Vírgenes y Santos Exaltación de la Santa Cruz. Septiembre 14 San Pio de Pietrelcina. Septiembre 23 San Gerónimo. Septiembre 30 Santa Teresita del Niño Jesús. Octubre 1 Santos Ángeles de la Guarda. Octubre 2 San Francisco de Asís. Octubre 4 Virgen del Rosario. Octubre 7 Santa Teresa de Jesús. Octubre 15 Día de San Juan Pablo II. Octubre 22 San Antonio Maria Claret. Octubre 24 San Judas Tadeo. Octubre 28
FOREST – Fiesta de San Miguel Gaddis Park, domingo 6 de octubre con misa a las 10h.
GREENWOOD – St. Francis, Fiesta de San Francisco, Domingo 6 de octubre. Se celebrará una misa bilingüe a las 12 p.m., seguida de un potluck parroquial. Todos están invitados a asistir y traer su plato favorito para compartir.
PONTOTOC – St. Christopher, Misa al aire libre en el Tanglefoot Trail Pavillion el 13 de octubre a las 9:30 a.m. con fiesta después de la Misa.
SOUTHAVEN/HERNANDO – El viernes 4 de octubre, no habrá Misa del Viernes Primero del mes aquí en Cristo Rey. El Obispo estará celebrando una Misa por el 150th aniversario de las Hnas. de la Escuela de San Francisco ese dia a las 6pm en la Iglesia Holy Spirit (Hernando). Todos están invitados a la Misa con el Obispo para celebrar el aniversario de la congregación de la hermana Rose.
SOUTHAVEN – Christ the King, Festividad de San Francisco y Bendición de los animales, el domingo 6 de octubre a las 4 p.m. Las mascotas deberán estar con correa o en una jaula.
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Únase a lista de correos electrónicos Mande un texto: MSCATHOLIC a 84576
By Justin McLellan VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The second session of the Synod of Bishops on synodality, set to bring 368 bishops, priests, religious and laypeople to the Vatican, will begin by asking forgiveness for various sins on behalf of all the baptized.
As synod members did before last year’s session, they will spend two days on retreat before beginning work; that period of reflection will conclude Oct. 1 with a penitential liturgy presided over by Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Basilica, the Vatican announced.
This is the official logo for the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops. (CNS photo/courtesy Synod of Bishops)
The liturgy will include time to listen to the testimonies of three people: one who suffered from the sin of abuse, one from the sin of war and third from the sin of indifference to the plight of migrants, according to a Vatican statement announcing the liturgy.
Afterward, “the confession of a number of sins will take place,” said the statement, released Sept. 16. “The aim is not to denounce the sin of others, but to acknowledge oneself as a member of those who, by omission or action, become the cause of suffering and responsible for the evil inflicted on the innocent and defenseless.”
According to the Vatican, the sins confessed will include: sins against peace; sins against creation, sins against Indigenous populations and migrants; the sin of abuse; sins against women, family and youth; the sin of “using doctrine as stones to be hurled”; sins against poverty; and sins against synodality or the lack of listening and communion.
The liturgy is open to all but is specifically geared toward young people, as it “directs the Church’s inner gaze to the faces of new generations,” the Vatican said.
“Indeed, it will be the young people present in the Basilica who will receive the sign that the future of the Church is theirs, and that the request for forgiveness is the first step of a faith-filled and missionary credibility that must be reestablished,” it said.
Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary-general of the synod, said that in addressing young people, the church wants “to communicate to them and to the world that the church is in a dynamic of conversion.”
“After all, this is the path to holiness, not that there is no sin but that we recognize our limits, our weakness, that we are open to conversion, to learning, always with the help of the Lord,” he said.
Presenting details for the upcoming synod session at a news conference Sept. 16, Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, relator general of the synod, said most of the participants would be the same as those who participated in the first assembly, which was held in October 2023, though 25 changes were made for different reasons, such as health problems.
Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York, who participated last year as an alternate delegate of the U.S. bishops’ conference, will not be at the assembly; Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore, who was elected but could not attend in 2023, will take his place as part of the U.S. delegation.
Cardinal Hollerich said that of the 368 voting members, 96 — or just over a quarter — are not bishops. Additionally, he said the number of representatives from other Christian communities participating in the synod without voting privileges increased from 12 to 16 “given the great interest that the sister churches have shown in this synodal journey.”
Jesuit Father Giacomo Costa, special secretary of the synod, said at the news conference that unlike the first session of the synod on synodality’s assembly, which focused on “an awareness and identification of some priorities,” the second session is about “going in-depth” into some of the key points raised during the listening sessions around the world and during the first assembly.
But Cardinal Grech confirmed that some of the more controversial points raised, including about ordaining women to the diaconate, would not be a topic of discussion at the assembly. In March, the Vatican announced that Pope Francis had established study groups to examine those issues and report back to him in 2025. But the groups will share a progress report with the synod members at the beginning of the October assembly.
Whereas the synod assembly produced a synthesis report at the end of its first session in 2023, the 2024 session will produce a final document to be given to the pope.
“To date, there has always been a communication to the people of God on the part of the Holy Father,” Cardinal Grech said in response to a question on whether the pope will issue a post-synodal exhortation after the synod.
Another introduction into this year’s session is the organization of four public “theological-pastoral forums” centered on different topics for a deeper understanding of synodality. The forums, hosted in Rome and open to the public, are titled: “People of God as Subject of the Mission”; “The Role and Authority of the Bishop in a Synodal Church”; “The Mutual Relationship Local Church-Universal Church”; and “The Exercise of the Primacy and the Synod of Bishops.”
The forums are intended to respond to the need to “continue the theological, canonical and pastoral deepening of the meaning of synodality for the different aspects of the Church’s faith and to offer theologians and canonists the opportunity to contribute to the work of the Assembly,” a Vatican statement said.
By Gina Christian (OSV News) — Ahead of Respect Life Month, the pro-life committee chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is urging “a revival of prayer and action” to end abortion and uphold the sanctity of human life.
A statement for the October observance, written by Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Arlington, Virginia, was released by the USCCB Sept. 19 and posted to the website of the USCCB’s Respect Life Month initiative. The effort traces its origins to 1972, just prior to the U.S. Supreme Court rulings on Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, the two 1973 decisions that broadly legalized abortion.
In his message, Bishop Burbidge stressed that “Jesus, truly present in the Eucharist, gives us the fullness of life,” and “calls each of us to respect that gift of life in every human person.”
The bishop pointed to the 10th National Eucharistic Congress, held during July in Indianapolis as part of the National Eucharistic Revival, the U.S. bishops’ three-year effort to rekindle devotion to the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.
Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Arlington, Va., chair of the U.S. Catholic bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, delivers the homily during the opening Mass of the National Prayer Vigil for Life Jan. 19, 2023, at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington. In a statement issued Sept. 19, 2024, for October as Respect Life Month, Bishop Burbidge called for “a revival of prayer and action” to end abortion and uphold the sanctity of human life. (OSV News photo/Bob Roller)
The congress and the Eucharistic processions leading up to it “involved hundreds of thousands of Catholics who will never be the same,” he said. “The revival continues, and is so needed, especially in our efforts to defend human life.”
He quoted a 2013 address by Pope Francis to Catholic medical professionals, in which the pope said that “every child who, rather than being born, is condemned unjustly to being aborted, bears the face of Jesus Christ, bears the face of the Lord, who even before he was born, and then just after birth, experienced the world’s rejection.”
However, “the law and millions of our brothers and sisters have yet to recognize this reality,” said Bishop Burbidge.
Despite the Supreme Court’s June 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, enabling elected officials “to reduce or end abortion … fifty years of virtually unlimited abortion has tragically created a national mindset where many Americans have become comfortable with some amount of abortion,” said Bishop Burbidge. “This allows the abortion industry to continue to provide any amount of abortion.”
