At a glance
OCTOBER 4, 2024
Volume 33 • NUMBER 24 1123 S. CHURCH ST. CHARLOTTE, N.C. 28203-4003 catholicnews@rcdoc.org
704-370-3333
PUBLISHER
The Most Reverend Michael T. Martin, OFM Conv., Bishop of Charlotte
INDEX
Contact us 2
Español 15-17
Our Diocese 4-13
Our Faith 3
Scripture 3, 17
U.S. news 18-19
ThroughoutCATHOLIC ALL WEEK
Timely tips for blending faith & life
2024, Franciscans worldwide are commemorating the 800th anniversary of St. Francis of Assisi’s stigmata – the appearance of the bodily wounds of Christ’s crucifixion. This Oct. 4 also marks our Conventual Franciscan bishop’s first feast of St. Francis as Bishop of Charlotte. In honor of the stigmata anniversary and the saint’s feast day, explore artwork depicting this popular saint in the permanent collection of the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh.
STAFF
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REVERENCE THE SPIRITUAL WORLD
St. Francis believed that although the kingdom of heaven is everywhere, the Portiuncula – the chapel he famously rebuilt – was visited more frequently by heavenly spirits. The saint himself also experienced such visits. When St. Francis received the stigmata, a member of the seraphim appeared to him in a vision holding a crucified man between his wings. A depiction of this can be found in oil on canvas circa 1470 by France’s School of Amiens at the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh. On the other side of the piece is a depiction of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, illustrating the closeness of the two events.
in His hand and the left arm of St. Francis with the stigmata wound in his hand and has a cross in the background on a shield. All of this is encircled with a wreath with grapes, fish and other biblical symbols of Christ’s life and sacrifice. The coat of arms is often depicted on the altar in sanctuaries of Franciscan churches or is engraved in plaques that represent the Franciscan order in institutions worldwide. It’s also incorporated into Bishop Martin’s episcopal coat of arms.
ASK FOR CHRIST’S BLESSING
PONDER ST. FRANCIS’ CLOSENESS TO CHRIST
The museum’s permanent collection also has an Italian sculpture of the Franciscan order’s coat of arms made of glazed terracotta and dating back to about 1525. The piece by Luca della Robbia the Younger depicts the right arm of Christ with the nail wound
Diocesan calendar of events
EVENTS
DAY OF REFLECTION AT PENNYBYRN : Pennybyrn and Catholic Charities Elder Ministry will host a Day of Reflection on Wednesday, Oct. 16, “Nurturing the Mind, Body, and Soul,” led by Father Stephen Hoyt. Includes Mass and a virtual tour of Pennybyrn’s facilities. It is free but space is limited, so please register by Monday, Oct. 7, to secure your spot. Contact Sandra Breakfield, Elder Ministry program director, at 704-370-3220 or sandrab@ ccdoc.org.
FALL FESTIVAL : 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 12, St. Luke Church, 13700 Lawyers Road, Mint Hill. Games, live music, face painting, bake sale, used book sale, craft vendors and food.
PRAYER SERVICES
DIVINE MERCY DAY OF HEALING : 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 5, St. Matthew Church, 8015 Ballantyne Commons Pkwy., Charlotte. The program will focus on “Embracing Divine Mercy: Unveiling the Seven Secrets of Divine Mercy.” Mass will be offered at 9 a.m. in the church, followed by a continental breakfast and program in the NLC Banquet Room. CANDLELIT ROSARY WALK 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 5, Riverside Park, 305 Tappan St., Spruce Pine. Hosted by St. Lucien Parish in honor of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary. All are welcome. RSVP for a candle and updates: jacqueline.hinshaw@outlook.com.
MEMORIAL MASS FOR LOSS OF A CHILD 8:30 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 12, St. Michael Church, 708 St. Michaels Lane, Gastonia. All families who have suffered child loss through miscarriage or infant death are welcome to this opportunity to offer prayers together, record the names of their children in a Book of Remembrance, and find solace in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Refreshments after Mass.
OCT. 7
RC Education Leadership Summit *
University of St. Mary of the Lake, Mundelein, Ill.
OCT. 12 – 11 A.M.
Mass for Permanent Diaconate Retreat * Catholic Conference Center, Hickory
OCT. 12 – 5:15 P.M.
Mass St. Aloysius Church, Hickory
OCT. 13 – 11 A.M.
Mass with Ukrainian Bishop Danylo
St. Basil the Great (St. Thomas Aquinas) Church, Charlotte
Scan the QR code for this week’s recommended recipes, crafts and activities:
St. Francis also appears in another piece at the museum. This time in Giotto’s “Peruzzi Altarpiece,” so-called because the wealthy Peruzzi family commissioned the work, which is dated 1310-1315. Made with tempera and gilded gesso on poplar panel, it is one of the few remaining altarpieces by Giotto and the only one preserved outside of Europe. Like the altarpiece recently completed for St. Joseph College Seminary in Mount Holly, this work is a polyptych – a painting with more than three panels. Giotto used vermilion, a bright red pigment, to communicate the importance of Jesus. The altarpiece was made for the family’s private chapel in the Basilica di Santa Croce in Florence. The artist, Giotto di Bondone, is considered the father of the Italian Renaissance. In the painting, Christ is offering a blessing alongside St. John the Evangelist, the Virgin Mary, St. John the Baptist and St. Francis. Enjoy this rare piece and the rest of the museum’s religious collection, which includes additional paintings of angels, the Holy Family and other saints.
— Annie Ferguson
will participate in the following events:
OCT. 15 – 7 P.M. Confirmation
St. Lawrence Basilica, Asheville
OCT. 16 – 7 P.M.
Confirmation
St. Joan of Arc Church, Candler
OCT. 17– 7 P.M.
Confirmation
St. Eugene Church, Asheville
OCT. 19 – 6:30 P.M. Mira Via Banquet
Charlotte Convention Center, Charlotte
* Denotes a private event
Bishop Michael Martin, OFM Conv.,
Our faith
Credo
by Deacon Matthew Newsome
EDITOR’S NOTE
This article is the ninth of 12 in a series on the Creed. Look for new articles each month in the Catholic News Herald and online at www.catholicnewsherald.com.
The Holy Catholic Church
When the English novelist Evelyn Waugh was asked why he was Catholic, he reportedly replied, “What else is there?” I believe I know what he meant. I had a “what else is there?” moment leading to my own conversion.
I was raised in a non-church-going family, so my introduction to the Catholic faith took place when I dated my wife, who was raised Catholic. I attended Mass with her at first because her faith was important to her, and she was important to me; but I was open to whatever truth and goodness was to be found there.
Being inquisitive, I began reading all I could about the Catholic Church, its history, teachings and traditions. At a certain point I came to understand that Jesus was a real historical figure, that the best accounts we have of His life are the four gospels, and that according to those gospels He established a Church with the authority to carry out His saving mission. To me, it seemed clear that if one wanted to be a Christian, one ought to join the Church that Christ established, and all the evidence I saw pointed to that being
Daily Scripture readings
OCT. 6-12
Sunday (Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time): Gn 2:18-24, Ps 128:1-2, 3, 4-5, 6, Heb 2:9-11, Mk 10:2-16 or 10:2-12; Monday (Our Lady of the Rosary): Gal 1:6-12, Ps 111:1b-2, 7-8, 9, 10c, Lk 10:25-37; Tuesday: Gal 1:13-24, Ps 139:1b-3, 13-14ab, 14c15, Lk 10:38-42; Wednesday: Gal 2:1-2, 7-14, Ps 117:1bc, 2, Lk 11:1-4; Thursday: Gal 3:1-5, Lk 1:69-70, 71-72, 73-75, Lk 11:5-13; Friday: Gal 3:7-14, Ps 111:1B-2, 3-4, 5-6, Lk 11:15-26; Saturday: Gal 3:22-29, Ps 105:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, Lk 11:27-28
This year is the 800th anniversary of St. Francis of Assisi receiving the stigmata – the first such recorded case.
Stigmata: The miraculous gift St. Francis wanted to hide
JUNNO AROCHO ESTEVES OSV News
Throughout2024, Franciscans around the world commemorate the 800th anniversary of St. Francis of Assisi receiving the stigmata on Sept. 17, 1224, the appearance of the bodily wounds of Christ’s crucifixion.
At an April 5 audience with members of the Franciscan communities of La Verna, Italy, where St. Francis was staying when he received the wounds of Christ, Pope Francis commemorated the anniversary and said the stigmata serves as a reminder of “the pain suffered by Jesus in His own flesh for our love and salvation.”
“The image of Christ in the crucifix that appears to him in La Verna, marking his body, is the same as the one that had impressed itself upon his heart at the beginning of his ‘conversion,’ and which had indicated to him the mission of ‘repairing his house,’” the pope said.
While there have been several notable figures in the Church who experienced the stigmata, St. Francis’ experience was the first recorded occurrence of the phenomenon. Yet, such recognition of a quite miraculous, and excruciatingly painful, phenomenon was something the poor man of Assisi did his utmost to avoid.
On Sept. 14, 1224, the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, just two years before his death, St. Francis was at the
OCT. 13-19
Sunday (Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time): Wis 7:7-11, Ps 90:12-13, 14-15, 16-17, Heb 4:12-13, Mk 10:17-30 or 10:17-27; Monday: Gal 4:2224, 26-27, 31–5:1, Ps 113:1b-2, 3-4, 5a and 6-7, Lk 11:29-32; Tuesday (St. Teresa of Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church): Gal 5:1-6, Ps 119:41, 43, 44, 45, 47, 48, Lk 11:37-41; Wednesday: Gal 5:18-25, Ps 1:1-2, 3, 4 and 6, Lk 11:42-46; Thursday (St. Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop and Martyr): Eph 1:1-10, Ps 98:1, 2-3ab, 3cd-4, 5-6, Lk 11:47-54; Friday (St. Luke, evangelist): 2 Tm 4:10-17b, Ps 145:10-11, 12-13, 17-18, Lk 10:1-9; Saturday (Sts. John de Brébeuf and Isaac Jogues, Priests, and Companions, Martyrs): Eph 1:15-23, Ps 8:23ab, 4-5, 6-7, Lk 12:8-12
Pope Francis
Pope: ‘Never dialogue with the devil’
Christians must acknowledge the reality of the devil acting around them and remain steadfast in resisting his temptations, Pope Francis said.
hermitage of La Verna, nestled in the Tuscan Apennine Mountains, for a time of prayer and reflection.
Franciscan Brother Thomas of Celano, who was commissioned by Pope Gregory IX to write about St. Francis’ life in 1229, recounted how he received the stigmata.
According to Brother Thomas, St. Francis was praying when he saw in a vision “a man like a seraph having six wings, standing over him with hands outstretched and feet joined together, fixed to a cross.”
After seeing the vision and trying to understand its meaning, “marks of nails began to appear in his hands and feet.”
Furthermore, “certain small pieces of flesh were seen like the ends of nails bent and driven back” and “his right side, as it had been pierced by a lance, was overlaid with a scar, and often shed forth blood, so that his tunic and drawers were many times sprinkled with the sacred blood.”
St. Francis went to great lengths to conceal the stigmata, Brother Tommaso
OCT. 20-26
Sunday (Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time): Is 53:10-11, Ps 33:4-5, 18-19, 20, 22, Heb 4:14-16, Mk 10:35-45 or 10:42-45; Monday: Eph 2:1-10, Ps 100:1b-2, 3, 4ab, 4c-5, Lk 12:13-21; Tuesday: Eph 2:12-22, Ps 85:9ab10, 11-12, 13-14, Lk 12:35-38; Wednesday: Eph 3:2-12, Is 12:2-3, 4bcd, 5-6, Lk 12:39-48; Thursday: Eph 3:14-21, Ps 33:1-2, 4-5, 11-12, 18-19, Lk 12:49-53; Friday: Eph 4:1-6, Ps 24:12, 3-4ab, 5-6, Lk 12:54-59; Saturday: Eph 4:7-16, Ps 122:1-2, 3-4ab, 4cd-5, Lk 13:1-9
“Never dialogue with the devil,” the pope told visitors at his general audience Sept. 25. “When he comes with temptation – ‘this would be nice, that would be nice’ – stop yourself. Lift your heart to the Lord, pray to Our Lady and send him away.”
After canceling his scheduled appointments Sept. 23 due to what the Vatican described as a “mild flu-like condition,” Pope Francis held his general audience outdoors as planned. He rode through St. Peter’s Square in the popemobile to greet the faithful and shook hands with bishops and others after his speech.
Reflecting on the Gospel reading from St. Matthew in which Jesus is led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit to be tempted by the devil, Pope Francis noted that modern technology, in addition to its positive elements, provides “countless means to give an opportunity to the devil” to enter people’s lives, “and many fall in the trap.”
“Think of online pornography, behind which there is a flourishing market: This is a very widespread phenomenon which Christians should beware of and strongly reject,” he said. “Any cell phone has access to this brutality, to this language of the devil – online pornography.”
The pope said contemporary society is “witnessing a strange phenomenon regarding the devil,” since “at a cultural level, it is held that he simply does not exist.”
Rather than be understood as a real agent of diabolic activity, the devil today is often viewed as a “metaphor” and enters people’s lives through “superstition.” Yet “the strongest proof of the existence of Satan is found not in sinners or the possessed, but in the saints,” he said. “It is in the lives of the saints that the devil is forced to come out into the open, to cast himself ‘against the light.’”
