Dec. 4, 2020

December 4, 2020

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

New Latin institute created ‘Veterum Sapientia’ to offer online classes starting in January

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Charlotte parish researching whether some baptisms are invalid 3 INDEX

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A first for the Church Pope Francis creates 13 new cardinals, including Washington’s Archbishop Gregory, the Church’s first African American cardinal 20 Belmont Abbey student’s life shows impact of Operation Christmas Child 6

Parroquia Guadalupe en Charlotte prepara celebraciones marianas en diciembre 15

Use of Pfizer, Moderna COVID-19 vaccines is morally acceptable, say bishops 18

Our faith 2

catholicnewsherald.com | December 4, 2020 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

Pope Francis

Like parents, God loves His children even at their worst

W

hile sin may distort and disfigure the image of Christ that every person bears, it does not completely erase it, nor does it remove people from God’s abundant mercy, Pope Francis said.

At his weekly general audience Dec. 2, the pope said that even when a sinner remains “in error for a long time,” God waits patiently, “hoping that the sinner’s heart will eventually open and change.”

“God is like a good father and a good mother: They never stop loving their child, no matter what he or she may have done wrong,” the pope said during the audience, which was livestreamed from the library of the Apostolic Palace.

In his main talk, the pope reflected on blessings, which, he said, are “an essential dimension of prayer.”

Noting that there is a “continual repetition of blessings” in the first pages of the Bible, the pope said that both God and humankind give blessings, and that a blessing “possesses a special power that accompanies the person who receives it throughout his or her entire life and disposes the person’s heart to allow God to change it.”

Even though sin “altered” the beauty of God’s creation and converted the human being into “a degenerate creature capable of spreading evil and death in the world,” it did not take away the inherent goodness embedded in each person, he said.

God did not make a mistake creating the world or people, he said.

“The hope of the world lies entirely in God’s blessing: He continues to desire our good; He is the first, as the poet Peguy said, to continue to hope for our good,” the pope said, citing the French poet Charles Peguy, whose works were heavily influenced by Catholicism.

Departing from his prepared remarks, Pope Francis drew a comparison between God’s love for all and the love of countless mothers who wait in long lines to visit their children in prison.

“They do not stop loving their children, and they know that the people who pass by in the bus are thinking, ‘Ah, that is the mother of that prisoner,’” he said. “Yet they are not ashamed of this, or rather, they are ashamed, but they keep going because their child is more important than shame.”

“Thus, for God, we are more important than all the sins we can commit because He is a father, He is a mother, He is pure love, He has blessed us forever. And He will never stop blessing us.”

A depiction of the story of St. Nicholas saving the three boys, by Gentile da Fabriano (circa 1425)

St. Nicholas: The real Santa Claus On Dec. 6, the faithful commemorate a bishop in the early Church who was known for generosity and love of children.

Born in Lycia in Asia Minor around the late third or fourth century, St. Nicholas of Myra is more than just the inspiration for the modern-day Santa.

As a young man he is said to have made a pilgrimage to Palestine and Egypt to study in the school of the Desert Fathers.

On returning some years later he was almost immediately ordained Bishop of Myra, which is now Demre, on the coast of modern-day Turkey.

The bishop was imprisoned during the Diocletian persecution and only released when Constantine the Great came to power and made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire.

One of the most famous stories of the generosity of St. Nicholas says that he threw bags of gold through an open window in the house of a poor man to serve as dowry for the man’s daughters, who otherwise would have been sold into slavery.

The gold is said to have landed in the family’s shoes, which were drying near the fire. This is why children leave their shoes out by the door, or hang their stockings by the fireplace, in the

hopes of receiving a gift on the eve of his feast.

St. Nicholas is associated with Christmas because of the tradition that he had the custom of giving secret gifts to children. It is also conjectured that the saint, who was known to wear red robes and have a long white beard, was culturally converted into the large man with a reindeer-drawn sled full of toys because in German, his name is “San Nikolaus” which almost sounds like “Santa Claus.”

In the East, he is known as St. Nicholas of Myra for the town in which he was bishop. But in the West he is called St. Nicholas of Bari because, during the Muslim conquest of Turkey in 1087, his relics were taken to Bari by the Italians.

St. Nicholas is the patron of children and of sailors. His intercession is sought by the shipwrecked, by those in difficult economic circumstances, and for those affected by fires.

He died on Dec. 6, 346.

More online At at www.stnicholascenter.org: Learn more about St. Nicholas and download free games and activities for kids

Daily Scripture readings DEC. 6-12

Sunday (Second Sunday of Advent): Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11, 2 Peter 3:8-14, Mark 1:18; Monday (St. Ambrose): Isaiah 35:1-10, Luke 5:17-26; Tuesday (The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary): Genesis 3:9-15, 20, Ephesians 1:3-6, 11-12, Luke 1:26-38; Wednesday (St. Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin): Isaiah 40:25-31, Matthew 11:28-30; Thursday: Isaiah 41:13-20, Matthew 11:11-15; Friday (St. Damasus I): Isaiah 48:1719, Matthew 11:16-19; Saturday (Our Lady of Guadalupe): Zechariah 2:14-17, Judith 13:1819, Luke 1:26-38

DEC. 13-19

Sunday: Isaiah 61:1-2a, 10-11, Luke 1:46-50, 53-54, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24, John 1:6-8, 19-28; Monday (St. John of the Cross): Numbers 24:2-7, 15-17a, Matthew 21:23-27; Tuesday: Zephaniah 3:1-2, 9-13, Matthew 21:28-32; Wednesday: Isaiah 45:6b-8, 18, 21c-25, Luke 7:18b-23; Thursday: St. John of the Genesis 49:2, 8-10, Matthew Cross 1:1-17; Friday: Jeremiah 23:58, Matthew 1:18-25; Saturday: Judges 13:2-7, 24-25a, Luke 1:5-25

DEC. 20-26

Sunday: 2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16, Romans 16:25-27, Luke 1:26-38; Monday (St. Peter Canisius): Song of Songs 2:8-14, Luke 1:39-45; Tuesday: 1 Samuel 1:24-28, 1 Samuel 2:1, 4-8, Luke 1:4656; Wednesday (St. John of Kanty): Malachi 3:1-4, 23-24 Luke 1:57-66; Thursday: 2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16, Luke 1:67-79; Friday (The Nativity of the Lord): Isaiah 9:1-6, Titus 2:11-14, Luke 2:1-14; Saturday (St. Stephen): Acts 6:8-10, 7:54-59, Matthew 10:17-22

Our parishes

December 4, 2020 | catholicnewsherald.com CATHOLIC NEWS HERALDI

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New institute created for clergy, laity to learn Latin, Greek ‘Veterum Sapientia’ to offer online classes starting in January SUEANN HOWELL SENIOR REPORTER

CHARLOTTE — An effort to promote the study and use of Latin among Catholics has been launched in the Diocese of Charlotte.

The Veterum Sapientia Institute will offer courses in Latin and Greek taught online by clergy and professors from the diocese and around the world, starting Jan. 11.

The new institute is the outgrowth of eight successful Latin conferences hosted in the Charlotte area since 2013, noted Father Jason Barone, who serves at parishes in Sapphire and Highlands and is one of the institute’s co-founders. Its name comes from St. John XXIII’s 1962 apostolic constitution that defended and promoted the study of Latin in seminaries.

A cleric who helped organize the annual Latin conferences, Father Barone said the new Veterum Sapientia Institute “hopes to assist in the long-delayed realization of the pope’s vision for the Church’s official language of Latin.”

Father Barone will serve as one of the Veterum Sapientia Institute’s directors and he will teach courses in liturgical theology for seminarians, priests and religious.

Also being offered to the general public are introductory classes in spoken Latin and spoken Greek, as well as indepth courses in patristic and scholastic theology. Initial class offerings include St. Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologica, St. Augustine’s Commentary on the Gospel of John, Sayings of the Desert Fathers, and Orations of the Missal.

Courses are being taught by Dr. Nancy Llewellyn, one of the co-founders of the Veterum Sapientia Institute along with

Dr. Eric Hewett. Llewellyn, an associate professor of Latin at Belmont Abbey College and Latin instructor at St. Joseph College Seminary, will serve as the institute’s vice president. Hewett, who teaches Latin and Greek at the seminary of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter in Bavaria, Germany, will serve as president.

Other faculty include Father Dylan Schrader of the Diocese of Jefferson City, Mo.; Dr. Daniel Gallagher of Cornell University; as well as instructors Dr. Jonathan Arrington, Dr. John Pepino and Dr. Alex Petkas.

The continuing importance of Latin to the Church was underscored by St. John XXIII in his 1962 apostolic constitution.

“The employment of Latin has recently been contested in many quarters, and many are asking what the mind of the Apostolic See is in this matter,” the pope wrote. “We have therefore decided to issue the timely directives contained in this document, so as to ensure that the ancient and uninterrupted use of Latin be maintained and, where necessary, restored.”

The Church’s Latin heritage remains every Catholic’s birthright, Father Barone said, and the opportunity to learn the language should not be limited to a lucky few.

Priests, in particular, are still by statute expected to become fluent in Latin.

Father Barone said the Veterum Sapientia Institute is finalizing an agreement for accreditation and a “Diploma in Latin Letters” with the Pontifical Institute for Higher Latin at the Pontifical Salesian University in Rome, which was tasked with fostering Latin in the Church by St. Paul VI in 1964.

PHOTO PROVIDED BY MARKUS KUNCORO

Dr. Nancy Llewellyn, a co-founder and co-director of the newly formed Veterum Sapientia Institute, addresses those gathered Nov. 22 at the Allen Center at St. Ann Church in Charlotte to announce the institute’s launch.

Registration for Spring 2021 courses is now open. Online classes begin Monday, Jan. 11, and end by Friday, March 26.

In general, courses will meet online 10 times during an 11-week term, with classes lasting one hour. Longer-format courses will meet twice a week for 45 minutes each.

For more info At www.veterumsapientia.org: Learn more about the Veterum Sapientia Institute and register for online classes that will begin in January.

Charlotte parish researching whether some baptisms are invalid CHARLOTTE — St. Thomas Aquinas Church is reviewing whether a former deacon may have used the incorrect formula for administering the sacrament of baptism at the parish more than 15 years ago – which would render those baptisms invalid and leave affected parishioners in need of a valid baptism.

St. Thomas Aquinas’ pastor Father Matthew Codd explained the unusual situation to parishioners at Masses Nov. 28-29 and in a Nov. 28 letter posted on the parish’s website, www.stacharlotte. com. The Diocese of Dallas recently discovered that three of its deacons had Macero used incorrect wording during some of the baptisms they attempted to confer in Dallas. Among them was Deacon Carl J. Macero, who is now deceased and who served at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Charlotte from 1996 to 2004.

Father Codd stressed in his letter that while the parish has received no reports that Deacon Macero incorrectly administered the sacrament during his ministry in Charlotte, “it must be presumed to be a possibility.” As a result, Father Codd said, parish leaders are attempting to contact parishioners who were baptized by Deacon Macero to review their specific circumstances and quickly rectify any issues.

“We are asking that anyone baptized by Deacon Macero

review any video or audio recordings of their baptism or that of family members” and to contact the parish, Father Codd’s letter said.

The issue has emerged in recent months in various locations after, as the letter noted, “the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued an important clarification that the sacrament of baptism is not valid if the appropriate prayer for the rite is modified by the celebrant.

Specifically, the doctrinal note explained that the modified words ‘We baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit’ do not convey the sacrament of baptism. Rather, the proper prayer has always been ‘I baptize you…’ because it reflects the truth that the sacrament is administered by Our Lord acting through the minister, not through the assembly.”

In making this clarification, the Congregation cited the Second Vatican Council, which declared no one “may add, remove, or change anything in the liturgy on his own authority.”

Father Codd acknowledged the situation “may be unsettling or perceived as a burdensome technicality,” but explained that a valid baptism brings about adoption into the family of God and places sanctifying grace in the soul, which is necessary in order to spend eternity in heaven.

If a baptism is deemed invalid, the sacrament must be administered correctly. For parishioners who were baptized by Deacon Macero but have no recordings, it may be necessary to pursue a conditional baptism, which is

administered when it is impossible to verify whether an individual has been validly baptized.

Father Codd’s letter also explained that an invalid baptism renders subsequent sacraments invalid as well, including confirmation and possibly matrimony – but that these issues can also be quickly rectified.

“Please be assured our parish and diocese are prepared to act swiftly to confer baptism and other sacraments to those affected,” Codd’s letter said, “and that issues related to marriage can be remedied quickly and without an additional ceremony.”

— Catholic News Herald

What should you do?

If you or a family member was baptized by Deacon Carl Macero, please review any video or audiorecordings of the ceremony. If the incorrect wording was used, please contact the St. Thomas Aquinas Parish office at 704-549-1607. If you don’t have recordings, also contact the parish in case a conditional baptism may need to be considered. If you don’t know who administered the baptism, no action is necessary; the parish will contact you if records indicate Deacon Macero administered the sacrament.

This appears to be an isolated issue, and there is no reason for anyone else in the diocese not baptized by Deacon Macero to question the validity of their baptism. More information is available on the parish’s website, www.stacharlotte.com.

Online Masses 4

catholicnewsherald.com | December 4, 2020 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

December 4, 2020 VOLUME 30 • NUMBER 5

The following parishes are providing live or recorded Masses each week.

An updated schedule is online at www.catholicnewsherald.com, or contact your parish for details.

LIVESTREAMED MASSES

RECORDED MASSES

The following parishes offer Masses live at the following times on their Facebook page or YouTube or Vimeo channel. If no time is listed here, check their parish website for more information:

The following parishes offer Masses recorded on their website, Facebook page, YouTube or Vimeo channel. Search those platforms for the parish’s name to find the latest Mass information:

BELMONT ABBEY MONASTERY: 11 a.m. daily

GOOD SHEPHERD MISSION, KING

DIVINE REDEEMER CHURCH, BOONVILLE: 9 and 11 a.m. Sunday

HOLY CROSS CHURCH, KERNERSVILLE

GOOD SHEPHERD CHURCH, KING: 11 a.m. English; 1:30 p.m. Spanish Sunday

HOLY SPIRIT CHURCH, DENVER

HOLY INFANT CHURCH, REIDSVILLE: 9 a.m. Sunday

IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY CHURCH, HIGH POINT

OUR LADY OF THE ASSUMPTION CHURCH, CHARLOTTE: 10 a.m.

Sunday

OUR LADY OF CONSOLATION CHURCH, CHARLOTTE

OUR LADY OF LOURDES CHURCH, MONROE: 9 a.m. daily

OUR LADY OF MERCY CHURCH, WINSTON-SALEM

ADVERTISING MANAGER: Kevin Eagan 704-370-3332, keeagan@charlottediocese.org

QUEEN OF THE APOSTLES CHURCH, BELMONT: 9:15 and 11 a.m.

Sunday

SACRED HEART CHURCH, SALISBURY

SENIOR REPORTER: SueAnn Howell 704-370-3354, sahowell@charlottediocese.org

SACRED HEART CHURCH, BREVARD: 12 p.m. daily Mass, 10 a.m. Sunday

ST. GABRIEL CHURCH, CHARLOTTE

ONLINE REPORTER: Kimberly Bender 704-808-7341, kdbender@charlottediocese.org

SACRED HEART CHURCH, SALISBURY: 8 and 10:30 a.m. Sunday, 7 a.m. Monday, Tuesday, Friday, 5:15 p.m. Wednesday, 9 a.m. Thursday and 8 a.m. Saturday

ST. JOAN OF ARC CHURCH, CANDLER

ST. ANN CHURCH, CHARLOTTE: 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. (Latin Mass) Sunday

ST. MARGARET MARY CHURCH, SWANNANOA

ST. BARNABAS CHURCH, ARDEN: 11 a.m. Bilingual Sunday Mass

ST. MARY MOTHER OF GOD CHURCH, SYLVA

ST. BASIL THE GREAT EASTERN CATHOLIC CHURCH, CHARLOTTE: 11 a.m. Sunday

ST. MICHAEL CHURCH, GASTONIA

ST. BENEDICT THE MOOR CHURCH, WINSTON-SALEM: 9 a.m.