Abortion rates actually rose or stayed at pre-Roe levels in the U.S. following the Dobbs decision, which overturned the Roe and Doe rulings.
Globally, there are a total of some 73.3 million abortions each year, according to the Guttmacher Institute — a number about 4 million greater than United Kingdom’s current population, and almost 15 million more than the United Nation’s 2019 crude death rate, or total number of deaths worldwide in a given year.
“Given this challenge, the U.S. bishops have affirmed that, while it is important to address all the ways in which human life is threatened, ‘abortion remains our pre-eminent priority as it directly attacks our most vulnerable brothers and sisters, destroying more than a million lives each year in our country alone,'” said Bishop Burbidge, quoting a 2024 document by the U.S. Bishops on conscience formation and political responsibility for Catholics.
With the U.S. presidential election just weeks away, Bishop Burbidge asked Catholics in the U.S. to “renew our commitment to work for the legal protection of every human life, from conception to natural death, and to vote for candidates who will defend the life and dignity of the human person.”
In addition, he said, “we must call for policies that assist women and their children in need, while also continuing to help mothers in our own communities through local pregnancy help centers and our nationwide, parish-based initiative, Walking with Moms in Need.”
Faithful must “likewise continue to extend the hand of compassion to all who are suffering from participation in abortion,” highlighting the church’s abortion healing ministries, such as Project Rachel.
“Most importantly, we must rededicate ourselves to fervent prayer on behalf of life,” said Bishop Burbidge, who invited Catholics “to join me in a concerted effort of prayer between now and our national elections, by daily praying our Respect Life Month, ‘Prayer for Life to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.'”
The text of the prayer, along with several resources for Respect Life Month, is available on the initiative’s website at https://www.respectlife.org/respect-life-month.
(Gina Christian is a multimedia reporter for OSV News. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) @GinaJesseReina.)
By Gina Christian (OSV News) — A Catholic priest who had gameshow fans “swooning,” according to one entertainment reporter, told OSV News he hoped his recent television appearance helps give “a positive impression of the church” and clergy in general.
Holy Cross Father Steven Jakubowski, a parochial vicar at St. Ignatius Martyr in Austin, Texas, was a contestant on “Jeopardy!” — the long-running quiz show now produced by Sony Pictures — in an episode that aired Sept. 19.
The Grand Rapids, Michigan, native, who was ordained in April, notched third place with $2,000 in winnings — which the 29-year-old said will “go to the (Holy Cross) community” in keeping with the order’s vow of poverty.
Holy Cross Father Steve Jakubowski, parochial vicar St. Ignatius Martyr Catholic Church in Austin, Texas, is pictured on the set of the “Jeopardy!” game show in Los Angeles May 31, 2024. Father Jakubowski appeared on the popular game show Sept. 19, taking third place with $2,000 in winnings. (OSV News photo/courtesy Jeopardy Productions Inc.)
The sight of the young, bearded priest on the iconic “Jeopardy!” set had at least a few viewers taking to social media to comment. “Omg father Steve is so enjoyable to watch he’s so happy to be there,” exclaimed X (formerly Twitter) user @HellOnHeelsGirl in a Sept. 19 post.
But for Father Jakubowski, the opportunity to participate in the show was a surprise, since he had applied to be a contestant “just for fun.”
“A couple of years ago, I applied (through) a sort of online quiz that you have to take,” he explained. “I didn’t expect to hear much from it.”
In the interim, he took a second online quiz and advanced to a “Zoom version of the game.”
“I was in my clerical garb for that, so they knew I was a priest,” Father Jakubowski said. “That was kind of an interesting novelty for them, I’m sure.”
In April, the show’s producers “called me up out of the blue and asked if I wanted to come to Los Angeles to be on the show for an episode,” he said.
After ensuring his schedule would allow him to “make it happen” — and encountering “a little bit of surprise” from parishioners, who encouraged him to “go for it” — Father Jakubowski headed out to compete in an episode, which was filmed in April. He remained mum about the outcome until the air date, due to a standard nondisclosure agreement with the producers.