All the saints testify to some degree of their struggle with the devil, the pope said.
He encouraged Christians to look to Jesus’ example in resisting temptation by “striking with the word of God” and being firm in keeping their distance from the devil.
To approach the devil, to ask him “How are you?” is foolish, the pope said; “it ruins you.”
“With the devil one does not dialogue; one sends him away, (keeps him at a) distance,” he said.
CREDO, SEE PAGE 14
ST. FRANCIS, SEE PAGE 14
“Saint Francis embracing Christ on the Cross,” by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (circa 1668-1669), on display at the Museum of Fine Arts in Seville, Spain.
Our diocese
For the latest news 24/7: catholicnewsherald.com
In Brief
Diocese names new editor of Catholic News Herald
CHARLOTTE – Veteran journalist Trish Stukbauer will join the Catholic News Herald as editor beginning Oct. 1, bringing a passion for the faith and effective outreach through news and storytelling.
Stukbauer has three decades of experience in writing, editing and marketing for newspapers, magazines, corporate communications and public relations clients, as well as Catholic and Episcopal organizations and fundraising firms. She is an author and editor who has guided the publication of two poetry compilations in addition to marketing local and national authors. Most recently, she has managed her own marketing firm, serving corporate and nonprofit clients.
As Catholic News Herald editor, Stukbauer will oversee production of the award-winning newspaper with a print circulation of 60,000, as well as its growing website and social media channels in English and Spanish. In June, the Catholic News Herald was named the best diocesan newspaper in the country among non-weeklies.
Stukbauer’s affinity for religious communications began with a college internship at The Pittsburgh Catholic, the diocesan newspaper, where her first article centered on Rachel’s Vineyard, an organization that focuses on post-abortion healing. One of her most gratifying moments was receiving a letter from Vatican Assessor Monsignor Roberto Campisi noting that Pope Francis had read an article she’d written for the Catholic 365 publishing platform.
The Pittsburgh native has called Charlotte home since 1992, with a brief stint in Nashville. She has a 17-year-old son and a 92-year-young father. They attend both St. Therese Church in Mooresville and St. Mark Church in Huntersville.
— Catholic News Herald
Enrollment soars at Belmont Abbey College; national rankings announced
BELMONT — Enrollment this fall at Belmont Abbey College hit a near record, college leaders recently announced.
When classes began Aug. 19, the private, liberal arts college welcomed a total enrollment of 1,687 students – the fourth highest total enrollment in the college’s 148-year history and a 2% increase over last year.
The figure includes traditional undergraduates, as well as online, dual-enrolled, non-degree seeking and graduate students. In particular, the growing popularity of online degrees coupled with three new in-demand majors – computer science, cybersecurity and digital marketing – drove up online student enrollment 25% over last year, the college reported.
“We are thrilled to welcome this highly engaged incoming class, with their unique talents, skills and abilities that will enrich the
Relief flows in
Helene aid: Parishes, schools respond with supply drives; Catholic Charities donations near $500K
CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD STAFF catholicnews@rcdoc.org
CHARLOTTE — Late Friday night, as the first photos and cries for help emerged after Tropical Storm Helene ripped through the North Carolina mountains, Father John Putnam texted his staff at St. Mark Church:
“There’s a great need for supplies for diapers, canned goods and water in the mountains. We have folks that can deliver on Sunday. Can we get a blast out?”
By dawn Saturday, parishioners and neighbors who had seen the social media blast began dropping off supplies at the Huntersville Church. By afternoon, St. Mark had delivered its first truckload to the Statesville airport for transport to remote mountain regions. Remaining supplies went into a truck for church volunteers to drive 150 miles to Waynesville, home of St. John the Evangelist Parish, where friends and family live.
In Concord, Dan Ward was on his way into Mass on Sunday morning when he fully
understood how devastating Helene had been. As the properties and risk manager for the Diocese of Charlotte, Ward had the principal of Immaculata School on the phone describing the scene around her after record rainfall in Hendersonville.
“There is damage everywhere. Trees are down. Houses and roads are washed away. There is no power – and no water,” Principal Margaret Beale told him.
“It wasn’t just what she said – it was how she said it,” Ward recalls.
He skipped Mass and called his bosses. Over the next few hours, Beale’s hint of desperation and the trickle of news from the mountains – of people being swept down rivers, of homes washing away, of trees trapping people in neighborhoods with no way in or out – unleashed what would become an unprecedented outpouring of support from across the diocese “to get people what they need – now.”
That’s how Monsignor Patrick Winslow,
Special collection set for this weekend to assist storm victims
CHARLOTTE — Parishioners across the Diocese of Charlotte are invited to participate in a special second collection to benefit victims of Tropical Storm Helene, which has devastated communities in several states including western North Carolina. The collection will be taken up at Masses the weekend of Oct. 5-6. All funds raised will go toward helping both the local parishes hit hardest by the storm and Catholic Charities’ efforts to help individuals and families in these communities. Your financial support will provide life-giving essentials like clean water, food, diapers, baby formula and more. Your support will also help with long-term recovery efforts as individuals and families work to rebuild their lives.
To donate, place your contributions in the specified collection at your parish, making checks payable to your parish and marked “Helene Relief Effort.”
GABRIEL SWINNEY | CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD
Residents unload supplies from a truck dispatched Tuesday by the Diocese of Charlotte to Swannanoa, one of the worst affected communities after Tropical Storm Helene hit western North Carolina.
Stukbauer
RELIEF
the diocese’s vicar general and chancellor, described what he and Bishop Michael Martin wanted to see in response to the storm. From the diocese’s central administration. From priests and parishioners. From Catholic Charities, and schools and ministries. Everybody who could help, should help.
“For those of you who are suffering so much from this natural disaster, especially those who have lost loved ones, please know you are not alone! Motivated by the image of Christ Crucified, we stand with you, we love you, and we are lifting you up in constant prayer,” Bishop Martin wrote Wednesday in an email to the faithful. “The good people of our diocese are also pitching in to get you the help you need, now and over the long haul.”
In a similar message to priests, he noted their pastoral mission in addition to supply drives and fundraising: “It is at times such as these that we are called as shepherds to lead our communities. We may not be able to provide for every need presented to us in this moment, but we can accompany – walk with all those who are struggling…While water and power may now be scarce, God’s love and our ability to make that love real are in abundance.”
SUPPORT NOW AND LATER
Helene crashed ashore in Florida Sept. 27 as a Category 4 Hurricane, churning through six states and killing more than 180 people, according to media reports as of Wednesday – including 96 in North Carolina – as it became a Tropical Storm, making it one of the deadliest storms in the U.S.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper called it “one of the worst storms in modern history for parts of North Carolina.”
More than half of the Diocese of Charlotte’s 46 counties have been declared federal disaster areas, territory that includes 44 of the diocese’s 92 churches. While church buildings sustained only minor damage, the people and communities they serve are devastated. So, on a dime, the diocese and its Catholic Charities agency have transformed many of its churches and schools into relief centers – either collecting supplies for dispatch to western North Carolina or, in ravaged areas, serving as distribution points for weary residents, who are hungry and thirsty and cut off from the outside world.
“The best cell phone signal anywhere is right here on the property of St. Margaret Mary – but that’s how God works,” said Claudia Graham, the church’s assistant who is leading relief efforts as the parish awaits the appointment of a new pastor.
Never mind that the beautiful old oak tree out front had fallen onto the roof of the 88-year-old church and remained there. Graham opened the church anyway and, thanks to an Oct. 1 delivery from the diocese, she was able to hand out supplies the next day – giving away food and water and diapers and baby formula to the people of Swannanoa, one of the communities hardest hit by the storm.
Swannanoa is the distribution point for one of three supply routes the diocese and Catholic Charities established right away. Waynesville is another receiving station – where supplies are divided between St. John the Evangelist Church and a 1950s diner called Jukebox Junction. In Hendersonville, Immaculata School was the first supply site to open, on Sunday, just hours after principal Beale made that fateful call.
those in need. His church overlooks the Frog Level business district of Waynesville, which during the storm stood under six feet of muddy water.
As of Wednesday, 14 truckloads of supplies had been delivered to the diocese’s drop locations, including two filled by parishioners of St. Matthew and two by parishioners of St. Gabriel. Another nine trailer, truck, van and carloads went to Waynesville from St. Mark and Charlotte’s St. Thomas Aquinas, and St. Mark sent two loads to airlift operations. All three of the diocese’s high schools got into the act, enlisting families and serving as supply drop sites.
Catholic Charities launched an online donation site that as of Wednesday had raised over $447,000 from more than 1,900 donors across 47 states.
“While we’ll be there handing out water and providing food…our real impact is on the longer-term restoration of lives,” said Dr. Gerry Carter, executive director and CEO of Catholic Charities. “It’s important to remember that when you’ve lost everything, it can frequently take months, if not years, to be restored. In addition to immediate financial assistance and the distribution of food, diapers and other essentials, we’ll also be there offering case management services to help rebuild and restore lives.”
In Swannanoa, Graham was rebuilding lives hour by hour, juggling tasks she’d
never imagined. She provided food and comfort to a woman who had been plucked from raging floodwaters a few days earlier. She coordinated dispatch for a crew of parishioners with chainsaws to cut away fallen trees that trapped people in their homes. She also managed to get a visiting priest approved to respond to requests she was receiving for an anointing of the sick.
“There are helicopters flying low, seeking people who are homebound and hopefully we won’t have too many that are trapped inside,” she said. “We’re doing everything we can. I’m even letting people use our dumpster at the church. It’s filling up and it’s not totally bear-proof, but I am hoping the trash service will start again soon.”
SACRAMENTS AND SATELLITES
The drive from Charlotte to Waynesville, which normally takes about three hours, took five for relief teams to reach St. John and Jukebox Junction in the initial days.
The diner, owned by St. John the Evangelist parishioner Mike Graham, lost power but managed to cook up – then gave away – all of its food. It has remained open as a drop zone for supplies from the diocese and others. A steady flow of people living in surrounding Canton, Cruso and Waynesville came around for supplies –greeted by parishioners from St. John and others who are helping with distribution.
Father Paul McNulty, the Waynesville church’s pastor, has spent his days checking on parishioners and other community members, ferrying supplies, and bringing prayers and sacraments to
Among parishioners helping out are Father Aaron Huber’s parents, who live in Cruso, and on Sunday climbed to the top of Cold Mountain to secure cell service to call their son, who is based at St. Mark and serves as chaplain of Christ the King High School in Huntersville.
“It was a huge relief to hear from them,” Huber said, “and they told me how hard they’d been hit in that area – so St. Mark made those communities their mission to serve.”
On Wednesday, Catholic faithful left Wilmington at 4 a.m. for Waynesville, where 12 hours later they had established Starlink satellite service at St. John the Evangelist, bringing internet service to people desperate to reach out to loved ones for the first time in a week.
In Asheville, determined also to serve people’s spiritual needs, St. Eugene Church kept Masses going immediately after the storm, even without power. Just two couples made it on Saturday evening, a Mass lit by candlelight and the waning sun. The group prayed for those affected by the disaster, and family and friends who were ill. Mike and Eileen Crowe attended: “It was a nice little oasis to take your mind off things…, Mike Crowe said, “very intimate.”
A LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS
On Wednesday, the diocese’s relief efforts intensified in Asheville. That Monday, Mike Miller, the former principal of Asheville Catholic School, had reported that conditions remained dire across the city. Basic necessities remained in short supply.
“Water is the biggest problem right now,” Miller said. “Unless someone has a well that wasn’t over-washed with flood waters, people don’t have clean water or water service. If anyone is donating, water is crucial.”
Across the diocese, parishes were jumping in to assist.
In Concord, St. James the Greater Parish organized a supply drive through the Concord airport as part of Operation
PROVIDED AND BY GABRIEL SWINNEY | CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD (Pictured clockwise from top) Parishioners at St. Mark Church bring supplies of diapers, nonperishable goods and water to the Statesville airport to be flown in to devastated areas, including Waynesville and Hendersonville. Immaculata School has been serving as a distribution point for residents in Hendersonville. St. Margaret Mary Church has also been serving as a distribution point in Swannanoa, despite a large oak tree that fell on the roof during the storm (below). St. Mark donations arrive to Waynesville on Sunday.
Bishop Michael T. Martin
Synod: A chance to let the Holy Spirit lead
EDITOR’S NOTE: Bishop Michael Martin shares an important message below about the Church’s worldwide effort to hear from all of its members, formally called the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops. The multi-year effort that began in 2021, “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, and Mission,” calls on the Church across the world to prayerfully listen to the Holy Spirit and to one another to help guide its mission of proclaiming the Gospel of salvation to all people in the third millennium.
My sisters and brothers,
On October 2, 2024, the Second Session of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops began in Rome. On that occasion, bishops from around the world and dozens of religious and lay men and women gathered to reflect on the fruits of the synodal journey that began in 2021 on the theme “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, and Mission.” It is a crucial moment for the life of the Church, and I want to encourage each one of you to accompany the work of the Synod participants with your minds, hearts and prayers.
Thinking about this meeting in Rome allows me to reflect on our diocese’s participation in the synod process. More than 7,000 people participated in the synodal conversations that happened in the spring of 2022 to respond to Pope Francis’ invitation to all local churches to contribute to the Synod. Furthermore, diocesan offices and ministries, representatives of the presbyterate, parish catechetical leaders, and members of parish pastoral councils gathered earlier this year to reflect on the document published by the synod assembly that gathered in Rome last October. The fruits of all these moments of conversation and reflection were transmitted to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and used to compile a series of national documents.
