May 23 ET Catholic by Diocese of Knoxville

CNS PHOTO/PAUL HARING

The pope’s young friends Young people in St. Peter’s Square look up to Pope Benedict XVI after he arrived to lead the “Regina Coeli” prayer at the Vatican on May 16. Some 120,000 people attended the “Regina Coeli” in a show of support for the pope. page 10

THE EAST TENNESSEE

Volume 19 • Number 18 • May 23, 2010

The

N E W S PA P E R

of the D I O C E S E of K N O X V I L L E w w w. d i o k n o x . o r g

National Catholic Charities network honors CCET

Nashville flood recovery continues The diocese’s schools sustain damage, and the death toll hits close to home for the Chancery family. By Theresa Laurence

CCET continued on page 3

Please pray for our priests Dear Lord: We pray that the Blessed Mother will wrap her mantle around your priests and through her intercession strengthen them for their ministry. We pray that Mary will guide your priests to follow her own words, “Do whatever he tells you” (John 2:5). May your priests have the heart of St. Joseph, Mary’s most chaste spouse. May the Blessed Mother’s own pierced heart inspire them to embrace all who suffer at the foot of the cross. May your priests be holy and filled with the fire of your love, seeking nothing but your greater glory and the salvation of souls. Amen. St. John Vianney, pray for us. ■ Download prayers and a rosary booklet: bit.ly/priestprayers.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (CNS)—More than 15 inches of rain fell in some areas of middle Tennessee as May began, causing unprecedented flood damage in the area and killing at least 23 people. Among those who perished in the floodwaters was 88-yearold Joseph Formosa, father of Bishop David R. Choby’s secretary, Mary Margaret Lambert, and his wife, Bessie Formosa, 78. The floods swallowed neighborhoods, washed away roads, knocked out electricity, and surrounded downtown landmarks such as the Country Music Hall of Fame. Mayor Karl Dean said the damage caused by the flooding will easily exceed $1.5 billion. Forty-two counties have now been classified as national disaster areas. About 23,000 Tennesseans have registered with the Federal Emergency Management

A vehicle stands nearly submerged in a grocery store parking lot May 4 after flooding in Bellevue. Heavy rains caused water to pour over the banks of Nashville’s Cumberland River May 3, flooding neighborhoods and killing more than 20 people in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky. DISASTER IN THE CAPITAL

Agency, and more than $51 million in federal aid has been approved. On May 7 Bishop Richard F. Stika authorized an optional special second collection at Diocese of Knoxville parishes during the weekend of May 8-9, 15-16, or 22-23. The funds will be sent to Bishop Choby for flood-relief efforts.

For the most part, diocesan schools and parishes, including the most historic ones, escaped the floods unscathed except for minor damage. The Chancery office had water damage on the first floor, and all the carpets had to be pulled out, but no archives or valuables were damaged. All Nashville-area diocesan schools

were closed May 3, and individual ones were reopening throughout the week as they were able. Teachers at Holy Rosary Academy in Nashville reported to work May 3 to assess the damage to their classrooms, one day after the bottom floor of the school took in several inches of water. “We were lucky,”

said Mary Hart, principal of Holy Rosary, walking through the school’s hallways in a pair of galoshes. The cleaning crew quickly pumped the water out, and there was little evidence of flood damage except for a trash bin full of wet carpets, papers, and other supplies. The floodwaters sent Pope John Paul Flood continued on page 6

High school establishes Dominican Sisters’ Annual Fund Notre Dame hopes the generosity of alumni and friends will help the school upgrade a convent and provide a stipend for the sisters arriving this fall. BY DAN M C WILLIAM S

he Notre Dame High School community is excited about the return of the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia Congregation this fall and is asking alumni and friends to support a fund that will cover the needs of the women religious as they begin serving again in Chattanooga. The good news of the sisters’ return was announced earlier this spring [April 11

ETC] and got even better when principal Perry Storey learned in the first week of May that the school will have four sisters coming instead of three, as was first thought. Nashville’s St. Cecilia Dominicans taught at Notre Dame for its first 97 years, leaving in 1973. “We are going back to our roots of the founding of the school, and I think this is really going to enhance our

Catholic identity,” said Mr. Storey. “Not that we haven’t established a strong Catholic identity—but this is going to make it stronger.” The formal announcement of the sisters’ return was made March 22 in a reception at the high school. Bishop Richard F. Stika and Mother Ann Marie Karlovic, OP, prioress general of the St. Cecilia Congregation, spoke to media at the event. Joining them was Sister

COURTESY OF GAYLE SCHOENBORN

atholic Charities USA recently recognized Catholic Charities of East Tennessee for its approach to assisting homeless families. CCET received a $25,000 award during a Centennial Leadership Summit in Nashville, part of CCUSA’s 100th-anniversary celebration and its national Campaign to Reduce Poverty. CCET’s transitional housing program, Elizabeth’s Homes, currently operates in Knox and Roane counties and in the TriCities area. Father Ragan Schriver, CCET’s executive director, said the program was created in response to the needs of first-time and newly homeless families. “Families were staying on the street or sleeping in their cars rather than entering traditional homeless shelters,” he said. “Parents didn’t want to bring their kids into a shelter environment, and some shelters have gender or age criteria that don’t allow

CNS PHOTO/RICK MUSACCHIO, TENNESSEE REGISTER

BY DA N M CW I L L I AMS

A panel from Notre Dame High School’s fundraising brochure depicts Dominican Sisters on the property of their Nashville Motherhouse. Four Dominicans will begin teaching at the Chattanooga high school in fall 2010. OP’S RETURN

Mary Evelyn Potts, OP, a Chattanooga native and Notre Dame alumna who will be one of the four Dominicans arriving this fall. The other three are Sister Thomas More Stepnowski, Sister Peter Verona Bodoh, and Sister Anna Wray. Notre Dame has established the Dominican Sisters’ Annual Fund, which will help provide a stipend for the sisters and repair a house that will serve as the convent. “Initially our goal for this drive is to get their housing renovated to a point that is comfortable for the sisters,” said Mr. Storey. “We’ll work with Memorial Hospital on the project. Some renovations and rehabbing are needed to bring the house up to current standards, and we want it to be a topnotch living environment for the sisters.” Parents, alumni, and students are looking forward to the sisters’ arrival, he said. “From the standpoint of NDHS continued on page 6

letters to the

EDITOR

The Church has a citizenship process too

I am a practicing Catholic whose mother emigrated to this country in 1919. She learned the language, stood in line for her citizenship, went to work at age 16 in a garment factory, paid her own medical bills, bought and paid for a home (no sub-prime mortgage), and still managed to be the main financial engine in sending my brother and me to a Catholic high school and subsequently to college. Somehow she managed all this without a whimper or any demonstrations, never broke any laws, and in the process, earned the distinction of being one of America’s “Greatest Generation.” I am profoundly proud of my mom, and we would collectively do well to emulate her behavior. I found the Catholic News Service immigration article in the May 9 edition [“Rallies across the country take aim at new Arizona law”] more than a little disconcerting and very hypocritical. First, it is not Arizona’s new “punitive” immigration law. The law is and has been a federal statute. Arizona is the first state to grow a spine and enforce the existing law. Second, where does my Church get the Solomonlike wisdom to pass judgment on the efficacy of a civil statute? How about the stipulation to pay taxes or to possess a valid driver’s license to operate a motor vehicle? Is my Church suggesting we pick and choose to follow only the laws that aren’t “punitive” or with which we agree? I believe my Church, as it should, has a rather extensive body of laws and stipulations. Does the same logic apply? Before you proffer your decision on the best paths for U.S. citizenship, let’s take a peek at the requirement for “citizenship” in the Catholic Church. Can anyone who is not Catholic merely walk into a Catholic church and demand the sacraments? Why not? My Church has, as it should, a rather regimented and inviolate process called RCIA, which all potential church “citizens” must undertake. Punitive? Perhaps you can explain to your audience and me why it is OK for the Church to have a citizenship process, but you don’t support one for my country. —Al Colonna Signal Mountain

Reader hopes Church won’t ignore charges

Unless I missed it in the last edition of the ETC, I read no updates regarding the accusations being leveled at the hierarchy of the Catholic Church from newspapers, TV programs, magazines, various editorials, etc. Besides the standard defensive “lines,” there is nothing in our own news sources countering or explaining any of their points of view, as if they didn’t deserve it. Ignoring it seems to be what we’ve always done in the past to our peril. Surely our Church isn’t going to let us fend for ourselves, or is it? —Bob Niles Maryville Editor’s note: In the past two months we’ve presented the facts by running Catholic News Service stories, a column by George Weigel, and several web-only stories. ■ Letters should be 350 words or less and will be edited for grammar, style, clarity, and length. Submit them by e-mail or mail: news@ dioknox.org, 805 Northshore Drive Southwest, Knoxville, TN 37919. Letters to the editor reﬂect the opinions of their authors and not those of the editorial staff or the publisher.

Diocese offers ongoing Virtus child-protection training sessions he Diocese of Knoxville’s program for the protection of children and youth—a three-hour seminar called “Protecting God’s Children”—is offered regularly throughout the diocese. The seminars are required for parish and school employees and regular volunteers in contact with children or vulnerable adults and recom-

mended for parents and grandparents. The following training sessions have been scheduled: ■ All Saints Church, Knoxville, 1 p.m. Wednesday, June 9 ■ St. Mary Church, Johnson City, 9:30 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 21 (session will be held in St. Anne Hall). To register, visit virtusonline.org. ■

Diocese of Knoxville procedure for 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.

■

MAY 23, 2010

living the

READINGS

BY FATHER JOSEPH BRANDO

Breaking barriers The Spirit helps us overcome many roadblocks, including the toughest: fear

how much greater must have been the Apostles’ joy as they realized that the power of effective recall was already active in them. Forgetfulness was not a barrier. In fact, it must have been truly amazing when the Apostles realized the Holy Spirit had destroyed all the material barriers that plague humanity in this world. The first reading tells us how the language barrier was broken by the Holy Spirit. It was Pentecost, a joyful harvest feast. Jews from all over the world were coming to Jerusalem. One of the must-see sites in Jerusalem was the tomb of David. That monument shared the same plaza as the Upper Room. Even today a memorial to David can be found on the first floor of the building containing the Upper Room. On that Pentecost so long ago, everyone who had gathered to pay respect to

Today’s Gospel reading presents a function of the Holy Spirit that most everyone overlooks. Jesus says, “The Holy Spirit . . . will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.” Some of us can really appreciate that as our memory becomes more and more undependable. Think of the problem the early Church’s leaders had to contend with as they began to realize they had almost three years’ worth of Jesus’ sermons and actions to relate to the ever-growing stream of people who wanted to learn all about Jesus’ life and teaching. As bad as the problem might have been with each disciple remembering different things,

David heard those who had been newly filled with the Holy Spirit proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ in their own language. Thanks to the Holy Spirit, time and language were no longer barriers to the proclamation of the Gospel. Those barriers had been shattered as a function of the greatest gift of all: the Holy Spirit. As Paul reveals to us in the second reading, the third person of the Blessed Trinity has come to dwell in us. That means we have the presence and power of eternity alive within us. Every barrier has been overcome. Finally, Paul names fear as the toughest barrier of all for many humans to break through. It is tougher than forgetfulness, language, time, or even death. Break through fear, and we become totally free. That’s when the Holy Spirit adopts us, making us children of God. ■ May 23, the Solemnity of Pentecost Acts 2:1-11 Psalm 104:1, 24, 29-31, 34 Romans 8:8-17 John 14:15-16, 23-26