English; 2 p.m. Spanish

ST. PAUL THE APOSTLE CHURCH, GREENSBORO

ST. DOROTHY CHURCH, LINCOLNTON: 9 a.m. Sunday

ST. STEPHEN MARONITE CHURCH, CHARLOTTE

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.

ST. EUGENE CHURCH, ASHEVILLE: 5:30 p.m. Saturday Vigil; 9 a.m.

Sunday Mass

ST. THERESE CHURCH, MOORESVILLE

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.

ST. JOHN NEUMANN CHURCH, CHARLOTTE: 8, 10 a.m. and 5 p.m.

Sunday in English and 12 p.m. Sunday in Spanish

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

ST. LUKE CHURCH, MINT HILL: 9 and 11 a.m. Sunday in English; 1 p.m.

Sunday bilingual; 4:30 p.m. Sunday

1123 S. CHURCH ST. CHARLOTTE, N.C. 28203-4003 catholicnews@charlottediocese.org

704-370-3333 PUBLISHER: The Most Reverend Peter J. Jugis, Bishop of Charlotte

STAFF EDITOR: Patricia L. Guilfoyle 704-370-3334, plguilfoyle@charlottediocese.org

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.

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.

ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI CHURCH, MOCKSVILLE: 9 a.m. English; 10:30 a.m. Spanish ST. JAMES CHURCH, CONCORD: English and Spanish

ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST CHURCH, WAYNESVILLE, AND IMMACULATE CONCEPTION MISSION, CANTON ST. LAWRENCE BASILICA, ASHEVILLE: 7:30 a.m. Monday and Tuesday, 9 a.m. Sunday in English and 5 p.m. in Spanish.

ST. MARK CHURCH, HUNTERSVILLE: 7 and 9 a.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday; 7 a.m. Wednesday; 9 a.m. Saturday; 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. Sunday in English, and 1 p.m. in Spanish ST. MARY’S CHURCH, GREENSBORO: 8 a.m. Sunday ST. MARY, MOTHER OF GOD CHURCH, SYLVA: Noon Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday; 9 a.m. Saturday; 11:30 a.m. Sunday in English and 7 p.m. Saturday in Spanish ST. MATTHEW CHURCH, CHARLOTTE: 12 p.m. daily; 9 a.m. Sunday ST. MICHAEL CHURCH, GASTONIA: 9 a.m. Sunday ST. PATRICK CATHEDRAL, CHARLOTTE: 12:30 p.m. Sunday ST. PAUL THE APOSTLE CHURCH, GREENSBORO: 9 a.m. Monday, Wednesday-Friday; 4:30 p.m. Saturday; 10:30 a.m. Sunday ST. PETER CHURCH, CHARLOTTE: 11:30 a.m. Sunday

IMMACULATE CONCEPTION CHURCH, FOREST CITY

OUR LADY OF GRACE CHURCH, GREENSBORO

ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI CHURCH, LENOIR

ST. JOSEPH CHURCH, ASHEBORO ST. LEO THE GREAT CHURCH, WINSTON-SALEM ST. MARK CHURCH, HUNTERSVILLE

ST. PATRICK CATHEDRAL, CHARLOTTE ST. STEPHEN MISSION, ELKIN

ST. VINCENT DE PAUL CHURCH, CHARLOTTE EN ESPAÑOL OUR LADY OF GRACE CHURCH, GREENSBORO OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE CHURCH, CHARLOTTE: 8 a.m. domingo; 7:30 p.m. martes; 12 p.m. miércoles, jueves y viernes OUR LADY OF THE ASSUMPTION CHURCH, CHARLOTTE OUR LADY OF LOURDES CHURCH, MONROE SACRED HEART CHURCH, SALISBURY: 12:30 p.m. Domingo ST. BENEDICT THE MOOR CHURCH, WINSTON-SALEM: 1:30 p.m.

Domingo ST. DOROTHY CHURCH, LINCOLNTON: 12 p.m. Domingo ST. EUGENE CHURCH, ASHEVILLE: 7:30 a.m. Domingo ST. JAMES THE GREATER CHURCH, CONCORD ST. JOAN OF ARC CHURCH, CANDLER ST. JOHN NEUMANN CHURCH, CHARLOTTE: 12 p.m. Domingo ST. JOSEPH CHURCH, ASHEBORO ST. LAWRENCE BASILICA, ASHEVILLE: 5 p.m. Domingo ST. LUKE CHURCH, MINT HILL: 1 p.m. Domingo ST. MARK CHURCH, HUNTERSVILLE: 1 p.m. Domingo ST. MARY’S CHURCH, GREENSBORO: 11 a.m. Domingo ST. MARY, MOTHER OF GOD CHURCH, SYLVA: 7 p.m. Sabado ST. THERESE CHURCH: 2:30 p.m. Domingo VIETNAMESE ST. JOSEPH VIETNAMESE CHURCH, CHARLOTTE: 8:30 and 10:30 a.m. Sunday ST. MARY’S CHURCH, GREENSBORO: 9:30 a.m. Sunday

ST. STEPHEN MISSION, ELKIN: 9 a.m. Sunday ST. THERESE CHURCH, MOORESVILLE: 9 a.m. weekdays, 5 p.m.

Saturday 8, 10 a.m. and Noon on Sunday ST. THOMAS AQUINAS CHURCH, CHARLOTTE: 8:30 a.m. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday; 10 a.m. Saturday’ 9:30 a.m., Sunday; ST. VINCENT DE PAUL CHURCH, CHARLOTTE: 10 a.m. daily, 10 a.m.

Sunday in English and 2 p.m. Sunday in Spanish

LATIN ST. ANN CHURCH, CHARLOTTE: 12:30 p.m. Sunday OUR LADY OF GRACE CHURCH, GREENSBORO: 1 p.m. Sunday ST. THOMAS AQUINAS, CHARLOTTE: 12:15 and 7 p.m. Thursday

Bishop Peter J. Jugis will participate in the following upcoming events: DEC. 11 – 11 A.M. Groundbreaking for Charlotte Catholic High School Fine Arts Center

December 4, 2020 | catholicnewsherald.com

OUR PARISHESI

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Faithful encouraged to take ‘Advent Challenge’ as pandemic prompts extension of Year of St. Joseph into 2021 KIMBERLY BENDER ONLINE REPORTER

CHARLOTTE — Bishop Peter J. Jugis has extended the Diocese of Charlotte’s Year of St. Joseph into 2021 since the pandemic has forced the curtailment of celebratory events that had been planned throughout 2020.

The Year of St. Joseph recognition will continue until May 1, 2021, with a series of outdoor and other safe and socially distanced events – including “The Advent Challenge” in which families emulate the Holy Family’s 90-mile journey to Bethlehem.

Advent is the time of year when we take up special prayers and devotions with our families to prepare our hearts for the coming of Christ at Christmas.

During this Advent season, families are invited to participate in a more physical form of devotion in honor of the labors St. Joseph endured for the sake of the Holy Family. In obedience to God, St. Joseph led the pregnant Mary riding on a donkey on the journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem, where the Divine Child was destined to be born.

To learn from his example of trust in God as we journey through our own lives, the diocese encourages individuals and families to take the Advent Challenge by creating their own 90-mile journey during the four weeks of Advent. Ninety miles averages to roughly 3.5 miles a day during Advent, a trek that can serve as

devotional activity with a holy intention of strengthening your family.

The year 2020 marks the 150th anniversary of Pope Pius IX’s proclaiming St. Joseph the patron of the Universal Church in his 1870 decree “Quemadmodum Deus.”

The diocese kicked off the Year of St. Joseph in January with a special religious art extravaganza and other events before the pandemic forced events to be scaled back. A closing Mass for the Year of St. Joseph that had been planned for December will be rescheduled; however, Bishop Jugis will continue with plans for Mass on Dec. 27, to celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family, at St. Patrick Cathedral in Charlotte.

THE YEAR OF ST. JOSEPH ADVENT CHALLENGE In an effort to draw our hearts and minds closer to God during this Advent season: n Resolve to walk 90 miles between Nov. 29 and Dec. 24, in honor of the Holy Family’s journey. n Embrace the trek as a family devotional activity as often as possible each week. n Consider making the walk a relay in which each family member covers a portion of the 90 miles. n While walking, pray the rosary and contemplate the life and virtues of St. Joseph. n Make a holy intention for this activity: that your family will be strengthened in

God’s grace through the intercession of St. Joseph, the patron saint of fathers and families. n Share your photos and progress on social media with the hashtag #StJoseph2020.

National collection helps religious orders care for elderly members WASHINGTON, D.C. — The 33rd annual Retirement Fund for Religious collection will be held in most U.S. Catholic parishes Dec. 12-13.

Coordinated by the National Religious Retirement Office (NRRO) at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops), the appeal assists hundreds of religious order communities in providing for the ongoing needs of their aging Catholic sisters, brothers, and religious order priests.

The U.S. bishops initiated the collection in 1988 to address the significant lack of retirement funding among U.S. religious orders. Distinct from retired priest collections held in respective dioceses for the care of retired diocesan priests, this annual collection benefits eligible religious orders to help underwrite retirement and health-care expenses for nearly 30,000 elderly religious.

The 2019 appeal raised $26.2 million, and this past June, the NRRO distributed $25 million in financial assistance to 341 religious communities across the nation. The Diocese of

Charlotte contributed $278,897 to the collection last year.

The beneficiary religious order communities combine this funding with their own income and savings to help furnish day-to-day necessities, including medications and nursing care, and the distributions may be applied toward immediate retirement needs or invested for future eldercare expenses.

“We are humbled and incredibly grateful for the ongoing generosity of the Catholic faithful to the annual appeal,” said Sister Stephanie Still, PBVM (Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary), who serves as the NRRO’s executive director. “And we are committed to ensuring the broadest and most beneficial use of these donations.”

The retirement-funding deficit is rooted in low salaries and changing demographics. Traditionally, Catholic sisters, brothers and religious order priests – often known collectively as “women and men religious” –engaged in ministry for little to no pay. As

a result, many of their religious communities lack adequate retirement savings. Elderly religious are also living longer and, according to NRRO data, outnumber younger, wage-earning religious by nearly three to one.

Like many other Americans, religious communities struggle with the everrising cost of health care. The total cost of care for religious past age 70 exceeds $1 billion annually. COVID-19 has compounded this already difficult situation.

Through the annual collection, the NRRO helps religious communities address their funding deficits. In addition to direct financial aid, donations make possible resources and services that assist communities in evaluating and preparing for long-term retirement needs.

“Our mission is sustained by the love and generosity of all who support senior religious and their communities,” said Sister Still.

Visit www.retiredreligious.org to learn more.

— USCCB

More online At www.yearofstjoseph.org/advent: Learn more about the Advent Challenge, and find educational resources, prayers and devotions, and details about other Year of St. Joseph events

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catholicnewsherald.com | December 4, 2020 OUR PARISHES

Marvellous Okonne, now a junior at Belmont Abbey College, was helped through Operation Christmas Child and now serves as the leader of the effort on the school’s campus.

PHOTO PROVIDED BY ROLANDO RIVAS

Belmont Abbey student’s life shows impact of Operation Christmas Child BILL POTEAT THE GASTON GAZETTE

BELMONT — Numbers, no matter how impressive, can only tell part of a story.

A complete story requires a human voice – a voice touched by tragedy but filled with hope, a voice which has known incredible hardship but which speaks with the joy of redemptive, healing love.

But first, the numbers.

Operation Christmas Child, a project of Samaritan’s Purse, has now been delivering shoe boxes filled with gifts to children around the world for 27 years.

During those years, nearly 200 million of the boxes have been received by young, outstretched hands in some 160 nations around the globe.

The first boxes, put together in the autumn of 1993, went to war-torn Bosnia. In the following years, boxes have gone to children in Africa and in Asia, in Europe and in South America.

And in 2006, one of those boxes was placed in the hands of an 8-year-old boy in Central Africa, a boy named Marvellous Okonne, the young man who now provides the human voice for this story.

To listen to Marvellous speak of his childhood is to hear a tale that millions of the world’s children could repeat – a childhood marked by war, random violence, religious persecution, hunger, want.

“Life was really hard,” said Marvellous, now a junior at Belmont Abbey College and the leader of Operation Christmas Child on the school’s campus.

“My dad had no job. We could not go to school. We barely had enough to eat,” he continued. “It was a struggle every single day of our lives. But my mother trusted that God would provide, no matter what.”

At times, that trust might have seemed misplaced.

A violent attack on a bus which his family was riding left him separated from his parents and siblings. Wandering the countryside alone, he was picked up and taken to an orphanage.

He feared he would never see his family again.

“It was a violent time,” he reflected to a Gazette reporter as they talked recently in a spacious conference room in the Abbey’s Stowe Administration Building.

Outside the sunlight was spectacular, but Marvellous spoke of a time buried in darkness.

‘God loves you. No matter what you go through in life. No matter where you are, no matter where you live, God is always there for you.’

Christmas gift note to Marvellous Okonne

Operation Christmas Child beneficiary and Belmont Abbey College student

“There was a lot of religious conflict. As Christians, we were persecuted,” he said. “Churches were burned down.

Hospitals were burned down. People were killed.”

Yet in the midst of this violence and chaos, Marvellous was reunited with his family.

“Glory to God,” said his mother. “I have found my baby!”

Marvellous was 8 and at church with his family one Sunday morning, when he and the other children were asked to remain after the service had ended.

“We were each to receive a gift,” he recalled. “I had never been given a gift before. To me, that gift came with a message. A message that God loves me a lot and God never leaves His children suffering.”

The gift, courtesy of Operation Christmas Child, was

a simple one. The box contained a book, some pens, some crayons, and a few small toys. More importantly, it contained a note from the family which prepared it.

“God loves you,” the note read. “No matter what you go through in life. No matter where you are, no matter where you live, God is always there for you.”

“That gift and that note gave me hope,” Marvellous said.

“If God can send me this special gift, He can provide a way for me to go to school.”

That way was indeed provided.

A private high school in Houston, Texas, Texas Christian High School, provided the means for him to come to the United States for his high school education.

A gifted athlete in track, basketball and football, Marvellous excelled both in the classroom and in sports.

When the time came to choose a college, Belmont Abbey seemed a perfect fit.

“I believe that God called me to come here,” he said.

“I was raised as a Catholic and I appreciate the Catholic heritage of this school. Prayer is as much a part of my life here as study, and that is good for me.”

The school and its faith community have rallied around Marvellous as he coordinated this year’s campus drive for Operation Christmas Child.

“The church, the faculty, the coaches, the athletic teams,” he said. “It seems like everyone is coming together to help make this happen.”

And if anyone questions the impact that Operation Christmas Child can have?

“I tell them to look at me,” Marvellous responded. “I was struggling in my life and in my faith. If I had not received that box, that gift, that message of hope, I do not know what would have become of my life.”

— Reprinted with permission from the Gaston Gazette.

Want to help?

At www.samaritanspurse.org: Donate to Operation Christmas Child, pack a shoebox online, or volunteer at Samaritan’s Purse processing centers in Charlotte or Boone.

December 4, 2020 | catholicnewsherald.com

OUR PARISHESI

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KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS NEWS dairy and meat on Mondays for five weeks. A portion of this food was distributed to other food centers in Henderson County.

— Jim Gedwellas

Statesville Knights help PRC STATESVILLE — The Knights of Columbus Council 7152 recently held its first collection of baby products for the Pregnancy Resource Center located on Davie Avenue in Statesville.

Some of the supplies that were collected included diapers, baby wipes, shampoo and Clorox wipes – all generously donated by members of St. Philip the Apostle Church.

With the COVID-19 pandemic hampering the Knights’ ability to hold fundraising events and donate money to various organizations, the Knights looked for other ways to continue to help the community. The council would like to thank parishioners for their generosity. Pictured are (from left): Randy Frantz (Grand Knight), Chuck Greco (Chancellor), Victoria Miglin (PRC Director), Carrie Jenkins (PRC Assistant Director), and Ralph AltaVilla (Deputy Grand Knight).

