocina y un refectorio (cafetería), oficinas de la facultad y habitaciones para oradores y sacerdotes visitantes. También incluirá 40 dormitorios o ‘celdas’ para los seminaristas universitarios.

Inicialmente se planearon 20 celdas, pero la inscripción en el seminario universitario ya ha superado ese número.

Inaugurado en 2016, el Seminario Universitario San José ha sido un imán para los jóvenes que desean discernir sobre el sacerdocio. El crecimiento de inscripciones ha sido mayor de lo que la diócesis había anticipado, de ocho estudiantes en su primer año a 20 durante el año académico 2018-’19. El seminario universitario ha atraído hombres de toda la Diócesis de Charlotte, con ocho de los diez vicariatos actualmente representados.

El interés creciente en las vocaciones sacerdotales es bienvenido

por el obispo Peter Jugis, quien comentó que, “aunque la cantidad de sacerdotes que sirven a nuestra diócesis ha aumentado en un 76 por ciento desde su fundación en 1971, la cantidad de católicos ha aumentado en un 900 por ciento. Además, hemos tenido 13 sacerdotes retirados en los últimos diez años, y aún se espera que 27 más se retiren en los próximos diez años. “Aunque hemos sido bendecidos con muchos buenos y santos sacerdotes, necesitamos más para satisfacer las necesidades de nuestro rebaño que crece rápidamente”.

Hasta que la construcción del edificio del seminario universitario permanente pueda ser concluida, los estudiantes viven en cuatro casas temporales localizadas en o cerca al campus de la Iglesia Santa Ana en Charlotte y se trasladan hasta sus clases en la Universidad Belmont Abbey.

La finalización de un hogar permanente para el seminario universitario no puede llegar lo suficientemente rápido, dijo su rector, el padre Matthew Kauth. Vivir, trabajar y orar juntos en comunidad es un aspecto esencial del programa del seminario universitario. Él y la hermana Mary Raphael de las Hijas de la Virgen Madre, que apoya al seminario universitario y a los sacerdotes de la diócesis, se acercaron recientemente a la construcción para enterrar medallas milagrosas de San Benito y ramas de palmeras en todo el perímetro de las bases antes que se vertiera el concreto.

El proceso de construcción, aunque a veces es agotador, también es estimulante, dijo el Padre Kauth.

La recaudación de fondos para el proyecto también progresa de manera positiva, reportaron líderes diocesanos.

A la fecha, más de 9 millones de dólares, incluyendo dos donantes que se han comprometido por un total de 3 millones, se han recaudado a través de donaciones privadas para alcanzar la meta de 20 millones del proyecto, que será el único seminario universitario ubicado entre el norte de Virginia y el sur de Florida.

Jim Kelley, director diocesano de desarrollo, anotó que la campaña va particularmente bien, a pesar de pisarle los talones a la excepcional recaudación de 65 millones en la diócesis para la campaña “Adelante

en la fe, la esperanza y el amor” que financia las necesidades actuales y futuras de las 92 parroquias, así como los ministerios y escuelas diocesanas.

Kelley cree que el proyecto del Seminario Universitario San José está teniendo resultados positivos debido al compromiso de largo plazo del Obispo Jugis de fomentar las vocaciones en la creciente diócesis.

“El obispo Jugis hizo de las vocaciones una de las cuatro prioridades que estableció como obispo”, dijo Kelley. “Comenzó con los Días de Quo Vadis (un retiro de discernimiento de una semana para hombres jóvenes que se celebra cada verano), que está dando frutos con cientos de hombres jóvenes que están tomando parte en los últimos años.

“Una de las razones de la gran participación en los Días de Quo Vadis es el Seminario Universitario San José, que ofrece un lugar aquí mismo en la diócesis para los hombres que desean comenzar a estudiar para el sacerdocio, justo después de concluir la escuela secundaria”.

Una encuesta a nivel nacional del Centro de Investigación Aplicada en el Apostolado (CARA) realizada en la Promoción de Ordenación de 2019, encontró que, en promedio, los ordenados de este año comenzaron a pensar en convertirse en sacerdotes diocesanos a la edad de 15 años.

Un estudio previo de CARA determinó que 350,000 hombres católicos habían considerado seriamente el sacerdocio en la escuela secundaria, pero solo mil de ellos ingresaron para formación después de concluir sus estudios universitarios, anotó Kelley.

El padre Kauth dijo que el proyecto de construcción es un signo externo de la mano de Dios trabajando en la diócesis.

“Como hemos dicho desde el principio, el edificio simplemente nos ayuda a construir al hombre”, dijo. “Entonces, mientras me siento emocionado, estoy más interesado en los hombres que se están construyendo. Tan hermosa y noble como será la estructura que los albergue, confío en que mucho más hermosas son las almas de los hombres que se están graduando.

Cualquiera que tenga contacto con ellos estaría de acuerdo”.

PHOTO PROPORCIONADA

Estudiantes del Seminario Universitario San José visitaron recientemente las obras de construcción permanente del seminario universitario en Mount Holly.

SUEANN HOWELL | CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

Seminaristas de St. Joseph College recibieron honores en Misa de graduación CHARLOTTE — Dos seminaristas que se graduaron del Seminario Universitario San José fueron honrados en una misa de graduación realizada el 12 de mayo en la iglesia Sta. Ana. Los seminaristas Christopher Brock y Peter Rusciolelli comenzarán este otoño estudios formales hacia la formación sacerdotal en el Ateneo del Seminario Monte Santa María en Cincinnati, Ohio. Este es el segundo grupo de seminaristas en graduarse desde que se fundó el seminario universitario hace tres años. En la foto aparecen (de izquierda a derecha): Peter Rusciolelli; el padre Jason Barone, promotor diocesano de vocaciones; el padre Matthew Kauth, rector del Seminario Universitario San José; el padre Matthew Buettner, director espiritual de la casa del Seminario Universitario San José ; y Christopher Brock.

Lecturas Diarias MAYO 26-JUNIO 1

Domingo: Hechos 15:1-2, 22-29, Apocalipsis 21:10-14, 22-23, Juan 14:23-29; Lunes (San Augustín de Canterbury): Hechos 16:11-15, Juan 15:26-16:4; Martes: Hechos 16:22-34, Juan 16:5-11; Miércoles: Hechos 17:15, 22-18:1, Juan 16:12-15; Jueves (La Ascensión del Señor): Hechos 1:1-11, Hebreos 9:24-28, 10:1923, Efesios 1:17-23, Lucas 24:46-53; Viernes (La Visitación de la Virgen María): Sofonías 3:14-18, Isaías 12:2-6, Lucas 1:39-56; Sábado (San Justino): Hechos 18:23-28, Juan 16:2328

JUNIO 2-8

Domingo: Hechos 7:5560, Apocalipsis 22:12-14, 16-17, 20, Juan 17:20-26; Lunes (San Carlos Lwanga y acompañantes): Hechos 19:1-8, Juan 16:29-33; Martes: Hechos 20:17-27, Juan 17:1-11; Miércoles (San Bonifacio): Hechos 20:28-38, Juan 17:11-19; Jueves (San Norberto): Hechos 22:30, 23:6-11, Juan 17:20-26; Viernes: Hechos 25:13-21, Juan 21:15-19; Sábado: Hechos 28:1620, 30-31, Juan 21:20-25

JUNIO 9-15

‘La Última Cena’ de Oswaldo Guayasamín (1919-1999)

Domingo (Pentecostés): Hechos 2:1-11, Romanos 8:8-17, Juan 14:15-16, 23-26; Lunes (La Virgen María, Madre de la Iglesia): Génesis 3:9-15, Juan 19:25-34; Martes (San Barnabás): Hechos 11:21-26, 13:1-3, Mateo 5:13-16; Miércoles: 2 Corintios 3:4-11, Mateo 5:17-19; Jueves (San Antonio de Padua): 2 Corintios 3:15, 4:1, 3-6, Mateo 5:20-26; Viernes: 2 Corintios 4:7-15, Mateo 5:27-32; Sábado: 2 Corintios 5:14-21, Mateo 5:33-37

18

catholicnewsherald.com | May 24, 2019 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

Adoración Perpetua en Maryfield celebra su 25 aniversario HIGH POINT— Pennybyrn en Maryfield ha acogido la Adoración Perpetua de la Eucaristía todos los días durante 25 años, es decir, 9.125 días o 219.000 horas consecutivas.

Para conmemorar este extraordinario aniversario de la Adoración Eucarística Perpetua de nuestro Señor en el Santísimo Sacramento, la comunidad de cuidados continuos de jubilados, dirigida por las Hermanas de los Siervos Pobres de la Madre de Dios, está planeando una celebración para el domingo 2 de junio, y todos en la Diócesis de Charlotte están invitados.

La celebración contará con la Santa Misa en la Capilla Maryfield, ofrecida por el Obispo Peter Jugis, a partir de las 10:30 de la mañana. Después de la Misa habrá un picnic al aire libre en los jardines del centro.

La Adoración Eucarística Perpetua de Nuestro Señor en el Santísimo Sacramento comenzó en la Capilla de Maryfield el 5 de junio de 1994, durante la Fiesta de Corpus Christi. Después de la celebración de la Santa Misa a las 3 de la tarde, con el Obispo William G. Curlin de la Diócesis de Charlotte como celebrante principal y siete sacerdotes de parroquias locales como concelebrantes, hubo una procesión del Santísimo Sacramento alrededor del Jardín de Rosas que concluyó con la bendición en la Capilla a las 4. Después de la bendición, Nuestro Señor fue entronizado en la custodia y colocado en el altar, comenzando así la Adoración Eucarística en la Capilla Maryfield, que continúa sin interrupciones hasta el día de hoy.

“Ahora, recordando nuestros valientes comienzos, entendemos cómo el Espíritu Santo guió a nuestros líderes laicos para que tomen conciencia de este tesoro de la presencia de Jesús en el Santísimo Sacramento en las vidas de tantas personas en el Triad”, señaló la líder de la Misión, Hermana Lucy Hennessy, SMG. La Adoración Eucarística en el área fue una iniciativa de Joe Lanham, un feligrés de la iglesia Nuestra Señora de las Carreteras en Thomasville. Su entonces pastor, el padre John Murphy, OSFS, dio su bendición al proyecto y sugirió que Dick Kellenbarger, un feligrés compañero, ayude a presidir el comité para iniciar el esfuerzo.

La Adoración comenzó en Thomasville con 12 horas de Adoración el cuarto sábado de cada mes. Los Caballeros de Colón y sus familias de la parroquia se unieron a la idea, y no pasó mucho tiempo antes de que se inscribieran 100 personas.

Gracias al aliento del entonces Obispo John Donoghue, sacerdotes locales, líderes laicos y la intervención de la Divina Providencia, la gente pidió extender la Adoración Eucarística a 24 horas, y la Capilla de Pennybyrn en Maryfield era el lugar perfecto para ello.

En 1994, cuando el Obispo Curlin llegó a Pennybyrn, más de 400 personas se habían inscrito para participar al menos una hora por semana en la devoción Eucarística.

Anne Carr, de la Iglesia Nuestra Señora de las Carreteras; Eileen Rohan y Colette Woelfel de la Iglesia Nuestra Señora de la Gracia en Greensboro; y Edna Corrigan de la Iglesia Inmaculado Corazón de María en High Point, han contribuido decisivamente en el esfuerzo de oración desde los primeros años, subraya la Hermana Lucy.

“Estos líderes trabajaron mucho y muy duro durante semanas y meses antes que se abriera la Capilla para asegurarse que hubiera al menos un adorador frente a Nuestro Señor cada hora del día y de la noche”, dice ella.

“Pero los verdaderos héroes siguen siendo los adoradores que se registran para estar una hora a la semana con el Señor en el Santísimo Sacramento”.

El flujo constante de tráfico hacia y desde la capilla, agrega, demuestra que cada vez más personas han sido atraídas a visitar al Señor en el Santísimo Sacramento y que la Adoración Perpetua ha fomentado una vida de oración más profunda para los participantes.