Thinking about God We see his wisdom, especially when we go through pain before finding his love.

efore anything existed, there was the wisdom of God. Creation could not begin without the guidance of God’s wisdom. So says the Book of Proverbs. If we could put the same message into 21st-century language, it might come

out this way: Every atom, every subatomic particle that ever was or will be, was created by a divine will whose purpose was to ultimately provide a perfect garden in which humans could come to existence. There they would come to know

the love of God that surrounds us and of which we are composed. We have only to respond with praise and thanksgiving. True human living consists in recognizing that all the aspects of nature exist for our joy. They were placed there by

a wise God whose wisdom is so perfect that it is total love. Our task is to enjoy that love. To translate that concept back into New Testament language, just look at Readings continued on page 3

May 30, the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity Proverbs 8:22-31 Psalm 8:4-9 Romans 5:1-5 John 16:12-15

WEEKDAY READINGS Monday, May 24: 1 Peter 1:3-9; Psalm 111:1-2, 5-6, 9-10; Mark 10:17-27 Tuesday, May 25: 1 Peter 1:10-16; Psalm 98:1-4; Mark 10:28-31 Wednesday, May 26: Memorial, Philip Neri, priest, 1 Peter 1:18-25; Psalm 147:12-15, 19-20; Mark 10:32-45 Thursday, May 27: 1 Peter 2:2-5, 912; Psalm 100:2-5; Mark 10:46-52 Friday, May 28: 1 Peter 4:7-13; Psalm 96:10-13; Mark 11:11-26

Saturday, May 29: Jude 17, 20-25; Psalm 63:2-6; Mark 11:27-33 Monday, May 31: Feast, the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Zephaniah 3:14-18; Isaiah 12:2-6; Luke 1:39-56 Tuesday, June 1: Memorial, Justin, martyr, 2 Peter 3:12-15, 17-18; Psalm 90:2-4, 10, 14, 16; Mark 12:13-17 Wednesday, June 2: 2 Timothy 1:13, 6-12; Psalm 123:1-2; Mark 12:1827

Thursday, June 3: Memorial, Charles Lwanga, martyr, and his companions, martyrs, 2 Timothy 2:815; Psalm 25:4-5, 8-10, 14; Mark 12:28-34 Friday, June 4: 2 Timothy 3:10-17; Psalm 119:157, 160-161, 165-166, 168; Mark 12:35-37 Saturday, June 5: Memorial, Boniface, bishop, martyr, 2 Timothy 4:1-8; Psalm 71:8-9, 14-17, 22; Mark 12:38-44 ■

This year’s ordinands have wide variety of backgrounds WASHINGTON (CNS)— A former NASA engineer, a PlayStation video game developer, and widowed deacons are among the 440 men in the ordination class of 2010. The average age of the men who will be ordained in June is 37, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University. More than half are between the ages of 25 and 34, and 11 of them are age 65 or older.

The center conducted a national survey of ordinands for the Secretariat of Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The study was based on 339 responses, or 77 percent of this year’s ordination class. Of those who responded, 291 will become diocesan priests and 48 will be religious order priests. A USCCB news release reported on results of the Ordinands continued on page 10

Bishop Richard F. Stika Publisher Mary C. Weaver Editor Dan McWilliams Assistant editor

THE EAST TENNESSEE

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Margaret Hunt Administrative assistant Toni Pacitti Intern

Knoxville, TN 37919-7551

The East Tennessee Catholic (USPS 007211) is published twice monthly by the Catholic Diocese of Knoxville, 805 Northshore Drive S.W., Knoxville, TN 37919-7551. Periodicals-class postage paid at Knoxville, Tenn. Printed on recycled paper by the Knoxville News Sentinel Postmaster: Send address changes to The East Tennessee Catholic, P.O. Box 11127, Knoxville, TN 37939-1127 How to reach us:

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TH E E A S T TE N N E S S E E C ATH OLI C

he dwells

AMONG US

BY BISHOP RICHARD F. STIKA

Flowers and crowns On life’s hard journey, we have a loving Mother who longs to help us.

two deep furrows that almost give the appearance of tears. Though her expression looks like one of sorrow, she seems to beckon those who contemplate her gaze to make a complete offering of themselves to her. But she seems especially to desire our hardships and sorrows, which she takes and hides within her dark blue robe patterned with golden flowers. Having then purified our offering with her maternal tears and care, she seems to offer, with a gesture of her right hand, everything to Christ. In turn, with his right hand raised, Christ seems to bless the offering from his mother, while embracing the Book of Gospels in the other. When Pope John Paul II made his first visit to Poland after being elected pope, he returned to Jasna Gora to thank Our Lady of Czestochowa and to remind his countrymen and the entire world of Mary’s maternal love and care for each one of us. He reminded them of the birth of the Church at Pentecost in the Upper Room, where the Apostles had gathered in prayer with Mary. He reminded them that the Church is our spiritual Mother in the likeness of the one who is also the Mother of God. And finally he called us to consecrate ourselves to her and often to visit that Upper Room of prayer with Mary. In contemplating this icon, which meant so much to Pope John Paul II, we can better appreciate his apostolic motto, Totus tuus, which is the beginning of the prayer of St. Louis De Montfort: “I am all yours, and all that I have belongs to you, O most loving

There is a long and beautiful tradition within the Church that I have very fond memories of participating in as a child. May is traditionally the month of Mary and is a time when many celebrate her Motherhood and Queenship by consecrating their lives to her and crowning her image with flowers. As a young boy attending the church and school of the Epiphany of Our Lord in South St. Louis, I still recall the ceremonies and processions, with the statue of Mary and everyone singing the hymn, “Bring Flowers of the Fairest,” with its refrain, “O Mary, we crown thee with blossoms today! Queen of the Angels, Queen of the May . . .” All this came back to me again this past week as part of a pilgrimage to Poland’s famous shrine, Jasna Gora (literally, “bright mount”), where the icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa is enshrined. Icons are one of the great gifts of our faith and proclaim in line and color what Scripture communicates by words. I have always been drawn to this image of Our Heavenly Mother holding the child Jesus. The reason for this attraction has little to do with the artistic quality of the image. The dark facial features of Mary in this icon have caused many to refer to her as the “Black Madonna of Czestochowa.” Her right cheek was scarred by the desecration of an invading soldier’s sword nearly 600 years ago, leaving

Jesus, through Mary, your most holy Mother.” But any discussion of the Blessed Mother would be incomplete if we failed to mention the importance of the rosary, the great school of Mary, through which we contemplate with her the face of Christ. To highlight but one of the mysteries of the rosary—the finding of Jesus in the temple—we learn something of the broader maternal vocation of Mary in the reply of Jesus to his mother: “Why did you search for me? Did you not know I had to be in my Father’s house?” (Luke 2:49). Jesus was where he was supposed to be—in his Father’s house. But as Mother of the Church, Mary goes in search of each of her children wounded by sin in order to help lead them to the Father’s house, most especially when they have lost their way in life and despair of hope. As we approach the great Solemnity of Pentecost, let us recall and heed the words of Mary at the wedding feast at Cana: “Do whatever he tells you” (John 2:5). ■ BISHOP STIKA’S SCHEDULE These are some of Bishop Stika’s appointments: May 23: 11 a.m., bilingual confirmation, St. Bridget Church, Dayton; 2 p.m., graduation, Notre Dame High School, Chattanooga May 25: 11 a.m., general priest meeting, Chancery May 26: 5:30 p.m. CDT, confirmation, Our Lady of Lourdes Church, South Pittsburg May 27: 7 p.m., confirmation, St. Jude Church, Chattanooga May 29: 5 p.m. CDT, confirmation, St. Alphonsus Church, Crossville May 30: 10 a.m., Father P. J. McGinnity’s installation as pastor, St. Joseph the Worker Church, Madisonville; 3 p.m., Rite of Missioning, Cathedral of the Sacred Heart of Jesus June 5: 10 a.m., ordination of Doug Owens to the diaconate, Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church, Chattanooga ■

CCET continued from page 1

T H E EA S T TE N N E S S E E C AT H OL IC

OFFICE

Bishop Stika announces assignment changes for priest and deacons and invites all to diaconal ordination ishop Richard F. Stika announced in a May 7 memo that he had assigned Father John Appiah, currently the pastor of Notre Dame Parish in Greeneville, as chaplain for Knoxville Catholic High School, effective July 1. Father Appiah will be in residence at All Saints Church in Knoxville. “Father John brings with him experience and wisdom and will be a consistent presence at Knoxville Catholic,” the bishop wrote. “I am grateful for his willingness to serve in this new role.” The bishop also announced two changes in deacon assignments. First, he has assigned Deacon Joe Stackhouse to provide diaconal support to Father Joseph Ciccone, CSP, of Immaculate Conception Parish, effective July 1. Deacon Stackhouse has been serving at Sacred Heart Cathedral. Second, the bishop has assigned Deacon David Lucheon to provide diaconal support to Father Michael Woods of All Saints Parish in Knoxville, effective May 29. Deacon Lucheon has been serving at Sacred Heart Parish and is the finance officer for the diocese. The bishop has also set the date for seminarian Doug Owens’s ordination to the diaconate. The Mass is scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday, June 5, at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in Chattanooga. “This is an exciting and joyful occasion,” the bishop wrote, “and I encourage everyone to come and be a part of this liturgy.” ■

Want to try online delivery? he East Tennessee Catholic offers online delivery for those who would prefer to read a digital copy and to discontinue the print edition. If you would rather read the ETC online, visit bit.ly/subscribe-online to sign up. If you decide online delivery isn’t for you, you can return to a print subscription at any time. If you have questions, e-mail mhunt@dioknox.org. ■

Take note of ETC deadlines e welcome submissions about parish and community events. Send notices by e-mail (news@dioknox.org), fax (865-584-8124), or mail (805 Northshore Drive Southwest, Knoxville, TN 37919). To make sure we receive information about upcoming events in time for publication, please submit it by the following deadlines: ■ Monday, May 24 for the June 6 issue ■ Monday, June 7 for the June 20 issue. When submitting photos or information about past events, please keep in mind that we have a backlog of submissions. ■