The former math major said he watched “Jeopardy!” while growing up, and enjoys trivia since it highlights how “little facts can be part of something bigger.”
“Part of it is that it is just fun to know an obscure fact,” he admitted. “But I think (also) it’s sort of the way those obscure facts are maybe part of something more interesting or coherent.”
His best subject for trivia is geography — as well as Scripture, he said.
“I was hoping for a lot of Bible questions,” said Father Jakubowski. “You know, I think I would do reasonably well.”
(Gina Christian is a multimedia reporter for OSV News. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) @GinaJesseReina.)
By Gina Christian (OSV News) — The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops invites the faithful to join in a novena for mental health as part of the second year of the USCCB’s ongoing National Catholic Mental Health Campaign.
The nine days of prayer will commence on Oct. 10, which marks the international observance of World Mental Health Day, and conclude on Oct. 18, the feast of St. Luke, the evangelist and a patron of health care, who in the Letter to the Colossians is referenced as “the beloved physician” (Col 4:14).
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has invited the faithful to participate in an Oct. 10-18, 2024, novena for mental health, as part of the second year of its National Catholic Mental Health Campaign. (OSV News photo/courtesy USCCB)
Each day of the novena, which opened the USCCB campaign in October 2023, focuses on a particular aspect of mental health, addressing stigma, social relationships, and the impact of factors such as racism and poverty. Saints and others invoked during the novena include St. Dymphna, patron of those with mental illness; St. Martin de Porres, who experienced racial discrimination throughout his life; and Dorothy Day, a servant of God who twice attempted suicide as a young woman.
The Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time — which this year falls on Oct. 13, on the fourth day of the novena — has been designated as “Mental Health Sunday” by the USCCB, during which parishes can highlight the campaign by integrating mental health into the homily, offering prayers or special blessings for those experiencing anguish or distress, and including a petition for mental health during the prayer of the faithful at the liturgy.
The novena — which encourages participants to pray, learn about and take action about mental health issues — “is offered in solidarity with those suffering from mental health challenges as well as health care professionals, family, and friends who are caring for people in need,” said the USCCB on its webpage introduction to the novena. “We hope that this modest novena will move all people to discern how God is calling them to offer greater assistance to those with mental health needs.”
The USCCB is encouraging Catholic dioceses to share novena information with their parishes with a special emphasis on Mental Health Sunday, Oct. 13, as it falls in the midst of the nine-day renewal effort and is an opportunity to promote and support the efforts of local mental health programs.
The “simple message” of the campaign is that “everyone who needs help should receive help,” said the USCCB in a Sept. 23 press release, quoting October 2023 remarks by two bishops spearheading the initiative, Archbishop Borys A. Gudziak of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, and Bishop Robert E. Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth.
(Gina Christian is a multimedia reporter for OSV News. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) @GinaJesseReina)
NEW ALBANY – St. Francis of Assisi, Confirmation Mass, Aug. 18, 2024. Pictured front row (l-r) Jocelyn Rangel, Regena Portis, Isela Perez, Evelin Tovar, Jimena Perez and Joanna Martinez Romero. Middle row: Father Jesuraja Xavier, Chris Angel Tiscareno, Angel Guzman, Christopher Chen and Saul Franco Garcia. Top row: German Valles, Bishop Joseph Kopacz and Juan Romero. (Photo by Joanna Manning)
JACKSON – Sixth graders at St. Richard School participated in a “brain break” and class bonding activities during their commissioning retreat. Pictured (l-r): Mary Catherine Vanderloo, Nicholas Morisani, Anthony Ramsey, John Choufani, Andrew Dillon (music teacher) and Joseph Starrett. (Photo by Celeste Saucier)NATCHEZ – Cathedral School student’s brought flowers with them to Mass on Wednesday, Aug. 21 to honor Coach Mark McCann, who lost his life to cancer this summer. After Mass, members of the senior class brought the flowers to his gravesite. (Photo by Father Aaron M. Williams)WINONA – Thomas Rosamond, a member of Sacred Heart Winona, recently received the rank of Eagle Scout. He is presently a student at Mississippi State University where he is majoring in chemical engineering and is a member of the Famous Maroon Band. He is pictured with his parents Becky and Ken Rosamond. (Photo by Barbara Ruffo)JACKSON – Sister Thea Bowman School fifth grader, Khamari Steverson reads a passage at the 50th anniversary Mass for Father Joe Dyer on Friday, Aug. 16 at Christ the King parish. (Photo by Tereza Ma)
By Joanna Puddister King and Tereza Ma JACKSON – Being a priest for 50 years, one could imagine the immense changes in that half of a century. For Father Joe Dyer, the first Black diocesan priest in Mississippi, God threw him “many surprises.” Celebrating 50 years of priesthood on Friday, Aug. 16 at Christ the King parish in Jackson was a full-circle moment for Father Dyer, having been his first assignment in the Diocese of Jackson as associate pastor shortly after his ordination to the priesthood in 1974.
