Feb. 3, 2019, ET Catholic, A section

February 3

| 2019

VOL 28 NO 3

IN THIS ISSUE MARY IS PURSUIT OF LIFE B1 ST. A5 SAINTLY A2 DIGNITY GOLDEN Judge OKs exhumation What does the Church say? Guidance offered on end-of-life issues

Retreat continued on A4

Basilica restoration is completed Sts. Peter and Paul lifts the curtain on six-month construction project that ushers in the 1890s

By Bill Brewer

F

our years of praying, planning, working, and paying for muchneeded improvements to the Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul yielded dramatic results Dec. 23 when Bishop Richard F. Stika and Father David Carter unveiled the basilica’s restored worship space.

On the fourth Sunday of Advent, Bishop Stika celebrated Mass at the basilica in Chattanooga, during which he presided at the Rite of Dedication of an Altar. It was one of the first Masses inside the restored basilica vestibule, nave, and sanctuary and offered parishioners the chance to see firsthand the results of their sacrifices.

It also was the first time a significant part of the original church has been exposed since renovations in 1936, the 1970s, and 1980s, when carpet was laid down throughout the nave and sanctuary and original architecture was covered up.

Bishop Stika and Father Carter, the basilica rector, expressed appreciation to parishioners for their contributions to the project in time, talent, and tithing.

“I just want to say thank you to all who have participated in this process that began in 2014 and has culminated in what we see here today, through all your participation in the Home Campaign, also through long hours of volunteering,” Father Carter said following the altar dedication Mass.

Father Carter also thanked Bishop Stika for celebrating the Mass and leading the diocesan-wide fundraisBasilica continued on page A10

BILL BREWER

Peace.

Father Jacques Philippe, an internationally renowned author and speaker who will lead a spiritual retreat and conferences for the Diocese of Knoxville Feb. 28-March 4 at All Saints Church and the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, sees that simple yet complex word as key to living in God’s love—especially during Lent.

“What makes me happy is to speak about God’s love,” Father Philippe recently said ahead of his appearance in the Diocese of Knoxville. He was at the time leading a series of talks in Colorado affiliated with his Catholic Community of the Beatitudes, which has an apostolate in the Archdiocese of Denver.

With more than 1 million copies sold in 24 languages, Father Philippe’s writings on themes like prayer, interior freedom, and peace of heart are resonating throughout the Catholic faith.

Father Philippe was born in Lorraine, France, and after studying mathematics in college, he spent several years in teaching and in scientific research. In 1976, he met the then recently founded Community of the Beatitudes and answered God’s call to start a religious vocation.

He spent several years in Israel studying Hebrew and the Jewish roots of Christianity, and in 1981 he traveled to Rome to study theology and canon law. He was ordained a priest in 1985 and began his work as a spiritual director, working in the formation of priests and seminarians of the Beatitudes Community.

His work has involved the development of training in the Beatitudes Community and participation in its general council. He also has regularly preached at retreats in France and other countries and has consolidated his principal retreat themes

Athens parish marks milestone anniversary

Lifting high the altar of sacrifice Bishop Richard F. Stika delivers the homily during a special Mass at the Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul on Dec. 23.

Marching for life

Diocese of Knoxville parishioners of all ages take part in Washington, D.C., rally

By Jim Wogan

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ach year since 1973, when the U.S. Supreme Court issued its ruling on Roe vs. Wade, effectively legalizing abortion, people who strongly oppose that decision have traveled to Washington, D.C., for the annual March for Life — a mile-long journey of faith and unity that begins on the National Mall near the Washington Monument and continues along Constitution Avenue past the U.S. Capitol to the U.S. Supreme Court building.

This year, similar to previous years, more than 200 participants from the Diocese of Knoxville were among hundreds of thousands of marchers to demonstrate their opposition to the landmark legal ruling and to stand up for the protection of innocent lives by walking a path they hope will lead to its repeal and to the end of abortion.

For the Diocese of Knoxville marchers, the March for Life was actually the culmination of a longer journey.

Despite a daunting travel schedule that, for many, included a sleepless night riding in a bus, the purpose of the bigger mission wasn’t lost on them.

Denny Sales, a parishioner at St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Lenoir City and a freshman at Lenoir City High School, was among 37 marchers

JIM WOGAN

Fr. Jacques Philippe to lead diocesan retreat, conferences

of Servant of God Patrick Ryan's remains

He dwells among us ......................... A2 Parish news ....................................... B3 Diocesan calendar ............................ B4 Columns ............................................. B8 Catholic schools ............................. B10 La Cosecha ............................Section C

East Tennessee representing Students from St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in Lenoir City and St. Thérèse of Lisieux Parish in Cleveland pause for a moment on Constitution Avenue as the March for Life approaches Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 18. who left East Tennessee on the night of Jan. 17, arriving in Washington in the early morning of Jan. 18, the day of the march.

Later that day, waiting near the National Mall for the march to begin, Denny reflected on why he made the trip.

“God made us all in His image, and I feel like He wanted us to experience the world He made. Taking the lives of those who don’t get that experience goes against everything God wants us to do,” he said. “He wants us to protect lives. He wants us to speak for them.”

March continued on page A7

He dwells among us

by Bishop Richard F. Stika

Dignity of the journey

The Church offers beautiful teachings to assist us in making difficult medical decisions How precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of His faithful.

— Psalm 116:15

For more information on Catholic Church teaching regarding end-of-life issues, see page A8.

The New Charter for Health Care Workers, the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers’ definitive guide on bioethics in the Catholic Church, is available in an online form. Updated from the earlier 1995 Charter, this book covers a wide range of issues in medical ethics, including end-of-life issues, reproductive ethics, and moral questions connected to the advance of science and medical technology.

Find it at https://www.ncbcenter.org/resources/ church-documents-bioethics/new-charter-health-care-workers/ or order it through the National Catholic Bioethics Center https://www.ncbcenter.org.

T

he person in affliction is sacred.” This ancient proverb speaks to a beautiful truth that the sanctity and dignity of a person is most evident when we are weakest and suffering. Far from stripping us of our dignity, suffering actually reveals our sacredness even more.

Unfortunately, the sacred character of life at its very beginning and at the approach of its earthly end is no longer respected as such. With the growing acceptance and promotion of euthanasia and assisted suicide under the banner of “death with dignity,” it is more important than ever to understand the great beauty and comfort to be found in the Church’s teaching on the mystery of suffering and on medical treatment, particularly at the end of life.

Death is inevitable, and the fear and suffering that accompany its approach is a mystery that can easily overwhelm us. I write as one who has twice stood at death’s door and been exposed to many sufferings and fears related to various medical conditions and hospitalizations.

But during these times I have been uplifted by a truth expressed by the Second Vatican Council: “Through Christ and in Christ, the riddles of sorrow and death grow meaningful. Apart from His Gospel, they overwhelm us.” By suffering His Passion and cross, Christ not only redeemed us from eternal death, but gave divine meaning and purpose to suffering.

Sacrifice is a word that has lost

its true meaning in a secular world that ignores the spiritual. But in its Latin meaning, to sacrifice something means to make it sacred. So when we “offer up” our sufferings in union with the redemptive sufferings of Jesus upon the cross, our sacrifice becomes pleasing to the Lord as a sharing in Christ’s work of salvation for the good of souls.

In other words, our sufferings become redemptive, and with Christ we are helping to save souls! As Christ united the poor offering of the Good Thief to His offertory upon Calvary, so Christ unites our poor offering to His in every Mass.

But we live in a society that is spiritually sick and blind, where the culture of death has even succeeded in having abortion, euthanasia, and assisted suicide accepted as “health care.” How, then, are we to approach the difficult medical decisions we can be faced with, particularly at the end of life?

Fortunately, the Church has never ceased to reflect upon this question and to minister to the seriously ill and dying who need the special help of God’s grace in their time of

great need.

To assist the U.S. bishops in our continuing reflection upon the dignity of the human person in health care and the life sciences, the National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC) was established in 1972.

Staffed with leading experts on bioethics, they provide a wealth of information and resources on key bioethics topics. I encourage clergy and laity alike to familiarize yourselves with their website at https://www. ncbc.org and to avail yourselves of the information they offer.

One four-page document the NCBC offers that I highly recommend is “A Catholic Guide to Endof-Life Decisions.” It also includes an “Advance Care Plan” (Catholic Living Will) and “Appointment of Healthcare Agent” (someone who makes medical decisions for you when you are consciously not able to). These two documents are essential and satisfy the requirements of hospitals for such and I highly recommend their use in place of living wills that often contain options that are contrary to the Church’s moral teaching.

Another very short document

that can be easily googled and read online is the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops document, “Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services, Sixth Edition” (ERD).

I encourage everyone to read its preamble and introduction (about three pages in length), along with part five, “Issues in Care for the Seriously Ill and Dying” (also three pages in length). For within these few pages you will find the guiding principles needed to help you when faced with difficult treatment options. Part five contains a short introduction and 12 directives, each of only one to four sentences in length. Six of these short directives (ERD Nos. 56 – 61) are of particular importance in helping us in our difficult medical decisions.

Treatment options can be categorized between those we should accept as “ordinary/proportionate” and those that are optional or “extraordinary/disproportionate.”

These are explained in ERD nos. 56 and 57.

Unfortunately, there is no black and white list of what treatments are obligatory or optional. Sometimes we can be faced with a very large gray area of questions and only a fringe of what is clear regarding treatment choices. Treatments that we should accept or that might be considered optional can be different based upon a person’s age or the changing circumstances of one’s condition during the course of treatment. In Catholic teaching, there is no obligation to continue a treatment if the benefits erode or the burdens prove too great.

Some treatments are obligatory Bishop continued on page A9

Bishop Stika’s calendar of upcoming events February Prayer Intentions “For a generous welcome of the victims of human trafficking, of enforced prostitution, and of violence.”

–– Pope Francis ”Let us pray for married couples and for those who are about to receive the sacrament of marriage. May God bless these couples with a faithful obedience to each other, and to Scripture, as they begin or continue their journey together in life.”

–– Bishop Stika

A2 n FEBRUARY 3, 2019

n Feb. 1: 8:05 a.m. Mass at the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus for Catholic Schools Week n Feb. 2: 10 a.m. Mass and dedication of altar at St. Teresa of Kolkata Church in Maynardville n Feb. 4-6: Gatlinburg study days with Diocese of Knoxville presbyterate n Feb. 19-20: Province meeting in Louisville n Feb. 21: 6 p.m., Knights of Columbus clergy appreciation dinner at St. John Neumann Parish in Farragut n Feb. 22: Tennessee Catholic Public Policy Commission meeting n Feb. 23: 5 p.m. confirmation at St. Elizabeth Church in Elizabethton n Feb. 24: 5:30 p.m. confir-

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mation at St. Jude Church in Chattanooga n March 2: 11 a.m., confirmation at St. Mary Church in Oak Ridge n March 2: 4:30 p.m. confirmation at St. John Neumann Church in Farragut n March 3: 10:30 a.m., confirmation at Holy Spirit Church in Soddy-Daisy n March 3-5: visit Diocese of Knoxville seminarians at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary in St. Louis n March 6: Ash Wednesday n March 9: 1 p.m., Rite of Election for Chattanooga and Five Rivers deaneries at the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus n March 9: 5 p.m., annual Scouts Mass and gathering at the Cathedral of the Most

Sacred Heart of Jesus n March 10: 4 p.m., Rite of Election for Cumberland Mountain and Smoky Mountain deaneries at the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus n March 12: General priest meeting at the Sacred Heart Cathedral parish hall n March 14: 5 p.m., Catholic Charities of East Tennessee annual dinner in Knoxville n March 15: 9:30 a.m., diocesan Financial Council meeting at the Chancery n March 16: 9 a.m., Mass for women’s Lenten retreat at All Saints Church in Knoxville n March 16: 5:30 p.m., confirmation at St. Dominic Church in Kingsport Schedule continued on page A15

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FEBRUARY 3, 2019 n A3

Capturing time in a capsule St. Mary-Oak Ridge ends 75th-anniversary year with a historical nod to parish’s next generation

By Dan McWilliams

DAN MCWILLIAMS (2)

P

arishioners of St. Mary in Oak Ridge in 2043 will learn what life was like in 2018 when they open up a time capsule left by students and members of the parish Dec. 12.

A time capsule ceremony concluded 75th-anniversary events for St. Mary Parish.

A concrete and brick structure made by longtime parish volunteer Lawrence O’Roark will hold the capsule. Parish pastor Father Brent Shelton said that enclosure’s existence will prevent a reoccurrence of what happened with the 50th-anniversary time capsule.

“Actually they had one for the 50th anniversary, but we don’t really know where it is,” he said. “It’s here somewhere, so at some point in the future someone I’m confident will find it. But this one will be marked in the concrete to open in 2043, the 100th anniversary.”

Students and parishioners each took part in the time capsule project.

