Oct. 3, 2021, ET Catholic, A section

October 3

| 2021

VOL 31 NO 2

IN THIS ISSUE CLASS A4 AOFNEW DEACONS

Candidate inquiry begins in January

THE B1 KEEPING FAITH

Parishioner survives 19 bouts of cancer

ASIDE B1 STEPPING Longtime St. Thérèse of

Lisieux music director is retiring

He dwells among us ......................... A3 Columns ..........................................B2-3 Parish news ....................................... B4 Diocesan calendar ............................ B5 Catholic schools .......................... B7,10 La Cosecha ............................Section C

Diocese to participate in Vatican synod

Pope Francis wants Catholic leadership to hear from faithful around the world

By Jim Wogan

T

he Diocese of Knoxville received a Vatican directive on Sept. 7 that set into motion a process that may be unmatched in recent Church history and will culminate in the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of Bishops led

by Pope Francis in Rome in 2023.

The preparatory document on For A Synodal Church: Communion / Participation / Mission outlines a course of action that the Vatican calls both “a gift and a task” for dioceses and “invites the entire Church to reflect on a theme that is decisive for its life and mission.”

The Vatican’s choice of words is intentional, and the reference to “the entire Church” isn’t figurative. Pope Francis’ desire is for Catholic leadership to hear and understand the words and thoughts of the faithful from around the globe.

In effect, Pope Francis and the Vatican want to know what you think.

“It is precisely this path of synodality which God expects of the Church of the third millennium,” Pope Francis said in a communication received last month by Bishop Richard F. Stika.

Cataloguing the thoughts of more than 70,000

Catholics in the Diocese of Knoxville and nearly 1.3 billion Catholics worldwide into a concise report for the pope to potentially act upon won’t be easy, but the process starts this month and has been defined in a series of instructions and guiding principles that will assist those charged with implementing them.

“This process touches everyone in the Church, so if you are a parishioner or a member of the Catholic faith in the Diocese of Knoxville and have a thought, you are going to have an opportunity to share it,” said diocesan chancellor Deacon Sean Smith.

The process, which will take more than a year to complete, begins in Rome on the weekend of Oct. 9-10, and officially starts in the Diocese of Knoxville and all dioceses around the world on Oct. 17.

Deacon Smith and Catholic Charities of East Tennessee executive director Lisa Healy have been appointed by Bishop Stika to lead the diSynod continued on page A7

All Saints parishioner ordained to permanent diaconate in special Mass led by Bishop Stika

By Gabrielle Nolan

T

A home at All Saints

Deacon Conklin and his wife, Diane, celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary in July and are affectionately referred to as the “Dairy Queen sweethearts,” as that is where they were working when they met as teenagers in New Jersey.

After living in Atlanta for 15 years, the couple moved to Tennessee in 2003, where they eventually became parishioners at All Saints Parish in

Servant and witness Bishop Richard F. Stika begins the special ordination Mass for Ken Conklin, the Diocese of Knoxville’s newest permanent deacon. The ordination was held at Mr. Conklin’s home in Dandridge.

Knoxville.

“We just fell in love with All Saints,” Mrs. Conklin said. “Father Michael Woods was the pastor at that time, and we don’t mind a 40-, 45-minute drive to All Saints. We love Father Doug Owens now, too.”

Deacon Conklin previously served on the parish finance council, while Mrs. Conklin currently serves as the wedding planner and coordinates with Deacon Tim Elliott of All Saints.

“I think that she and Ken together both truly embody what it means to be a wedding planner for each other

to get us to the feast, the wedding feast of the lamb, which is heaven, and to be in union and one with Christ in heaven,” said Robert Denne, a fellow deacon candidate and All Saints parishioner. “To me, that witness right there between Diane and Ken… really sticks out to me.

“The two are extremely supportive of each other, just built around family, and just a joy that Ken exudes when he says he’s with family or going to be with family. The two of them definitely have the goal in mind of getting Ordained continued on page A10

GABRIELLE NOLAN (2)

he presence of God is not confined within the walls of a church, and where two or more are gathered in His name, He is surely present.

This truth could not have been more palpable than at the ordination Mass of Deacon Kenneth Conklin on Saturday, Sept. 25, where more than 70 members of his family, friends, and deacon class encircled him in prayer.

The 10 a.m. Mass took place at the private residence of the Conklins, located at Douglas Lake in Dandridge.

The surrounding beauty of mountains, water, and open sky were the backdrop to an altar prepared on the wooden deck of their home.

“It was a great joy to be able to celebrate the cathedral of nature today, since [Ken] was not able to travel to the cathedral,” Bishop Richard F. Stika

said. “In some ways, the cathedral of the Mother Church traveled to this house with this beautiful, beautiful setting.”

“Every morning, my wife and I, we sit out here and enjoy the morning, a cup of coffee, and I’m most amazed at the beauty before me that God has given us,” Deacon Conklin said. “To me, God Almighty has done so many wonderful things for me in my life.”

DEACON SCOTT MAENTZ

New deacon lives his faith through journey with cancer

The Gospels of Jesus Christ Ken Conklin receives the Gospels from Bishop Stika as the bishop presides at the Rite of Ordination. Deacon Larry Rossini is assisting the bishop.

Special blessings Bishop Richard F. Stika receives the first blessing from Deacon Ken Conklin during Mr. Conklin’s ordination into the permanent diaconate as his family watches from their Dandridge home.

Tell your story World Mission Sunday calls for Catholics to ‘speak about what we have seen and heard’

By Shemaiah Gonzalez and Ken Ogorek Catholic News Service

CNS PHOTO/WILL BAXTER, CATHOLIC RELIEF SERVICES

W

e cannot but speak about what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20).

This verse is the theme of this year’s World Mission Sunday, a Sunday set aside to recognize our common responsibility as Catholic Christians to evangelize the world.

World Mission Sunday was first instituted by Pope Pius XI in 1926 and is celebrated on the next to last Sunday in the month of October.

Not only do we remind ourselves of our call to evangelization, but a special collection is taken to share in this responsibility throughout the world.

As Catholic Christians we seem to be most comfortable sharing our faith by our acts of service. This year Pope Francis challenges us to share our stories. Stories are how the church began.

Two thousand years ago, the apostles and others in that first group of Jesus’ followers told the story of how they first met and felt

Column

Spiritually nourished Febedu Mehari serves a meal of injera and a yellow split pea dish to her children in Hadush Emba, Ethiopia, Feb. 7, 2019.

Centuries ago, missionaries introduced people in Ethiopia to Jesus. loved by Jesus. Peter, Paul, and Mary Magdalene told their stories to anyone who would listen. Sharing these personal experiences is how the Good News of Jesus was spread, building our Church from just a few to many.

Pope Francis reminds us in his

Sr. Regina

© 2021 Handmaids of the Precious Blood

2021 Message for World Mission Sunday that these first Christians faced hardship and hostility, marginalization and imprisonment, and yet they still shared these stories.

How could they not, when they had received such grace? They endured hardships but clung to

Christ. Pope Francis encourages us to find this strength in Jesus, just as they did.

This pandemic has brought out many discouraging stories. The morning paper, nightly news, and social media are full of stories that divide and isolate us ... even as we look to them for connection. But our faith is one of hope and freedom! We need not forget this.

There is power in sharing our stories of faith, not just for those listening but for the speaker as well.

We remember God’s goodness to us. We remember how he met us in dark places and provided for us.

As we articulate His goodness to others, we experience His love all over again. And the more we share our story, the more details we remember and the better we become at sharing that story.

Think of some of your favorite family stories. Perhaps how you met your husband. Or when your parents brought home your younger sibling. When you share these World Mission continued on page A15

How to sign up and qualify for Diocese of Knoxville’s safe-environment program

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

Prayer Intentions “We pray that every baptized person may be engaged in evangelization, available to the mission, by being witnesses of a life that has the flavor of the Gospel.”

–– Pope Francis ”Through the intercession of St. John Paul II, whose feast day we celebrate this month, we pray that the young people of our diocese remain close to their Catholic faith in times of temptation and doubt. May the inspiration that led John Paul to establish our diocese 33 years ago, and the love he offered to young people everywhere, be an inspiration to each of us every day of our lives. Amen.”

–– Bishop Stika

DIOCESE PROCEDURE

FOR

OF

KNOXVILLE

REPORTING

SEXUAL

ABUSE

Anyone who has actual knowledge of or who has reasonable cause to suspect an incident of sexual abuse should report such information to the appropriate civil authorities first, then to the bishop's office 865.584.3307, or the diocesan victims' assistance coordinator, Marla Lenihan, 865.482.1388.

he Diocese of Knoxville has implemented the CMG Connect platform to administer the Safe Environment Program, which replaces the former safeenvironment program (VIRTUS “Protecting God’s Children”).

CMG Connect is a web-based platform that will assist in ensuring that all employees and volunteers who are in a position of trust with children and vulnerable adults within Diocese of Knoxville schools and parishes are trained to recognize behavior patterns of potential abusers and provide proactive measures for preventing abuse in any context.

“Safe Haven-It’s Up to You” is a three-part video that provides vignettes of real-life situations to educate the viewer about methods of grooming, desensitization, bullying, and neglect, all of which can lead to abuse.

Education is a key element of the Safe Environment Program.

FOLLOW US

KnoxDiocese

All clergy, employees, contracted school personnel, volunteers, members of groups and organizations over the age of 18 who work, volunteer, or participate in any capacity are required to complete the diocesan Safe Environment training and a criminalbackground check before they can begin employment, volunteer, or participate with ministries, groups, and organizations affiliated with the diocese.

Mandatory renewal training must be completed every five years and a new background check submitted before the five-year expiration of prior training.

The Diocese of Knoxville Safe Environment compliance training and renewal training is a condition of employment and for volunteer ministry in the diocese.

The CMG Connect platform contains all three elements of the

STAY CONNECTED

WATCH UPDATES

dioceseknoxville

A DVERTISE IN THE EAST TENNESSEE C AT H O L I C

DioKnoxTV

Diocese of Knoxville’s Safe Environment Program: n Annual review of the Diocese of Knoxville’s Policy and Procedures Relating to Sexual Misconduct; n CMG Connect Safe Haven training program to be completed every five years; n Criminal background check to be completed every five years.

In compliance with the Diocese of Knoxville’s Safe Environment Program, all affiliates require that volunteers and employees complete the requirements prior to working and/or volunteering in a parish, school, The Paraclete, or through Catholic Charities and/or St. Mary’s Legacy Clinic.

Go to https:// dioknox.org/safeenvironment on the Diocese of Knoxville website for more information. ■

CHECK US OUT knoxdiocese

> CONTACT US AT 865.584.3307 OR bbrewer @ dioknox.org.

> FIND US AT dioknox.org.

NEWS FROM THE DIOCESE OF KNOXVILLE PUBLISHER

EDITOR

Bishop Richard F. Stika Bill Brewer COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR

bbrewer@dioknox.org ASSISTANT EDITOR

Jim Wogan Dan McWilliams

jwogan@dioknox.org THE EAST TENNESSEE CATHOLIC (USPS 007211) is published bi-monthly by The Diocese of Knoxville, 805 S. Northshore Drive, Knoxville, TN 37919-7551. Periodicals-class postage paid at Knoxville, TN. Printed by the Knoxville News Sentinel. THE EAST TENNESSEE CATHOLIC is mailed to all registered Catholic families in East Tennessee.

Subscription rate for others is $15 per year in the United States. Make checks payable to The Diocese of Knoxville.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to THE EAST TENNESSEE CATHOLIC, 805 S. Northshore Drive, Knoxville, TN 37919-7551.

A2 n OCTOBER 3, 2021

www.di o k no x .o rg

DIGITAL MEDIA PRODUCER

dan@dioknox.org

MULTIMEDIA REPORTER

Emily Booker Gabrielle Nolan

ebooker@dioknox.org

gnolan@dioknox.org

CONTACT US 865.584.3307 VISIT US ONLINE dioknox.org | etcatholic.org

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

He dwells among us

by Bishop Richard F. Stika

Two turtledoves St. Gregory the Great: ‘The Mass will be a sacrifice for us to God, when we have made an offering of ourselves’ Our two turtledoves. In the two turtledoves, we have an image of the only offering we can possibly make in the poverty of our fallen nature—the offering of our body and soul, representing all of our life. Of ourselves, we are unable to offer a sacrifice pleasing and acceptable to God. Though the worth of our offering may seem less than even the “two small coins worth a few cents” that the poor widow offered in the Temple (Mark 12:42), Jesus will give it an eternal value in His.

“Bring an offering and enter His courts, worship the Lord in His temple.”

— Psalm 96:8-9

W

hat do you bring? To those who say, “I don’t get anything out of Mass,” Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen would answer, “It’s because you don’t bring anything to it.” This is of such importance that we must ask ourselves, “What is it that I should bring to the Mass?” The simple answer is to bring exactly what St. Joseph and Mary brought as their offering for the Presentation of the infant Jesus in the Temple— ”two turtledoves” (Luke 2:22-38).

A sacrificial offering. When we speak of the Mass, we correctly refer to it as the “holy sacrifice of the Mass.” For it is truly the sacrifice of Christ upon Calvary offered once in time in a bloody manner that is sacramentally made present on our altars in an unbloody manner. But as Christ is a “priest forever” (Psalm 110:4) and offers Himself eternally in the liturgy of heaven, He does not offer Himself apart from His Mystical Body. This is why at the Last Supper Jesus entrusted the Mass to the Church with the command, “Do this in memory of me,” so that His eternal offering might be that of the “whole Christ,” Head and Mystical Body.

Our Mass is a participation in the heavenly liturgy, and since Christ is both Priest and Sacrifice—the One who offers and is offered—each of the baptized must also offer and be offered in every Mass “through Him, with Him, and in Him.” Common priesthood of the faithful. When we are baptized, we are made members of Christ’s Body, the Church, and united to His priesthood. And since the sacrifice of the Mass “is an exercise of the priestly office of Christ,” we, too, must exercise our “common” priesthood in union with Him through the hands of the ordained priest. Otherwise, we are but spectators at Mass.

With the help of an icon. To better understand this great dignity of ours, let us reflect upon the mystery of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple that St. Luke details for us with the aid of an icon (synonymous with “image”). For what God commanded of the Israelites regarding the requirement for their participation in the Temple sacrifice is no less true for each of us regarding our participation in the holy sacrifice of the Mass: “No one shall appear before [the Lord] empty-handed” (Exodus 23:15).

A thousand words of Scripture. In the eyes of the Church, icons and sacred Scripture are of equal and complementary dignity. For as explained in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), “Christian iconography expresses in images the same Gospel message that Scripture communicates by words.

Image and word illuminate each other” (n. 1160).

The great blessing of icons is that they truly are “worth a thousand words” of Scripture and more.

Icons enlarge our view of the written Word and make the mystery more visibly present and vivid to the eyes of our heart.

Within the Temple of God. The setting of this icon is within the Temple of Jerusalem, represented most prominently by the large canopy structure, the altar, and the “royal doors” to the sanctuary.

Behind St. Joseph is the Temple entrance representing the threshold of every Catholic church. And behind Simeon at the far right, we have an image of the Father’s house, the goal of our life’s journey as God’s prodigal children. In the canopy structure that resembles the “baldacchino” of our cathedral, we have an image of the mystery of “the glory of God” that fills the desert tabernacle and the Temple of Jerusalem, and the “overshadowing” of the Holy Spirit at the Annunciation (cf. Exodus 40:34; 2 Chronicles 7:1; Luke 1:35). This represents the reality that occurs when the priest asks, in the “epiclesis” of the Eucharistic Prayer, for God to “send down” His Spirit upon the gifts on the altar “so

that they may become for us the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Our offering and Christ’s. Though the icon appears to be a static snapshot in time, there is a dynamic and “priestly” action occurring, which reveals something of the great mystery of the holy sacrifice of the Mass and the exercise of our baptismal priesthood when we participate in it. It begins with the hands of St. Joseph, which seem to be in the motion of offering the two turtledoves that Mosaic Law permitted as a substitute for those too poor to afford a sacrificial lamb (Leviticus 12:8). Standing next to him is Anna, the prophetess. Though her eyes seem focused upon the offering in Joseph’s hands, she points to Mary from whose hands Simeon has received the infant Jesus.

Between Mary and Simeon there is a sacred threshold, the “royal doors,” through which only the priest can pass through into the sanctuary. And it is Christ Jesus our “great high priest” who through His Passover sacrifice has “passed over” this divide and is forever the “minister of the sanctuary” (Hebrews 4:14; 8:2).

The figure of Simeon. In the elderly Simeon, who lovingly accepts the infant Jesus into His arms, we see two fatherly images—that of Abraham “the father of faith,” and that of God the Father, “the Ancient of Days” (Daniel 7:9). The image of Abraham evokes the memory of the sacrifice of Isaac and his prophetic words, “God Himself will provide the lamb” (Genesis 22:8). And in every Mass, through the mystery of “a most glorious exchange,” the substitute sacrifice of two turtledoves representing the Church’s “oblation,” becomes the true sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God the Father: “the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”

The figure of Anna. St. Luke tells us that Anna, the prophetess, “never left the temple, but worshiped night and day with fasting and prayer.” Additionally, she “gave thanks to God and spoke about the child” to all longing for the promised Redeemer (Luke 2:37, 38). In the figure of Anna with the scroll of God’s Word in her hand, we have an image of the Introductory Rite of the Mass and its Penitential Act, as well as the Liturgy of the Word and Profession of Faith. It is this part of the Mass that serves to further prepare, encourage, and inspire us to make the total offering of our heart during the offertory and to “lift up [our] hearts.”

The measure of our participation. The Offertory is that crucial hinge in the Mass where we transition from the Liturgy of the Word—from the ambo—to the Liturgy of the Eucharist—the altar.

And it is this decisive part of the Mass that truly determines the measure of our full and conscious participation.

“A humbled, contrite heart.” During the offertory, then, as the gifts of bread and wine are brought up and the altar is prepared, it should be our greatest desire to make the offering of all our prayers and hopes, our joys and crosses, our labors and works of mercy, and all our struggles and sufferings of body and soul. We should offer our vocation in life and all the sacrifices it entails, and all our failures and poverty of soul with the same spirit that moved King David to pray, “My sacrifice, a contrite spirit.