Father Dyer was ordained by Bishop Joseph Brunini in New Orleans at St. Mary of the Angels Church – an event he was “forever grateful” to Bishop Brunini for allowing him to be ordained at one of the parishes of his youth.
Growing up in New Orleans, Father Dyer recalled his home church of Holy Redeemer a “colored” parish that was destroyed by Hurricane Betsy, a powerful category 4 storm in 1965 that breached levees and inundated neighborhoods. After that, the family and others from the parish found their home at a local “white” parish – St. Mary of the Angels.
JACKSON – Father Joe Dyer celebrates Mass with Father Tony Arguelles of the Diocese of Biloxi on his 50th anniversary of priesthood on Friday, Aug. 16, 2024. Also pictured are Sister Thea Bowman School students Zachary Gordon (fourth grade) and Harry Chia (fifth grade) with Bishop Joseph Kopacz. (Photo by Tereza Ma)
Father Tony Ricard of the Archdiocese of New Orleans was in attendance at Father Dyer’s 50th anniversary celebration and both attended the same high school though about 20 years apart – St. Augustine High School in New Orleans. The school has turned out 12 Black Catholic priests over the past 50 years and Father Dyer was the first.
“So, at school we refer to him as our ‘Proto-Priest.’ Meaning that he was the first to come from us,” said Father Tony. “He’s been a great inspiration to all of the young men that have gone on to become priests from our school. … When we talk about him, we talk about his ministry and the fact that soon he’ll be 80 years old, but he hasn’t stopped yet.”
After beginning his service at Christ the King in Jackson, Father Dyer served at Holy Family Jackson, St. John Oxford, Sacred Heart Canton, Holy Child Jesus Canton, St. Michael Forest, St. Michael Paulding, St. Anne Newton, St. Martin de Porres before his full-circle moment serving back at Christ the King Jackson as sacramental minister and spending time with children at Sister Thea Bowman School after his retirement in February of 2018.
At his anniversary celebration, many gathered from parishes Father Dyer served at over the years and from New Orleans, sharing fond memories and the profound impact he has had on their lives. Joyce Brasfield Adams recalled when he brought her into the Catholic Church in 1986 at Holy Family parish in Jackson. “Father Joe believed in me before I believed in myself,” said Adams. “I thank God for Father Joe.”
The Le family of St. Michael Forest made the trip to celebrate Father Dyer’s anniversary, recalling family trips and immersing him in Vietnamese culture. Andrew Le was an altar server for Father Dyer while serving at St. Michael Forest for a period of 11 years and even had the pleasure of altar serving with him on a cruise ship. Le was also honored to bring Father Dyer along for a Vietnamese Catholic retreat – Marian Days – in Missouri where tens of thousands of Vietnamese Catholics gather for a spiritual pilgrimage and social festival. “He means the world to us,” said Amy Le, who Father Dyer confirmed to the Catholic faith years ago.