Readings continued from page 2

COURTESY OF FREDDI BIRDWELL

families to stay together.” At the Centennial Leadership Summit, Father Schriver spoke before a group that included representatives of Gov. Phil Bredesen’s office, Nashville Mayor Karl Dean, and CCUSA president Father Larry Snyder. Father Snyder presented CCET’s award to its director. “Catholic Charities USA has taken on this goal of working to reduce poverty in America by 2010 by a significant amount, and they’re looking at best practices across the country,” said Father Schriver. “They were looking at programs that were leaders in poverty reduction, and they chose our transitional-housing program in Catholic Charities to be a winner. We won a $25,000 grant for that program.” The Elizabeth’s Homes program was founded in 2003 and named for Mercy Sister Elizabeth Riney, who had died two years before. The program provides housing and other assistance to one- or two-parent families for as long two years, helping them make the transition from homelessness to self-sufficiency. The focus of the program is helping parents increase earning potential through financial accountability and education. Parents must be employed, actively seeking employment, and/or enrolled in a school or training program. Catholic Charities works closely with community partners to help meet each family’s needs and increase their odds of longterm success. “Research shows that homeless families who are given a ‘bridge’ to resources, support,

from the bishop’s

Father Ragan Schriver, executive director of Catholic Charities of East Tennessee, accepts the Centennial Recognition award and $25,000 grant from Father Larry Snyder, president of Catholic Charities USA, on March 25 in Nashville. FIGHTING POVERTY

and stability are more likely to attain and maintain employment and housing,” said Father Schriver. “We’re grateful to Catholic Charities USA for recognizing our efforts to provide that bridge to East Tennessee families.” Father Schriver said the Elizabeth’s Homes program “takes people who are homeless, episodically homeless families, who have depleted all of their assets and have nowhere to turn.” Those families can “come to our program, get into housing, receive case management, receive classes, training, and whatever they need to pull themselves back up,” he added. When family members are “able to get gainful employ-

ment, they pay a little bit of a fee to us,” said Father Schriver. “We save that money and then give it back to them when they graduate from the program after two years. It allows them to have two years of not worrying about their rent and doing all that they can to build themselves back up and build up some assets so that they can have a cushion when they graduate from the program. It really is a poverty-reduction program.” Catholic Charities of East Tennessee serves more than 23,000 clients annually in East Tennessee. For more information on CCET, contact Freddi Birdwell, community relations and development director, at freddi@ ccetn.org or 865-524-9896. ■ www.d ioknox.org

the second reading. Paul writes to the Romans, “Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God . . .” A less elegant translation of what Paul calls being “justified” would be “living in the right way.” We live correctly when we recognize the world around us for what it really is. Faith leads us to that realization. Faith allows us to experience the wisdom that created the universe. It enables us be jolted by the beauty and immensity of the cosmos into a “fear of the Lord.” We feel overwhelmed by the awesome majesty of God. Paul goes much further when he claims that even the adversities we face in life bring us closer to an experience of God. Paul’s progression takes us from pain to endurance to proven character to hope—and finally to the love of God. When we arrive at love, we once again recognize the wisdom of God’s creation. Norman Mailer made the same point, writing, “God created pain for the same reason the devil invented aspirin.” Pain humbles us into the knowledge that we are not the Supreme Being. God is to be sought outside ourselves, and pain sets us on the path Paul outlined for us. Actually, we don’t find God, as John tells us in the Gospel. The Holy Spirit comes to us and reintroduces us to God and our exalted place in his creation. ■ Father Brando is pastor of St. Mary Parish in Gatlinburg.

MAY 23, 2010

■

BY TONI PACITTI

■ Orders for the 2009-10 yearbook are being accepted at Our Lady of Perpetual Help School. Cost is $30 on or before Tuesday, May 25, and $35 afterward. Make checks payable to OLPH and write “yearbook” on the memo line. ■ The OLPH School band combined with the St. Jude School band to perform at Notre Dame High School’s Fine Arts Day on April 23 and again for band parents from all three schools April 27.

St. Catherine Labouré, Copperhill ■ First Holy Communion is scheduled for Sunday, June 20.

St. Jude, Chattanooga ■ Knights of Columbus Council 8576

will sponsor a free breakfast after the morning Masses on Sunday, May 23. The menu will include a variety of hot and cold items. ■ All rising sixth- through eighth-grade students are invited to ride their bikes from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, May 22, at the Chickamauga Battlefield. Helmets are required. Call youth minister Alicia Bradshaw at the church at 423-870-8002 for more information.

St. Mary, Athens ■ Holly Gates is the new parish sec-

retary and bookkeeper, replacing Connie Reed, who recently retired.

St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Cleveland ■ The parish has a new website at sttheresecatholicchurch.org. Cumberland Mountain Deanery

All Saints, Knoxville ■ Parishioners began the six-week

Little Rock Scripture Study “Parables of the Kingdom” on April 27 and will continue it Tuesdays through June 1.

Blessed Sacrament, Harriman ■ Parish eighth-graders and high

school students participated in a lock-in May 15. ■ The Council of Catholic Women honored the parish’s high school graduates, Ashley Bergquist, Kody Morgan, Mary Grace Palko, and Andrew Roschli, with a reception May 16.

St. Francis of Assisi, Fairﬁeld Glade ■ The Council of Catholic Women will

host the annual Women’s Fellowship Ecumenical Luncheon at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, June 9. Speaker Irene Boyd’s topic will be “Our Call to Holiness.” Cost is $10. Call Carol Schmidt at 931-484-3022, Janet Standaert at 707-7513, or Arlene McShane at 4849408. ■ The worship and liturgy committee donated $250 to the Cumberland County Right to Life and $250 to Plateau Pregnancy Services on behalf of women on Mother’s Day. ■ Anniversaries: Jack and Betty Campbell (61), Robert and Raphaline Olson (56), John and Jean Sohnly (56), Jerry and Doris Troy (53), James and Betty Harrison (51), Joe and Amy Dickens (50), Norm and Judith Charest (50), John and Anna Moyer (50), C. Thomas and Mary Anna Teall (50), Bob and Kathleen McCone (45), Robert and Anna Kammann (10) ■ Newcomers: Vern and Marianne Parrish, Owen Schroer

St. John Neumann, Farragut ■ The eighth-graders’ pancake

breakfast raised $3,500 toward the class of 2010’s gift for St. John Neumann School. ■ A Bible study, with the theme “A Quick Journey Through the Bible,” is being held at 7 p.m. Mondays in the school library. Call Anita Gouge at 865966-4540 for more information.

St. Mary, Oak Ridge ■ The Knights of Columbus served a pancake breakfast May 16. ■ A graduation Mass for all seniors and their families will be celebrated at noon Sunday, May 23. A lunch will be served after Mass in the youth building. Call 865-482-2875 to RSVP.

St. Thomas the Apostle, Lenoir City ■ The parish’s fourth annual trip to

the Nuestro Pequeños Hermanos orphanage in El Salvador will take place from Friday, June 4, to Tuesday, June 8. Donations of clothing and school 4

■

MAY 23, 2010

Five Rivers Deanery

Holy Trinity, Jefferson City ■ The Knights of Columbus sponsored

a Polish dinner May 15.

Notre Dame, Greeneville ■ The seventh annual Mama Zee &

Son Spaghetti Fest and Silent Auction, benefiting the American Cancer Society Relay For Life, will be held from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, May 26, at the church. Tickets are $6 in advance (available after all Masses), $7 at the door, and $3 for children under 10. To order a lunch, call Susan at 423639-9382. ■ The Knights of Columbus hosted a wives appreciation dinner at the Gondolier restaurant May 13.

St. Dominic, Kingsport ■ A picnic to honor graduating seniors

was held May 7 at the home of John and Delores Bertuso. ■ Parishioner Consorce Kamugwera took her nationalization oath to become a U.S. citizen May 12 in Greeneville. ■ Parishioner Marty Silver will ride 100 miles in one day in the Tour de Cure, a cycling and fundraising event of the American Diabetes Association, on Saturday, June 5. His goal is to raise $3,000. Call him at 423-239-9521 for more information.

COURTESY OF DIANE DESVAUX

OLPH, Chattanooga

supplies are needed. For more details on items the home needs, call Crystal Deinhart at 865-671-1642.

Cathedral parishioners visit former pastor at his new church Twenty-eight parishioners from Sacred Heart Cathedral traveled to Holy Spirit Church in Soddy-Daisy on April 19 to visit Monsignor Al Humbrecht, their former longtime pastor before his reassignment early this year. The group presented Monsignor Humbrecht with a check for more than $5,000, which was collected at Sacred Heart as a thank-you and parting gift from the parish. With the Holy Spirit pastor are (front) Cecilio Cruz; (second row, from left) Ronald and Sedonna Prater, Sue Greer, Leticia Pun-chuen, and Marietta Cruz; and (back) Tom Greer. Following Mass, the visitors gathered at Flavors of Italy Restaurant where husband-and-wife owners (and Holy Spirit parishioners) Giuseppe and Ana Maria Iannuzzi entertained the group. Afterward Monsignor Humbrecht invited his guests back to the rectory to see the house and Holy Spirit’s 50 acres of property near Walden Ridge.

St. Patrick, Morristown ■ The Hispanic ministry’s Why Catho-

lic? retreat will be held from 5 to 10 p.m. Thursday, June 3, in the parish center. Call Blanca Primm at 865-6374769. ■ The Hispanic ministry’s Engaged Encounter will be presented from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, June 5, in the parish center. ■ Vacation Bible school for children from preschool to fifth grade will be offered from 9 to 11:30 a.m. Monday, June 7, through Friday, June 11, in the parish center. This year’s theme is “Holy Land Adventure, Jerusalem Marketplace.” Younger children may attend with an adult. Contact Kathy DeAngelis at 423-277-6296 or krdeangelis@yahoo.com. Smoky Mountain Deanery

Holy Ghost, Knoxville

COURTESY OF MAUREEN FRICKE

Chattanooga Deanery

Class Christmas project benefits cancer patients A tradition at the Mass in Spanish at St. Mary Church in Oak Ridge is for a family to take home the statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe for family prayer during the week. They pass the statue to another family at the end of the next week’s Mass. Above, Father Jorge Cano blesses the statue as it goes from one family to another. With him are Virginia Losada (from left) and Mari Melendez and their children. The servers are William Olka (left) and Erick Bravo.

■ The parish picnic will be held Saturday, May 22, at the grassy area by the Hinton Avenue parking lot (or in Father Henkel Hall, in case of rain). To help the Knights of Columbus ready the picnic grounds Saturday morning, call Greg McGinnis at 865-688-5241 or Johnny Crowell at 951-2164.

Immaculate Conception, Knoxville ■ A potluck supper will be served in

honor of the Year for Priests at 6 p.m. Sunday, May 23. Bring an ethnic dish. Drinks will be provided. ■ The women’s guild sponsored a mother–daughter celebration May 5. ■ Knights of Columbus Council 645 hosted a spaghetti dinner May 18 to raise funds for the parishioners injured during the Easter Vigil.

Our Lady of Fatima, Alcoa

Appreciating the appreciator Muriel Quinn of St. Thérèse of Lisieux Parish in Cleveland hosted an appreciation dinner April 20 for all women who provide food for parish receptions throughout the year. St. Thérèse pastor Father Peter Iorio, in appreciation of her leadership, presented Mrs. Quinn with an azalea and an icon of Jesus appearing to Mary Magdalene. Father Iorio said Mrs. Quinn’s ministry brings the Good News of the resurrection to those who mourn because she provides comfort to grieving families after funerals.

■ The Council of Catholic Women will

present its High Tea and Fashion Show spring fundraiser from 12:30 to 2:45 p.m. Sunday, June 6, at the Fatima Center. Tickets are $12. The CCW needs hostesses for several tables. Call Cheryl Land at 865-983-9610 or Jeanine Dixon at 681-8762.

Sacred Heart, Knoxville ■ A “Feastival of the Sacred Heart”

will be held Friday and Saturday, June 11 and 12, in the pavilion and gym parking area. Field games and events for all ages will be available. Call Tom Greer at 865-558-4108 to obtain further information.

COURTESY OF PAULA REILAND

NOTES

COURTESY OF FATHER PETER IORIO

parish

St. Albert the Great, Knoxville ■ Father Chris Michelson will cele-

brate the 30th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood Sunday, May 30. The parish will have cake after all Masses that weekend. Well-wishers may place a note or a card in baskets provided after the Masses. Father Michelson was ordained May 30, 1980, at St. Mary Church in his native Oak Parish notes continued on page 5

St. Stephen second-graders prepare for first Communion Second-graders at St. Stephen Parish in Chattanooga took part in a “Grandma’s Bread” event April 14 to help them prepare for their first Holy Communion on May 2. Above are Mason Jurka (front) and Jerry Delgadillo. The children and their parents watched the movie Grandma’s Bread and baked Easter breads that they took home the same day.