“I am very excited about it,” said Sister Marie Blanchette, OP, principal of St. Mary School. “St. Mary’s has a unique history, as does the city of Oak Ridge, and it was so much fun to read the letters that the students wrote to the future generations of St. Mary’s, letters to the parishioners of 2043 telling them what life is like now and what they think life will be like in 25 years. I would love to be here when the time capsule is opened in 2043.”

Every homeroom wrote one letter, Sister Marie Blanchette said.

“All of the students signed their classroom letter,” she said. “Our 5-year-olds who wrote a letter, when they come back in 25 years, they’re going to be surprised to find their name on one of the letters. That’ll be an exciting thing to see.

“Some of them talked about the things that they have today. We think that St. Mary’s in the future is going to have a lot more students, a lot more parishioners. We think tuition is going to be cheaper—I hope that’s true. They asked if they knew some of the things that the kids know now, some of the games that they play now; they wanted to know if the people of 2043 still had those same things.”

Organizations within the parish also took part in the time capsule project.

“We got the different groups in the parish to write letters, so the Knights of Columbus, the CCW, St. Vincent de Paul Society—all these different groups contributed letters also,” Father Shelton said.

“They focused on two things basically: they wanted to describe what life is like today and also to talk to the people in the future and tell them what they think things will be like and offer them some words of encouragement.”

The capsule ceremony ended the months-long celebration of St. Mary’s 75th anniversary.

“We’ve had events each month since Pente-

Set in stone Father Brent Shelton, pastor of St. Mary Parish in Oak Ridge, places a time capsule in a stone-and-concrete receptacle, where it will remain until 2043. cost, so this concludes our celebrations for our 75th,” Father Shelton said.

The St. Mary pastor addressed an audience at the time capsule ceremony that included the entire school body and a number of parishioners.

“I want you all to make a promise that you will meet back here in this spot in 25 years,” he said. “The time capsule will be sealed over there where the original flagpole was, beneath concrete. By then you’ll have an app on your phone that will open up a conHands-on experience St. Mary students pass the time capsule crete [structure].” among themselves so all could touch it before it was sealed.

Before it was sealed in concrete, the time capsule was passed among students and kids are going to be able to look back to the anniadults so that everyone could touch it one last versaries of St. Mary’s and the time capsule. It’ll time before it disappeared for 25 years. be exciting for them.”

“Just think: a lot of you will be married and Mrs. Rivas has seen her children and grandwill have children when you come here to open children pass through St. Mary, she said. up the time capsule in 25 years,” Father Shelton “I came to Oak Ridge in ’43 with my family, so told the students.

I was just a young kid,” she said. “I’ve watched Charter parishioner and former St. Mary St. Mary’s grow a whole lot, with the school and School parent and basketball coach Pearlie Rivas the kids.” said the time capsule was a good idea.

She said the time capsule was a “very nice” “I think it’s going to be good for the kids,” she way to celebrate the 75th anniversary. said. “I was raised in Oak Ridge, so I look back “I don’t know who thought of it, but I think at the early days of Oak Ridge, and now these it’s a great idea.” ■

Retreat continued from page A1

into several books on spirituality.

In recent years, he has devoted his vocation primarily to spiritual direction and preaching retreats.

The Community of the Beatitudes is an Ecclesial Family of Consecrated Life founded in France in 1973. The Community of the Beatitudes gathers faithful from all states of life (married or unmarried lay people, seminarians, priests, permanent deacons, men and women consecrated) who wish to conform as closely as possible to the model of the early Christian community through the common life, the sharing of goods, voluntary poverty, and an intense sacramental and liturgical life. Members of the community (which has a contemplative vocation based on Carmelite spirituality) are actively engaged in the service of the poor and the proclamation of the Gospel.

Father Philippe is in demand as a speaker and retreat leader, especially when Catholics enter the Lenten season. His insight into growing closer to God can yield unexpected guidance as he challenges retreat participants to consider God and Jesus in new ways.

Father Philippe believes it is imperative that Catholics develop a personal relationship with God and find peace within Him at a time in the world when there is so much violence and evil.

“We need it — peace — to be free and to be open to God,” he said. “It’s not easy to find peace today—just watch television. We need to be open to God and speak to Him through prayer. He is the God of peace.”

In previous spiritual retreats where he has focused on the season of Lent, Father Philippe has talked about how Catholics think they A4 n FEBRUARY 3, 2019

Welcome to the Diocese of Knoxville Father Jacques Philippe will lead one of his acclaimed spiritual retreats in Knoxville Feb. 28-March 4. know exactly what God wants us to give up in preparation for the Easter Triduum, but often God has something else in mind. While Catholics tend to look at Lenten plans as a checklist of things we need to do better to become holy, God really wants us to sit face-to-face with Jesus and let Him transform us.

The conversion God most often wants for us is not to work harder but become more peaceful.

Citing the beatitudes, Father Philippe has said happy are those who are able to receive the peace of God and share it with those around them. He calls for Catholics and Christians to be open to God and to speak to Him through prayer.

“He is the God of peace. We must welcome this peace. It is mostly a question of faith and to be open to God’s mercy. We need that,” Father Philippe said.

The Community of Beatitudes priest is sensitive to the struggles people face in life, especially in the current climate where peace is at a premium.

“When we are in contact with God, He speaks through us. So, we must keep this personal relationship with God. I think it is more important to keep this compact with God for faith through prayer and trust in Him,” he said.

Father Philippe has related six attitudes to help Catholics become more peaceful and accepting of God’s peace: faithfulness to prayer, faith and trust, understanding that pride is an enemy of peace, the capacity to forgive and to ask for forgiveness, welcoming your life as it is, and living one day at a time.

Father Philippe preaches that there are simple steps every one of us can take to strengthen our personal relationship with God. “We must learn these and practice them. They include finding peace, practicing personal prayer and learning how to pray, and having an encounter with God. We just have to trust God and pray,” he said. “We don’t need to be scientists and theologians. We must just keep faith and this compact with God.”

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It doesn’t take those attending Father Philippe’s talks long to see that he intends to get across the point that prayer life is important. He has been traveling the world for seven years preaching his message that we don’t have to be perfect. We just need to accept God’s joy and trust in Him. He advises his audience to be simple in prayer life and to grow closer to God through everyday trials and struggles in life.

Getting through personal strife and the public tumult that people face daily is possible through a deeper relationship with God, Father Philippe believes, and the key to achieving that peace is a commitment to prayer life and a personal relationship with God. Father Philippe is confident his message has been well-received at the places where he has spoken and led retreats. He also preaches that God must be accessible for people to benefit from His love and mercy.

“I want to make the beauty and wisdom of the Gospel accessible.

We can find what we need for daily life in the Gospel, and we can make it accessible and understandable for daily life,” Father Philippe said.

“This is my desire: to offer encouragement and speak of the love of God, how to be a better Christian and be transformed by God’s tenderness and mercy.”

Father Philippe’s upcoming visit will be his first in the Diocese of Knoxville, although he said he spoke in Nashville about three years ago at the invitation of the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia Congregation. While he lives in France, he said he spends about two months of each year in the United States, where he travels around the country giving talks and leading spiritual retreats. ■ TH E EA S T TEN N ES S EE C A TH OLI C

Chattanooga judge clears way for exhumation of Fr. Ryan remains Chancellor rules Diocese of Knoxville has authority to relocate priest’s body as part of sainthood cause

By Bill Brewer

JIM WOGAN

A

Hamilton County Chancery Court has given the Diocese of Knoxville permission to exhume the remains of Father Patrick J. Ryan from Chattanooga’s Mount Olivet Cemetery, which allows the priest’s cause for sainthood to move forward.

Chancellor Jeffrey Atherton on Jan. 14 granted a petition by the diocese for permission to have Father Ryan’s remains exhumed and returned to the Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul, where they will be entombed in a special crypt inside the basilica.

The diocese had sought the required permit to remove Father Ryan’s body from the cemetery as part of the process toward canonization. Exhumation of remains usually is done as part of causes for sainthood to establish the identity of the sainthood candidate and ascertain the condition of the candidate’s remains. If there is no evidence of corruption of the body, as has been recorded in a number of cases, the incorrupt body adds to the cause of the candidate’s sainthood.

However, there is no clear statutory procedure in Tennessee to exhume the body of a priest a diocese hopes to canonize.

Chattanooga lawyer Terrance Jones, a basilica parishioner who is assisting the church and diocese in legal matters involving the sainthood cause, explained that in nearly all probate cases, only a decedent’s next of kin can petition a court or government agency for permission to exhume remains.

But since Father Ryan, who died on Sept.

28, 1878, during the historic Chattanooga yellow fever outbreak, has no living relatives and there are no clear legal guidelines in Tennessee for requests to exhume a body for possible sainthood by unrelated individuals or religious organizations, the Hamilton County Department of Health sought legal clarification.

In a lawsuit filed Nov. 9, the Diocese of Knoxville petitioned Hamilton County Chancery Court for an order requiring the health department to issue the exhumation permit.

In an unusual move and to apparently add

Continuing the cause Father David Carter, right, rector of the Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul in Chattanooga, and Deacon Gaspar DeGaetano, who also serves at the basilica, display a prayer card devoted to Father Patrick Ryan’s cause for sainthood. levity to the precedent-setting decision, Chancellor Atherton took the bench Jan. 14 and promptly played the old song “Dem Bones Dem Bones Dem Dry Bones” over the courtroom speakers before hearing the diocese’s petition.

“He said, ‘far be it from me to stop the cause for sainthood,’” said Deacon Gaspar DeGaetano, who attended the hearing. “Much of what he (Chancellor Atherton) does is routine, but he was looking forward to hearing this firstof-its-kind case.”

Mr. Jones further explained that the Hamilton County Department of Health wasn’t

fighting the diocese’s petition, it was only seeking answers to questions and concerns that state law didn’t address.

“The county wasn’t sure the court had authority to grant the petition,” Mr. Jones said.

“It ended up being collaborative. The county just had to do some due diligence on their part in determining the court had authority.”

When he filed the exhumation petition for the Catholic Church, Mr. Jones said the Tennessee legislature did not anticipate that the Church might pursue a cause of sainthood in Tennessee when it crafted its exhumation law.

Sainthood continued on page A9

U.S. bishops: Sr. Thea Bowman cause for sainthood can move forward Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration from Mississippi was first African-American woman to address the USCCB

S

ister Thea Bowman was the first African-American woman to address the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Most likely, she was also the first person to get them to hold hands and sing and sway to a Negro spiritual.

“We shall overcome,” she intoned at their 1988 spring meeting in her signature rich voice, before exhorting the bishops to join in with a hearty, “Y’all get up!”

Sister Thea, a Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration, a daughter of the Deep South, and the granddaughter of a slave, was sick from battling cancer and confined to a wheelchair at the time.

But that didn’t stop the 51-year-old from doling out more instructions when the stiff group still wasn’t swaying to her satisfaction: “Cross your right hand over your left hand, you gotta move together to do that,” she said as the bishops crossed arms and held hands before continuing.

“See in the old days you had to tighten up so that when the bullets would come, so that when the tear gas would come, so that when the dogs would come, so that when the horses would come, so that when the tanks would come, brothers and sisters would not be separated from one another,” she told the bishops, referring to the days of the civil rights movement.

“And do you remember what they did with the bishops and the clergy in those old days? Where’d they put them? Right up in front. To lead the people in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in the Church,” she said.

That keynote showcased Sister Thea in her element — sharing her faith and love of God, urging racial awareness and reconciliation within the Catholic Church, joyfully belting out Gospel hymns, and convincing everyone around her to join in.

Now, nearly 30 years after her death, Sister Thea was once again featured at the U.S bishops’ conference — but this time, they voted to approve the opening of her cause for canonization.

The precocious ‘old folks child’

Sister Thea was born Bertha Bowman on Dec. 29, 1937, in Yazoo City, Miss., the only daughter to her father, TH E EAST T E N N E S S E E C A T HO L I C

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE/BEATRICE NJEMANZE, MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC

By Mary Rezac/CNA-EWTN News

Servant of God Sister Thea Bowman, a Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration from Canton, Miss., was nationally known for her work to advance the life of her fellow black Catholics in the Church.

March 30 marked 25 years since she died in the Canton, Miss., home where she grew up.

ologies were such that, without effort, I remember their teachings today.”

The religious vitality of her surroundings sent the young Bertha on her own “spiritual quest” of sorts, and she sat in on religious services at many of the different churches in town. At the Catholic church, she was one of just a few black people there, relegated at the time to the back pews.

Ultimately, it was the witness of the love and service of Catholic sisters, specifically the Franciscan order that she would eventually join, that convinced her to become Catholic at the young age of 9.

“Once I went to the Catholic Church, my wanderings ceased. I knew I had found that for which I had been seeking. Momma always says, God takes care of babies and fools,” she wrote in an autobiography in 1958.