“Se podría decir que las personas se han abierto al lado espiritual de lo que se ofrece aquí en Maryfield”, dice la Hermana Lucy. “Tenemos muchos adoradores que se comprometieron al principio y que todavía están con nosotros. Un joven que jamás ha tenido una ausencia, sonrió y me dijo: ‘¡La paga es baja, pero los beneficios son excelentes!’ A muchas personas les gusta permanecer por dos horas, porque la primera se va demasiado rápido”.

Pennybyrn at Maryfield está ubicada en 109 Penny Road en High Point. Para obtener más información sobre esta comunidad única en la Diócesis de Charlotte, visite www. pennybyrnliving.org.

— Catholic News Herald

CÉSAR HURTADO | CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

Un grupo de los delegados que asistieron al V Encuentro realizado en Texas el año pasado. Las conclusiones de trabajo ya se están aplicando en los Vicariatos de la Diócesis de Charlotte.

Líderes del ministerio hispano aplican conclusiones del V Encuentro CÉSAR HURTADO REPORTERO HISPANO

CHARLOTTE ­— Tras el V Encuentro del Ministerio Hispano en Estados Unidos, que se realizó en Grapevine, Texas, en septiembre de 2018, los delegados de la Diócesis de Charlotte continúan trabajando para poner en marcha y evaluar los avances en los acuerdos alcanzados en la importante cita.

El V Encuentro, que reunió a más de 3,000 líderes y delegados de la Pastoral Hispana/Latina de diócesis, movimientos eclesiales, escuelas, universidades y organizaciones católicas de todo el país, tuvo como propósito compartir las experiencias de la feligresía de las catorce regiones del país y llevar la voz de los fieles latinos, a través de sus delegados, para dar respuesta a las crecientes necesidades de la comunidad católica hispana.

La primera semana de mayo de este año los coordinadores de los equipos regionales tuvieron la oportunidad reunirse para escuchar, discernir y celebrar los muchos frutos que el V Encuentro ya rinde.

Adicionalmente, este equipo prepara la publicación de las Memorias y Conclusiones del V Encuentro, y ultima los detalles de los talleres regionales de seguimiento al proceso del V Encuentro, los cuales iniciarán este otoño y terminarán durante la primavera de 2020.

Según el documento de trabajo de la Diócesis de Charlotte sobre el V Encuentro, pese a que el 52% de la población católica es de origen hispano, de las 96 parroquias en todo el territorio diocesano, solo 64 de ellas prestan servicios en español a una comunidad latina talentosa, trabajadora, religiosa y con un concepto arraigado de unidad familiar.

ÁREAS DE TRABAJO

Eduardo Bernal, coordinador del ministerio hispano del Vicariato de Charlotte, dijo que el equipo de trabajo identificó siete áreas con necesidad de trabajo: pastoral juvenil; formación y acompañamiento espiritual; necesidad de promoción vocacional y ministros bilingües; formación y capacitación de líderes; pastoral familiar; mayor apoyo diocesano; y evangelización y misión.

Respecto a la aplicación de las conclusiones del V Encuentro a nivel local señaló que “estamos yendo a la periferia”, pues “hemos creado la Pastoral de la Salud y estamos en proceso de desarrollo de la Pastoral Juvenil que ya se ha implantado en tres comunidades”.

Adicionalmente, el ministerio hispano del Vicariato de Charlotte desarrolla un esfuerzo ecuménico con iglesias cristianas “para poder representar a la comunidad latina mejor frente al condado”, a la par que ha incrementado la presencia hispana en la escuela del programa laical y busca optimizar la coordinación con movimientos apostólicos tales como Emaús, la Renovación Carismática

Católica y Apóstoles de la Palabra.

Respecto al entrenamiento en liderazgo para jóvenes y jóvenes adultos refirió que el Instituto Pastoral del Sureste (SEPI), ha tomado la iniciativa en ese sentido y Charlotte participa activamente enviando a sus delegados.

Por su parte Sergio López, coordinador del ministerio hispano del Vicariato de Boone, dijo que concretamente de los siete puntos del V Encuentro los redujeron a tres principales para su área: pastoral familiar, juvenil y formación. “Ahorita estamos trabajando en un retiro para parejas que nos dará un inicio para trabajar con lo que es la pastoral familiar”, para después de ello trabajar con la pastoral juvenil “apoyados por la pastoral familiar”.

Luego resaltó que la formación de líderes ha sido vigorizada y las parroquias participan activamente en los programas que ofrece SEPI, destacando sobre todo la actividad que se desarrolla en las parroquias de las ciudades de Jefferson, Boone y Sparta.

En Gastonia también se está trabajando en los acuerdos logrados tras el V Encuentro, señaló el Padre José Juya, pues están “dinamizando los ministerios en esa dirección”.

“Estamos trabajando con la evaluación y se están creando comités, grupos de base. Se hacen encuentros y cada ministerio está presentando qué es lo que está haciendo y qué es lo que le falta”, dijo P. Juya.

“Es, más que todo, ir descubriendo el proceso de liderazgo y que lo que los líderes hacen no se vuelva rutina sino que se vuelva un proceso dinámico, que responda y cambie de acuerdo a las necesidades”, anotó.

RETRASOS

Reconociendo que existen retrasos en la aplicación local de los acuerdos del V Encuentro, Bernal explicó que se deben a la falta de coordinación y entendimiento “de parte del liderazgo laico de lo que el V Encuentro significa”. Además subraya que el impacto de la cita fue “mediano” porque de las 64 parroquias con presencia hispana, “por una u otra razón” solo participaron 30 y “algunas de una manera muy limitada”.

También señaló que existe un extremo respeto del laicado hacia los ordenados, “que es bueno, pero en ocasiones impide la comunicación” con las autoridades eclesiales. “El respeto debería ser recíproco entre los ordenados y laicos” para así poder “demostrar la real presencia latina que ya no es temporal, es permanente; y no es el futuro sino el presente de la Iglesia Católica en Estados Unidos”.

Bernal asegura que este es un proceso que tomará tiempo y se debe “desarrollar en los próximos 10 a 20 años”. “Nosotros debemos preparar a esta generación que está surgiendo para que se involucre en el proceso, lo viva, lo reflexione y lo aplique”.

Como proceso dinámico y cambiante, Bernal cree que “la Iglesia necesita ver las señales de los tiempos y hacer los ajustes de acuerdo a esa realidad”.

May 24, 2019 | catholicnewsherald.com CATHOLIC NEWS HERALDI

JUGIS VIENE DE LA PÁGINA 16

y proteger a las víctimas y a los denunciantes, que incluyen una serie de medidas actualmente vigentes aquí en Charlotte.

Las nuevas medidas se aplican a la Iglesia Católica en todo el mundo a partir del 1 de junio y reflejan en gran medida los pasos tomados en 2002, cuando la Conferencia de Obispos Católicos de Estados Unidos adoptó la Carta para la Protección de los Niños y los Jóvenes. Entre otras disposiciones, la Carta exigía tolerancia cero al abuso, asistencia a las víctimas, el informar las denuncias a las autoridades civiles y a los expertos laicos de las comisiones de revisión que asesoran a los obispos en los casos de abuso.

Adicionalmente, la Diócesis de Charlotte ha estado realizando una revisión exhaustiva de sus registros históricos en búsqueda de cualquier denuncia de abuso sexual de menores por parte del clero que haya prestado servicios en la diócesis de Charlotte desde su inicio en 1972. Cualquier denuncia descubierta en estos archivos ha sido y/o será enviada a nuestra Comisión de Revisión Laica para su evaluación y/o investigación adicional.

Y, tal como lo hemos hecho desde que me convertí en obispo en 2003,

ENCUBRIMIENTO VIENE DE LA PÁGINA 16

procedimientos, con particular énfasis en promover una investigación imparcial de los líderes, envían el mensaje que “nadie en el liderazgo está por encima de la ley”.

“No hay inmunidad” a la ley de Dios y la ley canónica, afirmó.

Cuando se le preguntó si las víctimas estarán conformes con las nuevas leyes, el arzobispo dijo que “las víctimas estarán satisfechas si las leyes fomentan una nueva cultura”.

“Nunca le daría un pedazo de papel a la persona que ha sufrido y le diría que hemos solucionado todo. La gente necesita respuestas concretas” y acción, por eso es que “estoy diciéndole a la gente que ayuden al Papa para que su deseo (de prevenir el abuso) sea una realidad en sus diócesis”.

Las nuevas normas no arreglarán todo, agregó, pero sí envían “un muy fuerte mensaje de que la divulgación de información está a la orden del día, y no el silencio”.

También es la primera vez que se establecen, de “conformidad con las leyes del estado” en lo que se refiere a abuso a menores, en el ámbito de la ley universal de la Iglesia, dijo el arzobispo.

Aunque la carta circular de la congregación doctrinal en 2011 dejó en claro que la iglesia debe obedecer las leyes civiles sobre abuso y reporte del mismo, la nueva carta apostólica “ratifica en una ley universal” esa orden de respetar los requerimientos civiles.

“Ninguna forma de lealtad a la Iglesia, debe retener al ciudadano de obedecer a su nación”, dijo,

los nombres de cualquiera de los clérigos que se encuentren acusados de manera creíble por la Comisión, en consulta conmigo, se harán públicos y se tomarán las medidas disciplinarias apropiadas.

Este proceso de revisión de los archivos del personal y otros registros históricos se puso en marcha el otoño pasado, bajo la recomendación de la Junta de Revisión, en consulta conmigo y otros líderes diocesanos.

Para garantizar que esta investigación sea exhaustiva, es difícil predecir exactamente cuándo se completará este proceso. Sin embargo, la diócesis está comprometida a concluir la investigación y publicar una lista de clérigos acusados de manera creíble antes que finalice el año. A través de mis conversaciones con sobrevivientes de abusos, me he convencido que la difusión completa del abuso del abuso ocurrido en el pasado es crucial en el proceso de sanación de las víctimas y de toda la Iglesia.

El mensaje del Santo Padre es claro: todos estamos llamados a la santidad, a una “conversión continua y profunda de corazones ... atestiguados por acciones concretas y efectivas que involucran a todos en la Iglesia”. Por favor, únase conmigo para continuar orando por la sanación de todas las víctimas de abuso sexual.

— Reverendísimo Peter J. Jugis, Obispo de Charlotte

“porque en el pasado hemos tenido muy tristes casos en los cuales la gente dijo: ‘No hablemos, queremos proteger a la iglesia’”.

“Esto no va más y es inaceptable” porque para el bien de la iglesia se necesita la verdad y la transparencia, lo que implica respetar la ley civil, dijo a la vez que manifestó su esperanza de que la gente sienta “la valentía de ir a la policía” a denunciar el delito.

La Iglesia y las autoridades locales deben trabajar en conjunto e incansablemente para combatir el abuso contra los menores porque siempre ha sido un crimen para la sociedad y la iglesia, dijo.

Otra parte importante de la nueva ley es que la misma facilita la divulgación, al obligar a todas las diócesis a establecer en un año “sistemas estables y accesibles al público”, que podrían ser una oficina específica o “centro de escucha”, donde las personas puedan reportar los casos de abuso sexual o su encubrimiento.

Las conferencias episcopales a nivel nacional deben ayudar a las diócesis a determinar las mejores y más culturalmente apropiadas maneras de proveer esta forma de alcance y servicio, si aún no lo han hecho, dijo.

El hecho de que todavía hay países donde la Iglesia no tiene un lugar definido y permanente o una forma para reportar el abuso, demuestra que “esta ley universal era necesaria” y que tener estructuras para la divulgación de información “no es más una opción”, es una ley obligatoria del papa, subrayó el arzobispo Scicluna.

“Si la gente tiene el derecho y el deber de denunciar algo ilícito” en caso de abuso, “también tiene el derecho de denunciar si, después de un año, no se ha hecho nada”, tomando en consideración la nueva orden emitida, puntualizó.