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TH E E A S T TE N N E S S E E C ATH OLI C

BY TONI PACITTI

Knights of Columbus Council 8152 in Crossville will hold its eighth annual Craft Fair on the Plateau from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. CDT Saturday, June 5, and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday, June 6, at the K of C Activity Park, 2892 Highway 70 E. Homemade crafts will be available from more than 40 vendors. The event will also feature a “cruise-in” car show. Admission and parking are free. For more information, call 931-707-7291. Knights Council 8152 will host its 18th annual charity golf tournament beginning at 1 p.m. CDT on Wednesday, June 16, at The Bear Trace at Cumberland Mountain, a Jack Nicklaus–designed course. The format will be a four-person scramble with a maximum of 36 teams. Entry cost is $70 ($280 per foursome) and includes greens fees, cart fees, one mulligan, and an awards banquet at the Knights of Columbus Hall on Highway 70 ($12 for the banquet alone). All proceeds will benefit Cumberland Mountain charities. The first-place team in each men’s and women’s flight will receive $300 and the runner-up men’s team $100. The women’s flight will have a $100 second-place prize if eight or more teams enter. Closest-to-the-pin and straightest-drive prizes will be awarded, as will banquet door prizes. For more information, call Mike Wilkiel at 931-7078040, Rollie Wicker at 707-7087, or Fred Laufenberg at 484-2468. Our Lady of Perpetual Help School in Chattanooga is now taking applications for the 2010-11 school year. Contact Teresa Hennen at 423-6221481 or Teresahennen@catholicweb. com to request a registration packet or schedule a tour. St. Stephen Parish of Chattanooga’s Family Golf Outing will be held Saturday, July 10, at Brainerd Golf Course. Golfers should arrive at 7:30 a.m., and the tournament’s shotgun start is set for 8. The format is best ball. Anyone living in the Chattanooga Deanery is welcome to attend. The tournament will raise funds for St. Stephen’s parish-hall kitchen renovations. Cost is $85 (includes lunch and two drinks). To register, volunteer, or become a tournament sponsor, call Rusty at 423-2403143 or Roland at 499-3045. A Mass of St. Josemaria Escrive, founder of Opus Dei, will be held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, June 26, at Holy Ghost Church in Knoxville. Father John Orr will be the principal celebrant. A light lunch in Father Henkel Hall downstairs will follow Mass. Sacred Heart Cathedral will host a eucharistic Festival of Praise for all diocesan young adults from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Sunday, May 23. The focus of the festival is to deepen one’s relationship with Christ, especially with Christ present in the Eucharist, and then “using this relationship and using the gifts we have been given from God to build up his kingdom here on earth.” Exposition will begin at 7:30, and there will be Scripture readings and reflections by a young adult, a vowed religious, and a priest or deacon. Praise music and times of meditation and prayer will follow the music before benediction and reposition at 8:35. Opportunities for confession and for talking with priests will be available. Fellowship in the Shea Room from 8:45 to 9:30 will conclude the evening. Contact Sarah Best at 865-742-3534 or bests26@aol.com or Nate Puplis at 269-861-5440 or npuplis@gmail.com. The People of Praise prayer group of Holy Trinity Parish in Jefferson City will offer a free Life in the Spirit Seminar TH E EA S T TE N N E S S E E C AT H OL IC

from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday, May 22. Coffee and doughnuts will be served at 8:30, and lunch will be furnished. Holy Trinity’s vigil Mass at 5 p.m. will follow the seminar. For more details, call Jack or Sue Elsaesser at 865-933-2538. A charismatic Mass will be celebrated at Holy Trinity Church in Jefferson City at 2 p.m. Sunday, May 23. For more information, call the parish office at 865-471-0347. Advance registration is under way for Diocese of Knoxville young people who plan to attend World Youth Day in Madrid in August 2011. Total cost is $3,321 per person, which includes accommodations (double occupancy), daily American buffet breakfasts, WYD fees, and airline taxes and fuel charges. A deposit of $250 is needed by Tuesday, June 15, to hold a reservation and entitle the registrant to a $75 discount. Second and third payments of $500 each are due by Oct. 31 and Feb. 15, with the final payment due no later than May 15, 2011. For more information, contact Al Forsythe, diocesan director of Youth and Youth Adult Ministry, at 865-584-3307 or aforsythe@dioknox. org, or Lucille of Regina Tours at 800CATHOLIC, extension 208.

COURTESY OF CINDY KEDROWSKI

Bishop Richard F. Stika will celebrate the annual Mass and Rite of Missioning—for all those received into the Catholic Church at the Easter vigil—at 3 p.m. Sunday, May 30, the feast of the Most Holy Trinity, at Sacred Heart Cathedral. Approximately 300 people throughout the diocese were baptized or made a profession of faith, followed by confirmation and Eucharist, at the Easter vigil. Those new Catholics will be recognized with certificates from the bishop. Sponsors, family members, and guests are invited to attend the Mass and a reception afterward in the gym.

CELEBRATING ADOPTION Emcee Jim Bello (back) speaks to a Chattanoogans for Life banquet gathering of more than 360.

Banquet raises $9,000 for Chattanoogans for Life hattanoogans for Life announced May 18 that its annual Banquet in Celebration of Life raised $9,000 for the group’s activities over the next year. The banquet, held April 23 at The Chattanoogan hotel, had an adoption theme. Emcee Jim Bello and every presenter had an adoption story. Keynoter Jaime Thietten sang “My Chance” and “Open Door.”

Chattanoogans for Life sponsors the annual Prayer Chain for life on Respect Life Sunday in October; a trip to the National March for Life in Washington, D.C.; a Christmas-card sale; and a high school speech contest. To volunteer with Chattanoogans for Life, call 423-290-7314. Visit www.chattanoogansforlife. org for more information. ■

Sacred Heart Cathedral School is accepting applications for grades kindergarten through eight. For more information, call admissions at 865558-4136, visit www.shcschool.org, or follow SHCS on Facebook and Twitter (twitter.com/SHCSEagles). Anyone who has ever been on a Search retreat is invited to gather on the weekend of July 16 through 18 at All Saints Academy in Chattanooga for a Re-Search 2 retreat. Cost is $50 and includes food, snacks, and a T-shirt, plus $15 for Sunday-afternoon events (a picnic lunch and canoeing at Greenway Farms in Hixson). Pick up a form from a youth minister or contact Donna Jones at 423-267-9878 or djones 6029@gmail.com for more information. The Chattanooga Deanery’s summer God Camps will be held in June and July at the Harrison Bay State Park group camp in Harrison. “Dare to Dream,” for rising high school students, will be held June 21 through 26. Cost is $130. Early registration deadline is June 4. “Reach,” for rising seventh- and eighth-graders, is set for June 28 through July 1. Cost is $95. “Discover,” for rising fifth- and sixthgraders, will be held July 1 through 3. Cost is $80. Early-registration deadline is June 11 for the Reach and Discover camps. Fees are $20 higher after the deadlines for all three camps. Contact Donna Jones at 423-267-9878 or djones6029@gmail.com. Download registration forms at bit.ly/bFPcU8. Notre Dame High School in Chattanooga is offering more than a dozen summer camps this year from June 1 through July 30. Academic-enrichment and art camps include an ACT-preparation workshop, a web-design and movie-making camp, and cooking and dance camps. An “Alive in You Catholic Service Camp” is set for June 15 through 20. Sports camps will cover boys and girls basketball, cheerleading, football, soccer, and baseball, with separate all-sports, fitness, and outdoor camps as well. View a brochure at myndhs.com for dates, times, costs, and eligible age groups for each camp (visit aliveinyou.com to register for or learn more about the service camp). Call the school at 423-624-4618 or email summercamp@myndhs.com for more details. Knoxville Catholic High School is hosting several summer sports camps. A boys basketball camp is set for June 2 through 4, a girls basketball camp June 7 through 9, a football camp June 14 through 16, a volleyball camp June 25 and 26, and a volleyball camp for hitters and setters July 23 through 25. To learn camp costs, start times, eligible age groups, and contact information, visit www.knoxvillecatholic.com/ athletics-summercamps.asp. Our Lady of Perpetual Help School in Chattanooga will host several Calendar continued on page 6

COURTESY OF CLAUDE HARDISON

CALENDAR

Cleveland Knights donate $2,000 to church’s ministry Knights of Columbus Council 4572 of St. Thérèse of Lisieux Parish in Cleveland presented a donation of $2,000 on April 7 from the MR Foundation of Tennessee to J.O.Y. School, a ministry of First Presbyterian Church in Cleveland. Above, Lenny Peterson, Grand Knight of Council 4572, hands a check to the Rev. Joseph Tanner of First Presbyterian. Also pictured are Beckie Wright, chair of the J.O.Y. School board of directors, and Dale Foust, District 13 MR Foundation Director. The J.O.Y. School provides educational and recreational-enrichment classes during the summer to children and young adults who have special needs. For information about enrolling a student, call the church at 423-476-5584. The MR Foundation was founded to support people who have intellectual disabilities. Funding for the foundation in the Cleveland and Bradley County area comes from individual donations during the annual Knights of Columbus Tootsie Roll Drive.

DOK seminarian receives degree at St. Meinrad dam Kane of the Diocese of Knoxville was among 43 seminarians receiving master’s degrees May 8 at St. Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology in Indiana. Graduates accepted their diplomas from the Archabbot Justin DuVall, OSB, of St. Meinrad Archabbey, who is chairman of the School of Theology’s Board of Trustees. Mr. Kane received a master of arts degree in Catholic philosophical studies. ■

COURTESY OF SARA CAREY

on the

Catechists attend national conference Diocesan catechetical leaders attended the National Conference for Catechetical Leadership’s annual convention, held April 18 through 22 in Las Vegas. From left are (front) Brigid Johnson, director of religious education at Sacred Heart Cathedral, and Kathleen Kramer, DRE at Immaculate Conception and Holy Ghost in Knoxville; and (back) Sara Carey, DRE at St. Alphonsus in Crossville, and Randy Carey, catechist at St. Alphonsus.