By all accounts, her parents were supportive of the little convert, and

enrolled her in Holy Child Catholic School following her conversion, where she became enthralled with the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration from Wisconsin, who were serving there.

Besides her religious seeking, her heart for God also manifested itself in other ways, said Father Maurice Nutt, a Redemptorist priest and former student of Sister Thea who is now the diocesan promoter of her cause for canonization.

“When lunchtime would come, she would notice children who didn’t have any food, and so she would take her lunch and she would give it to them.

And they would say, ‘Bertha, don’t you want to eat?’ And she would say, ‘No, I’m not very hungry today,’” he said.

“So her concern as a child was to feed the poor, she wanted to help those who were marginalized in any way.”

Sister Thea continued on page A13

a family doctor, and her mother, an educator. The family resided in Canton, Miss., a town 30-some miles to the southeast of Yazoo City.

She was the granddaughter to slaves, and her maternal grandmother was a prominent educator in the area after whom the local school was named.

From an early age, Bertha self-identified as an “old folks child,” her parents having been middle-aged by the time she was born. She was doted on by aunts, uncles, and grandparents during her childhood. Her mother taught her to read, her father taught her some of the basics of first aid.

One thing Bertha learned early on from the “old folks” in her life was what she would affectionately call “old time religion.” Her parents were Methodist, and the Bible-belt town was full of active parishes of all Christian denominations.

In the book Sister Thea: Songs of my People, she recalled: “Many of the best (religion) teachers were not formally educated. But they knew Scripture, and they believed the Living Word must be celebrated and shared...Their teachings were simple. Their teachings were sound,” she said. “Their methodw ww.di o k no x .o rg

FEBRUARY 3, 2019 n A5

Paulist Fathers mark bicentennial of founder Fr. Isaac Hecker Immaculate Conception, St. John XXIII schedule events to celebrate as cause for sainthood moves forward

By Bill Brewer

torists religious congregation a year later.

He was ordained a priest on Oct. 23, 1849, in London, and he served as a parish priest and chaplain in England. Two years later the Redemptorists returned him to the United States, where he worked as a missionary from 1851-1857.

Fr. Hecker Father Franco described Father Hecker as someone who was very interested in evangelizing the United States and, with several Redemptorists colleagues, set out to convert natives of the United States.

After Father Hecker and the Redemptorists clashed over his evangelization vision, he was expelled from the religious order. However, Pope Pius IX recognized Father Hecker’s valuable role in evangelizing in the United States and gave permission in March 1858 to him and three others to form the Paulist Fathers order in New York within the Church of St. Paul the Apostle.

On Dec. 22, 1857, Father Hecker told Pope Pius IX the Catholic faith would overcome divisions in American society, in which the split between Catholics and Protestants was pervasive, and the impending Civil War, which split the country down the middle.

Father Franco also described Father Hecker as a priest and parish pastor who traveled the country giving talks about Catholicism and its role in unifying the country and who started Paulist Press and authored three books, “Questions of the Soul,” “Aspirations of Nature,” and “The Church and the Age,” which expressed his philosophy on Catholicism.

“The Paulist Fathers Mass for a Servant of God Deacon Joe Stackhouse proclaims the Gospel have grown since then, during Mass with Paulist Fathers Donald Andrie, Tim Sullivan, Jim Haley, staffing parishes and and Ronald Franco. Also present is Deacon Doug Bitzer and cantor Aman- university centers, Pauda Peavyhouse. list Press, Paulist Pro-

World Youth Day, led by Pope Francis, takes place in Panama

By Catholic News Service

I

f there was a common denominator, aside from the Christian faith, that united most pilgrims heading to the opening Mass for World Youth Day 2019 in Panama, it was that each person, in his or her own way, faced a challenge back home.

Pilgrims from places such as El Salvador, Zimbabwe, and the Dominican Republic spoke of increasing violence, political or otherwise, threatening their general populations. Others from places such as Australia and the United States spoke of growing secularism affecting the religious beliefs of their peers.

They looked forward to seeing Pope Francis.

And yet, almost every one of them wore a smile and more importantly, many of them expressed the belief that most of the problems had a solution and that each could be overcome with a belief in a Christ who offers, not riches, nor power, but hope — to help themselves and to help others.

“I want to be ignited to give hope to more people,” said Jesuit Father Ignatius Padya, 34, who was traveling with a group of pilgrims from Zambia, Mozambique, and his own country of Zimbabwe in southern Africa to the opening Mass Jan. 22 of the international event organized by the Catholic Church, which also welcomed other Christians and those of other religious or no spiritual beliefs.

One thing he realized, Father Padya said, is that for people in Latin America, compared to those in Africa, “our histories and experiences are similar,” he said. He wanted the young pilgrims he traveled with to understand that just as Latin America has a history of pain, it also has a history of faith and beauty, and the people in the region have A6 n FEBRUARY 3, 2019

something to offer — and Africans, no matter what challenges they face, also have gifts to offer.

The theme of the 2019 World Youth Day, the first Marian one used in the event’s history, encouraged that attitude: “I am the servant of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word,” recalling Mary’s response to God. Archbishop Jose Ulloa Mendieta, who celebrated the opening Mass in Panama City’s Campo Santa Maria la Antigua, said it was his hope that the Church’s teachings, the sacraments, the kinship of the event would bring about an encounter with Jesus Christ for those facing challenges and help them confront certain feelings within, particularly the “anti-values” of a system that offers a false sense of happiness.

Just as in the time of Christ, young people today seek “witness,” Archbishop Mendieta said, and offered those at the Mass an array of model saints from Latin America. All of them show, he said, that a life of sanctity is possible in all cultures, in all ethnicities, without regard to gender, nor age.

A giving of one’s life for God and neighbor is the road to sanctity, he said. Saints, he said, defend the defenseless: the unborn, the one born in misery, migrants. He told them not to be afraid of that kind of sainthood. A saint is not one chosen simply to place a face on a prayer card.

A saint goes against the current, he said. And this is what the pilgrimage of World Youth Day is about.

“Don’t be afraid, be courageous to be a saint in today’s world,” he concluded. “You’re not renouncing your youth or happiness.”

Finally, he implored: “Keep making the adults nervous, keep detaching yourselves from the things that tie us down and won’t let us be true Christians.” ■

BILL BREWER (2)

T

he Paulist Fathers at Immaculate Conception and St. John XXIII parishes are marking the bicentennial of founder Father Isaac Hecker’s birth with a number of events as the Paulist priest’s cause for sainthood advances.

Father Ronald Franco, CSP, pastor of Immaculate Conception in Knoxville, said the year of celebration to honor Servant of God Hecker will include an April 28 concert at Immaculate Conception featuring 19th-century music of the genre he would have heard.

Also planned for the downtown Knoxville parish are a “What Father Hecker Ate” dinner, featuring dishes popular during the priest’s life from 1819-1888, and a spiritual retreat on Father Hecker’s vision.

Similar celebrations will be held at Paulist parishes and facilities elsewhere in the United States and at the American parish in Rome.

Father Franco, who is the local religious superior for Paulist priests in the Diocese of Knoxville, explained that Father Hecker was a convert to Catholicism who grew up in a German-Dutch family in New York City, and while he was interested in religion at an early age, he was of no particular religious denomination.

The Servant of God’s older brothers had a bakery business and could support their younger brother’s search for religious identity. On Aug. 1, 1844, Isaac Hecker joined the Catholic Church and became affiliated with the Redemp-

Celebrating Father Hecker Paulist priests serving the Diocese of Knoxville are shown at Immaculate Conception Church following a Dec. 18 Mass launching the bicentennial of Paulist Fathers founder Father Isaac Hecker’s birth.

Father Ronald Franco, CSP, left center, is joined

by Father Jim Haley, CSP, left, Father Tim Sullivan, CSP, second from right, and Father Donald Andrie, CSP, right, as they stand under a quilted banner for Father Hecker created by the Immaculate Conception women’s quilting group. Not pictured is Father Bob O’Donnell, CSP. ductions, and Busted Halo,” Father Franco said, crediting Father Hecker’s vision of evangelization in the United States.

“He felt strongly that the Catholic Church was the vehicle to help Catholics become effective disciples,” Father Franco added. “What he says is very 19th century, but it’s very relevant today for the faithful. Hecker had great confidence in the ability of the Catholic faith to speak to American people.”

The Paulist Fathers have been in Knoxville since 1973, when the Diocese of Nashville asked them to staff Immaculate Conception and the John XXIII University Parish and Catholic CenFather Hecker continued on page A14

In the Footsteps of St. Paul Pilgrimage to

GREECE

www.di o k no x .o rg

Fr. Michael Maples Pilgrimage Spiritual Director

12 Days

April 30-May 11, 2019

For More Information Contact:

We share your faith

Lisa Morris at 865-567-1245 lisam@select-intl.com www.selectinternationaltours.com

TH E EA S T TEN N ES S EE C A TH OLI C

JIM WOGAN

COURTESY OF KNOXVILLE CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL

Lives in the balance Hundreds of thousands of pro-life supporters descended on Washington, D.C., Jan. 18 to participate in the annual March for Life. Despite the overwhelming turnout, the march received little media coverage.

JIM WOGAN

COURTESY OF NOTRE DAME HIGH SCHOOL

Show of support Knoxville Catholic High School students gather in front of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. With them are Father Michael Hendershott, seminarian Wojciech Sobczuk, Sister John Catherine Kennedy, OP, and Sister Mara Rose McDonnell, OP.

The pro-life generation Students from Notre Dame High School in Chattanooga attended the March for Life. Father Christopher Floersch, Sister Mary Rebekah Odle-Kemp, OP, and Sister Scholastica Neimann, OP, joined the group.

March continued from page A1

In addition to the group traveling from St. Thomas, diocesan March for Life organizer Donna Jones led 122 students and chaperones from parishes that included St. Jude, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, St. Stephen, and the Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul in Chattanooga.

Their two-bus caravan also included participants from the parishes St. Augustine in Signal Mountain, St. Bridget in Dayton, St. Thérèse of Lisieux in Cleveland, St. Mary in Oak Ridge, Notre Dame in Greeneville, and St. Michael the Archangel in Erwin. Father Christopher Floersch, spiritual director at Notre Dame High School, joined the group.

Knoxville Catholic High School traveled to Washington with 64 students and chaperones, including organizer Danielle Sanok. Father Michael Hendershott, co-chaplain at KCHS and associate pastor at Holy Ghost Parish in Knoxville, and Wojciech Sobczuk, a seminarian of the Diocese of Knoxville, were part of the group.

KCHS students arrived in Washington on Jan. 17 and attended a Mass led by Father Hendershott at the St. John Paul II Shrine with students from across the United States.

For the Chattanooga and Lenoir City groups, Thursday night blended softly into Friday morning at some point on their bus journeys along Interstate 81 in Virginia.

Both groups arrived at the Capital One Arena in Washington at around 5:30 a.m., and by 6 a.m. most of them had taken their seats inside the arena for a youth rally and Mass. Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States, was the main celebrant of the Mass, which was attended by nearly 18,000 worshipers.

“It was pretty rough getting here, but I think it’s all worth it just to help end abortion,” said Kimberly Gonzalez, a freshman at Loudon High School and a parishioner at St. Thomas.

Both Kimberly and Denny and the other students from across the Diocese of Knoxville are members of what organizers have called “The Pro-Life Generation.”

“They talk about the pro-life generation and it truly is. What I try to get our kids to understand is they need to change their friends, and to get their friends to think that abortion is something that should be re-thought,” said Kevin Cooney, director of the Youth and Family Ministry at St. Thomas the Apostle.

TH E EAST T E N N E S S E E C A T HO L I C

“Teenagers are going to talk to teenagers a lot more than they’re going to talk to adults.”

Following Mass, the Capital One Arena emptied and worshipers joined thousands of other march participants as they made their way along F Street to the National Mall. By noon, the diocesan participants, some who were attending their first march, began to realize the magnitude of the event and the size of the movement they have become part of.

“On our way back from the march on the bus every year, they, especially the public school youth, are in awe of the larger Church,” Ms. Jones said.

“They are amazed at how many religious, especially the many bishops, who attend and concelebrate at the youth rally and Mass, and the Mass at the basilica. Being there, along with (hundreds of thousands) of other pro-life people peacefully marching for life, praying on the bus, Mass with the larger Church, interacting with people from all over the United States, helps them grow stronger in their faith as young adults by putting their faith into action,” she added.

While there are other Marches for Life in other U.S. cities, including Knoxville, the Washington march has become an enduring symbol of the pro-life movement. In fact, with each turn of the head it was hard not to notice a sign or banner associated with dioceses and archdioceses in New York, Indiana, Louisiana, and Florida, and many other states.

The multitude of religious orders and clergy, marching side-by-side with laypeople in plain view of Washington’s monuments and the U.S. Capitol building, provided a tangible sense of credibility and hope.