19

Reliquias del Padre Pío visitarán la Catedral San Patricio el 11 de junio CHARLOTTE — La Diócesis de Charlotte acogerá una colección de reliquias de San Pío de Pietrelcina, popularmente conocido como Padre Pío, de 9 de la mañana a 8 de la noche el martes 11 de junio en la Catedral San Patricio Una Misa en honor de San Pío será ofrecida por el Padre Christopher Roux, rector, a las 8 de la mañana. La veneración de las reliquias iniciará después de la Misa, a las 9 de la mañana. También Padre Pío se ofrecerá una Misa de Forma Extraordinaria que será celebrada por el Padre Jason Barone, promotor de vocaciones de la diócesis, a las 5:30 de la tarde.

Adicionalmente, el sacramento de reconciliación estará disponible durante todo el día.

Las reliquias de San Pío que estarán disponibles para la veneración de los fieles son:

sus guantes, costras de sus heridas; gasa de algodón con manchas de sangre; un mechón de su cabello; su manto y un pañuelo empapado de su sudor unas horas antes de morir.

La Fundación San Pío, que patrocina el tour, proporcionará libros y artículos relacionados con San Pío en la entrada de la catedral.

La Catedral San Patricio está ubicada en 1621 Dilworth Road East en Charlotte. Hay estacionamiento limitado disponible a lo largo de las calles cercanas a la catedral. También hay estacionamiento y un parqueadero adicional detrás de la escuela San Patricio en Buchanan Street, junto a la catedral.

— SueAnn Howell, reportera senior

Mayor información Puede encontrar información sobre el tour de la reliquia en la Catedral San Patricio en www.stpatricks. org. Más detalles sobre las reliquias y la Fundación San Pío en www.saintpiofoundation.org.

El viernes 20 de septiembre de 1968, el Padre Pío cumplía 50 años de haber recibido los estigmas del Señor. Tres días después, murmurando por largas horas “¡Jesús, María!”, falleció. Se calcula que más de 100 mil personas participaron en su entierro.

¿Quién fue el Padre Pío?

CONDENSADO DE ACIPRENSA

“Oh Jesús, mi suspiro y mi vida, te pido que hagas de mí un sacerdote santo y una víctima perfecta”, escribió una vez San Pío de Pietrelcina, cuya fiesta se celebra el 23 de septiembre. Su oración fue escuchada y se le concedió el don de los estigmas.

Durante su vida, Dios lo dotó de muchos dones, como el discernimiento extraordinario que le permitió leer los corazones y las conciencias. Por ello muchos fieles acudían a confesarse con él.

El Padre Pío nació en Pietrelcina, Italia, el 25 de mayo de 1887. Su nombre era Francisco Forgione y tomó el nombre de Fray Pío de Pietrelcina en honor a San Pío V, cuando recibió el hábito de Franciscano capuchino.

A los cinco años se le apareció el Sagrado Corazón de Jesús, quien posó su mano sobre la cabeza del niño. El pequeño, a su vez, prometió a San Francisco que sería un fiel seguidor suyo.

Desde entonces su vida quedó marcada y empezó a tener apariciones de la Santísima Virgen.

A los 15 años decide ingresar a la Orden Franciscana de Morcone y tuvo visiones del Señor en la que se le mostró las luchas que tendría que pasar contra el demonio.

El 10 de agosto de 1910 es ordenado sacerdote.

Poco tiempo después le volvieron las fiebres y los dolores que lo aquejaban, entonces fue enviado a Pietrelcina para que restablezca su salud.

En 1916 visita el Monasterio de San Giovanni Rotondo. El Padre Provincial, al ver que su salud había mejorado, le manda que retorne a ese convento en donde recibió la gracia de los estigmas.

“Era la mañana del 20 de septiembre de 1918.

Yo estaba en el coro haciendo la oración de acción de gracias de la Misa… se me apareció Cristo que sangraba por todas partes. De su cuerpo llagado salían rayos de luz que más bien parecían flechas que me herían los pies, las manos y el costado”, describió San Pío a su director.

“Cuando volví en mí, me encontré en el suelo y llagado. Las manos, los pies y el costado me sangraban y me dolían hasta hacerme perder todas las fuerzas para levantarme. Me sentía morir, y hubiera muerto si el Señor no hubiera venido a sostenerme el corazón que sentía palpitar fuertemente en mi pecho. A gatas me arrastré hasta la celda. Me recosté y recé, miré otra vez mis llagas y lloré, elevando himnos de agradecimiento a Dios”, añadió.

El 9 de enero de 1940 animó a sus grandes amigos espirituales a fundar un hospital que se llamaría “Casa Alivio del Sufrimiento”. El local se inauguró el 5 de mayo de 1956 con la finalidad de curar a los enfermos en lo físico y espiritual.

Según fuentes que no se han podido confirmar, San Juan Pablo II siendo un joven sacerdote visitaba al Padre Pío para confesarse y en una de esas ocasiones, estando en trance, le dijo al futuro Sumo Pontífice: “Vas a ser Papa”.

El Padre Pío partió a la Casa del Padre un 23 de septiembre de 1968, después de murmurar por largas horas “¡Jesús, María!”.

San Juan Pablo II, durante su canonización el 16 de junio de 2002, dijo de él: “Oración y caridad, esta es una síntesis sumamente concreta de la enseñanza del Padre Pío, que hoy vuelve a proponerse a todos”.

20

catholicnewsherald.com | May 24, 2019 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

En la gráfica con el Padre David, un joven ordenado que viajaba con un grupo de estudiantes, a quien conoció en Portomarín, importante localidad lucense ubicada en lo alto del Monte do Cristo a orillas del río Miño.

Un alto en la agotadora ruta francesa del Camino de Santiago. El Diácono Sigfrido Della Valle, de espaldas, asegura que El Camino lo ha cambiado y planea volver a recorrerlo lo antes posible. “Debo advertir que las experiencias que uno vive lo hacen altamente adictivo”, asegura.

En Alto do Poio, provincia de Lugo, la cumbre de la ruta francesa de El Camino francés en Galicia, a 1.337 metros de altitud. La subida es dura, pero el esfuerzo se ve recompensado por los hermosos paisajes que puede contemplar el peregrino al llegar a lo más alto.

FOTO PROPORCIONADA

FOTO PROPORCIONADA

‘El Camino de Santiago te camina a ti por el resto de tu vida’ Experiencias de la peregrinación del Diácono Sigfrido Della Valle CÉSAR HURTADO REPORTERO HISPANO

CHARLOTTE ­— Hace tres años, durante un viaje a Portugal con su esposa, el Diácono Sigfrido Della Valle, quien sirve en la Iglesia Santa Juana de Arco en Candler, decidió visitar Santiago de Compostela, España, llegando por casualidad el 25 de julio, fecha en que se celebra la fiesta del apóstol Santiago, patrón de esa importante ciudad.

“Caminábamos por la plaza y empezaron a llegar los peregrinos” relata, cuando pudo ver arribar a una persona afectada por el síndrome de Down que, hincándose de rodillas, se puso a llorar de emoción.

“Esa experiencia me impresionó muchísimo”, nos confesó. Por aquella época, Della Valle sufría de fuertes dolores en sus rodillas y pensó que su problema era mínimo en relación con la condición de la persona a la que había visto llegar en peregrinaje. “Quedó como un sueño para mí que algún día pudiera hacer El Camino”.

Tras un tiempo de tomar pastillas naturales para la recuperación de sus rodillas, poco a poco comenzó su mejoría y empezó a efectuar caminatas de una milla diaria, que no solo ayudaron a sus rodillas sino que también mejoraron su condición física y le permitieron bajar de peso.

“Un día creo que caminé bien y en ese momento me dije ‘voy a hacer el Camino de Santiago’. Y compré mi boleto en julio del año pasado”.

Entonces comenzó su preparación física y mental, pero Della Valle aclara que “El Camino no comienza cuando empiezas a prepararte, sino cuando entra en tu mente”.

DOS VIAJES

Así llegó el primer viaje en octubre de 2018. Su esposa, al verlo mejor de salud no le reclamó el embarcarse en esta aventura y Della Valle pensó que su deseo “era seguro y no una locura excesiva”.

Partió hacia Pamplona, Navarra, España, provincia fronteriza con Francia. Desde allí recorrió cerca de 190 millas, llegando hasta León, capital de la provincia del mismo nombre, teniendo como punto final de la primera parte de su peregrinación la hermosa Catedral de Santa

FOTOS PROPORCIONADAS

(Izq) En Irache, sede de la primera Universidad de Navarra en el siglo XVI. Poco antes de llegar al monasterio está una fuente de las Bodegas Irache. Por una de las fuentes mana agua y por la otra vino. (Der) Diácono Della Valle Proclamando La Pasión en Misa de Domingo de Ramos en Santiago de Compostela.

María de Regla, consagrada a la advocación de la Virgen María y cuya construcción se inició en el siglo XIII. Apenas retornó a Estados Unidos comenzó su búsqueda de un boleto aéreo económico para el tiempo de cuaresma de 2019.

El 2 de abril empezó la fase final de su peregrinación desde la Catedral de Astorga, provincia de León, a poco más de 30 millas del punto final de la primera parte de su camino. Después de once días llegaría a Santiago de Compostela, no después de pasar momentos duros en los que estuvo en riesgo su vida.

Una fuerte tormenta lo sorprendió en Cruz de Ferro.

Mientras subía la montaña empezó a bajar la temperatura, a soplar un aire muy frío y a caer granizo. Sin estar preparado para un clima de intenso frío, sintió los primeros signos de hipotermia y casi se le congelaron los dedos.

“Me empecé a sentir mareado y pedí auxilio a un carro que casualmente pasaba por el lugar”. Y mientras un buen samaritano lo llevaba a un hospital, la calefacción del coche hizo que sus dedos comenzaran a descongelarse, lo que le causó un dolor tremendo. Pero su recuperación fue rápida y, en vez del hospital, prefirió acudir a un albergue en Ponferrada, donde ofreció un servicio de comunión. “El Señor me tiene aquí por algo”, pensó.

El segundo incidente serio ocurrió a los pocos días saliendo de Villafranca. Una nevada que acumuló 18

pulgadas, un hecho extraordinario en la zona, hizo que se perdiera en el camino. “Ese día caminé la distancia equivalente a dos jornadas. Llegué muy cansado y ni pregunté si había Misa”.

La localidad a la que había llegado se llama Portomarín.

Ahí conoció al Padre David, un joven ordenado que viajaba con un grupo de estudiantes, con quien hizo amistad y pudo compartir el testimonio de su primer viaje de peregrinación de El Camino. Dos días después, respondiendo una invitación del Padre David, compartió su testimonio a los jóvenes, a quienes ofreció una charla.

“En el compartir, antes de dormir, uno de los jóvenes dijo haber ‘visto a Jesús en el sacerdote y en el diácono’. Ahí entendí porque había caminado dos jornadas en una y porque había caminado en la nieve y todo eso”, dijo Della Valle muy emocionado.

Ese mismo sacerdote lo ayudó a servir en la Iglesia San Francisco, a su llegada a Santiago de Compostela, en la Misa de los Peregrinos de Domingo de Ramos. La Catedral de Santiago se encontraba cerrada por refacciones y los servicios para peregrinos se habían trasladado temporalmente a San Francisco.

Le entregaron vestimentas y, debido a que hablaba inglés y español, le pidieron que proclamara la Pasión.

Ese mismo día se encontró con más de 50 peregrinos a los que había conocido en el camino y a quienes no había compartido que era diácono.

CAMBIO

Para Della Valle, “la espiritualidad de El Camino cambia la vida”, y explica que hay un dicho que dice que “vas a caminar El Camino y luego El Camino te camina a ti por el resto de tu vida”.

“Mucha gente va por diferentes motivos pero ninguno sale igual y, al final, hasta al más ateo pude verlo llegar a la iglesia”.

El diácono asegura que completar la peregrinación de El Camino de Santiago lo ha hecho pensar más en el servicio y sentir que hoy tiene muchas posesiones que no necesita.

“Me ha pegado duro el saber que nos hemos acostumbrado a vivir con tantas cosas, tanto ‘garbage’. Me da pena el saber que uno se afana en llenar con cosas un vacío espiritual”.