Parish notes continued from page 4

Ridge by Nashville Bishop James D. Niedergeses. ■ Baptism: Riley Kate Sexton, daughter of Linnie and Charlie Sexton; Peyton James Palladino, son of Leslie and Leonard Palladino ■ First communicants: Parker Belfiore, Graham Bishop, Austin Bloyd, Robert DePersio, Claire Earl, Kyleigh Haught, Katelyn Laurain, Seth Lawson, Kayden Magnus, Nathan Margetts, Anna Pham Hoang, Kardyn Picciuto, Joshua Stevens, Gabriel Sisson, Emily Wilson, Charli Boles, Kerrigan Magnus, Tyler

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Huffman, Emily Huffman, Matthew Rivera, Megan Rivera, Margaret Rivera, Daniel Hoffmeister, Ian Wheat, Garrett Rodgers, Dalton Rogers

St. Joseph the Worker, Madisonville ■ Bishop Richard F. Stika will preside

over the installation of Father P. J. McGinnity as pastor during the 10 a.m. bilingual Mass on Sunday, May 30. A covered-dish luncheon will be served afterward. Parishioners are invited to participate in a spiritual bouquet in honor of the pastor. ■ MAY 23, 2010

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Calendar continued from page 5

Flood continued from page 1

A free two-hour seminar on the annulment process will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday, July 18, at the Chancery in Knoxville and at 12:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 24, at Notre Dame Church in Greeneville. Father David Carter will be the presenter, and simultaneous Spanish translation will be available. Contact Marian Christiana at 423-892-2310 or mchristiana@ dioknox.org. A Franciscan Youth Mission Trip to the St. Francis Inn in Philadelphia, for youth ages 16 to 26, is set for July 11 through 19. The Franciscan community is located in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia and serves the poor and homeless. The youth will assist the Franciscans with their ministries and visit historic sites in Philadelphia. Cost is $250 per person, with a $125 deposit due by Friday, June 11. Partial scholarships are available. Total cost includes transportation, meals, and lodging. Contact Betti Longinotti at 336-725-3751 or bettisfo@gmail.com. Bishop Richard F. Stika will host a bilingual celebration at St. Dominic Church in Kingsport on Saturday, July 31, to honor married couples and their commitment to the sacrament of marriage. The celebration will include Mass, an opportunity to renew wedding vows, and a luncheon for couples and their family and friends following the liturgy. Mass will begin at 11 a.m. To attend the luncheon, RSVP to Marian Christiana of the diocesan Marriage Preparation and Enrichment Office at 423-892-2310 or mchristiana@dioknox.org or Karen Byrne at 865-5843307 or kbyrne@dioknox.org. Catholic evangelist Jim Murphy will speak on the topic “Sacred Heart, Center of the Christian Life,” from 7 to 9 p.m. CDT Friday, June 4, at St. Ignatius of Antioch Church in Antioch, near Nashville. Cost is $17 for individuals and $30 for families. Register online at GloryofZion.com, preferably by Thursday, May 20. For directions or more information, call 615-7894598 or e-mail tseibert@bellsouth.net. For more details on Mr. Murphy, visit veracruzcm.com. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum will be the guest speaker at the annual Celebrate Life Benefit Banquet, sponsored by the Knox County chapter of Tennessee Right to Life and set for Oct. 21 at the Knoxville Convention Center. For more information, contact the chapter at 865-689-1339 or trlknox@knology.net. Camp Marian summer camps for girls are scheduled this spring by Lake Marian at the Benedictine Monastery in Ferdinand, Ind. The camp for girls who are currently in fifth and sixth grades is June 7 through 9, and the camp for girls currently in seventh and eighth grade is June 10 through 12. Cost is $40 with a $10 deposit. Camps are limited to 44 campers. Register online at www.thedome.org. Call Sister Agnes Marie at 812-367-1411, extension 2831, or e-mail vocation@thedome.org for more details. The Serra Club of Knoxville meets on second and fourth Thursdays in the Shea Room at Sacred Heart Cathedral’s office building. Meetings begin with Mass at 11:30 a.m., followed by lunch at noon and a speaker at 12:30 p.m.

PROPERTY DAMAGE Debris from flooded homes is seen along the curb in a Nashville neighborhood. May 10. Many families in the subdivision had to gut their homes after the unprecedented flooding, which began when more than 15 inches of rain caused the Harpeth River to overflow its banks.

II High School administrators scrambling to reschedule endof-year plans, including graduation. The school’s May 16 graduation had been planned to take place at the Grand Ole Opry House, which sustained serious flood damage, along with the rest of the Opryland entertainment complex. The Opry House will be closed for several months. “I appreciate everyone’s flexibility and good humor during these troubling times, wrote JPII headmaster Faustin Weber in an e-mail update to the school community. “I hope students will use this unexpected time off to help out neighbors or friends who need their help to get out from under floodwaters.” When the water began to rise in Will Mix’s West Nashville subdivision May 2, he was helping neighbors move furniture to higher ground. “Then it started getting really bad . . . we had to swim people out on our backs,” said Mix, a senior at Father Ryan High School. Mix and others spent the

day rescuing neighbors, helping them escape as the overflowing Harpeth River gushed into the streets and into the first floor of many houses. With Mix was neighbor Stuart Magness, an administrator at Father Ryan. “There’s a whole lot of damage here,” Magness said, “but the neighborhood has pulled together, and people are taking care of each other.” Nearby in the River Plantation subdivision, families were evacuated early May 2 as the floodwaters rose. Around 7 a.m., “we threw a few things in a bag and left,” said Paula Proctor, director of pastoral activities at St. Henry Church. Proctor and her husband, Al, were able to return to their home May 3, but it was a devastating sight. All of the living room furniture had been tossed around by the water, family heirlooms stood warped, a thick layer of mud covered the floors, and the smell of mold already permeated the house. “This was going to be our retirement home,” said Paula

our parents, I have had nothing but extremely positive comments and a lot of people stepping forward wanting to help in any way they can with the transition,” said Mr. Storey. “Our alumni community experienced the sisters over the years, but we haven’t. It’s exciting news for them. It’s something they have been wanting for years.” Some Notre Dame students have met Dominican Sisters at vocation retreats, but seeing them every day in the school hallways and classrooms will be a new experience. “We’ve had visits with the sisters over the years for our vocation retreats, and the talks or programs they do are always some of the best-reviewed by our students,” said Mr. Storey. “I think the students are intrigued

The Notre Dame fund will help support improvements to the convent where the four women religious will live. St. Cecilia Dominicans are returning to the high school this fall after a 37-year absence. HOME FOR THE SISTERS

with the sisters. They’re excited about the opportunity to interact with them.” One group of students will not have that chance, however. “Some of the seniors are disappointed they’re not going to have the opportunity for that interaction this year,” he said. Notre Dame is contacting local donors about the Dominican

Sisters’ fund as well as some 5,000 past and present school parents, alumni, and friends in the community who have been connected to the school in some way, said Mr. Storey. He added that he hopes ETC readers outside the Chattanooga area will support the fund. “We will also be putting information

COURTESY OF GAYLE SCHOENBORN

The next Marriage Encounter weekend is scheduled for Aug. 27 through 29 at the Hilton Garden Inn in West Knoxville. To register, contact John or Manuela Ptacek at 865-531-1719 or celebrate-love@earthlink. net, or visit www.loveinthesmokies.org. For more information, contact John or Anne Wharton at 423-5811815 or ACW193@bellsouth.net. The next Engaged Encounter weekend in the diocese will be held July 16 through 18 at the Magnuson Hotel in Sweetwater. To register, call Mike or Charla Haley at 865-220-0120. For more information on Engaged Encounter, e-mail Paul or Pam Schaffer at Calendar continued on page 9

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MAY 23, 2010

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The Serra Club of Greater Chattanooga meets on second and fourth Mondays at the Chattanooga Choo Choo. Meetings begin with Mass at 11:40 a.m. celebrated by club chaplain Father George Schmidt, with lunch and a speaker following. Visit www. serrachatta.org for more information.

Proctor, 54. The Proctors had planned to pay off their condo in less than 10 years, but now, she said, “I can’t imagine what we’ll do.” Proctor was thankful she was able to recover almost all of her photos, yearbooks, and other sentimental possessions, which were upstairs and undamaged. Downstairs, she said, “was stuff we don’t need and never used, just stuff.” When she returned to her home, she said, “all I want to do is get my memories out.” Father Ryan senior Alex Wawa spent the day May 4 at River Plantation, helping anyone who needed it. His home wasn’t damaged in the floods, he said, and with school closed again, “I felt compelled to help.” Magness said he was proud of his students “who have really, truly stepped up to the plate” to help out during the flood recovery. ■

COURTESY OF GAYLE SCHOENBORN

The next “Picture of Love” engaged-couples retreat will be held from 7 to 10 p.m. Friday, June 11, and 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, June 12, at St. Thérèse of Lisieux Church in Cleveland. This marriage-preparation retreat is a supplement to couples’ marriage formation with their parish priest and is designed to help couples gain a better understanding of the joys and challenges of living the sacrament of matrimony in their day-to-day lives. Cost is $135 per couple and includes meals. The retreat certificate is good for a $60 discount on a marriage license. To register or learn more, contact Marian Christiana of the diocesan Office of Marriage Preparation and Enrichment at 423-892-2310 or mchristiana@ dioknox.org. St. Jude in Chattanooga will host a Picture of Love retreat Nov. 5 and 6.

CNS PHOTO/RICK MUSACCHIO, TENNESSEE REGISTER

camps this summer. From June 7 through 11, the school will offer a football camp, a “Stepping up to Kindergarten” camp, and a music camp. Art camps are scheduled in July, with separate ones for older and younger students, as well as a volleyball camp. Call the school at 423-622-1481 or visit bit.ly/aTQ9eY for details.

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in parish bulletins over the next few weeks, and I think our next step is [to reach] people outside of the diocese who want to support this ministry,” he said. To contribute to or learn more about the Dominican Sisters’ Annual Fund, call the high school at 423624-6418, extension 1000, or visit myndhs.com. ■

Chattanooga schools present gift to Bishop Stika Bishop Richard F. Stika celebrated an all-schools Mass at Sts. Peter and Paul Church in Chattanooga during the recent Catholic Schools Week for students of Notre Dame High School and Our Lady of Perpetual Help and St. Jude schools. At left, he holds high a gift he received from the three schools, a copy of an advertisement titled “Catholic Schools: The Gift of a Lifetime.” With the bishop are Father Augustine Idra, AJ (left), spiritual director at Notre Dame, and Father Jim Vick, pastor of OLPH.

TH E E A S T TE N N E S S E E C ATH OLI C

PRIESTS

Q and A with seminarian Scott Russell

BY MARGARET HUNT

‘Discernment doesn’t stop’ Father George Schmidt remains open to his calling every day because God ‘might change his mind.’

ather George E. Schmidt Jr. has been the pastor of Sts. Peter and Paul Parish in Chattanooga since 1986. He is a native of Tracy City. His family moved to Chattanooga when he was young, and he attended Notre Dame School from second through 12th grade. He graduated from Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans and was ordained at Sts. Peter and Paul by Bishop Joseph A. Durick on Jan. 24, 1970. His father, George Schmidt Sr., was a cartographer with TVA, and his mother, Maude Schmidt, converted to Catholicism after her children were born. Father Schmidt has two younger siblings, Warren Schmidt and Martha Skelly.

yourself abreast because it’s a fast-changing world we live in. So you can never think you’re at the point that you’re not going to have to learn something new.