Most importantly, though, participating in the Synod has given us an occasion to look at the joys, challenges, and hopes that mark the life of our diocese. I have learned so much from studying the fruits of all the synodal conversations and have kept the needs they identified in mind in these first few months of my episcopal ministry. Please know that I am incredibly grateful to all the people who took part in the Synod in our diocese and all those who made it possible. In particular, I want to express my special gratitude to Bishop Peter Jugis. His support in making such a robust participation in the Synod possible has left me with an amazing gift. Your participation in the Synod has allowed me to gain a clear sense of the needs of our diocese. The hopes you expressed are in my heart and mind, and I pray for the grace to be a shepherd who leads his flock by walking with and listening to you. In coming months, I will have a chance to reflect more on the themes that emerged in the synodal conversations as I visit you across the diocese. Furthermore, I intend to discern ways to take concrete steps (some already begun) to implement the
suggestions emerging from the Synod at the diocesan and global levels. Finally, I also look forward to following the work of the upcoming synod assembly in Rome and studying the document it will publish and any document that Pope Francis might promulgate in its aftermath.
I realize that for many of you the notion of synodality may sound unfamiliar and abstract. I also know that some look with suspicion and worry at the Synod and are concerned that it may somehow lead the Church astray. To the latter, I want to say: be not afraid! Do not listen to the false prophets of doom who constantly criticize and sow seeds of doubt regarding some things that Pope Francis says and does. The Holy Father has often clarified that the Synod’s goal is not to change what the Church teaches but to discern how the Church may embody it more effectively in today’s age. That is his job! From the beginning of his pontificate, Pope Francis has told us that his main desire is to allow everyone to experience the joy and fullness that the encounter with Christ makes possible. He does not want a Church that changes its teachings but a Church that becomes filled with missionary disciples that may bring the Good News of the Gospel to everyone. The Synod is a time in which the whole Church comes together to look at the current circumstances and discern how the Holy Spirit is calling us to be credible witnesses of the Risen Lord. If the Synod suggests paths of conversion and reform, it will be to let us enter into the truth of the Gospel more fully and not to stray from it or water it down. Moreover, synodality helps us to realize the difference between being a believer and being a disciple. Jesus calls us all to be the latter and synodality helps us to realize that this cannot be done in the silo of “my spiritual journey.” Rather, discipleship is a communal act and requires first the willingness to hear the call and listen to those with whom we have been called. As the Peace Prayer of St. Francis reminds us so powerfully, it is better to understand than to be understood – that is the heart of this process which Pope Francis is championing.
Synodality is a novel word that describes and suggests ways to embody something
‘The Holy Father has often clarified that the Synod’s goal is not to change what the Church teaches but to discern how the Church may embody it more effectively in today’s age.’
that is at the heart of the Christian faith, namely, the notion of communion. Shortly before His Passion, Jesus prayed that His followers might be “one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me” (John 17:21). He also insisted that the greatest commandment is to “love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:26). For these reasons, the apostle John writes that “this is the message you have heard from the beginning: we should love one another” (1 John 4:11). Love – communion with God and with one another – is the center of the Christian life: “beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love” (1 John 4:7). In fact, the Catechism teaches us that the Eucharist, the source and summit of the Christian life, is the sign and cause of the communion in the divine life and the unity of the People of God that allow the Church to exist (cf. CCC, no. 1325). Synodality is a way to live out concretely the communion with God and one another that we are called to.
In particular, synodality helps us to live ecclesial communion in two ways. First, it encourages us to live the Church’s daily life in ways that emphasize walking together, supporting each other, and learning from one another. Synodality spurs us to let our lives be inspired by the story of the disciples on the road to Emmaus. The Lord made Himself present to them by walking with them, opening the Word, and breaking the Bread. Thus, we should live our lives in the Church in the same way. Second, synodality suggests a way of making and taking decisions in the Church that involves reciprocal listening, dialogue and discernment inspired by the descriptions of the first Christian community in the Acts of the Apostles. Synodality is based upon the conviction that all the baptized are called to participate fully in the life and mission of the Church. Thus, synodality is a way to organize the lives of our communities so that each person may contribute to
them according to her responsibility, charism and skills. In this context, those who exercise authority are asked to do so in relational and collaborative ways to recognize and lift up the particular gifts the Lord has given to the faithful for the sake of the whole Church.
Let me clarify that, as Pope Francis and the Synod have explained, synodality is not an end in itself. It is a style and a method that allows the Church to announce the Gospel to contemporary men and women. Synodality exists for the sake of mission so that all the baptized may become “joyful messengers of challenging proposals, guardians of the goodness and beauty which shine forth in a life of fidelity to the Gospel” (Evangelii Gaudium, no. 168). Jesus has not made us part of the Church to be in church. Instead, we are gathered by the Lord, shaped by His Word, and nourished by His Eucharistic Body to go and announce the Gospel to all nations and bring His love to all people, especially the poor and the marginalized. Believer or Disciple – which will you be?
It is my heartfelt desire that we all respond with generosity and enthusiasm to Pope Francis’ invitation to renew our personal encounter with Christ, let Him heal us from our wounds and sins, and follow His commandment to put out into the deep to shine His light in our world. I am excited to listen to where the Holy Spirit will lead us all as a universal Church as well as the Diocese of Charlotte. May Mary, Mother of the Church, give us the ability to follow her example, her “Yes,” and to listen to her words: “do whatever He tells you!”
Peace,
Most Reverend Michael T. Martin, OFM Conv. Bishop of Charlotte
Obispo Michael T. Martin
Sinodo: Una oportunidad para dejar que el Espíritu Santo guíe
NOTA DEL EDITOR: El obispo Michael Martin comparte un mensaje importante a continuación sobre el esfuerzo mundial de la Iglesia por escuchar a todos sus miembros, formalmente llamado la XVI Asamblea General Ordinaria del Sínodo de Obispos. Este esfuerzo de varios años, que comenzó en 2021, titulado “Por una Iglesia Sinodal: Comunión, Participación y Misión”, invita a la Iglesia en todo el mundo a escuchar en oración al Espíritu Santo y a unos a otros para ayudar a guiar su misión de proclamar el Evangelio de la salvación a todas las personas en el tercer milenio.
Mis hermanas y hermanos, El 2 de octubre de 2024 comenzó en Roma la Segunda Sesión de la XVI Asamblea General Ordinaria del Sínodo de los Obispos. En esta ocasión, obispos de todo el mundo y decenas de religiosos y laicos se reunieron para reflexionar sobre los frutos del camino sinodal iniciado en el 2021 con el tema «Por una Iglesia Sinodal: Comunión, Participación y Misión». Es un momento crucial para la vida de la Iglesia y quiero animar a cada uno de ustedes a acompañar con la mente, el corazón y la oración el trabajo de los participantes del Sínodo. Pensar en la reunión en Roma me permite reflexionar sobre la participación de nuestra diócesis en el proceso sinodal. Más de 7000 personas participaron en las conversaciones sinodales que tuvieron lugar en la primavera del 2022 para responder a la invitación del Papa Francisco a todas las Iglesias locales a contribuir al Sínodo. Además, las oficinas y ministerios diocesanos, los representantes del presbiterio, los líderes catequéticos parroquiales y los miembros de los consejos pastorales parroquiales se reunieron a principios de año para reflexionar sobre el documento publicado por la asamblea sinodal de Roma en octubre. Los frutos de todos estos momentos de conversación y reflexión se transmitieron en la Conferencia Católica de Obispos en USA y se utilizaron para recopilar una serie de documentos nacionales. Pero lo más importante es que participar en el Sínodo nos ha dado la oportunidad de observar las alegrías, los desafíos y las esperanzas que marcan la vida de nuestra diócesis. He aprendido mucho estudiando los frutos de todas las conversaciones sinodales y he tenido presentes las necesidades que identificaron en estos primeros meses de mi ministerio episcopal. Quiero que sepan que estoy increíblemente agradecido con todas las personas que participaron en el Sínodo en nuestra diócesis y con todos los que lo hicieron posible. En particular, quiero expresar mi especial gratitud al Obispo Peter Jugis; su apoyo para hacer posible una participación tan sólida en el Sínodo me ha dejado un regalo increíble. La participación de ustedes en el Sínodo me ha permitido tener una idea clara de las necesidades de nuestra diócesis. Las esperanzas que expresaron están en mi corazón y en mi mente, y rezo por la gracia de ser un pastor que guía a su rebaño caminando con él y escuchándolo. En los próximos meses, tendré la oportunidad de reflexionar más sobre los temas que surgieron en las conversaciones sinodales cuando los visite en toda la diócesis. Además, tengo la intención
de discernir formas de tomar medidas concretas (algunas ya iniciadas) para implementar las sugerencias que surjan del Sínodo a nivel diocesano y global. Finalmente, también espero seguir el trabajo de la próxima asamblea sinodal en Roma y estudiar el documento que publicará y cualquier documento que el Papa Francisco pueda promulgar después. Me doy cuenta de que para muchos de ustedes la noción de sinodalidad puede sonar desconocida y abstracta. También sé que algunos miran el Sínodo con sospecha e inquietud y les preocupa que de alguna manera pueda llevar a la Iglesia por un camino errado. A estos últimos, quiero decirles: ¡no tengan miedo! No escuchen a los falsos profetas del desastre que critican constantemente y siembran semillas de duda sobre algunas cosas que dice y hace el Papa Francisco. El Santo Padre ha aclarado en muchas ocasiones que el objetivo del Sínodo no es cambiar lo que enseña la Iglesia, sino discernir cómo la Iglesia puede encarnarlo de manera más eficaz en la época actual. ¡Ése es su trabajo! Desde el inicio de su pontificado, el Papa Francisco nos ha dicho que su principal deseo es permitir a todos experimentar la alegría y la plenitud que hace posible el encuentro con Cristo. No quiere una Iglesia que cambie sus enseñanzas, sino una Iglesia que se llene de discípulos misioneros que puedan llevar la buena noticia del Evangelio a todos. El Sínodo es un momento en el que toda la Iglesia se reúne para mirar las circunstancias actuales y discernir cómo el Espíritu Santo nos está llamando a ser testigos creíbles del Señor Resucitado. Si el Sínodo sugiere caminos de conversión y reforma, será para permitirnos entrar más plenamente en la verdad del Evangelio y no para alejarnos de ella o diluirla. Además, la sinodalidad nos ayuda a darnos cuenta de la diferencia entre ser creyente y ser discípulo. Jesús nos llama a todos a ser esto último y la sinodalidad nos ayuda a darnos cuenta de que esto no se puede hacer en el silo de «mi camino espiritual». Más bien, el discipulado es un acto comunitario y requiere primero la voluntad de escuchar el llamado y escuchar a aquellos con quienes hemos sido llamados. Como nos recuerda tan poderosamente la Oración por la Paz de
“El Santo Padre ha aclarado en muchas ocasiones que el objetivo del Sínodo no es cambiar lo que enseña la Iglesia, sino discernir cómo la Iglesia puede encarnarlo de manera más eficaz en la época actual.”
San Francisco, es mejor comprender que ser comprendido: ese es el corazón de este proceso que el Papa Francisco está defendiendo. La sinodalidad es una palabra novedosa que describe y sugiere maneras de encarnar algo que está en el corazón de la fe cristiana, es decir, la noción de comunión. Poco antes de su Pasión, Jesús oró para que sus seguidores fueran «uno, como tú, Padre, en mí y yo en ti, que ellos también sean uno en nosotros, para que el mundo crea que tú me has enviado» (Juan 17,21). También insistió en que el mandamiento más grande es «amar al Señor, tu Dios, con todo tu corazón, con todo tu ser, con todas tus fuerzas y con toda tu mente; y a tu prójimo como a ti mismo» (Lucas 10,26). Por estas razones, el apóstol Juan escribe que «este es el mensaje que han escuchado desde el principio: que nos amemos unos a otros» (1 Juan 4,11).
El amor – la comunión con Dios y con los demás – es el centro de la vida cristiana: «Queridos, amémonos unos a otros, porque el amor es de Dios; todo el que ama ha nacido de Dios y conoce a Dios. Quien no ama no conoce a Dios, porque Dios es amor» (1 Juan 4,7). De hecho, el Catecismo nos enseña que la Eucaristía, fuente y culmen de la vida cristiana, es signo y causa de la comunión en la vida divina y de la unidad del Pueblo de Dios que permiten que la Iglesia exista (cf. CIC, n. 1325).
La sinodalidad es una manera de vivir concretamente la comunión con Dios y con los demás a la que estamos llamados.
En particular, la sinodalidad nos ayuda a vivir la comunión eclesial de dos maneras.
En primer lugar, nos anima a vivir la vida diaria de la Iglesia de maneras que enfaticen el caminar juntos, el apoyarnos unos a otros y el aprender unos de otros.
La sinodalidad nos impulsa a dejar que nuestra vida se inspire en la historia de los discípulos en el camino de Emaús. El Señor se hizo presente caminando con ellos, abriendo la Palabra y partiendo el Pan. Así, nosotros debemos vivir nuestra vida en la Iglesia de la misma manera.
