The Catholic News & Herald 1
October 26, 2001
October 26, 2001 Volume 11 t Number 7
Inside Local parishioner named to national NFP post
... Page 5
Columbian Squires gather for annual convention
... Page 15
Local News Greensboro church dedicates new family life center, memorial
... Page 7
Deacon finds joy through life experiences
... Page 16
Every Week Entertainment ...Pages 10-11
Editorials & Columns ...Pages 12-13
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” — Matthew 5:9
S e r v i n g C a t h o l i c s in Western North Carolina in the Diocese of Charlotte
Seniors called beacons of hope By JIMMY ROSTAR Associate Editor HUNTERSVILLE — Sister Jeanne Marie Kienast thinks the sunflower is the perfect symbol for senior citizens. Sunflowers always turn toward the light, she says. As they get older, their seeds attract songbirds and provide beauty and nourishment. When they die, the world is left with the remembrance of their beauty, and the flowers’ seeds assure life for new generations of sunflowers. Sister Jeanne Marie, a Sister of Mercy who serves as pastoral associate at St. Matthew Church, offered the analogy at a Diocese of Charlotte Elder Ministry Day of Reflection at St. Mark Church in Huntersville Oct. 11. “If we continue to turn toward the Son, who provides light and warmth for us, he will keep those fires burning within us that we think die down as we grow older,” she said. “It is the light of the Son that will keep us as people who continue to give, to share, to provide music and light and warmth around us. We will be beacons of hope.” Weaving humor, anecdotes, music and prayer through her exploration of the theme “Living with a Full Heart,” Sister Jeanne Marie reflected on a recent Harvard University study that pinpointed four suggestions for maintaining a vital, successful approach to aging. About 130 seniors from 15 parishes in the Charlotte, Gastonia, Greensboro and Salisbury vicariates attended the annual gathering, the first of two sponsored this fall by Elder Ministry, a Catholic Social Services ministry of the diocese. The Harvard study explored the ability to anticipate and hope; the need for gratitude, forgiveness and optimism; the need for empathy; and the ability to reach out to others as key needs in the lives of people as they age. For people of faith, those areas are especially important in cherishing the baptismal gifts of faith, hope and love, said Sister Jeanne Marie. She challenged her audience in a series of questions combining the study’s themes with a faith reaction. “Are we beacons of hope?” she asked. “Are we symbols of health? That doesn’t mean we don’t have aches and pains and ailments. But are we healthy? Are we whole? “You can’t be healthy unless you’re also whole. That’s the way God made us: mind, body, spirit, working all together.” She suggested that each day is a gift from God, and people’s response to that gift is up to them. “Do we get up in the morning and say, ‘Thank you, God, for this day? Thank you for this gift of life. This is a gift you gave me. What I do with today will be my gift to you.’”
And as people retire for the evening, she said, they can pray another prayer: “I hope my gift to you was good. I tried to be grateful and thank you as I went along through all the wonderful — and all the not-so-wonderful — things that happened.” Sister Jeanne Marie pointed to Jesus as the model of humble gratitude and service, calling to mind the washing of the disciples’ feet as told in John’s Gospel. “Can any of us say our life of service is over?” Sister Jeanne Marie asked her audience. “Are we not continuing to be grateful by saying, ‘God, as long as you give me breath, I want to give in whatever way I can, and I’m grateful for your giving me the chance to do that?” “Nothing is ever too small for the Lord,” she said. “Every action that we do can be an act of love.” As people age, Sister Jeanne Marie said, they tend to compare their aches and pains with those of others. But the truly Christian response to people’s life situations is empathy. “Empathy is being able to suffer with another person unselfishly,” she said. “It’s
Photo by Jimmy Rostar
Sister Jeanne Marie Kienast, pictured right, led the day of reflection. the ability to look at another’s world with appreciation for that world they live in. You might look at that world differently, but this is the way that person is viewing it, and that’s where the empathy is.” With empathy comes the need to reach out to others — also unselfishly and with the belief that even the seemingly smallest acts are smiled upon by God, she said. “We should do things with people, and not do things to people,” Sister
See SENIORS, page 14
Historic Cathedral in France
Photo by Joann S. Keane
Cathedral of Notre Dame in Bayeux, a village in the Normandy region of France. Our Lady of Bayeux, as the cathedral is known, dates from the 11th century, and was consecrated in 1077. The medieval Cathedral was seen by pilgrims from the Diocese of Charlotte visiting Shrines of France with Rev. Mr. Curtiss Todd and Msgr. William Pharr. Bayuex was the first town liberated [by Canadian troops] during World War II.