You’ve been a priest for 40 years. What are your thoughts on your years in the priesthood? People say, “How do you know all that?” I say, “I got most of my knowledge as an administrator from the university of hard knocks.” One of the great, fun parts is that you have to stay flexible. When teenagers ask what I like about being a priest, I say the variety. If you’re celebrating Mass you have a different worship role than the person sitting in the pew, but you each have a role to play in the worship of God, and I think you need to keep that in mind. [A priest] can’t have the attitude that celebrating Mass or doing weddings or funerals or baptisms is work: that’s not healthy. What helps you maintain your energy? One thing I’m doing is getting eight hours of bed rest a day, and I have to be religious about that, or I won’t have the energy I need. I remember one time I went to a family’s house where my predecessor who was associate pastor had gone, and I didn’t take my guitar because I didn’t have one. He had been a guitarist. About 10 o’clock I said to them, “I really had a good time, and I hope you invite me back,” and the gentleman said, “But Father So-and-So always stayed until three in the morning.” I said, “Well, I can’t do that.” About a year later that priest left the priesthood, and I thought, Well, 14

DEACON PATRICK MURPHY-RACEY

Father George E. Schmidt Jr.

hours a day for 40 years is better than 16 hours a day for five years, but everybody has to do that differently. Does lay involvement help you in your ministry as a priest? People who are confined to home or are in the hospital receive the sacraments much more frequently [because of lay involvement]. Someone is going to visit them and take them Holy Communion. Obviously, if they want the sacrament of the sick, I’m the one who has to do that, but when individuals are suffering in one way or another and are unable to come to church, lay ministers enable them to have contact with their parish. Lay ministry helps the ministry of the Church be brought to people who are not capable of coming to church themselves. I think a lot of the needs of our parishioners wouldn’t be met if I were the only one who was ministering to them because there wouldn’t be any way for me to do all of those things. What has helped you most spiritually in your priesthood? Two groups of people help: first of all, my brother priests. There are some issues and questions I only feel comfortable sharing with a brother priest. They can give advice and direction and that kind of thing. It is also very important to have lay friends. You need both because there are certain things I wouldn’t think of discussing with lay people, yet there are other things I can discuss with lay people and find out what the laity is thinking. You certainly have to keep

What’s your favorite part of being a priest? I don’t want to say there’s a favorite. The thing I really enjoy is worshiping with people. What would you say to a young man who believes he might have a vocation? I think God is calling you to do something, and you have to identify what that is, if that’s the case, and one of the ways you do that is through these discernment programs that are available. I remember Father Francis Schilling, who taught me in high school, wanted to know whether I’d ever thought about going to the seminary. I said, “Yes, I think all young Catholic guys have thought about going,” and he said, “I think you ought to go.” I said, “No, I’m already registered in school, and I’m going to be a pharmacist.” He said, “George, the only way you can find out for sure whether God wants you to be a priest is to go to the seminary. You’ll learn through your classes and through spiritual direction and spiritual conferences and all of that whether God wants you to be a priest.” I think it has to be about trying to find what the Lord wants you to do, and that’s going to require discernment. Discernment doesn’t stop when you go to the seminary. The other thing we have to take into account is that even though I believe strongly that I’m doing what God wants me to do today, he might change his mind, and he might want me to be doing something else next year. I’ve got to always be open to what the Lord wants—so the discerning process never ends. You have to always be doing that because it’s the Lord who does the calling, and he’s not limited to one call per person. He’s not limited to one thing that people do. So you’ve got to allow the Lord to be Lord, which requires you always to be discerning. ■

Mrs. Hunt is administrative assistant for the diocesan Media Office.

Peacemaking Ulster Project needs host families BY DA N M CW I L L I AMS

he Ulster Project of Knoxville is putting out the call for families to host a Northern Ireland teen for a month this summer. Eight teens ages 14 to 16— four Catholics and four Protestants—and two adult counselors will arrive for their annual visit June 25 and leave July 23. A host family must have a teen of the same age, sex, and faith as the visiting teen; e.g., if the Northern Ireland teen is a Catholic girl, the host family must have a Catholic girl in the same 14to-16 age group living in the house. As of May 18, the project still needed three boy families and two girl families to host. And it doesn’t even have to be for a full month, although that’s the preferred option. “We’re also being flexible—if someone is interested in hosting for a two-week period, we are willing to work with people’s schedules,” said Barbara

TH E E A S T TE N N E S S E E C AT H OL IC

O’Brien, secretary for the Ulster Project of Knoxville. Ulster Project International was founded in 1974 by the Rev. Kerry Waterstone, a Church of Ireland priest. Its mission is “to help young, Christian-based potential leaders from Northern Ireland and the United States to become peacemakers by providing a safe environment to learn by practicing the skills needed to unite people when differences divide them.” Mrs. O’Brien and her husband, Dr. Patrick O’Brien— who are parishioners of St. John Neumann in Farragut— have been involved in the project for more than a decade. “We got involved in 1999 when my oldest daughter wanted to participate,” said Mrs. O’Brien. “Having roots in Ireland, we decided it might be a good experience. We hosted one girl each year in ’99 and 2000, and then we hosted another

teenager in 2007.” The Ulster Project changes lives for the better, and in some cases not just in the peacemaking effort. “My oldest daughter is now married to someone from Belfast whom she met when she did a semester abroad in Belfast at Queens University, and I think it was because of her involvement with the Ulster Project that led her to want to study in Northern Ireland,” said Mrs. O’Brien. “Being involved in this program can change people’s lives, and you can actively help the peace process by showing these teens that it’s okay to be a different faith, that we all can get along. That’s something they don’t always see where they live.” The 14-16 age group was selected for a purpose. “They’re at a good age because they are still deciding what to do in life,” said Mrs. O’Brien. “They’re getting

BY DA N MCW I L L I A MS

cott Russell just completed his Pre-Theology I year at St. Meinrad School of Theology in Indiana. A former student at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, he is the son of John and Pam Russell of Clinton. His home parish is St. Bridget in Dayton.

As a seminarian, what has been the hardest thing to adjust to? I have had to get readjustScott Russell ed to being a student again after being out for six years, getting used to the set schedule at the seminary instead of the previously unpredictable work I had before, and establishing a more steady prayer life.

What is your most challenging course in seminary and why? Improving my writing skills to the level they were in college has been my biggest challenge. It had been just over six years since I was in college at UTC, and my writing skills were not at the graduate level. So the classes requiring papers this past fall semester were the more difficult ones.

What is your favorite course and why? Liturgical theology. I learned a lot in that class about the history of the liturgy from the beginning of Christianity to current times. There are many things I now understand better. Knowing the history of events that brought about the changes in the liturgy will make me better able to flow with the changes that are to come.

What do you most look forward to in your future life as a priest? Service to the people of God. Service has always been a goal of my life, and in leading people to a stronger faith, I am achieving that in the most important way possible. Whether this service is through celebrating the Eucharist with them, ministering to the sick or the poor, or leading others to faith through catechesis, I will be doing the work of God that Christ directed us all to do.

Who has inspired you? My primary inspiration has, of course, been Jesus Christ. Through his work we see what it is we are called to do in service to the Church and one another. The priests who have inspired me while in the seminary have been Father Jim Vick and Father Sam Sturm. Their interaction with the parishioners has helped me see the interaction they have with their spiritual family of the Church.

How old were you when you first considered the priesthood? I was in my early 20s when I first started thinking about the priesthood at any memorable level. Over the years I have had different relatives and friends mention that they always thought I would be a priest, and I would generally laugh off the comment. It was not until about two years ago that I really opened my heart to the calling I felt I was hearing. It was then that I began to feel the peace that comes with following God’s will and not my own.

What about you has changed the most as a seminarian? One of the biggest changes has been a more consistent prayer life, and I’ve felt much more at peace at this stage in my life than I have in many years. Since beginning this journey, I have felt that all the work I have done in the past has been steering me in this direction to use my skills for the church.

Along with their prayers for you, is there another way East Tennessee Catholics can support you? Letters and cards are always appreciated so we can stay connected with others from the diocese. It is at times difficult to feel a part of the diocese when you are so far away. ■ Contact Scott Russell by e-mail at scottrussell80 @gmail.com.

The good we do lives after us— when we remember to make a will.

Only you can divide your own property as you want it divided. A bequest to your church can be a living memorial to the nobility of your life.

Ulster continued on page 8

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MAY 23, 2010

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DEACON PATRICK MURPHY-RACEY

our

ENRICHMENT

Sharing mercy and forgiveness BY M A R I A N CHR I STI ANA

n a recent homily Father Jim Vick, pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in Chattanooga, said God shares his mercy and forgiveness with us so we may share it with others. Who better to share mercy and forgiveness with than our spouse? This month, focus on mercy and forgiveness on your date with your spouse. These Christian virtues may be the most difficult of all to practice. Practicing them means we have the chance to let go of hurt feelings, risk being hurt again, and move on with our life in a loving manner. Practicing mercy and forgiveness can also be very liberating. Let’s take that chance and give our spouse the gifts of mercy and forgiveness by first remembering how our spouse has shown these virtues in response to our large and small imperfections. Here’s my date suggestion for this month: ■ Plan a quiet dinner for two. It doesn’t have to be fancy, just in a quiet location. ■ Begin by thanking God for his unlimited supply of love. Ask him to be with you on this date and help you both practice mercy and forgiveness on a daily basis. ■ Thank each other for all the times your partner has shown mercy and forgiveness, allowing you to experience its healing power in your marriage. ■ Think about how you practice forgiveness with each other. Does saying, “I’m sorry; please forgive me” come easily to you? Share your feelings about that statement. ■ Take turns discussing times when your spouse’s mercy and forgiveness moved you both closer to the marriage you want to have. ■ How has practicing these virtues in your marriage helped you feel God’s unlimited love for you? All couples need to continue to work on developing these virtues. Design a strategy to help you both regularly practice mercy and forgiveness. Let’s make this a life-changing habit and mirror God’s love for the world around us. ■

Mrs. Christiana is the coordinator of the diocesan Marriage Preparation and Enrichment Office.

Ulster continued from page 7

ready to further their education, and the teens they tend to send are the future leaders who will get involved back home. They hope they’ll continue to help find solutions toward reconciliation between the two groups.” “The Troubles” in Northern Ireland have arisen again since the 1999 Belfast Agreement, a.k.a. the Good Friday Agreement. Last year saw the killings of a policeman and two British Army soldiers in separate incidents, and last month a car bomb exploded in the town of Holywood. The Continuity Irish Republican Army claimed responsibility for the officer’s death and the Real IRA for the other two incidents. Although the deaths no longer number in the hundreds annually, as they did in the 1970s, that doesn’t mean the Ulster Project needs to be retired. “Things happen every so often,” said Mrs. O’Brien. “There is what they would call a peace at present, but still every so often there is a group that will set a bomb somewhere. “We’ve gotten to know people over there, and every two years they have an international conference where all the [project coordinators] in the United States and Northern Ireland gather. Every time we meet, the people in the United States are saying, ‘Do we need to continue this project? There’s peace in Northern Ireland.’ Overwhelmingly, everyone from Northern Ireland says that we need it more now than ever.” The violence may have subsided, but prejudices have not. “The hardest thing is to change people’s mindset and to get them thinking that it’s okay for us to live together,” said Mrs. O’Brien, “that the Catholics and the Protestants can get along and live in the same town in the same city and not have the violence and prejudice.” While in Knoxville the teens will participate in a variety of activities and service projects such as a pancake breakfast and a car wash. “They really enjoy all the activities we plan for them, and it’s a very busy month,” said Mrs. O’Brien. “They love being in warm weather because Northern Ireland is typically not very warm. They love to swim in warm water.” Successful fundraising has helped the Ulster Project of Knoxville cover the expenses of the teens’ visit. “We are continually fundraising because whatever we make, we spend,” said Mrs. O’Brien. “It’s kind of expensive when you’re purchasing tickets to white-water rafting, Dollywood, food and gas, and all the different activities, but we do have enough money at this point. Now our main concern is that we don’t yet have the families we need.” To learn more or download a host-family application, visit theulsterproject.com. Contact Mrs. O’Brien at HoopsOB@chartertn.net. ■ 8

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MAY 23, 2010

life and

DIGNITY

BY PAUL SIMONEAU

Angels and justice God blesses us with angelic companions for our pilgrim journey.

In the spring of 1916 an angel appeared to three young shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal, with the greeting, “Fear not, I am the Angel of Peace. Pray with me.” Over the course of two more visits that year, he prepared the children for the visit of Mary, Queen of Peace, teaching them the importance of prayer and the Eucharist and to “make everything a sacrifice” in order to “bring peace to our country in this way.” These angelic lessons, and the assistance of angels in general, are an essential part of any program of justice that seeks true peace. Ever since injustice made its advent in the Garden of Eden through a fallen angel, God has given each person a heavenly companion to accompany him on his earthly pilgrimage, “to light and guard, to rule and guide” (from the “Angel of God” prayer). God does so, as St. Paul reminds us, because “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). As St. Chromatius stated, man “in his weakness could not be safe amid so many forceful attacks of that enemy if he were not strengthened by the help of the angels.”