As Father Dyer continues his celebration of 50 years of priesthood and 80 years of life, his journey of faith continues on. “My sacramental life is now as a priest who still finds joy and purpose administering the sacraments to God’s people,” said Father Dyer.
By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The best way to ensure evangelization is about Jesus and not about oneself is to spend time in prayer and especially in Eucharistic adoration, Pope Francis told members of the Oblates of St. Joseph.
“Young people do not need us; they need God,” the pope told members of the order’s general chapter during a meeting at the Vatican Aug. 26.
“The more we live in his presence, the more we are able to help them encounter him without unnecessary protagonism and having only their salvation and full happiness at heart,” the pope said.
People today, but especially young people, he said, live in a world where what seems to count most is what is on the outside: one’s appearance, achievements or adventures.
Pope Francis talks about the plight of migrants during his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican Aug. 28, 2024. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)
“But a life lived all ‘outside’ leaves the inside empty like someone who spends all his time on the street and lets his home fall into disrepair for lack of care and love,” the pope said. Instead, “make your hearts, your communities (and) your religious houses places where the warmth of familiarity with God and among brothers and sisters can be felt and shared.”
The life of every Christian, but especially of a member of a religious order, must be anchored in “a daily ‘being’ with Jesus,” he said. “Let’s not delude ourselves: without him we do not stand, none of us. We each have our own frailties, and without the Lord to sustain us, we would not stand.”
Participating in the sacraments, listening to and meditating on Scripture and spending time before Jesus in the Eucharist are essential parts of religious life, he said.
“I want to emphasize this: Sometimes we neglect adoration, the prayer of adoration, silence before the Lord,” Pope Francis said. The priests and brothers in the order should imitate St. Joseph, their patron, and the way he responded to “the immense gift of having the very Son of God made man in his home: by being with him, listening to him, talking to him and sharing with him the life of every day.”
The pope also asked members of the general chapter to think about their sins and notice how “when you fell into sin it was because you were not close to the Lord. That is always the case. Those who are close to the Lord immediately cling to him and do not fall.”
Whether our hopes for this summer have been fulfilled or not, the season is waning. Most kids have returned to school, and the full force of the fall calendar is poised to kick in. All we can do now is hope that whatever rest and recreation we managed to get will be enough to draw on in the months ahead, enough to motivate us, enough to see us to the winter and through it.
Sometimes, though, one summer can change everything that follows it. That’s what happened to one young French girl in 1424. Sometime during that summer six centuries ago, Joan of Arc heard “voices” for the very first time. The exact date was never recorded. But what happened to Joan set her on a path that would change her life and the history of her country. This is how she described it at her infamous trial, on Feb. 22, 1431: “In my thirteenth year, I had a voice from God to help and guide me. The first time I heard this voice, I was very much afraid. The voice came around noon, in the summer, in my father’s garden. … It seemed to me a worthy voice, and I believe it was sent from God.”
I’ve been thinking a lot about Joan of Arc lately, and not just because I’ve spent close to a year writing two books about her. It’s that Joan has so much to teach us about prayer. And in this papally designated year of prayer, I’m hard-pressed to find a better example. Joan of Arc’s life shows us what it looks like when a Christian missionary disciple makes prayer a first response rather than a last resort.
Joan listened to her heavenly voices – those of St. Catherine of Alexandria and St. Margaret of Antioch – for five years before beginning her mission. Over those first five years, Joan learned how to discern the voices that came to her and how to listen. But even more importantly, she learned that the voices she was hearing – and the God who sent them – could be trusted.
To Joan, however, prayer wasn’t just a tool of initial formation; it was an ongoing source of direction and guidance, the wellspring of her purpose and mission. When she left home at the age of 17, Joan was illiterate and untrained – unqualified to command the king’s army and lead men into battle. But she knew better than to trust in her own abilities. Instead, Joan placed all her confidence in God and continually sought his counsel in prayer. And she never stopped listening, not even when she was captured and tried by a panel of corrupt ecclesial judges. Joan prevailed. After her death, France defeated the English. She was vindicated, her greatest enemy posthumously excommunicated. And now she is counted among the most popular saints of all time.