“We started coming about 15 years ago,” said Curt Sheldon, a St. Thomas the Apostle parishioner. “It is great to see people from all over the country, young people, old people, priests, nuns, everything, to help you realize you’re not the only person.”

Mr. Sheldon was accompanied on the trip by his wife, Kay. “I think people’s hearts and minds are changing little by little,” Mrs. Sheldon said. “One of the speeches said ‘politicians aren’t going to solve the problem, only prayer can,’ and I think people’s hearts and minds are changing little by little with prayer,” she said.

It’s been almost 50 years since Roe vs. Wade, and organizers reminded marchers that since then 60 million lives have been ended by abortion.

Despite the numbers, diocesan lead-

Mass for the masses Teens and chaperones from the Diocese of Knoxville were among 18,000 worshipers to attend the March for Life Youth Rally and Mass at the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 18. ers remain optimistic that someday the efforts of marchers will pay off.

“Every year I am inspired by how the lives of my students are forever changed, for the better, by attending the March for Life,” said Ms. Sanok of Knoxville Catholic High School. “The joy that radiates from each of them proves to me that this is a movement

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worth believing in as the students come back knowing they can be the positive change that promotes the value of respecting all life and loving humankind, despite differences among us. They come back knowing they are not alone in their thoughts and are greatly inspired to do better for all life, not just the unborn.” ■

Pilgrimage to

POLAND including Budapest and Vienna

with Bishop Richard F. Stika and Deacon Sean Smith May 25-June 4, 2019

For More Information Contact:

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Lisa Morris at 865-567-1245 lisam@select-intl.com www.selectinternationaltours.com

FEBRUARY 3, 2019 n A7

Catholic Church offers teaching, guidance on end-of-life issues As medicine advances, caregivers seek information on faith-based ways to treat those ill and infirm

T

he court-ordered starvation and dehydration of Terri Schiavo in 2005 raised a number of issues — moral, legal, and constitutional — about the right to life and the so-called right to die. Most coverage of the case focused on the question of her guardian’s right to decide according to her alleged wishes and the due process of the judicial proceedings.

However, at base the question was a moral, not a legal one: under what conditions, if any, may a patient, a guardian, medical personnel, or civil authorities, withhold or withdraw nutrition and hydration?

Catholic teaching on extraordinary means says the natural law and the fifth commandment require that all ordinary means be used to preserve life, such as food, water, exercise, and medical care.

Since the Middle Ages, however, Catholic theologians have recognized that human beings are not morally obligated to undergo every possible medical treatment to save their lives.

Treatments that are unduly burdensome or sorrowful to a particular patient, such as amputation, or beyond the economic means of the person, or which only prolong the suffering of a dying person, are morally extraordinary, meaning they are not morally obligatory in a particular case. Medical means may be medically ordinary, but yet morally extraordinary.

The many advances in medicine during recent decades have greatly complicated the decision whether to undergo or forego medical treatment, since medicine can now save many people who would simply have been allowed to die in the past.

Further, having saved them, many people continue to live for long periods in comatose or semiconscious states, unable to live without technological assistance of one kind or another. The following

A8 n FEBRUARY 3, 2019

A helping hand The Catholic Church provides clear guidance on complicated end-of-life issues that many people, including caregivers, face.

See Bishop Richard F. Stika’s column on the sanctity of life from natural beginning to natural end on page A2. questions and answers can address some of the complexities of this issue.

Q. When may medical therapies, procedures, equipment, and the like be withheld or withdrawn from a patient?

A. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: (2278) Discontinuing medical procedures that are burdensome, dangerous, extraordinary, or disproportionate to the expected outcome can be legitimate; it is the refusal of “overzealous” treatment.

Here one does not will to cause death; one’s inability to impede it is merely accepted.

The decisions should be made by the patient if he is competent and able or, if not, by those legally entitled to act for the patient, whose reasonable will and legitimate interests must always be respected.

The key principle in this statement is that one does not will to

cause death. When a person has an underlying terminal disease, or their heart, or some other organ, cannot work without mechanical assistance, or a therapy being proposed is dangerous, or has little chance of success, then not using that machine or that therapy results in the person dying from the disease or organ failure they already have.

The omission allows nature to takes its course. It does not directly kill the person, even though it may contribute to the person dying earlier than if aggressive treatment had been done.

Q. Does this also apply to artificially provided nutrition and hydration?

A. Yes, when the moral conditions noted above are met. We must, therefore, ask the question “will the withdrawal of nutrition and hydration allow the person to die, or kill the person?” When it will allow a person to die from an underlying

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By EWTN News condition, rather than unnecessarily prolonging their suffering, it may be removed.

So, for example, in the last hours, even days, of a cancer patient’s life, or if a sick person’s body is no longer able to process food and water, there is no moral obligation to provide nutrition and hydration. The patient will die of their disease or their organ failure before starvation or dehydration could kill them.

However, when the withdrawal of nutrition and hydration is intended to kill the person, or will be the immediate and direct cause of doing so, quite apart from any disease or failure of their bodies, then to withdraw food and water would be an act of euthanasia, a grave sin against the natural law and the law of God. Q. What about the case of Terri Schiavo?

A. In Terri’s case, while there was some disagreement as to her exact medical condition, she was not dying. Indeed, when the other artificial means were withdrawn she continued to live, so that the withdrawal of her food and water directly caused her death. This was a violation of the natural law and the law of God. Q. You mention the natural law, what is it?

A. The natural law is morality, which reason can determine from the nature of man, without the assistance of God’s revelation. An example is the right to life. Almost all human societies throughout history, both religious and non-religious, have recognized that it is wrong to kill an innocent person.

This is a conclusion that reason can easily come to, since all human beings have an inborn desire to live.

From this natural law principle we can easily see that any action that directly and intentionally kills an innocent person is an unjust taking of a human life.

Therefore, withdrawing food and Care continued on page A12

TH E EA S T TEN N ES S EE C A TH OLI C

N.Y. bishops decry new law to expand abortion signed on Roe anniversary

By Catholic News Service

N

ew York state “has become a more dangerous one for women and their unborn babies” with the passage of a bill to expand abortion called the Reproductive Health Act and Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s signing it into law, said the New York State Catholic Conference.

“Today, New York state has added a sad chapter to this already solemn date of Jan. 22, the anniversary of Roe v. Wade,” the conference said in a statement.

“Many of the state senators and Assembly members who voted for this abortion expansion are moth-

ers themselves, who felt their child toss, turn, and kick in their womb, and delighted in the progress of their pregnancy,” the conference continued.

“Many others, as well as our governor, are fathers, who held their partner’s hand as they viewed the ultrasound videos, watched their child squirm, and rejoiced at the first sound of a heartbeat,” it said. “Many of these same officials were themselves born into lessthan-perfect conditions — poverty, health problems, disabilities, broken families.

“All overcame these issues to rise to leadership in our state, because their parents chose life for them,” it

added.

The new law was fully backed by Gov. Cuomo, a Catholic.

Ahead of the final vote, Albany Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger issued an open letter to Gov. Cuomo published Jan. 19 at evangelist.org, the website of The Evangelist, Albany’s diocesan newspaper.

He had urged Gov. Cuomo not to let the bill, which he termed a “Death Star,” become law and he warned that he and many fear it will lead to the determination that one day “being pro-life” will be “a hate crime in the state of New York.”

Two days before his letter appeared, the New York State Catholic Conference released a statement

signed by all the Catholic bishops of the state urging the bill not be passed.

Among its provisions are: granting nondoctors permission to perform abortions; removing protection for an infant accidentally born alive during an abortion; and allowing late-term abortions.

In its Jan. 22 statement, the Catholic conference thanks all who partnered with the Catholic Church “in the 12-year-long fight to stop this horrendous policy, and all pro-life New Yorkers who made their voices heard in an effort to stop it.”

“Let us all pray for the conversion of heart for those who celebrate this

er virtues, is the first step, at which the candidate becomes a Servant of God. The second step involves the bishop sending the formal report and request to Rome, where it is reviewed by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. Nine theologians read the material and determine whether there is enough cause to pass it on to the entire Congregation. Once the Congregation determines the candidate to be virtuous and heroic in his or her faith, he or she is declared Venerable.

The third step is beatification. If the candidate was a martyr, someone who died for their faith, he or she may be beatified and named “Blessed.” Otherwise, a miracle brought about by the intercession of the saint must occur and be verified by the Congregation. Once the person is beatified and named “Blessed,” he or she can be venerated, or officially honored in his or her city, diocese, region, or religious community.

The final step is canonization. After being beatified, another miracle is required for the person to be canonized and officially declared a saint. Once again, the miracle must have occurred as a result of the

candidate’s intercession. The prefect of the Congregation then sends the cause for canonization to the pope, who makes the final decision.

Once a person is canonized, he or she is officially declared a “Saint” at a special Mass celebrated by the pope.

Father Carter and Deacon DeGaetano are ready to move ahead with the process.

“We have the right now by this Chancery Court to order the exhumation of the body. This is one of the first steps in asking Rome for permission to move ahead with exhumation. Now, we will petition Rome with a design for a new tomb,” Father Carter said.

He noted that in working with the postulator for Father Ryan’s cause in Rome, the exhumation will involve professionals experienced in the process of removing and relocating human remains.

He explained that the postulator or his delegate will be on hand at the exhumation, as will a coroner, funeral home representatives, and Bishop Stika.

“We will collect the relics and remove the remains and transfer them to the basilica to be laid to rest in a sarcophagus inside the church in the basement underneath the 14th Station of the Cross,” Father Carter said, adding that the exhumation isn’t expected to take place until later this year after a basilica historical commission completes its report on Father Ryan as required by the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints.

On Sept. 28, 1878, Father Ryan died of yellow fever after he decided to stay in Chattanooga, where 80 percent of the population fled because of the epidemic, and minister to people who had fallen ill. He was 33.

Father Ryan’s grave lies on Priests’ Mound in the Mount Olivet

Cemetery in the East Ridge community of Chattanooga.

Father Carter, who also is a canon lawyer and diocesan vice chancellor for canonical affairs, has said the Catholic Church wants to exhume Father Ryan’s body for several purposes. One of the key reasons, he said, is that the body is brought into the Church for the edification of the faithful, “that the servant of God would be brought near to the faithful who are seeking his cause.”

He said a second reason is the Church wants to examine the status of the body to make sure that it has his body.

Though Father Ryan died of yellow fever, Father Carter said the Church consulted with experts who said there is little risk of exposure in opening the decades-old casket.

If Father Ryan is beatified, it will be in part because of an apostolic letter Pope Francis issued in July 2017, describing an alternate route to sainthood. In addition to their being martyred or displaying heroic virtue, Catholics can become saints if they “have voluntarily and freely offered their life for others and persevered with this determination unto death,” Pope Francis said.

Father Carter described this way as a combination of the two other criteria.

“Here we have a man of good morals and good virtue — even if he wasn’t going to be a Mother Teresa or a St. Francis — here he was and he knew that danger was afoot,” Father Carter said. “He knew that it was going to be detrimental to his life to stay and to minister to people with the yellow fever. But he did it anyway. And he did it out of Christian charity.”■

Regarding food and water (nutrition and hydration), it must be stated that the Gospel mandate to give food to the hungry and drink to the thirsty exists even in health care. Food and water, even when administered artificially through a tube, are not medical treatments but are to be considered a part of the ordinary care that a person should be given, along with being kept clean and comfortable. ERD No. 58 expresses this principle of basic care, which we should always presume in favor of.

While there may be exceptions when nutrition and hydration are optional — such as when it is “excessively burdensome for the patient or [would] cause significant discomfort,” as when someone is in the imminent stages of dying, we should never withdraw it (as is often done accompanied with terminal sedation). Removal of food and water should never be done to purposely advance or cause one’s death. Please take the time to read this most important ERD. The question of whether some treatments should be continued or withdrawn can be an agonizing decision. When it becomes clear that life support would not or will not provide any benefit or that the burdens will exceed the few benefits that can be expected, the decision can be made to withhold the treatment or to withdraw it.

The Church affirms that “when death is imminent, in spite of the means used, it is permitted in conscience to make the decision to refuse forms of treatment that would only secure a precarious and burdensome prolongation of life, so long as the normal care [such as nutrition and hydration] is not interrupted.” ERD No. 59 speaks to this difficult decision.

Unfortunately, fear — of aging, of feeling useless, of suffering, and death — frequently assails us along our earthly journey. Today’s “efficiency culture” contributes much to these fears and to the marginalization of those deemed to be a burden upon society. But we are stewards of God’s gift of life, not its master, and “the task of medicine is to care even when it cannot cure.” ERD No. 60 speaks to this and to the compassion and love that patients need in this most fragile stage of life.

Suffering, especially during the last moments of life, has a special place in God’s saving plan as a sharing in Christ’s redemptive suffering. But this does not mean we must forego pain treatments. The Church in fact teaches that patients should be kept free of pain as possible so as to die comfortably and with dignity.

That said, when at all possible, patients should not be deprived of consciousness without a compel-

ling reason. In some cases, however, one’s pain may be such that to adequately alleviate or suppress it may indirectly shorten the person’s life. Here, the intention is not to hasten one’s death, but to treat the pain. This is explained in ERD No. 61.

Because every illness brings its own particular glimpse of death, we should always seek the sacramental anointing of the sick. For as Scripture reminds us, “Is anyone among you sick? He should summon the presbyters of the church, and they should pray over him and anoint (him) with oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed any sins, he will be forgiven.” (James 5:14-15).

In the darkness of approaching death in the garden of Gethsemane, Peter, who had earlier professed his willingness to die at the side of Christ (cf. Luke 22:33), drew his sword out of fear. Jesus ordered it sheathed, for the sword can never be drawn if death is to be evangelized and the Gospel proclaimed to the dying person.

Every phase of our life, then, should be a meaningful preparation for our death, such that we can say with St. Thérèse of Lisieux, “It is not Death that will come to fetch me, it is the good God.” ■

Sainthood continued from page A5

Deacon DeGaetano, who serves at the basilica and also is the vice postulator for the cause for Father Ryan, said Chancellor Atherton’s ruling puts into place an early step needed for canonization.

While there is a long way to go in the Vatican process and sainthood is not certain, the Chattanooga priest has been declared Servant of God by virtue of Bishop Richard F. Stika and the Diocese of Knoxville finding Father Ryan and his priesthood worthy of investigation for sainthood.

Bishop Stika on June 14, 2016, signed a decree officially establishing the Diocese of Knoxville as the petitioner of the Cause of Beatification and Canonization of Rev. Patrick J. Ryan.

Father David Carter, rector of the Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul, is the episcopal delegate for the cause of sainthood.

The investigation initiated by Bishop Stika is focused on the life and death of Father Ryan. The case for Father Ryan is compelling, and officials at the Vatican have expressed encouragement. But the making of a saint isn’t easy. It involves countless hours of research and requires demanding scrutiny by those doing the vetting. Proof of a virtuous life and adherence to Catholic beliefs are just two of the requirements.

The confirmation of two miracles credited to the person considered for sainthood is mandatory. Final approval, in the form of canonization, comes from the pope.

The request for canonization, which includes asking the Vatican Congregation for the Causes of Saints for permission to open a special tribunal, a thorough report of the candidate, and witnesses who attest to the candidate’s goodness, holiness, devotion to God, and othBishop continued from page A2

and considered “ordinary” due to the benefit that can be reasonably expected. To help us further clarify what treatments are considered “ordinary,” another word is associated with it — “proportionate” — meaning the benefits of the treatment are proportionate or greater than the burdens that can be expected. Conversely, some medical treatments are not obligatory and can be considered “extraordinary” and therefore optional. Treatments that are optional can be considered such when the benefits hoped for would be “disproportionate” to the burdens.

By “burden” we mean those primarily to the patient that involve great effort (some means of treatment entail great difficulty), severe pain (that which exceeds what a person can bear), repugnance (psychological factors and dread of certain treatments), or even those that would involve great expense to the patient and family.

But as stated by the NCBC, “One must not overstate the burdens of treatment, just as one must avoid an irrational belief in the benefit of a medical intervention.” As with all our moral decisions, the weighing of benefits and burdens requires honest and prayerful discernment and we should invoke the Holy Spirit “who helps us in our weakness.”

TH E EAST T E N N E S S E E C A T HO L I C

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Abortion continued on page A14

Jim Wogan of the Diocese of Knoxville and Daniel Jackson of Courthouse News Service contributed to this report.

FEBRUARY 3, 2019 n A9

A Faithful Restoration

Basilica continued from page A1

A10 n FEBRUARY 3, 2019

Left: The restored basilica nave and sanctuary, including new altar, are awash in light on Dec. 23.

Below left: Father David Carter, basilica rector, addresses the congregation from the pulpit.

Below: Bishop Richard F. Stika sprinkles holy water on the new basilica altar.

Bottom: Bishop Stika anoints the new altar with sacred chrism.

BILL BREWER

CHRISTINA MARIE PHOTOGRAPHY (3)

ing program that led to the basilica restoration.

“I also want to express my gratitude to this basilica parish for all you do for the Church universal and the Church spread out through all of East Tennessee,” Bishop Stika then said.

A nearly standing-room-only congregation gathered for the Mass that featured music from English and Spanish choirs, adult and children’s scholas, as well as a Knights of Columbus honor guard.

While the restoration was extensive, it did not change the basilica’s historic structure highlighted by the traditional pulpit, the beautiful Stations of the Cross lining the nave walls, the life-size crucifix above the tabernacle, the choir loft, the pews, or the vaulted cathedral ceilings.

Bishop Stika began Mass by leaving no doubt what the focal point of the service would be.

“Every time I come to the basilica I love using that pulpit. But I’m not going to use it today because I wanted to emphasize something else: the altar of sacrifice,” Bishop Stika said. “Right now it is wood and stone from the Cumberland Mountains. And this is the chrism sitting on top. This is a product of nature. But through the prayers of the Church, through the invocation of the saints, and through my ministry as a successor of the apostles I’m today exercising the fullness of my ministry. I wear the chasuble of a priest; I wear the mitre of a bishop; and underneath I wear the dalmatic of a deacon.”

Bishop Stika pointed to a chrismaria holding the sacred chrism that he would use to anoint the altar.

He explained that he anoints the new altar with the same sacred chrism used to dedicate a new church, as he did with the new Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus on March 3. He pointed out the incense used to consecrate the altar rises to heaven much like our prayers do, and the altar is vested and candles are placed around it, making the statement that Christ is present.

“Christ is present in a very unique way in that altar. That is why we bow to it and honor it. …

Christ is here in a unique and special way anytime we gather around this altar, this table that is now dedicated and consecrated for sacred use where once again we hear the words, ‘this is my Body, this is my Blood given for you’; the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus,” the bishop said. “And from that sacrifice we are blessed so that we might receive the Eucharist, the Bread, which no longer is bread. The most precious Body of Jesus Christ himself, the Soul and Divinity. The same with the precious Cup containing the Blood of Jesus – the Soul and Divinity, so that the nourishment we receive from Christ might feed us.”

Bishop Stika made special mention of the relics placed in the new altar, relics of basilica namesakes St. Peter and St. Paul, and he told the congregation we must learn from all the saints that we honor.

Father Carter noted that the new altar is made of blue stone from the Cumberland Mountains and solid wood in keeping with traditional Church practice of an altar base made of wood and the altar table made of stone.

“As we gather together in this church … we invoke, we invite, we celebrate the presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity.

In His presence proclaiming the Gospel of the Word and in a unique and special way we take wood and stone from Tennessee and it becomes Christ in a particular way in the altar of sacrifice of Jesus,” Bishop Stika said during the Mass.

“Let us give thanks to God. Let us give thanks for all of those who have come before us who have allowed us to come together

Christ is present in a very unique way in that altar. That is why we bow to it and honor it. ... Christ is here in a unique and special way anytime we gather around this altar, this table that is now dedicated and consecrated for sacred use.

— Bishop Richard F. Stika

this day. Let us pray that all of the generations who follow us will give thanks for this restoration, for the beauty of this church where He has been honored by the Holy Father himself. Just as the incense will rise to the heavens as will our prayers, so does our gratitude to Him.” As Mass concluded, Bishop Stika shared an anecdote about the altar dedication. He said part of the original altar stone containing relics of Sts. Peter and Paul, which had been kept in a display cabinet in the vestibule since 1936, was to fit within the new altar. Just before the altar dedication Mass, it was discovered the temperature inside the basilica caused the stone to swell to a point where it wouldn’t fit in the new altar. Deacons Hicks Armor, Gaspar DeGaetano, and Tom McConnell thought to file down the sides of the stone piece and place it in a church freezer to try making it contract and fit. Their quick thinking proved successful.

Bishop Stika then led an ovation for Father Carter and the parish for their successful project.

Work on the basilica began in July, during which time the worship space was basically stripped down to the bare floors and walls. Carpet that served for decades as the floor surface was pulled up, revealing original heart pine floors dating to the church’s opening in 1890.

During the six-month project, all Masses were celebrated in Varallo Parish Hall in the basilica basement.

As the centerpiece of the project,

the new altar returns the table of sacrifice to virtually its original state once it was consecrated and dedicated by Bishop Stika. The basilica tabernacle also was moved back to a central point in the sanctuary rather than on a side altar, and the baptismal font was moved nearer the front of the nave near the sanctuary similar to the placement of the cathedral baptismal font.

An altar railing was re-installed between the nave and sanctuary, and the two side altars were restored using the altar marble tops that had been in place since 1936, when water and termite damage forced a renovation.

The basilica project is the result of the Home Campaign, in which all diocesan parishes participated.

Renovation and expansion projects have occurred throughout the diocese as part of the fundraising project.

“The Home Campaign has greatly impacted parishes all across the diocese. Through the generosity of so many across East Tennessee, individual parishes have been able to undertake significant projects such as this beautiful restoration at the basilica,” said John Deinhart, director of the diocesan Office of Stewardship and Strategic Planning.

“It’s wonderful to see the results of the hard work and sacrifice of so many as we look upon this incredible project. Whether it’s a major project like this or something more simple like a new roof or paying off a parish mortgage, supporters of

the Home Campaign have strengthened parishes all across the diocese.

What an incredible thing it is to witness what can be accomplished when we come together to share the many blessings God has given us,” Mr. Deinhart added.

Father Carter explained that a 2014 survey of basilica parishioners discovered that restoration of the basilica was their top goal for funds raised through the Home Campaign.

So a plan was put in place, a budget of $500,000 was set, and restoration experts were brought in to establish a scope of work.

One of those experts was architect James McCrery, who designed the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. Parishioners David Bryant, Deacon Armor, Mary Hertel, and Rick Thompson were among the members serving on the Basilica Renovation Committee.

When first queried in 2014 about what their Home Campaign project should be, parishioners responded that they wanted to see the worship space restored, the church nursery renovated, and upgrades in safety, security, and technology systems.

Those goals were achieved.

Once work was underway, Father Carter said contractors discovered that the basilica’s original electrical wiring was not grounded and recommended a comprehensive upgrade, which added to the scope and cost of the project. Unexpected architectural restoration in the vestibule, which uncovered original alcoves and vaulted ceilings long ago hidden, expanded the vestibule’s square-footage and also added to the project scope and cost.

Despite the additional costs, Father Carter said the project still was completed on time and under budget.

The rector pointed out that restoration of the basilica interior to its original wood construction was unintentional.

“It must have been the movement of the Holy Spirit because the wooden restoration fits the church and restores the original conception. We were just going for a basic restoraBasilica continued on page A11

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TH E EA S T TEN N ES S EE C A TH OLI C

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Covering the new altar Women from the Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul place fresh linens over the altar of sacrifice as part of the Rite of Dedication of an Altar during the Dec. 23 Mass to mark the basilica’s restoration.

Basilica continued from page A10

tion,” he said. “We have been successful in doing this project and staying within our budget. We did not incur any debt. We were able to utilize members of the parish and organize parish workdays to do a lot of the groundwork. In particular, besides the many Englishspeaking members who helped, our Hispanic community came out in full force.

“There is great community ownership of this basilica restoration project,” he added.

In addition to leading the project, Father Carter has been educating parishioners on the religious significance of the work done, and he preached on the importance of the altar dedication during Advent. That education extends to the greater Chattanooga community.

Sts. Peter and Paul’s pastor saw an opportunity to illustrate the basilica restoration in relation to issues the Catholic Church is facing regarding abusive priests.

“I made a concerted effort to catechize, to teach and form the people of our parish. Throughout the month of December I preached on the Rite of a Dedication of an Altar and I was able to make an analogy of what is going on in the Church with scandals and the restoring

TH E EAST T E N N E S S E E C A T HO L I C

of things that were lost to their rightful place,” Father Carter said.

“Even with the nail marks of abuse, our work has come out beautifully from His love and redemption of the world.”

It turns out that evangelization is another benefit of the project. The Chattanooga Bach Choir, collaborating with Voci Virili Men’s Consort and Voice of Reason Women’s Ensemble, presented Sergei Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil on Jan. 26 in the newly renovated space.

The concert was an opportunity to expose the Chattanooga community to the basilica’s beauty, according to Father Carter.

He said similarities in the basilica restoration and construction of the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus are intentional. He wanted to establish a direct link between the new mother church and the second oldest church in the Diocese of Knoxville.

Basilica parishioners believe the altar dedication Mass “was absolutely beautiful,” the priest noted.

“I hope they entered a deeper appreciation and understanding as a result of that catechesis and formation,” he said. “Whereas before the church was beautiful, now there is a wow factor, an immediate sense of wonder and awe.” ■

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FEBRUARY 3, 2019 n A11

Palliative care is pro-life response to euthanasia, experts say Pontifical Academy of Life program finds medical team, patient, and patient’s family should work together

Care continued from page A8

water from anyone who is not about to die and who can still tolerate it, has no other reasonable name than murder.

Q. What does the Church say about this?

A. The pope addressed this issue in an address to a group of physicians who were in Rome in March 2004 precisely to discuss it.

I should like particularly to underline how the administration of water and food, even when provided by artificial means, always represents a natural means of preserving life, not a medical act.

Its use, furthermore, should be considered, in principle, ordinary and proportionate, and as such morally obligatory, insofar as and until it is seen to have attained its proper finality, which in the present case consists in providing nourishment to the patient and alleviation of his suffering.

The obligation to provide the “normal care due to the sick in such cases” (1) includes, in fact, the use of nutrition and hydration, (2) the evaluation of probabilities, founded on waning hopes for recovery when the vegetative state is prolonged beyond a year, cannot ethically justify the cessation or interruption of minimal care for the patient, including nutrition and hydration.

Death by starvation or dehydration is, in fact, the only possible outcome as a result of their withdrawal.

In this sense it ends up becoming, if done knowingly and willingly, true and proper euthanasia by omission.

In this regard, I recall what I wrote in the encyclical Evangelium Vitae making it clear that “by euA12 n FEBRUARY 3, 2019

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE/PHILIPPE WOJAZER

A

group of physicians and other health-care experts are working with the Vatican to promote what they see as a sorely needed form of “advanced medical care” — palliative care, which is centered on pain relief and emotional, spiritual, and social support of patients with chronic, progressive diseases.

Under the auspices of the Pontifical Academy for Life, 13 experts from eight countries spent more than a year developing a “white paper for palliative care advocacy,” which was published in late September by the Journal of Palliative Medicine, a peer-reviewed publication.

Dr. Carlos Centeno, director of the Atlantes Research Group at the University of Navarra, Spain, and coordinator of the experts’ group, told reporters Sept. 27 that palliative care is “advanced medicine for the end of life,” a form of medicine that relies less on technology and more on human contact and a team approach to patient care.

Dr. Thomas Sitte, chairman of a German foundation devoted to palliative care, said that in his country, “we have a problem with over-treatment, over-treatment until the very end” of a patient’s life.

Often that treatment is aggressive, excessive, and painful, which almost naturally weakens the patient’s desire to live and increases the family’s suffering as well, he said. Palliative care is not a soft form of euthanasia, but it does accept the fact that some illnesses cannot be cured.

Dr. Centeno said that in some parts of the world palliative care and hospice care are nearly identical, especially because “the same spirit is behind them, the principles are the same: holistic care, family involvement, a team approach, and patientcentered care.”

In identifying individuals or categories of people to lobby and drawing up proposals, the 13 experts first looked to national policy makers, urging efforts to provide universal access to palliative care.

“Patients with chronic progressive diseases, such as cancer, congestive heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and HIV-AIDS develop severe physical, psychosocial, and spiritual symptoms before death,” they said. Palliative care can reduce much of their suffering, and

Pro-life care Nurses treat a patient in the palliative care unit of a hospital near Paris. Experts say palliative care is a pro-life response to euthanasia. “there is strong evidence that these benefits are accompanied by a reduction in the total cost of care.”

The experts called for mandatory undergraduate courses in palliative care for all medical and nursing studies and for the development of certification guidelines for health-care workers specializing in palliative care.

They also urged a special role for pharmacists in the palliative-care team since most patients will need to take multiple drugs and will have an increased risk of negative drug interactions.

Speaking to reporters, Dr. Sitte also highlighted the report’s insistence that governments and hospitals take seriously the World Health Organization’s identification of morphine as an “essential medicine.”

“Globally, a majority of patients die with severe pain without having ever received a single dose of morphine or other opioid analgesic,” the report said. Obviously the “abuse potential and adverse effects” must be considered and the drugs must be handled with care, but there is no other drug as effective in treating pain, especially in patients with cancer.

Governments and health-care providers must “recognize access to pain relief and palliative care as a basic right of the person and the family,” the report said.

Intentionally causing a patient’s death is different from accepting that a patient is dying, then providing emotional and spiritual support and

pain relief, a doctor who practices and promotes palliative care told an international congress on palliative care sponsored recently by the Pontifical Academy for Life.

Dr. Eduardo Bruera, medical director of the Department of Supportive Care Center at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, was one of the speakers at the international congress on palliative care held in Rome Feb. 28-March 1, 2018.

“The reality is that, in medicine, we have focused much more on disease than on patients,” Dr. Bruera said.

For example, he said, patients who report a “high-symptom burden” may be suffering from their cancer or from the toxicity of their treatment, but their situation also may be approaching the unbearable because they lost their job or are worrying about the impact of their illness on their families.

Palliative care, Dr. Bruera said, asks the medical team, the patient, and the family to work together to alleviate suffering, whether it is physical, emotional, or spiritual.

In a message to the conference at Rome’s Augustinian Patristic Institute, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, said palliative care involves “a rediscovery of the most profound vocation of medicine, which consists first of all in taking care of the patient. The doctor’s task always is to care, even when it is not possible to heal.”

Nutrition and hydration may only be discontinued when they cannot achieve their natural purposes, such as when the body can no longer process them, or, when during the death process they would only prolong the person’s suffering. If such a case, the patient dies of the underlying disease. On the other hand, if starvation and dehydration is the foreseeable cause of death, to withhold or withdraw nutrition and hydration is gravely immoral.

— The Holy Father thanasia in the true and proper sense must be understood an action or omission which by its very nature and intention brings about death, with the purpose of eliminating all pain”; such an act is always “a serious violation of the law of God, since it is the deliberate and morally unacceptable killing of a human person” (n. 65). [Pope John Paul II, To the Congress on LifeSustaining Treatments and Vegetative State, 20 March 2004]: (1) Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Iura et Bona, p. IV (2) cf. Pontifical Council “Cor Unum”, Dans le Cadre, 2, 4, 4; Pontifical Council for Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers, Charter of Health Care Workers, n. 120.

In this address, the Holy Father draws the following significant conclusions: n Food and water are natural means of sustaining life, not medical acts, even if delivered artificially. n Nutrition and hydration are ordinary and proportionate means of care. n Food and water are morally obligatory unless or until they cannot achieve their finality, which is providing nutrition and hydrating and alleviating suffering. n The length of time they are, or will be, used is not grounds for

withholding or withdrawing artificially delivered nutrition and hydration. n If the result of withholding or withdrawing nutrition and hydration is death by starvation and dehydration, as opposed to an undying disease or dysfunction, it is gravely immoral.

In summary, nutrition and hydration, like bathing and changing the patient’s position to avoid bedsores, is ordinary care that is owed to the patient. This is true even if it is delivered artificially, as when a baby is bottle-fed or a sick person is tube-fed.

Nutrition and hydration may only be discontinued when they cannot achieve their natural purposes, such as when the body can no longer process them, or, when during the death process they would only prolong the person’s suffering. If such a case, the patient dies of the underlying disease.

On the other hand, if starvation and dehydration is the foreseeable cause of death, to withhold or withdraw nutrition and hydration is gravely immoral.

Q. What can a person do to ensure that their wishes and their religious beliefs are respected by their family, medical personnel, and the courts?

A. The best way is by means of an

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By Catholic News Service

Obviously, he said, medicine and medical research have an enduring commitment to discovering new cures and defeating illness, but palliative care shows an awareness that, when everything medical has been attempted, limits must be “recognized and accepted.”

“When all the resources of ‘doing’ seem to be exhausted,” he said, “then comes the most important aspect of human relations, that of ‘being’: being present, being near, being accepting.”

For Christians, he said, that means “sharing the impotence of those reaching the end of life,” and making sure that the final phase of a person’s life on earth “is no longer a place of separation and solitude, but an occasion of encounter and communion.”

“Pain therapy” is a particularly sensitive area of palliative care, he said, noting that “already Pope Pius XII, distinguishing it from euthanasia, clearly gave legitimacy to the administration of analgesics to alleviate unbearable pain that could not be treated in any other way even when, in the phase of imminent death, it could cause a shortening of life.”

“Attentive discernment and much prudence” also is needed when determining the appropriate use of pharmacological sedation, “especially when prolonged and profound,” because it “annuls the relational and communicative dimension” of palliative care, especially its emphasis on family and community.

Prolonged sedation at the end of life, he said, “is, therefore, always partially unsatisfactory and so should be considered an extreme measure to be taken only after having examined and clarified its implications attentively.”

Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Academy for Life, said palliative care’s focus on communication among caregivers, patients, and family members is essential for overcoming the confusion and debate about “therapeutic obstinacy,” which is using “an excess of treatments that lead to useless suffering.”

“In other words,” he said, “doing everything possible — when understood in the sense of always using every means available — can mean doing too much.”

“Doing more does not always mean doing better,” the archbishop said. ■ Advance Directive that states the patient’s wishes with respect to aggressive medical treatment. There are two basic kinds, a Living Will by itself or an Advance Directive with a Durable Power of Attorney (or Proxy) for Health Care Decisions. The merits of each are as follows: n Living Will. By this document a person decides completely in advance whether they want to be kept alive by technology.

It is a “yes” or “no” statement, which then places the matter in the hands of the medical community.

Many Catholic bishops and moralists consider this an unsatisfactory approach, as it does not provide for unforeseen circumstances. Despite the enthusiasm of the media, many medical professionals, and sadly even some Catholic institutions, Living Wills are NOT the way to go! n Advance Directive with a Durable Power of Attorney or Health Care Proxy. These documents give to a friend or family member the authority to make health-care decisions according to one’s mind as expressed in an Advance Directive.

By appointing an agent, or giving someone durable power of attorney, the patient allows for unforeseen circumstances. By stating in an Advance Directive that one wants Catholic teaching adhered to, one can ensure that neither the agent or the medical institution will disregard that teaching.

Together they ensure that a trusted person, rather than strangers, will make circumstantially appropriate decisions, in keeping with the Faith. ■ TH E EA S T TEN N ES S EE C A TH OLI C

Sister Thea continued from page A5

Her mother soon caught on that Bertha was coming home from school hungry, and so the two of them began making extra peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for Bertha to give to her friends at lunchtime.

“So you’re seeing from a very early age that this woman, Thea Bowman, walked with God, she was close to God, God was everything to her, so she was his servant.”

Bertha becomes Thea

That strong sense of religiosity and wanting to serve others never left Bertha, and at the age of 15 she was determined to join the order of FSPA sisters that had taught at her school.

Her parents, neither yet Catholic, pleaded with her to reconsider, or to at least consider joining traditionally black orders of sisters that were much closer to home.

But the determined Bertha staged a hunger strike until her parents relented. She was accompanied by another sister on the long train ride to the FSPA motherhouse in La Crosse, Wis., with special permission to sit in the white passenger cars rather than in the baggage cars, as was mandated for blacks in the pre-civil rights movement days.

A couple years into formation, Bertha took the religious name of Thea.

Sister Rochelle Potaracke, FSPA, was a young sister at the time that Thea joined the convent in 1953.

She remembers Sister Thea as a happy and energetic young postulant, who stuck out in the state of Wisconsin, where very few black people lived at the time.

“I think we accepted (Thea) very well. We loved her dearly, she fit right in with all of us, she always had her singing and her enthusiasm,” she said.

“But it must have been terribly hard for her. I think of it now, I didn’t think of it then. I didn’t think ‘Oh, the poor dear,’ but I think now it had to be a challenge for her; she was in a whole new almost different country so to speak.”

According to a biography, Thea’s Song, after the newness of the convent experience wore off, Sister Thea experienced culture shock and blatant racism within and without the convent walls.

Sister Helen Elsbernd, who went through formation with Thea at the FSPA motherhouse, said Sister Thea didn’t mention anything to her fellow sisters about racial discrimination at the time.

“She didn’t talk about it. In the early years of formation she tried very hard to fit in with the culture here,” Sister Helen recalled.

‘Black is beautiful’: Sister Thea’s racial advocacy grows

Sister Thea’s cheerful energy would remain her signature trait as her passionate advocacy for racial integration

in the Catholic Church began to further develop.

Sister Rochelle, who spent time studying with Sister Thea during graduate school at The Catholic University of America, said that for years the sisters had been going to school at CUA, where they were simply known as the Franciscan sisters from Wisconsin.

That changed when Sister Thea came on the scene. Early into their days at CUA, Sister Thea and her fellow sisters attended a student event, during which Sister Thea leapt up to tell her story as a young black woman growing up in the South.

“Thea could just grab an audience any time she wanted, she could just spark life into the group that was in front of her,” Sister Rochelle recalled.

“She started singing these songs and everyone was clapping and dancing and jumping around. And after that time we were no longer the FSPA’s; it was oh, you’re Sister Thea’s group. I point that out because that’s the impression she made on people,” Sister Rochelle added.

As a CUA student, Sister Thea helped to found the National Black Sisters Conference and became a noted public speaker and advocate for African-Americans in the Church.

She advocated for encounter between white and non-white Catholics, for increased representation in Church leadership for non-whites, and for an embrace of music and traditions from different cultures into the Church.

As her racial advocacy grew, one of Sister Thea’s signature phrases became “black is beautiful.” “‘Black is beautiful,’ that’s what she would say all the time,” Sister Rochelle said.

It was a phrase that came from Sister Thea’s mother, who had tried to teach her from an early age to handle the racial discrimination that she experienced with love rather than hate.

“Her mother always said that she had to be honest and good to people.

Her mother said: ‘You can’t hate, because if you hate you will become like the people you want to hate. Remember, black is beautiful.’”

An impressive scholar, Sister Thea would eventually get her doctorate in English and spent several years teaching at Viterbo College in La Crosse, which was staffed by many FSPA sisters. During her time there, she formed singing groups of AfricanAmerican students who became popular throughout the area.

In 1978, Sister Thea moved back to Mississippi to help her aging parents and to serve in outreach ministry to non-white communities for the Diocese of Jackson. During this time, she continued to expand her speaking and singing ministries, and traveled extensively to give talks nationally and internationally about the importance of racial awareness and acceptance in the Church.

In 1980, she helped to found the Institute for Black Catholic Studies at Xavier University in New Orleans, where she taught until nearly the end of her life. It was during that time that Father Maurice Nutt met Sister Thea at a conference for black Catholic clergy and religious, at which Sister Thea was the speaker.

“I was so impressed by her. No one really meets Sister Thea, they encounter her,” Father Nutt said.

Her talk was the first time Father Nutt really considered what it meant to be black and Catholic, and the unique gifts that the black community could bring to the Church, he said.

“It was a cathartic moment for me, because she really enabled me to bring my very best self, my African-American self, to the Church, to give my life in service to the Church,” Father Nutt recalled.

He was so moved by her that he joined the next cohort at the Institute.

“She would always say that we are an integral part of the Church, that as African-American Catholics, we have gifts to share, we have our spirituality, we have our witness of struggle and suffering. We have the joy of knowing Jesus even in times of sorrow,” he said.

Father Nutt remembers Sister Thea as a brilliant teacher who demanded excellence, but also as a warm and caring woman who embraced her students as her own children.

“Thea became my spiritual mother, and I became her spiritual son, and she would call me son,” Father Nutt said. “She would say that the seminarians she encouraged, she said ‘These are the sons that I give to the Church.’

And I am so grateful that I was counted in that number.”

In 1984, Sister Thea’s parents died within months of each other. Not long after, she received a diagnosis of breast cancer.

“That was crushing,” Father Nutt said. “She was the only child of this elderly couple, it seemed like her whole world had fallen apart, and then she received the challenge of cancer.”

While many would be tempted to give up, Sister Thea made a decision: “I’m going to live until I die,” she said.

And she did. She kept up her speaking engagements and outreach ministry at full-bore. She recorded songs and helped compile the AfricanAmerican hymnal Lead Me, Guide Me, gave numerous biographical interviews, including a “60 Minutes” segment, and spoke to the U.S. bishops in 1989.

“We as Church walk together,” she told the bishops. “Don’t let nobody separate you, that’s one thing black folks can teach you, don’t let folks divide you. The Church teaches us that the Church is a family, a family of families, and a family that can stay together. And we know that if we do

stay together...if we walk and talk and work and play and stand together in Jesus’ name, we’ll be who we say we are, truly Catholic. And we shall overcome — overcome the poverty, overcome the loneliness, overcome the alienation, and build together a holy city, a new Jerusalem, a city set apart where...we love one another.”

While she was sick, Father Nutt said Sister Thea would pray “that God will heal my body. If God will heal my body, I’ll say thank you Lord. But I also know that if God doesn’t give me what I ask of him, God will give me something better.”

And on March 30, 1990, “that something better was to call her home,” Father Nutt said.

The legacy of Sister Thea

Father Nutt believes Sister Thea will be remembered for her passionate advocacy on behalf of blacks and other minorities in the Church.

“She spoke about the fact that African American Catholics, we have a deep and abiding history. She told the history that we come from the Ethiopian eunuch, we come from Simon of Cyrene...that we are not late in joining the Church but that people of African descent have been there from the early days of Catholicism, and that this is our home,” he said.

Sister Rochelle remembers Sister Thea as a warm woman who had a strong sense of self and wasn’t afraid to advocate for herself and others.

“It was her inner belief that she was a beautiful woman, that she had a place in this world, and that she was going to go out and change the people she met, and she did. Whether you were penniless or whether you were the wealthiest person, she just had lots of friends in every corner of the world,” she added.

Father Nutt believed she would also be remembered for her love of God, from which flowed her joy and love for others.

“You knew in her midst that you were in the presence of someone extremely special, who had a deep connection with God. Thea said she grew up in a world where God was so alive, and she shared that joy with everyone, that God is real, that God is love, that God is alive, and anyone who met her experienced the presence of God,” he said.

As is customary, when a bishop begins the preliminary phases of someone’s cause for canonization, the cause must be put to a vote of the U.S. bishops’ conference. At their fall Plenary Assembly in Baltimore Nov. 12-14, the bishops indicated unanimous support for the advancement of Sister Thea’s cause on the diocesan level.

Bishop Joseph Kopacz of the Diocese of Jackson, Miss., is the petitioner of her cause. ■

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FEBRUARY 3, 2019 n A13

Combating racism requires ‘a conversion of heart,’ bishops say our country, racism still infects our nation. ... Racism occurs because a person ignores the fundamental truth that, because all humans share a common origin, they are all brothers and sisters, all equally made in the image of God.” Bishop Fabre, who is African American, said he has “experienced and witnessed the effects of interpersonal racism, as well as structural and institutional racism,” which he said causes suffering both in those who perpetuate it and those who are victimized by it.

“Those who perpetuate racist thoughts and actions suffer without even realizing it, as their lives are diminished and slowly choked off by their own hatred, fears, anxieties, and selfishness,” he said. “They fail to receive the richness, the grace, and the freedom of an encounter of depth with those who are racially or culturally different from them.”

Those victimized by racism not only experience the impact of poverty and injustice that it helps cause, but they also bear an emotional toll, even struggling “with their own value and dignity as a person” that can lead to hopelessness and despair, the bishop said.

The Catholic Church in confronting the evil of racism must honestly acknowledge and work “to heal its own past wounds,” he said. When slavery was legal in the United States, some religious orders owned and profited from enslaved people, and during times of segregation, African-American Catholics in some churches had to sit in back pews and wait until the end of the Communion line to receive the host.

“While the Church has helped in the challenge of overcoming racism through its teaching and proclamations, it must also humbly admit that in its humanity the Church has also in certain ways capitulated to racism, at times falling horribly and sinfully short in the firmness of its resolve to engage in the struggle to eradicate racism from the minds and hearts of its members and from the fabric of society,” the bishop said.

Examining that sinfulness on the part of individuals, the Church, and society is necessary to combat racism, he said, adding: “It is only from a place of humility that we can look honestly at past failures, ask forgive-

Abortion continued from page A9

tion under the pretenses of choice and progress, which, in fact, it will do little to enhance. At the same time, this legislation threatens to rupture the communion between the Catholic faith and those who support the RHA even while professing to follow the Church, something that troubles me greatly as a pastor.”

The Albany bishop’s open letter came two days after the joint statement from all the state’s Catholic bishops decrying the abortion measure. The bishops renewed their commitment to provide “the resources and services of our charitable agencies and health services resources” to assist pregnant women in need and support them and their families after the birth.

Bishop Scharfenberger wrote that despite what supporters claim, the Reproductive Health Act “goes far beyond Roe v. Wade in its aggressive extremism.” He outlined several of its provisions.

The bishop told Cuomo: “It is very difficult to understand how you can

tragic moment in the history of our state,” it said. “And we pray in a special way for the lives that will be lost, and for the women of our state who are made less safe under this law.”

The conference represents the state’s Catholic bishops in public policy matters.

“Although in your recent State of the State address you cited your Catholic faith and said we should ‘stand with Pope Francis,’ your advocacy of extreme abortion legislation is completely contrary to the teachings of our pope and our church,” Bishop Scharfenberger wrote to Gov. Cuomo.

“Once truth is separated from fiction and people come to realize the impact of the bill, they will be shocked to their core,” he said. “By that time, however, it may be too late to save the countless lives that will be lost or spare countless women lifelong regret.”

He said the so-called Reproductive Health Act (RHA) “will expand aborFather Hecker continued from page A6

ter on the University of Tennessee campus.

Former St. John XXIII pastor Father Eric Andrews, CSP, is now president of the Paulist Fathers and a former president of Paulist Productions.

As the Paulists celebrate the 200th anniversary of Father Hecker’s birth, Father Franco wants to show parishioners how his teachings are just as important today as they were in the 1800s.

“I would like to meditate on Hecker’s faith and belief in Catholicism and reflect on how his vision A14 n FEBRUARY 3, 2019

Walking together, not alone Bishop Shelton J. Fabre of HoumaThibodaux, La., speaks Sept. 17 in Providence, R.I., during an evening program about racism in the Catholic Church and society titled “Where Do We Go From Here?”

ness, and move towards healing and reconciliation.”

Bishop Fabre said the Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism will encourage educational institutions, seminaries, and houses of formation to implement a curriculum offering “new and innovative ways to raise awareness and promote adequate incorporation of the history, culture, and traditions of all the people of faith, including our brothers and sisters of color in our nation.”

The committee also will provide

resources to help parish staff and volunteers promote human dignity and equality, and bishops, priests, and deacons will be encouraged to preach “homilies that regularly address issues concerning race and its impact on our homes and communities,” he said.

The bishop also stressed the importance of religious education programs, Catholic schools, and campus ministries developing curriculums on racism and reconciliation.

Families, too, have an important role, he said, by reflecting on how everyday conversations can be affected by racial prejudice.

Parents, the bishop said, can “provide experiences for their children that expose them to different cultures and people, altering our daily routines to broaden our own family social views. As a body of families, we can then draw upon the incredible diversity of the Church nationwide in providing education within the family and make clear that God dwells in the equal dignity of each person.”

Bishop Fabre said “the pastoral letter proclaims that racism is a life issue. As such, we should proclaim and work for an end to racism with the same passion that we work for an end to all other attacks against the sanctity and dignity of all human life.” ■

align yourself with Pope Francis and so vehemently advocate such profoundly destructive legislation.”

Bishop Scharfenberger also expressed the concern being voiced by pro-life leaders in the state, that “if abortion is deemed a fundamental right in New York state,” the consequences for the pro-life movement could be dire.

“Will being pro-life one day be a hate crime in the state of New York?” he asked.

Bishop Scharfenberger questioned the view that expanding abortion represents progress by moving “a society working to make abortion ‘rare’ to one that urges women to ‘shout your abortion’ as some advocates of this bill boldly announce.” ■

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE/BOB ROLLER

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bishop who played a key role in drafting the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ new pastoral letter on racism offered practical suggestions on how Catholics can foster racial justice and mutual respect in their homes, parishes, schools, and communities.

Bishop Shelton J. Fabre of HoumaThibodaux, La., delivered a keynote address on the topic Nov. 17 at a social justice gathering in Washington, D.C. “Racism’s real nucleus and energy, as well as its greatest damage done, remains on the level of the human heart. ... The Church is in the unique position to challenge racism in the human heart by calling for a conversion of heart,” he said at the District of Columbia Regional Meeting of Popular Movements.

Held on the campus of The Catholic University of America in the nation’s capital, the gathering was modeled after the World Meeting of Popular Movements, an initiative of Pope Francis designed to create encounters between members of the Catholic Church and grassroots organizations to work together for justice.

The regional meeting brought together 200 people from local Catholic parishes and institutions along with representatives of advocacy groups.

It was co-sponsored by Catholic University’s National Catholic School of Social Service and the Archdiocese of Washington and its Catholic Charities agency.

In addition to addressing racism, the gathering featured panels on homelessness and housing issues, environmental justice, labor, and immigration.

Bishop Fabre spoke three days after the U.S. bishops overwhelmingly approved the new pastoral letter, titled “Open Wide our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love,” during their fall general assembly in Baltimore.

He is chairman of the USCCB’s Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism and the Subcommittee on AfricanAmerican Affairs and a member of the Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church.

Noting that the recent rise in racist acts and speech across the United States had spurred the bishops to issue the pastoral, Bishop Fabre quoted from the document: “Despite many promising strides made in

By Catholic News Service

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE/BRIAN FRAGA

USCCB overwhelmingly approves new pastoral document to confront the evil of bigotry

A fresh perspective Bishop Shelton J. Fabre of Houma-Thibodaux, La., speaks Nov. 13 at the fall general assembly of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Baltimore.

of Catholic faith as ‘oil on troubled waters’ is relevant today to unify a fragmented and polarized society,” Father Franco said. “He had experience of religious and social fragmentation in the United States. He felt strongly that the Catholic Church was the vehicle to help Catholics become effective disciples.”

Father Franco said Father Hecker’s cause for sainthood has been introduced and is in the early stages of the Vatican review process.

“We hope this bicentennial will cause more people to be interested in his thoughts and pray for his intercession,” the Paulist priest said. ■ www.di o k no x .o rg

TH E EA S T TEN N ES S EE C A TH OLI C

Funeral Mass celebrated for Sr. Marian Ruede

In Brief

Sister of Charity was longtime pastoral associate in Diocese of Knoxville

By Dan McWilliams

Our Lady of Perpetual Help School in Chattanooga seeking candidates for principal Our Lady of Perpetual Help School in Chattanooga is seeking a qualified, experienced, practicing Catholic to serve as principal.

OLPH, which has an enrollment of 275 students in grades pre-kindergarten through 8, is part of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish and the Diocese of Knoxville.

Interested applicants can send resumes to jmills@dioknox.org

Ladies of Charity-Knoxville executive director is elected to southern region board for Ladies of Charity USA Susan Unbehaun, executive director of the Ladies of Charity-Knoxville, was elected to the board of the southern region of the Ladies of Charity USA during the 2018 National Assembly that was held in Pittsburgh Sept. 21-22.

Mrs. Unbehaun will serve on the board for two years.

Other Ladies of Charity-Knoxville representatives attending the 2018 National Assembly were Therese Stovall, Angela Otey, and Pat Ryan.

The Ladies of Charity-Knoxville has announced it will host the Ladies of Charity USA National Assembly in 2020.

St. Alphonsus Parish mourns death of Helen Davis Helen Davis, a former Louisville Province director for the National Council of Catholic Women, passed away Nov. 16.

A funeral Mass for Mrs. Davis, who was 74, was celebrated by Father Jim Harvey on Nov. 21 at St. Alphonsus Church in Crossville.

Mrs. Davis, who is survived by her husband, Larry Davis, and son, Jason Davis, was buried in the John Sevier State Veterans Cemetery in Knoxville.

Mrs. Davis’ immediate and parish families said she will be missed for her joyful spirit and all the wonHelen Davis derful contributions she made to the Council of Catholic Women and many other groups she generously gave her time to.

The family asked that memorial donations be made to the St. Alphonsus Council of Catholic Women Scholarship Fund.

Funeral Mass held for Dr. Lonnie Boaz III at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in Chattanooga

S

ister Marian Ruede, SC, formerly a longtime pastoral associate at St. Thérèse of Lisieux Parish in Cleveland, passed away Saturday, Oct. 13, 2018, at the age of 88 in the Sisters of Charity Motherhouse at Mother Margaret Hall in Cincinnati.

Sister Marian was born Nov. 27, 1929, in Jackson, Mich. She graduated from St. Mary High School in 1947.

She was attracted to the Sisters of Charity because of their friendliness, kindness, and dedication.

She entered the congregation in September 1947. She was a Sister of Charity for 71 years. Sister Marian earned her bachelor of science degree in education from the College of Mount St. Joseph in 1958, and she received a master’s degree in administration from the University of Dayton in Ohio in

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n March 19: noon, Mass of Thanksgiving for the 10th episcopal anniversary of Bishop Stika at the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus n March 23: 5 p.m., bilingual Mass for Called to Love Marriage Conference at the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus n March 24: 11:15 a.m., confirmation at St. John XXIII Catho-

A funeral Mass was celebrated for Dr. Lonnie Roy Boaz III on Dec. 29 at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in Chattanooga.

Dr. Boaz, who was the first black gastroenterologist in Chattanooga, died Dec. 19. He was 61.

Dr. Boaz was a longtime member of Our Lady of Perpetual Help and had served as chairman of the OLPH School Committee and the board of Notre Dame High School. Notre Dame High School recognized Dr. Boaz with the Jim Phifer Service Award.

He also was a member of the Knights of Columbus Holy Family Council 6099 and was serving as recorder for the Knights council at the time of his death.

Dr. Boaz was a graduate of Notre Dame High School, Vanderbilt University, Morehouse School of Medicine, and Howard University College of Medicine. He served his medical residency in internal medicine at Howard University Hospital and completed a gastroenterology fellowship at the University of Tennessee College of Medicine.

He was preceded in death by parents Aurellia Mitchell Boaz and Dr. Lonnie R. Boaz Jr. He is survived by wife Emiliana “Emie” Tacbas Boaz and daughters Ashley N. Boaz (Will Lassiter) and Alexis L. Boaz.

Virtus training sessions scheduled for diocesan parishes The Diocese of Knoxville’s program for the protection of children, youth, and vulnerable adults is offered throughout the diocese. These seminars are required for parish and school employees and regular volunteers who come in contact with children and vulnerable adults: Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul, Chattanooga, 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 5; 1 p.m. Saturday, April 14; St. Bridget Church, Dayton, 9 a.m.

Saturday, Feb. 9; St. Dominic Church, Kingsport, 6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 20, 1 p.m. Saturday, April 27, 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, June 18; St. Joseph the Worker Church, Madisonville, 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 20; All Saints Church, Knoxville, 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 23; 1 p.m.

Saturday, March 16; St. Mary Church, Johnson City, 1 p.m. Saturday, March 23; 1 p.m. Saturday, May 11. ■

Sr. Regina

1970. She earned a master of arts degree in theology from the University of Dayton in 1979.

Sister Marian’s ministries included Sr. Marian Ruede 27 years as an educator and 25 years as a pastoral minister. She began as a teacher at St. Leo High School in Detroit in 1949. In 1951, she went to St. James School in Bay City, Mich. (1951-56 and 1966-67); next it was St. Saviour School in Rossmoyne, Ohio (1956-58); Holy Name School in Cleveland, Ohio (1958-62); Holy Family School in Cincinnati (1962-63); St. Mary Sister Marian continued on page A16

lic Center in Knoxville n March 28: 5 p.m., Catholic Charities of East Tennessee annual dinner in Chattanooga n March 30: 11 a.m., confirmation for Holy Ghost and Immaculate Conception parishes at the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus n March 31: 9 p.m., confirmation at St. Albert the Great Church in Knoxville ■

Boy, I wish our Church wasn’t growing so fast...

How will we afford it?

Good thing we have the Catholic Foundation!

The

Catholic Foundation of East Tennessee invests in two essential needs for the Diocese of Knoxville

Seminarian Education and Land for New Churches Helping to provide for a growing Church for 30 years!

Learn more @ GiveCFET.org or call John Deinhart @ (865) 584-3307

© 2018 Handmaids of the Precious Blood

Did you know you can receive weekly cartoons and short reflections and news from the Handmaids of the Precious Blood? Visit their website, nuns for priests.org, and sign up for the FIAT newsletter. You also can learn about praying for priests and adopting them.

Please join us in prayers of adoration, reparation, and fasting this month as the Church has the summit in Rome on the sexual abuse crisis.

As Handmaids of the Precious Blood, we are dedicated to giving our lives to Christ for the sanctification of all priests, especially those in spiritual TH E EAST T E N N E S S E E C A T HO L I C

need, and invite everyone to join us in praying for every priest and bishop in the world.

May the prayers and sacrifices made on their behalf draw down every grace upon the bishops and Holy Father gathered in Rome to strengthen their courage and fidelity to the Gospel. ■ www.di o k no x .o rg

FEBRUARY 3, 2019 n A15

Priest from Poland joins diocese to lead Masses for Polish community

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ather Marcin “Martin” Gladysz has joined the priest staff at the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish.

Father Gladysz arrived in Knoxville over the holidays and began serving at Sacred Heart on Jan. 7.

Bishop Richard F. Stika announced that Father Gladysz will begin celebrating monthly Mass in Polish at the cathedral, with the first Polish Mass celebrated on Feb. 3 at 3 p.m.

Masses in Polish are scheduled for the first Sunday of each month at 3 p.m. although some dates may

be adjusted due to previous commitments at the cathedral, such as confirmations.

Father Gladysz comes to the diocese from the Archdiocese of Chicago, where he served as an associate pastor. He is a native of Krakow, Poland, and also previously served as a priest and pastor and worked for Catholic schools in Papua New Guinea.

Assisting Father Gladysz at the Polish Masses will be Diocese of Knoxville seminarian Wojciech Sobczuk, also a native of Poland.

The Cathedral of the Most Sa-

cred Heart of Jesus celebrated its first Polish Mass on Sunday, March 4, 2018, when Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz, the former archFr. Gladysz bishop of Krakow, visited the Diocese of Knoxville for the dedication of its new cathedral.

Following the Feb. 3 Mass, the next Mass in Polish at the cathe-

dral will be Sunday, March 3, at 3 p.m.

Father Gladysz, who has been celebrating daily Mass at the cathedral, may also at times be helping other parishes in the diocese as a substitute priest.

Father Gładysz was born on Oct. 16, 1976, in Krakow. He grew up there and obtained his elementary and secondary education as well as completed Gastronomic Technical School. His parents, Mark and Leokadia, still live in Krakow, as does his older sister, Edyta, with her family. ■

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a volunteer chaplain at a hospice.

Every week she would take Holy Communion to shut-ins.

“She would go all over Cleveland and to the outlying areas,” said parishioner Lorraine Sughrue in a 2001 interview upon Sister Marian’s retirement. “She would go to the people who couldn’t get to the church.”

The Sister of Charity also empowered other parishioners to join her in taking the Eucharist to the outlying areas of Cleveland, Mrs. Sughrue said.

“She always made you feel good about doing this,” she said.

“If you asked how to approach someone, she would say just to be very natural, to pray with them, and visit them.”

Helping people come into the Church through RCIA was a joyful event for Sister Marian, those in the RCIA group, and the entire parish, said St. Thérèse music director Jane Hubbard in 2001.

“It was so neat to see the way she could bring people together at the Easter vigil, which was always such a wonderful, joy-filled night,” Ms. Hubbard said. “She

is really responsible for a large number of people who have come into the Church or come back to the Church or those who come wanting to learn more about their faith.”

Sister Marian’s 50th-anniversary gifts included a camera and a ladies golf bag with irons and woods, 100 golf tees, and 36 golf balls. She also received a framed portrait of Sister Elizabeth Ann Seton and a certificate for a trip worth $4,200.

“My heart overflows with gratitude,” she said at the time. “I’m grateful for all of you.”

At her retirement reception April 22, 2001, Bishop Joseph E. Kurtz said: “You have been a picture of mercy to all of the people whose lives you have touched.”

Near the end of the reception, Sister Marian said that “It has been a great privilege and joy to be here these 17 years to get to know all of you. I really want to thank all of the people who have helped me along the way. I haven’t done all of this by myself, and especially thanks to the RCIA catechists and team members, and

the people who helped me visit the sick and those who are shutins, and those who brought them holy Communion. I appreciate all those people.

“I will never forget your kindness and generosity. You’ve been a blessing to me, and you have shown me a lot of things. If you think I have done something for you, you have done more for me.”

Sister Marian is survived by her brother, Richard; sister-in-law Yvonne; and numerous nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Benjamin and Emma (Zantop) Ruede; brothers and sisters, Genevieve (Don) Schenck, Robert (Catherine), Bernadine, Lawrence (Anita), Sister Florence Ruede, Joseph (Patricia), Eileen (Ken) Sauter, Willard, Margaret (Bernard) Simons, and Frances (Paul) Hogle; and sister-in-law Joan.

Sister Marian’s life was celebrated at the Sisters of Charity Motherhouse on Monday, Oct. 22.

She was buried in the Sisters of Charity Cemetery next to her sister, Sister Florence. ■

School in Jackson, Mich. (1963-66); and St. Helen School in Saginaw, Mich. (1967-76) as principal.

She began ministering at Cumberland Catholic Church in Burkesville, Ky. (1976-79); upon completion of her degree, she served in a similar position at St. Elizabeth in Ravenna, Ky. (1979-82); St. Michael in Cincinnati (1982-83); and St. Thérèse of Lisieux in Cleveland, Tenn. (19842001). At that time, she retired to the motherhouse.

Sister Marian celebrated 50 years in religious life on Sept. 7, 1997, with an anniversary Mass at St. Thérèse of Lisieux. More than 600 friends and family filled the church to watch her renew her religious vows. At the time, she was active in the parish RCIA program and in a new Landings program to reach out to inactive Catholics along with her ministry to everyone from youths to the elderly and from the sick to the homebound. She also participated in the local Habitat for Humanity and the ministerial association.

For several years, she served as

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