En segundo lugar, la sinodalidad sugiere una manera de tomar decisiones en la Iglesia que implica un escuchar recíproco, diálogo y discernimiento inspirados en las descripciones de la primera comunidad cristiana en los Hechos de los Apóstoles.
La sinodalidad se basa en la convicción de que todos los bautizados están llamados a participar plenamente en la vida y misión de la Iglesia. Así, la sinodalidad es una manera de organizar la vida de nuestras comunidades para que cada persona pueda contribuir a ellas según su responsabilidad, carisma y habilidades. En este contexto, a quienes ejercen la autoridad se les pide que lo hagan de manera relacional y colaborativa para reconocer y resaltar los dones particulares que el Señor ha dado a los fieles por el bien de toda la Iglesia. Permítanme aclarar que, como lo han explicado el Papa Francisco y el Sínodo, la sinodalidad no es un fin en sí mismo. Es un estilo y un método que permite a la Iglesia anunciar el Evangelio a los hombres y mujeres contemporáneos. La sinodalidad existe por el bien de la misión, para que todos los bautizados puedan convertirse en «alegres mensajeros de propuestas superadoras, custodios del bien y la belleza que resplandecen en una vida fiel al Evangelio» (Evangelii Gaudium, n. 168). Jesús no nos ha hecho parte de la Iglesia para solo estar en la Iglesia. En cambio, estamos reunidos por el Señor, moldeados por su Palabra y alimentados por su Cuerpo Eucarístico para ir y anunciar el Evangelio a todas las naciones y llevar su amor a todas las personas, especialmente a los pobres y marginados. Creyente o Discípulo, ¿cuál serás tú?
Es mi más sincero deseo que todos respondamos con generosidad y entusiasmo a la invitación del Papa Francisco a renovar nuestro encuentro personal con Cristo, dejar que Él nos sane de nuestras heridas y pecados, y seguir su mandamiento de remar mar adentro para hacer brillar su luz en nuestro mundo. Estoy entusiasmado por escuchar a dónde nos llevará el Espíritu Santo a todos como Iglesia universal, así como a la Diócesis de Charlotte. Que María, Madre de la Iglesia, nos dé la capacidad de seguir su ejemplo, su «Sí», y escuchar sus palabras: «¡Hagan lo que Él les diga!». Paz,
Reverendísimo Michael T. Martin, OFM Conv. Obispo de Charlotte
St. Mark responds to growth by launching new capital campaign
CHRISTINA LEE KNAUSS clknauss@rcdoc.org
HUNTERSVILLE — St. Mark Parish in Huntersville got its start in 1997 with 250 families who initially met for Mass at a local bowling alley.
Fast forward to 2024, and the Huntersville parish is the spiritual home for 5,133 families and counting, with growth likely to continue as more Catholics move to the area north of Charlotte.
To meet the diverse needs of its current and future parishioners, St. Mark Parish has launched a $9.7 million capital campaign, “Growing Home,” to fund additions to the Huntersville campus.
“Response to the campaign has been very positive,” said Father John Putnam, pastor. “Folks have recognized we have needed this for a long time. These are plans we’ve been working on before the COVID-19 pandemic because we realized we needed more space.”
The campaign encompasses three building projects:
n A second parish hall named for Monsignor Richard Bellow, the parish’s founding pastor who died in 2023
n A larger Perpetual Adoration chapel
n A new rectory on Ranson Road for the parish’s four priests, plus additional visiting priests and seminarians
The total cost of the project is projected to be $13.7 million. The parish must raise 70% of that amount – $9.7 million – and then can finance the remaining 30%, Father Putnam said.
The parish’s goal is to focus on meeting its fundraising goal in 2024, then break ground in 2025.
Plans for the Monsignor Bellow Family Center include 11,000 square feet of meeting space that could be divided into smaller spaces for meetings, ministry gatherings and other parish activities.
A new 2,601-square-foot Perpetual Adoration chapel would be attached to the Monsignor Bellow Center, replacing the current smaller chapel inside the Monsignor Kerin Center. It would seat 75 people, up from the current chapel’s 20-seat capacity, to accommodate the devotion’s growing popularity.
Plans for a new rectory on the church campus would allow Father Putnam and the three other priests who serve the parish to “return home” to be close to the spiritual and pastoral needs of parishioners. Besides housing for the parish’s four priests, the building would have seven suites to accommodate visiting priests and seminarians.
“We will finally be able to build a house back on campus for the priests,” Father Putnam said. “We moved off site a couple years ago, and while it’s been nice, it’s difficult because the rectory is 15 minutes away. Folks want the priests to be on site.”
Continued growth at St. Mark Parish is the result of a number of factors driving growth in the Charlotte area as a whole, including an increasing number of people moving from the Northeast and from some western states because of jobs, good weather, nice neighborhoods conducive to raising families and a favorable tax system compared to other states, Father Putnam said.
“A lot of people are discovering North Carolina is a good place to settle, and St. Mark is seeing the results,” he said.
Postcards from Rome
Editor’s note: Bishop Michael Martin spent a week in Rome for education and fellowship with 300 other newly ordained bishops from around the world. He kept the people back home in the Diocese of Charlotte inspired and entertained in a series of “Postcards from Rome” that chronicled his trip from Sept. 14 to Sept. 22. One highlight was meeting Pope Francis, who appointed him bishop this spring. Here’s his postcard from that moment:
Sept. 19, 2024
Dear Brothers and Sisters, It’s 6:30 a.m. and we’re in buses headed to St. Peter’s Basilica. Just walking in with a large group of bishops was surreal – imagining what it must have been like for the bishops at Vatican II. We celebrated Mass in the Immaculate Conception Chapel, directly behind the main altar and in front of that famous alabaster window of the Holy Spirit. At the end of Mass, we were led to the front of the main altar, underneath which the tomb of St. Peter rests. Each of us was permitted to go down the stairs and take a moment of personal prayer individually before the tomb. I prayed for the grace to be a good bishop for you, and entrusted the Diocese of Charlotte to the Lord’s care through the intercession of St. Peter. It was a holy moment. We then walked through the basilica to visit the papal apartments. After climbing an inordinate number of stairs (albeit in beautiful stairwells), we entered into the Clement VIII meeting hall to await the Holy Father. He arrived about 10:15 a.m. and was greeted by a standing ovation. He took his seat and simply said he had no prepared remarks and preferred a simple conversation “between brothers.” A number of bishops then went to the microphone to ask questions or offer thanks. Pope Francis’ responses were free and easy, having fun with some by
making jokes and offering his heart for others who clearly represented churches in places of warfare, famine and unrest. The intimacy of the gathering was a gift of the Holy Spirit, and hard to imagine in a hall that was more than 400 years old! Each of us bishops was then able to personally greet the Holy Father, and as my turn approached, I simply introduced myself, thanked him for all he does for the Church, and invited him to North Carolina! While he simply shook my hand and said ‘Thank you,’ I’m not sure I can take that as a “yes.” I blinked, and in an instant, the moment of a lifetime had taken place. There was more that took place throughout the rest of the day, as we returned for further meetings, but suffice it to say for this postcard that my heart is moved with the grace of the Holy Spirit at how God chooses us to be His instruments in the world. I just met a oneman band!
Peace, + Bishop Mike
VATICAN MEDIA
Bishop Michael Martin met Pope Francis while in Rome for new bishops’ training last week and invited him to North Carolina.
SKETCH PROVIDED
A new capital campaign at St. Mark Parish in Huntersville, “Growing Home,” seeks to raise funds for three building projects including a second parish hall, a larger Perpetual Adoration Chapel and a new rectory built on the parish campus.
Catholics urged to support outreach work of the Church
CHRISTINA LEE KNAUSS clknauss@rcdoc.org.
CHARLOTTE — Catholics in the Diocese of Charlotte are encouraged to support the Church’s outreach around the world on World Mission Sunday, observed this year on the weekend of Oct. 19-20.
This special second collection supports the Pontifical Mission Societies in mission efforts and evangelization around the world. Funds go toward medical care, food and education – especially in areas facing poverty and violence – and help build the Church in Asia, Africa, the Pacific Islands and parts of Latin America and Europe.
World Mission Sunday was started by Pope Pius XI in 1927 and always falls on the next to last Sunday of October.
This year’s theme, chosen by Pope Francis, is “Go And Invite Everyone to the Banquet,” centered around Christ’s parable (Mt. 22:9) in which guests refuse a king’s invitation to a wedding feast, so he tells servants to go to the roads and invite those they find to the banquet instead.
Pope Francis said in a message for World Mission Sunday that the parable tells the faithful to seek out those from all corners of the world to share the message of Christ’s love, even if it means going to places that are far flung and dangerous.
“I take this opportunity to thank all those missionaries who, in response to Christ’s call, have left everything behind to go far from their homeland and bring the Good
News to places where people have not yet received it,” he wrote. “We continue to pray, and we thank God for the new and numerous missionary vocations for the task of evangelization to the ends of the earth.”
Father Patrick Cahill has served as mission office director for the Diocese of Charlotte since 2014. He is also pastor of St. Eugene Parish in Asheville.
He said he thinks of the “hardships of the mission Church” with the aim of World Mission Sunday. “I reflect on the countless letters and requests that come to the Diocese of Charlotte, and I see the children and the nuns and the priests that are helped despite tragic, unjust and even horrific circumstances.”
Over the past year, Father Cahill visited Congo and El Salvador to see that funds sent from the diocese honor the intention of donors, and he said churches in these mission territories offer important lessons.
“After returning from the visits, I said to a friend that the people there cling to the Church and to their faith,” he said. “… Let us recognize the call Jesus gives us to remember the poor and those on the margins. We have so much to give and so much to receive by participating in this critical and essential work of the Church.”
More online
At www.onefamilyinmission.org : Learn more about the mission work of the Church worldwide and how your support impacts thousands of people
Supporter leaves $1.4M gift to Asheville Catholic School and Sheridan-Mangan Endowment
COURTNEY MCLAUGHLIN
Special to the Catholic News Herald
ASHEVILLE — During her life, local parishioner Catherine Horan was a staunch believer in the importance of Catholic education and backed that passion with financial support – not once but twice.
Horan first surprised Mike Miller, then principal of Asheville Catholic School, with a gift of more than $110,000 prior to her death. Those funds paid for a new playground at the school, located next to St. Eugene Church.
“I knew Ms. Horan as a devoted supporter of the school. She would often stop to see how things were going. It wasn’t uncommon for her to ask us if there was anything we needed,” recalls Miller.
Upon her death, Horan also bequeathed a $1.4 million gift to the Sheridan-Mangan Endowment, established by Father Edward Sheridan, a retired priest of the diocese and former Catholic schools leader. The endowment, named for Father Sheridan’s parents, started with $50,000 and prior to Horan’s contribution was valued at $169,000.
Father Sheridan came out of retirement for two years starting in 2009 to serve as pastor of St. Eugene Parish in Asheville and Asheville Catholic School.
Notes Father Sheridan, “It was great that she did this. She left a legacy for the endowment to continue. People have been very supportive, and hopefully it will continue to help a lot of people.”
The Sheridan-Mangan Endowment has benefited hundreds of students at Asheville
Catholic School by providing financial support, including tuition assistance.
Gina Rhodes, diocesan director of planned giving, said she knew Horan intended to leave a gift upon her death, because she wanted to make a lasting impact.
“Ms. Horan’s transformative gift will benefit Catholic students at Asheville Catholic School for generations to come,” Rhodes says. “More and more people across the diocese are remembering the Church in their estate plans – gifts from thousands to millions – and we are thankful for their generosity.”
Miller, who now serves as an assistant superintendent of schools for the Diocese of Charlotte, encourages anyone who would like to leave a bequest to support Catholic education to contact Rhodes.
“This is a wonderful way to leave a legacy that will have a positive impact,” he says. “Allow God to work through you to accomplish this important work.”
Fund an endowment
Interested in setting up – or adding to – an endowment to benefit your parish or Catholic school? You can establish an endowment in the Diocese of Charlotte Foundation by leaving a bequest in a will, a beneficiary designation from a retirement plan, a trust or annuity, or a gift of real estate, life insurance, cash or securities.
Donors who make a planned gift become members of the Catholic Heritage Society, which now has almost 1,750 members.
For details, contact Gina Rhodes at 704-3703364 or gmrhodes@rcdoc.org.
you thrive on the adventure of journalism?
The Diocese of Charlotte is looking for a passionate, curious and innovative journalist to capture the beauty, goodness and teachings of our Catholic faith. You’ll cover events and write news and feature stories for the award-winning Catholic News Herald and an array of digital platforms. You will also help develop visual content, including photos and videos.
The position promises room to grow with an experienced team at an exciting time in one of the nation’s fastest growing dioceses. At least 3 years of experience, plus a bachelor’s degree in journalism, marketing or related field is required. Bilingual English-Spanish skills are a plus.
Walking on holy ground
Diocese of Charlotte seminarians enjoy life among sites in Italy
CHRISTINA LEE KNAUSS clknauss@rcdoc.org
ROME— Pilgrimages, visits to historic Italian churches and a chance to shake hands with Pope Francis. Sounds like a Catholic vacation dream, doesn’t it?
This is the life three seminarians from the Diocese of Charlotte – John Harrison, Gabriel Lugo and Ronan Ostendorf – have been living since July as they began studies at the Pontifical North American College in Rome. It’s not really a vacation – their lives already center around studying Italian, prayer and preparation for classes to start on Oct. 1, but they are experiencing some things that will bring lasting memories and indelibly influence their faith and future lives in the priesthood.