Después de haber aprendido a redescubrir, ver y escuchar a la naturaleza, Della Valle siente que sus homilías “van a ser más espirituales, buscando la ciudadanía en el cielo más que en la tierra”.

“He decidido que no quiero viajar más en vacaciones en mi vida sino están relacionadas con una experiencia religiosa o espiritual”, sentenció.

May 24, 2019 | catholicnewsherald.com CATHOLIC NEWS HERALDI

Where are you going?

QUO VADIS DAYS 2019

June 10-14, 2019 * Belmont Abbey College Retreat is open to young men 15 thru 19 years old A camp for Catholic men to learn more about the priesthood, deepen their faith, and help discern God’s call in their lives.

REGISTER BY JUNE 3

www.charlottevocations.org

21

Our schools 22

catholicnewsherald.com | May 24, 2019 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

For the latest news 24/7: catholicnewsherald.com

In Brief

‘It’s been a blessing’ Donor gives $990K to help renovate St. Michael School SUEANN HOWELL SENIOR REPORTER

Sacred Heart essay winners announced SALISBURY — Sacred Heart Catholic Daughters of America held its Annual Education Contest as part of their local, state and national competition. This year’s contest involved entries that represented essay writing, poetry, art, computer art and photography. Topics included “Doing my best to do good” or “Here I am Lord, I come to do Your will.”

Local winners are: Division I – Poetry: Raegan Glenn, first place; Andrea Perez Alvarez, second place; Mia Villalobos third place Division I – Essay: Josephina Huynh, first place; Aidan Melton, second place Division I – Art: Sophie Wainright, first place Division II – Poetry: Drew Hanson, first place; Bree Whittington, second place; Daniel McKie, third place Division II – Essay: Rachel Flynn, first place; Theresa Hurysz, second place; Emma Bloom, third place Division II – Computer Art: Bree Whittington, first place Division II – Photography: Annie Tadiello, first place Winners for the state and national levels will be announced later.

GASTONIA — Major renovations will soon be under way at St. Michael School, thanks to a $990,000 gift from a donor, a grant from the Diocese of Charlotte’s “Forward in Faith, Hope, and Love” campaign and anticipated school fundraisers.

The $990,000 gift comes from Shea Homes, a new home construction company in the Charlotte area.

John Shea, a parishioner of St. Gabriel Church in Charlotte, says his family “believes in the education and values taught by the dedicated teachers at Catholic schools.”

Shea attended a Catholic grammar and high school and his own children are currently enrolled in the diocese. “We like to think that the kids get a little extra training in the love of one another, which they may not receive in other schools. That’s one reason why we’re excited to support Catholic schools,” he said.

Shea’s gift is being combined with a $500,000 grant from the diocese’s “Forward in Faith, Hope, and Love” campaign, and another $110,000 expected to be raised through school fundraisers, to completely fund the $1.6 million renovation project at the 77-year-old school.

Principal Sheila Levesque said in a letter to parents and staff that she is “extremely excited and overwhelmed by the generosity being shown to our small school.”

Specifically, the $990,000 gift will fund: n Renovation of the existing library to create a new state-ofthe-art STEM Lab and Maker Space n Renovation of the existing science lab to expand capabilities for hands-on learning and experimentation n A complete renovation of the current technology infrastructure n Construction of a new special education classroom to expand the learning environment for special needs students n Fully fund the restoration of the elementary school restrooms

n Completely replace the existing roof n Completely replace the aging rooftop HVAC equipment Levesque admits it has been a bit of a whirlwind picking out wall colors, fixtures RENDERING PROVIDED BY DIOCESE OF CHARLOTTE PROPERTIES OFFICE and furniture for the soon-to-be renovated spaces.

“It’s incredible! It’s exciting and it has really energized us,” she said. “It’s been a blessing.”

“I share the excitement with the entire school family,” said Father Lucas Rossi, pastor. “These renovations will move the school into a higher level of excellence and enhance its mission of bringing more children to Christ. The school is a great blessing in my life and I look forward to being present when the students return in the fall and see all the amazing improvements to their academic home.”

The extensive renovations at the school also include a new playground fence, a redesigned main entrance, new administrative offices and enhanced security features.

“This extraordinary gift will allow St. Michael School to address some facility needs that they couldn’t address alone,” said Jim Kelley, diocesan director of development. “Having top-notch facilities is critical to providing an excellent Catholic education to our students and support for our teachers and staff.”

Work will get under way June 7, after the academic year concludes June 6.

— Robin Fisher

BMHS stock portfolio winners announced KERNERSVILLE — Bishop McGuinness High School held its annual UBS award ceremony for the overall winners for its year-long Stock Portfolio Simulation. Students have been working with UBS financial planners to learn to manage stock and bond portfolios. The program is a part of the school’s senior economics and government class. Pictured are seniors Wyn Booth, Lizzie Knox and Niel Ingle.

— Kimberly Knox

PHOTOS PROVIDED BY KATRINA CAPISTRANO

OLM students celebrate STEM Day WINSTON-SALEM — Our Lady of Mercy School recently revamped its Science Day, instead for public use. Later, each team will submit a report on their findings. Pictured are some of the experiments from the day, including creating waterproof structures under five celebrating Mercy STEM Day. Middle school students (grades 6-8) created mini STEM experiments for the elementary students. Each middle school team submitted a proposal minutes with Lego bricks, and floating drawings. of their experiment for approval, demonstrate the experiment and create a “live” version

May 24, 2019 | catholicnewsherald.com CATHOLIC NEWS HERALDI

Eternal Life Apostolate

902 W. Stephen Foster Ave • Bardstown, KY 40004 1 800 842 2871 • www.lifeeternal.org Christ the King High School’s “Grounded in Faith – Building our Future” capital campaign organizers and volunteers gathered for a kickoff event May 13 at the high school in Huntersville.

Presents

The 2019 Church Teaches Forum

“Be Transformed by the Renewal of Your Mind, That You May Discern What is the Will of God” (cf. Romans 12:2) July 12th and 13th, 2019 at The Galt House Hotel 140 N. Fourth Street, Louisville, KY 40202

SUEANN HOWELL | CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

‘GROUNDED IN FAITH – BUILDING OUR FUTURE’

Athletic and Activity Complex campaign kicks off with $1M gift

Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke Celebrant of Friday Mass Homily/Keynote

Christ the King High School project will include gym, fitness center, performance stage SUEANN HOWELL SENIOR REPORTER

HUNTERSVILLE — Students and staff of Christ the King High School gathered in the school cafeteria on May 13 to hear some exciting news. The school kicked off a $5.5 million “Grounded in Faith – Building our Future” capital campaign that day to fund a new Athletic and Activity Complex on campus.

During the kickoff celebration, the principal, Dr. Carl Semmler, said he is “thrilled to announce a lead gift of $1 million for our Athletic and Activity Complex. The anonymous donor family is happy to have a Catholic high school in the Huntersville area and is elated with CTK’s growth over the past eight years. The benefactors feel strongly that this capital campaign is pivotal in taking Christ the King to the next level.”

He also told students they are “million dollar people” and the donors’ confidence in them is evident in their $1 million pledge.

The capital campaign has already received another $980,000 in pledges, it was announced during the kickoff – and that news elicited rousing cheers from students and others gathered for the launch.

“I am awestruck with the outpouring of support for this venture. I feel very optimistic that after our kickoff today, the momentum will drive us to our goal in short order. Every gift will make a difference and, if we all pitch in, we can make our vision a reality,” Semmler said.

Christ the King High School has grown from 28 to 307 students in eight years, with enrollment expected to reach 330 for the 2019-’20 academic year.

Like the carefully managed growth of the high school itself, the capital campaign will fund the extensive Athletic and Activity Complex building project in stages – as each fundraising level is reached, designated phases of the project will be carried out.

When the first level of $3.5 million is reached, the gymnasium will be expanded to include a full-size court and two cross courts plus expanded seating from 120 to

690 spectators. Also included are men’s and women’s locker rooms for home and visiting teams, coaches and trainer offices, space for a fitness center and a new main entrance from the school lobby into the gymnasium, which will also serve as an awards gallery.

When the capital campaign reaches the second fundraising goal of $4.5 million, a full-size stage, including lighting and sound system will be built to accommodate student performances, school-wide liturgies and awards ceremonies.

At the final stage of the $5.5 million project, a pavilion will be built to serve as the new main entrance to the Athletic and Activity Complex and will include concessions, a Crusader ticket and spirit store and public restrooms. Also included in the goal is additional storage and completion of the fitness center which currently resides in the school building.

Jim Kelley, diocesan director of development, attended the May 13 capital campaign kickoff and helped pass out cookies to the students after the presentation.

“To receive $2 million in the first few weeks of the campaign is a great start, and to receive a $1 million gift is transformative,” Kelley said. “The momentum provided by this kind of gift will encourage others to make greater gifts themselves.”

— Steier Group contributed.

Learn more Information about the “Grounded in Faith – Building our Future” capital campaign and how you can help is online at www.ctkchs.org.

Questions? Contact Dr. Carl Semmler at 704799-4400 or email CTKCampaign@ctkchs.net.

Father Benedict O’Cinnsealeigh, S.T.D. “The Splendor of Christian Chastity”

Father Patrick Winslow, J.C.L. “Humanae Vitae: The Gift of Love”

Father Anthony Brausch, Ph.D. “The Strength of Married and Celibate Love”

Father Roger Arnsparger Celebrant 11:30 Mass and Homily

Friday, July 12, 2019 MASS: 5:30 p.m.

Banquet:

Principal Celebrant: Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke 7:00 p.m., followed by Keynote Address

Saturday, July 13, 2019, Welcome 8:00 a.m.

Presentation: 9:15 a.m. His Eminence Cardinal Burke 10:15 a.m. Fr. Benedict O’Cinnsealeigh, STD MASS: 11:30 a.m. Principal Celebrant: Fr. Roger Arnsparger 1:00 p.m. LUNCH Presentation: 2.00 p.m. Fr. Patrick Winslow, J.C.D. 3:00 p.m. Fr. Anthony Brausch, Ph.D.

Friday Evening Banquet (fish or chicken) $50 Saturday: Conference $15, Lunch $20

Call Eternal Life at 1 800 842 2871 or 502-348-3963, for reservations/tickets.

please make checks payable to: Eternal Life 902 W Stephen Foster Avenue • Bardstown, KY 40004 wjsjmj@bardstowncable.net • www.lifeeternal.org

23

Mix 24

catholicnewsherald.com | May 24, 2019 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

For the latest movie reviews: catholicnewsherald.com

On TV n Sunday, May 26, 1:30-3:30 p.m. (EWTN) “Haydn: The Creation.”

The Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic and Radio Choir perform Joseph Haydn’s oratorio “The Creation,” which depicts the formation of our planet and its life forms as portrayed in the Book of Genesis, the Psalms and John Milton’s “Paradise Lost.” An “In Concert” presentation.

In theaters

n Sunday, May 26, 8-9:30 p.m. (PBS) “National Memorial Day Concert.”

The 30th anniversary broadcast of this national night of remembrance. n Tuesday, May 28, 10-11 p.m. (PBS) “Sex Trafficking in America.” This episode of the series “Frontline” exposes the hidden reality of sex trafficking.

‘A Dog’s Journey’ This sequel to 2017’s “A Dog’s Purpose” once again follows a beloved pet (voiced by Josh Gad) through a number of lives as he bonds with the granddaughter of the man (Dennis Quaid) who in youth rescued and adopted him.

As she journeys through childhood (Emma Volk, Abby Rider Fortson) and adolescence (Kathryn Prescott), the repeatedly reincarnated canine does everything he can to protect her from danger and bring love into her life. A nongraphic scene of attempted sexual abuse, a car accident, thematic material that could be confusing for kids.