A humbled, contrite heart you will not spurn” (Psalm 51:19). And then ask your angel to bring your offering to the altar and to place it upon the paten and within the chalice, and with hearts united and invited by the priest of the altar to join our offering and voices together we pray, “May the Lord accept the sacrifice at your hands for the praise and glory of His Name, for our good and the good of all His holy Church.”

Mary, an image of the Church. In Mary, the Church sees its image and its outstanding model of love, faith and hope, humility, persevering prayer, and liturgical worship. She who stood beside the altar of the cross and united her heart to Christ’s and His sacrifice, longs for us as our Mother to be of united heart with our offering. And Jesus, who refuses nothing His Mother asks, will receive our offering and join it to His. This is beautifully expressed in the “Prayer over the Offerings” of the Mass celebrating “The Blessed Virgin Mary, Image and Mother of the Church (II),” and “The Blessed Virgin Mary at the Foot of the Cross (II)”: “Lord, transform these gifts, which we bring to you with joyful hearts, into the Sacrament of our salvation… for she is the shining model of true worship for your Church and of our duty to offer ourselves as a holy victim, pleasing in your eyes. Through Christ our Lord.”

“Lord, let our gifts be consumed by the fire of the Holy Spirit, so that the sacrifice of the altar, offered in union with the Virgin, may wipe away our sins and open for us the gates of heaven. Through Christ our Lord.”

The fifth century North African bishop, St. Fulgentius of Ruspe, highlights the importance of the offering we should make of ourselves in every Mass: Christ “became our offering to the Father, and through Him our offering is now acceptable….

Through Him the sacrifice we now offer is holy, living, and acceptable to God. Indeed, if Christ had not sacrificed Himself for us, we could not offer any sacrifice. For it is in Him that our human nature becomes a redemptive offering” (From the Liturgy of the Hours).

The glorious exchange. What this icon so beautifully captures is the “glorious exchange” that occurs in every Mass when the two turtledoves of our offering become, through the “overshadowing” of the Holy Spirit during the consecration, the “Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” The Mass is truly a sacrifice that we must bring the offering of ourselves to if we are to be offered through Christ, with Christ, and in Christ. Only then can we offer God an acceptable and pleasing sacrifice of praise, thanksgiving, atonement, and petition. And having participated in Christ’s sacrificial offering, we can rightly receive Him sacramentally, Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity, in holy Communion with a joy that exceeds even Simeon’s. ■

Painting identified as 17th-century masterpiece brings joy to parish

By Beth Griffin Catholic News Service

A

parish in a neighborhood that once had the highest concentration of COVID-19 cases in the country has found new joy in the discovery that a familiar painting over the transept doorway of its church is a 17th-century masterpiece.

“Holy Family with the Infant St. John,” a Florentine Baroque by Cesare Dandini, was installed in the 1960s at Holy Family Church in the New York suburb of New Rochelle. Parishioners described it as one of many beautiful artworks at the parish.

Early in 2020, a professor of fine art and art history at nearby Iona College made several private TH E EAST T E N N E S S E E C AT HO L I C

visits to the church, sitting in a rear pew.

On his fourth trip, when the church lights were glowing, Thomas Ruggio saw the Dandini high on a wall over a transept exit. He recognized the painting as an Italian Baroque and took photos with his mobile phone.

Back at his office, he shared the photos with colleagues in Italy. The painting was positively identified as one of four similarly themed works

by Dandini, likely created in the 1630s.

Mr. Ruggio’s further research at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York indicated that the painting was thought to be missing because there was no public record of it since the early-tomid 20th century.

Monsignor Dennis Keane, Holy Family pastor, told Catholic News Service the painting was w ww.di o k no x .o rg

acquired in Rome by a predecessor of his, Monsignor Charles Fitzgerald, in the mid-1960s. Monsignor Keane said Monsignor Fitzgerald had once been assigned to Rome.

He said he thought a benefactor had given Monsignor Fitzgerald funds for the purchase.

Monsignor Fitzgerald’s niece had the painting restored and framed before it was installed in the parish church.

Mr. Ruggio said the four related paintings have the theme of charity. Two are religious and two are not. All have a central maternal figure.

Mr. Ruggio said “Holy Family with the Infant St. John” is one of Dandini’s finest works and the summit of his creative journey through this theme.

Masterpiece continued on page A13 OCTOBER 3, 2021 n A3

Diocese to begin new deacon class in 2022 Prospective candidates for permanent diaconate can attend inquiry sessions beginning in January

By Bill Brewer

EAST TENNESSEE CATHOLIC ARCHIVE PHOTO

T

he Diocese of Knoxville will be starting a new class of permanent deacons in 2022 and is now reaching out to Catholic men interested in joining the clergy.

The diocesan Office of the Diaconate and Deacon Formation, which supports ordained deacons serving in the diocese and men inquiring about the permanent diaconate, is interested in connecting with prospective deacons.

Deacon Tim Elliott, director of the diaconate and deacon formation, said six inquiry dates have been scheduled beginning in early 2022. The inquiries will be held on Jan. 8, Feb. 19, March 19, April 23, May 21, and June 18. These inquiries will be held on Saturdays at All Saints Church, with Mass at 9 a.m. followed by an information meeting in the All Saints parish hall.

“These inquiries answer what is the diaconate all about. It’s a question-and-answer session,” Deacon Elliott said. “What is involved in becoming a deacon?

What do the men understand, and what don’t they understand?

Why does the program require five years of study? What are the expectations?”

A brotherhood Diocese of Knoxville deacons gather for Mass at St. Albert the Great Church in Knoxville. The diocese will be starting a new class of permanent deacons in 2022 and is seeking candidates for the diaconate.

Prospective diaconate candidates aren’t required to attend all six inquiry sessions, but they are welcome to.

“We try to answer any questions they may have about the program itself and what’s involved in the program. Associated with the inquiry period is a period of discernment, determining whether they are being called to the diaconate in a time of prayer and reflection,” the deacon noted.

Deacon Elliott, who was a member of the Diocese of Knoxville’s diaconate class that was ordained in 2007 and included 29 men, has led two classes. His first class began in 2011 and was ordained in 2016. It had 26 members. The second class began in 2017 and will be ordained in June. There currently are 25 men in this class.

He explained that while a call to the priesthood occurs within the heart of a man and is confirmed through seminarian study

and spiritual growth, a call to the diaconate begins outside a man.

He cited Scripture that described how the early Apostles were overwhelmed with forming Jesus Christ’s Church and leading the faithful, which prompted other men to step up to serve.

“The call to the priesthood usually originates inside a person.

The call to the diaconate begins outside. The confirmation of both of those calls comes through the formation period,” Deacon Elliott said, noting that his role is to help potential diaconate candidates identify where their call to serve is coming from.

He already is receiving interest in the new class from several men in the diocese.

“So far, I have about a dozen men who have talked to me, who are thinking about it. I have met one-on-one with each of them to help decipher their call. I don’t want to discourage them, but I want them to start discerning that call. People who come early have a lot longer to think about that call,” Deacon Elliott said.

He pointed out that the permanent-diaconate program requires considerable study centering on four distinct areas: intellectual formation (academic); spiritual Class continued on page A17

By Bill Brewer

T

he Diocese of Knoxville now has 23 new acolytes to serve at parishes throughout East Tennessee.

Bishop Richard Stika instituted the ministry of acolyte on candidates for the permanent diaconate at a special Sept. 26 Mass at the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.

The designation means the 23 men, who are in their last year of study to become permanent deacons, can now serve at the altar, assisting priests and deacons with elements of the Mass.

The installation Mass took on an especially inspirational tone when one of the candidates, Ken Conklin, who has cancer, was ordained a deacon more than eight months early on Sept. 25.

As he made his introductory remarks, Bishop Stika wished Deacon Conklin of All Saints Parish in Knoxville and candidate Salvador Soriano, also of All Saints, well.

Mr. Soriano was hospitalized and recuperating from COVID-19.

As the installation Mass began, Deacon Tim Elliott, diocesan director of the Diaconate and Deacon Formation, called the candidates for installation.

Witnesses to the faith Twenty-three men from across the Diocese of Knoxville became acolytes on Sept. 26, the last significant step they make before their ordination to the permanent diaconate in June.

BILL BREWER (2)

Bishop Stika installs permanent deacon candidates as acolytes; ordination set for June

‘Make your life worthy’ Bishop Richard F. Stika installs Patrick Nakagawa as an acolyte during a special Mass on Sept. 26 at the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. Bishop Stika installed 23 men during the Mass.

“My dear bishop, these men have been studying now for four and a half years. They began inquiring in August 2016. They actually began formal classes in September 2017. I present to you these men,” Deacon Elliott said.

When the candidates’ names were called, each responded, “present” and proceeded to stand in front of Bishop Stika and the altar, where Bishop Stika addressed them briefly prior to his homily.

The candidates are David Anderson of Holy Cross Parish in Pigeon Forge, Shawn Ballard of St. John Neumann in Farragut, James Bello of the Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul in Chattanooga, Peter Chiaro of St. Therese in Clinton, Humberto Collazo of St. Dominic in Kingsport, Roberto Cortes of St. Thomas the Apostle in Lenoir City, Eric Dadey of Good Shepherd in Newport, Gianfranco Dellasantina

of Holy Cross, Robert Denne of All Saints, Leon Dodd of Our Lady of Fatima in Alcoa, David Duhamel of St. Mary in Oak Ridge, Wade Eckler of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Chattanooga, Michael Gray of St. Elizabeth in Elizabethton, James Haselsteiner of St. Mary in Johnson City, Joseph Herman of St. Anthony of Padua in Mountain City, Robert Hunt of All Saints, Henning Landa of Blessed Sacrament in Harriman, Gregory Larson of St. John Neumann, Patrick Nakagawa of All Saints, Augustin Ortega of All Saints, Rafael Pubillones of St. Thomas the Apostle, Chad Shields of Christ the King in Tazewell, and David Venesky of Immaculate Conception in Knoxville.

Bishop Stika welcomed the candidates and their families.

“In the name of the Catholic Church in East Tennessee, I accept Acolytes continued on page A6

Number of permanent deacons in U.S. continues to grow since Vatican II

By Bill Brewer

T

he number of permanent deacons in the United States continues to grow since the restoration of this ministry following the Second Vatican Council, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate and the most recent Official Catholic Directory.

CARA and the Directory reported there were 18,075 permanent deacons as of 2020. And while that is a decrease of 118 deacons from 2019, projections based on trends since 2003 show there will be 19,478 permanent deacons in 2026.

In 2020-21, 124 programs reported 2,105 candidates to the permanent diaconate. Based on the trend since 2002-03, there will be a projected 2,135 candidates in the 2025-26 academic year, according to the CARA and Catholic Director information published in July.

A4 n OCTOBER 3, 2021

“[The current Diocese of Knoxville permanent deacon class] is on average younger and more diverse in their education and careers.” careers — Deacon Tim Elliott “Furthermore, 74 programs reported 1,018 aspirants to the permanent diaconate. This number represents an increase of 178 aspirants (21 percent) from the previous year. Based on the trend since 2002-2003, there will be a projected 897 aspirants (95 percent increase) in the 2025-2026 academic year,” the CARA-Catholic Directory report stated.

During the 2020-21 academic year, there were 473 anticipated ordinations to the permanent www.di o k no x .o rg

diaconate, which was a 22 percent decrease from the previous year.

“In the 2020-2021 academic year, there were 159 active diaconate formation programs. All of them reported the year that their program was organized. The average year of organization was 1983. Overall, three in five programs were organized in the 1960s (4 percent) and in the 1970s (55 percent). The share of these programs declined from 64 percent in 2003-2004 to 54 percent in 2013-2014. It later rebounded, increasing steadily to 59 percent in the 20202021 academic year,” according to the CARACatholic Directory report.

The report went on to say that a quarter of the programs were organized in the 1980s (12 percent) and in the 1990s (13 percent). The remaining one in seven programs were organized in 2000 and later.

Diaconate continued on page A6 TH E EA S T TEN N ES S EE C ATH OLI C

“I believe so strongly in Proton Therapy, I chose it for my own cancer treatment.”

Dr. James Gray Radiation Oncologist & Prostate Cancer Survivor

MORE CANCER PATIENTS ARE CHOOSING

PROTON THERAPY. Non-surgical, non-invasive Avoids unnecessary radiation Lowers risk of side effects Can be used to treat Prostate, Breast, Head, Neck, Oral, Lung, Brain, and many other cancers

865-290-1158 KnoxvilleProton.com

PROTON THERAPY KNOXVILLE

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

w ww.di o k no x .o rg

OCTOBER 3, 2021 n A5

St. Joseph School community mourns loss of beloved member

T

he St. Joseph School community is mourning the loss of a valued member whose spirit and devotion to the school lifted students, faculty, and parents alike on a daily basis.

Alvin Ault’s tragic death on Aug. 25 was a blow that the school community, in addition to Mr. Ault’s family, is trying to come to terms with.

Mr. Ault was struck by a car as he was standing on the driveway in front of his home on Cedar Lane. He lived next door to the school with his wife, Vickie, who is on staff at St. Joseph.

A celebration of life service for Mr. Ault, who was 64, was held at Mynatt Funeral Home, Halls Chapel, on Aug. 29. A graveside service was held Aug. 30 at Liberty Baptist Church Cemetery.

Mr. Ault’s father-in-law, Harold Ellis, who is a Baptist pastor, preached at the funeral, saying of his son-in-law, “He preached his own funeral by the way he lived his life.”

While Mr. Ault’s wife and family attended the burial, St. Joseph students and teachers placed flowers and in large letters using plastic cups wrote the words “We Love You” on a fence between the school and the Ault home, which the Ault family immediately saw as they returned from the cemetery.

“We broke down and cried when we drove in and saw that sign when we returned from the burial. He (Mr. Ault) would never have let me take it down. We left it up as long as we could. It was beautiful,” Mrs. Ault said. “They are making sure to take care of me, and Alvin would be so happy about that.”

Mrs. Ault has been at the school since 1998, working on the custodial staff and also in the kitchen. Her husband joined her not long after, volunteering to help keep up the school grounds.

Mrs. Ault said they both fell in love

your petition to be instituted as acolytes. And in the name of your family and friends, I just want to thank you for all this work. All the driving time and all the things you’ve already been doing in your parishes. Thank you for that witness,” Bishop Stika said.

The congregation gave the candidates an ovation in acknowledgement and appreciation for their service. The men range in age from their late 30s to early 60s.

Witness was the theme of the bishop’s homily, in which he preached the importance of being a witness for Christ and His Church.

He singled out one of the acolytes brother candidates.

“As I was doing my holy hour, studying the readings and preparing for Masses the coming week, the one word that kept standing out to me was ‘witness.’ And then I thought about the ordination (of Ken Conklin) and to see the photographs from that Mass that were Diaconate continued from page A4

“The share of these programs grew from 5 percent in the 20032004 academic year to 20 percent in the 2016-2017 academic year,” the report stated, noting that in subsequent years the share dropped to 15 percent, which may be an indication that some newer and less established programs closed.

According to Deacon Tim Elliott, director of the Office of the Diaconate and Deacon Formation for the Diocese of Knoxville, the diocese updates CARA on its diaconate activity each year.

The diocese’s first class, ordained in 2007, was mostly Caucasian men, with most in their early to mid-50s. Most were in engineering- or science-related fields. The one exception was a deacon of Vietnamese descent.

The second Diocese of Knoxville class, ordained in 2016, had two Hispanic deacons and had an age average of 50, although several were younger men. The backgrounds continued to lean toward engineering fields and trades.

However, the current diaconate A6 n OCTOBER 3, 2021

Love letters Students at St. Joseph School in Knoxville adorn a fence between the school campus and the residence of Alvin and Vickie Ault with a Solo-cup message and flowers in memory of Mr. Ault. with the school and its students, faculty, and parents.

“That is my family. Alvin and I think of St. Joseph as our family.

The outpouring from this school has touched so many lives. It’s unreal,” she said.

She shared that it now is hard for her to see the St. Joseph community without crying.

“He loved those kids. He loved to make them laugh. He would play ball with them at recess,” she said, adding that the smaller children would give him hugs in the hallway. “He knew they loved him, but to show this much love is amazing. Words can’t describe it.”

The St. Joseph School community has reached out to Mrs. Ault and her family in various ways. The preacher at Mr. Ault’s celebration of life service expressed gratitude from the family to St. Joseph for its love and support at such a difficult time.

“I have gotten a card from each

child at that school. They are so touching. I go through a few each day. They are so sweet. He would love them.

They say, ‘I love you, Mr. Alvin.’

There isn’t a parent there who hasn’t called or texted or sent a donation.

Father Chris (Michelson, St. Joseph president) and Andy (Zengel, St. Joseph principal) have come to see me, and that has meant so much,” Mrs. Ault said.

She said Father Michelson prayed with her and shared comforting Scripture.

And the St. Joseph community delivered food to the family immediately after Mr. Ault’s death.

“I can’t find the words to express how kind they’ve all been to me. I have never met people like them in my life. I knew they were kind and caring, but what they have done amazes me,” Mrs. Ault said.

Mr. Zengel said Mr. Ault’s death has been difficult for the entire school

stunning, from the deck of the Conklins’ home overlooking Douglas Lake and the mountains, and the blue sky. You could not have a more magnificent cathedral, giving glory to God,” Bishop Stika said.

“And the witness who stood before me, a man in great pain and discomfort, surrounded in love by his classmates, by his family, his wife, his children, who was willing to stand, even though it was so painful for him. That was witness.

The witness of responding to God because he is prepared, and to witness the faith,” he continued.

In preparing the acolytes for their new ministry, Bishop Stika emphasized the beauty of serving at the altar, but he also acknowledged the challenging times the world is facing.

The bishop wondered if the current climate of controversy and a “culture of divisiveness” will continue. “Who knows?” he said.

“We live in a world that so often has forgotten the beauty of witness.

We live in a very troubled moment in the history of this world.

Perhaps we have forgotten how to witness to the power of Jesus and the heart of Christ, that most magnificent part of Christ that represents love,” he further said. “That’s the world I will be sending you forth next year. That’s the world in which we all live in today.”

But he pointed out that the ministry of acolyte, and then the permanent diaconate, can help counter that climate because of the power of witness.

“If we, by our witness, allow others to recapture God, present in our society, then we celebrate as Catholics the faith of the Apostles, to truly know the Eucharist is the summit of everything we do. The ministry of acolyte is so very much connected to that,” the bishop said.

Deacon Elliott pointed out that the installation of acolytes is the last significant step before ordination.