— Connie Ries

Greensboro Knights provide rosaries to students GREENSBORO — Following the Knights’ commitment to patriotism, officers of St. Pius X Knights of Columbus Council 11101 recently asked St. Pius X School’s Principal Chris Kloesz if he needed American flags for his classrooms.

Kloesz said he had plenty of flags but he was in need of something else: rosaries. The school provides rosaries for any students without them and especially rosaries for all students participating in the school’s monthly “Living Rosary.”

Led by Grand Knight Brian Harvey, the council promptly set out to purchase the 188 rosaries needed at the school. Special thanks to Father Louis Canino, director of the Franciscan Center in Greensboro, for his help selecting and ordering just the right rosaries for the children.

Harvey and Kloesz are pictured with four St. Pius X students displaying some of the new rosaries.

of Columbus “Faith in Action” project of the Knights of Columbus Supreme Council. It devotes the activities and resources of Knights of Columbus councils nationally to purchase and provide warm winter clothing to deserving children in the United States and Canada and has brought comfort to over half a million children to date. Each year since its inception, St. Pius X Knights of Columbus Council 11101 has participated in this project, guided by program chairman Dan Allen and Grand Knight Brian Harvey.

This year the fundraising drive collected enough funds to buy 220 coats in a variety of sizes and colors and distributed them to “Backpack Beginnings,” a local charity devoted to assisting children in need with both food and clothing in the Greensboro area.

The council shares its sincere thanks to them and especially to the Knights and parishioners of St. Pius X for their generous gifts to this worthy cause.

Pictured are (from left): Sean Duffy; Dan Allen, program chairman; Jim Duffy; Parker White, “Backpack Beginnings” executive director; Grand Knight Brian Harvey; and Leigh Jones, clothing pantry chair.

— John Russell

various social distancing safety requirements were followed. The council provided the chalk, and families were encouraged to come out and create chalk art in their own 4-foot-by-4-foot space on the blacktop. Gift card prizes were awarded to the top three art creations, with a first prize of a $100 gift certificate, donated by local Knights’ field agent, Bob Gordon.

All other participants received Chick-fil-A gift cards, courtesy of a generous parishioner on the parish’s stewardship committee. Another parishioner donated soft drinks and food to the families, adding to the day’s enjoyment.

The event brought out a small but enthusiastic group of families who enjoyed fellowship on a beautiful, sunny Saturday morning. “It was all we had hoped for. Our council is already talking about ways to make our second chalk art event better, hopefully in the spring,” Shessler said.

During the “Chalk in the Park” festivities, Council 7406 also hosted its regular quarterly blood drive in the Parish Life Center. COVID-19 has presented its own challenges for these drives, yet the council has managed to continue its regular quarterly collections, which have proven to be important to the local health community.

— Lisa Cash, Frank Sturm and Carol Massey

— John Russell

‘Chalk in the Park’ event held in St. Therese Church’s parking lot Knights Council 7184 in Hendersonville helps neighbors HENDERSONVILLE — In order to help their neighbors in need, the Immaculate Conception Knights of Columbus Council 7184 held a coat, blanket and towel drive before Masses Oct. 3-4 and Oct. 10-11. The collected articles went to the Interfaith Assistance Ministry. The council also helped Interfaith Assistance Ministries unload and store a large donation of fresh produce,

St. Pius X Knights continue support for ‘Coats for Kids’ GREENSBORO — “Coats for Kids” is a Knights

MOORESVILLE — Despite the COVID-19 pandemic affecting so much of our lives, members of St. Therese Knights of Columbus Council 7406 have not been deterred from their mission of helping others. “The rules have just forced us to be more creative in carrying out our activities,” said Grand Knight Paul Shessler.

One example is the council’s initial “Chalk in the Park” contest. Looking for a way to promote some fun and parish community, the council sponsored a family chalk art contest that was held in the church parking lot Oct. 24. All of the

Former Mocksville deacon passes away MOCKSVILLE — Deacon John Otto Zimmerle, formerly of Statesville, went home to the Lord on Nov. 27, 2020.

He was living with his daughter and son-in-law in Dingmans Ferry, Pa., and they were at his side when he passed.

Zimmerle The Mass of Christian Burial will be offered at 11 a.m. Friday, Dec. 4, 2020, at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Mocksville, officiated by Father Eric Kowalski, pastor. Joining the service will be the U.S. Coast Guard to present military honors, as well as the VFW Memorial Honor Guard. Interment will follow at Sacred Heart Catholic Cemetery in Salisbury.

Born in Passaic, N.J., on April 14, 1940, he was the son of the late William and Helen (Lenore) Zimmerle. He was a graduate of Ramsey High School’s Class of 1958 in Ramsey, N.J., and served with the U.S. Coast Guard as a Radioman Second Class Petty Officer on the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Half Moon. He retired from the John Boyle Co., where he was an Eastern regional sales manager.

He served St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Mocksville from June 2001 to his retirement in October 2014. Deacon Zimmerle preached homilies and assisted at Mass, assisted with marriage preparation for couples, witnessed many marriages, served on the parish building committee, co-assisted on the oversight of the parish’s RCIA program, and held many more titles.

He was preceded in death by his loving wife Ladis Zimmerle. He will be cherished by his children: John-Michael (Tami) of Spanish Fork, Utah; Susan Marie Cawley (Ron) of Dingmans Ferry; William Edward (Dawn) of Levittown, Pa.; and Mary Elyse Zimmerle of San Francisco; and 11 grandchildren and 4 great-grandchildren.

He was also preceded in death by his brother, William, and survived by his brother Alan (Joanne) of Manchester, N.H., and his sister-in-law, Cathy of Ringwood, N.J.; and a niece and nephew.

Memorials may be considered to the parish’s Knights of Columbus, Prayer Quilt Ministry or Food Pantry Ministry.

Davie Funeral Service of Mocksville was in charge of the arrangements.

— Catholic News Herald

Glory to God in the highest; and on earth peace to men of good will.

Luke 2:14

This Advent and Christmas set your heart and mind on the things above!

Visit The Catholic Shoppe at Belmont Abbey College.

We have everything you need for Advent and Christmas—and something for everyone on your list!

Take 30% off one regular price item of your choice.

Take 20% percent off all Advent and Christmas items.

Keep Christ in Christmas Sale starts Saturday, November 7th to Wednesday , December 23rd Normal Business Hours Mon-Sat 10-4.

Call us at 704-461-5100 for more information and to inquire about extended holiday shopping hours.

THE CATHOLIC SHOPPE At Belmont Abbey College “That in all things God be Glorified”

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catholicnewsherald.com | December 4, 2020 OUR PARISHES

PHOTO PROVIDED BY MARKUS KUNCORO

St. Ann Parish holds historic Eucharistic Procession for Feast of Christ the King CHARLOTTE — More than 225 parishioners from St. Ann Church joined their pastor, Father Timothy Reid, in a historic outdoor Eucharistic Procession that commemorated the Feast of Christ the King in the Extraordinary Form Oct. 25. The event began with Mass in the Extraordinary Form (Latin), offered by Father Reid, with Deacon Peter Tonon offering a homily on the Kingship of Christ and Pope Pius XI’s encyclical “Quas Pimas,” which established this feast day in 1925 to combat the growing secularism in society. In the Extraordinary Form calendar, the feast is celebrated on the last Sunday in October.

After Mass, as custom since 2016, Father Reid led a Eucharistic Procession to honor Christ’s kingship over all nations and was joined by Father Joseph Matlak, Holy Trinity Middle School’s chaplain and administrator of St. Basil the Great Eastern Catholic Parish. The procession took on a historic note this year as the Blessed Sacrament, flanked by an escort of several Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department vehicles, was processed for the first time through the Park Road neighborhood to the campus of Holy Trinity Middle School for outdoor Benediction before processing back to St. Ann Church. Providentially, rainy weather ceased moments before Father Reid left the church carrying the monstrance, and neighborhood residents came out of their homes on the quiet Sunday afternoon to see what the excitement was about. The procession was accompanied by Gregorian chant provided by the St. Ann schola, and some of the faithful carried flags or images of their favorite saints of royalty who honored Christ’s kingship during their own reign. The Eucharistic Procession was sponsored by St. Ann Parish and the Charlotte Latin Mass Community.

St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Charlotte also organized a Eucharistic Procession around the parish grounds after an Extraordinary Form Mass offered the same day. For more information about the Latin Mass, contact Chris Lauer at info@charlottelatinmass.org or visit: www.charlottelatinmass.org.

MIKE FITZGERALD | CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

Praying for the nation after the elections CHARLOTTE — Approximately 75 people attended the Vigil of the Two Hearts devotion to pray for the country on First Friday Nov. 6 at St. Patrick Cathedral. Father Alfonso Gamez celebrated Mass and was assisted by Deacon Paul Bruck, who also led a Holy Hour of Reparation after the Mass. The Two Hearts devotion is to honor the First Friday Sacred Heart of Jesus and First Saturday Immaculate Heart of Mary devotions by offering First Friday Mass followed by a Holy Hour of Reparation, and Nocturnal Adoration until First Saturday Mass at 8 a.m. Sponsored by the Carolina Pro-Life Action Network (C-PLAN), the intentions are for an end of abortion, strengthening of families and for the conversion of the country back to God. The next Vigil of the Two Hearts will be offered Friday-Saturday, Dec. 4-5. For more information, go online to www. prolifecharlotte.org/two-hearts.

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In Brief Earlier Christmas Vigils to be allowed this Dec. 24 CHARLOTTE — With in-person Mass attendance restricted in Diocese of Charlotte churches due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Bishop Peter J. Jugis announced he is allowing pastors to schedule additional Christmas Vigil Masses to accommodate more worshipers Dec. 24.

Typically, vigil Masses cannot be held before 4 p.m., but for Christmas Eve this year more vigil Masses may be celebrated, if needed, starting as early as 1 p.m. Dec. 24. The restriction on each priest to be allowed to offer, at most, three Masses on a calendar day remains.

Catholics are strongly encouraged to check their parish’s website for times and directives on their Christmas Mass schedule, as some parishes are using online ticketing or reserve seating sign-ups to limit church capacity and ensure worshipers can sit safely distanced in the pews.

Diocesan leaders are encouraging people to wear face coverings while at all church functions as an executive order mandating a greater use of face coverings has been issued.

Although religious services are constitutionally protected and exempt from the order, December has a number of feast day celebrations that typically attract large numbers of people.

Bishop Jugis also reminds all Catholics in the diocese that the obligation to attend Mass on Sunday or holy days of obligation remains waived. Please exercise prudential judgment in deciding whether to attend Mass. People who

are ill or vulnerable to infection are urged to stay at home and attend Mass virtually on TV or streamed live online. (A list of online Masses is provided on page 4.) The dispensation from Mass does not remove the obligation to keep the Lord’s Day holy: seek to refrain from work, spend time in prayer individually and as a family, and extend charity to others. If you are unable to attend Mass in person, you are encouraged to make a spiritual communion.

— SueAnn Howell, senior reporter

Explore the Incarnation in free Advent video series A series of free video talks is being offered this Advent by Deacon Matthew Newsome, campus minister at Western Carolina University, on St. Athanasius’ seminal work “On the Incarnation.” The series of talks, entitled “God With Us,” will cover the saint’s writing on the meaning and implications of the Incarnation of Christ on salvation history.

Videos will be posted to WCU Catholic Campus Ministry’s YouTube channel (www. youtube.com/wcuccm) at noon every Tuesday and Thursday during Advent.

The series aims “to help us celebrate with greater knowledge and understanding, and also greater joy, the fact that God really is with us this Christmas,” Deacon Newsome explained.

All are welcome to tune in to the free video series, and a link to read a free copy of “On the Incarnation” is posted in the comments section of the introductory video.

— Patricia L. Guilfoyle, editor

College seminary architect receives top builders honor CHARLOTTE — Edifice Inc., the architect of St. Joseph College Seminary in Mount Holly, has been honored as the 2020 General Contractor

Project of the Year by the Associated Builders and Contractors of the Carolinas.

Built for the Diocese of Charlotte, the college seminary building contains 28,657 square feet of striking Christian pointed (also called Gothic_ architecture. Some of the most intricate design elements, requiring exceptional craftsmanship, were completed by local artisans as well as ABCC members. Masonry and drywall were designed and constructed to mimic a 100-yearold church in Rome.

“Edifice is honored and humbled to receive the ‘GC Project of the Year’ award,” Edifice’s Senior Vice President Bryan Knupp said in a release. “We feel blessed to have been given the opportunity by Father Matthew Kauth and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte to be part of such a beautiful project. We know this award happened only by the dedication and commitment of all of our partners.”

The Charlotte-area Excellence in Construction Awards program is the industry’s leading competition that serves to raise the level of construction standards by recognizing the innovation and high-quality work of ABCC members. These awards honor all construction team members, including the contractor, owner, architect and engineer.

— Catholic News Herald

Mooresville parish launches Stephen Ministry to offer one-on-one aid to those in crisis MOORESVILLE — Two members of St. Therese Church in Mooresville are among 20 pastors and ministry leaders from around the United States who recently completed a five-week leaders training course to begin a Stephen Ministry at the parish.

Following their training, Rosemary Hyman and Mollie Anderson have now begun the process of interviewing potential Stephen Ministers.

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The 50-hour training for Stephen Ministers will begin in January 2021.

Stephen Ministers are lay parishioners trained to provide one-to-one care to those experiencing a difficult time in life, such as grief, divorce, job loss, chronic or terminal illness, or relocation. The training they receive equips them to provide high-quality Christian care to people who are hurting.

For more information about the parish’s Stephen Ministry, go online to www. sainttherese.net/stephen-ministry.

— Lisa Cash

PRAYER TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN O Most Beautiful Flower of Mt. Carmel, Fruitful Vine, Splendor of Heaven, Blessed Mother of the Son of God, Immaculate Virgin, assist me in my necessity. O Star of the Sea, help me and show me herein you are my Mother. O Holy Mary, Mother of God, Queen of Heaven and Earth, I humbly beseech you from the bottom of my heart to succor me in my necessity (make request.)

There are none that can withstand your power.

O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee (3 times.)

Holy Mary, I place this cause in your hands (3 times.)

3 Our Father, 3 Hail Mary, 3 Glory Be Published in gratitude for prayers answered.

Thank you, C.R.

Our schools 10

catholicnewsherald.com | December 4, 2020 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

MACS enrollment opens for 2021-’22 year CHARLOTTE — Registration for new students in the nine Mecklenburg Area Catholic Schools (MACS) is open for the 2021-’22 school year.

Applications, financial aid information and more is available online at www. discovermacs.org. Prospective families may also contact the MACS Admissions Office at 704-370-3273.

The nine schools in MACS are: St. Ann School (PK, TK, K-5), St. Gabriel School (K5), St. Matthew School (TK, K-5), St. Patrick School (K-5), Our Lady of the Assumption School (PK, K-8), St. Mark School (K-8), Holy Trinity Middle School (6-8), Charlotte Catholic High School (9-12) and Christ the King High School (9-12).

In-person tours are currently limited because of COVID-19 health protocols.

Details about possible tour appointments are listed on each school’s website. A directory with links to each school’s website is at www.discovermacs.org/schools.

Tuition discounts are provided to participating Catholic parishioners and for multiple children enrollment. Financial assistance is also available to qualifying families based on need.

Most of the diocesan schools participate in the N.C. Opportunity Scholarship and the N.C. Disability Scholarship Programs.

MACS also offers special needs programs at various locations including: PACE (Providing an Appropriate Catholic Education), MAP (Modified Academic Program) and MMP (Matthew Morgan Down-Syndrome Program). Each offers a specific educational experience for students with diverse learning needs. To learn more about these special programs and tuition rates, go to www.discovermacs. org/speciallearning.

All of the diocese’s Catholic schools are accredited through Cognia (formerly called AdvancED).