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

‘Tolkien’ Sophisticated profile of the future novelist’s youth traces his passage from impoverished schoolboy (Harry Gilby) to Oxford University scholarship student and beleaguered officer in the trenches of World War I (Nicholas Hoult). Along the way, he bonds with a trio of precociously gifted peers (Anthony Boyle, Patrick Gibson and Tom Glynn-Carney) and falls for his future wife (Lily Collins). Though the Catholic faith that would help to shape the grown writer’s vision is only represented by the caring but stern priest (Colm Meaney) who served as his guardian after the death of both his parents, director Dome Karukoski and screenwriters David Gleeson and Stephen Beresford successfully convey first the buoyant camaraderie that led the band of friends to regard themselves as brothers and, in the poignant latter part of the film, the horrors of the global conflict in which they were eventually caught up and the toll it exacted on them.

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

‘Hesburgh’ Informative, though wholly uncritical, biographical documentary about Holy Cross Father Theodore Hesburgh (1917-2015) chronicles not only his long tenure as president of the University of Notre Dame but his involvement in cold-war diplomacy, the civil rights movement and shaping the changing character of Catholic higher education. CNS: A-II (adults and adolescents); MPAA: Not rated Hesburgh

PHOTOS PROVIDED

Father Tolton play coming to Charlotte, Greensboro in early June CHARLOTTE — Two cities in the Diocese of Charlotte will host “Tolton: From Slave to Priest,” a powerful one-man multimedia play depicting the life of Father Augustus Tolton, the first African American priest, who lived from 1854 to 1897.

In Charlotte, the play will run Friday and Saturday, June 7-8, at The Great Aunt Stella Center, located at 926 Elizabeth Ave. There will be three performances: June 7 at 7:30 p.m.; June 8 at 3 p.m.; and June 8 at 7:30 p.m.

In Greensboro, the play will be performed Monday-Tuesday, June 10-11, at St. Mary’s Church, located at 812 Duke St. Performances will start at 7:30 p.m. both evenings.

“Tolton: From Slave to Priest” features a full cast of characters on a video screen who interact with actor Jim Coleman live on stage.

This unique format is visually engaging while also retaining the personal effect of a live performance. Audiences leave the show feeling that they have “met” Father Tolton.

The production is enhanced by an original soundtrack based on traditional African American spirituals, orchestrated by composer Tony Manfredonia.

Father Tolton’s life was one of hidden holiness. His cause for canonization was presented in February 2011 by the late Cardinal Francis George of Chicago to the Vatican and is

moving forward quickly.

“Father Tolton’s story needs to be told,” says Coleman. “As a black man, this very important

part of history is something that I want the world to hear about. I truly feel blessed to be the one to share Father Augustus Tolton with all who will listen!”

Tickets will be sold at the door before each performance at The Great Aunt Stella Center in Charlotte and at St. Mary’s Church in Greensboro. Ticket prices are $10 for adults, $5 for ages 18 and under. Cash or check only.

— SueAnn Howell, senior reporter; St. Luke Productions contributed.

Don’t miss this performance For more information about “Tolton: From Slave to Priest,” go to www. stlukeproductions.com/events/tolton.

Questions? Contact Rosheene Adams in the diocesan African American Affairs Ministry office at rladams@ charlottediocese.org.

n Thursday, June 6, 8-11:15 p.m. (TCM) “The Longest Day” (1962). The Allied invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944, is re-created on an epic scale in this dramatization of the operational preparations, behind-the-line activities and mostly the ferocious battle itself, with particular attention to the American landings at Omaha Beach.

Directed by Ken Annakin, Andrew Marton and Bernard Wicki, the result is an absorbing account of D-Day from both sides of the battlefield, with convincing portrayals of men in combat from an international cast headed

by John Wayne, Robert Mitchum and Henry Fonda.

Wartime violence seen in the context of a righteous cause. CNS: A-I (general patronage). Not rated by MPAA. n Sunday, June 2, 8-10 a.m. (EWTN) “Joan of Arc.” Profile of St. Joan of Arc, a simple 15th-century peasant girl whose calling to save France allowed her to gain the trust of Charles VII and lead French armies to victory against the English.

May 24, 2019 | catholicnewsherald.com CATHOLIC NEWS HERALDI

25

‘A story of hope’ ‘Power of a Rose’ penned by local author, founder of Mary’s WAY SUEANN HOWELL SENIOR REPORTER

MOORESVILLE — For years Ann Winkle has been asked to write a book about her miraculous childhood story which has served as a catalyst for Mary’s WAY (Women Answering Yes), a ministry which inspires women to grow closer to Jesus through the perfect example of His Blessed Mother Mary.

This St. Therese parishioner is a wife, mother of four and a life coach who, through Mary’s WAY, encourages women to live their faith more passionately and turn to the power of the rosary.

“Since 2002, I have been sharing my miraculous, true childhood story at 18 different Mary’s WAY dinners across the country,” Winkle says.

“Many have urged me to write a book over the years and I put it off as long as I could.”

She shares that now, by the grace of God, her book “The Power of a Rose” has been released this month.

The book reveals that in 1966 when Winkle was 5, her mother suddenly collapsed from a brain aneurysm. The 36-year-old was six weeks pregnant at the time. She was diagnosed with brain cancer – devastating news for her family and her faith community.

“The Power of a Rose” tells the true story of an old-fashioned love that took Winkle’s parents, Jim and Rose, from grade school sweethearts to happy, devoted parents of 10 children.

In particular, readers will see how Winkle’s family and their faith-filled community reached out to God through the devotion of the rosary and placed all trust in Him. “It’s a true story of a miracle which occurred with my mother and the child she was carrying,” Winkle says. “The book comes from the testimony and the inspirational story that I tell at Mary’s WAY dinners where I share in detail how the Blessed Mother came to our aid during that time of need.”

There are now 19 Mary’s WAY chapters in the U.S. The 19th Mary’s WAY chapter is sponsored

by St. Therese Church in Mooresville, which held its first dinner May 21.

“St. Mark Church in Huntersville has already had their third annual dinner,” Winkle shares.

“We often have 150-300 women attend from each chapter.”

Winkle emphasizes that the story born out of the Mary’s WAY ministry is a story of hope.

“When the medical world has no answers, the power of prayer and calling on God through the Blessed Mother can make the impossible possible,” Winkle says.

For more information To order “The Power of a Rose” or to learn more about Mary’s WAY chapters and how to start one at your parish, go to www. mymarysway.com.

Catholic Book Pick Editor’s note: Introducing “Catholic Book Pick,” a regular feature of recommended Catholic reading from Katie DeMoss, publicity director for Charlotte-based TAN Books and former reporter for the Catholic News Herald.

“The Anti-Mary Exposed: Rescuing the Culture from Toxic Femininity” by Carrie Gress Building off the scriptural foundations of the anti-Christ, Dr. Carrie Gress makes an in-depth investigation into the idea of an anti-Mary – as a spirit, not an individual – that has plagued the West since the 1960s when a small group of elite American women convinced an overwhelming majority of the country that destroying the most fundamental of relationships – that of mother and child – was necessary for women to have productive and happy lives.

A powerful and eye-opening book, “The Anti-Mary Exposed” uncovers the gritty history of the radical feminist movement and shows how Mary, the Mother of God, offers us the antidote with her perfect model of Christian femininity.

“This book, although it engages in the heavy battles at hand, will not end with the anti-Mary having the last word,” Gress writes. “Gratefully, we have the real Mary who is present in the world, in our lives, and who is capable of the miraculous.”

At www.tanbooks.com: Order your copy of “The Anti-Mary Exposed.” Catholic News Herald readers enjoy 20 percent off their order – use the exclusive coupon code “CNH20.”

CCDOC.ORG

Volunteer Coordinator Winston-Salem Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte seeks a part-time Volunteer Coordinator to recruit, orient, train, and supervise volunteers. Position requires periodic evening and weekend hours, strong parish and community outreach, and excellent communication skills.

Go to www.ccdoc.org/jobs for details.

Estate Planning Elder Law | Probate Settling an Estate? You don’t have to do it alone.

Contact Attorney Sabrina Winters to help navigate you through this complicated process.

St. Matthew Parishioner

704.843.1446 | www.ncestateplanninginfo.com

6406 Carmel Road, Suite 301 | Charlotte, North Carolina 28226

Our nation 26

catholicnewsherald.com | May 24, 2019 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

Washington’s new archbishop urges renewed faith amid recent challenges CAROL ZIMMERMANN CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

WASHINGTON, D.C. — During his installation ceremony as the new archbishop of Washington, Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory acknowledged the struggles that have recently impacted the Catholic Church and urged Catholic leaders and laity not to lose faith.

“We stand at a defining moment for this local faith community,” he said in his homily during the May 21 Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, stressing that “our recent sorrow and shame do not define us” but should chasten the archdiocese to continue the work ahead.

The archbishop, reflecting on the day’s Gospel reading about the apostles who had grown fearful with turbulent weather at sea, said the narrative is a “worthy metaphor for us as people of faith who have been tossed about” by “waves of unsettling revelations.”

The former leader of the Atlanta Archdiocese who also had served as the bishop of Belleville, Ill., and as an auxiliary bishop of Chicago, did not mention the sexual abuse crisis by name but clearly he didn’t have to.

The congregation in the basilica greeted the archbishop with some cheers during the opening procession, sustained applause after his formal acceptance of the role as their shepherd and in waves of applause during the recessional at the end of the two-hour

Mass, when some reached out to him and many took pictures with their cellphones.

His message focused primarily on comparing the Church now with frightened apostles at sea who had forgotten that Jesus was on the boat with them.

“I know in my heart and I believe you know in your hearts as well: Jesus is in the boat with us” even in turbulent times, he said.

Archbishop Gregory stressed that he didn’t have the answers, nor was there a single ministry or program to solve the current crisis but he was confident that the Church should put its trust in God and God alone.

He urged Church leaders to admit their own failures and stressed that for his part he would laugh and cry with members of the archdiocese and would admit faults “when I commit them, not when they are revealed,” which drew applause.

“We begin our journey on unnaturally choppy seas,” he reiterated at the end of his homily and once again reminded the congregation to realize that Jesus has never left them.

The new archbishop of Washington also thanked his family members and those he had served in other dioceses, with a particular shout-out to the Atlanta Archdiocese, noting that he has told them: “There will never be a day when Georgia isn’t on my mind.”

The Mass included petitions in multiple languages, a reading and some comments from the archbishop in Spanish and a song by a gospel choir reflecting the diversity

CNS | BOB ROLLER

Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory blesses a woman during Communion at his installation Mass May 19 at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. of the archdiocese. The archbishop also greeted archdiocesan representatives, holding many of their hands in both of his hands as they spoke to him.

The Mass was attended by more than 3,000 people and was celebrated by eight cardinals, 50 bishops and more than 300 priests.

At the opening of the Mass, Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl, acting administrator of the archdiocese after the pope accepted his resignation last year, welcomed Archbishop Gregory as a “faith-filled pastor” and thanked Pope Francis for selecting him as the new archbishop of Washington. This is a “day we have looked forward to with great anticipation,” he said.

Archbishop Gregory, in his homily, described Cardinal Wuerl as a “true

Christian gentleman” and said he “has been and remains a cherished friend.”

Archbishop Christophe Pierre, U.S. papal nuncio, thanked the cardinal for his work shepherding the archdiocese and also said the new archbishop was prepared for his mission of evangelization here.

“Trust your instincts and get out of chancery” to encounter your new archdiocese, the papal nuncio said, reiterating what Archbishop Gregory said on the day of the announcement of his new assignment that he certainly intended to do.

In response to these opening remarks, Archbishop Gregory said he comes to this humble moment with gratitude, joy and confidence, believing that God who has always been with him will continue to be at his side.

Minnesota attorney sues Holy See for documentation on clergy offenders MARIA WIERING CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

ST. PAUL, Minn. — St. Paul attorney Jeff Anderson announced May 14 that he is representing five sexual abuse survivors suing the Holy See for names of clergy sexual abuse offenders worldwide and the names of Church leaders who have been involved in abuse cover-up.

The lawsuit’s defendants include Ben, Luke and Stephen Hoffman, brothers abused by then-Father Curtis Wehmeyer while he was at Blessed Sacrament in St. Paul from 2006 to 2012. He was removed from ministry in 2012, when the abuse was first reported to civil and Church authorities, and then laicized in 2015.

