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News Xavier High School Michael Jackels named new archbishop On April 8, Bishop Michael Jackels was announced as the successor to Archbishop Jerome Hanus of the Archdiocese of Dubuque, Iowa. The change was announced in Washington by Archbishop Maria Vigano, the apostolic nuncio to the United States. Hanus resigned due to health issues that worsened after a traffic accident last year. Hanus served as archbishop for nearly 19 years. His resignation was accepted by Pope Francis shortly after Francis took office. At 72, Hanus was only a few years short of the age of 75, when canon law requires bishops to turn in their resignation. Hanus, a Benedictine, plans to return to life as a monk in Missouri after he leaves Iowa. He agreed to oversee the archdiocese throughout the transitional phase, but his administrative appointments ended April 8. Hanus will remain the apostolic administrator of the Archdiocese of Dubuque until Jackels’ installation on May 30.
On April 18, Xavier High School welcomed Renee Firestone, a Holocaust survivor who outlasted the terrors of Auschwitz. Firestone came to talk to juniors after they studied World War II and the Holocaust in their United States History classes. Firestone lived in Czechoslovakia when the war started. Firestone had an older brother, Frank, and a younger sister, Clara. She was only nine years old when Adolf Hitler was named Chancellor of Germany. Firestone and her family became Hungarians under Hitler’s reign.
Maddie Smith Arts and Entertainment Assistant Emma Hunt Arts and Entertainment Writers Lauren Van Hoeck Payton Janney Meghan Gerke Ashley Pudil
Sports Co-Editors Connor Collins John Richardson Alex Fox Shannon Mulcahey Kyle D’mello Lizzy McWhinney
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Business Hailey Sojka
Distribution Brennan Graeve
The Xpress Bi-weekly Xavier High School 6300 42nd St. NE Cedar Rapids, IA 52411 Volume 15 Issue 14
The new archbishop Michael Jackels. Catholic Diocese of Wichita Photo.
has 216 priests and 91 deacons among four dioceses. Jackels expressed his sadness of leaving the Diocese of Wichita, but said, “In light of Mary’s response to God’s call to be the mother of the Savior, or of the example of Pope Francis who cheerfully took up a new and demanding ministry, how could I not say ‘yes.’” Carolina VonKampen Copy Editor
Holocaust Survivor Renee Firestone speaks
Arts and Entertainment Editor
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Jackels has been bishop of the Wichita Diocese in Kansas since 2005. During his eight years as bishop, Jackels oversaw a massive renovation of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Wichita. Jackels said that it was a great experience working and praying with the priests, religious, and lay faithful of the Diocese of Wichita. Jackels said, “I am confident that I will be able to say the same about the Catholic faithful in the Archdiocese of Dubuque.” Before he was the tenth bishop of Wichita, Jackels worked in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome under Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who later became Pope Benedict. He was ordained a priest in 1981 and was named a Prelate of Honor by Pope John Paul II in 1994. Jackels will leave the Diocese of Wichita and lead the Archdiocese of Dubuque. The Archdiocese of Dubuque includes 168 parishes and over 200,000 Catholics. It
Renee Firestone speaks about surviving the Holocaust. Meghan Gerke Photo.
Under the Anti-Jewish laws, Firestone lost all communications with the outside world due to territorial issues. Firestone’s brother, after graduating from high school, was relocated into a labor camp. The Hungarian Jews were the last Jews to be relocated into concentration camps. In 1942, Firestone was put on a cattle train with her family and 120 other people for a fourday journey to Auschwitz. After reaching Auschwitz, Firestone and her sister were separated from her parents by Josef Mendel, a doctor who performed experiments on the Jewish people. Firestone was separated from her sister after six months at Auschwitz. After going on a death march, she was forced to work in a factory. She was later liberated by a Russian soldier who was secretly a Jew himself. After her liberation she met up with her brother who had met someone that knew their father was in a hospital. He survived a labor camp and four death marches, but died
four months after liberation. In 1994, Steven Spielberg filmed a documentary about five survivors, called The Last Days, featuring Firestone. Spielberg brought her back to Auschwitz to find the archives of her parents and siblings. There she discovered that her sister was murdered after having experiments performed on her, and that her mother never reached camp, but was sent to a gas chamber immediately. “I have not lost hope in humanity, but I am disappointed in humanity. I thought that the Holocaust would would be the last genocide. I have endless hope in this generation to change the world,” Firestone said. Firestone shared the same story at Mount Mercy University and Coe College. She now resides in California and is a part of the Survivor of the Shoah History Foundation. Her story and more information can be found on YouTube or visit her website, sfi.usc.edu/. Hannah Gibbs Opinion Writer