— Catholic News Herald

Catholic schools see influx of new students this fall SUEANN HOWELL SENIOR REPORTER

CHARLOTTE — Most of the Diocese of Charlotte’s 19 Catholic schools are seeing some growth in enrollment this year: The total number of students has increased almost 2 percent over last year, from 6,896 to 7,024 students, according to data recently released by the Catholic Schools Office.

Of that total enrollment, about 73 percent are enrolled in kindergarten to the eighth grade, and the other 27 percent are enrolled in ninth through 12th grades.

Applications are still being accepted for the 2020-’21 school year. While schools are welcoming more students where space is available, they also are monitoring enrollments carefully in order to maintain social distancing and provide a safe learning environment during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mecklenburg Area Catholic Schools make up the largest share of this year’s student population, about 4,800, and has seen approximately 3 percent growth this fall compared to last year. MACS is comprised of nine schools in the Charlotte area: Charlotte Catholic High School, Christ the King High School, Holy Trinity Middle School, Our Lady of the Assumption School, St. Ann School, St. Gabriel School, St. Matthew School, St. Mark School and St. Patrick School.

Enrollment at the seven Piedmont Area Catholic Schools is 1,841 students. PACS schools include: Bishop McGuinness School in Kernersville; Sacred Heart School in Salisbury; Our Lady of Grace School in Greensboro; Our Lady of Mercy School in Winston-Salem; Immaculate Heart of Mary School in High Point; St. Leo School in Winston-Salem; and St. Pius X School in Greensboro.

Enrollment in the diocese’s three other parish-based schools – St. Michael School in Gastonia; Immaculata Catholic School in Hendersonville; and Asheville Catholic

Please pray for the following priests who died during the month of December: Bishop William G. Curlin – 2017 Abbot Jude Cleary, OSB – 2005 Abbot Walter Coggin, OSB – 1999 Rev. Cuthbert Allen, OSB – 1977 Rev. Boniface Bauer, OSB – 1974 Rev. Jerome Dollard, OSB – 1985 Rev. Michael J. Hoban – 1995 Rev. George Kloster – 2019 Rev. Matthew Leonard – 2019 Rev. Thomas McAvoy – 1978 Rev. Joseph McCarthy – 2001 Rev. Francis Scheurich – 1975 Rev. Msgr. Francis M. Smith – 1983 Rev. Vincent M. Stokes – 1979 Rev. John Joseph Tuller – 2013 Rev. Philip Tierney, OSB – 1971 Rev. Aloysius Wachter, OSB – 1977 Rev. Msgr. Thomas R. Walsh - 2016

Sponsored by the Knights of Columbus www.kofcnc.org

Senora Angiolino, a Spanish teacher at Bishop McGuinness High School in Kernersville, is shown teaching her Spanish III class of sophomores and juniors. Students and faculty have adjusted well to the use of masks in classrooms and hallways.

PHOTO PROVIDED BY CATHOLIC SCHOOLS OFFICE

School – totals 426 students.

Principal Kevin O’Herron of St. Matthew School in Charlotte said he has seen an increase in enrollment across all grades at his prekindergarten-fifth grade school and attributes some of that growth to the realities parents are facing during the pandemic.

“The primary reason for the increase in our enrollment is due to the public schools starting the school year with remote instruction. For some, parents were not able to make arrangements to be home with their children and provide the support required with remote instruction.

For others, their children really struggled academically and truly needed a face-toface learning environment,” O’Herron said.

“Our typical new family has been a St. Matthew parishioner for years who has considered our school in the past, but never made the switch. The effects of the pandemic have given them that push,” he said. Those “new families have been happy with our school culture, wrapped around our faith, and strong academics. Although we don’t know what the future holds, I do believe that most of our new families have found a new home for their children at St. Matthew Catholic School.”

The diocese’s schools opened in late August or early September to in-person instruction, relying on extensive guidance

from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, American Academy of Pediatrics and N.C. Department of Health and Human Services to ensure the safest possible learning environment – including health screenings, frequent cleaning and handwashing, face coverings, social distancing, protective barriers and other measures to keep students and staff healthy and safe. All schools are also providing remote learning for students who opt to stay at home due to health concerns.

Bishop McGuinness High School’s Interim Principal George Boschini said steady increases in enrollment over the past three years there is directly related to four main factors.

“We offer students a complete high school experience that includes academic rigor, athletics, arts and leadership in a faith-centered environment. Strong relationships between staff, students and families add to the experience. Students are visible in the community, as evidenced by almost 12,000 service hours completed last year. Lastly, we have students on campus and in school this year,” Boschini said.

“All these factors make Bishop McGuinness a great place to be.”

Diocesan Superintendent Dr. Greg Monroe agrees that more families are drawn to the unique mission of the diocese’s Catholic schools.

“Our holistic educational approach – which is focused on body, mind and soul – is attractive to many families,” Monroe said. “We truly are a school community for all people regardless of their background, faith, ethnicity or socio-economic status.”

“We’ve welcomed many new families this year who were seeking an environment that creates as normal a learning experience as possible for our students while prioritizing the health and safety of our school communities,” he said. “The greatness of our schools stems from the richness and diversity of our families, and we will continue to encourage all parents who aren’t in our system to explore if our schools are a good fit for their children.”

More online At www.charlottediocese.org/schools-office: Learn more about the Diocese of Charlotte’s 19 Catholic schools, their mission and their leadership

December 4, 2020 | catholicnewsherald.com CATHOLIC NEWS HERALDI

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PHOTO PROVIDED BY APRIL PARKER PHOTO PROVIDED BY AMY M. TOBERGTE

Helping the community at Thanksgiving CHARLOTTE — During the days leading up to Thanksgiving, students at St. Patrick School engaged in acts of service to support the local community. Students assembled hundreds of snack bags and toiletry bags and tied 24 no-sew fleece blankets for The Relatives, a Charlotte organization that supports homeless and runaway youth. Students also raised nearly $900 to support The Relatives and A Child’s Place through a dress-down day. The school concluded their celebrations with a livestreamed Thanksgiving Day parade.

‘Saint in a Box’ projects GREENSBORO — Eighth-graders in Bill Parker’s religion class recently completed “Saint in a Box” projects. The projects are a culmination of the students’ preparation for the sacrament of confirmation, but also brings full circle the faith-based education they have received. The effort involves researching their patron saint for confirmation, or a saint of interest to them, and then relate what they have learned and give the boxes they have made to their kindergarten prayer buddies.

Some students chose familiar saints such as St. Nicholas or St. Francis, while others researched lesser-known saints like St. Roch or St. Dymphna.

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catholicnewsherald.com | December 4, 2020 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

FEATURE FOCUS: CATHOLIC CHARITIES

PHOTOS PROVIDED BY CATHOLIC CHARITIES DIOCESE OF CHARLOTTE

(From left) Catholic Charities, in partnership with Asheville Catholic School, assembled boxes for Thanksgiving Charities’ regional offices are accepting donations of gift cards, non-perishable food, hygiene items and paper this year, distributing them to families in the area. Dave and Beverley Gidus, parishioners of St. Lawrence Basilica products this holiday season. in Asheville and Catholic Charities volunteers, assisted with the Angel Tree program Dec. 1. All three of Catholic

Give hope this holiday season SUEANN HOWELL SENIOR REPORTER

CHARLOTTE — Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte prayerfully requests your help to meet the increased need for food and financial assistance this holiday season.

The COVID-19 pandemic, which has forced business closures resulting in job losses, has left families and individuals in precarious financial situations. It has also created food instability for those vulnerable populations.

All three of Catholic Charities’ regional offices are accepting donations to help alleviate the needs of participants and bring them hope this Christmas. Because of health precautions during the pandemic, donations of toys and clothing are not being accepted. However, donations of gift cards, non-perishable food, hygiene items and paper products are at the top of the list.

Here is how you can help:

Charlotte Regional Office, Charlotte Food donations are being accepted. Items needed include: stuffing, sugar, flour, rice, canned food items, cooking oil, juice, milk, cereal, oatmeal, grits, etc.

Non-food items needed include: paper towels, napkins, toilet paper, hygiene kit (bath soap, toothpaste, toothbrush), laundry detergent, dish soap, etc.

Store gift cards needed include: Walmart, Target, Food Lion and Harris Teeter.

How and where to donate: Food and non-food donations can be dropped off at the Diocese of Charlotte Pastoral Center (1123 S. Church St., Charlotte, N.C. 28203) 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Thursday. Contact Sylvia Sekle at 704-370-3295 or McKenzie Keane at 704-370-3261 to schedule a delivery.

Gift cards can be dropped off at the Pastoral Center and given to the security guard on the first floor or mailed to the attention of Catholic Charities at 1123 S. Church St., Charlotte, N.C. 28203.

Piedmont Triad Office, Winston-Salem Food donations are being accepted. Items needed include: hot and cold cereal, soup, instant potatoes, gravy mixes, stuffing mix, canned fruit, canned pasta, crackers, peanut butter and jelly, tuna, coffee, sugar and flour.

Non-food items needed include: paper towels, napkins, toilet paper, hygiene kit (bath soap, toothpaste, toothbrush), laundry detergent, dish soap, etc.

Store gift cards needed include: Walmart and Target.

How and where to donate: Food donations can be dropped off at the WinstonSalem Catholic Charities office located at 1612 E. 14th St., Winston-Salem, N.C. 27105 on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays or Fridays from 9:30 a.m. to noon or 1:30 to 4 p.m.

Gift cards (Walmart or Target) can be dropped off at the office or mailed to Catholic Charities, P.O. Box 20185, Winston-Salem, N.C. 27120.

Questions? Contact Harley Elkins at 336-714-3203 or email hdelkins@charlottediocese.org.

Western Regional Office, Asheville Food donations are being accepted. Items needed include: canned vegetables, canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, soups, flour, cooking oil, sugar, rice, peanut butter, jelly, canned fruits, easy-to-prepare meals and kid-friendly snack items.

Non-food items needed include: bar soap, toothpaste,

laundry detergent, personal hygiene products and toilet paper.

Store gift cards needed include: Walmart and Ingles.

The Angel Tree program is being offered to clients this year. If you are interested in donating to the Angel Tree program, call 828-255-0146.

Additional Angel Tree donations accepted include: donations of small gifts such as lotions, coloring books, small toys or puzzles, school supplies, gloves, hats, scarves, wrapping paper, bows, ribbons, etc. These items are distributed to families during Angel Tree pick-up.

How and where to donate: Food donations can be dropped off at the Western Regional Catholic Charities office located at 50 Orange St., Asheville, N.C. 28801 on Tuesdays, Wednesdays or Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. To make alternate arrangements outside of these hours, call 828-255-0146.

Gift cards (Walmart or Ingles) can be dropped off at the office or mailed to Catholic Charities at the address above.

Questions? Call 828-255-0146.

Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte is a non-profit social service organization following the teachings of the Catholic Church. Services are provided at the three regional offices: Asheville, Charlotte and Winston-Salem. Additional offices are located in Greensboro, Lenoir and Murphy.

To learn more about services offered through Catholic Charities, go online to www.ccdoc.org.

To make a one-time financial donation or donate monthly to support your neighbors in need throughout the year, visit www. ccdoc.org/donate, call Virginia Garramone at 704-370-3349, or mail a donation to Catholic Charities, Central Processing, 1123 S. Church St., Charlotte, NC 28203.

December 4, 2020 | catholicnewsherald.com CATHOLIC NEWS HERALDI

Your gift this holiday season will help those most in need within our diocese.

Gifts to Catholic Charities make a life-changing difference every day. Your gift during this season will provide support to children and families who come to us seeking help in Asheville, Charlotte, Greensboro, Lenoir, Murphy and WinstonSalem. Many of our neighbors find themselves poor, vulnerable and less fortunate.

With your help, we can work together to bring hope for a new tomorrow.

“The Gospel calls us to be close to the poor and forgotten, and to give them real hope.” —Pope Francis

Change a Life. Make a Difference. Donate Now. Your donation this Advent will bring the Church’s ministry of charity to those in need.

Catholic Charities, Central Processing Office 1123 S. Church Street, Charlotte, NC 28203 800-227-7261 ccdoc.org/donate Thank you for your generosity.

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catholicnewsherald.com | December 4, 2020 14

Diácono Sigfrido Della Valle

¿Qué es el Adviento?

T

odos conocemos lo que es la Navidad, ¿cierto?

Tiempo de compras, hacer planes, cocinar, fiestas, cenas, regalos, rompope, Santa Claus, tarjetas navideñas, etc. Bueno, no del todo cierto para muchos católicos.

En cambio, el Adviento es un tiempo de espera, recogimiento y anticipación, preparándonos gozosamente a que Dios entre en nuestras vidas en todo momento, lugar y tiempo: pasado, presente y futuro.

En Adviento nos preparamos para contemplar el Nacimiento de Jesús según la carne y, al mismo tiempo, consideramos habrá una segunda venida al final de los tiempos.

El Adviento no significa estresarnos acerca de la Navidad, andar a las carreras haciendo compras, ni tampoco es una carrera hasta llegar al 25 de diciembre. Adviento es un llamado a la esperanza, a preparar nuestra

“Navidad eres tú, cuando decides nacer de nuevo cada día y dejar entrar a Dios en tu alma.

El pino de navidad eres tú, cuando resistes vigoroso a los vientos y dificultades de la vida.

Los adornos de Navidad eres tú, cuando tus virtudes son colores que adornan tu vida.

La campana de Navidad eres tú, cuando llamas, congregas y buscas unir.

La luz de Navidad eres tú, cuando iluminas con tu vida el camino de los demás con bondad, paciencia, alegría y generosidad.

El pesebre de Navidad eres tú, cuando te haces pobre para enriquecer a todos y acoges al niño Dios en tu corazón.

Los Ángeles de Navidad eres tú, cuando cuentas al mundo un mensaje de paz, de justicia y de amor.

Los pastores de Navidad eres tú, cuando llenas tu corazón con aquel que lo tiene todo.

‘Es en el mensaje de gozo de este domingo en el que quiero centrar nuestra atención. Este año ha sido muy difícil para muchas personas alrededor del mundo y especialmente para esta gran nación en la que vivimos. ’ casa para recibir un visitante muy especial, Jesús, de tal manera que se sienta bien acogido.

Los colores de Adviento son morado y rosado solo para el tercer domingo, así lo veremos en la corona de Adviento, en la que encendemos una vela morada cada domingo y rosada en el tercero, que también es conocido como Domingo de “Gaudete”, que significa regocíjense, alégrense, no pierdan la esperanza durante la espera ya que nuestro visitante especial está por llegar.

Y es en el mensaje de gozo de este domingo en el que quiero centrar nuestra atención.

Este año ha sido muy difícil para muchas personas alrededor del mundo y especialmente para esta gran nación en la que vivimos.

Pandemia, incertidumbre de trabajo, hambre, enfermedad y muerte en muchos casos. Y podríamos preguntarnos, ¿hay en realidad motivos para alegrarnos? ¡Claro que sí! Tenemos un Dios que es más grande que todo esto, que está por llegar a todos nuestros hogares en esta Navidad y que lo único que desea es que lo acojamos, que preparemos nuestros corazones, nuestros hogares y nuestras familias para su llegada. Él conoce todas nuestras necesidades, preocupaciones y sabe lo que necesitamos.

Quiero concluir con este poema del Padre Dennis Doren LC:

La Estrella de Navidad eres tú, cuando conduces a alguien al encuentro del Señor.

Los reyes magos eres tú, cuando das lo mejor que tienes, sin importar a quien.

La vela de Navidad eres tú, cuando decides iluminar.

La música de Navidad eres tú, cuando conquistas la armonía dentro de ti.

El regalo de Navidad eres tú, cuando eres de verdad amigo y hermano de todo ser humano.

La tarjeta de Navidad eres tú, cuando la bondad está escrita en tus manos.

La felicitación de Navidad eres tú, cuando perdonas y restableces la paz, aún cuando sufras.

La Misa de Navidad eres tú, cuando te haces alabanza, ofrenda y comunión.