“They begin to participate di-

rectly at the altar. From this point on all of their pastors will begin incorporating them into their liturgies within their parish at the altar, not just at the ambo and not just as an usher or a greeter.

They will be helping prepare the gifts for the people. They are in the home stretch, with less than a year to go,” Deacon Elliott said.

The ordination of the permanent deacons is scheduled for June 11 at the cathedral.

In May, just prior to the ordination, the deacon candidates will spend five days on retreat with Bishop Stika getting prepared for the ordination.

New acolyte Rafael Pubillones said Deacon Conklin’s ordination set the tone for the acolyte installation Mass.

“This was awesome. And what made it even more awesome was what we experienced (Sept. 25). It was very emotional. Just looking at Ken was an inspiration,” Mr. Pubillones said. ■

class has five Hispanic men and several others who are bilingual.

“It is on average younger and more diverse in their education and careers,” Deacon Elliott said.

In the 2020-2021 U.S. academic year, one in five candidates for the permanent diaconate was in his 30s (3 percent) and 40s (19 percent), the CARA-Catholic Directory report stated, continuing that according to canon law, married deacon candidates must be 35 or older to be ordained. The share of candidates in these two younger age groups declined from 44 percent in the 2002-2003 academic year to 22 percent in the 2020-2021 academic year.

The report further stated that the percentage of candidates under age 50 is projected to further decline to 18 percent in the 2025-2026 academic year.

“About half of the diaconate candidates (45 percent) were in their 50s. This age group remained relatively stable since 2002-2003 and, based on the trend since the 20022003 academic year, it is projected to stay at 45 percent in the 20252026 academic year,” the report

stated.

It further found that one-third of the candidates was age 60 or older, and based on the trend since the 2002-2003 academic year, the percentage of candidates in this age group is projected to be 35 percent in the 2025-2026 academic year. The majority of candidates, 95 percent, were married while 2 percent were single or never married, and 2 percent were widowed or divorced.

The CARA-Catholic Directory report also found that the racial and ethnic distribution of candidates to the permanent diaconate is gradually becoming more diverse.

During the 2020-2021 academic year, 66 percent of deacon candidates was White. In 2002-2003, 76 percent was White.

“If this trend continues, the share of candidates who are White is projected to decline to 64 percent in the diaconate formation programs in the 2025-2026 academic year. A quarter of deacon candidates in formation programs were Hispanic/Latino. If the trend since the 2002-2003 academic year continues, the share of Hispanic/

Latino candidates is projected to grow to 29 percent in the diaconate formation programs in the 20252026 academic year,” the report concluded.

Asian/Pacific Islanders were 4 percent of deacon candidates.

Blacks/African Americans accounted for 2 percent, and Native Americans, multiracial, and other ethnicities made up the remaining 2 percent.

“Since the 2002-2003 academic year, the combined share of candidates in these racial and ethnic groups remained relatively stable, fluctuating between 6 percent and 8 percent,” the report stated.

In the 2020-2021 academic year, 22 percent of deacon candidates had a high-school education or less while 14 percent had some college education. The percentage of candidates with some college education or less is projected to remain the same in the 2025-26 academic year.

Also, 39 percent of the candidates had a bachelor’s degree and 25 percent had a graduate degree.

Those percentages are expected to remain about the same. ■

Inseparable Vickie and Alvin Ault enjoy a meal at St. Joseph School. The school is mourning the Aug. 25 death of Mr. Ault near the school.

Acolytes continued from page A4

By Bill Brewer

COURTESY OF KATHY RANKIN/ST. JOSEPH SCHOOL (2)

Alvin Ault, a gentle jokester who ‘always had a twinkle in his eye,’ killed in accident at his home near campus

www.di o k no x .o rg

Alvin continued on page A18

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

Fall RCIA conference takes leaders ‘back to basics’ of faith Parishes throughout the Diocese of Knoxville strive to form and retain new Catholics

GABRIELLE NOLAN (2)

P

arish coordinators for the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults in the Diocese of Knoxville gathered recently for a day-long conference on learning ways to strengthen the Church through RCIA. “I see the goal as, with these conferences, to help form those who are charged with forming those who are entering the Church,” said Sister Peter Miriam Dolan of the Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma, Mich. Sister Peter Miriam serves as director of the Office of Christian Formation for the diocese.

Diocesan RCIA coordinators are required to attend at least one conference annually “to help [them] to grow in the faith so that they can be effective, joyful witnesses of the faith that encourages those who are looking to enter into the Church,” Sister Peter Miriam said.

The conference, held Sept. 18 at the Chancery, included guest speakers, time for prayer, a question-andanswer session, as well as group discussions. More than 40 RCIA leaders from around the diocese attended the conference in person and virtually.

“You never stop learning. Every time I’ve come to a conference, I’ve learned something more, always,” said Judy Collins, who has been the RCIA coordinator at Notre Dame Parish in Greeneville for the past 17 years.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops describes RCIA as a process in which participants “undergo . . . conversion as they study the Gospel, profess faith in Jesus and the Catholic Church, and receive the sacraments....

The RCIA process follows the ancient practice of the Church and was restored by the Second Vatican Council as the normal way adults prepare for baptism.”

The three sacraments of initiation in the Catholic Church are baptism, confirmation, and the holy Eucharist.

RCIA participants who are unbaptized are referred to as catechumens, while baptized Christians entering

Back to basics Sister Moira Debono, RSM, STD, leads a session during the fall RCIA conference on Sept. 18 at the Diocese of Knoxville Chancery. More than 40 RCIA leaders attended the conference in person and virtually. into full communion with the Church are referred to as candidates.

For the 2020-2021 year, the diocese had a total of 92 catechumens and 194 candidates, numbers which have remained consistent over the past several years. The numbers are especially significant given COVID-19, which es-

sentially shut down the world in 2020.

“We’ve had as few as one person a year that might have been a catechumen or a candidate,” Mrs. Collins said. “We’ve had as many as 15, but we’re a small parish, so 15 was a lot for us.”

Deacon Butch Feldhaus has been an

Team Christian formation Sister Peter Miriam Dolan, RSM, second from left, is joined by Sister Joan Miriam Nelson, RSM, left, Sister Moira Debono, RSM, and Sister Mary Luke Feldpausch, RSM, in leading the fall RCIA conference.

Synod continued from page A1

ocesan effort.

But help is needed.

“My No. 1 goal is to keep it simple. I want to get into the trenches with parishes, schools, and our other Catholic groups in the diocese and give them simple instructions to carry out this mission, which has been given to all leaders of the Church,” Deacon Smith said.

Beginning this month, dioceses will have six months in which to gather input from the faithful and compose a report that will be sent to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in April 2022. The USCCB will then forward a report on behalf of U.S. dioceses for further discernment at the continental level.

The Vatican will use those reports to draft a final working document (instrumentum laboris) for the bishops’ general assembly in 2023.

“I think the key themes for this synod are listening and discernment,” Deacon Smith said. “If you are the Holy Father, and the magisterium of the Church, and the Vatican, and you do something like this, what is critical is that you listen to all the faithful, not just in North America, South America, or Africa, but the whole Church. In this fashion you can get down to where the faithful are and listen to their thoughts after they discern them. You can’t address the faithful unless you go to the faithful.”

To reach the faithful, Deacon Smith said he is seeking members to form a diocesan synodal team, a “small advisory group” that will help recruit and train group leaders at each parish, school, mission, ministry, and religious community in the diocese.

“It’s important that this core team represents the diocese as a whole and includes each region,” he said.

The second step is to find group leaders who can implement the actual feedback process with the faithful at their parish, school, ministry, or religious community.

“What I envision, let’s say you TH E EAST T E N N E S S E E C AT HO L I C

are a coordinator for a parish, and you are going to gather feedback, you can decide how that works. It might be an Deacon Smith online survey; it could be a parish townhall meeting; it’s really up to you and your pastor or organization leader.

“Once your parish or community has an opportunity to offer input, the coordinator is required to send the diocese a one-page report or synthesis that can be in the form of bullet points, a list in numerical order, or verbiage in text form. It can be that simple. We will then take the input from all our parishes, schools, and any other ministry or community that participates, and craft a 10-page report from the Diocese of Knoxville that will be forwarded to the USCCB,” Deacon Smith said. “The critical thing is, we only have a limited amount of

time to get this done. We need to get clicking right now.”

Anyone interested in becoming a member of the diocesan Mrs. Healy synodal team or a group coordinator can visit dioknox.org for additional information and a sign-up link.

Deacon Smith said group coordinators will be trained before any type of input gatherings is scheduled and the Vatican has provided detailed guidance outlining suggested topics or questions.

The input process is meant to be spiritually driven and open to discernment.

“It is not a mechanical datagathering exercise or a series of meetings and debates,” the Vatican stated in its official “Handbook for Listening and Discernment in Local Churches.”

Bishop conferences, like the one coming up in 2023, also known as

w ww.di o k no x .o rg

By Gabrielle Nolan RCIA coordinator at St. Jude Parish in Chattanooga for more than six years.

“It’s so amazing,” Deacon Feldhaus said. “Sometimes when you do something year after year after year, it gets boring or it gets old. This doesn’t.

Every year is different; there’s all these different people who come from backgrounds that you would have never imagined.”

“Every year, I sit back at the Easter Vigil and I watch and I think, ah – if they only knew how much of a difference they made for me,” he added.

Conference guest speaker Sister Moira Debono, RSM, STD, is a sacramental theologian who previously studied in Rome and taught in various seminaries and universities around the United States and Australia.

Her two talks focused on the theology of baptism and the formation of the uncatechized baptized entering into full communion with the Church.

“Baptism is so fundamental… it’s the gateway to all the sacraments,” Sister Moira said. “As we look at baptism, it’s a participation in the paschal mystery.”

Sister Moira taught about the many dimensions of baptism, as well as the effects and gifts of baptism.

“When you don’t know what you’ve received, you can’t use it,” she said. “You have to know what the gifts are and how to use them.

“As a catechist, you’re not a teacher in the same way as a history teacher or a math teacher.… The difference is our baptism has changed us.…

There is something different about a baptized person in relation to God than one who is not baptized. You are changed.”

The second guest speaker of the event was Father Randy Stice, who serves as the director of the Office of Worship and Liturgy for the diocese.

He is the author of three books, one of which is titled Understanding the RCIA continued on page A8

synods, aren’t unusual, but their impact can be profound. In each of his three previous ordinary synods, Pope Francis has issued an apostolic exhortation, a document written by the Holy Father that brings clarity, insight, and guidance to the faithful on the chosen topic.

The 2023 gathering will be the fourth ordinary synod held by Pope Francis in his eight years leading the Catholic Church. The previous synods have focused on evangelization (New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith, 2013), family (The Vocation and Mission of the Family in the Church and in the Contemporary World, 2015), and youth (Young People, Faith, and Vocational Discernment, 2018).

After each of his three previous ordinary synods, Pope Francis has issued important papal documents: Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel, 2013), Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love, 2016), and Christus Vivit (Christ is Alive, 2018).

“Understandably, I think everyone is wondering where this is going,” Bishop Stika said. “I believe this is a good thing, and Pope Francis recognizes and has stated quite clearly that this is part of a bigger journey. That we are a Catholic community, and that as Christians, we are part of the largest faith group in the world. But we’re not too big to still communicate with each other. The Holy Father has also reminded us that this is a spiritual process that requires discernment. It’s not an exercise in holding meetings and having debates. We need to listen to each other, but mostly listen to what God and the Holy Spirit might be trying to tell each of us.”

In the meantime, Deacon Smith is working to assemble a diocesan synod team and then line up group coordinators for what might be the largest Church undertaking since Vatican II in the 1960s.

“This is happening. It’s a big deal. The whole world is doing it and we must, too,” he said. ■ OCTOBER 3, 2021 n A7

Mission, values continue to drive success for CHI Memorial

C

HI Memorial, East Tennessee’s only Catholic hospital located in Chattanooga, is making good on a promise to bring the best care to the people of North Georgia through the building of a new hospital.

CHI Memorial, operated by CommonSpirit Health, announced its plans over the summer to begin working on a new facility in Catoosa County, Ga. Although already present in an older facility, having served the area since 1994, Memorial will now be able to bring the most up-to-date and advanced care to a people who need and deserve it. Andrew McGill, senior vice president of strategy, business development, and government relations for CHI Memorial, is excited to do just that.

“You need a new hospital, you need a new facility, you need a modern, contemporary place that you can feel good about. So these years later, we’re getting to honor that commitment,” Mr. McGill said.

Already present in North Georgia are multiple CHI Memorial primary care clinics, a surgical clinic, a sleep center, and a cancer center. They have seen 80,000 primary-care visits in North Georgia alone.

CHI Memorial also recently became the round-the-clock ambulatory-care service for the area. But, as need continues to increase, Memorial wants to make sure the residents of Catoosa County are getting full care in a facility that can continue to meet their ever-changing needs.

“We have to be mindful of changes and realities in our world and postCOVID,” Mr. McGill said, “mindful of how we’ve done things in the past that are probably not going to be acceptable (now). You have to be very strategic about the population and what the population needs and orient your health-care ministry around the population.”

COURTESY OF KAREN LONG/CHI MEMORIAL HOSPITAL

East Tennessee’s only Catholic hospital is growing, building new medical center in North Georgia

Interstate expansion An artist’s rendering shows CHI Memorial Hospital’s new medical center planned for Catoosa County in North Georgia.

CHI Memorial has seen its business grow in Georgia.

For the planning committee, access is a key factor motivating the new build. As the community in Catoosa County continues to transform, the hospital’s new location will give Memorial greater access to serve a larger population of people in the community in a more efficient way.

“Business commerce, residential development have all moved to east of where the hospital is today, onto the Parkway, and that’s where we already have our cancer and surgery center.

It’s really becoming a new healthcare center for the area,” Mr. McGill emphasized.

“Putting (the new hospital) where it’s more convenient, it’s in the middle of where most of the population is.

So, access will be a lot easier for that part of North Georgia and in proximity to the interstate. It will be a facility that, not only is it new, but it’s more accessible and nearer where people are, and we think, therefore, will be a much more successful operation,” he added.

Memorial’s main campus in Chattanooga saw a $318 million expansion in 2014. The highlight of that project was construction of the new Guerry Heart and Vascular Center. The hospi-

tal already performed over 800 openheart surgeries a year, and the new center helped cement the hospital’s reputation as one of the best, if not the best, in the area. As CHI Memorial continues to build its reputation for excellent care, the new hospital in North Georgia will expand this legacy.

Mr. McGill and the planning committee currently are in the process of getting state approval for the project and are finalizing building and design plans. While much of this work was done last year, COVID set back plans and practically made them start again on a new timeline.

“Because of the post-COVID environment, there are some things you just want to make certain, like ‘does this still make sense?’” Mr. McGill said. “The new hospital being built in a post-COVID era will take into consideration various aspects you used to take for granted inside a hospital, like having access for patients to get tests, screenings, and procedures done away from those who are sick with more contagious viruses and diseases.”

Memorial attributes its success to a unified mission and vision. From its start in 1952 initiated by the Sisters of

Sacraments of Initiation. And recently he served the USCCB as associate director of the Secretariat of Divine Worship.

His presentation on evangelization and the precatechumenate was based on Pope Francis’ four steps of evangelization, which are steps to welcome, discern, accompany, and integrate.

“One of the things that I think is part of your ministry in RCIA is to recognize and to help the people identify the working of grace in their lives,” Father Stice said to the coordinators. “God may be working in their lives in ways they’re not aware.”

An important reminder for the RCIA coordinators was that each candidate or catechumen has “no strings attached in RCIA” but only freedom, Sister Moira said.

“We go with them as far as they’re willing to go,” Father Stice said.

“Jesus gave people the freedom to walk away from Him, but He never walked away.”

Sister Peter Miriam expressed that one of the difficulties of RCIA is keeping new Catholics connected to the Church after their initiation.

“It’s a high percentage of those who enter the Church, they leave, end up leaving the Catholic Church within five years,” Sister Peter Miriam acknowledged.

“I look around the parish today, and I see some really active parishioners, and they’ve gone through RCIA,” Mrs. Collins said. “But then we’ve had our number that have decided that this wasn’t for them.

They’d be good Catholics for two or three years and then we’ve never seen them again.”

The Association for Catechumenal Ministry is an organization “founded in 1998 by a group of bishops, priests, and laity” that provides a “communications, resources, and education network for diocesan and parish personnel involved in the work of the catechumenate,” according to its website, acmrcia.org.

In a blog post, the ministry lists five reasons as to why new Catholics leave behind the faith so soon after being received into the Church.

A8 n OCTOBER 3, 2021

GABRIELLE NOLAN (2)

RCIA continued from page A7

Words of wisdom Father Randy Stice, director of the Diocese of Knoxville’s Office of Worship and Liturgy, speaks to RCIA leaders on Pope Francis’ four steps of evangelization.

“I see the goal as...to help form those who are charged with forming those who are entering the Church...to help [them] to grow in the faith so that they can be effective, joyful witnesses of the faith that encourages those who are looking to enter into the Church.”

— Sister Peter Miriam Dolan, RSM

“Not that all of those things are happening [in our diocese], it’s just kind of what an organization nationally identified as some of the key pieces at play for why people end up leaving so quickly,” Sister Peter Miriam explained.

Reason One: People are not brought from their initial motivation to firm conviction.

“You’re not converting because of a concept. It has to be deeper,” Sister Peter Miriam said.

“So, in some sense, they haven’t been properly catechized. So that first zeal, first fervor for wanting to look at something didn’t deepen into a commitment, a conversion, that ‘I believe this,’” Sister Peter Miriam said.

“They’ve just kind of been rushed through the process.”

Reason Two: A lack of pastoral care during the neophyte year and beyond.

“It’s such an intense time and experience.… They’re going through RCIA with other people who are in similar situations, and they’re being formed together, and they have this community,” Sister Peter Miriam explained.

Finding themselves as a new Catholic within the parish community “is a challenge,” Sister Peter Miriam said. “How do we better address the needs of those who have entered the Church now that they’re Catholic?

What are their needs, how do we keep them coming back? Not keep them, but how do we help them to… engage with that zeal and love, that new zeal that they’ve come to?”

Reason Three: The RCIA team does

www.di o k no x .o rg

By Claire Collins

Charity of Nazareth, and supported by the generosity of the East Tennessee and Chattanooga community, Memorial has continued its mission to bring Christ’s healing power to those in need.