The existence of angels, according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, is “a truth of faith” (No. 328), which we profess in the Nicene Creed when we acknowledge God as Creator “. . . of all that is, seen and unseen.” Angels, servants and messengers of God, are pure spirits and have no physical bodies, though artistic depictions often do more to prejudice than instruct our understanding of them. Yet “the whole life of the Church benefits from the mysterious and powerful help of angels” (CCC, No. 334), and we should always implore their help in our lives and works of justice. In God’s threefold creation there lies above man the spiritual realm of the angels, which is beyond our earthly grasp. Beneath man’s feet lies the purely material realm, of which we have been given dominion. But man is unique in God’s creation as a composite of what lies above and below. As Catholic writer Dr. Peter Kreeft states on his website, “Man is the only being that is both angel and animal, both spirit and body. He is the lowest spirit and the highest body, the stupidest angel and the smartest animal, the low point of the hierarchy of minds and the high point of the hierarchy of bodies.” Properly understood, justice is both a spiritual and corporal expression of the giving of one’s due to both God and to neighbor (cf. CCC, No. 1807). As laborers in the Lord’s vineyard, we need the help not only of our fellow man but also our guardian angel. “How great the dignity of

the soul,” St. Jerome said, “since each one has from his birth an angel commissioned to guard it.” God also blesses families, communities, parishes, dioceses, and even nations with special heavenly protectors. We should all reflect upon God’s instructions to the Israelites to heed and obey the angel he gave them to guide and guard them during their desert journey (Exodus 23:20-22). Indeed, we need to be ever-vigilant with our angel because our “opponent, the devil, is prowling like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). During a period of time marked by the afflictions of poverty and famine, wars, and the threat of nuclear weapons, Pope Paul VI said, “What are the Church’s greatest needs at the present time? Don’t be surprised at our answer and don’t write it off as simplistic or even superstitious: one of the Church’s greatest needs is to be defended against the evil we call the devil. . . . This matter of the devil and of the influence he can exert on individuals as well as on communities, entire societies, or events, is a very important chapter of Catholic doctrine which should be studied again, although it is given little attention today” (general audience, Nov. 15, 1972). To combat evil, we need “moral commitment, a fundamental option for the Gospel, humility, and prayer” (Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy, No. 217), which is the essential message of Fatima (bit.ly/FatimaMessage). With a traditional play upon the words of Pope Paul VI, “If you want peace . . . ,” seek your guardian angel’s help. ■ Mr. Simoneau directs the diocesan Justice and Peace Office.

Cardinal Rigali to speak at Diocesan Day on Aug. 21 BY DA N M C WI L L I A M S

ishop Richard F. Stika’s hospitalization last August canceled Diocesan Day, but the annual event returns this summer with both the bishop and longtime friend Cardinal Justin F. Rigali scheduled to speak. Sacred Heart Cathedral will host Diocesan Day 2010 on Saturday, Aug. 21. The program will begin at 9:30 a.m. and end at 3:30 p.m. The cardinal, the archbishop of Philadelphia and a member and former chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Pro-Life Activities Committee, will speak twice for this year’s event. In 2009 he would have been able to give only one talk. “Cardinal Rigali will give the keynote as well as an afternoon reflection on the pontificate of Pope John Paul II, with a question-andanswer period,” said Paul Simoneau, director of the Diocesan Office of Justice and Peace and the coordinator of Diocesan Day. “The timing is appropriate because there’s hope that John Paul will be beatified this October.” Bishop Stika will be

CNS PHOTO/GREGORY A. SHEMITZ

marriage

Cardinal Justin Rigali, the archbishop of Philadelphia, attends the installation of Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York in this April 15, 2009, file photo.

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

the homilist for the Diocesan Day Mass, which will begin at 11:30 a.m., and he will provide a reflection after the lunch break. “Diocesan Day represents the bishop’s preeminent day to reach out to the Catholic faithful,” said Mr. Simoneau. “[By August] he’ll have been here almost a year and a half, and I think this gives him a good opportunity to share his observations and thoughts.” Last year’s Diocesan

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Day theme was “You Have But One Teacher,” from Matthew 23:8. That might still be the case this year unless Cardinal Rigali chooses to base his keynote talk on the readings for the memorial of Pope St. Pius X. “If the Mass readings are for the memorial, the theme will be ‘Feed My Sheep,’ but if he chooses the readings of the day, it will be Matthew 23:8,” said Mr. Simoneau. “Whatever theme is chosen will support the focus of

the day: the teaching role of the bishop in union with the Holy Father. “I think it will be an interesting message and that the faithful will really enjoy the day.” The event will begin a half-hour later than normal to allow travelers from the farther reaches of the diocese more time to reach Knoxville. Proceeds of the day will benefit Catholic Charities’ Pregnancy Help Services as well as Catholic Relief Services. Mr. Simoneau encourages East Tennessee Catholics to register during “the early-bird special,” which will save them $5 and make matters easier for Diocesan Day organizers. Registration is $20 through July 21 and $25 from July 22 through Aug. 16 (lunch included). Registration after Aug. 16 costs $25 but does not include lunch. Student registration is $10. Priests and religious may attend free but must register. Register online at dioknox.org (select Events, then Event Registration) or visit bit.ly/DiocesanDay 2010. For details, call Mr. Simoneau at 865584-3307. ■

TH E E A S T TE N N E S S E E C ATH OLI C

catholic

YOUTH

from the

PARACLETE

BY VONNIE SPICER

What to do this summer oon classrooms will be empty and school halls dim and silent. Parents will be looking for activities to occupy children home for summer break. Think about sharing some great classic videos. Many of us can never think of St. Bernadette without remembering Jennifer Jones portraying the saint in the 1943 movie The Song of Bernadette. The film was nominated for 12 Academy Awards and won four, including Best Actress and Best Score. 20th Century Fox released the DVD in 2003. Recent remakes of Bernadette’s story cannot match the luminosity and reverence of this original. Another classic that should not be missed is The Miracle of Fatima, which debuted in 1952. The movie— though somewhat flawed by significant departures from the facts—is saved by the remarkable acting of the children who portray the three Portuguese visionaries. Released on DVD in 2006 by Warner Home Video, it is another favorite to share with a new generation. In December 2009 Ignatius Press published another account of the 1917 Fatima events in The 13th Day. Based on the memories of Sister Lucia, the oldest of the children, and other eyewitness accounts, this film adheres more closely to the histori-

COURTESY OF MEGAN LOCKE

Case closed: KCHS mock-trial team has strong season The Knoxville Catholic High School mock-trial team recently finished one of its best seasons yet. This year’s case involved the plaintiff’s suing the defendant for a breach of contract and loss of profits because of cracking in a concrete slab at a distribution center. The A and B teams competed against six other Knox County schools in two local competitions in February. After finishing fourth last year, KCHS improved its standing by sweeping the competition this year. The A team finished first and the B team second after they competed against each other in the final round of competition. In addition, Kathleen Connelly was named best attorney, and Marek Twarzynski won best witness. The A team then went on to the state competition in Nashville on March 19 and 20. The team competed in four rounds against 17 other teams from across the state. In separate rounds both the KCHS plaintiff side and the KCHS defense side won their desired verdict. In addition, Marek won an individual award for the best defense witness in the state. Tori Proctor was named Knoxville Catholic’s MVP.

Knoxville Catholic students take part in Pro-Life Oratory Contest ophomores John Cortese and Libby Sullivan of Knoxville Catholic High School participated in the 11th annual ProLife Oratory Contest sponsored by the Knox County chapter of Tennessee Right to Life. Both made presentations on the subject of abortion April 13 at Calvary Baptist Church. On the same evening, two more students from Knoxville Catholic, Alexis Davis and Mary Armitage, participated in the art portion of the contest. ■

COURTESY OF LESLIE HUNSE

Oratory contest participants (from left) include third-place finisher Abigail Kouns, Libby Sullivan and John Cortese of KCHS, Alicia Zanoni, runner-up Joshua McDonald, Skylar Grieco of Farragut High School, and contest winner Dale Sikkema. Dale, Joshua, Abigail, and Alicia are homeschooled, Alicia through Berean Christian School in Knoxville. TOP SPEAKERS

Twin talents Our Lady of Perpetual Help School in Chattanooga recently held a talent show sponsored by the Creative Arts Guild. At right, seventh-grader Packy Mullin plays guitar as twin sister Gaby sings “Hey, Soul Sister.” Families were invited to a meal before the start of the show. About 40 students participated in the event.

cal record. Two less familiar but worthy classics also published as DVDs include Miracle of Marcellino (VCI Entertainment, 2004) and The Reluctant Saint (Ignatius Press, 2010). Miracle of Marcellino, which won two honors at the Cannes Film Festival, debuted in 1955. It is the heartwarming story of an abandoned orphan left to be raised in a monastery, where he encounters a miraculous friend hidden in an attic. In The Reluctant Saint, Maximilian Schell stars as St. Joseph of Cupertino, the humble Franciscan who loved animals and simplicity, did poorly in academics, and became known as “the flying saint.” For the very young, for whom the preceding DVDs may be too intense, Creative Communications offers animated versions: Bernadette: The Princess of Lourdes and The Day the Sun Danced: The True Story of Fatima. The Paraclete also offers fun and instructive craft activities. Illuminated Ink offers kits that, with some parental help, teach the art of rosary cording or guide in the creation of a small, decorative Marian grotto. We hope you have a good summer! ■ Call the store at 865588-0388 or 800-3332097.

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ceeknoxville@gmail.com or visit www.rc.net/ knoxville/cee.

COURTESY OF KATHY SUMRELL

A Seekers of Silence Contemplative Saturday Morning will be held Saturday, June 12, at Blessed John XXIII Catholic Center in Knoxville. The topic will be “Our Experiences in Meditation and Contemplative Practice,” presented by the Seekers of Silence. Coffee and tea will be served at 8:30 a.m.; the workshop will run from 9 a.m. to noon. Bring a bag lunch. To RSVP, call 865-523-7931. Holy Resurrection Ruthenian Byzantine Catholic Mission has Divine Liturgy celebrations at 3:30 p.m. Sundays at Holy Ghost Church, 1041 N. Central St. in Knoxville. Call Father Thomas O’Connell at 865256-4880. The St. Thomas the Apostle Ukrainian Catholic Mission celebrates Divine Liturgy at 10 a.m. Sundays in the chapel at the Chancery. Call Father Richard Armstrong at 865-584-3307.

COURTESY OF KATHIE ETHERTON

Mass in the extraordinary form (“traditional Latin”) is celebrated at 1:30 p.m. each Sunday at Holy Ghost Church in Knoxville, at 3 p.m. on first and third Sundays at St. Thérèse of Lisieux Church in Cleveland, and at 3 p.m. on second and fourth Sundays at St. Joseph the Worker in Madisonville. Visit www.knoxlatinmass.net for details.