They made a pilgrimage to the Holy House of Loreto, by tradition the house in which the Blessed Mother was visited by the Angel Gabriel. They viewed holy sites, churches and cathedrals in Assisi and Rome. And they hiked on Mount Subasio in
the Perugia province in central Italy. They also got the chance to enjoy pizza with Bishop Michael Martin in the colorful Trastevere district of Rome during his trip for new bishops’ training in September. They even snapped a photo together with their bishop, which he sent back in one of his “postcards from Rome.”
“It has been a wonderful experience so far and delightful to see the Catholicity of many places,” Lugo told the Catholic News Herald. “In Assisi, we were able to join in a procession for their patronal feast day, which ended with a public benediction of the city. How different from the U.S.! I’m looking forward to the additional graces that God has in store for us here.”
Meeting Pope Francis was one of the spiritual highlights of their time in the Holy City. They didn’t have much time together, mainly time for handshakes and a few words, but the moment had a definite impact on the men.
“I was in an awe-inspired daze to meet the vicar of Christ on Earth,” Ostendorf said. “He seemed quite concerned for our well-being. He told us to be joyful and have a sense of humor.”
PHOTOS PROVIDED
Three seminarians from the Diocese of Charlotte – John Harrison, Gabriel Lugo and Ronan Ostendorf – are in Italy to study at the Pontifical North American College in Rome. They arrived several weeks early and have been traveling, visiting holy sites and studying Italian.
The seminarians got a special chance to meet with Pope Francis, who offered them handshakes, prayers and some tips on how to live seminarian life to the fullest.
Pope Francis advised them to do three things in particular: “Pray, study and do sports,” Ostendorf said.
“Pope Francis was genuinely happy to see us, and he encouraged us in our preparation for the priesthood,” Harrison said.
Harrison also said he witnessed the pope’s love for Mary.
“When we met, he immediately noticed I was holding a rosary,” Harrison said. “He blessed the rosary and smiled at me, knowing full well that his future priests were under Our Lady’s mantle.”
Their travels and experiences also included a month of study of Italian in Assisi.
“Studying Italian has been very fun because I feel less like a tourist when I can begin to talk with random Italians I meet,” Harrison said.
He tried out his new language skills during a recent chance meeting with the aunt of Blessed Carlo Acutis while the men were in Assisi. Carlo Acutis was an Italian teenager with a deep devotion to the Blessed Mother and the Eucharist who died of leukemia at age 15 in 2006. His pathway to canonization was recently approved by Pope Francis.
“She told us a little about him, and because of our Italian studies we were able to speak with her, though I’m sure she was laughing under her breath at our Italian,” he said.
The three men visited a wide variety of holy sites and were struck both by their beauty and the sacred atmosphere.
Ostendorf said the Holy House of Loreto, a Marian shrine about 170 miles northeast of Rome, was especially moving.
“There is a spiritual gravity and luminescence to the place,” Ostendorf said. “It is difficult for me to communicate what it was like to be there. I could feel the
power and protection of Our Lady. It was almost like a portal to another world, and yet it was so familiar.”
He especially remembers the words written above the altar in the Holy House: “Hic Verbum Caro Factum Est,” which translate to “The Word was made flesh here.”
Ostendorf said the “deeply incarnational artifacts and places” the men visited have had a strong impact on his faith. He recalled seeing the site where St. Peter was martyred and then his grave in Rome, as well as the site where St. Agnes was executed. Other places also left a big impression.
“Being in places where you can say ‘St. Philip Neri used to preach by those stars. St. Francis used to sleep on this rock. St. Clare wore this hairshirt.’ There are so many wonderful and concrete things that point to the deep faith, heroic virtue and divine love of the saints,” he said. “It makes it easier to feel the weight of glory and aspire to it.”
It hasn’t been all study and travel. There has been down time to meet and hang out with other seminarians they will study with. All three men are musicians and have gotten together for impromptu jam sessions – Harrison on banjo, Ostendorf on mandolin and Lugo on the fiddle.
After they complete their Italian classes and orientation, the seminarians will begin theology studies. Their first year will include extensive study of Scripture as well as explorations in general theology, followed by studies in moral theology, divine life and Christian worship, Harrison said.
As they study, they’ll remain close to the center of the faith that led them to the seminary in the first place.
“The experience of the one, holy, Catholic and apostolic Church in Rome is a splendid thing – and a great blessing to witness,” Ostendorf said. “Spending time in St. Peter’s Square, one can easily meet Catholics from all over the globe. It truly is a universal Church.”
The three men have been visiting landmarks in Italy, including Mount Subasio, saw several holy sites including the Holy House of Loreto, and even had the chance to have dinner with Bishop Michael Martin in Rome.
St. Matthew bees honey abuzz over and
CHARLOTTE
— St. Matthew parishioners are buzzing about a huge colony of honeybees that recently caused a stir on the parish campus.
The bees were discovered in a massive
hive – 5 feet by 7 feet – inside a wall of the parish’s New Life Center, as workers were attempting to install a new roof. After a
few bee stings, they suspended work to make a plan to remove the hive.
Because honeybees are pollinators vital to the environment, parish leaders wanted to protect them. So they came up with a rescue plan that also would do good for the community.
The plan called for relocating the bees elsewhere on the church’s property and harvesting the honey for sale, with proceeds going to feed the hungry.
One of the roofers knew a local beekeeper. And soon Jesse Holland, owner
of Charlotte-based Bizzy Bee Honey, Hives and More, stepped in to rescue the estimated 100,000 bees in the colony.
A hive that size was not built in a day, Holland said.
“There had probably been bees in there for a decade or close to it,” Holland said.
“It’s likely the original colony died out and then others moved in. This usually happens in the spring when colonies are reproducing. They’ll go and find a space – usually a void in a tree. But if they find one like this that’s already got beeswax
in it, it’s like moving into a furnished apartment.”
Holland used smoke to calm – but not harm – the bees, and then a special “bee vacuum” to safely remove the bees. He prepared the hive for transport to a bee yard on his property, where the bees could adjust before he returned them to the church campus.
First, he had to extract the honeycomb of the hive and cut it into slabs, each of which were placed into frames and placed into separate hives. The bees, undisturbed
STORY | CHRISTINA LEE KNAUSS PHOTOS | TROY HULL AND ST. MATTHEW PARISH
PHOTOS PROVIDED AND BY TROY HULL | CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD
Charlotte beekeeper Jesse Holland removed a huge colony of honeybees from a wall in a building at St. Matthew Parish, then moved them into hives elsewhere on the parish campus.
by the change of quarters, went right back to their original work of turning pollen into honey.
Meanwhile, St. Matthew found a new home for the bee colony on undisturbed land along Elm Lane and erected a tall black metal fence to keep out predators. In early September, Holland moved the bees into 10 “apiaries” or bee boxes that hold multiple beehives.
The bees are free to come and go, and they’ll forage on flowering plants in
the area and produce wildflower honey. Holland will visit the hives every two to three weeks to make sure the bees are healthy and happy.
“We’re going to harvest the honey once a year, most likely in July, and it will be bottled and sold to go toward our hungerrelief ministry,” said Antoinette Usher, chief operating officer for St. Matthew. And to have a little fun, St. Matthew introduced a contest in which parishioners can submit suggested names for the parish’s soon-to-be signature
had the opportunity
learn about
and
production at a recent parish event. The parish hopes to bottle the honey next year and sell it to raise funds for ministries that feed the hungry.
brand of honey. Parishioners are buzzing with creativity and will vote on their favorite name later this year. One contender: “Glory Bee!”
More online
At www.stmatthewcatholic.org/honeybees
See more photos and videos of St. Matthew Church’s honeybees and their new home
St. Matthew parishioners
to
honeybees
honey
Honey from the bees at St. Matthew will be collected and sold in jars under a name still to be determined, with proceeds going to ministries that help hungry people.
CREDO
the Catholic Church.
I therefore found myself faced with a choice: become a Catholic or become an atheist. Protestantism was no longer a viable option for me as it lacked historical connection to Christ. Atheism offered me nothing, and seemed to require an even greater leap of faith to believe that the universe somehow brought itself into being out of nothingness, with no purpose. So I found myself, like Peter, looking at Jesus and saying, “Master, to whom shall we go?” (Jn 6:68). Or, as Evelyn Waugh succinctly put it, “What else is there?”
In response to Peter’s rhetorical question, Jesus reminds him, “Did I not choose you twelve?” (Jn 6:70). One of the identifying characteristics of the Church established by Christ is that it is built upon the foundation of the Apostles. Out of His many disciples, Jesus chose 12 as leaders of His Church (see Mt 10:1-4). He endowed them with certain authority, including the power to govern (Mt 16:19, 18:18), the power to teach in His name (Lk 10:16), and the power to forgive sins (Jn 20:23). While all the Apostles received this governing, teaching and sanctifying authority, Peter also had the special role of “strengthening the brethren” (Lk 22:32). He alone was given the keys of the kingdom, signifying his chiefly office in the Church (Mt 16:18).
Jesus promised to be with the Church for all time (Mt 28:20), and that the power of death would not overcome it (Mt 16:18). This means that the Church Jesus established must still be around today. So which Church do we find that continues to govern with authority, has taught consistently in Christ’s name for the past 2,000 years, and sanctifies the faithful through the sacraments, united around the successor of St. Peter? It can be none other than the “one, holy, catholic and apostolic church,” as the Creed states.
In Greek, the word for “church” is “ecclesia,” which means an assembly, or a calling out. This is the word used in the gospel when Jesus tells Peter, “Upon this rock I will build my Church” (Mt 16:18). We have been called out from the world as followers of Jesus Christ. We are no longer citizens of the world, but of the kingdom of God. The word “catholic” comes from the Greek “katholikos” which means “of the whole” or “universal.” It signifies that the
Church founded by Christ is not just for one people, tribe or nation, but for the whole world. This is why Christ commissioned the Church to “make disciples of all nations” (Mt 28:19) and to be His witnesses “to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). The earliest recorded use of the name “Catholic Church” is found in St. Ignatius of Antioch’s letter to the Smyrnians (c. 110 AD). St. Ignatius was a disciple of the Apostle John and the successor of Peter in Antioch. Interestingly, it was also in Antioch that the disciples were first called “Christians” (Acts 11:26).
There are two other names for the Catholic Church that speak to the Church’s identity and mission. The Church is called both the “Body of Christ” and the “Bride of Christ.” These names both speak to the same reality. The Church is Christ’s body precisely because she is His bride, and the “two have become one body” (see Gen 2:24). To be a member of the Body of Christ is to be a member of the same Body that suffered and died for the sake of the world. Therefore Christians are called to take up our cross daily and follow Christ (Lk 9:23). It is also the same Body that rose from the tomb and ascended into heaven. Therefore the sure hope of Christians is in the Resurrection. “If we have died with Him, we shall also live with Him; if we persevere we shall also reign with Him” (2 Tim 2:11b-12a).
We are wedded to Christ through our participation in the sacraments. We are incorporated into His Body in baptism, we receive His Spirit in confirmation, and we are nourished by His Body and Blood in the Eucharist. These sacred signs are the means given to us by Christ of being grafted onto Him, just as branches are grafted onto a vine and receive life from the vine. The life we receive from Christ is nothing other than the divine life of sanctifying grace.
Union with God is the essence of heaven, as we shall see as we approach the end of this series on the Creed. This is why the Church teaches that “outside the Church there is no salvation.” This does not mean one must be a registered member of a Roman Catholic parish to be saved. But it does mean that there is no salvation outside of God’s grace, and God’s grace comes to us, however it comes, only through Jesus Christ. Anyone who receives it therefore is a part of Christ and a member of His Body, the Church. Jesus tells us, “I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing” (Jn 15:5).
In other words: what else is there?
Please pray for the following priests who died during the month of October.
Rev. Alcuin Baudermann, OSB – 1975
Rev. Paschal Baumstein, OSB - 2007
Rev. Patrick J. Donahue, OSB – 1994
Rev. Joseph A. Elzi – 2019
Rev. Raymond B. Hourihan – 2016
Rev. John A. Oetgen, OSB – 2009
Rev. Msgr. William Wellein – 1997
Rev. Lawrence Willis, OSB - 2003
Sponsored by the Knights of Columbus www.kofcnc.org
DEACON MATTHEW NEWSOME is the Catholic campus minister at Western Carolina University and the author of “The Devout Life: A Modern Guide to Practical Holiness with St. Francis de Sales,” available from Sophia Institute
Caring for Charlotte Area Catholic Families in Their Hour of Need Since 1926 FUNERAL SERVICE, INC.
Charlotte 704-334-6421
Pineville 704-544-1412
Mint Hill 704-545-4864
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Airdrop. In Greensboro, St. Paul the Apostle and St. Pius X also coordinated and collected supplies.
And although classes have been canceled this week due to flooding damage, Hendersonville’s Immaculata School has remained a hub at ground zero.
Principal Beale wept when she learned the first supplies would reach her on Sunday, the
ST. FRANCIS
wrote – “even the brethren at his side and his most devoted followers were for a long time unaware of them.”
Yet, despite his best efforts, St. Francis couldn’t hide the wounds nor the pain it caused from his fellow brothers.
“Once when one of his companions saw the stigmata in his feet, he cried, ‘What is this, good brother?’” Brother Tommaso wrote.