“We are a health system that has at its heart the mission of extending the healing ministry of the Church and of Christ,” Mr. McGill said, “And that matters greatly in how we go about our daily work, care of patients, and how we approach everything we do…. Our mission, we take it to heart.

If you stay focused on your mission and the values and the community, the people you serve, you really have a leg up.”

Jean Payne, Memorial’s volunteer director for 17 years, knows just how special working for a Catholic hospital can be.

“With us, so many people are thankful that we are faith-based and mission-centered,” Ms. Payne remarked. “And we can speak to that openly because that’s who we are. All our values, everything we stand for is mission-centered. You’re going to see the crucifixes in patients’ rooms, little signs like ‘Have you thanked God today?’ So it’s a tangible reminder of our mission, that we’re here to continue the healing ministry of Christ.”

For Ms. Payne, Memorial’s teamwork under its strong mission and set of values really sets it apart from other hospitals and gives it the opportunity to serve the whole patient. While a volunteer may not be able to meet a patient’s medical needs, their emotional and spiritual needs can be carefully cared for through the service of her volunteers, many of whom have firsthand experience with Memorial’s service.

“Our volunteers provide amazing support to staff. They also help provide a great patient and guest experience. They also love to get involved Hospital continued on page A13

not adequately represent the makeup of the parish.

“You have people who are involved in RCIA, and usually lots of people are very similar and the same people who volunteer for everything all the time, and so you really connect with them,” Sister Peter Miriam said.

“Now you’re plunked into the normal everyday life of the parish, and who are these people?”

Reason Four: They do not become liturgical people.

“If we don’t really share the faith with people regarding the liturgy and help them to know and understand the beauty of the liturgy, it doesn’t really allow them to go deeper because you just become Catholic in name, in some sense,” Sister Peter Miriam pointed out.

Reason Five: They don’t get the Deposit of Faith delivered to them.

“During the process of RCIA they’re really not given, for whatever reason, the real teaching of the faith,” she noted. “Some of them, if they start to realize what they’ve assented to, they start to realize… ‘I don’t agree with this’ and quickly disappear.”

Aside from new Catholics leaving the Church after RCIA is completed, RCIA coordinators have other ongoing challenges within their program.

Such examples include working with a group of individuals who are in different stages of their faith life; small parish programs trying to create community; ensuring candidates and catechumens develop a personal relationship with Jesus and the Church; and the logistics of traveling far distances for diocesan events and Masses.

The RCIA conferences aim to educate, equip, and support parish leaders to best tackle the various concerns and issues regarding their own parish, and teaching the Catholic faith is of the utmost importance to Sister Peter Miriam.

“To come to a deeper understanding and appreciation of that great gift of baptism that we’ve encountered, so that from that place of knowing and understanding our own baptism, we can draw from that and help draw others into that great mystery,” she said. ■ TH E EA S T TEN N ES S EE C ATH OLI C

40 Days for Life fall campaign underway in over 1,000 cities Diocese of Knoxville joins rest of the country in prayerful vigil for the victims of abortion

BILL BREWER

T

he national 40 Days for Life organization launched its fall campaign Sept. 22, with volunteers in over 1,000 cities across the country planning to pray, fast, and hold vigils outside abortion clinics.

They also will participate in outreach to the community to promote awareness about abortion and outreach directly to women considering abortion.

“With the changing abortion landscape, as well as things happening legislatively in the states and nationally in the Supreme Court, there has never been a greater time for this coordinated pro-life movement in our nation,” said Shawn Carney, president and CEO of the Texas-based organization.

“Great strides are being made to end abortion, and we know these peaceful vigils make a difference,” Mr. Carney said in a statement.

Regarding this “changing” landscape, he pointed to “the national angst and protests related to abortion, specifically concerning the Texas ‘heartbeat bill,’” which bans abortions in the state after six weeks of pregnancy and allows an exception only in the case of a medical emergency.

On Dec. 1, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in an appeal from Mississippi to keep its ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, and supporters of the law are urging the court to re-examine its previous abortion rulings, including 1973’s Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion nationwide.

Mr. Carney said the goal of the 40 Days for Life event, which will end Oct. 31, “is threefold.”

The aim is “to empower pregnant women to choose life for their babies, to inspire abortion workers to step away from their industries, and to work toward closing abortion facilities in our country and around the

Praying for life 40 Days for Life volunteers join Father Stephen Imbarrato after a Mass he celebrated across the street from an expanding Planned Parenthood abortion facility in East Knoxville on Sept. 24. world,” he said.

According to 40 Days for Life, about 25 percent of those leading the campaign are women who previously had abortions “and now want to empower women to choose life.”

“We have heard story after story of women choosing life due to the outpouring of love and truth seen through the 40 Days for Life campaigns,” Mr. Carney said. “So many lives have been saved through the efforts of our volunteers and the passion and purpose they have to end abortion.”

The organization has a list of participating cities and locations in those cities posted on its website at 40daysforlife.com/location.

Since going national in 2007, 40 Days for Life has carried out more than 6,000 campaigns in 64 countries and “saved 19,198 lives, contributed to the closing of 112 abortion centers and helped 221 workers quit the abortion industry,” according to a news release from the organization.

All of this has been accomplished, it said, “by holding community-led

peaceful prayer vigils outside local abortion facilities twice a year worldwide.”

In addition to its regular campaigns each spring and fall, the Texas pro-life organization launched its first 40 Days for Life 365 campaign late last year after years of development. It’s being rolled out in various locations around the nation.

One of those places is the Denver Archdiocese, where Planned Parenthood operates the nation’s second largest abortion clinic, and the new campaign began this year on Aug. 14.

“We believe this will be a historical day that marks ‘the beginning of the end of abortion’” at Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains in Denver’s Stapleton area, said Maria Elisa Olivas, community coordinator for Catholic Charities of Denver.

“This will be the day that the Christian community of Denver pledges to have someone praying for the unborn not just 40 days, but every day” this facility is open, she said in a statement issued as the campaign began.

Knoxville is another city where 40

By Catholic News Service

Days for Life is underway, marking the second time this year that the peaceful prayer vigil has been held outside the Planned Parenthood abortion facility on Cherry Street at Washington Avenue on the eastern side of the city.

Parishioners from across the Diocese of Knoxville are volunteering to spend time each day in prayer across the street from the facility, praying for an end to abortion and for the victims of abortion.

“The 40 Days for Life is so needed with all that is going on in our country and locally with the expansion of Planned Parenthood on Cherry Street.

The magnitude of the building expansion at Planned Parenthood is heartbreaking, and as I watch the construction all I can think of is how horrifying and devastating this is and will be for all who enter,” said Lisa Morris, an organizer of the Diocese of Knoxville’s 40 Days for Life campaign.

“The countless lives lost and the women’s lives who will never be the same is a tragedy with consequences that go and on for a lifetime. Respect for life must be at the center of who we are, and we must be a witness to the dignity of every life in all that we do. To be a witness not only for those going in, but also for all the workers on the construction site, and for those who work there, we pray for their conversion to see the truth and come full circle to value and support life, not end it,” Mrs. Morris continued.

“For me that is why the 40 Days for Life is more important now than ever, the peaceful, prayerful witness to the precious gift of every life. Prayer is action and changes hearts and lives. In this Respect for Life month of October, it is a reminder to us that we are called every day to be the voice of those who have no voice but ours, in a loving and peaceful way. Prayers for our world, one heart at a time to choose life, that they may live.” ■

Divided U.S. Supreme Court rejects challenge to Texas pro-life law

By Matt Hadro Catholic News Agency

A

divided Supreme Court on Sept. 1 declined a petition to block Texas’ “heartbeat” law, allowing the law to stand for now.

And in a 218-211 vote on Sept.

24, the U.S. House passed what opponents consider one of the most extreme abortion bills ever seen in the nation: the Women’s Health Protection Act. H.R. 3755 codifies the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion nationwide. The measure establishes the legal right to abortion on demand at any stage of pregnancy in all 50 states under federal law.

Texas’ “Heartbeat Act” prohibits abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected, which can be as early as six weeks into pregnancy. It is enforced by allowing private lawsuits in cases of illegal abortions.

The court, in a 5-4 decision, denied a petition for relief from the law by abortion providers. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett all ruled to deny the petition.

Chief Justice John Roberts, as well as Justices Stephen Breyer, Elena Kagan, and Sonia Sotomayor, all dissented.

“Texas is the first state to successfully protect the most vulnerable among us, preborn children, by outlawing abortion once their heartbeats are detected,” stated Chelsey Youman, Texas state director for the pro-life group Human Coalition Action, in response to the court ruling.

The abortion providers did not make an argument sufficient to qualify for relief from the law, the majority ruled.

“The applicants now before us have raised serious questions regarding the constitutionality of the Texas law at issue. But their application also presents complex and novel antecedent procedural questions on which they have not carried their burden,” the majority stated.

The court majority emphasized that it was not judging the constitutionality of the law itself, but rather the case for

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

relief from the law.

“In particular, this order is not based on any conclusion about the constitutionality of Texas’s law, and in no way limits other procedurally proper challenges to the Texas law, including in Texas state courts,” the court ruled.

In recent weeks, the pro-abortion groups suing over the law, represented by the Center for Reproductive Rights, had failed to successfully block the law in the lower courts.

On Aug. 30, they appealed for relief at the Supreme Court. The law went into effect on Sept. 1 without the court having acted on the petition. However, late Sept. 1 the court issued its decision.

Texas’ law allows for private citizens to sue over illegal abortions; they may take legal action against those performing or assisting in illegal abortions, including those providing financial assistance. The law allows for at least $10,000 in damages in successful lawsuits.

“Human beings are worthy of protection at all phases of development, and the importance of a growing human in the womb cannot be undermined in good conscience,” Ms. Youman said.

Chief Justice John Roberts, in his dissent, noted the enforcement of the law by private citizens and not the state. He said he would have blocked the law temporarily, to give the courts more time to “consider whether a state can avoid responsibility for its laws in such a manner.”

Justice Stephen Breyer, in his dissent, said that Texas was still unlawfully prohibiting first-trimester abortions, which “a woman has a federal constitutional right to obtain.”

“The Court’s order is stunning,” said Justice Sonia Sotomayor in her dissent. “Presented with an application to enjoin a flagrantly unconstitutional law engineered to prohibit women from exercising their constitutional rights and evade judicial scrutiny, a majority of Justices have opted to bury their heads in the sand.”

“Without full briefing or argument, and after less than 72 hours’ thought, this Court greenlights the operation of Texas’s patently unconstitutional law

banning most abortions,” Justice Elena Kagan wrote in her dissent.

The majority said that the abortion providers had not proven an injury from the named defendants in the case. “[I]t is unclear whether the named defendants in this lawsuit can or will seek to enforce the Texas law against the applicants in a manner that might permit our intervention,” the majority wrote.

“The State has represented that neither it nor its executive employees possess the authority to enforce the Texas law either directly or indirectly.

Nor is it clear whether, under existing precedent, this Court can issue an injunction against state judges asked to decide a lawsuit under Texas’s law,” the majority said. “Finally, the sole private-citizen respondent before us has

filed an affidavit stating that he has no present intention to enforce the law.”

Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City, Kan., chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, issued a statement on supporting pregnant and new mothers following the U.S. Supreme Court action.

“As chairman of the Pro-Life Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, I wish to echo the words of the Texas Catholic bishops who expressed gratitude for the growing network of support for pregnant mothers and their families in Texas. Recently, the Texas legislature increased support for low-income mothers by 25 percent through their Alternatives to Abortion program, in addition to expanding Medicaid covCourt continued on page A11

. ʹʹ – . ͵ͳ, 2021

With God, all things are possible!

With these words as our prayer,

Knoxville will again join hundreds of other cities for our eighth and largest 40 Days for Life campaign ever from Sep 22 to Oct 31, 2021.

Our witness is prayerful, peaceful, and law-abiding.

Since 2007… … 1,000,000 volunteers have participated in 40 Days for Life campaigns … 18,855 babies have been saved during 40 Days for Life vigils … 221 abortion workers have quit after experiencing conversions … 112 abortion facilities have closed their doors … 40 Days campaigns in over 1000 cities and 64 countries to date 40 Days for Life features three components:

1. PRAYER AND FASTING 2. COMMUNITY OUTREACH 3. PEACEFUL VIGIL Stand for life in a peaceful public witness outside of

PLANNED PARENTHOOD 710 N. Cherry St. Knoxville, TN Sep. 22-Oct. 31

CONTACT Paul Simoneau – Diocese of Knoxville psimoneau@dioknox.org Lisa Morris

lccte@bellsouth.net

Information@40days.com

w ww.di o k no x .o rg

OCTOBER 3, 2021 n A9

Deacon Conklin finished giving thanks to all in attendance.

Ordained continued from page A1

each other to heaven and do what they can to support each other in that.”

The Conklins have two daughters, Casie Akin and Lindsay Russell. Casie is wife to Adam Akin and mother to daughters Charlotte and Georgia; Lindsay is wife to Brad Russell, and they are expecting a child due next year.

‘Today was very extraordinary’

Deacon Conklin, 67, was diagnosed in 2018 with colon cancer. Despite multiple rounds of chemotherapy and surgery, over time the cancer spread to his liver and stomach.

After an emergency surgery Sept.

17 revealed several tumors in his intestines and stomach, the doctors sent Deacon Conklin home on hospice care.

Urgent communication began between the Conklins, Bishop Stika, and Deacon Elliott, who serves as the diocesan director of the diaconate and deacon formation.

“When I found out that his surgery had gone the way that it did, how much cancer they found, and the fact that… he’d be going into hospice, I texted Bishop [that] night,” Deacon Elliott said. “[Bishop] called and talked to Ken and his wife Diane and asked him what he thought about being ordained early, and then sent me some texts and says, ‘Let’s get this thing going,’” he said.

The team had one week to prepare the liturgy and logistics and inform friends and family from around the country.

Deacon Patrick Murphy-Racey volunteered to professionally record the Mass on video, so that the family would have a lasting memory of the day.

“I was floored by the response I got from the guys to change their lives around to be there for that moment, and the number of people that showed up,” Mr. Denne said.

“To drop everything for that man is a great testament,” he added.

An ordination at home

Before the Mass began, Deacon Conklin was given a signed card from Bishop Stika, along with a blessed St. Lawrence cross, the symbol of the diaconate. The image of the cross with a stole draping across the front of it, strung by a cord, is named after one of the early deacons of the Church.

As the Mass began, Mrs. Conklin escorted her husband while carrying his vestments, and helped place him in a special seat directly in front of the altar.

Because of his discomfort and recent surgery, Deacon Ken remained seated throughout the duration of the Mass.

The readings and psalm were proclaimed by fellow deacon candidates David Duhamel and Wade Eckler.

Deacon Larry Rossini served as deacon of the altar, while Deacon Joe Stackhouse served as deacon of the Word.

The Litany of Saints was chanted by seminarian Bobby Denne, son of deacon candidate Mr. Denne.

After the Gospel was the calling of the candidate, where Deacon Conklin declared his presence.

Bishop Stika delivered the homily while standing directly in front of Deacon Conklin and his family.

“Life has its turns and its moments, and now we come to this moment,” Bishop Stika said. “A moment in which you give witness to the world.

There’s a simple dialogue in which

GABRIELLE NOLAN (4)

Traveling the road of cancer

Pride and joy Diane Conklin, wife of Ken Conklin, the Diocese of Knoxville’s newest deacon, proudly watches her husband as he is ordained into the permanent diaconate by Bishop Stika.

Family portrait Deacon Ken Conklin is surrounded by his wife, Diane, daughters Casie Akin and Lindsay Russell, their husbands, Adam Akin and Brad Russell, and granddaughters Charlotte and Georgia Akin. The newly ordained deacon, in one of his first official acts, gave a special blessing to his family following his ordination. you are presented, not just to me or not just to all of us, but to God himself.”

Bishop Stika spoke about how, for Christians, suffering can be redemptive.

“Somehow, in a very mysterious and grace-filled way, our sufferings are no longer our sufferings, but they’re the sufferings of Jesus himself,” he said.

“And at the end of one’s life, however that might be, somehow the Church has always taught that your prayers are truly magnificent, and your prayers and suffering are that which contains more power than we can ever imagine.”

“I thank you for this witness over your course of studies and for this moment, even though you might be in great discomfort, for your willingness to say yes to God when he has called you to this moment, as he called you to the moment when you were conceived,” Bishop Stika said.

Following the homily, Deacon Conklin declared his intentions before the people to undertake the office of permanent diaconate, responding “I do” to the resolutions prompted by the bishop and promising his obedience to him and the Church.

The Rite of Ordination included the laying on of hands, where Bishop Stika placed his hands upon Deacon Conklin’s head and prayed over him. Then vesting occurred, where Bishop Stika and Deacon Elliot assisted Deacon Conklin in putting on his new liturgical garments of stole, cincture, and dalmatic.

After the vesting, the Gospels were placed on Deacon Conklin’s lap, where he set his hands on top of the open book.

Class of 2022 Bishop Stika and Deacon Conklin are joined by other dea- con candidates in the class of 2022 for a group photo at Deacon Conklin’s home in Dandridge. The candidates are to be ordained to the permanent diaconate in June at the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.

A10 n OCTOBER 3, 2021

The words of the ordination rite proclaim: “Receive the Gospel of Christ, whose herald you have become; believe what you read, teach what you believe, and practice what you teach.”

All deacons present approached Deacon Conklin to give the sign of peace to their newest member, a moving testament to the love and respect present in their brotherhood and ministry.

At the end of Mass, Bishop Stika gave Deacon Conklin his microphone so he could speak to those gathered.

The emotion broke through as he addressed his bishop, classmates, friends, and family.

“Today, being here with all you people, has given me such love, that I hope I’m worthy of it,” Deacon Conklin said. “Bishop Stika, I am really honored that you are at my home and [met] my family and tell you that I love you. Deacon Tim, for four years, you’ve been by my side, and there have been ups and downs with my health, and you always stood there and said your health is first, if you need time off take it.”

But for Deacon Conklin, his journey to the diaconate was always more important than his declining health.

“I need to be with my brothers,” he said. “My brothers . . . four and a half years ago, we didn’t know each other from Adam. And here we stand, in brotherhood, supporting each other, and I feel your love.”

“There’s a special call to my family and my friends. They have been my rock. They have gotten me through everything I’ve gone through,” he said as he cried.