La cena de Navidad eres tú, cuando sacias de pan y esperanza al pobre que está a tu lado.

La fiesta de Navidad eres tú, cuando dejas el luto y te vistes de gala.

Tú eres sí, la noche feliz de Navidad, cuando humilde y conciente, recibes en el silencio de la noche al Salvador del mundo, sin ruidos ni gran aparatosidad, tu sonrisa de confianza y ternura en la contemplación interior de una Navidad perenne que establece el Reino dentro de ti”.

EL DIÁCONO SIGFRIDO DELLA VALLE es coordinador del Ministerio Hispano del Vicariato de Smoky Mountain.

Parroquia de Charlotte investiga si bautismos de algunos feligreses no son válidos CHARLOTTE — La Iglesia Santo Tomás de Aquino está revisando si un ex diácono pudo haber usado una fórmula incorrecta para administrar el sacramento del bautismo en la parroquia hace más de 15 años, lo que invalidaría esos bautismos y dejaría a los feligreses afectados con la necesidad de un bautismo válido.

El Padre Matthew Codd, pastor de esa parroquia, explicó la inusual situación a los feligreses en las Misas del 28 y 29 de noviembre y en una carta del 28 de noviembre publicada en el sitio web de la parroquia, www.stacharlotte. com. La Diócesis de Dallas descubrió recientemente que tres de sus diáconos habían usado una redacción incorrecta durante algunos de los bautismos. Entre ellos se encontraba el Diácono Carl J. Macero, quien ya falleció y sirvió de 1996 a 2004 en la parroquia Santo Tomás de Aquino en Charlotte.

El Padre Codd enfatizó en su carta que si bien la parroquia no ha recibido informes que el diácono Macero administró incorrectamente el sacramento durante su ministerio en Charlotte, “debe presumirse que es una posibilidad”. Como resultado, dijo, los líderes parroquiales están tratando de contactar a los feligreses que fueron bautizados por el Diácono Macero para revisar sus circunstancias específicas y rectificar rápidamente cualquier inconveniente.

“Pedimos que cualquier persona bautizada por el Diácono Macero revise cualquier video o grabación de audio de su bautismo o el de sus familiares” y que se comunique con la parroquia, decía la carta del Padre Codd.

El tema ha surgido en los últimos meses en varios lugares después que, como señala la carta, “la Congregación para la Doctrina de la Fe emitiera una importante aclaración que el sacramento del bautismo no es válido si el celebrante modifica la oración apropiada para

el rito. Específicamente, la nota doctrinal explicaba que las palabras modificadas “Te bautizamos en el nombre del Padre, y del Hijo, y del Espíritu Santo” no transmiten el sacramento del bautismo. Más bien, la oración apropiada siempre ha sido ‘Yo te bautizo...’ porque refleja la verdad que el sacramento es administrado por Nuestro Señor actuando a través del ministro, no a través de la asamblea”.

Al hacer esta aclaración, la Congregación citó el Concilio Vaticano II, que declaró que nadie “puede agregar, quitar o cambiar nada en la liturgia por su propia autoridad”.

El Padre Codd reconoció que la situación “puede ser inquietante o percibida como un tecnicismo”, pero explicó que un bautismo válido trae consigo la adopción en la familia de Dios y coloca la gracia santificante en el alma, que es necesaria para pasar la eternidad en el cielo.

Si un bautismo se considera inválido, el sacramento debe administrarse correctamente. Para los feligreses que fueron bautizados por el Diácono Macero pero que no tienen grabaciones, puede ser necesario realizar un bautismo condicional, que se administra cuando es imposible verificar si una persona ha sido bautizada de manera válida.

La carta del Padre Codd también explicaba que un bautismo inválido anula también los sacramentos posteriores, incluida la confirmación y posiblemente el matrimonio, pero que estos problemas también pueden rectificarse rápidamente.

“Tenga la seguridad que nuestra parroquia y diócesis están preparadas para actuar rápidamente para conferir el bautismo y otros sacramentos a los afectados”, explicaba la carta del Padre Codd, “y que los problemas relacionados con el matrimonio se pueden remediar rápidamente y sin una ceremonia adicional”.

— Catholic News Herald

¿Qué debo hacer?

Si usted o un miembro de su familia fue bautizado por el Diácono Carl Macero, revise cualquier video o audio grabado de la ceremonia. Si se utilizó una redacción incorrecta, comuníquese con la oficina de la parroquia Santo Tomás de Aquino al 704-549-1607.

Si no tiene grabaciones, también comuníquese con la parroquia en caso que deba considerarse un bautismo condicional. Si no sabe quién administró el bautismo, no es necesario que haga nada; la parroquia se comunicará con usted si los registros indican que el Diácono Macero administró el sacramento. Este parece ser un tema aislado y no hay razón para que nadie más en la diócesis que no haya sido bautizado por el Diácono Macero cuestione la validez de su bautismo. Mayor información está disponible en el sitio web de la parroquia, www.stacharlotte.com.

December 4, 2020 | catholicnewsherald.com CATHOLIC NEWS HERALDI

15

Escuelas Católicas de Charlotte-Mecklenburg abren inscripciones temprana edad, su amor por el prójimo y el conocimiento de sus propias acciones”.

Una oportunidad de ofrecer a sus hijos educación de calidad con raíces en la fe

SESIONES INFORMATIVAS

CÉSAR HURTADO REPORTERO

CHARLOTTE — Las inscripciones para registrar nuevos estudiantes en las escuelas católicas del área CharlotteMecklenburg (MACS, por sus siglas en inglés), se encuentran abiertas desde el 2 de noviembre, afirmó Angélica Hurtado, coordinadora de reclutamiento de estudiantes de las escuelas católicas de la Diócesis de Charlotte.

“Las familias latinas que estén interesadas en que sus hijos reciban una educación de excelencia académica en la fe católica, pueden iniciar el proceso de aplicación ingresando a www. discovermacs.org, donde encontrarán toda la información que necesitan para completar el registro”, dijo la coordinadora.

El sistema escolar católico del área Charlotte-Mecklenburg cuenta con nueve escuelas entre los grados PK-12. Las escuelas de nivel elemental son: Saint Ann, Saint Gabriel, Saint Matthew y Saint Patrick. Our Lady of Assumption y Saint Mark (Huntersville) cuentan con niveles elemental y middle school.

La escuela que ofrece únicamente middle es Holy Trinity. Dos son High School: Charlotte Catholic y Christ the King (Huntersville).

Hurtado señaló que existen muchas razones por las que los padres podrían estar interesados en registrar a sus hijos en una escuela católica. “El alto nivel académico, la enseñanza en la fe, perfecto índice de graduación de High School con posibilidades a futuro, maestros altamente

FOTO CORTESÍA ESCUELAS CATÓLICAS DIÓCESIS DE CHARLOTTE

En la gráfica se registra una de las sesiones informativas realizadas antes de la aparición de la pandemia de COVID-19. Actualmente las sesiones se realizan a través de la plataforma ZOOM, donde los padres también tienen la oportunidad de recibir información y realizar sus preguntas. capacitados y dedicados a su labor, ambiente familiar, servicio comunitario, enseñanza personalizada, estudios en tecnología, arte, robótica, deportes, programa STEM (Ciencia, Tecnología, Ingeniería y Matemáticas, por sus siglas en inglés) y una currícula académica balanceada que integra la fe, la cultura y la vida son la base de nuestro sistema de enseñanza”. Además, “ofrecemos enseñanza presencial en un ambiente seguro, especialmente en esta época de pandemia”, resaltó.

ASISTENCIA FINANCIERA

“Otra razón importante para que considere el ingreso de sus hijos a nuestras escuelas católicas es que contamos con ayuda financiera para las familias que consiguen registrarse en alguna de nuestras escuelas y demuestren necesitar la ayuda económica para mantenerse en ellas”, explicó Hurtado.

Las aplicaciones para ayuda económica se abrirán el 1 de diciembre de 2020 y se encuentran disponibles en discovermacs. org.

Adicionalmente existen otras

oportunidades de ayuda económica que serán dadas a conocer durante las sesiones informativas que programa el área de reclutamiento de estudiantes.

SÍ SE PUEDE

La Sra. Erika Terán y su esposo, Alejandro López, llegaron de Venezuela hace un año en búsqueda de nuevos horizontes para su familia.

En mayo de este año asistieron a una de las sesiones informativas que se ofrecen en español en búsqueda de una opción educativa diferente para su niña, Maria Victoria, que apenas empezaba kindergarten.

“Con la información recibida y la fe puesta en Dios, aplicamos para St. Patrick School”, refirieron, y al recibir una respuesta positiva, “nuestro corazón saltaba de emoción y sobre todo, de infinito agradecimiento”.

La Sra. Terán afirma que al visitar la escuela se dieron cuenta que “era el lugar perfecto para que Maria Victoria comience su primera experiencia escolar”, y ha sido “increíble verla crecer fortaleciendo sus valores y formación religiosa a tan

Para resolver dudas u obtener mayor información, los interesados pueden asistir a las sesiones informativas que la oficina de reclutamiento ofrece mensualmente. La próxima cita se ha programado para el 14 de diciembre a las 6 de la tarde, a través de la plataforma virtual ZOOM. “Es necesario inscribirse previamente para poder contactarlos y proporcionarles la autorización de ingreso a la reunión virtual”, dijo Angelica Hurtado. Para ello es necesario enviar un correo electrónico a aahurtado@charlottediocese.org Las inscripciones son limitadas para ofrecer una conversación cercana con los padres de familia, por lo que se invita a registrarse antes del 12 de diciembre, fecha de cierre de inscripciones para esta sesión.

ESCUELAS PARA TODOS

El Superintendente de las Escuelas Católicas de la Diócesis de Charlotte, Dr. Greg Monroe, dijo que el enfoque educativo holístico de las escuelas diocesanas, “centrado en el cuerpo, la mente y el alma es atractivo para muchas familias”.

“Verdaderamente somos una comunidad escolar para todas las personas, independientemente de su origen, fe, etnia o condición socioeconómica. Este año hemos recibido a muchas familias nuevas que buscaban una experiencia de aprendizaje lo más normal posible para nuestros estudiantes mientras priorizamos la salud y seguridad de nuestras comunidades escolares. La grandeza de nuestras escuelas se deriva de la riqueza y diversidad de nuestras familias, y continuaremos alentando a todos los padres que no están en nuestro sistema a explorar si nuestras escuelas se ajustan a sus necesidades”.

Mayor información En www.discovermacs.org: Encontrará mayor información sobre las escuelas católicas en Charlotte-Mecklenburg.

Parroquia Guadalupe en Charlotte prepara celebraciones marianas en diciembre CÉSAR HURTADO REPORTERO

CHARLOTTE — Dos eventos especiales serán el marco de las celebraciones marianas que se realizarán durante la primera quincena del mes de diciembre en la parroquia Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe en Charlotte.

Además de la gran fiesta a la Morenita del Tepeyac que se celebra tradicionalmente en la víspera del 12 de diciembre, este año han decidido conmemorar de manera especial la Sagrada Concepción de la Virgen María, la que la Iglesia recuerda como día de guardar y de asistencia a Misa cada 8 de diciembre.

JORNADA PRO-VIDA

El miércoles 8 de diciembre, a las 8 de la noche, se llevará a cabo una jornada Pro-Vida enfocada, como afirma el Padre Hugo Medellín, vicario parroquial, “desde la enseñanza de la Iglesia de lo que es la defensa de la vida, desde su concepción hasta la muerte de forma natural”.

También, asegura, han incluido el tema de la dignidad humana, “pues no es solamente importante que el niño nazca sino que tenga una vida digna, con educación, con una familia, con todo lo que necesita y donde pueda desarrollar su potencial y crecer en el amor”.

“La ocasión es la más propicia al celebrar el día de la Inmaculada Concepción”, y por ello “vamos a tener una Vigilia, Exposición al Santísimo y luego nos vamos

a enfocar en las enseñanzas del Papa Francisco en la Encíclica ‘Fratelli Tutti’ (Hermanos todos), en su interpretación del Buen Samaritano”, añadió.

El programa dará inicio a las 7:30 de la noche con la celebración regular de la Misa del martes, le seguirá la exposición del Santísimo y concluirá con la presentación de los expositores laicos designados por los organizadores.

‘Nahuín Ollin’, grupo de danza de folklore prehispánico mexicano de la parroquia Nuestra Señora Guadalupe, estará presente en el festejo guadalupano.

FESTEJO GUADALUPANO

La parroquia que reúne en la fe al más numeroso grupo de Latinos en la ciudad reina, espera celebrar por lo alto la devoción mariana más grande del mundo no ya en el Coliseo Bojangles, sino en su propia casa de la calle Tuckaseegee.

Según informaron los coordinadores, el festejo, con asistencia limitada y bajo los más estrictos controles sanitarios debido a la pandemia de COVID-19, iniciará el viernes 11 de diciembre a las nueve de la noche con el Santo Rosario. Le seguirán danzas folklóricas prehispánicas, representación de las apariciones en el cerro Tepeyac, cantos, y finalmente el desfile de banderas que dará paso a la celebración de la Santa Eucaristía.

A medianoche dará inicio Las Mañanitas con Mariachi, la que se reiniciará a las cuatro de la madrugada del sábado 12 como antesala a la Misa de las seis de la mañana.

El festejo continuará con cánticos, danzas y Rosarios de manera ininterrumpida hasta pasadas las ocho de la noche, celebrándose Misa al mediodía, seis de la tarde y ocho de la noche.

FOTO CORTESÍA PARROQUIA GUADALUPE

PARTICIPE DESDE CASA

El Padre Medellín informó que los fieles pueden seguir las incidencias desde la comodidad de sus hogares pues han previsto la transmisión de ambos eventos a través de la página de Facebook de la parroquia.

“Debido a la pandemia el ingreso es limitado y deseamos que ninguna persona deje de participar”, señaló, aclarando que la plataforma Facebook limita el número de horas de transmisión de video en vivo, “por lo que no nos será posible transmitir todo el festejo del 12 de diciembre”.

Para seguir los eventos visite www.facebook.com/ NSGuadalupeCharlotte.

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catholicnewsherald.com | December 4, 2020 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

Lecturas Diarias

‘La Inmaculada Concepción’ (1783), óleo en canva de Francisco de Goya y Lucientes. Zaragoza, España (1746-1828). Imagen cortesía del Museo del Prado, Madrid.

DIC. 6-12

Animan participación de fieles en ‘Desafío de Adviento’ y pandemia impulsa extensión del ‘Año de San José’ en 2021 KIMBERLY BENDER ONLINE REPORTER

CHARLOTTE — El Obispo Peter J. Jugis ha extendido el ‘Año de San José’ de la diócesis en 2021, ya que la pandemia obligó a limitar los eventos de celebración que se habían planeado a lo largo de 2020.

El reconocimiento del ‘Año de San José’ continuará hasta el 1 de mayo de 2021 con una serie de actividades al aire libre y otros eventos seguros y socialmente distanciados, incluido ‘El Desafío de Adviento’ en el que las familias imitan y recuerdan el viaje de 90 millas de la Sagrada Familia a Belén.

El Adviento es la época del año en que llevamos a cabo oraciones y devociones especiales con nuestras familias preparando nuestros corazones para la llegada de Jesús en Navidad.

Durante esta temporada de Adviento, que va del 29 de noviembre al 24 de diciembre, las familias están invitadas a participar en una forma más física de devoción honrando las labores que San José realizó por el bien de la Sagrada Familia. Obedeciendo a Dios, San José condujo a María embarazada montada en un burro en el viaje de Nazaret a Belén, donde estaba destinado a nacer el Divino Niño.

Para aprender de su ejemplo de confianza en Dios mientras caminamos por nuestras propias vidas, la diócesis anima a las personas y familias a tomar el ‘Desafío de Adviento’ creando su propio viaje de 90 millas durante las cuatro semanas de Adviento.

Una caminata, en promedio de 3.5 millas por día durante el Adviento, servirá como actividad devocional con la santa intención de fortalecer su familia.