He is serving a prison sentence in Wisconsin for his abuse of Ben Hoffman there in 2011.

Also participating in the lawsuit are survivors James Keenan, who was abused in the 1980s at Risen Savior in Burnsville by then-Father Thomas Adamson, and Manuel Vega, who was abused by a religious order priest in California in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

The lawsuit alleges that the Holy See –

meaning the pope in his role as head of the Catholic Church – was in a position to know the danger that the abusing priests in the plaintiffs’ cases posed to children but mandated policies of secrecy that discouraged Church leaders from reporting sexual abuse to civil authorities.

Anderson said that the Church legislation Pope Francis released May 9 did not go far enough in requiring Church leaders to report abuse allegations to law enforcement.

That document requires abuse and its cover-up to be reported to Church authorities and for those authorities to comply with civil law, stating “these norms apply without prejudice to the rights and obligations established in each place by state laws, particularly those concerning any reporting obligations to the competent civil authorities.”

In the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, people with sexual abuse allegations are encouraged to contact law enforcement before contacting Church officials. Allegations made directly to the archdiocese are promptly reported to law enforcement.

Anderson said that his office’s next step

will be to serve the suit on the Vatican, which may be a lengthy process. He expects the Vatican to “put up sovereign immunity defenses” but that his office is “ready for battle.”

Anderson & Associates previously sued the Vatican regarding clergy sexual abuse in 2002, but the suit was unsuccessful. Anderson said during a news conference that he has confidence that this suit could have a different outcome because his body of evidence demonstrates “all roads lead to Rome.” In October, he announced a suit in California against the Vatican in which Keenan also was a defendant, but Anderson has since dropped that suit.

In a May 14 statement, Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda of St. Paul and Minneapolis said that “having met with scores of survivors of clergy sex abuse, I understand the anger and frustration at the Church that is apparent in the lawsuit filed today by Jeffrey Anderson.”

“On July 20, 2016, the archdiocese appeared in Ramsey County Court and admitted to wrongdoing in the way it dealt with Curtis Wehmeyer,” the archbishop said. “On that same day, I publicly stated:

‘(W)e failed – in what we have done and in what we have failed to do. ... We failed to give priority to the safety and well-being of the children he hurt over the interests of Curtis Wehmeyer and the archdiocese.’”

“I am profoundly sorry for their suffering,” he said, “and I am very grateful to the Hoffmans for sharing their stories with others and, in one instance, with me.

I thank them for their courage. I thank them for being staunch child protection advocates.”

He continued: “It is my hope that the resolution of the criminal and civil cases, as well as the bankruptcy case, combined with concrete child protection steps and restorative justice actions already underway here, will bring greater healing to this local Church.

“To further these efforts, the archdiocese has recently hired a victims/survivors outreach coordinator, a survivor herself of abusive behavior on the part of a priest, to assist us in our outreach efforts. I remain grateful to Pope Francis for his recent legislation establishing clear procedures for holding priests bishops, archbishops and cardinals accountable for their actions.”

May 24, 2019 | catholicnewsherald.com CATHOLIC NEWS HERALDI

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In Brief Confession bill amended, but Church leaders say it still targets priests LOS ANGELES ­— Church officials are urging Catholics to continue to oppose a California bill that would force priests to disclose information about child sexual abuse that they hear in the sacrament of confession. The call came as the Senate measure, known as S.B. 360, advanced in the Legislature after lawmakers “accepted several of the Church’s recommendations to strengthen mandated reporting requirements for clergy,” as Los Angeles Archbishop Jose H. Gomez noted in a May 20 statement. However, despite the changes, the bill remains “an unacceptable violation of our religious freedoms that will do nothing to protect children,” the archbishop said. As amended, the bill now protects the seal of the confessional – except in cases where a priest is hearing another priest’s confession or in cases where a priest is hearing the confession of a co-worker. Current California law requires clergy to report suspected abuse or neglect unless the information about the abuse was obtained during confession. S.B. 360, authored by a Bay-area Democrat, Sen. Jerry Hill, seeks to eliminate this so-called “exemption” for “penitential communication.”

On May 16, the Senate Appropriations Committee voted 4-2 to send an amended version of S.B. 360 to the full Senate for a vote.

Missouri lawmakers ‘clearly on side of life’ with abortion law JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — The sponsor of the Missouri bill to ban abortions after eight weeks of pregnancy described how the measure moved through the Legislature as being like human life itself. “This bill started out like everyone else here ... with a simple heartbeat,” Republican Rep. Nick Schroer of O’Fallon said in a statement May 17 after the state House voted 110-44 to send it to Gov. Mike Parson for his signature. The state Senate passed it the day before. The Missouri Stands for the Unborn Act, H.B. 126, aims to “uphold Americans’ most basic rights, including life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” the Catholic lawmaker said. “This legislation has one goal, and that is to save lives ... to withstand judicial challenges and not cause them.” St. Louis Archbishop Robert J. Carlson in a May 17 statement commended Missouri lawmakers for passing the bill. “During the annual March for Life in January, I walked with those proclaiming a culture of life,” he said. “We all have a responsibility to do what we can so that in this nation, in our families, in our archdiocese, we choose life unconditionally.

What we are now witnessing here in Missouri are lawmakers exercising that responsibility, and we commend them for working to protect the innocent and vulnerable,” he continued.

Washington’s archbishop plans to get ‘out in field’ to meet people HYATTSVILLE, Md. — Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory will have a lot of things on his plate when he becomes the newest leader of the influential archdiocese situated in the nation’s capital: the sexual abuse roiling the Church, the tense political climate on the Hill and the challenges that come with learning about a new archdiocese. The newest archbishop of Washington knows what his first priority will be however. The “first and most important thing” is “getting out in the field and meeting the people,” Archbishop Gregory said May 17. He has six listening sessions scheduled with priests of the

Washington Archdiocese, and “I’m trying to fill up my calendar right now with moments when I can be in the parishes with the people,” he said.

U.S. bishops ‘gravely disappointed’ with House passage of Equality Act WASHINGTON, D.C. — Five U.S. bishops, chairmen of U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops committees or subcommittees, said May 17 they were “gravely disappointed” with the U.S. House of Representatives passage of the Equality Act. In an 236-173 vote, the House approved the measure, H.R. 5, which would add the new terms “sexual orientation” and “gender identity,” as well as “pregnancy ... or a related medical condition,” to the definition of “sex” in federal civil rights laws, the bishops noted. It also would expand the types of entities covered under those laws and it exempt itself from the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993.

“Rather than offering meaningful protections for individuals, the Equality Act would impose sweeping new norms that negatively impact the unborn, health care, charitable services, schools, personal privacy, athletics, free speech, religious liberties and parental rights,” said the chairmen. Signing the statement were: Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City, Kan., chairman of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities; Bishop Frank J. Dewane of Venice, Fla., chairman of the USCCB Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development; Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Ky., chairman of the USCCB Committee for Religious Liberty; Bishop Michael C. Barber of Oakland, Calif., chairman of the USCCB Committee on Catholic Education; and Bishop James D. Conley of Lincoln, Neb., chairman of the USCCB Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage.

Pro-life leaders applaud passage of abortion bill in Alabama MONTGOMERY, Ala. — By passing a bill to ban abortion in nearly all circumstances, the Alabama Legislature has recognized that abortion is “the extinguishing of a unique human life,” said the president and CEO of Americans United for Life.

“From conception to natural death, every single human life deserves to be protected by law. The violence of abortion is never the answer to the violence of rape,” said Catherine Glenn Foster in a May 15 statement. “Like other states that have passed laws concerning when life begins, Alabama has relied upon scientific and medical facts.” The state Senate passed the measure late May 14 in a 25-6 vote. The state House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved it in early May. It includes exceptions for when the life or health of the mother is seriously threatened and when the child has a fatal disease. It bans abortion in all other circumstances, including rape and incest, and makes performing an abortion at any stage of pregnancy a felony punishable by up to 99 years in prison. Late May 15 Gov. Kay Ivey signed the measure into law.

Va. bishops: Court’s abortion ruling ‘goes beyond Roe v. Wade’ RICHMOND, Va. — The bishops who lead Virginia’s two dioceses blasted a federal judge’s decision allowing non-doctors to perform first-trimester abortions in the state, saying the ruling “goes beyond Roe v. Wade,” the 1972 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion virtually on demand. The May 6 ruling by U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson “reveals the extreme measures that are being taken by pro-abortion groups to eliminate even common-sense restrictions on abortion,” said a May 9 statement from Bishops Michael F. Burbidge of Arlington and Barry C. Knestout of Richmond. The Falls Church Medical Center, which performs abortions in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, brought the case to court, along with other clinics and supporters

of legal abortion. Hudson, in his opinion, said: “A consensus appears to have evolved” on the issue of whether first-trimester abortions are safe and simple enough to be performed by someone other than a physician, thus making Virginia’s current medical requirements “unduly burdensome” and therefore unconstitutional.

Bishops Burbidge and Knestout, though, said the decision “further advanced the extreme agenda of the abortion industry and placed Virginia’s women at ever greater risk of harm from surgical abortion.”

— Catholic News Service

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Prayer to St. Joseph of Cupertino For Success in Examinations O humble St. Joseph of Cupertino, singularly favored by God in overcoming the difficulties of study and the worries of examinations, implore the Holy Spirit to enlighten my mind and strengthen my memory in the search of His truth and wisdom. Help me especially in the decisive moments of this examination, protecting me from that forgetfulness and disturbing anxiety which often affect me. May I succeed in offering God my finest work and may I grow in knowledge, understanding, humility and charity. May everything that I attempt to learn in life be offered in faithful service to God, from whom flows that wisdom which leads to eternal life. Amen St. Joseph of Cupertino pray for me, Our Lady of Good Studies pray for me, Holy Spirit enlighten me!

Remember, when you succeed in the exams then you should thank St. Joseph of Cupertino and help make known his powerful intercession among other students.

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catholicnewsherald.com | May 24, 2019 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

Pope issues new norms on mandatory abuse reporting, bishop accountability CAROL GLATZ CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has revised and clarified norms and procedures for holding bishops and religious superiors accountable in protecting minors as well as in protecting members of religious orders and seminarians from abuse.

The new juridical instrument is meant to help bishops and religious leaders around the world clearly understand their duties and church law, underlining how they are ultimately responsible for proper governance and protecting those entrusted to their care. For this reason, the new document establishes a clearer set of universal procedures for reporting suspected abuse, carrying out initial investigations and protecting victims and whistleblowers.

The new document, given “motu proprio,” on the pope’s own initiative, was titled “Vos estis lux mundi” (“You are the light of the world”), based on a verse from the Gospel of St. Matthew (5:14).

“The crimes of sexual abuse offend Our Lord, cause physical, psychological and spiritual damage to the victims and harm the community of the faithful,” the pope said in the document, released by the Vatican May 9. The norms go into effect June 1.

To stop all forms of abuse from ever happening again, not only is “a continuous and profound conversion of hearts” necessary, there must be “concrete and effective actions that involve everyone in the Church,” he wrote.

Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, said the new norms ascribe a new role to heads of dioceses by making them responsible for alerting the proper Vatican authorities of all forms of suspected abuse, including the possession, distribution or creation of pornography involving a minor.

He told Vatican News May 9 that the norms respond to Pope Francis’ continued insistence for concrete and effective measures to ensure bishops and religious superiors have a very clear understanding of what their obligations are and what they should and should not do when it comes to safeguarding.

It also requires all priests and religious to report suspected abuse or cover-ups and encourages any lay person to report through a now-mandated reporting “system” or office in each diocese.

How the office or “system” works will be up to each diocese, but “the idea is that anyone who has suffered abuse can have recourse to the local church, while being assured they will be well received, protected from retaliation, and that their reports will be treated with the utmost seriousness,” Andrea Tornielli, editorial director of the Dicastery for Communication, told Vatican News.