Marine speaks to students at St. Jude, his alma mater Lt. Col. Dan Coombes of the U.S. Marine Corps, a graduate of St. Jude School in Chattanooga, talks to third- and fourth-grade students during a recent visit to his alma mater. Col. Coombes thanked the students for their help in collecting five boxes of school supplies for children affected by the war in Afghanistan. The Marine’s nephew, Gabe Hall, is a third-grader at St. Jude. Gabe’s teacher, Monica Provenzano, also taught Col. Coombes. The colonel is a member of the reserves but volunteered to return to active duty last year. He lives in Doswell, Va., with his wife and child. Third-grade Brownie Troop 88 at St. Jude recently sent a box of cards and treats to soldiers. TH E EA S T TE N N E S S E E C AT H OL IC

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Upcoming events for Catholic Singles of Greater Knoxville (40 and over) include the following: ■ Wednesday, May 26: Ronald McDonald House service project. Call Donna T. at 865-531-3839. ■ Tuesdays, June 1 to July 27: Free line-dance lessons, 7 p.m. Eve Yeagle will teach lessons in the Sacred Heart Cathedral School gym. E-mail llmorrison99@yahoo.com. ■ Friday, June 4: Fifth-anniversary celebration for Bob and Kathy, who met through the singles group. A Mass at 7:30 p.m. at All Saints Church will be followed by a party in the parish hall (do not bring a gift). RSVP to Kathy at 548-8209 or kaernst@nxs.net. ■ Saturday, June 5: Knoxville Firefighters Association benefit concert at the Civic Coliseum with Lee Greenwood and The Van Lears, 8 p.m. Meet in the back mall area at 7:30. Tickets are $25 and must be purchased in advance. Call 865-546-9628 to order. Tickets are not available at the door. ■ MAY 23, 2010

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WIRE

As ‘the pill’ turns 50, its promises remain illusory B Y N A NCY F R AZI E R O ’B R I E N

WASHINGTON (CNS)—Fifty years ago this May, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave its approval for the use of a combination of the hormones progesterone and estrogen, which the pharmaceutical company Searle said would prevent pregnancy 99.7 percent of the time. Known simply as “the pill,” the development was heralded as the liberation of women from male domination, which would lead to fewer divorces and a steep decline in the number of unwanted pregnancies and abortions. “It’s very easy to find summaries from that time of everything that was promised,” said Helen Alvare, an associate professor of law at George Mason University School of Law in Arlington, Va. “There would be greater equality for women; they would no longer be essentially slaves to their biology,” she added. The pill “was supposed to reduce unwanted births and the number of people looking for abortions and to increase the well-being of children because only wanted children would be born.” But it didn’t turn out that way. In a talk called “Contraception: Why Not?,” which has been reprinted or downloaded more than a million times since it was first delivered in 1994, moral theologian Janet Smith said “it was not a stupid expectation” in the 1960s “that contraceptives would make for better marriages, fewer unwanted pregnancies, fewer abortions.” “But I think the cultural evidence today shows absolutely the contrary,” said Smith, now a professor of moral theology who holds the Father Michael J. McGivney chair in life ethics at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit. Plenty of statistics prove her point: ■ As the use of the pill became more widespread, the divorce rate doubled, from 25 percent of all U.S. marriages in 1965 to 50 percent in 1975. ■ Although the percentage of pregnancies that were “unintended” in 1960 is hard to pinpoint, 6 percent of white children and 22 percent of black children were born out of wedlock that year, Smith says. By the mid-2000s, one-third of white births, 70 percent of black births, and half of Hispanic births were to unwed mothers. The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy says more than three million of the 6.4 million pregnancies in the United States annually are unplanned; about 1.2 million of those result in abortions each year. ■ Although abortion wasn’t legal throughout the United States until 12 years after the advent of the pill, the availability of birth control has not reduced abortions, which totaled more than 45 million between 1973 and 2005. The number of abortions slightly decreased each year in the 2000s, but few credit the pill for the decline. The Guttmacher Institute says about 54 percent of women who have abortions used a method of contraception the month they became pregnant. ■ The well-being of children has declined by a variety of measures, from depression to nutrition to the number living in poverty and the number experiencing child abuse or neglect, according to the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics. The belief persists, however, that the pill has had a positive influence on the lives of children, families, and especially women. Fifty-six percent of respondents to a CBS News poll in early May said they thought the pill had improved women’s lives, although more men (59 percent) thought so than women (54 percent). Half of the respondents also thought the birthcontrol pill had improved American family life, but opinions differed widely, depending on the respondents’ religion. Only 38 percent of Catholics and 41 percent of white evangelicals thought the pill had improved family life, compared with 52 percent of mainline Protestants who thought so. The margin of error for the CBS News poll was plus or minus 4 percentage points. Alvare, who served for many years as the U.S. bishops’ chief pro-life spokeswoman, said that even though women today have “access to places and positions that once belonged to men,” that “isn’t a full measure of women’s equality and dignity,” she added. “They are now in all the places where men were, but they have never been seen more as sex objects than they are now.” The major disconnect caused by the arrival of the pill has been a loss of “the idea that men and women make babies,” Alvare said. “That whole package of love, the intimate sharing of life, was broken apart by the pill,” she said. And as technological advances in artificial reproduction are made, “the idea that God plays a role in procreation” is lost in favor of the idea that “technology does or the failure to use it does,” she added. The Catholic Church’s teaching that artificial birth control is morally wrong was reaffirmed by Pope Paul VI in 1968 in the encyclical Humane Vitae (“Of Human Life”). ■ Copyright 2010 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops 10

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MAY 23, 2010

Crowds gather to support the pope The Church is still ‘a place of hope,’ Benedict says. By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS)—An estimated 120,000 people converged on St. Peter’s Square to express support for Pope Benedict XVI in dealing with the clerical sexual-abuse scandal. Thanking the crowd for their presence and affection May 16, Pope Benedict said, “The true enemy to fear is sin, the spiritual evil that unfortunately sometimes infects even members of the Church.” “We Christians are not afraid of the world, even if we have to be careful of its seductions. Rather we must fear sin and for that reason be strongly rooted in God and solid in goodness, love, and service,” he said at his weekly Sunday blessing. With trust in the Lord and a renewed commitment to following him, he said, the Church can become holier by going through “the trials” it is facing. The Italian National Consultation of Lay Groups, a Catholic organization, spearheaded the effort to bring Catholics to the square to join the pope and show their support. A variety of Catholic organizations and movements, labor unions, and political groups joined them, filling St. Peter’s Square and spilling onto the adjacent streets. Paola Dal Toso, secretary of the national consultation, told Vatican Radio that participants wanted to pray for the victims of sexual abuse but also “to recall all the good that many priests do, which does not make the news.”

CNS PHOTO/PAUL HARING

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‘STRONGLY ROOTED IN GOD’ Young people cheer Pope Benedict XVI after he leads the “Regina Coeli” prayer at the Vatican on May 16. Some 120,000 people gathered in a show of support for the pontiff.

Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco of Genoa, president of the Italian bishops’ conference, led the crowd in prayer before the pope arrived at his studio window to address the gathering. “Almighty and eternal God, comfort of the afflicted and support of the troubled, hear the cry of those who are in pain so that they would find justice and comfort,” the cardinal prayed. He also prayed that abuse victims would return to participating in the life of a “purified” Church so that they could “rediscover the infinite love of Christ.” In a rare exception, Vatican officials allowed the organizers to hang banners from the colonnade surrounding the square; many proclaimed TOGETHER WITH THE POPE. WE YOUNG PEOPLE ARE WITH YOU, THE PEOPLE OF ROME WITH THE POPE and dozens

of other signs, banners, balloons, and

flags expressed love for the pontiff. Salvatore Martinez, president of the Italian Renewal in the Holy Spirit movement, told Vatican Radio that Catholics recognize that some in the Church have seriously sinned, “but the Church is alive, the Church is still standing. The laity and the movements are expressions of it through their vitality, their beauty and through the strength of the witness they give each day.” Andrea Olivero, president of an Italian Christian workers’ group, told the radio that members of his group appreciated the pope’s bluntness in recognizing that some priests have hurt children and betrayed the trust placed in them. The abuse scandal, he said, “should be experienced as a cross by all of us. We cannot allow our pastors to be the only ones who live with this

suffering, which is a suffering that affects the entire Church.” At the same time, Olivero said, all Catholics must make a renewed commitment to living their faith and to helping the poor, the weak, and the hurting. Pope Benedict also referred to the scandal when he wrote to participants in a large ecumenical gathering in Germany. The ecumenical Kirchentag, which ended May 16, had focused on the theme of hope. The pope said that at a time when the world’s people are in need of hope, some people are asking whether the Church really is a place to find it. “In the past few months we repeatedly have had to face news that could attempt to remove the joy from the Church, news that obscures it as a place of hope,” he said. Using the words of a Bible parable, the pope said that people may be tempted to ask God whether he sowed the seeds of his Gospel in good earth. “Weeds exist even in the heart of the Church and among those whom the Lord has welcomed into his service in a special way. But the light of God has not set, the good grain has not been suffocated by the seed of evil,” the pope said. The Church continues to be a place of hope, he said, because it is the place where people hear the word of God, “which purifies us and shows us the path of faith.” ■ Copyright 2010 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

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survey and highlighted some of the men who will become priests this year. Paul Kubista of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis worked on the PlayStation 3 processor at IBM before entering the seminary. Roy Runkle of the Diocese of Birmingham, Ala., was an aerospace engineer with NASA for 38 years. Gregory A. Rapisarda of the Archdiocese of Baltimore is a widowed deacon with four children, one of whom is a priest. After his ordination he and his son will be the first father–son priests to serve in the archdiocese since its founding. Rapisarda is an older member of the ordination class, but he is not the only widowed deacon in the group. Others are James Reinhart of the Archdiocese of Louisville, Ky., who has been a deacon for 27 years and is a father and grandfather, and D. Mark Hamlet of Austin, Texas, a deacon for 15 years, who was married for 37 years and has six children and 11 grandchildren. Joseph Cretella, 71, who is being ordained by the Archdiocese of Hartford, Conn., www.d ioknox.org

has had a long road to the priesthood. He entered the seminary after high school, left after seven years, volunteered in the Peace Corps for two years, was married for 40 years, and now has three children and seven grandchildren. His wife died three years ago, and he re-entered the seminary in 2008. In the Diocese of Grand Island, Neb., Jerry Wetovick practiced dentistry for 45 years, and Joshua Brown was a firefighter for six years before pursuing the priesthood. In the Diocese of Paterson, N.J., Amadito Flores was a sheriff’s officer before entering the seminary, and Benjamin Williams served as an officer in the U.S. Air Force for 20 years. Nearly one-third of new priests this year were born outside the United States. Lutakome Nsubuga, who is being ordained for the Diocese of Spokane, Wash., traces his vocation back to his native Uganda, where he said his family sacrificed to send him to Catholic boarding schools. Thien Nguyen, being ordained by the Diocese of Davenport, Iowa, was born in

Vietnam and studied economics at the post-graduate level before switching to seminary studies and then coming to the United States. Other ordinands with unique backgrounds include Andrew Budzinski of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Ind., who represented his alma mater, the University of Notre Dame, as its leprechaun mascot, before pursuing a career in radio. Richard Daise of the Diocese of Salina, Kan., attended a one-room schoolhouse for eight years of elementary school. David Price of the Diocese of Colorado Springs, Colo., was not a Catholic when he felt the call to become a Catholic priest. Others said they had left the church temporarily, such as Matthew Book of the Archdiocese of Denver. He dropped out of his high school confirmation program and didn’t return to his faith until he was 24. James Arwady of Detroit describes himself as a “re-vert” to the Catholic faith. ■ Copyright 2010 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops TH E E A S T TE N N E S S E E C ATH OLI C