El año 2020 marca el 150 aniversario de la proclamación de San José como patrón de la Iglesia Universal por el Papa Pío IX en su

FE

FAMILIA

decreto de 1870 ‘Quemadmodum Deus’.

La diócesis inició el ‘Año de San José’ en enero con una exposición especial de arte religioso y otras actividades antes que la pandemia obligara a limitar los eventos. La Misa de clausura planeada para diciembre se reprogramará; sin embargo, el Obispo Jugis mantiene los planes para la Misa del 27 de diciembre, para celebrar la Fiesta de la Sagrada Familia en la Catedral San Patricio.

Como participar en el ‘Desafío de Adviento’ del ‘Año de San José En un esfuerzo para acercar nuestros corazones y mentes a Dios durante el Adviento: n Resuelva caminar 90 millas entre el 29 de noviembre y el 24 de diciembre, en honor del viaje de la Sagrada Familia. n Realice la caminata como una actividad devocional familiar tan frecuentemente como le sea posible cada semana. n Considere hacer una caminata de relevos en la que cada miembro de la familia cubra una parte de las 90 millas. n Mientras camina, rece el Santo Rosario y contemple la vida y las virtudes de San José. n Haga una santa intención para esta actividad: que su familia se fortalezca en la gracia de Dios a través de la intercesión de San José, el santo patrón de los padres y las familias. n Comparta sus fotos y progreso en las redes sociales con el hashtag #StJoseph2020.

Más online En www.yearofstjoseph.org/advent: Conozca más sobre el ‘Desafío de adviento’. También encontrará recursos educacionales, oraciones, devociones y detalles sobre los eventos programados en la diócesis.

FRATERNIDAD

Caballeros de Colón

Considere unirse a los más de 2 millones de miembros de la organización fraternal católica más grande del mundo y registrándose en línea hoy en: www.kofc.org/es

Por tiempo limitado - Membresía en línea GRATIS Use el código de promoción (MCGIVNEY2020)

Domingo (Segundo Domingo de Adviento): Isaías 40:1-5, 9-11, 2 Pedro 3:8-14, Marcos 1:1-8; Lunes (San Ambrosio): Isaías 35:1-10, Lucas 5:17-26; Martes (Inmaculada Concepción): Génesis 3:9-15, 20, Efesios 1:3-6, 11-12, Lucas 1:26-38; Miércoles (San Juan Diego): Isaías 40:25-31, Mateo 11:28-30; Jueves: Isaías 41:13-20, Mateo 11:11-15; Viernes (San Dámaso I): Isaías 48:17-19, Mateo 11:16-19; Sábado (Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe): Zacarías 2:14-17, Judith 13:18-19, Lucas 1:26-38

DIC. 13-19

Domingo (Tercer Domingo de Adviento): Isaías 61:1-2.10-11, 1 Tesalonicenses 5:16-24, Juan 1:6-8.

19-28; Lunes (San Juan de la Cruz): Números 24: 2-7. 15-17, Mateo 21:23-27; Martes: Sofonías 3:1-2.

9-13, Mateo 21: 28-32; Miércoles: Isaías 45:6-8. 18. 21-25, Lucas 7:1923; Jueves: Génesis 49: 2. 8-10, Mateo 1:1-17; Viernes: Jeremías 23:5-8, Mateo 1:18-24; Sábado: Jueces 13:2-7. 24-25, Lucas 1:5-25

DIC. 20-26

Domingo (Cuarto Domingo de Adviento): 2 Samuel 7:1-5. 8b-12.

14a. 16, Romanos 16:25-27, Lucas 1:26-38; Lunes: Cantar 2:8-14, Lucas 1:39-45; Martes: 1 Samuel 1:24-28, Lucas 1:46-56; Miércoles: Malaquías 3:1-4. 23-24, Lucas 1:57-66; Jueves: 2 Samuel 7:1-5. 8-12. 14. 16, Lucas 1:67-79; Viernes (La Natividad del Señor): Isaías 52:7-10, Hebreos 1:1-6, Juan 1:1-18 o 1:1-5. 9-14; Sábado (San Esteban): Hechos 6:8-10; 7, 54-60, Mateo 10:17-22

Mix

December 4, 2020 | catholicnewsherald.com CATHOLIC NEWS HERALDI

For the latest movie reviews: catholicnewsherald.com

On TV n Friday, Dec. 4, 8 p.m. (EWTN) “Saint Francis Xavier and the Church in Japan.” An EWTN original documentary on the history of the Church in Japan and the missionary work of St. Francis Xavier. n Saturday, Dec. 5, 10:30 a.m.

(EWTN) “Nicholas, the Boy who Became Santa.” Nicholas was still a young boy when he discovered the love of Jesus and the gift of giving that changed the world.

Based on historical facts and traditions. n Saturday, Dec. 5, 8 p.m.

(EWTN) “Charbel.” An intimate biography of St. Charbel Makhluf, a Lebanese monk known as a healer and miracle worker. Living a solitary life, he dedicated himself fully to sharing and humility. n Saturday, Dec. 12, 5 p.m.

(EWTN) “Miracles of Guadalupe.”

An EWTN original documentary.

In theaters

‘The Last Vermeer’ After the defeat of Germany in World War II, a flamboyant Dutch artist (Guy Pearce) is accused of profiting from the sale of a rare masterwork by the titular 17th-century painter to number two Nazi Hermann Goering. But the soldier (Claes Bang) charged with investigating the case on behalf of the Allies eventually discovers that all is not as it initially appears.

Director Dan Friedkin’s polished fact-based drama, adapted from Jonathan Lopez’s 2008 book “The Man Who Made Vermeers,” features outstanding performances from its two leads and offers grown viewers a satisfying exploration of creativity, the ambiguous business of assessing artistic worth and the drive for justice in the face of public opinion.

A gory execution, a brief, nongraphic scene of aberrant behavior, a milder oath, some crude language.

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

‘Come Away’ Intended as a revisionist origin story for J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan and Lewis Carroll’s Alice, this intriguing if slightly schizophrenic fairy tale is mostly wholesome, family-friendly fare. In the idyllic English countryside, three carefree siblings (Keira Chansa, Jordan Nash, Reece Yates), encouraged by their loving parents (Angelina Jolie and David Oyelowo), revel in battling make-believe pirates and hosting tea parties with plush toys. But after tragedy strikes and a secret problem is revealed, two of the children embark on a perilous journey to London to find a solution, encountering versions of a variety of fictional characters along the way. Mature themes.

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

‘The Croods: A New Age’ This follow-up to the 2013 original is a spirited, fun-filled animated comedy suitable for almost all ages. A Stone Age couple (voices of Nicolas Cage and Catherine Keener) and their three children (voices of Emma Stone, Clark Duke and Kailey Crawford) join a teenage boy (voice of Ryan Reynolds) on a perilous quest for a safe haven. They reach an oasis of tranquility and abundance run by an “evolved” Neanderthal family. A culture clash between the clans ensues, though it leads eventually to mutual respect and appreciation. Cartoonish action, some vaguely scatological humor.

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

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Catholic Book Pick CNS | COURTESY F.A. GRUE INSTITUTE

The Nativity scene this year for St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican will include larger-than-life-sized ceramic figures from a high school in Castelli, a town in the ceramic-producing region of Teramo, northeast of Rome. Students and teachers at the F.A. Grue Institute, a high school focused on art, crafted the figures for the scene between 1965 and 1975.

A Vatican Christmas Details of stamps, Nativity scene, tree CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

VATICAN CITY — Although the Vatican knows Christmas may be very different this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has chosen its stamps and the Nativity scene and tree that will stand in St. Peter’s Square.

The larger-than-life-sized ceramic figures in the Nativity scene are coming from a high school in Castelli, a town in the ceramic-producing region of Teramo, northeast of Rome.

The F.A. Grue Institute, a high school focused on art, is sending only a handful of the 54 sculptures that students and teachers crafted for the scene between 1965 and 1975, the Vatican said. In addition to the Holy Family, an angel and the three kings, there will be a bagpipe player, a panpipe player, a shepherdess and a little girl carrying a doll.

The scene will be displayed next to a towering spruce tree from Slovenia.

The tree, which stands almost 92 feet tall, is coming from an area outside the town of Kocevje, the Vatican said.

“This year, more than ever, the staging of the traditional space dedicated to Christmas in St. Peter’s Square is meant to be a sign of hope and trust for the whole world,” the Vatican said in a statement. “It expresses the certainty that Jesus comes among His people to save and console them.”

The Nativity scene will be unveiled, and the tree will be lighted Dec. 11, the Vatican said.

The Vatican also revealed the design for its 2020 Christmas stamps, which celebrate the

CNS | VATICAN STAMP AND COIN OFFICE

Vatican Christmas stamps for 2020 show the baby Jesus and Pope Francis holding a lantern. The theme of this year’s Christmas stamps is “the light of the peace of Bethlehem.” This page was jointly issued with Austria. birth of Jesus as a light of peace for the world.

The 1.15-euro stamp features the Baby Jesus with the Church of the Christ Child in Steyr, Austria, in the background and a 1.10-euro stamp shows Pope Francis holding a lantern with St. Peter’s Basilica in the background.

As a joint issue with Austria, a single sheet with the two stamps pays tribute to an Austrian initiative called “Peace Light of Bethlehem.”

In early December each year, an Austrian scout is chosen to go to Bethlehem and light a lantern from the oil lamp hanging over the 14-point star that marks the spot where Jesus is believed to have been born.

The lantern is brought back to Austria where the flame is used to light other lamps and candles that families and parishes place next to their Nativity scenes. It also is shared with officials at the European Union offices in Belgium and, from there, taken throughout Europe.

The initiative, begun in 1986 by the Austrian broadcasting company, ORF, also raises money for children with disabilities or other special needs.

‘365 Days of Catholic Wisdom: A Treasury of Truth, Beauty, and Goodness’ by Deal Hudson Thinking with the mind of the Church, Dr. Deal Hudson has mined the riches of faith and reason with which the Church has blessed civilization and with which She has shone forth the splendor of truth across two millennia.

Hudson knows that the Church thinks with the mind of the theologian and philosopher, but also with the heart of the saint and the eye of the poet. He also knows that God shows us Himself most powerfully through the art of narrative, through storytelling and parable, and through that primary story which is history itself. Knowing this, he has filled these pages with the wisdom of the ages as perceived by a diverse range of sages, including theologians, philosophers, saints, mystics, poets, novelists and historians.

At www.tanbooks.com: Order your copy of “365 Days of Catholic Wisdom.” Catholic News Herald readers enjoy 20 percent off their order – use the exclusive coupon code “CNH20.”

Our nation 18

catholicnewsherald.com | December 4, 2020 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

Use of Pfizer, Moderna COVID-19 vaccines is morally acceptable, say bishops JULIE ASHER CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

WASHINGTON, D.C. — While confusion has arisen in recent days in the media over “the moral permissibility” of using the COVID-19 vaccines just announced by Pfizer Inc. and Moderna, it is not “immoral to be vaccinated with them,” the chairmen of the U.S. bishops’ doctrine and pro-life committees said Nov. 23.

Bishop Kevin J. Rhoades of Fort WayneSouth Bend, Ind., chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Doctrine, and Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City, Kan., chairman of the USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities, addressed the issue in a recent memo to their brother bishops.

“Neither the Pfizer nor the Moderna vaccine involved the use of cell lines that originated in fetal tissue taken from the body of an aborted baby at any level of design, development or production,” the two prelates said.

“They are not completely free from any connection to abortion, however, as both Pfizer and Moderna made use of a tainted cell line for one of the confirmatory lab

accept vaccination when there are no alternatives and there is a serious risk to health.”

In a Nov. 21 statement, the president and CEO of the Catholic Health Association, Mercy Sister Mary Haddad said CHA ethicists, “in collaboration with other Catholic bioethicists,” used the guidelines released by the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy for Life in 2005 and 2017 on the origin of vaccines and “find nothing morally prohibitive with the vaccines developed by Pfizer and BioNTech (Pfizer’s German partner) and Moderna.”

She also said CHA “believes it is essential that any approved COVID-19 vaccine be distributed in a coordinated and equitable manner,” because COVID-19 “has had a disproportionate impact on vulnerable populations, such as the elderly, lowincome communities, persons with preexisting health conditions, and racial and ethnic minorities.”

CHA encouraged Catholic health organizations “to distribute the vaccines developed by these companies.”

Bishop Rhoades and Archbishop Naumann did not point to any specific media outlets claiming the moral

‘Neither the Pfizer nor the Moderna vaccine involved the use of cell lines that originated in fetal tissue taken from the body of an aborted baby at any level of design, development or production.’

Bishop Kevin J. Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Ind., and Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City, Kan. Chairmen of the USCCB Committee on Doctrine and Committee on Pro-Life Activities, respectively

tests of their products.”

“There is thus a connection, but it is relatively remote,” they continued. “Some are asserting that if a vaccine is connected in any way with tainted cell lines, then it is immoral to be vaccinated with them.

This is an inaccurate portrayal of Catholic moral teaching.”

Bishop Rhoades and Archbishop Naumann cited three Vatican documents that “treat the question of tainted vaccines”: the 2005 study by the Pontifical Academy for Life, “Moral Reflections on Vaccines Prepared from Cells Derived From Aborted Human Fetuses”; paragraphs nos. 34-35 in the 2008 “Instruction on Certain Bioethical Questions” (“Dignitatis Personae”) by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; and the 2017 “Note on Italian Vaccine Issue,” by the Pontifical Academy for Life.

“These documents all point to the immorality of using tissue taken from an aborted child for creating cell lines,” they explained. “They also make distinctions in terms of the moral responsibility of the various actors involved, from those involved in designing and producing a vaccine to those receiving the vaccine.”

“Most importantly,” they added, “they all make it clear that, at the level of the recipient, it is morally permissible to

unsuitability of the vaccines. However, after Pfizer and Moderna announced their vaccines, at least two Catholic bishops warned against using them, saying they are morally tainted.

On Nov. 11, Pfizer and BioNTech announced that results of a large ongoing study show its vaccine is 95 percent effective; the vaccine is already being manufactured and has been since October.

Five days later, Moderna said preliminary data from its phase three trial shows its coronavirus vaccine is 94.5 percent effective in preventing COVID-19.

Pfizer and Moderna are applying to the U.S. Food and Drug administration for emergency approval of the vaccines, which would quickly pave the way for distribution of the vaccines. The FDA is to meet Dec. 10.

On Nov. 16, Bishop Joseph E. Strickland of Tyler, Texas, tweeted the Moderna vaccine “is not morally produced. Unborn children died in abortions and their bodies were used as ‘laboratory specimens.’ I urge all who believe in the sanctity of life to reject a vaccine which has been produced immorally.”

In a Nov. 18 video posted on his diocesan website and subsequent interviews with local media, Bishop Joseph V. Brennan of Fresno, Calif., weighed in on the vaccines, saying: “We all want health for ourselves

CNS | MODERNA INC. VIA REUTERS

A researcher works in a lab run by Moderna Inc., which announced Nov. 16 that its experimental vaccine was 94.5 percent effective in preventing COVID-19. and for others. We want to promote that also ... but never at the expense of the life of another.”

In May, the Trump administration launched Operation Warp Speed, the moniker of its initiative to deliver COVID-19 vaccines to Americans as quickly as possible. The program has funded the manufacturing of six promising vaccine candidates, two of which are the ones announced by Moderna and Pfizer.

As soon as the FDA approves their vaccines for distribution, Operation Warp Speed hopes to distribute 300 million doses around the country by January. Because Moderna and Pfizer’s vaccines involve two shots per person, this would be enough to immunize 150 million Americans.

Other COVID-19 vaccines on the horizon include one being developed by AstraZeneca with Oxford University.

Like Bishop Rhoades and Archbishop Naumann, John Brehany, director of institutional relations at the National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia, said a recent interview on the “Current News” show on NET TV, the cable channel of the Diocese of Brooklyn, N.Y., that the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines were not themselves produced using cell lines derived from aborted fetal tissue.