The new norms now stipulate: n Procedures for the investigation of bishops, cardinals, patriarchs, religious superiors and all those who lead – even temporarily - a diocese or particular church, including personal prelatures and personal ordinariates. n Leaders will be held accountable not only with suspected cases of committing abuse themselves, but also accusations of having interfered with, covered up or failed to address abuse accusations they were aware of. n When the accused individual is a bishop, the metropolitan will receive a mandate from the Holy See to investigate or delegate a person in charge of the preliminary investigation. A status report must be sent to the Holy See every 30 days, and the investigation completed with 90 days with some exceptions. Vatican offices are also held to specific timeframes and prompt action. n By June 2020, every diocese in the world must create an office or “public, stable and easily accessible systems” for reporting suspected abuse against a minor or vulnerable person, failure of compliance of abuse guidelines by bishops or superiors, and cases of interference or cover-ups in either a civil or canonical investigation of suspected abuse. n All priests and religious that become aware of abuse or its cover-up must alert their bishop or religious superior

CNS | PAUL HARING

Pope Francis prays in front of a candle in memory of victims of sexual abuse as he visits St. Mary’s Pro-Cathedral in Dublin Aug. 25, 2018. Pope Francis has revised and clarified norms and procedures for holding bishops and religious superiors accountable in protecting minors as well as in protecting members of religious orders and seminarians from abuse. promptly. n A minor is anyone under the age of 18 and a vulnerable person is “any person in a state of infirmity, physical or mental deficiency, or deprivation of personal liberty which, in fact, even occasionally, limits their ability to understand or to want to otherwise resist the offense.” n The definition of child pornography as any representation of a minor, regardless of the media used, “involved in explicit sexual activities, whether real or simulated, and any representation of sexual organs of minors for primarily sexual purposes.” n Bishops and religious superiors will be accountable not just for protecting minors against abuse but also for protecting seminarians, novices and members of religious orders from violence and sexual abuse stemming from an abuse of power. The norms apply to reports of “delicts against the sixth commandment” regarding clerics or members of religious orders and “forcing someone, by violence or threat or through abuse of authority, to perform or submit to sexual acts.” n Those who report abuse cannot be subjected to pressure, retaliation and discrimination or told to keep silent. The seal of confession, however, remains inviolable and is not affected by the new norms. n Procedures for carrying out the preliminary

investigation include the bishop immediately requesting from the Vatican that he or a delegate be assigned to begin the preliminary investigation. If he considers an accusation is unfounded, the papal nuncio is informed. The Vatican will have 30 days to respond to the request and the bishop sends a status report to the Vatican every 30 days. n When the investigation is complete, the bishop sends the results to the proper Vatican office, which then follows existing Church law. n The continued obligation to respect civil laws regarding mandatory reporting. n Those who reported suspected abuse or cover-up will be told of the outcome of the investigation if they request to be informed. n A fund can be set up by bishops’ conferences, synods and Church provinces to cover the costs of investigations.

The document is a follow-up to Pope Francis’ 2016 document, “As a Loving Mother,” on transparency and accountability of bishops and religious superiors.

The two documents together are meant to correct what had been a lack of or unclear procedures for investigating the way a bishop complies with already established norms against abuse and clearly expressing the consequences of noncompliance or cover-ups.

May 24, 2019 | catholicnewsherald.com CATHOLIC NEWS HERALDI

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In Brief Not ruling on apparitions, pope allows pilgrimages to Medjugorje VATICAN CITY — Parishes and dioceses are now allowed to organize official pilgrimages to Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina, but it must be clear that the Church has not recognized as authentic the alleged Marian apparitions there. Polish Archbishop Henryk Hoser, the pope’s apostolic visitor to Medjugorje, and Archbishop Luigi Pezzuto, the nuncio to BosniaHerzegovina, announced the pope’s decision to lift the ban on official pilgrimages May 12.

Alessandro Gisotti, the interim director of the Vatican press office, confirmed the change, but said care must be taken to ensure the pilgrimages are not “interpreted as an authentication of well-known events, which still require examination by the Church.” Therefore, he said, church-sponsored pilgrimages must “avoid creating confusion or ambiguity from the doctrinal point of view.”

In 1981, six young people from Medjugorje claimed that Mary had appeared to them. Some of the six say Mary still appears to them and gives them messages each day, while others say they see her only once a year now. Diocesan commissions studied the alleged apparitions from 1982 to 1984 and again from 1984 to 1986, and the then-Yugoslavian bishops’ conference studied them from 1987 to 1990. All three commissions concluded that they could not affirm that a supernatural event was occurring in the town.

Montreal archbishop, religious leaders oppose Quebec’s secularism bill MONTREAL — The archbishop of Montreal worries that Quebec’s secularism legislation will affect religious liberties in this Canadian province.

A few hours before the last day of public hearings on Bill 21 May 16, Archbishop Christian Lepine of Montreal said he feared the new legislation “will be at the expense of individual freedoms.” Bill 21 is expected to be adopted at the Quebec’s National Assembly before the end of the parliamentary session in June. The Quebec government hopes the bill will end the debate about how religion should be handled in the public sphere by preventing many public servants, like judges, police officers, and public-school teachers, from wearing any religious symbol.

Archbishop Lepine said true state neutrality should rather “demonstrate openness and acceptance toward all its citizens, both those professing no particular beliefs as well as those professing various beliefs and religious practices. How can one not see that the prohibition against wearing religious symbols is both an obstacle to upholding freedom of conscience and religion, as well as an attack on human dignity, since citizens would be required to conceal their religious identity in the name of a presumed neutrality?” he asked.

Two attacks in two days leave 10 Catholics dead in Burkina Faso OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso — Catholic leaders in Burkina Faso appealed for unity and solidarity after two attacks on Catholics in two days left nine laypeople and a priest dead.

“We have been working together for years – Muslims, Protestants, Catholics and followers

of traditional religions, always walking hand in hand,” said Archbishop Seraphin Rouamba of Koupela. “In view of this, it isn’t necessary for such tragic acts to divide us.” The archbishop was preaching at the May 13 funeral of Father Simeon Yampa, a diocesan representative for interreligious dialogue, who was shot dead with five parishioners when Islamists attacked their church at Dablo during Mass May 12. Bishop Theophile Nare of Kaya described the murdered Catholics as “martyrs for the faith” and said the “despairing community” had been comforted by a May 13 message of sympathy from Pope Francis.

The bishop said those responsible for “barbaric acts at the moment of consecration” were “attacking God Himself,” who would ultimately triumph if Catholics showed “courage and faith.

We must continue to pray, since what is happening today isn’t just a war against Christians, but a declaration of war on Jesus Christ,” he said.

Vienna-based group logs attacks against European Christian churches MANCHESTER, England — Vandals and thieves have damaged at least eight Christian churches in Germany since early April. Churches have also been attacked, apparently at random, in Scotland, England, France, Poland, Spain, Italy and Austria. The cases were logged by the Vienna-based Observatory of Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe, an independent organization founded with the help of the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences.

Details of each of them have been posted on the observatory’s website. Police in Freiburg, Germany, are investigating a series of thefts from Catholic churches in Rheinfelden-Nollingen, Schworstadt, and Bad Sackingen from mid-April to the beginning of May. The Nollingen church was hit twice by thieves. In early May, vandals defaced a wall of the Herz-Jesu Catholic church

in Winnweiler with graffiti; the Evangelical Lutheran City Church in Rudolstadt was daubed with paint, and a paving stone was thrown through the window of a chapel in in MorbachHoxel, causing 2000 euros (US$2,200) of damage. At least nine windows were smashed at a church in Wilhelmshaven, a fire was started at a church in Nienborg, and terror threats were made against churches marking the Armenian genocide in Stuttgart and Frankfurt, causing the events to be canceled.

Vatican official: New Orthodox schism stalls ecumenical talks ROME — A significant rupture between Orthodox churches in Ukraine has brought the official theological dialogue between Catholics and Orthodox to a standstill, according to a Vatican official involved in the talks. “The ecumenical dialogue is a journey. At this point in the journey, we have a new problem,” said Bishop Brian Farrell, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. In January 2019, Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople signed a decree recognizing an independent church in Ukraine despite strong criticism from the Russian Orthodox Church, which sees Ukraine as part of its church territory. The Patriarch of Moscow, in protest, excommunicated Patriarch Bartholomew and severed communion with him and his followers.

The Orthodox schism in Ukraine has been reported as the most significant ecclesial fracture since the original break between Catholics and Orthodox in 1054. The Vatican has not taken an official position on the split, insisting it is an internal Orthodox matter. Delegates from the Russian church, the largest Orthodox Christian body, have withdrawn from common projects with the Ecumenical Patriarchate, including the theological dialogue with the Catholic Church.

— Catholic News Service

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catholicnewsherald.com | May 24, 2019 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

Deacon Michael Zboyovski

Father John Michalowski, S.J.

Move forward in faith, with God leading you

W

hen life gets hard, when you’re contending with something that makes you scared or fearful or confused, how do you deal with it? Sooner or later, every one of us will be confronted with some monumental challenge in life.

A well-known British psychologist, Dr. J.A. Hadfield, shared that he discovered “when people find life being too much for them, one will swear, another will get sick, and yet another will turn to alcohol or other drugs.” So, how do we deal with it? It’s a simple question with an infinite number of answers. Do you give up? Do you lash out in anger and resentment? Do you look for someone to blame? Do you try your best to run away from it all?

There is a wonderful and universal life lesson revealed in the Gospel for the Third Sunday of Easter. It is a lesson that can be applied not only to our spiritual life but equally as well to any challenging circumstance that arises in our everyday lives. The uncompromising answer to the question “how do we deal with hardship?” is: “Move forward in faith with God.” When none of our good efforts seem to be paying dividends – when we’ve worked tirelessly and our nets are still empty – Jesus teaches us to listen and keep our eyes on Him and then move forward in faith, not backward.

Two common pitfalls can derail God’s call to us to move forward into His new opportunities, this Gospel passage teaches us. The first trap: Don’t get caught up in present-day disappointments. The second trap: Don’t get caught up in past failures.

Our Gospel passage begins with Peter announcing that he’s decided to go fishing.

We don’t know the total number of people in the entire group, but we do know at least six others joined him. All seven apostles had all been on an emotional roller coaster over the previous days and by this point, Peter is fed up. He’s worn down by all the disappointments connected to the horrific events that led to the crucifixion of Jesus.

He’s still confused by the possible reality of a resurrected Jesus. He’s exhausted by his experiences, and he craves stability. So he decides to just return to what he had been doing three years earlier, before ever meeting Jesus. He looks backward instead of forward in faith. Fishing was the one thing Peter knew. Three years earlier, fishing had been his livelihood, it had been his security, it was where he felt comfortable and certain.

The only problem with choosing that old path was that he was ignoring the fact that Jesus Himself called him out of that life to become “the rock,” a fisher of men.

When we are challenged to the max, God will always give us a path and vision to make the appropriate changes in our life.

We have to have courage and faith to pursue it – always looking forward in faith, never backward.

The first time Jesus asks Peter if he loves Him, he says, “Peter, son of John, do you love me more than these?” I don’t believe that the “these” were the other disciples.

Jesus wasn’t asking if Peter loved Him more than the other apostles gathered there. I’m confident that Jesus pointed to the boat, the nets and the profitable catch of fish.

Then Jesus looked Peter squarely in the eye and asked Peter if he loved Him more than these things. Did he love Him more than the feeling of security he had left behind?

Jesus challenged Peter to understand that faith and openness to new opportunities often requires us to be willing to let go of our past securities. We have to let go of our fears and open ourselves to what the future will bring.

Remember the second trap – not getting caught up in past failures? Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved Him. When that question was repeated three times, you know that in his head and in his heart, Peter revisited the blackness of Good Friday night, just a few nights earlier when he emphatically denied three times that he even knew Jesus. When he heard the cock crow, he realized what he had done and went out of the courtyard and wept bitterly. But here, in this Gospel story, Jesus challenges Peter to understand the fullness of God’s forgiveness and also God’s encouragement to move beyond his past failures and into the fullness of new opportunities.

One of my favorite pieces of music is Handel’s “Messiah.” When we listen to this ecstatic music, it’s easy to assume that it was written by a man at the height of his success. That’s not the case. In fact, it was written after he had suffered a stroke. It was written while Handel lived in poverty and in miserable surroundings. He had suffered through a particularly deep night of gloom and despair over his failure as a musician. The very next morning, he dismissed his failures and unleashed his creative genius to create a musical score that continues to thrill and inspire us today.

If we constantly focus on our failures, we will most assuredly miss many of the opportunities God is placing before us.

When it comes to our failures, we are all called to move forward in faith – with God and His forgiveness and His unlimited opportunities at our side.

As we continue to celebrate the truth and the beauty of this Easter season, let us be mindful of the message of this Gospel story.

When God interrupts our lives, as Jesus did to His disciples on that early morning by the Sea of Galilee, let that interruption become an opportunity for us to revisit our call as Christian disciples. When present disappointments tempt us to retreat to past comfort and security, let us renew our desire to step out in faith, to grow and be challenged by God’s vision for us. And when our past failures overwhelm us and tend to focus our minds on the past, let our persistent faith and God’s complete forgiveness be our companions as we open ourselves to the opportunities that God is placing before us – this very moment.

DEACON MICHAEL ZBOYOVSKI of St. Eugene Church in Asheville delivered this homily at Masses May 4-5.

Our call: To be bread for the world

D

uring Lent and Easter of each year, our Sunday and weekday Gospels come mostly from John to help us enter more deeply into the mystery of our salvation. As the last Gospel to be written, John mirrors the work of the Holy Spirit drawing the Christian community ever deeper into the mystery of Christ’s presence in the Church.

In the sixth chapter Jesus says, “I am the living bread come down from heaven, whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my Flesh for the life of the world.” Jesus’ words to us may raise the questions in our mind: Do we know not just what we eat in Communion but Whom we eat? Do we know why we celebrate the Eucharist and what effect God wants Communion, the Body and Blood of Christ, to have on us and in us and through us?

The very word “communion” means union with. Thus we are united with Christ and His Body and Blood. This is not just a spiritual union but it is to be an existential union. It is not primarily about pious feelings, though they may be helpful, but about Christ-like love in action. As the early Church Fathers said, “God became human in order that humans might become God.” What Jesus is by nature, we become through adoption. It is the grace that comes through the Paschal Mystery that enables us to become the sons and daughters of God. We are called to become the Body of Christ at work in the world. As the First Letter of John says, “God is love and whoever lives in love, lives in God and God in him (or her)” (4:16). In Communion we are nourished

by Christ’s Body and Blood so that we might live in Him and do what He did – “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor, He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord” (Luke 4:18-19).

When we receive Communion, we recognize that we and all who receive Christ throughout the world are the Body of Christ in the world and we look to Christ our Head to show us how we can be His hands and feet, eyes and eats in the world. In living through Him and with Him and in Him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, we not only give glory to the Father, but we come to share in eternal life.

What does this look like? It has many faces. Perhaps your face and mine are among them.

Recent examples are Kendrick Castillo in Highlands Ranch, Colo., and Riley Howell at UNC-Charlotte, who both gave their lives to stop shooters who were killing their classmates. As Jesus said, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s

friends” (John 15:13). Both young men were known for their unselfishness and care for others. Kendrick would often help his father on Knights of Columbus projects. The Knights are one of the faces of Christ, whether they were helping people ravaged by hurricanes on the Gulf Coast or in Puerto Rico or in the Philippines, whether they were buying prosthetics for Haitian youth after the earthquake, whether they were providing wheelchairs for the poor in Vietnam or Mexico, or whether they were providing 1,000 ultrasound machines so that mothers would know what choice they are making, or whether they were rebuilding a Christian town in Iraq, or whether they were providing hundreds of winter coats to children in states like New Hampshire. There is also the face of those in parishes, like St. Peter, who tutor children in inner-city schools, volunteer at Urban Ministries or the Men’s Shelter or Dove’s Nest or McCreesh Place, provide furniture for formally homeless families who finally have a place to live, who help refugees and immigrants with English or the transition to the U.S., or who bring Communion to shut-ins. There are faces and hands of Christ in your parish.

This is what Communion is about – to transform us into the Body of Christ at work in the world. It is such love that gives us confidence for the last day. It is this love that the Holy Fathers, Sts. John XXIII, Paul VI and John Paul II, and Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis have called us to. As St. John Paul II said so well: “Receiving the Eucharist means entering into a profound communion with Jesus. ‘Abide in me, and I in you’ (John 15:4).” “The Eucharist is not merely an expression of communion in the Church’s life; it is also a project of solidarity for all of humanity. In the celebration of the Eucharist the Church constantly renews her awareness of being a ‘sign and instrument’ not only of intimate union with God but also of the unity of the whole human race. …

The Christian who takes part in the Eucharist learns to become a promoter of communion, peace and solidarity in every situation. More than ever, our troubled world … demands that Christians learn to experience the Eucharist as a great school of peace, forming men and women who, at various levels of responsibility in social, cultural and political life, can become promoters of dialogue and communion” (apostolic letter “Mane Nobiscum Domine,” “Stay with Us, Lord,” 19 and 27).

Receive Christ and through grace become Christ’s Body laboring in the world. That is our call and the power of Communion.

JESUIT FATHER JOHN MICHALOWSKI serves as parochial vicar at St. Peter Church in Charlotte.

May 24, 2019 | catholicnewsherald.com CATHOLIC NEWS HERALDI

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Bishop Robert Barron

Seeing abortion W

e stand at a pivotal point in the great moral debate over abortion in our country – not because new arguments have emerged, but rather because laws so breathtaking in their barbarism have been passed, and a film so visceral in its presentation of the reality of abortion has found a wide audience.

As John Henry Newman reminded us, assent to a proposition is rarely a matter of acquiescing to rational demonstration alone; instead, it often has to do with the accumulation of argument, image, impression, experience and witness.

The legal protocols now in effect in New York, Delaware and other states allowing for the butchering of a child in the womb at any point in his or her nine-month gestation – and indeed, on the clinic or hospital table, should the child by some miracle survive the abortion – have sickened much of the country. And they have allowed people to see, in unmistakably clear terms, the full implications of the twisted “pro-choice” ideology. If a mother chooses to bring her baby to term and to be born, that child is, somehow by that choice, the subject of dignity and worthy of the full protection of the law; and if a mother chooses otherwise, even a newborn baby struggling to breathe on an operating table can be murdered and discarded like so much garbage. Biology and metaphysics be damned: our subjective decisions determine reality – and the result is state-sanctioned infanticide.

So obviously insane, so clearly dangerous, so unmistakably wicked are these laws that they are causing many people to reconsider their position on abortion.

“Unplanned,” the story of Abby Johnson’s wrenching transition from director of a Planned Parenthood clinic to vocal opponent of abortion, has proven to be a surprisingly popular film, despite its rather grim theme and despite considerable institutional opposition.

As many have pointed out, Mrs. Johnson is playing a role analogous to that played by Harriet Beecher Stowe in the 19th century.

While there were plenty of arguments on both sides of the slavery debate at the time, many advocates of slavery underwent a conversion to abolitionism, not because of rational demonstrations but precisely through the influence of Stowe’s vivid presentation of the concrete reality of slavery in “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” So today, arguments and slogans on both sides of the abortion controversy are well known, and most people seem more or less locked in their respective camps.

But “Unplanned” doesn’t so much argue as show. Abortion becomes, accordingly, not an abstract issue, but an in-your-face, real, and bloody fact.

The film opens with the event that proved decisive for Abby Johnson herself. As director and administrator of a Planned Parenthood clinic, she was certainly aware of what was happening on the premises, but she had rarely been involved in an actual abortion.

One afternoon, she was summoned to the operating room and asked to hold the device that allowed the doctor to see the ultrasound image of the child in the womb. As the physician went about his work, Abby could clearly see the child resting comfortably and then reacting violently as a suctioning device was inserted into the womb. To her horror,

she then saw a tiny arm sucked off, only to reappear, moments later, as a bloody soup in a catheter next to her. As she watched, unable to take her eyes off of the horrific display, she saw the severely wounded baby continuing to evade the device, until a leg disappeared, then another arm, and finally the baby’s head. And again, the remains of the living child surged like slush into the catheter. With that, she ran from the room, vomited in the bathroom, and resolved to dissociate herself forever from Planned Parenthood.

‘The legal protocols now in effect in New York, Delaware and other states allowing for the butchering of a child in the womb at any point ... have sickened much of the country.’

The film makes clear that she had heard arguments against abortion all of her life, for her parents and husband were ardently and vocally pro-life, but she made the decision after she saw what it meant to end the life of an unborn child. Her hope, obviously, is that her film will have a similar effect on many others.

One of the most memorable scenes in “Unplanned” deals with an odd little party that took place at the clinic after hours.

Abby, it turns out, was pregnant, and her colleagues, all female, gathered to give her a baby shower. Out came the balloons, the thoughtful presents, the encouraging hugs – all meant to show their joy at the birth of a new baby. But then we realize that these medical professionals, these good friends of Abby, have spent their entire day killing the babies of other women. Indeed, the blood of those procedures is on their shoes and scrubs.

How is this scene possible? The condition for its possibility is the lunatic ideology of “choice” referenced above: if the baby is desired, let’s have a party; if the baby is unwanted, kill him and cast his remains in a dumpster. Pro-choice advocates must know that this is the implication of their philosophy, but “Unplanned” makes them see it.

In 1850, lots of good and thoughtful people defended the institution of slavery. Now, only insane people would. In 2019, lots of decent and thoughtful people defend the pro-choice position.

One can only hope that these recent laws, and this viscerally disturbing film, will hasten the day when only insane people would.

BISHOP ROBERT BARRON is the founder of Word on Fire Catholic Ministries (online at www.wordonfire.org) and auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. He is also the host of “Catholicism,” an award-winning documentary about the Catholic faith.

Letter to the editor

Christians aren’t the only ones being persecuted In his commentary “Violence against Christians and the waning of reason,” published in the May 10, 2019 Catholic News Herald, Bishop Robert Barron myopically focuses on violence against those of the Christian faith. It is inconceivable to me that he completely ignored violence against Jews and Muslims.

First of all the bishop talks about both the 20th and the 21st centuries. In this context, how can one totally ignore the Holocaust, when six million Jews were exterminated by Hitler? In terms of more recent history, how does one not mention the Jewish temple that was attacked in Pittsburgh? Last year saw the most Jews killed in anti-Semitic attacks in decades, according to the New York Times. Also not mentioned was the mass murder of more than 50 Muslims in the mosque attack near Christchurch, New Zealand.

Bishop Barron also talks about the “cultural and media elites” and specifically mentions Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton as they apparently referenced the Christians killed in the Sri Lanka bombings only as “Easter worshipers.” Well, exactly who celebrates Easter? And who, besides President Donald Trump and Fox News, uses the term “elites”?

There is way too much violence in the world today – and a lot of it seems to be addressed at worshipers in churches, temples and mosques.

I am concerned that a person of the cloth who, while eventually in his commentary says that “let us reason together,” chooses to omit the killings of Jews, Muslims and other religious groups.

LARRY HEYL lives in Asheville.

Most-read stories on the web Through press time on May 22, 14,320 visitors to www.catholicnewsherald.com have viewed a total of 23,941 pages. The top five headlines in May have been: n Pray for the victims of the deadly shooting at UNC-Charlotte....................................1,084 n Planned Parenthood will begin doing abortions in Charlotte.......................................1,045 n Bishop Jugis welcomes new Vatican norms; announces review of clergy files...........941 n New apostolates established to pray and fast for priests.................................................547 n Seminarians’ summer assignments announced................................................................. 496

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catholicnewsherald.com | May 24, 2019 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

THE MORGAN LIBRARY & MUSEUM, NEW YORK

STAY WITH US, LORD

– LUKE 24:29

W

TH

U S,

LO R D –

LU

KE 24:29

September 6 & 7, 2019 Charlotte Convention Center For information, to volunteer or K-12 track registration: www.goeucharist.com

I

Mark your calendar for the 15th Eucharistic Congress S TAY

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