A round of applause broke out as

After the Mass, guests were welcomed to stay at the family’s home for a reception.

“Today was very extraordinary because Ken’s time is limited,” Bishop Stika said. “It was a great honor for me to be here, along with his family and his classmates and some other deacons, to celebrate this significant moment in his life.

“It’s up to God and his body how much time he has left, but I see him as a very holy man who has accepted this and is a man filled with great love, so how could this not be an honor for me?”

Guests formed a receiving line to visit and take photos with the new deacon, and many asked for his special blessing. Perhaps the most moving blessing of all was when Deacon Conklin’s wife and two daughters bowed before him.

“Today was a very humbling day,” Deacon Conklin said. “One of my goals in life was to reach ordination, and unfortunately, things have taken a turn for the worst, and I am so humbled and blessed that the bishop was willing to ordain me a little early. But I do continue to attend either through video or in-person ordination classes, so I do want to go the whole road.”

“It’s just probably one of the most beautiful things for my husband, to be ordained here at his home with the bishop presiding over it,” Mrs. Conklin said. “And I know that Ken is just so emotional, you know, we feel the love of all the friends, family, that made this work out. We have such a beautiful day, and it’s just the most amazing thing to witness. I just never imagined that it would be like this, you know, to watch my husband be ordained.”

A love for faith, and pretzels

On one side of the Conklins’ deck was a table adorned with drinks and a baked pretzel display spelling out “Deacon Ken.” This homage alludes to one of his favorite pastimes: making and sharing Philly pretzels.

“He used to bring in pretzels all the time for us with different dips that they were trying out, checking out and stuff,” said Deacon Elliott. “So we’d sit around on Friday nights talking and eating pretzels.”

“We did have a franchise there for a while, but we don’t have it anymore,” Mrs. Conklin explained. “Here, in Tennessee, we had this store open at the Walmart in Knoxville. We had it for, I think it was almost four years, and we were going to transfer the store to Dollywood.”

Delays prevented the store’s move from happening, and Deacon Conklin’s cancer became more of a priority.

“They wanted us out there, but during that whole transition, you know, COVID hit and all, and then we just never pursued it after that because we had more important things going on in our life. We just didn’t need to be that busy,” Mrs. Conklin noted.

Joining a brotherhood

Deacon Conklin is one of 25 members of the current deacon formation class, which officially began its formal classes in September 2017. The cohort meets one full weekend of every month at the Christ Prince of Peace Retreat Center in Benton, where they Ordained continued on page A11

In God’s cathedral Guests prepare for the ordination Mass for Deacon Ken Conklin at the Conklin home at Douglas Lake in Dandridge. Bishop Stika referred to the beautiful setting for the ordination Mass as God’s cathedral.

www.di o k no x .o rg

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

Court continued from page A9

“As Catholics, we are committed to working and praying for the conversion of minds and hearts so all people will respect the dignity of the human person from conception to natural death. ... We stand with Pope Francis, who reminds us that killing a child is never a solution to a problem.”

— Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City, Kan.

Supreme Court ruled 5-4 to deny a petition to enjoin a Texas heartbeat law after the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the law. The Supreme Court’s narrow ruling now allows the ban to go into effect, which essentially bans abortions in Texas after six weeks gestation. Tennessee Right to Life is hopeful that the hesitation by the high court to intervene in the case could be a good signal for the upcoming Mississippi abortion case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization,” said Stacy Dunn, president of Tennessee Right to Life, noting that the Supreme Court announced that the question before it will be the constitutionality of all pre-viability abortion bans and that it will be the most significant abortion case before the high court since 1992.

“The court has indicated that in Dobbs it will be looking at various state pre-viability bans, such as the Texas heartbeat law. In doing so, the court would almost certainly have to re-visit the tragic Roe v. Wade decision, which could be the ‘trigger’ that is needed to ban abortion in Tennessee. In 2019, the Tennessee General Assembly passed a trigger law, the Human Life Protection

Ordained continued from page A10

room, eat, study, and discuss together.

“We were the first group to go through the program to be able to utilize the CPOP retreat center,” Mr. Denne said. “It was really the time after the instruction at night sitting around and talking to everybody and getting to know each other… to have that fellowship that I think really has bonded this class like no other.” “[Ken has] been at all of the meetings, either in person or by Zoom” since the program began, said Deacon Elliott.

In November, the class will shift into practicum work, which will take them to the end of the program in April. The practicum teaches the deacon candidates how to serve at the altar with bishops and priests and how to develop homilies. In May, the candidates are required to attend a canonical retreat for five days at St. Bernard’s Abbey in Cullman, Ala. The remaining members are scheduled to be ordained to the permanent diaconate on June 11 at the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.

“What did [Ken’s ordination] mean to me? It meant that God still works all the time,” Deacon Elliott said. “He calls that witness of steadfast faith and hope in Him, no matter what the odds are, no matter

Columbus bishop to lead Brooklyn Diocese

By Catholic News Service

P

ope Francis has accepted the resignation of Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn, N.Y., and named Bishop Robert J. Brennan of Columbus, Ohio, to succeed him.

Bishop DiMarzio, who has been Brooklyn’s bishop since 2003, turned 77 in June. When he turned 75, he turned in his resignation to the pope as required by canon law.

Bishop Brennan, 59, is a native New Yorker who has headed the Columbus Diocese since 2019. He was born in the borough of the Bronx and raised in Lindenhurst, N.Y., in the Diocese of RockBishop Brennan ville Centre, where he was an auxiliary bishop from 2012 until his appointment to Columbus.

The changes were announced in Washington, D.C., by Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

A Mass of installation for Bishop Brennan will be celebrated Nov. 30 at the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph in Brooklyn.

“On behalf of the Diocese of Brooklyn, I welcome Bishop Brennan, whom I have known for many years, with confidence in his ability to lead our Catholic community and build upon the pastoral achievements we have made. It has truly been an honor to serve as bishop of the Diocese of Brooklyn for 18 years,” Bishop DiMarzio said.

There are more than 1.2 million Catholics throughout Brooklyn and Queens. ■

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

Act, which states that if Roe is overturned in part or in whole, then the pre-1973 laws would be restored and abortion would be banned except to save the life of the mother.

“Tennessee’s pro-life legislators planned well for such a moment as this,” said Mrs. Dunn, who also heads the Knox County chapter of Tennessee Right to Life. “This Texas law could be a ray of light at the end of a very long and dark tunnel, and our state is ready.”

Will Brewer, legal counsel and lobbyist for Tennessee Right to Life, underscored the point that while the Texas decision is good news, Tennessee is in an even better position to ban abortions upon the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

“Tennessee’s law that resembles the Texas law is still in the midst of litigation. However, Tennessee has actually passed a law to ban all abortions immediately once Roe is overturned.

Therefore, once the U.S. Supreme Court uses the Mississippi case to overturn Roe, Tennessee will ban all abortions even before six weeks. We welcome this news from Texas and what it could mean for Tennessee,” Mr.

what is going on in the world.”

“One of the most incredible things about Ken, and Diane for that matter, is they understand what the word hope means,” he said. “Through all of this, they’re very practical, but they’re also very grounded in that hope and in their Catholic faith.”

The deacon candidates continue to lift up the Conklin family in prayer, and by walking alongside their brother as he strives to continue the program with them.

“Ken has always been the face of Christ to us in his suffering. You knew he was in pain, but he was always there. He didn’t complain about it,” Mr. Denne said. “He just wanted to be with us and be in the program no matter what. The man is still just a beautiful witness to the faith.”

Diane Conklin expressed appreciation for her husband’s classmates.

“They’ve just been so supportive,” Mrs. Conklin said about the diaconate class. “They call whenever, always offering help for us, and we’ve established a relationship for the past four-plus years, and we’re like a family.” ■

Brewer said.

Tennessee lawmakers passed a fetal heartbeat bill in June 2020. Gov. Bill Lee signed the legislation into law on July 13, 2020, but the law was immediately challenged by Planned Parenthood and the ACLU, and a federal court issued a temporary restraining order halting the law from taking effect.

The federal 6th Circuit Court of Appeals recently upheld the injunction but did not rule on the merits of the law.

And on Aug. 5, a full panel of the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Tennessee’s mandatory 48-hour waiting period for abortions.

Dr. Robin Pierucci, chair of the American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds) Pro-Life Committee said, “Texas’ recognition that the baby in the womb is in fact a real person is something to genuinely celebrate. It is, however, just one step in our desire to assist and support the entire mother-infant dyad.

“All human life is equally valuable from the moment of conception until natural death. ACPeds affirms that human life begins at conception; however, this is a significant step in acknowledging the autonomy and innate value of the child inside his or her mother’s womb. Consistent with its mission to ’enable all children to reach their optimal physical and emotional health and well-being,’ the ACPeds, therefore, opposes active measures that end the life of any child at any stage of development, including elective abortion and infanticide,” the American College of Pediatricians said in a statement. ■

DEACON SCOTT MAENTZ

erage for new mothers.

“Another new Texas law, which has elicited far more controversy, seeks to use civil rather than criminal law to protect the lives of vulnerable children in the womb. Tragically, the president, Speaker of the House, and other public officials have responded with statements that ignore our nation’s sacred interest to protect the life and health of both mothers and their unborn children, instead responding with radical pledges to mobilize the full force of the federal government to block all efforts to protect the life of the child in the womb. And they seek to enshrine into federal law the failed policy of Roe v.

Wade, which pits the welfare of mothers against their children.

“As Catholics, we are committed to working and praying for the conversion of minds and hearts so all people will respect the dignity of the human person from conception to natural death. Our national outreach, Walking with Moms in Need, helps parishes to identify and help provide the full range of needs for mothers and their unborn children, not only during pregnancy, but for years to come. We stand with Pope Francis, who reminds us that killing a child is never a solution to a problem. We advocate for surrounding both mother and her child with love and practical support as the humane response to a difficult pregnancy,” Archbishop Naumann said.

Tennessee Right to Life, which leads pro-life education and legislative activities across the state, said the Supreme Court ruling is a positive sign for Tennessee.

“This is good news for Texas and for Tennessee. On Sept. 1, the U.S.

The hands of Christ Bishop Stika lays hands on Ken Conklin in prayer as part of the Rite of Ordination. Mr. Conklin became the Diocese of Knoxville’s newest deacon on Sept. 25.

United States Postal Service Statement of ownership, management, and circulation Required by 39 U.S.C. 3685 1. Publication title: The East Tennessee Catholic 2. Publication number: 0007-211 3. Filing date: Sept. 30, 2021 4. Issue frequency: Monthly 5. Number of issues published annually: 12 6. Annual subscription price: $15 7. Complete mailing address of known office of publication: 805 S. Northshore Drive, Knoxville, Knox County, TN 37919-7551 8. Complete mailing address of headquarters or general business office of publisher: Same 9. Full names and complete addresses of publisher, editor, and managing editor: publisher, Bishop Richard F. Stika, Diocese of Knoxville, 805 S. Northshore Drive, Knoxville, TN 37919-7551; editor, Bill Brewer, 805 S. Northshore Drive, Knoxville, TN 37919-7551; managing editor, Dan McWilliams, 805 S. Northshore Drive, Knoxville, TN 37919-7551 10. Owner: Roman Catholic Diocese of Knoxville, 805 S. Northshore Drive, Knoxville, TN 37919-7551 11. Known bondholders, mortgagees, and other security holders owning or holding 1 percent or more of total amount of bonds, mortgages, or other securities: None 12. Tax status (for completion by nonprofit organizations authorized to mail at nonprofit rates): Has not changed during preceding 12 months 13. Publication name: The East Tennessee Catholic 14. Issue date for circulation data below: Sept. 5, 2021 15. Extent and nature of circulation

Average number copies each

Number copies of single

issue during preceding 12 months

issue published nearest to filing date

A. Total number of copies (net press run)

20,864

21,050

B. (1) Mailed outside-county paid 19,930

20,113

(2) Mailed in-county paid subscriptions stated on PS Form 3541

subscriptions stated on PS Form 3541

0

0

(3) Paid distribution outside the mails

0

0

(4) Paid distribution by other classes of mail

0

0

19,930

20,113

C. Total paid distribution D. Free or nominal rate distribution (1) Outside-county nonrequested copies on Form 3541

465

471

(2) In-county nonrequested copies on Form 3541

0

0

(3) Nonrequested copies mailed at other classes

0

0

(4) Nonrequested copies distributed outside the mail

0

0

E. Total nonrequested distribution

465

471

F. Total distribution

20,395

20,584

G. Copies not distributed

469

466

H. Total

20,864

21,050

I. Percent paid

97.7

97.8

16. Electronic copy circulation 17. Statement of ownership will be printed in the Oct. 3, 2021, issue of this publication.

18. Signature and title of editor, publisher, business manager, or owner: Bill Brewer, editor. Date: Sept. 30, 2021 I certify that all information furnished on this form is true and complete. I understand that anyone who furnishes false or misleading information on this form or who omits material or information requested on the form may be subject to criminal sanctions (including fines and imprisonment) and/or civil sanctions (including civil penalties).

www.di o k no x .o rg

OCTOBER 3, 2021 n A11

A Gathering of Church

T

returning to Mass that has been seen in recent months. On Sept. 11, evangelizer and SiriusXM Catholic Channel personality Gus Lloyd spoke to parishioners via livestream. Any diocesan parish that wanted could receive Mr. Lloyd’s message.

Parishes also could hold their own events as a way to celebrate A Gathering of Church and also mark the anniversary of the diocese’s founding on

Sept. 8, 1988.

Among the ways churches celebrated were with outdoor Mass, church picnics, and games, in addition to Mr. Lloyd’s presentation.

The diocese marked its 33rd anniversary last month as pastors reported increasing Mass attendance and a return to mostly normal church activities. ■

BILL BREWER

COURTESY OF ST. THOMAS THE APOSTLE CHURCH

COURTESY OF ST. MARY CHURCH-JOHNSON CITY

COURTESY OF NOTRE DAME CHURCH IN GREENEVILLE

COURTESY OF NOTRE DAME CHURCH IN GREENEVILLE

COURTESY OF NOTRE DAME CHURCH IN GREENEVILLE

COURTESY OF ST. THOMAS THE APOSTLE CHURCH

COURTESY OF ST. MARY CHURCH-JOHNSON CITY

he Diocese of Knoxville encouraged parishes throughout East Tennessee to officially welcome back parishioners and thank them for their support after the more than year-long disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

To help parishes make that happen, the diocese last month sponsored A Gathering of Church, which built on the momentum of the faithful

Celebrating Church In top-row left photo, St. Thomas the Apostle in Lenoir City held a parish outdoor celebration with games, food, and other fun. In top-row right photo, parishioners and clergy prepare for an outdoor Mass at St. Mary Church in Johnson City. In second-row left photo, a parishioner at Notre Dame Church in Greeneville helps a child with a game. In second-row right photo, youth and adults at Notre Dame get together for a picnic game. In thirdrow left photo, parishioners at Notre Dame receive Communion during an outdoor Mass. In third-row right photo, parishioners at St. Mary Church in Johnson City prepare food for the parish picnic. Bottom-row left photo, a traditional Latin American dance is performed at St. Thomas the Apostle Parish. Bottom-row right photo, parishioners at Holy Trinity Church in Jefferson City gather to watch Catholic evangelist and radio personality Gus Lloyd.

A12 n OCTOBER 3, 2021

www.di o k no x .o rg

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

Making a job connection

Ladies of Charity host employment event for Knoxville-area men and women in recovery

in their community. Many of our volunteers become a volunteer because they’ve received wonderful service from one of our Memorial campuses or outpatient facilities and they would like to give back. They see that there’s an opportunity and they can make a difference because they have personally felt that difference themselves.”

Memorial boasts a number of recent awards and recognitions. It received a five-star rating from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and is one of only three hospitals in Tennessee to achieve that distinction.

It also was named Best Regional Hospital by U.S. News and World Report and the Best of the Best by the Chattanooga Times Free Press newspaper. For Ms. Payne, it is the combination of excellent medical staff and services and the passion of the volunteers that make that success possible.

“It’s the team that makes that hap-

Now hiring A client attends the Ladies of Charity employment event on Aug. 20 and speaks to representatives of the American Job Center about employment opportunities. The Ladies of Charity hosted the event for more than 20 employers in the Knoxville area.

Mr. Kucharski said.

“We held the listening sessions, and person after person after person was just talking about employment, and so that’s how this event came about,” Mr. Kucharski added.

According to the Recovery Advocacy Project website, 22 million Americans struggle with addiction, and 90 percent of people in need of treatment do not receive it.

“When I think about my own early recovery, having gainful employment was something that helped me maintain my recovery,” Mr. Kucharski said.

“That’s the sort of piece we’re talking to employers about today at our recovery-friendly workspaces. We know that having gainful employment is something that just increases the chances of somebody maintaining their recovery, and so we wanted to be able to link those two up,” he continued.

“I’m a person in recovery, as well,” said Matt Holder, a Tennessee organizer with the Recovery Advocacy Project and also the Recovery Ministry director at First United Methodist Church of Oak Ridge.

“This was something that I feel

COURTESY OF KAREN LONG/CHI MEMORIAL HOSPITAL

Hospital continued from page A8

GABRIELLE NOLAN

L

ocal community leaders are working hard to help men and women in recovery from substance abuse by connecting them to life-changing employment.

The Community Resource and Employment Event was hosted at Ladies of Charity on Aug. 20 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

While Ladies of Charity has hosted job fairs in the past, this was the first of its kind.

“The group that we’re targeting today are people in recovery or people with barriers to employment,” said Susan Unbehaun, the executive director of Ladies of Charity.

Over 20 recovery-friendly employers were present at the event, with specialties ranging from landscape design to road construction to retail and more.

“I let people know I’m a person in long-term recovery, which means I haven’t had a drink or drugs since Sept. 6th of 2003,” said Aaron Kucharski, an organizer and coordinator with Recovery Advocacy Project, a not-for-profit organization providing tools and guidance to local communities around the country who are supporting people in recovery.

“We’re really about listening to folks on the grassroots level who are experiencing different barriers, whether they’re in recovery and working to provide community solutions around what we’re hearing,”

Another view A second artist’s rendering shows CHI Memorial Hospital’s new medical center planned for Catoosa County in North Georgia from a different angle. pen, and the volunteers are a part of that team,” she said.