He expressed “great respect for Bishop Strickland,” calling him “a bold courageous witness to the faith,” who is saying “some true things about issues that go back decades in pharmaceutical research and development,” in the production of vaccines for measles, mumps, rubella, chicken pox and other diseases.

But in the case of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, Brehany emphasized, any connection to aborted fetus cell lines is extremely remote.

For Dr. Robert Tiballi, an infectious disease specialist in Chicago and a member

of the Catholic Medical Association, this indirect use raises an ethical issue for Catholics.

“The fetal cell lines were not directly used in the Moderna vaccine, but they were indirectly used several steps away from the actual development of the vaccine,” he told “Currents News” in a separate interview.

Any such cell lines were derived from tissue samples taken from fetuses aborted in the 1960s and 1970s and have been grown in laboratories all over the world since then.

In its 2005 study, the Pontifical Academy for Life said Catholics have a responsibility to push for the creation of morally just, alternative vaccines, but it also said they should not sacrifice the common good of public health because there is no substitute.

“Catholics can have confidence if there is a great need and there are no alternatives, they are not forbidden from using these new vaccines,” Brehany told “Current News,” but he added: “There is much the church calls us to do in seeking out alternatives and advocating for alternatives.”

Catholics “need to provide the urgency and advocacy” to get pharmaceutical companies to understand there are alternatives to using fetal cell lines to develop vaccines, “so they can see the need for this,” he added, echoing the Pontifical Academy for Life.

A case in point is the decision by Sanofi Pasteur to no longer use an aborted fetal cell line in producing its polio vaccines, a move recently approved by the FDA. Sanofi is one of the companies currently developing a COVID-19 vaccine by utilizing “cell lines not connected to unethical procedures and methods.”

Inovio Pharmaceuticals and the John Paul II Medical Research Institute are other such companies.

December 4, 2020 | catholicnewsherald.com CATHOLIC NEWS HERALDI

For the latest news 24/7: catholicnewsherald.com

In Brief Catholic leaders decry additional federal execution measures WASHINGTON, D.C. — A move by the Department of Justice to expand how it carries out federal death sentences – to include electrocution, gas or firing squads along with lethal injections – has been sharply criticized by Catholic anti-death penalty activists. “The administration’s eleventh-hour push to bring back firing squads and institute additional methods of execution flies in the face of a country that is turning away from the practice of capital punishment,” said Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy, executive director of Catholic Mobilizing Network, who called the move “yet another blatant affront to the dignity of life.” On Nov. 27, the Justice Department published a final rule change, effective Dec. 24, to add to the execution methods it uses for federal death sentences, permitting it to use “any other manner prescribed by the law of the state in which the sentence was imposed.”

The proposed amendment was announced in August and posted on the Federal Register for comments. It calls for alternative means for federal executions if the lethal injection drug is not available in the state where the defendant is given the death sentence.

Court: Texas, La. can block Medicaid funding for PP WASHINGTON, D.C. — The president of the

Susan B. Anthony List, a national pro-life organization, welcomed the Nov. 23 federal appeals court decision allowing Texas and Louisiana to exclude Planned Parenthood from Medicaid funding. “This ruling is a huge victory in the battle to stop taxpayer funding of America’s biggest abortion business – Planned Parenthood,” Marjorie Dannenfelser said.

“The core mission of Planned Parenthood is to destroy innocent human life, the antithesis to real health care,” she said. “We thank pro-life leaders in Texas and Louisiana for working tirelessly to disentangle taxpayer dollars from the abortion industry.” The full 16-member 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in New Orleans, heard the case, and in an 11-5 decision reversed an earlier ruling by a three-judge panel of the court. The case is expected to go to the U.S. Supreme Court. According to The Associated Press, Texas and Louisiana’s efforts to stop Medicaid funding from going to Planned Parenthood followed an assessment of what was documented in videos secretly recorded by pro-life activist David Daleiden in 2015.

Court unsure of Trump’s plan to exclude unauthorized immigrants in census WASHINGTON, D.C. — In oral arguments Nov. 30, the Supreme Court weighed in on President Donald Trump’s order to exclude immigrants living in the country illegally from the 2020 census for purposes of redrawing congressional districts. The justices, who heard the arguments in Trump v. New York by teleconference, questioned the scope of those who would be excluded and also the length of time it would take to undergo this “monumental task,” as Justice Samuel Alito described it.

Trump issued his order in July and two federal courts have already found it unlawful. During the 90-minute arguments, Auxiliary Bishop

Mario E. Dorsonville of Washington, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Migration, said: “Denying the undocumented and the states in which they reside their rightful representation in Congress is counter to the Constitution and makes people feel invisible and not valued as human beings.” “The Church’s teaching is clear: Human dignity is most sacred, regardless of legal status,” he said. “For that reason, we once again affirm the need to count all persons in the census, as well as in the apportionment of congressional representatives.”

Archbishop: Latest Calif. church closures ‘blatant discrimination’

“We will not surrender one more centimeter of religious freedom to any government,” said Father Theodore Lange, chaplain of the Oregon Knights of Columbus. The Knights organized the rally after Gov. Kate Brown announced a 25-person limit in churches statewide. After protests from Archbishop Alexander K. Sample and other leaders, Brown on Nov. 25 expanded church attendance to 25 percent of capacity, or 100 people, whichever is less. The concession did not seem to satisfy demonstrators. “We want God!” they chanted.

— Catholic News Service

SAN FRANCISCO — Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco described as “blatant discrimination” a return by California to more severe COVID-19 restrictions that closed churches in two of the three counties that comprise the San Francisco Archdiocese.

On Nov. 29, the First Sunday of Advent, Catholic churches in San Francisco and San Mateo counties were closed as of noon. The two counties are among the 41 counties deemed to be in a “purple tier” by Gov. Gavin Newsom in response to an “alarming surge” in COVID-19 cases. These counties account for 94 percent of the state’s population. Every county in California is assigned to a tier based on its test positivity and adjusted case rate. The purple tier is the most restrictive. With a curfew in place – and set to last until Dec. 21 – all nonessential activity is limited between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m.

‘We want God,’ Oregon protesters decry church restrictions SALEM, Ore. — More than 400 flag-waving, rosary-toting demonstrators huddled outside the Oregon Capitol Nov. 28 to press against state coronavirus limits on church attendance.

PRAYER TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN O Most Beautiful Flower of Mt. Carmel, Fruitful Vine, Splendor of Heaven, Blessed Mother of the Son of God, Immaculate Virgin, assist me in my necessity. O Star of the Sea, help me and show me herein you are my Mother. O Holy Mary, Mother of God, Queen of Heaven and Earth, I humbly beseech you from the bottom of my heart to succor me in my necessity (make request.)

There are none that can withstand your power.

O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee (3 times.)

Holy Mary, I place this cause in your hands (3 times.)

3 Our Father, 3 Hail Mary, 3 Glory Be Published in gratitude for prayers answered.

Thank you, K.P.

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Our world 20

catholicnewsherald.com | December 4, 2020 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

At Mass with new cardinals, pope warns against worldliness CAROL GLATZ CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

VATICAN CITY — Concelebrating Mass with newly created cardinals, Pope Francis said Advent is a time to be vigilant, hopeful and helpful.

People of faith who believe in the heaven that awaits them should not be caught up with earthly concerns, he said during a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica Nov. 29, the first Sunday of Advent, which marked the start of a new liturgical year.

“Why should we be anxious about money, fame, success, all of which will fade away? Why should we waste time complaining about the night, when the light of day awaits us?” he asked.

The Mass was celebrated the day after Pope Francis created 13 new cardinals from eight different nations, including Cardinal Wilton D. Gregory of Washington.

In his homily, Pope Francis said the two key phrases for the Advent season were God’s closeness and people’s vigilance against indifference and mediocrity.

Advent reminds people that God came down “to dwell in our midst” and that they must always call for His assistance, he said.

“The first step of faith is to tell God that we need Him” and to ask that He “come close to us once more,” the pope said. “God wants to draw close to us, but He will not impose Himself; it is up to us to keep saying to Him, ‘Come!’”

People should repeat this short prayer frequently throughout the day – “before our meetings, our studies and our work, before making decisions, in every important or difficult moment of our lives – ‘Come, Lord Jesus!’”

People must be watchful and focused on what is essential in life, he said, because “one great mistake in life is to get absorbed in a thousand things and not to notice God.” People must not let themselves “be overcome by discouragement,” but live in hope, he said.

“If we are awaited in heaven, why should we be caught up with earthly concerns? Why should we be anxious about money, fame, success, all of which will fade away?”

Waiting and being watchful are difficult, though, he said, and everyone is vulnerable to dangerous kinds of “drowsiness.”

There is the “slumber of mediocrity,” he said, “when we forget our first love and grow satisfied with indifference, concerned only for an untroubled existence,” This “lukewarm, worldly” life slowly eats away at faith, which must not be lukewarm, but a fire that burns, “a desire for God, a bold effort to change, the courage to love, constant progress,” he said.

Faith “is not a tranquilizer for people under stress, it is a love story for people in love!”

Another danger is “the slumber of indifference” when people show no concern for those around them and “everything revolves around us and our needs,” he said.

“We immediately begin to complain about everything and everyone; we start to feel victimized by everyone” and then end up believing everything is part of a conspiracy, he said.

Instead, Pope Francis said, people must stay awake and remain vigilant through charity and compassionate service to others.

“When the Church worships God and serves our neighbor, it does not live in the night.

However weak and weary, she journeys toward the Lord,” he said.

Pope Francis presents a ring to new Cardinal Wilton D. Gregory of Washington during a consistory for the creation of 13 new cardinals in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican Nov. 28.

CNS | STEFANO SPAZIANI, POOL

Pope creates 13 new cardinals, including Washington archbishop CINDY WOODEN CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

VATICAN CITY — One by one 11 senior clergy – including Cardinals Wilton D. Gregory of Washington, the first African American to be named a cardinal – knelt before Pope Francis to receive their red hats, a cardinal’s ring and a scroll formally declaring their new status and assigning them a “titular” church in Rome.

But with the consistory Nov. 28 occurring during the COVID-19 pandemic, Pope Francis actually created 13 new cardinals.

In his homily at the prayer service, Pope Francis told the new cardinals that “the scarlet of a cardinal’s robes, which is the color of blood, can, for a worldly spirit, become the color of a secular ‘eminence,’” the traditional title of respect for a cardinal.

If that happens, he said, “you will no longer be a pastor close to your people. You will think of yourself only as ‘His Eminence.’ If you feel that, you are off the path.”

For the cardinals, the pope said, the red must symbolize a wholehearted following of Jesus, who willingly gave His life on the cross to save humanity.

The Gospel reading at the service, Mark 10:32-45, included the account of James and John asking Jesus for special honors. “Grant that in your glory we may sit one at your right and the other at your left,” they said. But Jesus reproaches them.

“We, too, pope and cardinals, must always see ourselves reflected in this word of truth,” Pope Francis said. “It is a sharpened sword; it cuts, it proves painful, but it also heals, liberates and converts us.”

According to Church law, cardinals are created when their names are made public “in the presence of the College of Cardinals.” While many Rome-based cardinals attended the consistory, more members of the college were “present” online. The pandemic also meant the gathering was unusually small; each cardinal was accompanied by a priest-secretary and could invite a handful of guests, so there were only about 100 people in the congregation at the Altar of the Chair in St. Peter’s Basilica.

Maltese Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary-general of the Synod of Bishops, was the first mentioned by the pope Oct. 25 when he announced he was creating new cardinals. As such, it fell to Cardinal Grech to address the pope on behalf of the new cardinals.

“Convoked in consistory at such a serious time for all humanity because of the pandemic, we want to turn our thoughts to all our brothers and sisters enduring hardship,” the cardinal said. He prayed that people would react to the pandemic as an “opportunity to rethink our lifestyles, our relationships, the organization of our societies and, especially, the meaning of our lives.”

Cardinal Grech also led the others in reciting the Creed and

Pope Francis places the red biretta on new Cardinal Gregory during the Nov. 28 consistory.

CNS | VATICAN MEDIA

an oath of fidelity and obedience to Christ and His Church and to Pope Francis and his successors.

The new cardinals came from eight countries: Italy, Malta, the United States, Brunei, the Philippines, Mexico, Rwanda and Chile.

In an interview with Catholic News Service, the cardinal said he hopes Pope Francis will find him to be “supportive, encouraging and trustworthy” in his role as a cardinal, but his primary ministry is still to be the archbishop of Washington.

Of course, he said, he regrets that “my two sisters are not here, and the many people I know and love from Chicago and Belleville (Illinois) and Atlanta and Washington,” who were watching the livestream instead.

The College of Cardinals now has 229 members, 128 of whom are under the age of 80 and eligible to enter a conclave to elect a new pope. Pope Francis has given the red hat to 57 percent of electors.

The number of U.S. cardinals is 16; nine of them are cardinal electors.

December 4, 2020 | catholicnewsherald.com CATHOLIC NEWS HERALDI

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from North and South America and Africa not to lose sight of “the distressing situation in which a small part of humanity lives in opulence, while an increasing number of people are denied dignity and their most elementary rights are ignored or violated.” “We cannot be disconnected from reality,” he said. The judges were taking part in a virtual meeting Nov. 30-Dec. 1 on “Building the New Social Justice,” sponsored by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the Committee of Pan-American Judges for Social Rights and Franciscan Doctrine.

In Brief ‘The violence is not stopping,’ warn bishops in Belarus MINSK, Belarus — Catholic bishops warned of a “deepening crisis” in Belarus as people continue to protest and strike against government crackdowns since disputed elections in August.

“The violence is not stopping, the bloodshed continues, society remains riven. This does not foretell a happy future – for as Christ said, a house divided against itself cannot stand,” said the bishops’ conference, based in Minsk. The message was published as security forces, using tear gas and stun grenades, arrested more than 300 protesters during Nov. 29 demonstrations across Belarus, and two Catholic priests were detained by police. Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz of Minsk, president of the bishops’ conference, remains barred from entering the country. In the disputed Aug. 9 election, President Alexander Lukashenko, in power since 1994, was declared victor with over 80 percent of votes, triggering allegations of fraud. Opposition leaders ended up leaving the country.

Pope: Social justice must be founded on care for others VATICAN CITY — Guaranteeing justice for all men and women is not possible while a few people control most of the world’s wealth and everyone else’s right to a dignified life is disregarded, Pope Francis said. In a Nov. 30 video message, the pope encouraged judges

Pope: Religious leaders must offer example of cooperation VATICAN CITY — Conflict and violence in the world will never end if people do not fully understand their responsibility to each other as members of one human family, Pope Francis said in a written message. “In light of this, the Christian churches, together with other religious traditions, have a primary duty to offer an example of dialogue, mutual respect and practical cooperation,” he said in the message to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople. “With profound gratitude to God, I have experienced this fraternity at first hand in the various encounters we have shared,” he told the Orthodox patriarch.

Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, delivered the message to the patriarch in Istanbul Nov. 30 during services to mark the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle, the patriarchate’s patron saint.

No pilgrims at Guadalupe basilica MEXICO CITY — Mexican church and civic

officials have canceled public feast celebrations for Mexico’s patroness at her shrine in Mexico City due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The celebration normally attracts 10 million pilgrims to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the world’s most-visited Marian shrine. Mexico City Cardinal Carlos Aguiar Retes and Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum urged pilgrims to stay away from the basilica and to avoid congregating in the area. Pilgrims normally descend on the area – often arriving on foot from cities and towns surrounding the capital – and gather at midnight prior to the Dec. 12 feast day to serenade Mary.

Church officials instead urged devotees to celebrate Our Lady of Guadalupe at their local parishes or at home via broadcasts from the basilica online and on television.

— Catholic News Service

Director of Faith Formation Holy Cross Catholic Church, Kernersville, NC

Holy Cross Catholic Church in Kernersville, NC, is seeking a full-time Director of Faith Formation.

This person is responsible for the coordination of educational activities that help parishioners grow in their knowledge and understanding of God, the Church, and their faith.