“’Mind your own business,’” the saint replied.
While only a few knew about the phenomenon and the stories of St. Francis’ stigmata were only whispered among a few brothers, it wasn’t until the saint’s death in 1226 when it was confirmed as his body was prepared for burial.
Mourning the death of their founder, their “grief was converted into singing and weeping into jubilation” upon seeing the wounds of Christ on St. Francis’ hands, feet and side, “for never had they heard or read in Scriptures of a thing which was now displayed before their eyes.”
Polish Franciscan Father Emil Kumka, an expert on early and medieval Church history, as well as Franciscan history and hagiography, at Rome’s Pontifical Theology Faculty of St. Bonaventure, also known as the Seraphicum, said bearing the marks of the crucifixion served as “a sign and proof” of the possibility of belonging “intimately to Christ.”
“The exemplary value of the saint of Assisi is universal, also due to his behavior after encountering the winged seraph with the figure of the crucified Savior. His reaction –
same day she’d issued her call of distress. On Monday morning, after a long traumatizing weekend, dozens of people waited in the parking lot for the distribution of supplies to begin.
“Friday was a tough day,” she said, “and it’s really frustrating for a school that has gained so much momentum. But then you get on the other side of the storm and you see how horrific the damage is, you realize you are blessed. There isn’t anything that’s happened at our parish or school that can’t be repaired. We are such a strong community that we’ll come back from this.”
discretion, humility and gratitude for such an extraordinary gift – exemplifies a truly evangelical following of Christ,” Father Kumka said. However, “it is difficult to answer definitely” why God chose this form of manifestation “because it enters into the mystery of God.”
“Yes, it is a painful gift, but the mystics who received the stigmata did not see it merely as a sacrifice but as the joy of participating in the supreme love God offers to the world,” Father Kumka explained. “The love of the Lord, which passes through suffering, gives meaning to this pain. For this reason, human sacrifice in stigmatics was an added dimension, not the determining one.”
There have been several revered saints in the Catholic Church who reportedly received the stigmata, including Sts. Pio of Pietrelcina, Faustina Kowalska and Rita of Cascia.
Like St. Francis, those who authentically experienced the phenomenon “were reluctant to reveal this special grace,” Father Kumka said.
Catholics, he said, should view the stigmata not simply as proof of someone’s holiness, but instead as “a comfort and sign” of God’s closeness.
The faithful, he said, should “be inspired to follow the humble, poor, and crucified Son of God, as St. Francis did” and “remain aware that the call to holiness is universal and leads to total conformity with Christ, offering themselves to Him with trust and willingness.” More online
At www.catholicnewsherald.com : Learn more about St. Francis of Assisi, whose feast day is Oct. 4.
Belmont Abbey College community and extend far beyond our campus,” said Dr. Jesse Dorman, vice provost of enrollment.
The positive enrollment report came at the same time as the release of U.S. News & World Report’s 2024-2025 college rankings. Belmont Abbey College was ranked #2 in Undergraduate Teaching, #16 in Best Value Schools in the South and #22 in Overall Best Colleges in the Southern Region.
Founded by the Benedictine monks of Belmont Abbey in 1876, Belmont Abbey College strives to provide a high-quality, affordable Catholic liberal arts education for a diverse group of students.
— Sarah Bolton
CRS Rice Bowl Mini-Grant applications available
Does your parish help run a food pantry, operate a thrift store or sponsor an emergency services program? If so, consider applying for a CRS Rice Bowl Mini-Grant for up to $1,000 in
grant funds to help fund programs that fight hunger and poverty in their local communities. Grant applications will be accepted via email until Friday, Nov. 15. Information about this upcoming round of grants (including application, guidelines and eligibility) is available at www. ccdoc.org/cchdcrs. Only one grant request can be submitted per Catholic entity, and the applications must be reviewed and signed by the pastor of the parish, principal of the school or director of the diocesan office applying for the grant. Questions? Please contact Joe Purello at jtpurello@ccdoc.org.
St. Eugene Parish hosts Eucharistic Miracles exhibit
ASHEVILLE — “Eucharistic Miracles,” the Vatican International Exhibition inspired by the efforts of Blessed Carlo Acutis, is on display at St. Eugene Church until Sunday, Oct. 13. All are welcome to view the exhibit in the church’s social hall, located at 72 Culvern St. in Asheville, anytime 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays; 9 a.m.-8 p.m. Fridays; 1-7:30 p.m. Saturdays (note: Mass is at 5:30 p.m.); and Sundays after the 7:30 a.m., 9 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. Masses until 3 p.m. For more information, call the church office at 828-254-5193.
October 4, 2024 | catholicnewsherald.com
El taller se centra en cómo la Iglesia puede conectarse mejor con los jóvenes
SERGIO LÓPEZ selopez@rcdoc.org
CLEMMONS — La oficina de Ministerio Hispano de la Diócesis de Charlotte para la vicaría de Winston-Salem ofreció un taller sobre Pastoral Juvenil el 21 de septiembre dirigido a los líderes de grupos juveniles.
Se tuvo participación de las parroquias: Inmaculado Corazón de María, High Point, Santo Niño, Reidsville, Nuestra Señora de la Merced, San Benito el Moro, WinstonSalem, Santiago Apostol, Hamlet, Nuestra Señora de los Caminos, Thomasville, Santa María, Greensboro.
Los temas centrales del taller fue lo básico en:como trabajar con los grupos juveniles, la estructura de los grupos, equipo de trabajo, métodos para trabajar con jóvenes, la corresponsabilidad en la pastoral juvenil (stewardship), y como trabajar con los jóvenes nacidos en EEUU (hispanos de primera generación) y jóvenes migrantes.
Se presentaron algunos métodos que algunos pastoralistas estamos usando, así como el uso técnico de aplicaciones para facilitar y mejorar las presentaciones que se hacen a los jóvenes, y motivaciones e inspiraciones para todos los lideres y encargados para que poco a poco irse desempeñando como mejores pastoralistas. Uno de los aspectos importantes dentro de la pastoral juvenil tiene que ver con la Proyección a futuro de la iglesia; como principal objetivo: “convencer a los jóvenes del amor de Cristo y que ellos se enamoren de su Iglesia.”
Como catequistas, formadores, asesores, o lideres de grupos juveniles, uno de los objetivos es promover que los jóvenes en las diferentes etapas de sus vidas, motivarlos para poner empeño a su educación, promoviendo las vocaciones ya sea a la vida consagrada o al matrimonio y así lograr una permanencia del joven,
todo esto cuando ya estos estén en la etapa de desarrollo y así construir un legado tanto para sus hijos como para su iglesia. También se conto con la presencia de Laura Mendoza, pastoralista que estuvo trabajando desde el inicio (2014) en la pastoral juvenil en el Divino Redentor, ella compartió sus experiencias y motivó enormemente a los asistentes a seguirse preparando, también hablo sobre dinámicas y convivencia, aspectos importantes dentro de los jóvenes.
En un mundo que camina tan rápido como una historia de Instagram, tenemos que ser capaces de discernir métodos nuevos de comunicación con los jóvenes; como pastoralista que se inicio en los 90’s puedo decir que la pastoral juvenil ya no es la misma; si son los mismos jóvenes, los mismos retos, pero el medio comunicativo dio un cambio drástico en estos últimos 10 años, es por eso que personalmente creo que debemos hacer un rebranding (reinventarse) de la pastoral juvenil ya que lo que se les ha estado ofreciendo a los jóvenes es material que quizás no se adapta a la realidad del joven
Point, Santo Niño, Reidsville, Nuestra Señora de la Merced, San Benito el Moro, Winston-Salem, Santiago Apostol, Hamlet, Nuestra Señora de los Caminos, Thomasville, Santa María, Greensboro.
millenial o Gen Z. Por eso aprovechando este medio, ponemos a su disposición este taller para asesores para las diferentes comunidades o vicarias de la Diócesis de Charlotte, si desea tener este taller en su parroquia
envié un correo electrónico a selopez@ rcdoc.org o mandé un texto al 336-529-3748.
SERGIO LÓPEZ es coordinador de Ministerio Hispano Diocesano para la Vicaria de Winston-Salem.
Católicos instados a apoyar el trabajo de outreach de la Iglesia
CHRISTINA LEE KNAUSS clknauss@rcdoc.org
CHARLOTTE — Se alienta a los católicos de la Diócesis de Charlotte a apoyar el outreach de la Iglesia en todo el mundo en el Domingo Mundial de las Misiones, que se celebrará este año el fin de semana del 19-20 de octubre. Esta colección especial apoya a las Sociedades Misioneras Pontificias en sus esfuerzos de misión y evangelización en todo el mundo. Los fondos se destinan a atención médica, alimentos y educación, especialmente en áreas que enfrentan pobreza y violencia, y ayudan a fortalecer la Iglesia en Asia, África, las Islas del Pacífico y partes de América Latina y Europa.
El Domingo Mundial de las Misiones fue iniciado por el Papa Pío XI en 1927 y
siempre se celebra el penúltimo domingo de octubre.
El tema de este año, elegido por el Papa Francisco, es “Ve e invita a todos al banquete”, centrado en la parábola de Cristo (Mt. 22:9) en la que los invitados rechazan la invitación de un rey a un banquete de bodas, por lo que él dice a sus sirvientes que vayan a los caminos e inviten a los que encuentren al banquete en su lugar.
El Papa Francisco dijo en un mensaje para el Domingo Mundial de las Misiones que la parábola exhorta a los fieles a buscar a aquellos de todos los rincones del mundo para compartir el mensaje del amor de Cristo, incluso si eso significa ir a lugares lejanos y peligrosos.
“Aprovecho esta oportunidad para agradecer a todos esos misioneros que, en respuesta al llamado de Cristo, han dejado
todo atrás para ir lejos de su tierra natal y llevar la Buena Nueva a lugares donde la gente aún no la ha recibido”, escribió. “Seguimos orando y agradeciendo a Dios por las nuevas y numerosas vocaciones misioneras para la tarea de evangelización hasta los confines de la tierra”.
El Padre Patrick Cahill ha sido director de la oficina de misiones de la Diócesis de Charlotte desde 2014. También es párroco de la Parroquia San Eugenio en Asheville.
Dijo que piensa en las “dificultades de la Iglesia misionera” cuando reflexiona sobre el Domingo Mundial de las Misiones.
“Reflexiono sobre las innumerables cartas y solicitudes que llegan a la Diócesis de Charlotte, y veo a los niños, las monjas y los sacerdotes que son ayudados a pesar de circunstancias trágicas, injustas e incluso horribles”, dijo el Padre Cahill.
Durante el año pasado, el Padre Cahill
visitó el Congo y El Salvador para asegurarse de que los fondos enviados desde la diócesis honran la intención de los donantes, y comentó que las iglesias en estos territorios de misión ofrecen lecciones importantes.
“Después de regresar de las visitas, le dije a un amigo que la gente allí se aferra a la Iglesia y a su fe”, dijo. “… Reconozcamos el llamado que Jesús nos hace a recordar a los pobres y a aquellos en los márgenes. Tenemos tanto que dar y tanto que recibir al participar en este trabajo crítico y esencial de la Iglesia”.
Más online
En www.onefamilyinmission.org : Conoce más sobre el trabajo misionero de la Iglesia en todo el mundo y cómo tu apoyo impacta a miles de personas.
FOTO CORTESÍA
La oficina de Ministerio Hispano de la Diócesis de Charlotte para la vicaría de Winston-Salem ofreció un taller sobre Pastoral Juvenil el 21 de septiembre dirigido a los líderes de grupos juveniles. Se tuvo participación de las parroquias: Inmaculado Corazón de María, High
Celebrando el Mes de la Herencia Hispana
Festival Parroquial
BOONVILLE — La parroquia Divino Redentor festejo su tercer Festival Parroquial, el sábado 21 de septiembre, hubo comida, antojitos, aguas frescas, juegos para niños y variedad de música y bailables.
Diversión en la iglesia de Santa María
GREENSBORO — Los feligreses de la iglesia de Santa María en Greensboro se reunieron recientemente para celebrar la herencia hispana con una variedad de comidas, juegos, música y más. Hubo diversión para todos, jóvenes y mayores.
Celebración de la Herencia Hispana
NORTH WILKESBORO — Recientemente, los parroquianos de la iglesia de San Juan Bautista organizaron la fiesta de la Independencia de México y la herencia hispana en downtown de North Wilkesboro. Estuvo muchísima gente y todo tipo de comida. Todos se divertieron con los bailables, música en vivo y con DJ. La bandera mexicana recibió el Síndico de la ciudad. Muchas gracias a todos quien ayudó a organizar esta grande fiesta.
FOTOS CORTESÍA
FOTOS CORTESÍA
FOTO CORTESÍA
Este año se conmemora el 800.º aniversario de San Francisco de Asís recibiendo los estigmas, el primer caso registrado de este fenómeno.
Estigmas: El regalo milagroso que San Francisco quiso ocultar
JUNNO AROCHO ESTEVES OSV News
Alolargo de 2024, los franciscanos de todo el mundo conmemoran el 800.º aniversario de San Francisco de Asís recibiendo los estigmas el 17 de septiembre de 1224, la aparición de las heridas corporales de la crucifixión de Cristo.
En una audiencia el 5 de abril con miembros de las comunidades franciscanas de La Verna, Italia, donde San Francisco se encontraba cuando recibió las heridas de Cristo, el Papa Francisco conmemoró el aniversario y dijo que los estigmas sirven como un recordatorio del “dolor sufrido por Jesús en su propia carne por nuestro amor y salvación”.
“La imagen de Cristo en el crucifijo que le aparece en La Verna, marcando su cuerpo, es la misma que se había impreso en su corazón al comienzo de su ‘conversión’, y que le había indicado la misión de ‘reparar su casa’”, dijo el papa.
Si bien ha habido varias figuras notables en la Iglesia que experimentaron los estigmas, la experiencia de San Francisco fue la primera ocurrencia registrada del fenómeno. Sin embargo, tal reconocimiento de un fenómeno tan milagroso y dolorosamente extenuante era algo que el pobre hombre de Asís hizo todo lo posible por evitar.
El 14 de septiembre de 1224, en la fiesta de la Exaltación de la Cruz, solo dos años antes de su muerte, San Francisco estaba en el eremitorio de La Verna, enclavado en los Apeninos toscanos, para un tiempo de oración y reflexión.
El hermano franciscano Tomás de Celano, quien fue comisionado por el Papa Gregorio IX para escribir sobre la vida de San Francisco en 1229, relató cómo recibió los estigmas.
Según el hermano Tomás, San Francisco estaba orando cuando vio una visión “un hombre como un serafín con seis alas, de pie sobre él con las manos extendidas y los pies juntos, fijos a una cruz”.
Después de ver la visión y tratar de entender su significado, “comenzaron a aparecer marcas de clavos en sus manos y pies”.
Además, “se vieron ciertos pequeños trozos de carne como los extremos de clavos doblados y empujados hacia atrás” y “su lado derecho, como si hubiera sido perforado por una lanza, estaba cubierto con una cicatriz, y a menudo derramaba sangre, de modo que su túnica y sus
calzones estaban muchas veces salpicados con la sangre sagrada”.
San Francisco hizo grandes esfuerzos por ocultar los estigmas, escribió el hermano Tomás: “incluso los hermanos a su lado y sus seguidores más devotos estuvieron durante mucho tiempo sin saber de ellos”.
Sin embargo, a pesar de sus mejores esfuerzos, San Francisco no pudo ocultar las heridas ni el dolor que le causaban a sus hermanos.
“Una vez, cuando uno de sus compañeros vio los estigmas en sus pies, exclamó: ‘¿Qué es esto, buen hermano?’” escribió el hermano Tomás.
“‘Ocúpate de tus propios asuntos’”, respondió el santo.
Si bien solo unos pocos conocían el fenómeno y las historias sobre los estigmas de San Francisco solo eran susurradas entre algunos hermanos, no fue sino hasta
la muerte del santo en 1226 cuando se confirmó, al prepararse su cuerpo para el entierro.
Llorando la muerte de su fundador, su “tristeza se convirtió en canto y el llanto en jubilo” al ver las heridas de Cristo en las manos, pies y costado de San Francisco, “pues nunca habían oído ni leído en las Escrituras de algo que ahora se mostraba ante sus ojos”.
El padre franciscano polaco Emil Kumka, un experto en la historia de la Iglesia antigua y medieval, así como en la historia y hagiografía franciscana, en la Facultad de Teología Pontificia de San Buenaventura en Roma, también conocido como el Seraphicum, dijo que llevar las marcas de la crucifixión sirve como “una señal y prueba” de la posibilidad de pertenecer “íntimamente a Cristo”.
“El valor ejemplar del santo de Asís es universal, también debido a su comportamiento después de encontrar al serafín alado con la figura del Salvador crucificado. Su reacción: discreción, humildad y gratitud por un regalo tan extraordinario – ejemplifica un seguimiento verdaderamente evangélico de Cristo”, dijo el padre Kumka. Sin embargo, “es difícil responder definitivamente” por qué Dios eligió esta forma de manifestación “porque entra en el misterio de Dios”. “Sí, es un regalo doloroso, pero los místicos que recibieron los estigmas no lo vieron meramente como un sacrificio, sino como la alegría de participar en el supremo amor que Dios ofrece al mundo”, explicó el padre Kumka. “El amor del Señor, que pasa a través del sufrimiento, da sentido a este dolor. Por esta razón, el sacrificio humano en los estigmatizados fue una dimensión añadida, no la determinante”.
Ha habido varios santos venerados en la Iglesia Católica que supuestamente recibieron los estigmas, incluidos los santos Pío de Pietrelcina, Faustina Kowalska y Rita de Casia.
Al igual que San Francisco, aquellos que experimentaron auténticamente el fenómeno “fueron reacios a revelar esta gracia especial”, dijo el padre Kumka.
Los católicos, afirmó, deberían ver los estigmas no simplemente como prueba de la santidad de alguien, sino como “un consuelo y signo” de la cercanía de Dios.
Los fieles, dijo, deberían “sentirse inspirados a seguir al humilde, pobre y crucificado Hijo de Dios, como lo hizo San Francisco” y “permanecer conscientes de que el llamado a la santidad es universal y conduce a una total conformidad con Cristo, ofreciéndose a Él con confianza y disposición”.
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Domingo: Gn 2:18-24, Sal 128:1-2, 3, 4-5, 6, Heb 2:9-11, Mc 10:2-16 o 10:2-12; Lunes (Nuestra Señora del Rosario): Gal 1:6-12, Sal 111:1b-2, 7-8, 9, 10c, Lc 10:25-37; Martes: Gal 1:13-24, Sal 139:1b-3, 13-14ab, 14c-15, Lc 10:3842; Miércoles: Gal 2:1-2, 7-14, Sal 117:1bc, 2, Lc 11:1-4; Jueves: Gal 3:1-5, Lc 1:69-70, 71-72, 73-75, Lc 11:5-13; Viernes: Gal 3:7-14, Sal 111:1b-2, 3-4, 5-6, Lc 11:15-26; Sábado: Gal 3:22-29, Sal 105:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, Lc 11:27-28 OCTUBRE 13-OCTUBRE 19
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deny emergency care and provides necessary interventions to save the lives of pregnant women in complex circumstances.
Georgia’s abortion ban struck down; now legal up to 22 weeks
California AG sues Catholic hospital for allegedly denying emergency abortion
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – California’s Democratic attorney general on Sept. 30 sued a Catholic hospital he accused of refusing to provide an emergency abortion to a pregnant woman despite an “immediate threat” to her life. Attorney General Rob Bonta accused Providence St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka of having a policy that “discriminates against pregnant patients” due to its policy forbidding performing an abortion where fetal heartbeats were present.
Bonta’s lawsuit seeks a court order to require the hospital to perform emergency abortions. Anna Nusslock, named in the lawsuit as the patient, alleged Providence did not perform an emergency abortion after she was diagnosed with Previable Premature Pre-labor Rupture of Membranes in February. She alleged she was instead instructed to drive to another hospital 12 miles away and was hemorrhaging by the time she reached it.
In a statement provided to OSV News, a spokesperson for the hospital said while it does not perform elective abortions, it does not
ATLANTA – Judge Robert McBurney of Superior Court of Fulton County in Atlanta ruled Sept. 30 that Georgia can no longer enforce its so-called “heartbeat law” on abortion, a six-week abortion ban that went into effect after Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022. With McBurney’s ruling, abortions are now legally allowed in Georgia until about 22 weeks of pregnancy.
“A review of our higher courts’ interpretations of ‘liberty’ demonstrates that liberty in Georgia includes in its meaning, in its protections, and in its bundle of rights the power of a woman to control her own body, to decide what happens to it and in it, and to reject state interference with her healthcare choices,” McBurney wrote in the 26-page ruling. This power a woman has is “not unlimited,” however, and that “when a fetus growing inside a woman reaches viability … then – and only then – may society intervene,” he said.
The law, a so-called “heartbeat” ban called the LIFE Act, prohibits with some exceptions abortion after fetal cardiac activity can be detected. The law was signed by Gov. Brian Kemp in 2019, but it did not go into effect immediately because Roe v. Wade was the law of the land at the time it was passed. In a 2022 decision, McBurney had called the law “unequivocally unconstitutional” because it was
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enacted in 2019, while Roe v. Wade was still in place.
But the Georgia Supreme Court rejected McBurney’s ruling in a 6-1 decision Oct. 24, 2023, allowing the six-week ban to remain in effect amid ongoing legal challenges. McBurney’s Sept. 30 ruling is expected to be appealed.
Archbishop commends Ukraine’s Zelenskyy during U.S. visit
NEW YORK – The head of Ukrainian Catholics in the U.S. told OSV News he personally thanked Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for speaking “with a heart” and being “a source of encouragement” worldwide. Metropolitan Archbishop Borys A. Gudziak of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia was among several Ukrainian American leaders who met with Zelenskyy in New York Sept. 23. Zelenskyy arrived in the U.S. Sept. 22 for a five-day tour that included stops at a Scranton, Pennsylvania munitions factory, United Nations Headquarters in New York and the White House. During the visit, Zelenskyy presented his “Victory Plan” to the U.N., President Joe Biden and U.S. presidential hopefuls Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. “I want peace for my people – real and just peace,” Zelenskyy told the U.N. General Assembly Sept. 25.
Archbishop Gudziak said he commended Zelenskyy for speaking “calmly about an extreme situation” while maintaining “great composure.”
‘Peace is only possible if it is wanted,’ Cardinal Parolin says
NEW YORK – Amid ongoing and potentially escalating conflict in both the Middle East and Ukraine, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin cautioned gathered delegates at the 79th session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York Sept. 28 that, “peace is only possible if it is wanted.” While it was earlier rumored that Pope Francis might address the assembly, the pontiff was instead on his 46th Apostolic Journey abroad to Luxembourg and Belgium.
Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED) – an independent organization collecting data on violent conflict – estimates that one in seven people globally have been exposed to conflict so far in 2024. ACLED also reported a 15% increase in political violence incidents during the last 12 months, a development that Cardinal Parolin said has left the Holy See “deeply concerned.”
The Holy See has permanent observer status at the United Nations, with 2024 marking the 60th anniversary of its presence at the organization tasked with maintaining international peace and security. During that time, Cardinal Parolin declared that “the Holy See has advanced a set of core principles, including the respect for the inherent Godgiven human dignity of all individuals, the equal sovereignty of states, the pursuit of peace and disarmament, and the care of our common home.”
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Mass marks Albertine Sisters’ 50 years of ministry of love
MUNSTER, Ind. – When 18 Albertine Sisters gathered at the Carmelite Monastery in Munster for a celebration of 50 years of service in the Diocese of Gary, familiar faces and habits brought to mind the hospitable charisms of the nuns who coordinate a residential care center in Hammond.
At a Mass offered Sept. 22, the feast of Blessed Bernardyna — born as Maria Jablonska — the co-foundress of the Congregation of Albertine Sisters Serving the Poor was honored as the model of generosity and faith that has inspired members of the Polish order. Bishop Robert J. McClory of Gary, the presider, concelebrated with hosting Carmelite Fathers, also of Polish heritage, for a Sunday afternoon Mass where friends and supporters of the Albertines’ mission filled the monastery church.
Diocese reaches $323 million bankruptcy settlement
ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. – The Diocese of Rockville Centre has reached a preliminary settlement in its long-running – and at points contentious – bankruptcy case, while assuring faithful that “no parishes are closing as a result of this process.” In a Sept. 26 statement, the diocese announced the total proposed settlement, expected to address at least 500 claims of abuse, is just over $323 million, an amount that includes “insurance contributions, Diocesan assets and sale proceeds from
Diocesan property, and contributions from parishes and other related entities.”
The diocese also said that “part of the settlement plan involves all parishes entering into an abbreviated Chapter 11 with the approval of the court and the parties to the case in order to secure a release from liability for the parishes.” However, said the diocese, “It is expected that parish Chapter 11’s will be resolved within 48 hours of filing and will not interfere with parish work and ministries.”
Marie T. Reilly, a professor at Penn State Law and expert in bankruptcy law, told OSV News the move is “a first” in Catholic bankruptcy cases.
Novena for mental health seeks healing, action on issue
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops invites the faithful to join in a novena for mental health, as part of the second year of the USCCB’s ongoing National Catholic Mental Health Campaign. The nine days of prayer will commence on Oct. 10, which marks the international observance of World Mental Health Day, and end on Oct. 18, the feast of St. Luke, the evangelist and a patron of health care.
Each day of the novena, which opened the USCCB campaign in October 2023, focuses on a particular aspect of mental health, addressing stigma, social relationships, and the impact of factors such as racism and poverty.
The USCCB is encouraging Catholic dioceses to share novena information with their parishes with a special emphasis on Mental Health Sunday, Oct. 13, as it falls in the midst of the nine-day renewal effort and is an opportunity to promote and support the efforts of local mental health programs. Novena materials can be found at https://www.usccb.org/mental-healthnovena.
– Catholic News Service and OSV News
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No one has ‘exclusive right’ to God’s voice, pope says at synod opening
JUSTIN MCLELLAN Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY — Members of the Synod of Bishops must engage in genuine dialogue with those holding differing views, avoid pushing personal agendas and remain open to changing their minds about what is best for the Church, Pope Francis said.
“We must free ourselves from everything that prevents the charity of the Spirit from creating harmony in diversity in us and among us,” he said in his homily at the synod’s opening Mass. “Those who arrogantly claim to have the exclusive right to hear the voice of the Lord cannot hear it.”
The pope was joined by the 368 members of the Synod of Bishops for the Mass in St. Peter’s Square Oct. 2. The synod’s 16 fraternal delegates – representatives from other Christian communities, who are participating in the assembly without voting privileges – were the first to process into the square, followed by laypeople and religious who make up the 96 non-bishop voting members of the synod. Pope Francis urged synod participants to be careful “not to see our contributions as points to defend at all costs or agendas to be imposed,” but rather to see their personal contribution to the synod proceedings “as a gift to be shared, ready
even to sacrifice our own point of view in order to give life to something new, all according to God’s plan.”
Otherwise, he warned, “we will end up locking ourselves into dialogues among the deaf, where participants seek to advance their own causes or agendas without listening to others and, above all, without listening to the voice of the Lord.”
The 87-year-old pope presided over the Mass but remained seated throughout the liturgy.
The day after Israeli troops crossed the border into Lebanon and Iran fired ballistic missiles at Israel – seen as significant escalations of the conflict in the Middle East – Pope Francis in his homily called on all people to observe a day of prayer and fasting for peace on Oct. 7, marking one year since Hamas’ attack on Israel that sparked the ongoing conflict.
The pope also announced he will lead the recitation of the rosary for peace at Rome’s Basilica of St. Mary Major Oct. 6, and he invited synod members to join him.
“Brothers and sisters, we again take up this synodal journey with a gaze fixed on the world, because the Christian community is always at the service of humanity to announce to all the joy of the Gospel,” he said. “It is needed above all in this dramatic hour of history when the winds of war and flames of violence continue to destroy entire peoples and
nations.”
In his homily, Pope Francis said that the synod is not a “parliamentary assembly,” but an effort to understand the history, dreams and hopes of “our brothers and sisters scattered around the world inspired by our same faith, moved by the same desire for holiness.”
He called on synod members to receive the contributions of the people of God collected throughout the synodal process, which began in October 2021, “with respect and attention, in prayer and in the light of the Word of God” in order to “reach the destination the Lord desires for us.”
“The more we realize that we are surrounded by friends who love, respect and appreciate us, friends who want to listen to what we have to say, the more we will feel free to express ourselves spontaneously and openly,” the pope said.
Developing such an attitude, he said, is not just a “technique” for facilitating dialogue and group communication dynamics, but is central to the Church’s vocation as “a welcoming place of gathering.”
“Let us walk together, let us listen to the Lord, let us be led by the blowing of the Spirit,” he said.
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CNS | VATICAN MEDIA Pope Francis holds his crosier as he presides over Mass in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican to open the second session of the Synod of Bishops on synodality Oct. 2.
Mexico’s bishops welcome nation’s first female president
MEXICO CITY – The Mexican bishops’ conference has called on the country’s freshly sworn-in president to pursue social peace as she inherits the complicated legacy of her popular and polarizing predecessor – who promoted social programs for the poor, but leaves her a country rife with violence and perceived to be backsliding on democracy. Claudia Sheinbaum was sworn in Oct. 1 in as the first female Mexican president.
In a statement, the bishops wished President Sheinbaum well, while encouraging her to govern for all Mexicans as she receives an increasingly powerful presidency and the ruling Morena party holds mega-majorities in both houses of Congress – effectively allowing her to rule by decree. “We believe that when a woman becomes President of the Republic for the first time, she will be very sensitive and respectful, promoting everything that will contribute to the good and social development of all citizens,” the bishops’ statement said. “Mexico faces great challenges, which are an opportunity to grow in participation and dialogue, overcoming polarization,” the bishops wrote.
Catholic aid workers ‘at risk everywhere in Lebanon’
BEIRUT – As the Israel-Hamas war expands to include attacks in Lebanon, where the Iran-
backed Shia militia Hezbollah is based, OSV News interviewed Michel Constantin, regional director for the CNEWA-Pontifical Mission. The Pontifical Mission was founded as the Pontifical Mission for Palestine by Pope Pius XII in 1949 to care for Palestinian refugees and placed under the direction of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association. The mandate of the mission has been extended by several pontiffs to care for all those affected by war and poverty in the Middle East.
Speaking from his office in Beirut, Constantin shared with OSV News that he and his staff are experiencing “déjà vu … only worse” as the war threatens to engulf Lebanon, which recalls the 34-day Lebanon war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006. Although “all Lebanon is … a dangerous zone,” he and his staff are providing humanitarian and spiritual support to thousands of displaced residents as well as those trapped in their villages. “How do we help them? Through the heroic work of the church,” said Constantin.
Members of scandal-plagued group expelled in Peru
LIMA – The Vatican’s decision to expel 10 important members from the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, a scandal-plagued society of apostolic life founded in Peru in 1971, announced by the Vatican’s nunciature in Peru Sept. 25, was received with surprise by many in Peru. Once a powerful Catholic institution that gathered members of the Peruvian elite, the Sodalitium saw itself hit by dozens of denouncements of sexual and psychological abuse, physical violence, misappropriation of funds, and other crimes by former members and journalists.
“We got used to seeing the Sodalitium as an untouchable organization, one that could do whatever it wanted, and nothing would happen to it. That’s why the list surprised many people,”
The Abbey Experience
journalist Paola Ugaz, who co-authored a book on the Sodalitium, told OSV News.
World’s oldest cardinal, who was kidnapped in Angola, dies at 99
VATICAN CITY – Angolan Cardinal Alexandre do Nascimento, the world’s oldest cardinal, died Sept. 28 at the age of 99 and was praised by Pope Francis for the way he led his flock during “troubled and difficult times.”
The future cardinal was appointed bishop of Malanje, Angola, in 1975 – the year his country claimed its independence from Portugal, but also the year the long Angolan Civil War began. The war devastated the country from 1975 to 2002 with only three brief periods of peace to interrupt the fighting. During a pastoral visit in October 1982, then-Bishop do Nascimento was kidnapped by armed guerrillas and freed after a month in captivity.
– Catholic News Service and OSV News
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Deacon Scott Gilfillan
Living in the now
One day, honeybees appeared in great numbers on plumes rising above the pampas grass by my mailbox. They found a treasure trove of pollen from the late summer blooms and celebrated perhaps their last hurrah before settling in for the winter.
I was fortunate enough to capture a photo of one bee as it was readying itself to dive into the plumes and gather more pollen. From the heavy pollen sacks on its hind legs, the bee had already had a good day.
The photo captures a moment, one laden with beauty and significance. The bee has a single-minded focus, aligning itself with a new plume. There is a present promise: more pollen to add to its swollen sacks. There is also a future promise: the little miracle that will transform these microscopic bits of pollen into droplets of sweet golden honey and provide food for a new generation in the hive.
The ancient Greeks had two words for time: “Chronos” and “Kairos.” Chronos is time as we generally know it, “chrono”-logical time. It is the time that slave-like rules our day, set by the position of the sun or the digital signal on our cell phones. Kairos, however, is a moment filled with meaning. It transcends time and is laden with beauty or significance.
Some Kairos moments completely alter the expected trajectory of our lives. Being present at the birth of my first child was a Kairos moment. My mind was flooded with a new realization as I held the newborn infant. The life of this child was literally and figuratively in my hands. I was given a new name, Dad, which conveyed a breathtaking responsibility.
The message from the bee: strive to make every moment a Kairos moment. Rather than look ahead to what’s next or behind to what was, open your hearts to what’s now. The bee was enjoying what Deacon Jim Bozik of St. Peter Parish in Charlotte called the “sacrament of the present,” in a reflection published online at www.JesuitPrayer.org. Hovering six feet above the ground, the bee was fixed in the divine dance of the present, energized by the sun’s rays and savoring the promise of life.
How can you be more like the bee and enjoy the “sacrament of the present,” cultivating an attitude of what’s now instead of what’s next?
DEACON SCOTT GILFILLAN is a blogger, retreat master and spiritual director. This reflection is adapted from his blog “My Morning Reflections,” about meeting God through reflections on life and nature. Read more online at www.fontofmercy.org.
Christopher Hazell
Is busyness jeopardizing our souls?
Today it seems everyone’s favorite response to the common, probing introductory question “How are you?” is this: I’m busy. Very busy. Extremely busy. Of course, many of us are – actually – extremely busy. Many of us are stretching ourselves razor thin, fulfilling the necessary obligations of life: tending to our jobs, families and children, addressing the infinite list of errands and to-dos, scheduling time for exercise, friends, entertainment, bills, volunteer work. The list goes on. Endlessly.
Technology, despite its aim to lessen our collective human burden (which it has in some ways), has helped fuel this increasing and widespread condition known as busyness. The ease with which we can connect to the world – be it to our work emails or social media relationships – allows us to be permanently “plugged in.” We can get away from the crowd and commotion of our lives physically to seek rest, but we can still pick up our phones to engage with them just as if we never left.
potential to do – but because it is made in the image and likeness of God. We are valuable and of infinite worth because God says we are, with words that form reality and reveal truth. The rupture then that can occur in our souls is when that subtle lie starts to creep in: the one dictating that our actions make us worthy – that what we do makes us lovable in the eyes of God. To use the secular language of Kreider’s article, we rely on our actions to provide “existential reassurance” that we are worthy. To use Christian terminology, we rely on our actions to provide reassurance of God’s love and approval. And so, it seems, idleness isn’t the only playground on which the devil enjoys playing. He’s quite fond of its opposite as well.
It goes without saying that we’re still called to act. Our actions help reveal who we are, and as human beings gifted with reason, talents, desires and a noble vocation to build up and spread God’s kingdom, we must do so through our actions. Yet, rather than our activity being the ultimate gauge of our souls, it serves instead to reflect them more perfectly.
‘It can be easy to forget that we do still have a choice... We are not what we do.’
There is a great Corona commercial from a few years back that illustrates this issue. The scene opens with the crystal blue of the ocean. The camera pulls back to reveal a woman reclining comfortably in a beach chair. To her left, and mostly off camera, a man throws stones into the ocean, leisurely skipping rocks on an afternoon in some coastal paradise. We’re left with only the lull of the ocean and soft splashing of rocks dancing on the water’s surface. Suddenly we’re interrupted by the buzz of a phone. The man, after a moment’s hesitation, picks up the disruptive object and hurls it into the ocean. He watches it skip a few times before it disappears into the blue.
I’m sure many of us at times wish we could do the same and cast away any and all reminders of our stack of obligations, our plethora of duties. If only…
Yet, even though tossing an expensive phone into the sea might not be the most prudent of things to do – in fact, in most cases it would be pretty stupid – I think it can be easy to forget that we do still have a choice. We can still, in a sense, turn the phone off.
The New York Times article “The Busy Trap” by Tim Kreider explains that our “busyness” often serves as a euphemism for “exhaustion.” We’ve become so busy with keeping ourselves busy – incurring an endless list of tasks and unchecked boxes – that we’re drained, restless, and, well, exhausted. The article continues, claiming that “busyness,” despite the temptation to believe it’s been forcefully hoisted upon our shoulders like some compulsory sentence doled out without our permission or desire – is a condition of life we’ve chosen intentionally.
Why? “Busyness serves as a kind of existential reassurance, a hedge against emptiness; obviously your life cannot possibly be silly or trivial or meaningless if you are so busy, completely booked, in demand every hour of the day.”
We are left wondering how to combat this “emptiness,” this lurking sense that without our busyness – without being able to point to an impressive life of endless activity – we risk a life of little or no value.
Christianity speaks of the inestimable worth of human life not because of what it does – or even has the
In “No Man Is An Island,” Thomas Merton brilliantly explores the possible dangers of activity in the life of a soul: “My soul can also reflect itself in the mirror of its own activity. But what is seen in the mirror is only a reflection of who I am, not my true being. The mirror of words and actions only partly manifests my being.”
Merton recognizes the value of actions – again, we are not called to do nothing, for “faith without works is dead” – but a soul’s state is not based only on the merit of its actions. We can be easily misled to look for proof of God’s love in tangible evidence, saying, “See, look here! I’ve done this, this and this, so therefore I’m a good, worthwhile and lovable person!”
Not only does the busyness of our work – even very good work – lead to an emptying of our true selves, but we become confused, bereft of the ability to understand who we are. Activity can clue us in on how we’re doing, yet we are not what we do. And if we fail to see that, then our good acts can become emptied of love – an attempt to win God’s favor rather than express our love for Him and others. Does our busyness keep us from loving? In the words of Mother Teresa, we must “never be so busy as not to think of others.”
What can we do to ensure our lives of busyness don’t lead to exhaustion and a loss of self? It’s nothing new: we must build into our lives a space for prayer and fruitful reflection. Even if it’s not much, we must strive to sit in the presence of the Eucharist at Adoration, read scripture and meditate on its application to our lives, or sit in silence listening to the voice of love that speaks words of affection, encouragement and counsel. We must learn to be more like Mary, and less like Martha, in a world that unremittingly asks, “What have you done for me lately?”
If we do not pray, and silently reflect on who we are often and consistently, we will continue to live in a state of exhaustion and boredom. If we take time to reflect, we will hear the voice of God.
As the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard said, “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” So let us take time to review our lives and who we are in prayerful reflection, receiving the nourishment and strength to move forward with lives filled with fruitful, grace-led and meaningful activity.
CHRISTOPHER HAZELL is a writer and editor. This is adapted from his original blog online at www.wordonfire.org.
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