For Ms. Payne, plans for a new hospital mean an expansion to the volunteer program as well.

“Several of the volunteers here also live in the North Georgia area…it’s exciting because we all knew that area

was in need of acute-care services, and the North Georgia community is so excited and so supportive there won’t be any trouble at all getting volunteers to come on board,” she said.

Groundbreaking on the new Georgia facility is set to take place in spring or early summer of 2022 and

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

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE PHOTO COURTESY OF IONA COLLEGE

Masterpiece continued from page A3

The 46-inch-by-57-inch, oil-oncanvas painting includes Mary, Joseph, and the infants Jesus and John the Baptist. Mr. Ruggio said the composition of the parish’s canvas is more dynamic than the other three.

“Joseph is almost a scene-stealer here and reaches his full potential because of his interaction with St. John the Baptist,” he said.

Of the related paintings, one is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, another is in the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, and the fourth is in a private collection in the New York borough of Manhattan.

“Holy Family with the Infant St. John” is thought to be worth $800,000. Monsignor Keane said he had been told during his tenure that the painting was probably the most valuable in the parish’s collection, “perhaps in the neighborhood of $50,000.” He said local lore ascribed the painting to the Dandini school, but not the painter himself.

“I was surprised at the news and thankful Tom (Ruggio) was able to do the research on the history of the art,” Monsignor Keane said.

Teresa Cohan Minnaugh grew up in Holy Family Parish. She said her family entered church and left church under the Dandini painting each Sunday.

“Sometimes your mind wanders during Mass. I remember looking at that painting and thinking, ‘Wow, those babies are fat. Real babies aren’t that big,’” Ms. Minnaugh said.

Susan Woodruff is the youngest

Holy family Thomas Ruggio, a fine art and art history professor at Iona College in New Rochelle, N.Y., stands next to Cesare Dandini’s 17thcentury masterpiece “Holy Family with the Infant St. John” in the atrium of the college’s Ryan Library. The artwork is on loan to Iona from Holy Family Church in New Rochelle. Mr. Ruggio was surprised to discover the painting during a visit to the church earlier this year.

“[The Dandini] adds joy to life. We’ve had so much bad news, with the “[ pandemic, riots, and violence. This is good news. What was lost is now discovered.””

— Monsignor Dennis Keane pastor of Holy Family Parish in New Rochelle, N.Y. of six children who attended Holy Family. She said her brother developed an interest in art at the parish and became a painter. His early tutelage helped her appreciate the threedimensional aspect of the canvas.

“I always looked at the inside of the baby’s foot. It was so different,”

she said. By Dandini’s purposeful design, the bottom of Mary’s foot also is visible to a viewer looking up at the painting.

On Sept. 17, “Holy Family with the Infant St. John” went on display at Ryan Library at Iona College, an institution founded by the Congre-

www.di o k no x .o rg

By Gabrielle Nolan

very passionate about because I was a person that was unemployable at one point. I work for a men’s treatment facility, and I see the need for the second chance,” Mr. Holder said.

“When you bring someone in and are able to give them purpose and give them a job, then it’s a lot easier to get them to heal in their areas that they need to heal with substance abuse.”

For people recovering from addiction and substance abuse, there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Obstacles may include stigma, criminal backgrounds, finding housing, and maintaining employment.

“Sometimes that solution comes from community events like this, and sometimes it can come legislatively,” Mr. Kucharski said.

“There’s a diverse number of employers that are understanding the value of the hard work that people in recovery are capable of, and I think that the more employers throughout Knoxville and across the state who can look at themselves and say that they’re recovery-friendly workspaces is really important.”

Although the event was equipped to help recovering men and women, it was open to the community at large for those seeking employment.

“It might be a situation where they kind of have jobs, but they’re underemployed, like as far as being able to pay for an apartment or housing,” Mr. Holder said. “We try to be selecEmployment continued on page A14

be completed mid-2024. While there are no immediate plans for continued expansion in the Chattanooga area, Mr. McGill hopes the Georgia expansion, as well as the new perspective the COVID pandemic has given healthcare systems, will also lead to other growth.

“Health systems are always trying to figure out what they need to be doing next. Growth is about being more consumer centric, being where people are, and doing everything we can to eliminate barriers to access. New hospitals and other things on the Tennessee side of the line, we’re looking at what we need to add and replace and that’s an ongoing exercise,” he said.

As CHI Memorial continues to see growth and success, the Catholic Church in East Tennessee can be excited and hopeful to know that, in this special way, the love of Christ is being carried into and throughout the greater Chattanooga community and the Diocese of Knoxville. ■ gation of Christian Brothers. It is on loan for three months from Holy Family Parish.

Richard Palladino, director of libraries at Iona, said its placement high on a wall in the well-lit atrium entrance allows it to be shared with students and the public.

“It’s also a wonderful opportunity for students to see something historic firsthand,” he said.

Monsignor Keane said he is happy to allow other people see and appreciate the work. He said the parish is preparing for the reinstallation of the Dandini painting, possibly to coincide with the feast of the Holy Family in January.

For now, the space where it hung is covered by a white curtain and Monsignor Keane is exploring appropriate security in anticipation of its return.

“People are looking at a blank wall now, but when the painting comes back, the image will penetrate their hearts—seeing Jesus, Mary and Joseph and the precursor, John the Baptist,” he said. “In the past, the painting was part of the background. Now it will be in the foreground.”

In March 2020, a large part of Holy Family Parish was included in New York state’s first mandated “containment area” established to fight the spread of COVID-19.

Monsignor Keane said the authentication of the Dandini “adds joy to life. We’ve had so much bad news, with the pandemic, riots, and violence. This is good news. What was lost is now discovered.” ■ OCTOBER 3, 2021 n A13

Heroic Catholic priest, a ‘guardian angel’ in WWII, is beatified

By Courtney Mares Catholic News Agency

CHIESADIBOLOGNA.IT. VIA CATHOLIC NEWS AGENCY

A

s Allied forces bombed the Nazi-occupied Italian city of Bologna in the fall of 1943, a 28-year-old Italian priest was seen digging through the rubble with a pickaxe desperately trying to rescue civilian survivors.

“I remember Father Giovanni with the pickaxe in his hand working so hard as if he were digging his mother out of that rubble,” Father Angelo Serra, a fellow parish priest, recalled.

In the testing days under German occupation, Father Giovanni Fornasini was described as being “everywhere,” traveling on his bicycle to be of help and bring relief to those who were in danger.

After receiving permission from an SS captain, the young priest left on Oct. 13 to bless and bury victims of the Marzabotto massacre, but never returned.

His body was recovered at the site as the war neared its end in April 1945, and an examination revealed that Father Giovanni had been brutally beaten before he was killed.

Father Fornasini was declared blessed at a livestreamed beatification Mass in Bologna on Sept. 26.

“Father Fornasini was the guardian angel of his parishioners,” Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, the prefect for the Vatican Congregation for the Causes of Saints, said in his homily for the beatification.

“He was a prophet of inclusion hated by the harbingers of discrimination. Caring for evac-

A portrait of Blessed Giovanni Fornasini uees, he never stopped praying with the people at Mass with the sacraments and the rosary. Above all, he multiplied his efforts to prevent further bloodshed,” the cardinal said at the Basilica of San Petronio in Bologna, northern Italy.

On display at the beatification Mass were the priest’s bicycle, glasses, and his aspergillum, the

tool used for sprinkling holy water, which was found on him after his death. An apostolic letter from Pope Francis was read aloud in which the pope declared that Father Fornasini’s feast would be observed locally each year on Oct. 13.

Father Fornasini was born near Bologna in 1915.

He is reported to have been a poor student and, after leaving school, to have worked for a time as a lift boy at Bologna’s Grand Hotel.

He eventually entered the seminary and was ordained a priest in 1942 at the age of 27. In his homily at his first Mass, Father Fornasini said: “The Lord has chosen me, rascal among the rascals.”

Despite beginning his priestly ministry amid the challenges of the Second World War, Father Fornasini gained a reputation as a go-getter.

He opened a school for boys at his parish outside Bologna, in the town of Sperticano, and a fellow seminary classmate, Father Lino Cattoi, described the young priest as seeming “always to be running.”

“He was always around trying to free people from their difficulties and to solve their problems,” Father Cattoi recalled. “He had no fear. He was a man of great faith and was never shaken.”

In 1950, the president of Italy posthumously conferred upon Father Fornasini the country’s Gold Medal of Military Valour. His cause for beatification was opened in 1998.

Pope Francis applauded the beatification of Blessed Giovanni Fornasini at the end of his Blessed continued on page A17

Employment continued from page A13

A14 n OCTOBER 3, 2021

At work in East Tennessee A representative with the Knoxville staffing company @Work is ready to discuss employment opportunities with clients of the Ladies of Charity, which held a job fair for people in recovery and the general public at its Knoxville facility on Aug. 20.

GABRIELLE NOLAN (4)

tive to get jobs that they would financially be OK.” Clients had the opportunity to interview with employers onsite at booths they had set up, or information was given to set up an interview later with the company. Printing stations were available so that clients could print out résumés and job skills for the employers.

Mr. Holder commented that for the employers who are already hiring people in recovery, they notice that these people become very loyal employees.

“They do a really good job because they don’t have a lot of options, they are not given a lot of opportunities,” he said. “When the fit is right, it turns out to be very beneficial for both the employer and the employee.”

Partners helping to make the event a success included Recovery Advocacy Project, Ladies of Charity, KnoxWorx, Bright Story Shine, Tennessee Alliance of Recovery Residences, and the EM Jellinek Center.

Ladies of Charity has an ongoing relationship with the EM Jellinek Center, which is a supportive housing facility for men overcoming addiction.

“Last year we helped 33-plus men in our facility for day work or longerterm employment, and this is a way to support them getting out into the community,” Ms. Unbehaun said.

“So for us, personally, we have seen people looking for work, and this is a way to do that today.”

In addition to community events and relationships, Ladies of Charity provide an onsite thrift store, food pantry, and nutrition class. Recently, they have started a weekly nighttime food pantry so that individuals who are employed during the day may still receive pre-packed food assistance from 5-6:30 p.m. on the third Wednesday of every month.

As a thank-you for attending the event, every client who walked through the door received a free supportive food box, and for those who needed it, a $20 voucher was given to buy interview clothes at the thrift store.

“I think that if we can make one connection, it’s been a good day,” Mr. Holder said. “It’s worth it if one person found a fit. Maybe somebody walks in here today and needs some help, and we can get them directed towards that help, and I think it’s all worth it.”

“Right now, it’s the first, but I could certainly see something similar to this happening in the future,” Mr. Kucharski said.

After the employment event concluded, the Ladies of Charity Facebook page posted that 10 individuals were hired during the event, and 19 individuals were outfitted with career clothing.

For more information on services offered at Ladies of Charity, located at 120 W. Baxter Ave., or how to volunteer or donate, visit www.ladiesofcharityknox.org. ■

When can you start?

Clients attend the Ladies of Charity job fair, where more than 20 employers set up booths and tables in the nonprofit social service organization’s large conference room.

Prospective employees could discuss job opportunities and even fill out job applications and do interviews onsite. The employment event attracted job-seekers from around the Knoxville area.

Ready to assist Representatives with Vocational Rehabilitation, an agency of the Tennessee Department of Human Services, prepare to meet with people looking for employment opportunities at the Ladies of Charity job fair for people in recovery.

VOC Rehab was one of more than 20 employers and employment agencies looking to work with job-seekers.

Improving East Tennessee’s employment landscape Representatives with the Knoxville landscaping business Seeds of Change were on hand conducting interviews and handing out applications to people attending the Ladies of Charity’s employment event on Aug. 20.

www.di o k no x .o rg

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

Papal academy gives U.S. death row chaplain its lifetime achievement award

By Carol Glatz Catholic News Service

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE PHOTO/PAUL HARING

D

eath row inmates in Florida’s prisons refer to their 6-foot-by-9-foot cell as their “house,” with some having lived in their “house” for 40 years — longer than one Catholic lay chaplain said he has lived in his family home in Tallahassee, Fla. So when Dale Recinella, the lay minister, goes from cell to cell to offer pastoral care, religious education, and spiritual accompaniment, “we go house to house, cell to cell, and that’s where we meet them.” These are men and women who cannot come out, “they can’t even come to the chapel,” so the Church must go to them.

Mr. Recinella has been serving as a Catholic correctional chaplain for inmates on death row and in solitary confinement on behalf of the Catholic bishops of Florida for decades.

With just a few more months until his 70th birthday, Mr. Recinella was at the Vatican to be honored by the Pontifical Academy for Life and receive its first ever Guardian of Life Award during a special evening event Sept.

28. The academy was holding its general assembly onsite in Rome and online Sept. 27-29.

Mr. Recinella told Catholic News Service on Sept. 28 that, as he has moved on to “semi-retirement,” the Church in Florida is working to make sure that this ministry continues “in a very vibrant and active way” by finding dedicated people to follow in his footsteps.

The “much younger man” who

Life guardian Dale Recinella, a lay Catholic minister in Florida who works with prisoners on death row, is pictured in Rome on Sept. 28. The Pontifical Academy for Life gave its newly established Guardian of Life award to Mr. Recinella.

“Years ago he was assigned to be “co-spiritual adviser for an infamous serial killer” whose victims had often been college-age women, women the same age as his daughters at the time.” ” — Referring to Dale Recinella has taken over the physically demanding job of ministry in solitary confinement prisons is “a former NFL linebacker,” Mr. Recinella said.

The inmates “are very excited that a former pro-football player would want to come and see them,” he noted.

Mr. Recinella spent more than 20 years as a successful corporate and finance lawyer, and he said the inmates tease him, telling him he was fine as their chaplain until the Church actually got a former football star.

Making sure the men and

women on death row receive consistent care and accompaniment tells them they are “important to the heart of the Church, and of course it’s true, that’s why we’re there,” Mr. Recinella said.

Even though he felt called to take care of people on death row, it wasn’t easy, he said.

Years ago he was assigned to be “co-spiritual adviser for an infamous serial killer” whose victims had often been college-age women, women the same age as his daughters at the time.

He went to an elderly priest for guidance and begged him: “I

stories over dinner or with a new friend, you feel the emotions all over again. You laugh and cry tears of joy, and the love is palpable.

We have all heard the statistics.

How Mass attendance is declining.

How young adults are not continuing in the faith. How parishes are being consolidated. Many young people say they do not turn to the Church because they do not find it relevant. They find the Church lacking in authenticity.

When we share our faith in stories, we regain that authenticity.

The world will see we are genuine.

When we share our faith in stories, the world meets Jesus in a new way.

This World Mission Sunday, join Pope Francis’ invitation to speak about what we have seen and heard. Share our living and vibrant Christ. Think of the first time you experienced His grace in your life.

Or a time when you were amazed at God’s goodness. Or just today, what do you want to thank God for? Talk about what you love.

Get used to sharing these stories. If you need to, practice with your family or parishioners first.

Remind yourself what it feels like to be loved by God, how you want other people to feel that love, how that love makes you care for other people.

After a year of darkness, it is time to share our glorious Light. Jesus said, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few” (Luke 10:2).

Renew your commitment to evangelization. Share the story of how Jesus brings light to your life.

When Catholics are asked to support the missions with prayers, financial resources, or direct, handson service, we might feel as if we’re the ones who are doing all the giving.

Ask anyone who has consistently helped mission work unfold in mission lands, though, and you’ll likely hear statements like, “I thought I was the one who was giving, but it was me who received the most!”

In Ethiopia: Hunger satisfied, Christ’s body nourished Centuries ago, missionaries introduced people in Ethiopia to Jesus.

After a decline in missionary activity, a priest arrives. He is escorted TH E EAST T E N N E S S E E C AT HO L I C

CNS PHOTO/COURTESY OF UCA NEWS

World Mission continued from page A2

Reaching the world Father Peter Nguyen Truong Giang, Vietnamese Auxiliary Bishop Peter Nguyen Van Vien of Vinh, center, and local people pose at Hau Thao Chapel in late September. Father Giang, two women religious, and lay leaders minister to 1,400 Catholics in remote villages of northwest Vietnam. On World Mission Sunday, Catholics gather around the altar as a worldwide community to be fed by Jesus, to be blessed by our one Lord, and to be built up for service to His people throughout the world. by torchlight through dark paths to a hut serving as the chapel. All light is extinguished but for one candle.

The people sing a song learned long ago to Jesus, making the sign of the cross. The priest falls to his knees and thinks, “How hungry are the people for the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit!”

Elsewhere in Ethiopia, children walk four miles each way to a school run by missionaries. There each morning the children — hungry from their walk — are given two biscuits: one to eat at school, the other to take home.

A girl offers the priest a piece of her biscuit, saying she wants to share in the name of Jesus. She is confident that Jesus will take care of her hunger and that of her family.

Missionaries — and those who support them — are helping to make spiritual and corporal works of mercy happen, including catechesis, evangelization, and nurturing of vocations.

In Vietnam: Seminarian’s perseverance made possible by mission support, entire Church benefits A Vietnamese seminarian spends 11 years preparing to be ordained, the first of his ethnic group to become a priest. Like a modern-day St. John Vianney, this young man

works against strong odds, helped by those who support missions throughout the world.

In gratitude for missionaries, he maintains a singular focus on serving the Church. The Body of Christ is served. Those who gave so that a young man in a mission land could hear confessions, anoint the sick, and confect the Eucharist are themselves recipients of great blessings throughout this Mystical Body.

In Uganda and Nigeria: The served give back, “hugging the whole world” in prayer On the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, women approach the convent with baskets on their heads — offerings of eggs, fruits, and vegetables to express gratitude to the missionaries and those who help make their service feasible.

Whenever a missionary returns to the United States, the words of farewell are: “Goodbye. May God and Our Lady keep you safe.”

A young girl’s baptismal name means light. She attends a school staffed by missionaries. Shortly before her first Holy Communion, she locks herself in a room for a short while to pray intensely that she will do good works in return for Jesus coming to her.

She sees God as the great missionary to the world and calls her

www.di o k no x .o rg

can’t do this. Every time I think about his victims, I think of my daughters. I can’t.”

But the priest told him that as a lay Catholic he had already committed to God to do this when he was baptized.

He said the priest told him, “It was up to the inmate to pick who he wanted to accompany him through his death to remind him that Jesus loves him, and you said ‘yes’ to that when you received your sacraments of initiation into the Church, and as you have continued to participate in the Catholic Church through the sacraments, you have already said ‘yes.’”

That made it one of the hardest “death watches” he had to prepare for, he said, but he knew from working with the inmate that the man had made a genuine statement of faith when he sang Psalm 23 as he was strapped to the gurney heading for the lethal injection.

People of the Christian faith who believe the death penalty is permissible ascribe to a kind of “hard justice” that shows no mercy, he said. “The world wants vengeance.”

He said it is a blessing and the work of God’s grace that the Catholic Church has been led — starting with St. John Paul II to popes Benedict XVI and Francis — to finally accept that the death penalty is no longer admissible in the modern day.

“We’re called to a better way.

And I’ve watched this transformation,” both in the United States and other countries, he said, of “our Church trying to lead us out of this pit of vengeance as the Death row continued on page A18

prayer an act of mission service. She centers her life on prayer in a desire to help the whole world.

When she prays the mission rosary (multicolored beads representing Asia, Africa, the Americas, Oceania, and Europe) she says, “I am hugging the whole world — especially America, home of our missionaries and those who support them.”

An orphan boy becomes a priest; his sister enters consecrated life.

Given a choice, he becomes a missionary serving in the United States.

“I am ready to pour out my blood in appreciation for the missionaries who served me.” Each day he offers his private Mass intention, along with personal prayers, for every American.

In Iraq: Brutal persecution can’t quench faith, hope, and love Her father was beheaded. Her sisters taken as sex slaves. Her house was burned — in part because it is marked by a cross. She exclaims to a missionary, “They can never take my faith!”

A tent is set up to serve as a chapel, including a cross as a sign of hope. An American cardinal visits, and she kisses his pectoral cross as a gesture of reverence and expression of the hope instilled in her by missionaries, supported in part by those who participate in World Mission Sunday.

The cardinal’s reaction to this loving act of faith and hope? “I was catechized!” he said.

Choosing Sunday for World Mission Day is no accident. On this day we gather around the altar as a worldwide community to be fed

by Jesus, to be blessed by our one Lord, and built up for service to his people throughout the world.

Missionaries bring faith to places where a deep hunger for God is felt; they give hope by pointing out the cross of Jesus — and all its blessings. And missionaries show love to those who are ready to express gratitude by giving of themselves in return, all with Jesus at the center, always.

On World Mission Sunday, please ask God to show you how He wants you to join in His ever-present missionary work. When you respond with loving generosity, you might be surprised at how your outreach fills you up with blessings. ■ OCTOBER 3, 2021 n A15

Funeral Mass for Deacon Tom McConnell held at basilica Retired Army colonel, Junior ROTC leader served at Sts. Peter and Paul in many ways

COURTESY OF MARIA RIST/THE BASILICA OF STS. PETER AND PAUL

A

funeral Mass for Deacon Tom McConnell, who served at the Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul, was held Oct. 9 at the basilica, with basilica rector Father David Carter serving as the celebrant.

Bishop Richard F. Stika was in choir, with priests of the Diocese of Knoxville concelebrating the funeral Mass.

The basilica announced that Deacon McConnell died in his sleep at his home on Sept. 28.

He was 75.

Deacon McConnell, a veteran who was a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, had served at the basilica since 2017. He retired as a colonel in the Army and then directed the Junior ROTC program for the Hamilton County Department of Education for 24 years before retiring there in 2018.

At the basilica, Deacon McConnell served as deacon for English- and Spanish-speaking communities, a homilist for Masses, founder of “The Deacon’s Table” adult faith formation program, was founder and chief of the security team, led ecumenical outreach in addition to leading other church activities.

Most recently, Deacon McConnell was overseeing the basilica’s major facilities projects to replace the roof, upgrade the HVAC, and secure meeting space for Hispanic ministries.

Deacon McConnell was born in Charlotte, N.C., and raised in the Charlotte suburb of Mount Holly, where he graduated from high school in 1964. He was a middle child with a younger brother and older sister.

He received his Army commission and a bachelor’s degree in 1968 when he graduated from West Point, where he was active in varsity sports and music. He also earned a master’s degree in business administration from Boston University and was a graduate of the Armed Forces Staff College and the Army War College.

He was a Senior Service College IntraGovernmental Fellow with the Department

Deacon Tom McConnell of Transportation and Federal Aviation Administration.

Deacon McConnell married his high school sweetheart, Brenda, on graduation evening in the West Point Cadet Chapel. They spent the next 26 years in the Army living on three continents in five countries, with extensive travel to every European, Central American, and South American nation as well as many other countries around the world.

Deacon McConnell and his wife have two daughters and two adopted sons (Korean brothers), and four grandchildren. Their daughters and their granddaughters attend the Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul.

As a teenager in the Methodist Church, he began to feel God’s call on his life, a call that

By The East Tennessee Catholic

persisted for over 45 years but remained unfulfilled until his ordination to the Diocese of Knoxville’s permanent diaconate in 2007.

Deacon Tom and Brenda together enjoyed a long spiritual journey from the Methodist and Pentecostal denominations to the Episcopal and several other Protestant denominations until coming “home to Rome” as millennial converts to the Catholic faith at Easter Vigil in 2000 at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in Chattanooga.

They bought the house in which they now live in Hixson in 2002 and moved to St. Jude Parish, where they both served as readers, extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion for the parish and Memorial Hospital, and members of the Schola Cantorum.

After his ordination, Deacon McConnell started and led a prison ministry for the Chattanooga Deanery.

Deacon McConnell and his wife were excited to be transferred by Bishop Stika to the basilica in 2017 and to join the basilica family to serve the parish.

As one of his parish assignments, he became involved in the Chattanooga interfaith community and developed an ecumenical apostolate that will mutually benefit all faiths. He and Brenda also started an adult Sunday school class called “The Deacon’s Table” to nourish spirituality and discipleship among its members with Scripture, prayer, and a right relationship with Christ. Deacon McConnell also served at Masses celebrated in Spanish.

Deacon McConnell is survived by his wife, their daughters, their sons, and their grandchildren.

Deacon McConnell’s body lay in state at the basilica on Oct. 8 preceding the funeral Mass, with a vigil service held the evening of Oct. 8.

A private burial service for Deacon McConnell was held Oct. 11 at Chattanooga National Cemetery. ■

Pope Francis: ‘very painful errors’ mark Mexico anniversary Holy Father’s comments highlight recognition for historic date of independence

VATICAN MEDIA VIA CATHOLIC NEWS AGENCY

P

ope Francis highlighted “very painful errors” committed in the past as he marked the 200th anniversary of Mexico’s independence.

In a letter addressed to Archbishop Rogelio Cabrera López, president of the Episcopal Conference of Mexico, the pope said he hoped that the anniversary would be an “occasion to strengthen our roots and reaffirm the values that build the nation.”

“In order to strengthen our roots, it is necessary to reread the past, taking into account both the lights and shadows that have forged the country’s history. This look back necessarily includes a process of purifying memory, that is, to recognize the very painful errors committed in the past,” the pope wrote.

“For this reason, on various occasions, both my predecessors and I have asked forgiveness for personal and social sins, for all the actions or omissions that did not contribute to evangelization,” he continued.

Mexico’s president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, wrote a letter to Pope Francis on Oct. 2, 2020, appealing for a public apology from the Catholic Church concerning atrocities committed against the indigenous population after the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire in 1521.

Two hundred years ago, on Sept.

28, 1821, the Declaration of Independence of the Mexican Empire

Recognizing Mexico’s independence Pope Francis celebrates Mass for the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe inside St. Peter’s Basilica on Dec. 12, 2020. from the Spanish Empire was ratified.

The day before, the Army of the Three Guarantees arrived in Mexico City, ending the Mexican War of Independence that broke out in 1810.

The three guarantees were that the Mexican Empire would be Catholic, independent, and unified. The guarantees were reflected in the Army’s white, green, and red flag.

The 1824 Constitution of Mexico “permanently” enshrined Catholicism as the country’s official religion. But it was replaced in 1857 by a liberal constitution limiting the Church’s rights, which was itself replaced in 1917 by a constitution severely restricting the

Church’s role in Mexico, sparking a civil war.

In his letter, dated Sept. 16, the pope alluded to anticlerical violence, saying that “neither can we ignore the actions that, in more recent times, were committed against the Christian religious sentiment of a great part of the Mexican people, causing profound suffering.”

He added: “But we do not evoke the pains of the past to stay there, but to learn from them and to continue taking steps to heal the wounds, to cultivate an open and respectful dialogue that respects differences, and to build a muchdesired fraternity, prioritizing the common good over particular in-

By Catholic News Agency terests, tensions, and conflicts.”

U.S. President Joe Biden sent a message, also dated Sept. 16, marking the bicentenary.

“On behalf of the government and people of the United States of America, I congratulate Mexico and its people as you celebrate 200 years of independence,” he wrote.

“On this occasion, we join you in remembering Mexico’s road to independence, and reflect on the long and shared history of our two countries.”

In his letter, Pope Francis looked ahead to the 500th anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe, which will fall in 2031.

The first Latin American pope, who visited Mexico in 2016, recalled an episode in 1810 in which the Catholic priest Miguel Hidalgo, known as the Father of the Nation, took an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe from a shrine in the Mexican province of Guanajuato and adopted it as the banner of the independence movement.

“In this commemoration,” the pope wrote, “it is beautiful to remember that, as expressed by the Episcopal Conference of Mexico on the occasion of the 175th anniversary of national independence, the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe taken by Father Hidalgo from the Shrine of Atotonilco symbolized a struggle and a hope that culminated in the ‘three guarantees’ of Iguala printed forever in the colors of the flag.” ■

Catholic Schools of the Diocese of Knoxville prepare SCHOLARS, LEADERS, and SAINTS! S! A16 n OCTOBER 3, 2021

w ww.di o k no x .o rg

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

that baggage. They are all required to go through a psychological evaluation prior to being admitted into the program. Their wives go through it, too, so we can get a better picture of their marriage,” the deacon said.

The current class marked a milestone in its study on Sept. 26 when they were installed as acolytes by Bishop Richard F. Stika at the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, where they will be ordained.

“There are different stages during the formation. The first stage is what we call aspirancy. They are aspiring to the program. For two years they are aspirants. That is when we get a good look at them during that two-year period, in their academics, when it’s still active discernment on their part and on the part of the bishop and their formation team,” Deacon Elliott said.

“At the end of two years, they enter into their candidacy. That is what we call a rite of the Church.

It is celebrated at a public Mass, and the bishop takes on a certain responsibility at that point for their continued spiritual growth, growth in holiness, growth in their vocation. At that point, they are publicly acknowledged as being in formation for the diaconate. It is a big step. A year later, they are installed as lectors. That is another step,” he added. “Beyond that, the candidates become catechists for life and are charged with religiouseducation responsibilities, and then they are installed as acolytes with specific duties at the altar, helping the deacon or priest set up the altar, cleaning the vessels after Communion, receiving the gifts from the congregation, and the education of altar servers. That is the last step before ordination.”

Just prior to ordination, the deacon candidates, without their wives, go on a five-day canonical retreat. This retreat in the past has been held at Living Waters Catholic Reflection Center in Maggie Valley, N.C., and at St. Bernard Abbey in Cullman, Ala. Deacon Elliott is excited about starting a new class of deacon aspirants, including a change in location. The previous class, which was ordained in 2016, held its monthly meetings at a Lenoir City hotel, which he said was functional but somewhat confining.

The current class held its monthly meetings for the first year at the same hotel but then transitioned to the diocese’s sprawling Christ Prince of Peace Retreat Center in Benton, which can comfortably accommodate all the candidates and instructors in living and meeting quarters and also has a chapel for Masses.

“It has been a total blessing for the program to be able to be there.

The environment is more conducive. The availability of an onsite chapel has been a huge blessing

as well as having priests available there to celebrate Mass and hear confessions and all the spiritual work. The building of a relationship between the men is an incredible thing to see. It will all be done at Christ Prince of Peace, which is just fantastic,” Deacon Elliott said.

Deacon Elliott doesn’t get caught up in class sizes, saying the Diocese of Knoxville’s diaconate will be equally blessed and enriched by five, 15, or 35 new deacons.

“I wouldn’t mind having a class of 10 or 15. And I wouldn’t mind having a class of 30,” he said, noting that his diaconate class, which was the Diocese of Knoxville’s first, began with 37 men, and 29 were ordained. The current class began with 30 men, and 25 are set to be ordained. The class before that one began with 30 men, and 27 were ordained.

He often thinks back to his formation and studying for the diaconate, and he appreciates how it has impacted his faith.

“Being a deacon has strengthened me. I can’t speak enough about the grace of the sacrament and what it does to a person. It continues to form and develop the person. It strengthened my marriage. It has strengthened my relationship with my family and kids. It has strengthened relationships within my parish,” he said, sharing that he strengthened his prayer and grew to love the Liturgy of the Hours.

“It has become a lifeline. It drives you deeper. It develops a desire for more prayer and reflection. Your reading habits change; you start reading books you never thought you would read before. It drives you to want to share your joy with other people. It brings you closer to your spouse because you pray more together. The promise of obedience to the bishop is transformative because you begin to learn to submit your own will to the will of the Church,” Deacon Elliott said.

“You learn more about freedom because it is not just the freedom to do what you want to do but the freedom to make an informed choice to do what is right. It strengthens the natural inclination I have and everybody has toward charity, toward service, and the grace of the sacrament lifts those up and presents them in an entirely different light. You almost become driven to see that servant mentality grow inside yourself and grow inside others who are formed with you,” he continued.

And he pointed out that unexpected graces await the deacon candidates when they are ordained, such as ministering in areas they never expected or serving in parishes they never considered.

As an example, he cited a deacon who oversaw the day-to-day, week-to-week operation of a parish as parochial administrator. A visiting priest would drive in on

the weekends to celebrate Mass.

“The grace of the sacrament causes you to step forward into areas you never thought you would. Getting involved with marriage preparation now might mean working with a couple on an annulment. You’re able to speak with confidence about marriage as a sacrament and not just as a living arrangement and how you get along with each other and see the fulfillment of that sacrament in your life. I love being a deacon.

Human formation is part of the formation, along with spiritual formation,” he said.

“Sometimes you get tapped after you’re ordained to do things you never thought you would do.

We’re called to that, too. So, with our unique gifts of being able to step into a role that is necessary, that happens,” he added.

Once ordained, Bishop Stika will assign the deacons to the churches where they will serve. And while the bishop can assign a deacon anywhere there is a need, Deacon Elliott said Bishop Stika typically does not assign a deacon far from his residence. He said the assignment usually is within a 35- to 45-minute drive from home.

Deacon Elliott described Bishop Stika as the most “deacon friendly” bishop he has encountered.

Bishop Stika served as vicar for deacons in the Archdiocese of St. Louis before he came to the Diocese of Knoxville.

“He’s had a close relationship with deacons for a very long time and has a special place in his heart for deacons. But he also puts them to work,” Deacon Elliott pointed out.

Deacon Elliott explained that the diaconate was very vibrant in the early Church, but for various reasons it started to wane in the Middle Ages, becoming a steppingstone to the priesthood.

Vatican II laid the groundwork for the diaconate’s return to prominence, and in the post-Vatican II Church, sacramental ordination as a deacon was instituted by Pope Paul VI for permanent deacons and priests.

Deacon Elliott further explained that in today’s Church, the deacon typically writes the prayers of the faithful for the parish, bringing the needs of the parish into the Mass; the deacon proclaims the Gospel; deacons can deliver homilies; and they can serve as ministers at baptisms, officiate weddings, and conduct services at a funeral, such as a rosary, or prayer service, or interment.

Deacons cannot celebrate Mass, but they typically are part of the Masses where baptisms, weddings, funerals, or confirmations are held.

They are involved in religious education and faith formation.

“We can’t celebrate Mass, but sometimes we’re called to do a Communion service, which is a Scripture service with the distribution of Communion that already has been consecrated at a Mass.

We don’t celebrate Mass, but we serve the priests who do celebrate Mass,” Deacon Elliott said. “The permanent diaconate is a marriage between the neighborhoods, the families, and the sanctuary.

There was a charge for them to be simultaneously in the world and in the Church. They’re at the water cooler in the workplace when a discussion comes up and can lend a moral voice to that discussion. Sometimes that voice is not welcome.”

He gave the example of deacons working side-by-side with workers on an assembly line, or in an engineering office, or on a construction site because that is their primary vocation. They are ministering where priests cannot go. ■

point of bloodshed. May his heroic witness help us to face life’s trials with fortitude,” the pope said.

Another World War II Catholic hero, Father Emil J. Kapaun, was recognized Sept. 23 when his remains were transferred from Hawaii to his home Diocese of Wichita.

Father Kapaun was a U.S. Army chaplain in World War II and the Korean War and held the rank of captain. He is remembered for his selfless and courageous service attending to soldiers on the front lines of battle and, after he was captured in 1950, caring for and bolstering

the morale of his fellow prisoners of war in a North Korean prison.

He, too, endured a brutal captivity and died in the POW camp on May 23, 1951. His sainthood cause was formally opened in 1993, giving him the title “Servant of God.” His case is being reviewed by the Vatican. ■

formation (gifts and charisms); human formation (what kind of person the candidate is and how he relates to others); and pastoral formation (what kind of leadership skills does the candidate possess or need).

And he noted that diaconal formation must address all four of those areas, with those elements typically present in every class held.

Deacon Elliott explained that once the candidates are identified and join the new class, coursework will be held one weekend each month, starting on a Friday night with evening prayer followed by a two-hour classroom session that lasts until about 9 p.m. The program begins again at 7:45 a.m. Saturday with morning prayer followed by classroom work that continues until about 9 p.m. On Sunday, the program gets underway at 7:45 a.m. with morning prayer and goes until about 3 p.m.

“Altogether, there are about 18 hours of chair time in each weekend. For the rest of the month, they will be reading and will be assigned papers to write as well as preparing for the next class and meeting with their mentor and spiritual director. This continues from September through May for five years,” Deacon Elliott said.

Each summer during that fiveyear period, the candidates are asked to perform summer projects while they are not in the classroom. The projects focus on the charity of the Church, and they need to demonstrate how the diaconate candidates interact with the people they’re working with or ministering to.

Projects in June, July, and August range from working at Ladies of Charity, Second Harvest, KARM, and Volunteer Ministry Center to serving in the chaplaincy at a hospital or working in parish ministry. The candidates then must attend a weekendlong retreat with their wives each August.