Pope appeals for peace as violence increases in Ethiopia

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VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis renewed his call for peace in Ethiopia after a violent conflict in the country’s northern Tigray region has left hundreds dead and forced thousands more to

holycrossnc.org and click on “Job Opportunities.”

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flee. “The Holy Father, in calling for prayer for this country, appeals to the sides in the conflict to stop the violence, to safeguard lives, especially those of civilians, and to restore peace to the people,” Matteo Bruni, Vatican spokesman, said Nov. 27. In early November, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ordered the country’s military to launch an offensive after forces belonging to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, a political party loyal to the regional government, took over a military base. According to the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, more than 40,000 Ethiopian refugees have fled into neighboring Sudan.

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Order Honor Cards Fill in the form at roominn.org/ christmas-honor-cards, and we’ll mail a beautiful card to your honoree, or you can buy a pack of 10 and mail them directly to friends and family.

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catholicnewsherald.com | December 4, 2020 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

Joe Heschmeyer

‘Successful players in the outrage porn industry make a fortune by manipulating you emotionally, and by making you angry on purpose.’

How the news is destroying your soul (and what you can do about it)

W

e live in a strange age. It’s an age marked by contention, strife and factionalism. This is true in the Church and in the realm of politics. It’s not just that we disagree. It’s that we don’t trust “the other side,” and actually hate each other to a degree not seen in modern U.S. history. And American Catholicism hasn’t been exempted from this trend, either. You’ve got uncharitable pro-Francis and anti-Francis Catholics bashing each other, and uncharitable pro-Trump and antiTrump Catholics bashing each other.

So what’s going on, and what can we do about it?

Here’s what Neil Postman, C.S. Lewis, and St. Paul might say about where we’ve gone wrong, and what we can individually do about it.

THE OUTRAGE ADDICTION INDUSTRY

One problem with food might be that it’s mislabeled – this was a problem in much of the early 20th century. But another problem is just that the food itself is unhealthy junk that makes your life worse when you consume too much of it. The news is the same way. There is fake news, the reporting of things that literally didn’t happen. But a much bigger problem is junk news – news that exists only to entertain and that actually makes us worse people when we consume too much of it.

Part of the reason for that is our addiction to outrage.

Way back in 2015, Psychology Today had a post warning about that “anger is a public epidemic in America.” The author explained why anger is addictive: “What happens is that anger can lead to similar ‘rushes’ as thrill-seeking activities where danger triggers dopamine reward receptors in the brain, or like other forms of addiction such as gambling, extreme sports, even drugs like cocaine and methamphetamines. Anger can become its own reward, but like other addictions, the final consequences are dangerous and real, and people follow impulses in the moment without regard to the big picture.”

Two of the biggest drug dealers in this new landscape are the news media and digital social media platforms.

Recall that 24-hour news is a relatively recent phenomenon. It didn’t exist in the past because there was no need for it. Ordinary people didn’t (and don’t!) have to know about every possible scandal or controversy or outrage. Indeed, the desire to know everything just for the sake of it (or for the sake of feeding your outrage addiction) is a sin that used to be something that we warned against. Catholic theologians like Aquinas describes the vice of curiositas, an unhealthy curiosity that’s not motivated out of a sincere love for the truth.

He cites St. Augustine, who warns: “Some there are who forsaking virtue, and ignorant of what God is, and of the majesty of that nature which ever remains the same, imagine they are doing something great, if with surpassing curiosity and keenness they explore the whole mass of this body which we call the world. So great a pride is thus begotten, that one would think they dwelt in the very heavens about which they argue.”

This problem isn’t a new one. Originally, it made sense to stay on top of the news of the day, because it was directly relevant to your daily life: weather reports for farmers, local goings-on around town, etc. But with the introduction of the telegraph and photograph in the late 19th century, we could suddenly read about – and even see – events having no relation to our lives in any way. This began a subtle shift from the news as useful to the news as entertaining. In his 1985 masterpiece “Amusing Ourselves to Death,” Neil Postman traces the history by looking at, of all things, the crossword puzzle: “The crossword

puzzle became a popular form of diversion in America at just that point when the telegraph and the photograph had achieved the transformation of news from functional information to decontextualized fact. This coincidence suggests that the new technologies had turned the age-old problem of information on its head: Where people once sought information to manage the real context of their lives, now they had to invent context in which otherwise useless information might be put to some apparent use.

The crossword puzzle is one such pseudo-context; the cocktail party is another; the radio quiz shows of the 1930s and 1940s and the modern television game show are still others; and the ultimate, perhaps, is the wildly successful ‘Trivial Pursuit.’ In one form or another, each of these supplies an answer to the question, ‘What am I to do with all these disconnected facts?’ And in one form or another, the answer is the same: Why not use them for diversion? for entertainment? to amuse yourself, in a game?”

As Postman shows, this trend from news as important to news as entertaining trivia isn’t a new one, but it’s been amplified by the introduction of video, by the creation of 24-hour news networks, and by the invention of digital media platforms like Twitter and Facebook and of political news websites.

The successful players in this industry make a fortune by manipulating you emotionally, and by making you angry on purpose. In a piece cleverly entitled “YOU’LL BE OUTRAGED AT HOW EASY IT WAS TO GET YOU TO CLICK ON THIS HEADLINE,” Wired looked at some of the science behind “clickbait.” Here’s what they found: “Emotional arousal, or the degree of physical response you have to an emotion, is a key ingredient in clicking behaviors. Sadness and anger, for example, are negative emotions, but anger is much more potent. ‘It drives us, fires us up, and compels us to take action,’ Berger says. If you’ve ever found yourself falling for outrage clickbait or spent time hate-reading and hate-watching something, you know what Berger is talking about. ‘Anger, anxiety, humor, excitement, inspiration, surprise – all of these are punchy emotions that clickbait headlines rely on,’ he says.”

This is the point to which we’ve come. The news isn’t there to tell you pertinent information about your life.

It’s there so that you see something that make you angry enough to click on it, because then the news site can charge advertisers for the time you spent viewing the page.

It’s appealing to your baser emotions, and manipulating you in ways you may not even realize. It’s hardly an exaggeration to describe it as “outrage porn,” because the psychological manipulation is basically the same as what successful porn sites do in tapping into lust.

The solution to all of this, fortunately, is easy: Put down the remote, click the little X in the top right corner, and walk away from the screen.

RESISTING THE DEMONIC ASSAULT

Outrage addiction is closely tied to the rise of partisanship, and the loss of trust between the two parties.

It doesn’t have to be that way, but that’s the way it’s been.

On most issues we haven’t seen much movement in the last few years, or we’ve seen movement in positive directions in terms of people coming together. But in politics, we’ve seen the chasm getting wider and wider and the level of trust getting lower and lower. Outrage porn both benefits from this and amplifies it.

C.S. Lewis’ “Screwtape Letters” has it right. The letters are written from the perspective of one demon (Screwtape) counseling another (Wormwood) on how to destroy a man’s soul. Here is how the spiritual situation looks,

unmasked: “All extremes, except extreme devotion to the Enemy, are to be encouraged. Not always, of course, but at this period. Some ages are lukewarm and complacent, and then it is our business to soothe them yet faster asleep.

Other ages, of which the present is one, are unbalanced and prone to faction, and it is our business to inflame them. ... Whichever he adopts, your main task will be the same. Let him begin by treating the Patriotism or the Pacifism as a part of his religion. Then let him, under the influence of partisan spirit, come to regard it as the most important part. Then quietly and gradually nurse him on to the stage at which the religion becomes merely part of the ‘cause,’ in which Christianity is valued chiefly because of the excellent arguments it can produce in favor of the British war-effort or of Pacifism. The attitude which you want to guard against is that in which temporal affairs are treated primarily as material for obedience. Once you have made the World an end, and faith a means, you have almost won your man, and it makes very little difference what kind of worldly end he is pursuing.”

At the time Lewis was writing, World War II was going on, and there were strong cases being made by British Christians for both pacifism and for serving in combat. But the point wasn’t which side was better. It’s that both sides conducted themselves in a way that ultimately subverted Jesus Christ to a mere means of settling domestic British policy. We can do the same thing now with any of the major debates going on in America.

I’ve watched this happen all around me, and I think it’s tearing the online Catholic world apart. What started with a debate over whether voting for or against President Trump was the proper Catholic response has metastasized into something much bigger, in which once-reputable Catholic writers and apologists on both sides are known now not for their nuanced defenses of the Gospel, but for their political flame-throwing.

The solution is the one that Screwtape warns against: an attitude “in which temporal affairs are treated primarily as material for obedience,” and the world is recognized as a temporary, passing thing, as sort of means to heaven rather than the other way around.

CHECK THE FRUITS

Finally, we need to do a better job of checking the spiritual fruits of our actions. St. Paul gives us two helpful diagnostics in Gal. 5:19-24: “Now the works of the flesh are plain: immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, party spirit, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”

So it’s worth exploring two questions: How do the people I follow speak and act? Are they doing it with enmity and anger? Or are they marked by a spirit of joy, peace and patience? And even more importantly, what am I like after I read or watch their stuff ? Does it fill me with love and a spirit of kindness? Or do I have the hallmarks of outrage addiction and the works of the flesh? Really explore that question in prayer if you need to, and then be open to whatever God’s calling you to – even if it means a total change in your media diet.

JOE HESCHMEYER is an instructor at the Holy Family School of Faith Institute for the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas, and blogs at “Shameless Popery.”

December 4, 2020 | catholicnewsherald.com CATHOLIC NEWS HERALDI

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Brian Pusateri

Divide et impera

D

o you know what “divide et impera” means? We have seen it played out these past several months in the United States and it is on full display around the world. Niccolò Machiavelli wrote about it in 1513, and the term “Machiavellian” became synonymous with deceit and deviousness. But the concept is much older: Julius Caesar employed this technique, as did Napoleon.

How is it impacting you and how is it impacting our world?

“Divide et impera” means “divide and rule” or “divide and conquer.” In politics and sociology, it means gaining and maintaining power by breaking up larger concentrations of power into pieces that individually have less power than the one implementing the strategy. Spiritually speaking, it’s highly destructive.

The author of this strategy is the devil. The word “devil” comes from the Latin and Greek term “diabolus,” which literally means slanderer. The roots of the word are “dia,” meaning across, and “bolos,” meaning “who throws.” In other words, the devil is a slanderer who throws division across the world. He is the author of distrust; he polarizes people and ruptures relationships. Does this sound familiar?

We see it every day: rich against poor, black against white, Republican against Democrat, “red” states against “blue” states, the Senate against the House of Representatives, state government against the federal government, spouse against spouse, child against parent, Catholic against Protestant, “conservative” Christians against “liberal” Christians, neighbor against neighbor, Muslims against Jews, Muslims against Christians ... the list goes on and on.

This is evidence of the hideous divisiveness of the evil one in our lives.

As Christians, we must ceaselessly work to end division and build unity among ourselves, within the Church and in the world. We need to stop the fighting.

Anyone old enough to remember likely recalls this famous public service message from 1971: A Native American paddles his canoe through pristine waters, surrounded by litter. He pulls his boat onto a bank, strewn with litter from a nearby freeway. Someone flings a bag of trash from a passing car, and a single tear rolls down his cheek. A narrator then says, “People start pollution. People can stop it.”

Divisiveness is the litter of the modern world, and it is strewn everywhere. I am reminded of Jesus’ return to Jerusalem, in which Luke 19:41 states, “As He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it.”

As I ponder the world’s divisiveness, I wonder if Jesus is weeping again. “People started this division. Christians can stop it.”

In order for us to have any impact on reducing division and building unity in the world, we must first recognize the division within ourselves. St. Paul famously points out this division in Romans 7:18-19: “For I know that good does not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh.

The willing is ready at hand but doing

the good is not. For I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil I do not want.”

The terms “my flesh” or “the flesh” which St. Paul uses here do not mean our flesh and bones. It means the parts of us that are alienated from God. He is referring to the rebellious, unruly and obstinate parts of our life. These must change.

Let’s take a closer look at the devil’s strategy. Included in an even longer list in Galatians 5:19-21, St. Paul tells us the works of the flesh include hatred, rivalry, jealousy, outbursts of fury, acts of selfishness, dissensions, factions and occasions of envy. We have seen a lot of this on the news recently.

These works of the flesh are at the root of all division, and they clearly are the work of the devil. St. Paul tells us this in Romans 8:6: “The concern of the flesh is death, but the concern of the spirit is life and peace.” I think we can all agree that our world is sorely in need of more peace.

St. Paul continues in verses 7-8: “For the concern of the flesh is hostility toward God; it does not submit to the law of God, nor can it; and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” My friends, we must first deal with our own inner divisiveness and our hatreds, rivalries, jealousies, outbursts, acts of selfishness and envies, so that collectively as Christians we can bring about an end to the many divisions in the world. In Romans 8:14, St. Paul gives us a warning, but he also concludes with hope and encouragement: “For if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”

Both in our own life and in the world, the devil is employing his “divide et impera” strategy. He wants to divide and conquer us.

With Jesus in our hearts, let’s recommit ourselves to becoming agents of change in this world. Let’s become agents of peace.

Ask yourself: What am I doing and what am I saying that causes division?

We must start by changing our own behavior. If each one of us does our part to change, this world will become a much better and more peaceful place to live.

Perhaps it was all of this division that caused Jesus to pray these words to His Father: “I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the evil one” (John 17:15). It may also be why He taught us to pray “but deliver us from the evil one” (Matthew 6:13).

My brothers and sisters: I appeal to you, in the name of Jesus Christ, let us bring an end to the division among us and let us work to become united in mind and heart.

Heavenly Father, make me an agent of peace in the world. Where there is division, help me to heal; where there is hatred, help me to sow love; and where there is darkness, help me to bring the light of Christ. Amen!

BRIAN PUSATERI is the founder of Broken Door Ministries (www.brokendoorministries.com) and a member of Immaculate Conception Church in Hendersonville.

Letters to the editor

Kudos for focusing on racism

The Church is a rainbow

I appreciate and applaud the Catholic News Herald’s recent coverage of racism, including the commentaries by Deacon Clarke Cochran. As a cradle Catholic who is white, male and elderly, I am becoming increasingly aware of my privilege in this society. I accept personally that “Racism is a … deep and persistent infestation in (American) society” – as Deacon Cochran wrote in his Nov. 20 commentary entitled “Responding as Catholics to systemic racism.” Among other privileges, I am able to ignore the negative impacts of racism, while persons of color and lesser financial means struggle daily with fear, rejection, and a lack of material and societal resources.

I’d like to congratulate Deacon Clarke Cochran for his commentaries about racism. I have found his parish, St. Peter Church in Charlotte, to be very representative of the views shared by the pope regarding respect for all life. Until this view is universal within the whole Catholic Church, the light will not be as bright for Black Catholics.

Another issue I have is the depiction of Christ with blond hair and blue eyes all the time. Christ is universal and everyone should see their own likeness and take joy in an image that is relatable. To combat racism, we must recognize that the Church is not white but a rainbow of all God’s people.

JEROME WAGNER is a member of St. James the Greater Church in Concord.

ALVIN BOND is a member of Our Lady of Consolation Church in Charlotte.

Most-read stories on the web Through press time on Dec. 2, 38,809 visitors to www.catholicnewsherald.com have viewed a total of 54,357 pages. The top 10 headlines in November were: n 10 facts about Advent....................................................................................................................................3,589 n Faithful encouraged to take “Advent Challenge”.......................................................................................350 n Sister Thea Bowman encouraged others to stand up for their rights................................................ 348 n Where to watch Mass online........................................................................................................................... 288 n Two priests in the Diocese of Charlotte linked to the First Thanksgiving..........................................265 n Responding as Catholics to systemic racism..............................................................................................255 n Use of Pfizer, Moderna COVID-19 vaccines is morally acceptable, say bishops.................................211 n For Advent, why not create a Jesse Tree?....................................................................................................179 n The Great “O” Antiphons of Advent...............................................................................................................178 n View the current print edition of the Catholic News Herald.................................................................... 175

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catholicnewsherald.com | December 4, 2020 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD