Dec. 5, 2021, ET Catholic, A section

December 5

| 2021

VOL 31 NO 4

IN THIS ISSUE THE SURVEY LIGHTS! CAMERA! A9 AND B10 A6 PROCESSION! SAYS...

Holy Ghost hosts national video shoot

Diocesan synod effort moving forward

He dwells among us ......................... A3 Columns ..........................................B2-3 Parish news ....................................... B4 STATE CHAMP KCHS freshman Keegan Diocesan calendar ............................ B5 Smith wins cross-country Catholic schools .................... B7,10-12 La Cosecha ............................Section C championship

‘You belong here’ Cathedral parish takes part in national initiative to engage young adults in faith

By Emily Booker

RICK GRINSTEAD

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Sacraments and socials Above: Sacred Heart young adult parishioners socialize during a wine tasting at the cathedral. Below: Bishop Richard F. Stika visits with parishioners following a Mass for young adults at St. Albert the Great Church in Knoxville in August. to help congregations find new ways to engage young adults (defined by the initiative as ages 23-29). The YAI builds off earlier studies researching the decline of religious beliefs among younger

generations and current attitudes about identity, purpose, family, values, and faith among young adults. One such study was the Lily Endowment-funded National Study of Youth and Religion

THE EAST TENNESSEE CATHOLIC ARCHIVE PHOTO

hat was life like when you were 22? For some, it was graduating college, getting married, and settling down in a career. For others, it was cheap housing with several friends and partying between working minimum-wage jobs.

For many, you’re an adult, but you’re still not sure who you are yet. You’re capable of so much, but you’re unsure if you’re ready.

It’s an age of more questions than answers.

As Taylor Swift sings, “We’re happy, free, confused, and lonely at the same time.”

For adults in their 20s these days (younger millennials and older Gen Z), the search for identity and meaning is compounded by a society that values individualism and consumerism over community and authenticity. There is a strong distrust of institutions. More and more were raised without religion being a part of their family, and many who were raised in the Church are leaving with the impression that the Church is not a welcoming place.

How can the Church reach out and provide the love, support, and belonging that this generation needs? How does a young adult seeking authentic connection and meaning find that the answers lie in Christ and His Church?

The Lilly Endowment philanthropic organization established the Young Adult Initiative (YAI) to explore how to get young adults involved in church. The Lilly Endowment granted $19.4 million to the five-year program

based at the University of Notre Dame.

Rather than focusing on why young people leave the Church, the YAI studies why others stay and remain active. It aims to explore how to best provide support for young adults to get active in their communities and then to invite and engage others. Twelve “hubs” were selected to represent different Christian traditions from evangelical to Orthodox. St. Meinrad Seminary in Indiana was selected as the hub to oversee the participating Catholic parishes.

Michal Horace is the director of the St. Meinrad Young Adult Initiative.

“St. Meinrad has always had a charism for youth and young adults,” he said. “[St. Meinrad is] always looking for ways we can better serve youth and young adults and those who minister to them. An opportunity occurred when the Lilly Endowment asked if we would be interested in a special project about engaging young adults. St. Meinrad was very enthusiastic about that and jumped on board immediately and said, ‘Yes, we would love to be a part of that, and that fits in perfectly with our mission and what we’re doing, and so let’s go.

Let’s do it.’”

Finding community within a parish

In 2017, St. Meinrad called for applications from Catholic parishes interested in participating in the initiative. Out of 96 applications, the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus was one of 16 parishes chosen. Thirteen Young adult continued on page A11

Seminarians on the path of priestly formation

By Jim Wogan

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alking the grounds of the St. Meinrad Archabbey and Seminary in southern Indiana is, to stretch a cliché, more than awe inspiring. Its impressive architecture, its stunning statuary and art, and peaceful hillside location make it a spiritual haven, a place where men come to learn how to serve God, His people, and His Church.

St. Meinrad helps form priests. And nine men from the Diocese of Knoxville are currently studying there— three of them are less than two years away from being ordained priests for the diocese. God willing, of course.

“It’s exciting and also a little sur-

real,” said Andrew Crabtree, a Theology III student at St. Meinrad. “Being a convert, I came into the Church in 2015. Ten years ago, I never would have guessed I’d be where I am right now, so it’s incredibly exciting that I will be able to minister and offer the sacraments to people, but it’s also like, wow, this is real.”

Mr. Crabtree is from Madisonville.

His home parish is St. Joseph the Worker.

“It’s been a long process but, at the same time, an incredibly quick process because you are just working so hard to grow in your faith, in your human formation, and your intellectual formation. It moves quickly, yet at the same time it’s arduous and

JIM WOGAN

Diocese of Knoxville has 13 men studying for the priesthood at several seminaries

The St. Meinrad 9 Father Christopher Floersh, back row right, is shown with the nine Diocese of Knoxville seminarians attending St. Meinrad Seminary in Indiana. Clockwise from bottom are Joey Austin, Robert Denne Jr., Daniel Cooper, Bo Beaty, Danny Herman, A.J. Houston, Andrew Crabtree, Neil Blatchford, and Michael Willey. tough. But it is also beautiful. It’s a great dichotomy.”

Joey Austin also is a Theology III seminarian at St. Meinrad. His home parish is St. Dominic in Kingsport.

“I felt like God was calling me to do this since when I was in high school,”

Mr. Austin said. “Maybe even a lot younger than that. I think when I first seriously started considering the seminary I was in high school, so it’s something that has been with me for a long time, and I absolutely made Seminarians continued on page A13

2022 diocesan winter RCIA conference set Fr. David Carter, Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul rector and a canon lawyer, to discuss marriage, annulments

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he Diocese of Knoxville Office of Christian Formation is holding a winter RCIA conference on Jan. 22 that will feature Father David Carter, rector of the Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul in Chattanooga and a canon lawyer for the diocese.

Father Carter also is the judicial vicar for the Diocese of Knoxville’s Tribunal Office.

The RCIA conference will be held at All Saints Church, with a Mass to be celebrated to open it.

Registration will begin at 9:30 a.m., with a continental breakfast and fellowship to follow until 10:15 a.m., when the program begins.

Following a brief introduction with an opening prayer, Father Carter will discuss legal issues within the Catholic Church from his perspective as a canon lawyer and parish priest.

As part of his discussion, Father Carter will talk about marriage and the annulment process, especially as it pertains to the diocese’s new Tribunal.

Father Carter received his Li-

cense in Canon Law (JCL) from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, where he studied from 2008-10.

He has served as rector of the Father Carter basilica since fall 2013.

“The winter RCIA Conference will feature Father David Carter who serves as judicial vicar for the Tribunal of the Diocese of Knoxville as well as rector of the Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul in Chattanooga and vice chancellor for canonical affairs for the diocese,” said Sister Peter Miriam Dolan, RSM, diocesan director of Christian Formation. “It is a great opportunity for RCIA coordinators and RCIA team members to come together for ongoing formation. This conference is open to anyone else who may have questions regarding annulments, marriage, convalidation, and other canonical questions.” ■

Sr. Regina

© 2021 Handmaids of the Precious Blood

2022 Winter RCIA Conference Canon Law with Father David Carter, JCL When: Saturday, Jan. 22 Where: All Saints Parish, 620 N. Cedar Bluff Road, Knoxville Conference Schedule 9 a.m.: Mass at All Saints 9:30-10:15 a.m.: Registration, continental breakfast, and fellowship 10:15-10:30 a.m.: Intro/housekeeping/opening prayer 10:30-11:30 a.m.: Talk by Father Carter Noon-12:45 p.m.: lunch 12:45-1:30 p.m. Prayer and reflection 1:30-1:45 p.m.: Break 1:45-3 p.m.: Questions, answers, and discussion with Father Carter 3:15-3:30 p.m.: Closing remarks and closing prayer To register: Contact Sister Peter Miriam Dolan, RSM, at srpetermiriam@dioknox.org or at www.dioknox.org/events Cost: $20. Registration fee to be paid at the door on conference day. Please note that if you have food allergies or food intolerances, please bring your own lunch.

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 “Let us pray for the catechists, summoned to announce the Word of God: may they be its witnesses, with courage and creativity and in the power of the Holy Spirit.”

–– Pope Francis ”God chose a bright star to signal the birth of Jesus. We pray, God, to recognize the signs You give to us each day and that we have wisdom and prudence to follow Your path to eternal life in heaven. 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.

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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

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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.

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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’ This is a reprint of the October 2021 column He Dwells Among Us by Bishop Stika. Delivery issues at the U.S. Postal Service prevented a number of The East Tennessee Catholic readers from receiving their October newspaper.

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.”

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

— Psalm 96:8-9

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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 holy sacrifice of 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] emptyhanded” (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, “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, repre-

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. sented 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 prays, 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,” 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

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 inestimable value in His. “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.”

Offering continued on page A17

Catholic Schools of the Diocese of Knoxville prepare SCHOLARS, LEADERS, and SAINTS! S! TH E EAST T E N N E S S E E C AT HO L I C

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USCCB focuses on Communion, synodality, finances in fall assembly Bishops meet in person for first time since 2019; Bishop Stika addresses group with question on Eucharist document

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he U.S. bishops, gathered for the first time in person since 2019, discussed the highly anticipated statement on the Eucharist without the heated discussion it stirred up in their previous meeting.

They also looked at diocesan financial reporting and considered new socially responsible investment guidelines, all while groups of protesters gathered outside the Baltimore hotel where the public sessions of the Nov. 15-18 meeting were taking place.

Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Ind., chairman of the bishops’ doctrine committee, presented the Communion document to the bishops on Nov. 16 by saying it addresses the “fundamental doctrine about the Eucharist that the Church needs to retrieve and revive.”

In the bishops’ virtual June gathering, a major focus had been whether the document would address denying Communion to Catholic politicians who support abortion. At the time, some bishops said a strong rebuke of President Joe Biden, the nation’s second Catholic president, should be included in it because of President Biden’s recent actions protecting and expanding abortion access, while others warned that this would portray the bishops as a partisan force during a time of bitter political divisions across the country.

The document in front of the

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE PHOTO/BOB ROLLER

By Carol Zimmermann Catholic News Service

Back together again Bishops attend a Nov. 16 session of the fall general assembly of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Baltimore. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is the first in-person bishops’ meeting since 2019. bishops during their general assembly in November does not specifically call out Catholic political leaders, but it does more generally point out the seriousness of the sacrament.

“One should not celebrate Mass or receive Holy Communion in

the state of mortal sin without having sought the sacrament of reconciliation and received absolution,” it says.

The short presentation to U.S. bishops, followed by just a handful of comments from the floor, stressed that the document was

“It’s a teaching document. It’s a beautiful document. ... But this document will not be understood by the grade school kids, high school, college. A lot of it is over their heads.

They have to have some kind of theological foundation. So, I was wondering how we would address this in our many catechetical books that are published ... because we have lost a couple of generations because catechesis has been so poor.”

— Bishop Richard F. Stika

intended to be a theological contribution to the bishops’ strategic plan and to the bishops’ planned eucharistic revival by providing a doctrinal resource for parishes, catechists, and the faithful.

The draft of the document explains the importance of Communion, often calling it a gift, and uses references from Scripture, prayers of the Church, and Second Vatican Council documents to back this up. It also explains, citing words of the saints, how Communion is not just a symbol but the real presence of Christ.

Prior to this presentation, the head of the bishops’ National Advisory Council stressed this proposed statement “cannot be partisan,” nor should it be made such “through calculated expression or calculated suppression of our doctrine and belief.”

“The Eucharist cannot be a tool for division, cannot be ideological,” said Mark Sadd of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, W. Va., who is chair of the council, in his Nov. 16 remarks.

Bishop Richard F. Stika was one of the fall meeting attendees who addressed the conference.

Bishop Stika, after reading the Communion document, asked if those drafting the document could make it more understandable for the faithful, especially younger Catholics.

“It’s a teaching document. It’s a beautiful document. But I was just curious. I’ve read studies where children in grade school around fifth grade begin to make USCCB continued on page A16

Local Knights assembly honors Tennessee veterans with wreaths at state cemetery

By Gabrielle Nolan

COURTESY OF ROLAND WICKER

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emember. Honor. Teach.

This is the mission of Wreaths Across America, a nonprofit based in Maine dedicated to remembering “the men and women who served our country, honor our military and their families, and teach our children about our freedom and those who protect it.”

And for one local veteran, this mission has become an opportunity to annually involve his Knights of Columbus assembly in a patriotic service.

Roland “Rollie” Wicker is a parishioner at St. Francis of Assisi in Fairfield Glade and also a member of Father Gabriel Assembly 2162, which includes

Remembering those who served Knights of Columbus Michael Kapalin, William Anzenberger, Roland Wicker, Eugene Standaert, and John McMahan place wreaths at the East Tennessee Veterans Cemetery. men from the Knights of Columbus councils at St. Francis of Assisi and St. Alphonsus in

Crossville.

The Fourth Degree in the Knights of Columbus is the

patriotic degree, and the assembly’s “main function is to really look at how we can do patriotic events through veterans,” Mr. Wicker said.

The Father Gabriel Assembly previously has marched in the Crossville Veterans Day Parade and has donated flags for the gravesite of Sgt. Alvin C. York at the state park that bears his name. It also has supported Bread of Life, a veterans home in Crossville that serves homeless and disadvantaged veterans.

Mr. Wicker served in the Marine Corps for three years, the majority of which he was stationed at Marine Corps Air Station El Toro in California.

Wreaths continued on page A9

March for Life 2022 Sunday, January 23 at 2:00 PM SAVE THE DATE!

Don’t miss this opportunity to stand for LIFE.

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’Lights!’ ‘Camera!’ ‘Procession!’

Holy Ghost Church serves as setting for national Knights of Columbus training video on eucharistic processions

BILL BREWER

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Taking it to the streets Camera operator Trina Mulligan videos a eucharistic procession led by Holy Ghost pastor Father Bill McNeeley as it makes its way down Hinton Avenue in North Knoxville on Nov. 13.

I hope it will help parishes that are struggling to be part of their renewal.

Churches are closing in some of the traditional Catholic areas in New England and the Midwest. I pray that this video will be another tool for the remaining parishes to have a new beginning..

— Father Bill McNeeley, pastor of Holy Ghost Parish reverently taking video around the altar and in the nave, even moving production outside the church when a baptism performed by Holy Ghost associate pastor Father Michael Hendershott took place.

Once finished, the video will illustrate how a eucharistic procession typically begins inside the church at the altar, with the priest, deacon, altar

Video continued on page A19

Getting a close-up Camera operators fan out inside Holy Ghost Church on Nov. 13 as they shoot video of parishioners re-creating a Mass and eucharistic procession for a training video sponsored by the Knights of Columbus. The training video will be available to all U.S. Catholic churches in 2022 for instruction on how to best lead a eucharistic procession according to the liturgy.

MERCY WEBER

servers, and congregation processing out of the church following Mass and into the community before ending in a holy setting.

What is a eucharistic procession?

According to FAITH Catholic publications, the Eucharist is the source and summit of the whole Christian life, and therefore a eucharistic procession is a public witness of the venera-

tion toward the most Holy Eucharist, conducted through public streets.

It takes place in this way: A consecrated host—that is, the real and substantial presence of Jesus Christ: body, blood, soul, and divinity—is placed within a monstrance, which is then lifted and carried by a priest who leads the faithful in procession. Like a pilgrimage, a eucharistic procession normally starts at one holy place and ends at another, but it can return to the church where it began. This earthly journey reminds the Catholic faithful of their spiritual journey toward eternal life with God. Eucharistic processions first became a popular practice in the life of the Church during the celebration of Corpus Christi, traditionally celebrated on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday.

The idea for this solemnity is attributed to St. Juliana, who lived in the 13th century. As Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI eloquently noted in a homily in 2007, “It was born for the very precise purpose of openly reaffirming the faith of the people of God in Jesus Christ, alive and truly present in the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist.

It is a feast that was established in order to publicly adore, praise, and thank the Lord, who continues ‘to love us to the end,’ even to offering us His Body and His Blood.”

Though directly connected to the liturgical feast of Corpus Christi, eucharistic processions may take place at other appropriate times and places under the authority of the bishop and

MERCY WEBER

appy Holler is going Hollywood, or at least it looked that way on Nov. 12 when professional videographers descended on Holy Ghost Church and surrounding streets to make a Knights of Columbus-sponsored video for distribution to parishes across the country.

A team from Spirit Juice Studios, which produces Bishop Robert Barron’s Word on Fire videos, captured Holy Ghost and its pastor, Father Bill McNeeley, for the video, which will be an instructional aid on carrying out a liturgical eucharistic procession.

The production team, which worked with Knoxville freelance videographers, were in the Happy Holler neighborhood of North Knoxville for several days in mid-November shooting scenes for the training video. Holy Ghost parishioners acted as stand-ins for the re-created procession, which was only for creative purposes, not actual, and did not include the Holy Eucharist, only an unconsecrated host.

Production of the video began on Nov. 12 as the Spirit Juice field producers and camera operators scouted the location inside the church and outside Holy Ghost in the adjacent neighborhood. Then on Nov. 13, following the 8 a.m. Mass, shooting began inside the 95-year-old church, known for its beautifully historic stained-glass windows and intricately chiseled wood images.

The Catholic video operation was sensitive to the sacred interior surroundings, with camera operators

By Bill Brewer

Reverent and instructional Father Bill McNeeley, pastor of Holy Ghost Parish in Knoxville, re-creates a Mass, where he prays before a monstrance containing an unconsecrated host, not the Holy Eucharist, for a Knights of Columbus-sponsored training video on eucharistic processions. The video crew doing the production is from Catholic-based Spirit Juice Studios of Chicago.

JIM WOGAN

St. Mary’s Legacy Clinic honors volunteers and looks to future

Celebrating volunteers Bishop Richard F. Stika is pictured with volunteers and staff members of the St. Mary’s Legacy Clinic at the clinic’s annual volunteer appreciation Mass and luncheon at St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Lenoir City on Nov. 10.

By Jim Wogan

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his year’s volunteer appreciation Mass and luncheon for the St. Mary’s Legacy Clinic cast a wide net on its past efforts and current accomplishments and touched briefly on future goals of the mobile health-care ministry, which has been rolling into medically underserved communities in East Tennessee since 2014.

Each year the clinic staff brings its volunteers together in worship, fellowship, food, and recognition for a job well done.

This year’s gathering took place Nov. 10 at St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Lenoir City.

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Bishop Richard F. Stika celebrated Mass for clinic volunteers, guests, and staff members. Deacon Scott Maentz assisted. St. Thomas parishioner Rafael Pubillones, a deacon candidate for the Diocese of Knoxville, served as acolyte.

In his homily, Bishop Stika spoke of the clinic’s healing ministry and drew a direct connection to the words and actions of Jesus.

“When Jesus entered a town, he would do several things. He would teach. He would teach by His witness, and He would reach out to the people who were marginalized, the people who were forgotten. He would nourish. And He Clinic continued on page A8 www.di o k no x .o rg

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DECEMBER 5, 2021 n A7

Lay artisans share their creations through Paraclete program Consignment vendors emerge from the pandemic with a collection of crafts in time for Christmas sales

BILL BREWER

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Crafts and Catholicism Kathy Willard, right, who founded the craft boutique business KozyChix, stands with Sara Lauer, manager of The Paraclete Catholic gifts and book store, in front of Mrs. Willard’s creations on sale at The Paraclete.

Joining her on the team of Paraclete consignment vendors are Fran Harris and Georgina Harris, both of whom are also Sacred Heart Cathedral members.

In the hyper-competitive world of retail sales, these three Diocese of Knoxville parishioners are combining their creative talents and their faith through the unique partnership with The Paraclete.

That partnership is providing the women valuable retail shelf space in The Paraclete for them to sell their creations. And during the Christmas holiday season, it is proving to be a win-win-win situation for the store, the budding entrepreneurs, and Paraclete customers.

Sara Lauer, manager of The Para-

clete, explained that the vendors have portfolios of Christmas fare that customers crave as gift ideas. And she said those gift items are helping Paraclete sales.

“It adds to the gift feel here. They are great gift ideas,” she said.

Mrs. Lauer cited an example. A diocesan church group was wanting to give out coffee mugs with a prayer inscription and image of the sacred heart of Jesus. A company that distributes personalized coffee mugs quoted the church a price of $16 per mug. The church approached Mrs. Lauer for help, and she in turn approached Mrs. Willard, who was able to provide the requested mugs for a fraction of the quoted cost.

As another example, Mrs. Lauer

said The Paraclete sells about 100 copies of the Magnificat each month, and Mrs. Willard creates personalized covers for the Catholic canticle that are popular with the faithful.

Similarly, Fran Harris and Georgina Harris create special touches for custom crafts, artwork, ornaments, shirts, tumblers, and many other items. Their products also occupy valuable shelf space in The Paraclete.

Georgina Harris formed Harris & Co. about two years ago as her craft business, specializing in customizing and personalizing gift items like shirts, tumblers, pictures, glittered pins, wine glasses, plates, etc. Harris & Co. is a sideline for her. She is a fulltime dental assistant for a Knoxville dental office.

She first delved into crafts about four years ago, but she said her business has really picked up in the last two years.

“Probably because of word of mouth. People carry their personalized cups and others want one,” she observed.

Many but not all her products have a religious theme. Her first products were personalized T-shirts, which led to reverse canvas pictures, cups, and the other items.

“I started out doing one cup as a test, an experiment because I really didn’t expect to stay with it. It’s turned into a business. One cup turner has led to eight turners to produce cups,” Georgina said, explaining that a turner is a device that allows her to customize cups and tumblers in a step-byVendors continued on page A15

DEACON SCOTT MAENTZ (2)

ecessity is the mother of invention, and never was that oft-repeated phrase truer than in early 2020 when the pandemic hit East Tennessee.

That is when Kathy Willard went into action, distributing scores of her custom-made COVID-19 masks as quickly as she could make them.

And with a creative flair, she transformed mundane facial coverings into faith-based fashion statements.

Mrs. Willard set about embroidering crosses and other easily recognizable Catholic symbols on her masks as well as secular images such as sports logos and personalized dates of importance.

Those masks attracted the attention of Deacon Walt Otey and Sara Lauer, who had just taken over management of The Paraclete Catholic books and gifts store in late 2019. Mrs. Willard and her family are members of the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish. By spring 2020, Paraclete customers were clamoring for masks effective against COVID-19.

Deacon Otey and Mrs. Lauer became aware of Mrs. Willard’s custom-made masks through the Sacred Heart community and asked Mrs. Willard if she would be willing to make her masks available to The Paraclete through a consignment sales arrangement.

And just like that, supply met demand.

Mrs. Willard has grown her product list to become The Paraclete’s most prolific consignment vendor, with a retail sales section in the store dedicated to her wares.

By Bill Brewer

Honored volunteers Three volunteers of the St. Mary’s Legacy Clinic were presented five-year service pins during a special luncheon on Nov. 10. Pictured from left are Sister Mary Luke Feldpausch, RSM, clinic staff; Susan Lawlor, honored volunteer; Martin Vargas, clinic executive director; Dr. John Harris, honored volunteer; Beth Ann Arrigo, clinic staff; Eleanor Kulikowski, honored volunteer; Andrea Wingfield, clinic staff; and Sister Mary Lisa Renfer, RSM, clinic medical director.

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would heal,” Bishop Stika said.

“I think the work of St. Mary’s Legacy Foundation and the mobile medical clinic accomplishes those three things because of your willingness to give your time to other people, especially in an area where you probably serve more nonCatholics than Catholics. You good people represent Christ to them and to others because you are doing the work that Jesus did when he entered a town or village. You do the work of Jesus,” the bishop added.

Lunch was served in the parish family life center following Mass.

Volunteers shared some of their personal stories working for the clinic over the years. Sister Timothea Elliott, RSM, was guest speaker for the afternoon and offered insight on the Psalms, with a focus on St. Ambrose and Psalm 24.

Three volunteers were recognized with five-year service pins: n Susan Lawlor is a retired teacher who volunteers as a member of the clinic hospitality team and tracks volunteer hours; n Dr. John Harris is a retired physician who volunteers at nearly all the clinic’s visits to five communities across East Tennessee; n Eleanor Kulikowski is a retired nurse who serves as the clinic’s volunteer coordinator. Ms. Kulikowski also helps with volunteer recruitment and training and assists organizing the annual luncheon.

Special recognition went to Gloria A8 n DECEMBER 5, 2021

Risko, who was honored with the 2021 Judy Award, named for the late Judy Schmidt, the founder of the clinic’s volunteer corps, which has grown to include 56 active members. Mrs. Risko is a retired registered nurse who works as a site manager at clinic stops in Athens and Decatur.

“Gloria does so much to assist us,” said Sister Mary Lisa Renfer, RSM, medical director for the clinic.

“She assists patients, makes sure the clinic is clean and safe, and does a fabulous job coordinating all of our volunteers for our sites. She is a great example of treating each person she encounters with the love and dignity that they deserve.

This includes our patients and our volunteers.”

Mrs. Schmidt’s son, Phillip, board chairman for the St. Mary’s Legacy Clinic, was in attendance.

“I want to thank those people that established this foundation, this passion for patients, because that’s where it happens,” Mr. Schmidt told those in attendance. “We’re growing, and I’m very excited. We have a great executive director with Martin (Vargas). Sister Mary Lisa has recruited some good physicians and people that have come aboard for us. We’ve got a great assistant executive to help Martin and our team, and we’ve got a lot of good things that are getting ready to happen, and it’s continuously going to grow.”

“We’re going to be able to serve

The Judy Award winner Gloria Risko was presented the Judy Award during the St. Mary’s Legacy Clinic volunteer appreciation Mass and luncheon on Nov. 10 at St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Lenoir City. From left are Sister Mary Luke Feldpausch, RSM, clinic staff; Sister Mary Lisa Renfer, RSM, clinic medical director; Beth Ann Arrigo, clinic staff; Mrs. Risko; Andrea Wingfield, clinic staff; and Martin Vargas, executive director of the St. Mary’s Legacy Clinic. more patients. The board, in a recent strategic meeting, established how are we going to continue going forward, and the No. 1 thing we’re focused on is volunteers. It doesn’t happen without you guys. Every single person here, that’s why this works. So, from my heart, from my mom’s heart, for (founding medical director) Sister Mariana, and for all those people from the ground up, I just want to thank you for all the work that you do,” Mr. Schmidt noted.

St. Mary’s Legacy Clinic has undergone significant staff changes in recent months. Sister Mary Lisa became its new medical director in 2020 following the reassignment of founding director Sister Mariana Koonce, RSM, MD, to Washington, D.C. Martin Vargas, whose background includes leadership success with a No. 1 Fortune 500 company, nonprofit organizations, and entrepreneurial start-ups, was appointed the clinic’s new executive director in September.

Other staff members are Beth Ann Arrigo, nurse manager; Sister Mary Luke Feldpausch, RSM, clinic assistant; and Andrea Wingfield, administrative assistant.

“You make a key difference every time you arrive at one of our sites when you put on your name tag and smile towards each other and our patients,” Mr. Vargas told volunteers at the luncheon.

“It’s been a tough time during this pandemic. It has affected us

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all. But there are bright spots. Chief among them is you, our volunteers, and our supporters. You are the reason St. Mary’s Legacy Clinic never stopped going out during the pandemic.

“For those who volunteer behind the scenes, in our office, the warehouse, or drive the mobile clinic, literally if you drive the clinic, we cannot get there without you. So, to all the gentlemen who drive, I’d like to say thank you, and ladies, if anyone wants to make that an equal opportunity, Sister Mariana Koonce would shine with pride knowing that you were driving it,” he said.

The small-in-stature, but very motivated Sister Mariana was licensed to drive the large mobile clinic and often did so herself to many of the remote locations it serves.

With an homage to the past, and recognition of this year’s service accomplishments, Mr. Vargas turned to the future in his closing remarks.

“You help us deliver the healing ministry of Jesus to East Tennessee. Coming up, things may feel new. We are planning to expand, to carry our healing ministry to a new location in Scott County. We have new technology that will enable us to communicate more effectively. You are the legacy in our clinic, and the legacy is before us, so thank you for all you do, and God bless you.”

To learn more about the clinic and volunteer opportunities, please visit SMLCares.com. ■ TH E EA S T TEN N ES S EE C ATH OLI C

Springboard survey offered to move diocesan synod effort forward Diocese of Knoxville parishioners, clergy, religious, others are urged to participate online

JIM WOGAN

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he Vatican’s version of a supersized poll of 1.2 billion Catholics living on every continent and in every country in the world begins in earnest in the Diocese of Knoxville this month—when parishes, schools, and other organizations start surveying their populations and gathering feedback using a specially designed survey.

The springboard survey, an online tool used to canvass the Catholic and non-Catholic populations of the diocese, is now available at https:// synodsurvey.org.

The results, in some fashion, will be included in a report presented during a gathering of the world’s Catholic bishops in 2023.

This Synod on Synodality was officially opened by Pope Francis in Rome on Oct. 9.

The Holy Father has invited every Catholic “to pray, listen, analyze, dialogue, discern, and offer advice on making pastoral decisions” with “a call for the involvement of all who belong to the People of God—laity, consecrated, and ordained, to engage in the exercise of deep and respectful listening to one another,” the Vatican stated.

Dioceses around the world, including the Catholic Church in East Tennessee, were called on short notice in September to implement this noble endeavor.

Deacon Sean Smith, chancellor of the Diocese of Knoxville, and Lisa Healy, executive director of Catholic Charities of East Tennessee, have been appointed by Bishop Richard F.

Team meeting Members of the Diocesan Synod Team met for three hours in the Monsignor Mankel meeting room at the Chancery on Nov. 11 to discuss plans for implementing procedures and tools to be used during the diocesan synod process. A second meeting was held on Nov. 17, before training sessions commenced at the deanery level in late November.

To participate in the online springboard survey, please visit: https://synodsurvey.org

Stika to lead the synod effort locally.

“Synodality is about listening, and journeying together,” Deacon Smith

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together as diocesan families and prayerfully discern and discuss what is on our minds.”

After reviewing two sets of detailed Vatican documents and contemplating how best to move forward, Deacon Smith and Mrs. Healy assembled a Diocesan Synod Team (DST) composed of 26 members of the Catholic community in East Tennessee. The team includes laity, clergy, members of consecrated religious communities, as well as non-Catholic invitees.

“It was important for this advisory team to be diverse and to reflect all segments of the diocese, and even include people who aren’t necessarily Catholic,” Deacon Smith said. “I think we did that. These folks were very committed, very serious, and very, very helpful to me and Lisa Healy.”

The Diocesan Synod Team met Nov. 11 in a three-hour session to review and offer suggestions on the first draft of the survey that is being offered to jump-start discussion at parishes, schools, and other ministries in the diocese.

The survey should take 20-25 minutes to complete.

“This survey will be a big benefit to the parishes and all of our organizations,” Deacon Smith said. “It can be used as a tool to spur discussion if any of them desire to have a town hallstyle meeting. It will also give me an opportunity to quantify results with hard numbers that can be used when I assemble feedback from more than 70 different entities in the diocese.”

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In many homes, there is an empty seat for one who is serving or one who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. There is no better time to express our appreciation than during the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. We hope you will join us… to show our veterans and their families that we will not forget. We will never forget.

— Wreaths Across America

COURTESY OF ROLAND WICKER (2)

“I spent three years with them and enjoyed it,” he said. “I mean sometimes it wasn’t so enjoyable, but when I look back it was a good thing.”

“I was looking for opportunities for our assembly to do something patriotic and also help out the assembly,” Mr. Wicker said.

“Wreaths Across America came up, and I dug further into it, and I found that the closest cemetery for us to look at doing something was the old East Tennessee State Veterans Cemetery; it’s right by the cathedral, right down the street.”

Every December, Wreaths Across America lays wreaths at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C., a tradition that began in 1992.

Hand-crafted balsam wreaths with a red bow are shipped from Columbia Falls, Maine, across the country and abroad so that other organizations can honor veterans at cemeteries, monuments, and parks.

In November 2020, Mr. Wicker contacted Wreaths Across America and registered the assembly to collect wreath sponsorships.

The following month, 14 volunteers made the drive to the East Tennessee State Veterans Cemetery in West Knoxville, located at 5901 Lyons View Pike across from Lakeshore Park.

“We had five Fourth Degree Knights participate in the wreath-laying with their family members or friends,” Mr. Wicker said.

“It was kind of on short notice that this all came together, but we carpooled from Crossville.”

In addition to the Knights’ assembly, 22 other local organizations such as veterans associations, civic clubs, local colleges, and student JROTC groups volunteered to sponsor and lay wreaths.

The cemetery first had a ceremony with guest speakers and the playing of taps, a bugle call typically played at military funerals and memorial or flag ceremonies.

The wreaths are stationed throughout the cemetery, and volunteers go to their selected location.

“You get six to eight wreaths each time, and you get a row of headstones, and as you lay the wreath you read the name of the person that is on the headstone,” Mr. Wicker said. “I think we laid about 7,000 wreaths in about 45 minutes last year.”

“One of the things that drew me to it was also that for every wreath we get sponsorship for, we get $5 back, which we are putting in our seminarian fund to help seminarians out during the year,” he said.

“Typically, at Christmastime we send them a check.”

“It came together rather quickly last year, but we still were able to sponsor 125 wreaths.

And putting that together we got $625 back for the assembly’s seminarian fund, which was very nice to have because we enjoy giving our funds and helping out the seminar-

said. “There are 2,900 dioceses and archdioceses in the world, and the Holy Father is calling us to come

By Jim Wogan

Hallowed ground Sacred Heart Cathedral stands tall in the background as volunteers lay wreaths on veterans’ graves in Knoxville.

Volunteering for veterans A volunteer from Crossville made the drive to lay wreaths at the East Tennessee State Veterans Cemetery. ians,” he said.

This year on Dec. 18, National Wreaths Across America Day, Mr. Wicker and other volunteers and organizations across the country will participate in the laying of wreaths for veterans.

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State Veterans Cemetery will begin at noon.

Parking is available across the street at Lakeshore Park.

According to the Wreaths Across America website, ceremonies are happening at more than 2,900 participating locations.

“It’s just remarkable how they do that.

Some of the trucking is donated, others are paid for, you know, through donations, and it’s just kind of amazing how that all comes together,” Mr. Wicker said. “There’s going to be over 1.7 million wreaths laid on Dec. 18.”

While most of the graves Mr. Wicker adorns with wreaths are for individuals he has never met, there is one familiar name.

“We have a member of our assembly who passed away in 2010 and who is buried there at the old East Tennessee State Veterans Cemetery: Arthur M. Krogman,” he said.

Mr. Krogman, a former parishioner of St. Alphonsus and member of Council 8152, was a Navy veteran who served in the Korean War. “Arthur was a good man, a hard worker, was always available when you needed somebody to help out with a project, led some projects,” Mr. Wicker recalled. “We make sure we gather around and put a wreath on his grave.”

As of Nov. 22, the assembly had 383 wreath sponsorships out of their goal of 400.

Sponsorships for the assembly come from family and friends, as well as from assembly members asking for support at local events and their parish’s Masses. One wreath sponsorship costs $15.

“I hope that we can continue to do this year after year, and I hope more groups get involved,” he said. “As the new veterans cemetery in Knoxville (on East Gov. John Sevier Highway) grows, we can get people to take care of and handle that area also.”

Although the United States nationally celebrates Veterans Day in November and Memorial Day in May, the Wreaths Across America organization recognizes that our service members make sacrifices year-round: “In many homes, there is an empty seat for one who is serving or one who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. There is no better time to express our appreciation than during the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. We hope you will join us… to show our veterans and their families that we will not forget. We will never forget.”

For more information or to donate to the Father Gabriel Assembly’s sponsorships, please visit www.wreathsacrossamerica.org. ■ DECEMBER 5, 2021 n A9

Young adults learn to ready homes, hearts for Advent season Diocese of Knoxville’s young adult ministry and Office of Christian Formation join to present a seasonal retreat

By Gabrielle Nolan

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GABRIELLE NOLAN (3)

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s Christians, we know that the liturgical season of Advent is a preparation for welcoming the Christ child on Christmas day, ushering in a season of light, joy, hope, and salvation.

But how do we prepare for the season of preparation?

The Diocese of Knoxville’s young adult ministry collaborated with the Office of Christian Formation to provide a one-day retreat to discuss just that.

“We want to make sure that we’ve provided space for all of our Catholic young adults and Christian young adults to really prepare for the meaning of Christmas, preparing for the coming of Christ,” said Paola Wolaver, coordinator of young adult ministry for the diocese.

“This retreat was really developed in a way to help us live out the season of Advent… liturgically at home and in your prayer life,” she said.

The daylong retreat, called “Ready Your Home, Ready Your Heart,” took place at the Chancery on Nov. 20.

The first talk, “Ready Your Home,” was presented by Stephanie and Rick Grinstead,. Mr Grinstead serves as the director of youth and young adult ministry at the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. The Grinsteads shared how they individually experienced Advent as kids, and how they now want to celebrate Advent with their family of eight children.

“I was a cradle Catholic, grew up, raised as a Catholic my whole life,” said Mrs. Grinstead. “We had an Advent wreath centered on our dining room table with the four candles that we would light each week, and I don’t know that I really understood what each one meant or anything like that.”

“We grew up what we call ultra-Catholic,” Mr. Grinstead recalled. “However, when it comes to Advent, honestly I don’t remember a whole lot of preparation for Christmas. What I do remember is the Advent wreath at church and wanting every candle to be lit on the first week, not having to wait.”

After the couple was married and started having children, they realized their Advent was more focused on presents for Christmas day.

“We kind of looked at the tree I think one year, and we realized two things,” said Mr. Grinstead.

“Number one, that’s way too many gifts, and the focus is all on the gifts. But number two, they don’t care about the gifts, they care about the box that it comes in… It made us re-evaluate what this whole thing was even all about.”

“A lack of preparation is what leads us to failure.

For me, I felt like there was such a lack of preparation in our early, early years of the Christmas season,” Mr. Grinstead said. “Yet, little did we remember, the Church built in a preparation time that we were just trying to get through. Advent is not something to get through; it’s something to experience and enjoy.”

They encouraged the young adults to avoid the temptation of trying to do too much for Advent.

“There’s only so many things you can do well.

You have to be focused,” Mr. Grinstead said. “It’s not about how many you can do; it’s about how many you can do really well, and that might only be one.”

Building togetherness Several young adults from the retreat pause for a silly photo with Father Martin Gladysz, who heard confessions and led adoration during the Nov. 20 retreat.

Spiritual gifts for Christ Father Christopher Floersh speaks to young adults on how to spiritually ready their hearts for the Advent season.

Liturgical living Stephanie and Rick Grinstead share ideas on how to live out the season of Advent practically and meaningfully.

To better understand the season of Advent, the Grinsteads highlighted some of the liturgical basics, such as Advent begins the Church calendar year; the season lasts four weeks and ends on Christmas Eve; and the roots of Advent began in the fourth century.

They also focused on the symbolism of the Advent wreath and encouraged the young adults to keep it in a central part of their homes to reflect on during the season.

The evergreen branches represent God’s constancy and everlasting love; the circular shape of the wreath represents eternal life; prickly holly leaves represent the crown of thorns; holly berries or red ribbons represent the blood of Christ.

The four candles that surround the wreath, three of which are purple and one is rose, represent the four weeks of Advent. The candles represent hope, faith and love, joy, and peace.

Many families, including the Grinsteads, also add

a white Christ candle in the center of the wreath on Christmas day after the season of preparation ends.

After the presentation, the young adults were invited to create their own Advent wreath from provided supplies of garland, white poinsettias, ribbons, and candles.

Father Christopher Floersh, the associate pastor at St. John Neumann Parish in Farragut and chaplain for Knoxville Catholic High School, blessed the Advent wreaths, and each participant received a copy of the “Blessing of an Advent Wreath for the Home.”

Father Floersh presented the second talk of the day, called “Ready Your Heart.”

He discussed the “spiritual things we can do in order to complement our Advent season,” especially in relation to gift-giving, which is often done out of expectation of love.

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PAOLA WOLAVER RICK GRINSTEAD

went on to complete the five-year project.

Father David Boettner, rector of the cathedral parish, first heard of the YAI through a St. Meinrad alumni newsletter and immediately was interested.

“When I saw that they were doing this program, to really try to come up with some new ideas for young adult ministry, I was thrilled,” he said. “As a priest, we’ve been trying to do young adult ministry for decades, and we’ve not been particularly successful at it. It looked like a very intentional effort to learn from some best practices, form a cohort that can journey together and share their experiences, and be willing to make mistakes and see what works.”

Father Boettner spoke with the cathedral’s director of religious education at the time, Dave Wells, who then took the lead in getting the initiative rolling at the parish.

The first task was to form a core team of parishioners who could envision and implement ideas for engaging local young adults as well as participate in YAI gatherings at St. Meinrad twice a year.

Because young adulthood covers a broad range of life stages and needs, Sacred Heart’s core team intentionally consisted of young adults representing different demographics: student, professional, married, parent, single, Anglo, Hispanic.

An early part of the YAI involved examining the demographics of the parish and the community of the parish boundary. The National Dialogue was a collaborative effort of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and youth and young adult ministry organizations to engage the Church in a National Dialogue on Catholic Pastoral Ministry with Youth and Young Adults. As part of this effort, volunteers at Sacred Heart held listening sessions, hoping to reach both affiliated and nonaffiliated adults and hear their thoughts on faith and spiritual needs. Listening was the first step to working toward a parish culture that welcomed young adults and met their needs for identity and community.

The initiative emphasizes that the YAI is an undertaking of the whole parish, not just young adults and ministers. To create a welcoming place, the whole parish must be on board and willing to help.

“Hospitality is critical,” Father Boettner said. “The young adult community has to feel welcome.

It’s hard, especially if you’re a young adult by yourself, to go to Mass and sit by yourself, so there needs to be a real intentional effort to greet people at the door and make sure they feel comfortable, to try to connect them to others.

The priest or deacon or usher, you know, they need to keep their eyes open to see the young adult community and help them to connect to each other because it doesn’t just automatically happen.

“I think the other thing is really being intentional in inviting the young adult community to share their gifts….It’s really important with the young adult community that they are invited into leadership, into participation, that they are given meaningful ways to give their gifts in service to the Church.”

Grace Pakeltis moved to Knoxville from Illinois to attend graduate school. She wanted to plug into a community of people who shared her faith and would support her during her time in Knoxville. For many young adults like Dr. Pakeltis, it can be intimidating to attend Mass alone in a new city where you don’t know anyone, much less show up to an event or Bible study.

“It’s very intimidating at first, but the connections you can make are so worth it,” she said. She began attending Sacred Heart for Mass as well as the parish’s young adult women’s Bible study.

COURTESY OF RICK GRINSTEAD

Young adult continued from page A1

Creating a community Top: Father Michael Hendershott, associate pastor of Holy Ghost Parish, is joined by Kevin Blatchford, holding daughter Bernadette, Will Tullock, and Juan David Barajas at the “Saints and Suds” cookout at Sacred Heart. Middle: Father Christopher Floersh leads an outdoor Mass for young adults at Tennessee Riverpark in Chattanooga.

Bottom: Sacred Heart Parish hosts a wine-tasting evening for young adults.

Such events have been made possible through the Young Adult Initiative.

As the YAI progressed, she found more opportunities in the parish, attending both young adult and larger parish events, as well as ushering at Mass.

To her, the key to a strong young adult community is relationships rooted in Christ.

“A young adult community is a great place to share my faith and the other parts of my life,” she said. “Through Bible studies and casual meet-ups, authentic friendships can be made, which make life so much more joyful.”

The Sacred Heart YAI core team wanted to reach more young adults, but its aim was more than simply bringing in more numbers to parish rolls. Team members wanted each person touched by the project to make an authentic connection—to Christ and to others. They wanted young adults to discover how the Church makes life more joyful.

Challenged to take risks

In January 2019, parishes began to receive funding from the YAI. This quarterly grant allowed parishes to focus on innovation rather than cost when it came to young adult ministry. Participating parishes were encouraged to take risks and try new ways of engaging with young adults, especially those away from the parish campus who may not even enter a church regularly and need to be welcomed and invited elsewhere first.

Sacred Heart Cathedral already had established young adult men’s and women’s Bible studies.

The YAI core team relied on those small groups to serve as a place of welcome for new young adults in the parish. If someone new came to an event or Mass, there was a weekly group to invite him or her to join in, saying, “There’s a place for you here.”

The core team also sought ways

to attract people to the cathedral campus who may not be attending church or those who were coming to Sunday Mass but not otherwise involved in the parish.

One such event was “Saints and Suds,” a homebrewing event and cookout held in July 2019. A local beer-brewing club brought its equipment to the pavilion of the cathedral and set up a demonstration of how to start the beerbrewing process. There was also a picnic and casual social time. A follow-up event a few weeks later, “Dominicans on Draft,” invited everyone back to tap the kegs and taste the homemade beer. Dominican Sisters from the Congregation of St. Cecilia, who teach at St. Mary School in Oak Ridge, spoke on virtue and answered questions about the religious life.

The YAI core team also hosted “Adoration and Abridged” regularly, where the young-adult community would attend the parish’s adoration and confession hours on Wednesdays then go out for dinner and drinks. The goal was to mix a parish-wide activity with young-adult time, as well as include both spiritual and social elements.

“The Young Adult Initiative helped me to really tune into the parish,” said Dr. Pakeltis. “It made Sacred Heart really feel like home as I grew to know more of the people in the parish. My favorite event was easily ‘Adoration and Abridged.’ Starting the evening worshiping Jesus and followed by fellowship was so beautiful. It was something I always looked forward to. Weekly Bible study was also an amazing experience. It was a place where I was able to dive deeper in my faith alongside other amazing women.”

The young-adult community at Sacred Heart also held holiday celebrations, online reflections, wine tastings, Bingo and trivia

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nights, and one-day spiritual retreats.

As these activities were taking place in Knoxville, members of the YAI core team continued to attend YAI gatherings at St. Meinrad for resources and networking.

Parishes had the opportunity to share ideas and brainstorm with other participating parishes and learn from their successes and failures.

“It saved us a lot of heartache and pain and failure to learn both from others’ mistakes and successes,” said Rick Grinstead, director of youth and young adult ministry at Sacred Heart. “I love the success stories. I tend to be a positive person; I just gravitate toward the positive. But what I found comforting were all the failures that happened. Is that bad? But what it said to me is: number one, people are trying.

Because they’re failing, it means they’re trying. But also, number two, sometimes when maybe our things don’t pan out, we’re not the only ones failing. It’s the encouragement of ‘keep going.’”

Another part of the gatherings was having national experts come in and share their knowledge in understanding and engaging young adults. Parishes would then be challenged on how that could be implemented in their ideas or how that would look in their parish. Speakers addressed topics such as hospitality, the domestic Church, and younger generations’ attitudes about identity, authenticity, and institutions.

Finally, the parishes would pray together and for one another.

When at St. Meinrad, they would attend Mass together.

“I think that was a key part to the success of the program, how we prayed together as a Young Adult Initiative community,” Mr. Horace said.

The ‘young adult ministry death spiral’

Parishes involved in the YAI were urban, rural, large, and small. Each had its own unique circumstances. Yet many faced similar problems: finding volunteers, finding space for another ministry, or getting young adults to even come to church, much less get truly involved.

One of the biggest challenges that almost every parish faced was transitions. Young adults are often in a state of transition. College or graduate school, a new job or transfer, or marriage or a growing family can often lead to young adults moving somewhere for a year or two and then moving on. A young adult group rarely has the same group of people for many years, making long-lasting friendships and stable leadership difficult.

On top of that, there are transitions within the parish staff: a new pastor assignment or a new director of religious education or young adult coordinator. Mr. Wells, who as DRE helped Father Boettner get Sacred Heart involved in the YAI, stepped down in 2018. That year, Rachel Meixner joined the parish staff as director of youth and young adult ministry and served as the new YAI coordinator until she moved in 2019. Deacon Walt Otey took over as YAI coordinator for several months until Mr. Grinstead joined in 2020.

Each passionately worked to help make the YAI a success at Sacred Heart, but each transition meant a stop and start on some ideas, shelving other ideas, and a period of lost momentum.

Mr. Horace said each participating parish had some amount of pastoral, staff, or core team transitions.

How does a parish establish a stable, sustaining ministry through change?

“That is the dilemma of transitions,” Mr. Horace said. “And what we’ve learned, and something we’ve known already, is when there is a person in charge, Young adult continued on page A12 DECEMBER 5, 2021 n A11

Plugging away through a pandemic

Mr. Grinstead joined the cathedral staff in March 2020, just as a different type of transition was about to affect not just the parish, but the whole world.

“When I came, it was two weeks later that everything shut down.

And that doesn’t give you a lot of time to meet people in person,” he said.

The uncertainty of COVID-19 at the time led to massive shutdowns. Even public Mass was suspended for several weeks in the diocese. Everyone had to figure out how to connect without being in person. The March 2020 YAI gathering was held over Zoom, and many wondered how their efforts could survive such a halt to regular activities.

Mr. Horace said the pandemic had a major impact on the YAI. It hit right in the middle of the period of funding where parishes were being encouraged to go out and do things, but suddenly everyone had to stay home.

“It did force us to reimagine: ‘How can we work with young adults, or any parishioner, in this type of situation?’” he said.

Despite the devastating tragedy of the disease, he did see it as a blessing that the pandemic happened at a time when there were technological means for people to still connect online.

“What a blessing between social media, online platforms, and Zoom and all that. It was different; it wasn’t nearly as good as in person, but we were able to do a lot during the pandemic, and I think we learned how to do a lot.

And I think as we move out of the pandemic, those tools are going to stay with us,” he said.

Father Boettner said the YAI helped the parish attract a new director for young adult ministry, and that Mr. Grinstead had the A12 n DECEMBER 5, 2021

‘Taking risks’ Deacon Walt Otey and Rick Grinstead collaborated with the St. Meinrad Young Adult Initiative to engage and encourage young adult parishioners at the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.

COURTESY PAOLA WOLAVER

when there is an instigator and they get things going and then they move on—especially if they’re a young adult it’s expected of them to move on at some point—things have been collapsing,” Mr. Horace explained.

“There’s a saying these days about the ‘young adult ministry death spiral,’ where a group of young adults will go to the pastor and say, ‘Father, we’d like to get something started,’ and he’ll say, ‘Great, go for it.’ They will, and they’ll do some great stuff.

And then whoever ’s the leader, the protagonist, will have a life change; they’ll get transferred or they’ll have a baby or whatever, and everything falls apart. Until later on, some more young adults come up and say, ‘Father, we’d like to get something started.’

“And we just see this cycle over and over again, and what we as a Church need to figure out is how can we make the efforts sustainable despite the inevitable leadership changes. As with many parishes we had, there were starts and stops and reboots, and it took time to get things rolling,” he added.

To him, these transitions weren’t a setback to the YAI. It was a challenge that parishes needed to learn to anticipate and seek solutions to. If change is inevitable, then the Church needs to be ready to respond to change. He said that he thought Sacred Heart handled each transition well, as evidenced by the continuation of the small groups and the growing engagement of young adults at the parish.

“To me, the cathedral is really rolling right now. Without a doubt, Rick is a big part of that in his leadership and his reimagining of how the Young Adult Initiative should be at the cathedral parish. I just think that the core team has done a really good job in sustaining things throughout those changes, and it’s really exciting where they’re at now with different activities.… All of those things are things that will sustain and last for a while,” Mr. Horace said.

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Young adult continued from page A11

Celebrating young adults Bishop Richard F. Stika, right, is joined by Father Richard Whitney, center, associate pastor of St. John XXIII University Parish on the University of Tennessee-Knoxville campus, Deacon Patrick Murphy-Racey of St. John XXIII Parish, and young adults in the Diocese of Knoxville for a Mass and social gathering in August at St. Albert the Great Church in Knoxville. energy and passion to jump right in, even amid chaos.

For Mr. Grinstead, he had barely had time to meet any Sacred Heart parishioners before everything shut down, so he started a weekly Zoom gathering for young adults to meet each other and stay connected. He credited the existing community of young adults already at Sacred Heart with the success of an online community.

“To have a group of people who were already—they weren’t just journeying together through some Scripture, which is wonderful, but they were journeying together through life. I got to know more and more of the young adults, seeing some of them start to get married, some of them are having children, some of them are starting new jobs or new areas of schooling. Everybody was in it with each other. There seemed to be this familial feel to the group that I could just jump in and be a part of,” he said.

“So when everything went online, I didn’t have to try to get people who had never done anything here to try to do something online, which we all know how not many people like to do that.

It was encouraging. They didn’t care how it was happening; they just cared that it was happening,” he added.

The YAI core team also sought to offer young adults a spiritual resource to help them as Mass was suspended. YAI funds made it possible to mail out the book “Saint John Paul the Great: His Five Loves” by Jason Evert to any young adult who requested it, parishioner or not, with the hope that reading about St. John Paul II’s struggles and faith would provide spiritual nourishment during an uncertain time.

Core team members also handwrote cards to include in each book, personalizing it and letting the recipients know that members of the parish were praying for them.

“I’m going to be honest, I was sweating it out a bit thinking, ‘I’m going to be stuck with 50 books, and five people are going to ask for them, and I’ll have spent X amount on these,’” Mr. Grinstead said. “But what we found was people actually wanted it. And people appreciated the personal card we put inside. We took an idea that seemed on its surface

a good idea and made it a great idea. Which, when you’re able to kind of put finances behind it, you can fine tune and even go deeper with your initial idea.

When we had people sign up for it, like ‘who wants one?’ The amount of people signing up was blowing my mind.”

Mr. Horace said the YAI parishes had to adapt and find ways to connect during the pandemic, but it also helped to spark innovation and creative methods, which was a big component of the initiative.

“I think another blessing of that time is that we tended to fall upon events as the focus of everything we did with ministry with young adults. It all had to be a gathered event, everything. And the pandemic forced us to explore new ways of engaging young adults that did not involve a gathered activity. I think there were a whole lot more phone calls, a whole lot more one-on-one conversations.

We found new ways to minister to young adults that I think we needed. We still need events, and that’s a very important piece, but we need to be thinking way beyond just events for how we minister with young adults,” he said.

Forming engaged parishioners and leaders

Over the past several months, Sacred Heart has continued to develop new ways of reaching young adults. Mr. Grinstead and young adult parishioner Holly Mostyn host a weekly podcast, “Happy Hour,” exploring topics of faith and challenges of young adults. The parish hosted an Alpha program for young adults, attracting several new faces to the parish. Alpha builds on the most fundamental questions about faith and facilitates discussions for participants to explore their beliefs.

Father Boettner said that his hope for Sacred Heart being a part of the YAI was that the young adult community would feel welcome at the parish and be empowered to take ownership of young adult ministry.

“In young adults you’re really hoping to see some peer ministry and peer outreach. And I think we’ve seen that. I think we’ve got just a really dynamic group of young adults that is making the cathedral home. And they’re really good about reaching out to others,” he said.

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The cathedral rector said he’s noticed a difference in the number of young adults attending Mass at the cathedral as well as those getting involved in parish ministries.

“More and more of our lectors, ushers, and extraordinary ministers of Communion and musicians reflect our young adult population. I’ve noticed that our Sunday Masses have a lot more young adults and young families present,” he said. “And then with leadership, I’ve seen our young adults stepping forward, both with our women’s guilds and with our men’s groups. So, I don’t think our young adult community is a consumer community.

I think they’re actively engaged.

I think they must have received the signal that they were not only wanted here but needed. I believe that our community is more vibrant and healthier because of the presence of our young adult community.

“That’s a real positive thing, when you see other people stepping forward and saying, ‘I have gifts that I can share.’ I think you’re going to see a vibrancy that continues on after this project with St. Meinrad. But I think the project gave us that momentum we needed to really get moving in the right direction.”

As the five-year period of the program comes to a close, Mr. Horace hopes the conclusions from the St. Meinrad YAI help not only the participating parishes but also all parishes seeking to better involve young adults in the Catholic faith and in parish life.

“We offered a lot of resources.

We offered some framework, but the parishes figured out on their own what’s their best way to engage their young adults,” Mr. Horace said. “I’d love to see that duplicated in dioceses so there’s more focus and more attention spent in coaching and cheerleading parishes to be engaging their young adults more effectively. Every parish wants to do better engagement with their young adults, and I think it’s very possible.”

“I don’t think much about what we’ve learned is groundbreaking as much as it hammers home issues and challenges we have in the American Catholic Church,” he said.

He explained that most young adult ministry is event-based and focuses on creating a young adult group. And while a peer community is an important component, another component of ministering to young adults is integrating them into the larger parish community.

“The older model is very much a silo model; it’s young adults doing peer-to-peer stuff. And again, that’s needed; that’s a part of it.

But that can’t be the whole thing.

We need to help the parishes to welcome and engage young adults and get young adults involved in the parish, not just their own little silo group that does their own little thing.

“We’re finding how important that is, and I think many parishes involved in the Young Adult Initiative have significantly shifted from just young adults doing their own thing to young adults being much more woven into the fabric of the parish, and that’s a very, very good thing. That’s a good thing for the parish to have its young adults involved throughout the parish, and it’s a good thing for the young adults to be involved and engaged in their parish community rather than just some peers.”

He said that while the funding from the Lilly Endowment was helpful, money doesn’t automatically lead to more engagement.

Parishes can network and collaborate with one another to help brainstorm ideas. Individuals can invest in developing personal relationships and inviting others to church. The most important thing is to have the desire to reach out to young adults, listen to their Young adult continued on page A13 TH E EA S T TEN N ES S EE C ATH OLI C

International studies Diocese of Knoxville seminarians Abrahan Da Silva (left) and Renzo Alvarado Suarez pose for a casual photo. Both are studying at Seminario Hispano de Santa Maria de Guadalupe in Mexico City. evident when you walk the grounds and hallways of this 154-year-old institute established by Benedictine monks and located between Louisville, Ky., and Evansville, Ind. “It’s absolutely important,’ said Mr. Herman, one of three Theology II students who projects to be ordained a priest in 2024, along with Mr. Beaty and Mr. Willey.

“I think that’s a big part of why we are all here together. I think our vocations director and our bishop did a great job recognizing that. There is a need for men, especially priests in our diocese, to seek out each other and to have each other as a support touchstone to go to...but it can’t be just anybody. It must be someone in the thick

of it with you. I think it is important that we have a big presence of Knoxville guys here because God willing, I could be assigned with them. In the future, I can rely on someone who knows me and has known me throughout my development and before I was a priest,” Mr. Herman added.

The nine seminarians from the Diocese of Knoxville give East Tennessee’s Catholic Church more than fair representation at the southern Indiana seminary.

“It seems huge now. When I first started, there were just three of us here, so I think having the additional guys is definitely a blessing just in terms of getting to know the guys you are going to be with in the presbyterate. I

On the path to priesthood Diocese of Knoxville seminarians Nicholas Hickman (left) and George Vallejo III are studying at Conception Seminary College in Conception, Mo.

think is a good thing,” Mr. Austin said.

It’s not long after the sun rises that the diocese’s seminarians begin their day with morning prayer in the seminary’s St. Thomas Aquinas Chapel.

“Day-to-day life at St. Meinrad begins early,” Mr. Herman said. Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays we have an opportunity to go to adoration with the Blessed Sacrament from 6:30 a.m. until 7:30 a.m., and we have morning prayer every day at 8 a.m. In our community, we also do the Liturgy of the Hours, so Lauds (at daybreak).

“We have classes beginning at 8:30 a.m. Classes range from philosophy, theology, all the core classes are in the morning. After that, at 11:30 a.m., we come together as a community for holy Mass. After Mass we enjoy lunch together and then the afternoon is up to us whether or not we use it for study, for electives, or for recreation…we have the evenings to ourselves, but we typically come together for evening prayer at 5 p.m.,” Mr. Herman explained.

With their daily dedication to prayer and study, the St. Meinrad seminarians usually don’t quit after dinner. On a recent visit in October, it was evident that dorm-room study, especially for upcoming mid-term exams, went well into the night. Despite the schedule, Mr. Blatchford said the group still finds time to socialize.

“Every Monday night we say prayer together in the St. Joseph Oratory, and then we go out and eat together and talk about our week and how it’s been and how it’s going and what we’re looking forward to. Sometimes we will have a little bit of extracurricular activity when it comes to those of us from Knoxville, like doing Bible study.

It’s good,” Mr. Blatchford noted.

Classroom work, study, and prayer are only part of the seminarian experience. Future priests, after all, are required to be pastoral. At St. Meinrad, the seminarians spend each Wednesday preparing for their lives as Catholic priests by taking on pastoral projects.

This semester, Mr. Crabtree serves in the catechetical program at Precious Blood Catholic Church in Jasper, Ind., where he helps young people in preparation for the sacrament of confirmation.

“Working with high-schoolers in any capacity is in itself challenging, especially when trying to get them to trust you,” Mr. Crabtree said. “Highschoolers have so many stimuli vying for their attention and moral Seminarians continued on page A14

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the right decision.”

Neil Blatchford, a Theology III seminarian from the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus in Knoxville, transferred to St. Meinrad from Bishop Simon Bruté College Seminary in Indianapolis.

“When I came here it was kind of like really daunting,” Mr. Blatchford said. “You know all the priests that have come out of here, and all the bishops that have come out of here. You know that you are going into theology from philosophy, something you have been striving for and wishing you could have done the first day of seminary. It shakes you up some days.

Some days it brings you to tears, and other days you just can’t wait to be a priest.”

Mr. Austin, Mr. Blatchford, and Mr. Crabtree still have more than a year of seminarian life ahead of them. They are expected to be ordained transitional deacons by Bishop Richard F. Stika in June — one of the final steps toward their hoped-for ordination to the priesthood in 2023.

“One of my jobs as vocations director is to be here with the guys and to see their growth and their progress in the spiritual life, of course, the academic studies, their pastoral ministry, and just growing as human beings as God created us to be,” said Father Christopher Floersh, vocations director for the Diocese of Knoxville.

Father Floersh spent three days in October at St. Meinrad, meeting with the nine seminarians, their instructors, and other staff members to make sure the Knoxville nine are all on the right path.

“I remember the process for myself was one of the most wonderful things because, as I tell all of our guys who are discerning this life of the priesthood, we don’t walk in the same guy that we walk out. We just can’t. Life and direction towards holiness is all about progression day by day, so tomorrow we should be a holier person than we are today, and that is how St. Meinrad has done an excellent job, in my own life, my growth in holiness, and I see it in our own men as well,” Father Floersh said.

The path to the priesthood will be a bit longer for the other St. Meinrad seminarians. Bo Beaty, Daniel Cooper, Robert Denne Jr., Danny Herman, Army 1st Lt. A.J. Houston, a military chaplain candidate, and Michael Willey are at various levels of study. But the camaraderie shared by all nine is

COURTESY OF RENZO ALVARADO SUAREZ

Seminarians continued from page A1

Joined together in faith Young adults worship at St. Albert the Great Church in Knoxville during a special young adult Mass celebrated by Bishop Richard F. Stika on Aug. 28. The Mass and a social event afterward brought together young people in the diocese who the Church in East Tennessee is reaching out to for their faith-filled inspiration. Young adult programs in parishes around the world are considered vital to the future of the Church.

Young adult continued from page A12

needs, and accompany them on their faith journey, which is how they should minister to anyone, regardless of age.

Mr. Grinstead agrees. As he prepares for the conclusion of the YAI and the end of its funding, he is optimistic that the young adult ministry at Sacred Heart will not only survive but flourish.

“There is a reality when you don’t have all the resources there that you did before. And the reality is you aren’t going to be able to do everything on the same level,” he said. “But at the same time, because we were able to pour into a great foundation, you don’t have to re-establish the foundation.

You don’t have to spend as many resources to continue the ministry.

It’s a funny thing; I find that when people’s backs are against the wall, if they value what they’re doing, they will go well above and beyond what they normally TH E EAST T E N N E S S E E C AT HO L I C

would. If people want it, they will make it happen and come together as a group to do it.”

And in the end, that was the goal of the initiative, to have young adults not just be served by a parish but to be fully engaged members of the parish, willing to actively take part in ministry and live a life dedicated to Christ.

“The ultimate goal is that we have a parish,” Mr. Grinstead said. “No matter the age. Now, to meet the specific needs and the reality of those needs is important. A 25-year-old single person who just moved here might find it difficult to be a part of some of the groups that we have at the parish, so we need to meet those individuals needs in order to meet the needs of the parish as a whole.

But the ultimate goal is plugging young adults into the parish as a whole.”

Today’s culture makes it easy to become isolated. Family bonds

are weaker. Transitions are more common. Divisions in the country have made people suspicious and bitter. Young adults in particular feel the isolation and disruption of the times. They long for an identity and authentic friendships and a community where they belong. But they don’t always know how to find it.

The days where people attend church out of cultural habit are past. Young adults choose to engage with their local parish community, or not. A parish cannot wait for the next generation to walk in its doors; it must go out and preach the Gospel.

Every Christian must be intentional in developing personal relationships, showing them that the Church has a place for them because Christ has a place for them. An authentic faith in Christ provides identity, and a vibrant parish community provides friendship and belonging. The

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YAI shows creating that type of community in every parish is difficult but necessary work. And the fruits of the next generation finding Christ and finding a home are worth every effort.

To parishes worried about the decline of young people present, Mr. Grinstead has some advice: take courage.

“The one thing [the YAI] taught us is to have courage, to do something.

Don’t make the excuse that you don’t have resources, because the reality is it’s relational, and anybody can build relationships. It costs nothing except your time,” he said. “I would just encourage people to look for ways to personally reach out to young adults. Make it personal.

Begin there. That’s where it starts.

Build something small. Don’t try to build something gigantic. Pour yourself into a small group. It’s the model of Christ; He did it that way for a reason. Be excited. Be ready.

Where the Lord calls you, go.” ■ DECEMBER 5, 2021 n A13

Catholic Foundation honors members with regional events

By Jim Wogan

DEACON HICKS ARMOR

I

n his 13 years shepherding the Diocese of Knoxville, Bishop Richard F. Stika has become quite familiar with the interstates and backroads of East Tennessee.

He’s logged plenty of miles and burned tank loads of gas getting to Masses, meetings, social events, and dedications at parishes and mission churches in the cities and smaller communities that dot the 36 counties of the diocese.

Now he has another reason to travel. And he’s happy to do so.

For the first time since its inception, the Catholic Foundation of East Tennessee held membership appreciation dinners at three locations this year. It was a move designed to make it easier for foundation members to attend what used to be a single event held each autumn in Knoxville.

“This was a good idea,” Bishop Stika said. “We have so many people who support the Catholic Foundation financially, and I actually loved seeing them and sharing dinner with them closer to their home communities.”

The Catholic Foundation is a vital fundraising arm for the building of

Supporting the Catholic Foundation Bishop Richard F. Stika receives a check for $35,000 from Judy Buhrman, center, and Brenda McConnell at the Catholic Foundation of East Tennessee dinner in Chattanooga on Nov. 11. Mrs. Buhrman is a parishioner of St. Jude in Chattanooga and the wife of the late Richard Buhrman, a longtime supporter of the Catholic Foundation. Mrs. McConnell is a parishioner of the Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul in Chattanooga and the wife of the late Deacon Thomas McConnell, who served at the basilica. churches and the education of seminarians in the Diocese of Knoxville.

“What foundation members do, es-

sentially, is help us build the Catholic Church in East Tennessee,” said Deacon Hicks Armor, director of Steward-

ship and Strategic Planning for the diocese. “We do it by purchasing land to build churches, and we also do it by educating future priests.

“As we have said for many years, we do it one priest and one parish at a time. The Catholic Foundation is one of the most important stewardship components in the diocese, and we’re always looking for new members.”

The diocese had 38 parishes when it was established by Pope St. John Paul II in 1988. Since then, 12 new parishes have been established. A Catholic mission, St. John Paul II in Rutledge, is currently building a new church on land purchased by the foundation. Its elevation to a full parish could happen in spring 2022.

This year, dinners were held in Kingsport, Knoxville, and Chattanooga.

Cardinal Justin Rigali attended the Knoxville dinner and offered the opening invocation.

The focus at each event this year was on seminarian education. The featured speaker at all three dinners was Father Christopher Floersh, director of vocaFoundation continued on page A18

A14 n DECEMBER 5, 2021

JIM WOGAN (4)

Seminarians continued from page A13

authority during this time in their lives. The philosophical resistance to authority and institution in our society adds to this difficulty, but anytime a little breakthrough can be made it is fulfilling when they recognize a little more about the love of Christ and His revelation in the world.”

During COVID, Mr. Crabtree also assisted in setting up a phone ministry for homebound parishioners.

“It was extremely meaningful for both me and those on the other end of the phone during the intensely lonely time of the pandemic,” he said.

The projects usually occupy three to four hours per week with additional time needed for preparation. The seminarians sometimes also serve extra time on the weekends.

Mr. Austin helps lead a Bible study program for seventh-graders at St. Paul Church in Tell City, Ind. “We began with Genesis and are working our way through each book. The lesson plan typically involves going through a book or two each lesson, so we are typically hitting highlights. This makes it a challenge, as the Bible is rich with detail. Picking and choosing what to cover can be a challenge. It’s had some great moments, as the kids have shown a genuine interest in their faith and have asked some great questions that reveal that they’re engaging with matters of faith and spirit,” Mr. Austin said.

“Last year involved tele-ministry due to COVID. While challenging in its own way, the tele-ministry last year had its blessings as many of the people receiving phone calls really looked forward to them. Ministry of presence is vastly underrated.

Simply having another person who is willing and happy to spend time with someone can do wonders for their well-being,” he pointed out.

Mr. Herman is assigned to Memorial Hospital in Jasper, Ind., as a volunteer chaplain who counsels the sick, distributes Holy Communion to those who are Catholic, and helps “fill the needs of all patients regardless of their denomination.”

“At one moment you need to be the one that celebrates and gives glory to God for successful health. In other moments, you need to take on another’s suffering and help provide answers to why suffering exists,” he said.

“There is a fulfillment, though, that outweighs every obstacle. Being with actual people in their most vulnerable setting in life is truly sobering and rewarding, because we represent the person of Christ that gives hope to the downtrodden and consolation to those who are relieved. This is great for my preparation in putting on the person of Christ as a priest, and I am very grateful for the opportunity to begin stepping into that role, even if it is purely pastoral and not yet ontological,” he added.

Visiting the Diocese of Knoxville’s 13 seminarians isn’t an easy task. But Father Floersh does his best to maintain contact with all of them. In October, a planned trip with Bishop Stika and Father Arthur Torres, associate vocations director, to Seminario Hispano de Santa Maria de Guadalupe in Mexico City was scuttled due to concerns over COVID and other issues. The diocese has two seminarians studying there—Abrahan Da Silva of Knoxville and Renzo Alvarado Suarez, who is from Barranquilla Atlantico, Colombia.

“The benefits of using the seminary in Mexico is that it assists our guys in getting their documentation to work in the Diocese of Knoxville someday,” Father Floersh said. “It is intended to be a seminary for the United States and incorporates daily prayers in English and Spanish to help guys become fluent in both languages, which is vital.”

The diocese also supports two seminarians currently in early studies at Conception Seminary College in Missouri. Nicholas Hickman of Chattanooga is in his junior year of philosophy. His home parish is the Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul in Chattanooga.

Also, George Vallejo III of St. Thérèse of Lisieux Parish in Cleveland is a sophomore in philosophy.

“Conception is a college seminary, so in some

Sitting at attention Diocese of Knoxville seminarians Andrew Crabtree, Neil Blatchford, and Joey Austin attend a sacrament of marriage class taught by Father Christian Raab, OSB, inside Newman Hall at St. Meinrad Seminary on Oct. 12.

“I remember the process for myself was one of the most wonderful things because, as I tell all of our guys who are discerning this life of the priesthood, we don’t walk in the same guy that we walk out. We just can’t. Life and direction towards holiness is all about progression day by day, so tomorrow we should be a holier person than we are today.”

— Father Christopher Floersh, vocations director for the Diocese of Knoxville

Scenes from a seminary Above: The twin spires of the archabbey church tower above the grounds of St. Meinrad Seminary can be seen a few miles away when approaching from the east on Indiana State Highway 63. The church was constructed over a seven-year period and completed in 1907.

Above right: Father Christopher Floersh, vocations director for the Diocese of Knoxville, spends a few minutes in silent prayer and meditation inside the St. Thomas Aquinas Chapel at St. Meinrad Seminary. ways the daily routine is more structured since they are both working toward instilling a greater discipline that is required of our younger guys. Both Conception and St. Meinrad, however, are run by the Benedictines, so there is a strong monastic influence on the spirituality of our men,” Father Floersh explained.

Some of the Diocese of Knoxville men are just beginning their path to the priesthood. Others, like Mr. Austin, Mr. Blatchford, Mr. Crabtree, and Mr. Herman, are close enough to sense the impact of what they pray will happen sooner for them and the diocese.

“The main thing is we are here because of the people of Knoxville. We are becoming priests because we want to help people get to heaven and in particular the people of the Diocese of Knoxville, Mr. Austin said. “We are always thinking about www.di o k no x .o rg

them in our studies and everything that we do, and we are praying for them and hoping that, God willing, we become priests and we will be able to serve them faithfully.”

Between classes one day, Mr. Blatchford offered similar gratitude for parishioners of the diocese.

“The work up here is not always easy. It is hard, and we’re working toward priesthood, yes, but the reason why we’re working toward priesthood is because of them. And when their prayers come up via letter or we don’t even know that they are praying for us—it does help, and it does mean a lot. And when I go to pray in the chapel and I think back to my diocese, I pray for my diocese all the time,” Mr. Blatchford noted.

It’s all happening in three different seminaries. One in Mexico, another in northwest Missouri, and the other located on a peaceful hillside in southern Indiana—13 men discerning and preparing for a life of service to the Church and to the Diocese of Knoxville.

“One of the blessings of being a seminarian here at St. Meinrad is the Benedictine spirituality that sort of oozes from this place,” Mr. Crabtree said. “Part of the Benedictine spirituality is hospitality and welcoming people, but also what I have found is a deep love for Scripture and study, and a mystical study of Scripture in Lectio Divina, which has really been a blessing in my life, and it really does exude on the hill but also off the hill—from all of the seminarians who graduate from here and go on to become priests. It’s a beautiful, beautiful experience.” ■ TH E EA S T TEN N ES S EE C ATH OLI C

All Souls Day Mass remembers those interred in cathedral columbarium

By Gabrielle Nolan

GABRIELLE NOLAN

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Sacred Heart requiem Approximately 60 people gathered for the first Mass celebrated at the altar of the columbarium of the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. Bishop Richard F. Stika was the celebrant. to pray for those friends and family members interred at the columbarium.

Father David Boettner, rector of the cathedral, and Father Martin Gladysz, associate pastor, concelebrated. Deacon Walt Otey assisted as deacon of the Word and Eucharist.

The cathedral schola provided music for the Mass, and family members of those interred at the columbarium participated through proclaiming the readings and offering the gifts for Communion.

“On All Souls Day, we pray for

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ass was celebrated for the first time at the altar in the columbarium of the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus to mark All Souls Day on Nov. 2, with Bishop Richard F. Stika serving as celebrant.

The feast, which directly follows All Saints Day, invites the Church to pray for the faithful departed, that those souls undergoing purification may soon be united in heaven with God. “Today we celebrate the feast of All Souls Day with the Church throughout the world as we pray for those who have gone before us marked with the sign of faith,” Bishop Stika said at the beginning of Mass.

“Some lived many years and others just a short amount of time, and yet we pray that they are in the presence of God, that their sins may be forgiven and their acts of kindness and love, whatever that might have looked like, might be rewarded,” the bishop added.

Approximately 60 people were in attendance at the blustery outdoor Mass

those who are in purgatory who are undergoing that purification in the presence of God, but also just friends who have died,” the bishop said during his homily. “Friends, children, spouses, and those people that we’ll never know.”

“Faith allows us to know that something just doesn’t end when the heart or the brain might stop, but just that we pass from one existence to another,” he continued.

Bishop Stika recalled his first assignment as a priest, serving both in a parish and as a chaplain for a nursing home.

“So often I would get called in the middle of the night to be with someone to prepare them for death, to give them the Eucharist, and to anoint them, and many times their families were not around, so I would just sit,” the bishop recalled.

Bishop Stika remembered one particular resident named Agnes and his conversation with her.

“She was kind of in and out, but in those moments when she was coherent she said, ‘Father, what’s next?

An ornamental approach to faith Fran Harris, founder of FH Custom Artwork, shows off a few of her creations that are on sale at The Paraclete Catholic gifts and book store in Knoxville.

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step process.

She can complete a customized cup in about three days, allowing for the various processes to dry or cure. “It takes about a day per layer. It’s very time consuming.”

Her husband, John, who works at The Paraclete, assists her.

“I do the production work, and he is the research person. He does images for me and lets me know what works best, what he thinks the clientele base for The Paraclete would like, what would sell,” Georgina said.

She said cups with the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe have been a bestseller for her, and cups made with the Sacred Heart of Jesus and St. Michael the Archangel are selling, too. Other cups have Scripture verses on them.

She also takes special requests.

Georgina estimates that her craft business now occupies about 30 percent of her personal time and is growing.

She wants Harris & Co. to continue being a hobby, at least for the immediate future.

“I really enjoy my day job. But we all dream. We all have goals. And one day it might become my full-time job. But I do enjoy my day job.”

She said she is gratified by her creations, especially when it brightens someone’s day or is inspiring to others.

“Maybe someone can explain to another person getting this gift who a particular saint is or what they represent. Maybe it can draw attention to someone interested in the Catholic faith and be a witness. And helping the seminarians through my sales at The Paraclete is kind of my way of giving back to the community,” she noted.

She converted to Catholicism and came into the Church at Easter vigil 2021 and is a member of Sacred Heart Cathedral with her husband, who converted to Catholicism as a teen. She has a special devotion to St. Apollonia, the patron saint of dentistry.

She said while her business has grown in the last two years, it has done so via The Paraclete, Facebook, the retail website Etsy, and word of mouth.

Because of COVID-19, she hasn’t been able to take her creations out into the community through craft fairs or other TH E EAST T E N N E S S E E C AT HO L I C

in-person outlets.

Like Georgina, Fran Harris’ FH Custom Artwork venture is a hobby. And it also has attracted the attention of Mrs. Lauer, who found Fran through the Sacred Heart community.

Fran attends the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus with her husband and children.

FH Custom Artwork allows Fran to pursue her passion and use her college undergraduate degree. She was a fine arts major at the University of Georgia.

“Right now, I’m just doing it as a hobby. Eventually I may look into it (forming a company),” Fran said. “I do all sorts of items and work with all kinds of mediums.”

Her paintings, sketches, and silhouettes can be found framed, on ornaments, keychains, shirts, and other surfaces. And she is getting into graphics.

At The Paraclete during the Christmas holiday, she hopes her ornaments are in demand.

And like Mrs. Willard and Georgina, COVID-19 has had an impact on Fran’s talents, prompting her to get back in touch with her creative side.

“Sacred Heart is the reason I did my first artwork since undergrad,” Fran said, explaining that she offered in 2018 to do a charcoal drawing of the new cathedral for a 2019 Sacred Heart fundraiser, and that drawing sold.

After that, Fran gave cathedral rector Father David Boettner several of her specially designed Christmas ornaments to give as gifts.

“Deacon Walt saw those and reached out to me about selling them in The Paraclete,” Fran said, noting that Deacon Otey and Mrs. Lauer met with her, and they agreed on a consignment arrangement where Fran’s artwork could be featured in The Paraclete.

Now, Fran’s ornaments can be seen in The Paraclete along with Mrs. Willard’s and Georgina’s creations.

“I hope they will do well, especially for the Christmas season. I just dropped them off for the first time in October,” Fran said about her ornaments.

She also has created ornaments of the Tennessee Theatre, the Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia, the Sunsphere, Scrambled Jake’s breakfast restaurant, Cherokee Country Club in Knoxville,

Teamwork Georgina Harris, who started Harris & Co. custom crafts, stands in front of a display of her creations in The Paraclete Catholic gifts and book store.

Standing with her is her husband, John, who works at The Paraclete. and Holy Ghost and Immaculate Conception churches. And she has donated her artwork to events for the Helen Ross McNabb Center and for the Friends of the Smokies organization.

“These are places that are very special to me. It truly feels like a dream that I’ve created artwork for people who will display it in their homes for years to come. It’s fun and personal, and something someone can have in their home,” Fran said.

She agrees with Georgina and Mrs. Willard that The Paraclete offers exposure to the public for artisans to sell their crafts in a popular retail setting.

“I think it will be good exposure to be in The Paraclete. Sacred Heart is just so dear to me, so I enjoy doing things for them,” Fran said.

And like Georgina, Fran enjoys her day job too much to venture out and become a full-time artist and business owner.

Fran works for Discovery’s Food Network.

“It’s been super fun, and I’ve met a lot of great people (re-establishing her artwork). But I love my day job. I think right now I have the perfect balance that makes me feel invested in the community and allows me to work with my day job at Food Network, which I love,” she said.

Mrs. Willard, who also is a business professional, has pivoted to being a small business owner who now operates KozyChix, a shop on the online retail site Etsy. KozyChix offers customized and personalized reading pillows, towels, masks, bottle holders, bags for toys and games, shirts, ornaments, keychains, book covers, magnets, blankets and pillowcases, and other items.

“I am a certified project management professional by trade. I have had the love for crafting and making items for family and friends for years.

My friends encouraged me to move my love from a hobby into a business.

When COVID-19 began, I started creating high-quality masks to help protect my friends. Word quickly got out about my masks, and I was approached by the cathedral school’s second-grade teachers to help with Holy Communion masks for 2020. After this event, other people across Facebook wanted a special mask for their special

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event, and the product then launched my business and Etsy shop,” Mrs. Willard said.

She explained that KozyChix is the family’s company with a small business license from the state of Tennessee and is operated from the dining room of their home.

Similar to Fran Harris and Georgina Harris, Mrs. Willard was approached

by Deacon Otey and Mrs. Lauer in July 2020 about providing religious-themed masks to The Paraclete to help meet the demand for coronavirus protection. KozyChix was The Paraclete’s first consignment vendor.

“It has greatly grown from there, and I love the artistic products that other fellow consigners are bringing to our community,” Mrs. Willard said.

Mrs. Willard’s husband, George Willard III, who is a data engineer, came up with the name for the sole proprietorship and logo that represents the spirit of giving gifts that make people feel happy and comfortable. Her business partner is her daughter, Kathleen.

Mrs. Willard explained how the consignment agreement works.

“The Paraclete tags the products for its computer system to track the items as consignment products for each vendor. The product price is agreed upon by the consigner and The Paraclete. The Paraclete employees then become an advocate for the consigner and manage everything from product presentation through sales. Then once per quarter the store sends a sales report and we invoice them for the total minus a consignment percentage for managing the sales. If items are out of season, then we pick up the leftover inventory for the next year or donate them to charity,” she said.

And she, too, is grateful to have a venue to showcase her creations.

“Unlike other public retail outlets, The Paraclete offers the personal interactions and service that allows for customizable products like mine to meet the specific needs of the customer. In addition to being a great sales avenue, it has been a great source of feedback that has helped guide my new product development. My relationship with The Paraclete continues to be very successful and has become my primary sales avenue,” Mrs. Willard said. ■ DECEMBER 5, 2021 n A15

Eucharistic adoration leads teens at NCYC to experience ‘the true love of God’

By Natalie Hoefer Catholic News Service

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE PHOTO/NATALIE HOEFER, THE CRITERION

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or many youths, group adoration on the second night of the National Catholic Youth Conference is the part of the event they look most forward to and find most memorable.

And it is indeed memorable. For as raucous as the energy of nearly 11,000 spirited, joyful teens is, just as palpable is their reverent silence when kneeling together before Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.

The juxtaposition became especially clear throughout the evening of Nov. 19 in Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis as the evening began with upbeat Christian music the young people jumped and sang to.

But as soon as the Eucharist was brought into the space in a procession, the partylike atmosphere changed. Kneeling, the youths watched in silence as the monstrance was placed on an altar.

The next hour was consumed in silence and reverent music, broken only occasionally by the voice of Father Leo Patalinghug, a priestmember of a community of consecrated life called Voluntas Dei (“The Will of God”). He led the adoration service.

First he helped the young people enter into conversation with Christ.

“Can Jesus really squeeze his body into this small piece of bread? Can he really squeeze his blood into wine?” he asked. “Truly he wants to feed us with himself. He wants to dwell in us because he made us so beautiful.

“Let Jesus tell you how he sees your life, not in condemnation but in how beautiful he

Adoring youth Young people kneel in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament during adoration at the National Catholic Youth Conference in Indianapolis on Nov. 19. made you.”

After time for quiet reflection, Father Patalinghug spoke about the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. He shared how scientists who studied consecrated hosts from eucharistic miracles determined two things.

“One thing that scientists were able to discern is that the blood type is AB+ like on the

Shroud of Turin, making it a universal recipient — anyone can take that blood type and make it their own,” he explained.

“They also discovered very impressively that when the host turned to flesh, that it was actually myocardial tissue — heart muscle.”

“Could it be, then,” he continued, “that the traditional prayer ‘Jesus Christ, make my heart like unto thine?’ that it is real? Could it be that when we say at Mass, ‘We lift up our hearts up to the Lord,’ that it’s a mutual exchange — I give you my heart Lord, because my heart is broken, and he gives us his?

“Think in your heart what needs to be healed in your life today. Let Jesus in as the divine physician.”

More reflection and music followed before Father Patalinghug’s final words to the youths.

“I would ask you if you want to become a saint, and you might say, ‘Ain’t no way I’m going to become a saint.’ And that’s because the devil is lying to you and you are listening to him,” he said.

“With Christ, all things are possible. You can be a saint — you are supposed to be a saint.

“In your heart, ask Jesus to root out whatever needs to be rooted out of your heart, to have the strength to go to confession, to put in you the virtue to be holy and to give you holy friends and people to get back on the right track.”

The impact of the encounter with Christ was visible. Hands were folded and heads were bowed in prayer. Tears streaked the cheeks of some, while others raised their hands in praise. ■

A16 n DECEMBER 5, 2021

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decisions about faith. But this document will not be understood by the grade school kids, high school, college. A lot of it is over their heads. They have to have some kind of theological foundation. So, I was wondering how we would address this in our many catechetical books that are published ... because we have lost a couple of generations because catechesis has been so poor,” Bishop Stika said.

“When I went to high school, our Scripture book was Good News for Modern Man, and I think we have to address earlier in the lives of our people, as well as their parents to back that up, earlier in grade school because that is where these young women and men are going to make their decisions. I think that is important, otherwise we’re going to have another lost generation. We have these beautiful, beautiful documents, and sometimes they’re just ignored.

I would just like to see it fleshed out so that it is more readable, more understandable,” Bishop Stika concluded.

Bishop Rhoades answered Bishop Stika by saying the document on the Eucharist, as it stands, is really meant for adults, “although I could see it also being used in high schools with a teacher who would explain it a little bit better, especially in our framework for high school catechesis, the section on sacraments. I think it could be very useful in that course.”

“As far as grade school, I think with the publishers that I’ve spoken to, I think this can be a resource for them in developing catecheses for children, because the document itself would be too difficult for grade school. But I think that others can use this document to develop it on a level that would be more appropriate for younger children,” Bishop Rhoades added.

The meeting began with addresses from Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the apostolic nuncio to the United States, and Los Angeles Archbishop José H. Gomez, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Archbishop Gomez said the U.S. Church today is called more than ever to carry out its centuries-long evangelizing mission at a time of spiritual awakening rising from “under the clouds of the pandemic” and the country’s uncertain future.

“People are starting to examine what they truly believe and what they value most deeply in their lives,” he added.

Archbishop Pierre spoke to the

Addressing the conference Bishop Richard F. Stika addresses the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on Nov. 16 during a question-and-answer session regarding the newly drafted document on the Eucharist.

U.S. bishops about the importance of listening to people in the Church and being open to the work of the Holy Spirit.

He addressed a topic fresh on the bishops’ minds from hearing about it the previous night at their opening Mass and one they will continue discussing in preparation for an upcoming world Synod of Bishops: synodality.

“I believe that synodality is an answer to the challenges of our time and to the confrontation which is threatening to divide this country and which also has its echoes in the Church,” the nuncio said.

During the first day of public meetings the bishops also considered new socially responsible investment guidelines.

A draft document of guidelines governing the USCCB’s financial investments includes wider limits on where money would be invested and advances a policy of engagement on corporate practices that impact human dignity.

Bishop David J. Malloy of Rockford, Ill., chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on International Justice and Peace, introduced the draft guidelines, saying they build upon the current investment policy the bishops adopted in 2003.

After the presentation, Bishop Robert W. McElroy of San Diego questioned why there was little mention of fossil fuels in the document, describing the section as being “weak,” given that the Vatican and Pope Francis have encouraged divestment from such energy sources as needed to slow climate change.

Bishop Malloy said that fossil fuel investments were extensively discussed by the working group that prepared the guidelines. The group decided, he said, “it’s not possible now to achieve a complete end” to fossil fuel investment and determined it was best to give financial advisers working with the USCCB “room” to de-

termine which investments were appropriate.

The bishops also considered a new resolution on diocesan financial reporting. They first approved such a resolution in 2000 and in various years since. The 2016 resolution expires Dec. 31; the new one also is intended to be good for five years.

Also during the first day of public meetings, the bishops elected Father Michael J.K. Fuller, a priest of the Diocese of Rockford, Ill., as the general secretary of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

He will serve a five-year term in the position.

Father Fuller had been serving as interim general secretary since the July resignation of Monsignor Jeffrey D. Burrill, who stepped down after the USCCB learned of an impending media report accusing him of engaging in improper behavior.

In other voting, Bishop James F. Checchio of Metuchen, N.J., is the new treasurer-elect of the USCCB. The bishops also voted for chairmen-elect for five standing committees: n Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations: Bishop Earl A. Boyea of Lansing, Mich. n Divine Worship: Bishop Steven J. Lopes, who heads the Houstonbased Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter. n Domestic Justice and Human Development: Archbishop Borys Gudziak of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia. n Laity, Marriage, Family Life, and Youth: Auxiliary Bishop Robert E. Barron of Los Angeles. n Migration: Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas.

The bishops also listened to a detailed recorded presentation by Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta about revisions to the Code of Canon Law on penal sanctions in the Church. The archbishop is adjunct secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith

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and the Vatican’s top investigator of abuse cases.

He said the revisions to the law went into effect Dec. 8 and that it was important to see the sanctions as a way to show “the Church’s maternal mercy.” Their purpose is mainly spiritual, he said, and they have to meet the demands of justice and seek reform of the perpetrator. They are acts of charity toward the Church community, victims of crime, and perpetrators, he said, adding that the pope has strong words on this matter.

As the bishops met, some protests took place just outside their hotel or nearby.

A group of sex abuse survivors called on the bishops to focus less on who can take Communion and instead do more to end sex abuse and other abuses by clergy.

“We wanted to come here today on behalf of survivors, a group of survivors of sexual abuse who are committed to fighting for justice and to also highlight what’s not being talked about when they’re focused on the Eucharist,” said Sarah Pearson, a sex abuse survivor from Wisconsin who joined other members of the organization Ending Clergy Abuse.

The survivors also demanded the bishops condemn a group that was holding a rally nearby with some speakers claiming homosexuality is linked to pedophilia. The group called St. Michael’s Media, also known as Church Militant, featured a series of speakers who castigated the bishops from across the street at a waterfront pavilion.

Cheered on by an audience of more than 1,300 with others watching via livestream, several speakers alleged the bishops are complicit in the cover-up of clergy sexual abuse and other misdeeds.

They asserted the bishops should not allow Communion for Catholic politicians who want to maintain a legal right to abortion. They also demanded the bishops take a stronger stand against abortion.

On Nov. 15, Catholic men from around the country gathered outside a Planned Parenthood clinic in downtown Baltimore to pray for an end to abortion, to repent for their role in abortion, and to call on all men to defend unborn life. They then marched to the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront where the bishops were meeting to pray the rosary outside.

That evening, the bishops gathered for their opening Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin. The bishops, masked and adequately spaced, along with some laypeople, filled the pews. ■ TH E EA S T TEN N ES S EE C ATH OLI C

Pope Francis sets date for canonization of Blessed de Foucauld

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lessed Charles de Foucauld and six other candidates for sainthood finally will be canonized on May 15, the Vatican announced Nov. 9.

The final stage in the sainthood process — a gathering of cardinals in Rome to affirm that Church law had been followed in preparing for the candidates’ declaration of sainthood and a formal request “in the name of Holy Mother Church” that Pope Francis set a date for the canonizations — took place in early May. But no date for the ceremony was set because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The previous time Pope Francis celebrated a public Mass for the canonization of saints was Oct. 13, 2019, when he canonized St. John Henry Newman and four others. However, in April, he used what the Vatican calls the “equipollent” or equivalent canonization to declare the sainthood of Blessed Margaret of Città di Castello, an Italian Dominican laywoman. He used the same formula in July 2019 to recognize St. Bartolomeu Fernandes dos Mártires, a 16th-century Portu-

Offering continued from page A3

“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

Blessed announcement Blessed Charles de Foucauld is pictured in an undated photo. After a delay caused by the pandemic, Pope Francis has set May 15 as the date for the canonization of Blessed de Foucauld and six others. guese Dominican and archbishop.

Along with Blessed de Foucauld, the spring ceremony will see the canonization of the Indian martyr Devasahayam Pillai and the five founders of religious orders. Born in Strasbourg, France, in 1858, Blessed de Foucauld strayed from the

By Cindy Wooden/Catholic News Service

faith during his adolescence, but during a trip to Morocco, he saw how devoted Muslims were to their faith, inspiring him to return to the Church.

He joined the Trappists, living in monasteries in France and in Syria, before seeking an even more austere life as a hermit. After his ordination to the priesthood in 1901, he lived among the poor and finally settled in Tamanrasset, Algeria.

In 1916, he was killed by a band of marauders. His writings inspired the foundation, after his death, of the Little Brothers of Jesus and the Little Sisters of Jesus.

The martyr of India who will be declared a saint is Blessed Pillai, an 18th-century Catholic layman who was killed for refusing to refute his faith despite being brutally tortured.

Born to an upper-caste Hindu family in 1712 and given the name Neelakanda, Blessed Pillai became a trusted soldier of the Hindu king but later incurred his wrath for embracing Christianity. Baptized in May 1745, he was given the name Devasahayam, a Tamil rendering of the biblical Saints continued on page A18

in every Mass:

urgy of the Hours).

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 Lit-

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

Synod continued from page A9

The first meeting with the DST on Nov. 11 helped refine the survey methodology. After meeting again on Nov. 17, three different surveys were reviewed and approved: one for Catholics, one for non-Catholics, and one for the homeless and other people living in crisis.

“This is an excellent opportunity to reach out to those who are living on the fringes and those who aren’t engaged in a Church,” Mrs. Healy said. “These people, the homeless and others, have a voice and unfortunately it’s often not heard. It won’t be easy getting to them, but we are making a serious effort to reach out personally and include them so that they can be heard.”

Deacon Scott Maentz was instrumental in crafting the surveys for online use. It has been designed to assure the anonymity of those taking it.

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“Love from one person to another — I care about you, I know that this is an important day, and I want to give something from myself that means something for you,” he said. “If we think of it in that sense, the reason that we give gifts, we’re actually celebrating, we’re taking in part, the generosity of Christ.”

He emphasized the importance of not only giving physical gifts to our friends and family but also spiritual gifts to Christ in the form of different types of prayer. “[Advent is] a preparation time for uniting ourselves to the generosity and love of Christ.,” Father Floersh said. “And so, with that, what is there to give? Once again, we can’t outdo Christ, but there are plenty of things.”

“I loved what Father Floersh said about… spiritual gifts that we can give to Jesus, and so that we can be praying for other people,” Mrs. Wolaver said. “I think personally, it could be making more time for Him, whether it’s going to Mass, going to confession, going to adoration more frequently.”

“That really struck me because I guess I’ve never heard about it that way,” she continued. “But if we are preparing for the birth of Jesus, when we prepare for someone’s birthday we usually buy them a present, right, and so we can’t buy Jesus anything but we can give Him, certainly, spiritual gifts.”

The retreat also included an ice-breaker activity for fellowship, group discussions, lunch, and a raffle drawing. Three young adults received a free Advent devotional from the raffle.

Mrs. Wolaver led the group in an Advent Examen, a meditation based on the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola that were oriented toward the birth of the Messiah. The young adults were invited into silence to reflect on how they saw God moving in their lives the past week.

The retreat concluded with an hour of adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, and participants had the opportunity to receive the sacrament of reconciliation.

Retreatants drew names to select a prayer partner for whom they would pray throughout the Advent season.

Mrs. Wolaver expressed the importance of community among young adults.

“There were different parishes that were represented today, so I think it’s important for us to also be united as a diocesan community and not just as individual parishes,” she said.

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CNS PHOTO/COURTESY OF I.MEDIA

Holy Father to also canonize six other candidates for sainthood in May

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. ■

With the DST meetings concluded and the springboard survey tool finalized, it was time to bring the process to the parishes and others who will implement it over the next couple of months.

On Nov. 22, Deacon Smith, Mrs. Healy, and Deacon Maentz arrived at St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Lenoir City to begin training group coordinators. Other training sessions were scheduled for Knoxville (Nov. 29), Chattanooga (Dec. 6), and the Tri-Cities (Dec. 13).

“Group coordinators signed up for this beginning in September,” Mrs. Healy said. “Recently, it’s been about planning and training. Now, we get down to real action. It’s up to the individual parishes, through their pastors and schools and others to decide how, or even if, they want to take this further with smallgroup or town hall-style discussions.”

During training sessions, group coordinators were

cautioned that this process could become uncomfortable. “Hot button issues are part of the survey and could become part of a listening session,” Deacon Smith said. “But we are reminded that this is about listening and dialogue, not debate.”

Parishes, schools, and any other groups participating have until March 1 to summarize their results into a one-page report that will be sent to Deacon Smith.

Deacon Smith has until March 31 to synthesize reports from more than 70 diocesan entities into a 10-page report for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. From there, the national report moves to the continental level and then on to Rome for consideration by the Assembly of Bishops in October 2023, and eventually by Pope Francis.

To participate in the online springboard survey please visit https://synodsurvey.org . ■

“I also hope that they learned a little bit more about the season of Advent, which we know a lot of times can get lost in the trenches of the craziness of

Christmas,” Mrs. Wolaver said. “Christmas is really beautiful, but Advent can be really beautiful and really fruitful, as well.” ■

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DECEMBER 5, 2021 n A17

Representing Sacred Heart Bishop Richard F. Stika presents Sacred Heart Cathedral parishioner Jim Ethier with an icon of St. Peter and welcomes Mr. Ethier and his wife Melinda as new members of the Society of St. Peter, which recognizes those who have supported the Catholic Foundation for at least 20 years. The foundation dinner was in Knoxville.

DEACON HICKS ARMOR

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tions for the diocese.

“In October, I had the opportunity to visit St. Meinrad Seminary, where nine of our men currently study.

It’s a monastery in southern Indiana and it includes a seminary and school of theology. Just to brag about our guys, all of them are doing incredibly well in their intellectual formation. Two of them still, after a few years at St. Meinrad, maintain a 4.0 grade point average, and that’s absolutely incredible considering everything the seminary demands of our guys.

“The most impressive thing that I heard during my visit was that the Knoxville men are known for being found at 6 a.m., in general, almost every day, in the chapel having their daily holy hour. They are building their relationship with God because without a relationship with God, and without that seeking holiness, they don’t have that to give. That is absolutely the most impressive thing about all our guys. They love God. They love the Church. They choose to give up everything for it. Some of our guys have left college to pursue this and to see if this is what God wants in their life,” Father Floersh said.

Three of the seminarians at St. Meinrad, Joey Austin of Kingsport, Neil Blatchford of Chattanooga, and Andrew Crabtree of Madisonville, are on schedule to be ordained transitional deacons in June 2022 and could be ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Knoxville in 2023.

There currently are 13 men in formation for the priesthood in the diocese, and the cost to educate them is staggering.

It takes more than $916,000 annually, the largest single line-item expenditure in the diocesan budget each year. Much of the funding — $338,000 in 2020 — comes from the annual diocesan Bishop’s Appeal.

DEACON HICKS ARMOR

JIM WOGAN

JIM WOGAN

Representing All Saints Bishop Richard F. Stika presents All Saints parishioners Bob and Jean Fox with an icon of St. Peter and welcomes them as new members of the Society of St. Peter, which recognizes those who have supported the Catholic Foundation for at least 20 years. The presentation took place at the foundation dinner in Knoxville.

Representing St. Dominic Bishop Richard F. Stika is presented a check for $35,000 from the Catholic Foundation of East Tennessee by Dr. John Dombroski and Julie Dombroski of St. Dominic Parish during the foundation dinner in Kingsport.

Catholic Foundation members do their best to make up some of the balance.

“I do want to make a request, beyond monetary sustenance,” Father Floersh told those attending the Knoxville dinner. “It is a request for continued prayers. We had one of these banquets on Thursday night (Kingsport), and after that, I received an unexpected phone call from a man who said he is desiring the priesthood in our diocese. We don’t know if it will happen, but it makes sense to me that soon after we asked everyone for additional prayers for more priests, and not just more priests, but holy priests, that somebody would respond to that call. So please, in addition to your pledge, whatever it may be this year,

Representing St. Jude Bishop Richard F. Stika presents St. Jude parishioner Edward DeBoer with an icon of St. Peter and welcomes Mr. DeBoer as a new member of the Society of St. Peter, which recognizes those who have supported the Catholic Foundation for at least 20 years. The presentation took place at the foundation dinner in Chattanooga. pledge to pray for more holy priests.”

Father Floersh also told members that he offers a special Mass for their intention each week.

One of the highlights of the dinners was the recognition of new members to the Society of St. Peter, which recognizes those who have supported the Catholic Foundation of East Tennessee for at least 20 years.

Jim and Melinda Ethier, parishioners of the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, and Bob and Jean Fox of All Saints Parish, were presented St. Peter icons

by Bishop Stika at the dinner in Knoxville on Nov. 7.

Mr. Edward DeBoer of St. Jude Parish was presented with an icon at the Chattanooga dinner on Nov. 11.

In addition to Bishop Stika and Father Floersh, priests attending at least one of the dinners this year were: Father David Carter, pastor and rector of the Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul in Chattanooga; Father Michael Cummins, pastor of St. Dominic in Kingsport; Father Michael Hendershott, associate pastor of Holy Ghost in Knoxville; Father Valentin Iurochkin, IVE, parochial vicar for the Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul; Father Michael Nolan, pastor of St. Thérèse of Lisieux in Cleveland; Father Tim Sullivan, CSP, associate pastor of Immaculate Conception in Knoxville; and Father Michael Woods, pastor of St. Francis of Assisi in Fairfield Glade.

Deacons attending were: Deacon and Mrs. Hicks Armor, Deacon Gaspar DeGaetano, Deacon Frank Fischer and Dr. Judy Fischer, Deacon and Mrs. Joe Hartz, Deacon and Mrs. Robert J. Lange, Deacon and Mrs. David J. Lucheon, Deacon and Mrs. Barry Maples, Deacon and Mrs. Robert Rust, and Deacon and Mrs. Sean K. Smith.

Deacon Smith is chancellor of the Diocese of Knoxville.

A total of 100 foundation members attended this year’s dinners. Bishop Stika has indicated he’d like to continue holding the annual appreciation dinners at locations around the diocese in future years. ■

What will I see?’… I said, ‘Agnes close your eyes just for a moment and then open them.’ I said, ‘When you close your eyes what do you see?’

“So, she closed her eyes and opened them, and she said she saw darkness and then when she opened her eyes she saw light. And I said, to me that’s what death is about. When we close our eyes for the last time, we see darkness on this earth, but I really believe when we die, when we close our eyes for that last time, we see light, we see light,” Bishop Stika said.

“It’s just my hope that as we gather together this day that the Lord will continue to give us consolation and serenity, but to know that those who have gone before us are still with us.

We pray that they’re in the presence of God,” he noted.

At the end of the liturgy, Bishop Stika offered his thanks to the cathedral choir and staff for planning the inaugural Mass.

“This is, God willing, going to be a yearly event,” he said.

Bishop Stika concluded Mass with a series of prayers, including the Eternal Rest or Requiem prayer, for all those

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A spiritual work of mercy Bishop Richard F. Stika incenses the columbarium at the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, which currently contains 30 interments. The bishop prayed for all those interred. entombed in the columbarium and for everyone’s deceased.

“It’s always good to pray for the dead, and they pray for us,” Bishop Stika said.

“We’re praying for the dead in the place where they are resting, awaiting the day of resurrection, and the colum-

barium garden is intended to be a place of reflection, of prayer, where people can come and make visits for those who have been interred here,” Father Boettner said.

The columbarium was completed in September 2018, about six months after construction of the cathedral was

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name Lazarus.

The others approved for canonization are: n Blessed César de Bus, the France-born founder of the Fathers of Christian Doctrine, a religious congregation dedicated to education, pastoral ministry, and catechesis. Born in 1544, he died in 1607. n Blessed Luigi Maria Palazzolo, an Italian priest and founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Poor. He was beatified by St. John XXIII in 1963. The sainthood causes of six members of the order who died in Congo in 1995 caring for victims of Ebola also are underway. n Blessed Giustino Maria Russolillo, an Italian priest who founded the Society of Divine Vocations for men and the Vocationist Sisters. He was born in 1891 and died in 1955. n Blessed Anna Maria Rubatto, founder of the order now known as the Capuchin Sisters of Mother Rubatto. She was born in Carmagnola, Italy, in 1844 and died in Montevideo, Uruguay, in 1904.

Papal beatification Pope John Paul I, who served as pope for 33 days in 1978, is seen in this photo released by the Vatican in 2010. n Blessed Maria Domenica Mantovani, co-founder and first superior general of the Little Sisters of the Holy Family. Born in 1862 in Castelletto di Brenzone, Italy, she dedicated her life to serving the poor and needy as well as assisting the sick and the elderly. She died in 1934. www.di o k no x .o rg

completed.

The 4,300-square-foot garden is surrounded by 1,440 granite niches, which can hold two sets of human cremains each, for a total of 2,880 interments.

To date, there have been 30 interments at the columbarium.

“I visit here often as I walk, and I know so many of the people whose names I see enshrined,” Bishop Stika said. “The beauty is here in the memories that are contained in those names and that there are people entombed in these crypts.”

“It’s a magnificent place,” he added.

“We’re going to be doing some renovation, beautify it a little bit more.”

The grass areas of the columbarium garden will be replaced with more stone pavers, and fountains and raised flower beds will be added to the space.

“We’ll get a chance to really create a very peaceful and prayerful place for everyone to come,” Father Boettner said.

For more information on the columbarium, contact Scott Barron at columbarium@shcknox.org.

To watch a recording of the All Souls Day Mass, visit the DioKnox TV YouTube Channel. ■

Pope Francis has signed a decree recognizing a miracle attributed to the intercession of Pope John Paul I, clearing the way for his beatification.

The Italian pope served only 33 days as pontiff; he died in the papal apartments Sept. 28, 1978, at the age of 65. The Vatican announced Pope Francis’ decision along with a number of other sainthood decrees Oct. 13.

In the sainthood cause of Pope John Paul I, the approved miracle involved a young girl in Buenos Aires, Argentina, who developed a severe case of acute encephalitis and uncontrollable and life-threatening brain seizures, and eventually entered septic shock.

After doctors told family members her death was “imminent,” the local priest encouraged the family, nurses, and others to pray to the late pope for his intercession, according to the website of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes. The Vatican did not immediately announce a date for the beatification ceremony. ■ TH E EA S T TEN N ES S EE C ATH OLI C

BILL BREWER

MERCY WEBER

MERCY WEBER

BILL BREWER

BILL BREWER

BILL BREWER

Places everyone!

Top left: Camera operator Trina Mulligan uses a special vest-support camera mount to get footage of a eucharistic procession inside Holy Ghost Church.

Top middle: Camera operators Kayla Ingle and Jacob Dean video Holy Ghost parishioners putting together the canopy for the eucharistic procession.

Top right: Camera operators Jacob Dean and Jeff Green look for the best camera angle as they prepare to shoot footage outside Holy Ghost Church.

Bottom left: Father Bill McNeeley, pastor of Holy Ghost, leads parishioners in prayer before an outdoor altar at the foot of the Blessed Mother and the infant Jesus outside of Holy Ghost as cameras record the scene. Jimmy Dee, who organized the video production, is standing to the right.

Bottom middle: Holy Ghost parishioners are recorded as they kneel in prayer during production of a Knights of Columbus training video on eucharistic processions.

Bottom right: Camera operator Jeff Green shoots video as the eucharistic procession makes its way along Central Street outside of Holy Ghost Church.

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following liturgical norms.

In several countries around the world, eucharistic processions incorporate the country’s rich cultural traditions. In Poland, for example, large crowds of people process in traditional Polish outfits with ornate decorations.

For a eucharistic procession in Brazil, the streets are lined with colors, drums, and colorful costumes.

By processing with the Holy Eucharist in a reverent, prayerful, and joyful manner, Catholics can honor Christ in the Eucharist and serve as witnesses to the intimate presence of God in the world and in each individual. Processions powerfully display the Incarnation, or God becoming human, and thus speak of His merciful love for all who journey to eternal life with Him. According to the Roman Missal rubric, “It is desirable that a procession take place after the Mass in which the host to be carried in the procession is consecrated. However, nothing prohibits a procession from taking place even after a public and lengthy period of adoration following the Mass. If a procession takes place after Mass, when the Communion of the faithful is over, the monstrance in which the consecrated host has been placed is set on the altar.

When the prayer after Communion has been said, the Concluding Rites are omitted and the procession forms.”

As Father McNeeley, wearing a humeral veil over his liturgical vestment that covered his shoulders, arms, and hands, cradled the monstrance, four members of Knights of Columbus Council 16523 at Holy Ghost held aloft the processional canopy that covers the Holy Eucharist. Altar servers processed ahead of the priest and where the Holy Eucharist would be, carrying the processional cross, candles, and thuribles for burning incense.

Knights of Columbus also carried a pedestal with a statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe that trailed the monstrance.

Once outside the church, the procession proceeded to Central Street, where it traveled south to Hinton Avenue, then west on Hinton Avenue. A Knox County Sheriff’s Office deputy in a marked car with its lights flashing monitored Central Street traffic and blocked off Hinton Avenue to vehicular traffic as the Spirit Juice production team captured footage.

A number of scenes were shot on Hinton Avenue before the procession turned north up an alley and into the Holy Ghost parking lot, where the priest and congregation knelt in front of a temporary altar, on which the monstrance was placed, and a life-size statue of the Blessed Mother holding the infant Jesus. The Blessed Mother with Jesus is the centerpiece of a small TH E EAST T E N N E S S E E C AT HO L I C

prayer garden to the side of Holy Ghost Church.

Following lunch, served in the basement of Holy Ghost by Knights Council 16523, video production returned to the church interior.

The video crew returned to Holy Ghost on Sunday, Nov. 14, to shoot footage during morning Masses.

Jimmy Dee, a Holy Ghost member and director of faith and evangelization for the Tennessee Knights of Columbus, served as procession organizer for the video production.

“I was charged with finding a parish in the state that we could use to help develop a video production on how to teach parishes across the country how to do eucharistic processions. We chose Holy Ghost because Holy Ghost continues to demonstrate a passion for Christ and His Real Presence in the Eucharist,” Mr. Dee said. “The parish currently holds eucharistic processions on a regular basis and therefore was an excellent source for the Knights of Columbus to come and gain from the church’s experiences in doing this type of activity.”

Mr. Dee explained that eucharistic processions are meant to go out into the community and traditionally are done around church campuses or within metropolitan areas “to help spread the Word of Christ’s salvation out in the world.”

“You can’t ask for a better demonstration of the realness of Christ in the Eucharist than to take Christ out into the community and show our love, our affection, and our veneration for Our Lord,” he said.

Mr. Dee has high hopes for the video once it’s completed and distributed to parishes across the United States next year.

“We truly hope that this video will inspire more parishes to call upon the faithful to take up eucharistic procession on a regular basis to help increase the faithfulness of our Church and also share the Good News of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, risen with the world,” Mr. Dee said.

“We are thrilled with the way production has gone. We had a wonderful turnout, and we even managed to have two baptisms in the middle of it that weren’t planned. God decided that He was going to give us not only our video production but a couple of additional sacraments to boot. So, when He piles on, He piles on in a beautiful way,” Mr. Dee continued.

Father McNeeley agreed that Holy Ghost is uniquely suited to be the setting for a training video on eucharistic processions. He pointed to the diverse nature of the parish, with members bringing faith perspectives from a broad swath of Catholicism.

“Holy Ghost Church is a very open, even an eclectic community of Catholics representing at least a couple dozen countries, in addition to locals and families who have been here since its founding. We are bound together by a deep devotion to Our Lord and the traditional teachings of the Catholic Church. I am excited about the opportunity to put our best foot forward and help parishes across the country rediscover and recover age-old traditions that nurtured an authentic faith not only in the past but into the future. The Catholic Church does not need to start new traditions as much as draw upon our rich heritage,” Father McNeeley said.

The Holy Ghost pastor said much preparation went into producing the video, most all of it by the production team. “It was easy for us. We just followed the general instructions, and the production team did all the hard work.”

Father McNeeley emphasized that consecrated elements of the Mass were not used in the production of the video.

Instead, the pastor moved the Blessed Sacrament to a private chapel in the Holy Ghost rectory during production. He explained that the Holy Ghost priests will relocate the Holy Eucharist when workers are inside Holy Ghost’s nave and sanctuary making repairs.

In a simplified way, he underscored the distinction between an actual eucharistic procession and one choreographed for video production value.

“For an actual eucharistic procession, a priest conducts the liturgy. You begin, process the route, do a Benediction at the end of the procession. Then the priest reposes the Blessed Sacrament.

In a re-creation or simulation and filming of a eucharistic procession, the producer is in charge. ‘Action,’ ‘Stop,’ ‘Let’s try that again.’”

He was grateful to let the production crew organize the video shoot, something he said he doesn’t have enough patience for. He was especially grateful to Holy Ghost parishioners who volunteered their time to serve in the mock procession over several hours on a brisk November afternoon.

“I am constantly amazed by the deep devotion of the faithful here and their generosity between different constituent communities within the parish.

Parishioners here support one another and one another’s activities. They seem to understand the principle that what benefits one benefits all intuitively.

Unfortunately, I have served with too many congregations (mostly in my Episcopal Church days) who are possessive of ‘My Church,’” Father McNeeley said.

“The video shoot itself went well.

It was a little tedious, shoots and reshoots, etc. I was unaware of how

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many times you’d have to shoot, taking a book off the shelf, turning two or three pages, and taking a seat before getting it right. We also had to walk down the street several times, stop and back up and film from another angle.

That was why the host we used was unconsecrated, so we wouldn’t be processing the Precious Body back and forth while filming. Making a video can be quite tedious, but it was fun, too,” he added.

Matthew Sawczyn, who served as Spirit Juice Studios’ project manager and field producer for the video, is excited that Catholic churches everywhere will have access to a training video on how to hold a respectful and reverent eucharistic procession.

“The Eucharist is the most important part of being Catholic. We believe that it is Jesus Himself. So, we definitely want to make sure that churches are trained properly to put on a beautiful procession,” Mr. Sawczyn said.

He was impressed by the parishioner turnout for the production and the generosity of the Holy Ghost community.

“I think that the parishioners of Holy Ghost are going to see themselves all across the country. I think we’re getting everything we need, and we’re going to be able to use it to help churches all over,” Mr. Sawczyn continued. “It’s really amazing to see the people who are willing to help with their time and their talent. It’s a big production.”

He noted that Chicago-based Spirit Juice Studios assembled a team of nine people to work on the project, six of whom are with Spirit Juice and three of whom are Knoxville freelance videographers. Joining Mr. Sawczyn were field producer Michael Sorich, creative lead Chris Weingart, camera operator Trina Mulligan, camera operator Patrick Charles, production assistant Spencer Leverence, camera operator Kayla Ingle, director of photography Jacob Dean, and processions expert Robert Nayden of the Knights of Columbus.

He explained that Spirit Juice Studios is a Catholic media company that works with Catholic clients such as Bishop Barron’s Word on Fire productions and the Knights of Columbus to make “beautiful, artful, reverent Catholic media.”

“It’s great to be a part of something like this. We really feel like it has an impact. It has meaning and purpose. And it’s just a blast to do,” Mr. Sawczyn said.

Father McNeeley agreed.

“I hope it will help parishes that are struggling to be part of their renewal.

Churches are closing in some of the traditional Catholic areas in New England and the Midwest. I pray that this video will be another tool for the remaining parishes to have a new beginning,” he said. ■ DECEMBER 5, 2021 n A19

In Brief Catholic Charities relocates offices following fire A fire inside the administrative building of Catholic Charities of East Tennessee at 119 Dameron Ave. in Knoxville will require the social services agency for the Diocese of Knoxville to temporarily relocate its office operations to 3227 Division St. According to news reports, the Knoxville Police Department responded to a burglary call at the Dameron Avenue offices about 10 p.m. on Nov. 28. When officers arrived, the building was on fire.

The Knoxville Fire Department was called, and the fire took about two hours to extinguish.

No one was injured in the fire, but the Knoxville Fire Department reported that half of the roof and a fifth of the building was destroyed.

Fire investigators determined on Nov. 29 that the cause of the fire was arson.

“The fire was unfortunate for our administrative team, but it will have no negative impact on what we’re doing in the field,” said Lisa Healy, executive director of Catholic Charities of East Tennessee. “We can manage this move to a building that already houses our Office of Immigrant Services on Division Street. We have a few programs, like our Knoxville Pregnancy Help Center, which will need to move with us, but just about all of our other clients are served at other locations, and none of our services or clients will be impacted by this.”

Despite the temporary move, all contact information, including phone numbers, for Catholic Charities remains operational.

Catholic Charities is a coalition of community programs that provides social services throughout the Diocese of Knoxville. Fewer than 5 percent of all clients served are Catholic. Programs include shelters, food pantries, pregnancy help centers, immigrant services, and counseling services.

Roof work begins atop Sacred Heart Cathedral Work has begun to replace the roof on the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Cathedral rector Father David Boettner explained that the cathedral roof was designed and built with intentionally selected materials and construction methods that would last for many years; however, the roofing subcontractor did not install certain parts of the standing seam metal roof according to construction specifications and further failed to provide a 20-year weather-tight warranty called for in the contract documents.

“The good news is that the roofing subcontractor, under the direction of Merit Construction Inc. and an independent roofing expert, BETEC Inc. from Marietta, Ga., will be replacing the standing seam metal roof in accordance with the construction specifications and the warranty requirements of the contract documents. The diocese and parish will not be responsible for the cost of this corrective work performed,” Father Boettner said in a notice to Sacred Heart parishioners.

The project began in November and is scheduled to take nine to 12 months, depending on weather and other potential schedule impacts.

Regularly scheduled Masses and other sacraments and activities will not be interrupted during the project.

“One reason for the duration of this project is to ensure the protection of the contents inside the cathedral. The work will be performed in phases, and each workday will conclude with sealing the envelope of the cathedral so that it remains watertight during the re-roofing and does not allow damage to the inside of the cathedral. The safety of workers and all others on campus is also a priority. I am proud that during the construction of the cathedral, we did not have a single lost-time accident on the project. I encourage you to pray that we will achieve an equally safe result in this endeavor,” Father Boettner said.

Father Boettner noted that there could be some inconveniences during the project, but the work will not take place on weekends when Masses, weddings, and other church activities take place.

Funeral Mass held for Patrick A. McCabe

Patrick Alexander McCabe passed away peacefully on Nov. 1 at the age of 65.

A native Knoxvillian, Pat , who was the fifth of 10 children, grew up in the Bearden area and attended Knoxville Catholic High School before graduating from Bearden High School.

His passion for gardening, starting at an early age, led him to a degree from the University of Tennessee with a bachelor ’s degree in landscape design and ornamental horticulture. During his time at UT he was a member of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity, where he made lifelong friends and met the woman who would become his wife. He spent Mr. McCabe the next few years working in the landscape design business in Tennessee and Virginia.

In 1989, Pat moved back to Knoxville to accept a sales position for Chris Georges Sales Natural Gas Utility Products. He was a contributing member of the Tennessee Gas Association, Carolina Public Gas Association, and American Public Gas Association. Once he returned to Knoxville, Pat became reacquainted with Joy Georges and they were married.

Together Joy and Pat welcomed a son, Chris McCabe, born during the blizzard of 1993. Following in Pat’s footsteps, Chris attended the University of Tennessee and joined Lambda Chi Alpha; at the same time Pat renewed his involvement in the fraternity. He helped shape young men into responsible adults by serving as the chapter ’s alumni adviser for five years and serving with the housing corporation as treasurer for nearly a decade.

Pat served as president of the Scottish Society of Knoxville for many years as well as chairing committees for the Smoky Mountain Highland Games. He was the force behind the current Robert Burns Dinner held every January. Continuing his love of outdoor design, he served several terms on the Fox Den Architectural Review Board.

Pat was preceded in death by his parents, Robert A. McCabe Sr. and Elizabeth N. McCabe.

Survivors include his wife of 31 years, Joy Georges McCabe; son, Christopher Robert McCabe and wife, Savannah Dabney McCabe; nine brothers and sisters, Rob (Jennie), Nancy Van Vleet (Don), Mike (Stephanie), Susan Lorentz (Tim), Ann Bodie (Jerry), Dan, Laura Harty (Mike), Mary Wolf (Chip), and John (Mandy).

A funeral Mass was celebrated Nov. 6 at the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. Pallbearers were Jerry Bodie, Bo Connor, Scott Fugate, Tim Lorentz, Daniel McCabe, John McCabe, Mike McCabe, and Rob McCabe. Honorary pallbearers were Shawn Aiken, Matt Ballard, Edward Kelley, and Mark Loveday.

Memorials honoring Pat may be made to Sacred Heart Cathedral, shcathedral.weshareonline.org, or the charity of your choice. ■

A20 n DECEMBER 5, 2021

Fr. Chris Michelson named special consultant to Knoxville Catholic High School

By Jim Wogan

F

ather Chris Michelson, pastor of St. Albert the Great Parish and president of St. Joseph School in Knoxville, has been given additional duties by Bishop Richard F. Stika.

Father Michelson was appointed as special consultant to the president of Knoxville Catholic High School on Nov. 15, the feast day of St. Albert the Great.

The move formalizes Father Michelson’s past involvement with KCHS, dating back to the purchase of property in West Knoxville that eventually led to the construction of the high school there in the early 2000s.

“Father Chris and I have always had a great friendship and working relationship. He has always been familiar with the financial side of the school,” said Dickie Sompayrac, president of Knoxville Catholic High School.

“In 2006, we started a campaign to add classrooms, enhance the sports complex, and increase our endowment, and we worked together. That was a good experience for me and really the beginning of the transformation of my role as a traditional principal who is the instructional leader of a school to now being a president looking out for the longterm vision of the school,” Mr. Sompayrac noted.

Father Michelson will continue in his role as pastor at St. Albert and president of St. Joseph School and

looks forward to continuing his relationship with KCHS in a formal way.

“I have been involved in the (new) school every step of the way and my fondest desire is to complete the original concept of Knoxville CathFr. Michelson olic High School,” Father Michelson said.

“That concept included an auditorium, which is now being built, a new gym, and very importantly, endowing the school so that it is taken care of financially into the future, especially when it comes to making it affordable for every Catholic family. That is one of the things we have to get to,” he added.

In making the formal appointment, Bishop Stika said he is grateful for Father Michelson’s service to Knoxville Catholic over the years and thanked him for continuing his ministry and service at St. Joseph School.

“Your leadership and wisdom have proved to be very fruitful, demonstrated by higher student enrollment, financial stability, the hiring of respected and effective leaders, and facility expansion at both schools,” Bishop Stika said in his letter to Father Michelson.

“I am looking forward to seeing the fruits of your efforts and leadership,” the bishop added. ■

Diocese of Knoxville parishes contribute more than $65,000 to Haiti in earthquake relief

By Jim Wogan

P

arishes in the Diocese of Knoxville collected $65,071.30 to benefit victims of a magnitude 7.2 earthquake that killed more than 2,000 people, including a Catholic priest, injured at least 12,000, and left thousands more homeless when it struck the Caribbean nation of Haiti on Aug. 14.

“This was a special collection for people in need, and as always, our diocese responded quickly and with much compassion,” Bishop Richard F. Stika said. “I am grateful that parishioners heard and answered the call for assistance that I issued shortly after the earthquake struck. The people of Haiti have suffered in so many ways recently, and we are happy that we can help in this small but hopefully meaningful way.”

Bishop Stika announced the funds were sent directly to the Diocese of Les Cayes, located in a region that suffered extensive damage and loss of life.

Haiti is one of the most impoverished countries in the world and has tolerated natural and political disasters for decades.

Three days after the Aug. 14 earthquake, the country was hit

by Tropical Storm Grace, which added further hardship for people who were left homeless in the aftermath of the earthquake.

Haiti has also faced ongoing political and social turmoil made worse since the assassination of President Jovenel Moise on July 7.

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Among those injured in the Aug. 14 earthquake was Cardinal Chibly Langlois, bishop of the Diocese of Les Cayes, and a recent visitor to the Diocese of Knoxville.

In a Nov. 17 letter to Bishop Stika, Cardinal Langlois extended his “deep gratitude” for the financial assistance.

“I welcome with great and deep gratitude this act of solidarity, generosity, and great charity on your part and that of all your Diocesans in favor of victims of the Diocese of Les Cayes. This donation will have helped to meet the greatest needs of the victims of my Diocese. I continue to count on your prayers for the recovery of Haiti and the dioceses affected by the earthquake. I assure you of my prayers and those of all the faithful of the Diocese of Les Cayes,” Cardinal Langlois said.

Cardinal Langlois celebrated Mass at the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus in October 2019. He also met with Bishop Stika, Cardinal Justin Rigali, and Father David Boettner, rector of the cathedral, and members of the cathedral’s Haiti outreach ministry.

“Our diocese, and especially the cathedral parish, has always had a close association with the people of Haiti, a nation that is very Catholic,” Bishop Stika said.

“We are here to help all people in need, regardless of their religious beliefs, but our connection with Haiti is special and we continue to pray for all of the people living there.” ■

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