“They’re all surprised at how quickly it goes. We’re coming into the last year of formation with the current class. They’ll be ordained, God willing, in June of next year,” Deacon Elliott said, adding that the current class only has two academic courses remaining: one in canon law and the second in pastoral care.

“The rest of it is practicum. How do you do what you do? How do you attend at the altar? How do you prepare a homily? How do you do a baptism? It’s the mechanics of being a deacon. How do you serve?” the deacon continued.

Deacon Elliott, who is one of the course instructors, explained that Scripture study fills much of the classwork in the first two years of the diaconate program.

Coursework includes Church history, pastoral care, canon law, moral theology, philosophy, medical ethics, systematic theology, eschatology, Marian theology, and Christology.

The youngest candidate Deacon Elliott has seen in the program was 34 when he applied and will be 39 when he is ordained next June.

“I’ve had them start the program as old as 61. The bulk usually are in their late 40s to mid-50s. I would love to have them younger.

The current class is younger by far than previous classes,” he said.

He noted that some candidates come from very stable environments while others may bring “baggage” with them, which the initial formation process helps them sort through before officially entering the class.

“We help them process some of Blessed continued from page A14

Angelus prayer on Sept. 26 and described the young diocesan priest as a martyr.

“A parish priest zealous in charity, he did not abandon his flock during the tragic period of the Second World War, but rather he defended it to the TH E EAST T E N N E S S E E C AT HO L I C

BILL BREWER

Class continued from page A4

On the recruiting trail Deacon Tim Elliott, director of the Diocese of Knoxville’s Office of the Diaconate and Deacon Formation, is ready to lead more men in discernment for the permanent diaconate. Inquiry classes begin in January.

www.di o k no x .o rg

OCTOBER 3, 2021 n A17

Missionary priest serving Native Alaskans is winner of Lumen Christi Award

The light of Christ Father Stan Jaszek, a missionary priest from Poland who is serving Native Alaskans in the Diocese of Fairbanks, Alaska, is seen in this undated photo. Catholic Extension announced on Sept. 28 that Father Jaszek is the recipient of its 2021-22 Lumen Christi Award. teenager, he felt a call to serve in the missions. Unfamiliar with missionary religious organizations, he applied to his local diocesan seminary, the Metropolitan Major Seminary in Lublin, in 1983. The seminary is part of the Catholic University in the Archdiocese of Lublin. He was ordained a diocesan priest on Dec. 10, 1988.

As Father Wall mentioned in his statement, the Solidarity movement in Poland strengthened during the future priest’s formation.

Polish citizens, grounded in their faith and desire for independence, worked to demolish the communist government.

St. John Paul, newly elected as pontiff, returned to his Polish homeland in 1979, and his groundbreaking visit gave strong impetus to the movement.

“The Church was the only force that was able to contradict the lies that communism spread about the dignity of workers, about the value of work, about the freedom of the people, about the right to choose their leaders,” Father Jaszek said.

“The Church was actually the place where people could feel free.”

During his nearly two decades in Alaska, Father Jaszek has dedicated himself to developing relationships founded in trust and respect by becoming immersed in the Yup’ik traditions.

The Yup’ik people mostly sur-

With deepest sympathy Above: St. Joseph School students and faculty place flowers and use plastic cups to make large letters that say “We Love You” in the fence between the school and the Ault family home.

Right: Older St. Joseph students lead younger classmates with flowers to decorate the fence.

Alvin continued from page A6

community to absorb.

“Alvin assisted our maintenance department and took great pride in making sure the grass looked good on the SJS campus. Alvin always had a twinkle in his eye and was fond of teasing our staff. He was a man of simple pleasures and loved the Vols, the Titans, and a cold Mountain Dew. To Alvin, everyone was a neighbor, and he didn’t have an ounce of malice in his heart. His wife, Vickie, who works in our cafeteria and maintenance departments, is surrounded by her family and is in need of our prayers and support.

Death row continued from page A15

only solution. It is no solution, the only response to horrible crimes.”

Mr. Recinella likened the Church’s evolving stance away from accepting capital punishment as a last resort to society’s evolution away from using primitive tools for their needs.

“The pope is saying, as we have left behind chamber pots instead A18 n OCTOBER 3, 2021

Sr. Imelda and Sr. Eloísa

vive on a subsistence lifestyle — fishing, hunting and gathering food to eat, according to Catholic Extension.

Father Jaszek learned the ways of the Yup’ik, to better understand their reality and more effectively communicate the Gospel. He learned how to hunt, fish, forage for berries, and how to plan ahead and prepare in an area with unpredictable weather events.

“Jesus in his ministry told the stories that were very familiar to the people that he talked to. They were stories that they experienced every day,” said Father Jaszek, adding that by experiencing “the lifestyle of the people,” his own stories can be part of “the everyday expe-

riences of the people” he serves.

In its news release announcing the priest as the Lumen Christi winner, Catholic Extension said that “with open arms, he invites people to deepen their relationship with God while affirming the spirituality and culture of his flock.”

“The spiritual care shown by Father Jaszek was desperately needed when the pandemic hit the area.

In this region, falling victim to the virus is especially dangerous due to the lack of easily accessible hospitals,” the release said.

“The pandemic also disrupted the fishing season, the primary source of income for the people,” it added.

Over the past year, Father Jaszek “spent countless hours counseling people over the phone and grieving with bereaved families unable to bury their dead while the ground was frozen solid,” Catholic Extension said. “His deep love and caring for those he serves has made him a much beloved member of the community.”

Accompanying the Lumen Christi Award is a $50,000 grant directed to Father Jaszek and his ministry.

More information about Father Jaszek can be found online at http://www.catholicextension. org/lumen-christi-award as well as information about all 34 Lumen Christi nominees announced in June and the seven finalists from whom the winner was chosen, including Sister María Imelda Quechol and Sister Eloísa Torralba Aquino, Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus “Ad Gentes” who serve in Chattanooga.

Sister Imelda and Sister Eloísa were named finalists for their ministry in working with a largely immigrant population, forming new faith communities, and visiting camps of migrants who pick crops.

The Sisters develop leaders within the communities they serve as well as support marriages, provide counseling, feed the hungry, and help people find work.

And with the help of the Diocese of Knoxville, the Sisters established two Casas de Oración, which translates to “houses of prayer,” in Chattanooga. These humble sanctuaries are strategically located in areas that will help them reach more people. ■

COURTESY OF KATHY RANKIN/ST. JOSEPH SCHOOL (2)

F

ather Stan Jaszek, a missionary priest from Poland who is serving Native Alaskans in the Diocese of Fairbanks, has been named the recipient of Catholic Extension’s 2021-22 Lumen Christi Award.

The Lumen Christi Award, established in 1978, is the highest honor given by Catholic Extension and goes to people “who radiate and reveal the light of Christ present in the communities where they serve.”

“Father Stan intuitively understands that the Church can be a force of positive transformation having grown up in communist Poland and witnessing the impact of (St.) John Paul II and the Solidarity movement,” said Father Jack Wall, president of Catholic Extension.

“That conviction is what took him as a missionary priest from Poland to Peru early in his priesthood, then later from postapartheid Africa to Alaska, in the Diocese of Fairbanks, where he has faithfully served nearly two decades,” the priest said in a Sept. 28 statement.

Father Jaszek currently serves the Native Alaskan villages of the remote Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta region, along the coast of the Bering Sea. Out of his 19 years of missionary work in the Diocese of Fairbanks, Father Jaszek has spent 14 of them living among the Yup’ik people.

He is one of just a handful of priests ministering in the Fairbanks Diocese, which geographically is the largest U.S. diocese.

Catholic Extension and its donors have supported the Catholic presence in Alaska for 115 years by helping fund essential ministries in Alaska’s remote villages, including Father Jaszek’s ministry.

A Chicago-based papal society founded in 1905, Catholic Extension raises funds to help build up faith communities and construct churches in U.S. mission dioceses, which are rural, cover a large geographic area, and have limited personnel and pastoral resources.

Father Jaszek grew up in Poland under Communist rule. As a

CNS PHOTO/ASH ADAMS, COURTESY OF CATHOLIC EXTENSION

By Catholic News Service

This is a tragic loss for our community.

A truly good man has gone on before us,” said Mr. Zengel, who was a pallbearer at Mr. Ault’s funeral.

In Mr. Ault’s obituary, the Ault family expressed their appreciation for the expressions of support.

“The family would like to give heartfelt gratitude to the St. Joseph School community for the many years of love, support, and friendship. Alvin was an incredibly special man who was loved by all that knew him. He enjoyed being outside, mowing and working in the yard. He played a large part in the St. Joseph School com-

munity and cherished everyone in it.

Alvin loved spending time with family and adored his seven grandkids. If you knew Alvin, one of the first things you might say about him was how much of a prankster he was. He was always joking and making people smile. We will all miss his love for the simple things in life, his infectious laugh, and his huge heart. We are blessed to have had him while we did, and he is now in the arms of his Savior,” the Ault family wrote.

Mrs. Ault acknowledged that it will be difficult returning to work at St. Joseph without her husband. She

remembers how much he liked being outdoors mowing and how he would help her with her after-school duties, carrying heavy loads and running cleaning machines. During summers, he would help out by doing painting at the school and refinishing tile floors.

Mr. and Mrs. Ault would have been married 46 years on Dec. 29.

“Alvin loved life. He didn’t have a worry or care in the world, unless it was getting the lawnmower fixed. He lived for that school. He always looked forward to Monday morning,” Mrs. Ault said. “It hurts me to go back without him.” ■

of indoor plumbing and we have left behind all these other things, we need to leave this behind. It’s time to live in our own modern age, and we have the means” to provide highly secure detention, he said, and “to protect innocent people in society without the state killing anybody.”

By protecting the life and dignity of these men and women with al-

ternatives like long-term sentencing, it gives them all the time they need “to come to God,” especially since it usually takes years of counseling and being free of addictions “before they were able, with a clear head, to think about God.” He said before he began his work in death-row ministry, he had always heard that “‘the threat of an execution brings people to

God.’ No it doesn’t. It brings them to their lawyers, to fight not having an execution.”

“It’s actually a distraction and a drain on their energy to be fighting the death sentence” instead of immediately coming to terms with how they are going to spend their time in prison in constructive ways, he said, particularly in seeking a relationship with God. ■

www.di o k no x .o rg

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

Bishop Barron: Atheist as Harvard chaplain president is ‘abject surrender’

In Brief Bishop Stika announces priest appointments Bishop Richard F. Stika has announced appointments for four diocesan priests, with three of the appointments in addition to current assignments.

Father Matthew Donahue, who was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Stika on Aug. 7, will be studying canon law at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome for three years.

Father Jorge Mejia, CM, who is an associate pastor at All Saints Parish in Knoxville, also will serve as chaplain of the diocesan Pastoral Juvenil Ministry.

Father Marcin Gładysz, who is an associate pastor at the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, also will serve as chaplain of the diocesan Young Adult Ministry.

And Father Valentin Iurochkin, IVE, who is an associate pastor at the Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul in Chattanooga, also will serve as chaplain of the diocesan Courage and EnCourage programs.

By Joe Bukuras Catholic News Agency

H

arvard University chaplains made a “complete and abject surrender” by electing an atheist as the president of their association, Bishop Robert Barron said shortly after the Cambridge, Mass., school’s organization of chaplains voted for Greg Epstein.

“What does bother me,” Bishop Barron wrote in an Aug. 31 op-ed for the New York Post, “is the complete and abject surrender on the part of the presumably religious leaders at Harvard who chose this man.”

“If a professed atheist counts as a chaplain — which is to say, a leader of religious services in a chapel — then ‘religion’ has quite obviously come to mean nothing at all,” he continued. Bishop Barron is the auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles and founder of Word on Fire Catholic media.

The New York Times recently announced that Mr. Epstein, an atheist and humanist chaplain at Harvard, was unanimously elected as the “chief chaplain” of the Harvard Chaplains, the association of more than 40 chaplains serving Harvard students of various religious denominations.

However, the Harvard Catholic Center and a Christian alumni association took issue with some reporting of Mr. Epstein’s new role. The Harvard Catholic Center clarified to Catholic News Agency that Mr. Epstein’s role as chaplain facilitator is administrative and has no effect on its ministry at Harvard.

“There really is no influence in the role other than the fact that he has the title as the president of the Harvard Chaplains and that he’s the liaison between that group and the president of Harvard,” said Nico Quesada, marketing and media director at Harvard Catholic Center.

Mr. Epstein also will convene all the university chaplains when they have matters to discuss, he said, and thus will be “representing the entire group, but he’s not represent-

Catholic Charities giving free rides for COVID vaccinations Catholic Charities of East Tennessee is providing free rides to COVID-19 vaccination appointments for East Tennessee residents who have transportation barriers.

Funded by an Amerigroup Insurance grant, this program will operate on a first-come, first-served basis until funds are depleted. Interested residents are encouraged to take advantage of this program as soon as possible.

To receive assistance, residents will need to provide the address, time, and date of their vaccination appointment. Transportation assistance will then be provided electronically via rideshare gift cards or gas cards.

Exemptions can be made for those who cannot use electronic gift cards.

“With the ongoing cases of COVID-19, it’s imperative for those who wish to get vaccinated to have reliable transportation to their appointments,” said Michelle Kitts, Catholic Charities’ program manager. “So many of our East Tennessee neighbors experience transportation barriers daily. This program meets that need while also helping to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.”

This program is available to anyone who resides in any of the 36 East Tennessee counties. To register for transportation assistance, residents should visit CCETN.org/VaccineRides or call Michelle Kitts at 865-9634725. Funds are limited and are not guaranteed. Empowered by the grace of Jesus Christ, Catholic Charities of East Tennessee, founded in 1989, addresses the unmet needs of the most vulnerable of the region by providing shelter, nourishment, counseling, and education in order to foster human dignity.

CCETN programs include Children’s Emergency Shelter, Columbus Home Assisting Parents (C.H.A.P), Crazy Quilt Food Pantry, Horizon House/Five Rivers Community Supportive Housing, Office of Immigrant Services, Pregnancy Help Center, Samaritan Place, The Home Place, Counseling Services, and HOPE Kitchen. For more information, visit. www.CCETN.org.

St. John XXIII Parish seeking music director to lead weekend evening Masses St. John XXIII University Parish is in need of a music director for the Saturday 5:30 p.m. and Sunday 5:30 p.m. Masses.

Being able to play guitar or piano and sing is a plus.

Currently, rehearsal for each Mass is held one hour before the service begins, so time commitment would be four hours total for the weekend.

Please call the St. John XXIII Parish office on the University of Tennessee-Knoxville at 865-523-7931 for more information. ■

Bishop Barron

ing his own opinions if that makes sense.”

The Harvard Catholic Center is the chaplaincy to the university’s Catholic students, based at nearby St. Paul’s Parish in Cambridge, Mass. It is staffed by three priests serving as part of the university’s chaplains’ association.

Bishop Barron urged Harvard religious chaplains who elected an atheist to lead their association to “[s]how a little self-respect. Being a chaplain has something to do with the worship of God — and you shouldn’t be ashamed to say it.”

“My point is,” Bishop Barron said, “that the relativizing of doctrine has led, by steady steps through two centuries, to the situation at Harvard today: Even that most elemental of doctrines — belief in God — doesn’t matter. One can still, evidently, be perfectly ‘religious’ without it” Before his election as president, Mr. Epstein previously served as the vice president of the university chaplains’ association. He has been the humanist chaplain at Harvard since 2005 and also serves as humanist chaplain at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

During the 2020 presidential election, he served as the national chair of Humanists for Biden on behalf of “humanists, atheists, agnostics, and others.” He has authored the book, Good Without God: What a Billion Nonreligious People Do Believe, a response to prominent atheists on humanism. ■

COURTESY OF PAOLA WOLAVER

BILL BREWER (3)

Celebrating young adults in the Diocese of Knoxville

A special Mass for Diocese of Knoxville young adults was celebrated Aug. 28 at St. Albert the Great Church in Knoxville. A luncheon following Mass was hosted by the diocesan Office of Young Adult Ministry led by Paola Wolaver. Top left: Bishop Richard F. Stika processes into Mass with concelebrants Father Chris Michelson, pastor of St. Albert the Great, and Father Richard Whitney, CSP, associate pastor of St. John XXIII University Parish. Deacon Patrick Murphy-Racey, who serves at St. John XXIII and Immaculate Conception Parish, was assisting. Top right: Bishop Stika, Father Michelson, and Father Whitney, assisted by Deacon Murphy-Racey, lead Mass during the consecration. Bottom left: Bishop Stika enjoys a moment with diocesan young adults.

Bottom right: Bishop Stika, Father Whitney, and Deacon Murphy-Racey gather with the young adults from parishes across the diocese for lunch and social time following Mass at St. Albert the Great.

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

www.di o k no x .o rg

OCTOBER 3, 2021 n A19

By Catholic News Service

I

n the search for truth, Catholic communicators must learn how to listen above all else, the Vatican said.

“Listen” will be the theme for the 2022 celebration of World Communications Day, said a statement released Sept. 29. A papal message on the theme should be published on or around the Jan. 24 feast of St. Francis de Sales, patron saint of journalists.

“The pandemic has struck and wounded everyone, and everyone needs to be heard and comforted. Listening is also fundamental for good information,” said the statement announcing the theme.

The pope’s choice of the theme for the 2022 celebration, which will be held May 29 in most dioceses, is

A20 n OCTOBER 3, 2021

drawn from Jesus’ words in the Gospel of Luke, “Take care, then, how you listen.” The search for truth, the statement said, “begins with listening” as does “bearing witness through social communications media.”

“Every dialogue, every relationship begins with listening,” it said. “For this reason, in order to grow — even professionally — as communicators, we must relearn to listen a great deal.”

The Vatican said that Jesus’ words are a reminder that in order to listen, Christians need “courage, an open and free heart, without prejudices.”

“In this time, when the whole Church is invited to listen in order to learn to be a synodal Church, we are all invited to rediscover listening as essential for good communication,” the statement said. ■

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE PHOTO/PAUL HARING

Pope Francis chooses ‘Listen’ as theme for World Communications Day

w ww.di o k no x .o rg

Listening intently Pope Francis listens to a question while responding to journalists aboard his flight from Tallinn, Estonia, to Rome in this Sept. 25, 2018, file photo. The pope has chosen “Listen” as the theme for the 2022 celebration of World Communications Day.

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