Joan of Arc’s historic mission was inspired and fueled entirely by prayer. Apparently, however, ours are not. In a recent blog post, founder of Catholic Missionary Disciples Marcel LeJeune spoke openly about the role of prayer among today’s Catholic leaders. Prayer, he says, often “takes a back seat to strategy, discussion, plans, etc.” Unlike the first Christians, LeJeune observes, “we may not be facing any extreme kinds of persecution, but we are facing other issues. Our response has been training, classes, best practices, etc. But what about prayer? Why is it done so little? Why have we not prioritized it?” Why indeed!
Six-hundred years is a long time. But if we quiet ourselves down long enough to listen, we can still hear the voices that startled Joan of Arc echo in our own lives and faith communities. Contrary to popular belief, the King of the Universe is not silent. God does not shut up. His call and his invitation are issued in every age. And he is speaking to us. What has changed is our willingness to hear him out.
Our missions and apostolates suffer because we too often pray in a perfunctory way. We do not achieve the victories we long for because we do not take prayer seriously enough to seek God first, to discern and listen to his voice, and then do only what he commands. St. Joan of Arc, pray for us.
(Jaymie Stuart Wolfe is a sinner, Catholic convert, freelance writer and editor, musician, speaker, pet-aholic, wife and mom of eight grown children, loving life in New Orleans.)
By Gina Christian (OSV News) – An annual Eucharistic procession on a Louisiana bayou moved to the mighty Mississippi River this year as part of the National Eucharistic Revival – and graces are set to overflow, the lead organizer told OSV News.
Some 15 boats accompanied the Blessed Sacrament an estimated 130 miles along the Mississippi River Aug. 14-15 for the Fête-Dieu du Mississippi.
The procession launched in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, following a morning Mass celebrated by that diocese’s Bishop Michael G. Duca at St. Joseph Cathedral.
Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond of New Orleans concluded the event Aug. 15 at that city’s Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis with Benediction and a Mass marking the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Rallies, spiritual talks, adoration, confession and recitations of the rosary took place at various ports of call along the route, with speakers and prayer presiders including author Father Josh Johnson of the Diocese of Baton Rouge, Dominican Father Aquinas Guilbeau of The Catholic University of America and Father Dustin Dought, executive director of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat of Divine Worship.
Father Michael Champagne of the Community of Jesus Crucified, climbs a ladder to remove the host from a 14-foot monstrance on the second day of Fête-Dieu du Mississippi in New Orleans Aug. 15, 2024, the feast of the Assumption of Mary. (OSV News photo/Jaymie Stuart Wolfe)
Father Michael Champagne of the Community of Jesus Crucified founded the procession a decade ago as the Fête-Dieu du Teche, the bayou where he’d grown up. The Bayou Teche, an ancient channel of the Mississippi where French Catholics known as Acadians settled in the 18th century, was a natural inspiration for the procession, Father Champagne told OSV News.
And fittingly, the first discussions about the Fête-Dieu took place on the banks of the bayou, said the priest, whose religious community of men and women serve as “missionary contemplatives,” blending monastic prayer and active evangelization. “I had the nuns with me in the truck, and we were driving on the Bayou Teche and saying, ‘We’ve got this anniversary coming up for the 250th anniversary of the arrival of the Acadians … and we need a Eucharistic procession on the bayou,’” said Father Champagne. “When the Acadians came, they came with their priest, they came with their flag of the Blessed Mother and they brought their faith. So I said, ‘Why don’t we reenact their arrival, and instead of doing that in boats dressed up like Acadians, let’s do a Eucharistic procession, and just move it onto the water?’”
Soon the 40-mile procession swelled to include “as many as 80 or 90 boats on the bayou,” he said. But this year, the Fête-Dieu was put out into the deep – literally, said Father Champagne.
While the 125-mile Bayou Teche has an average depth of 5 feet, the 2,350-mile Mississippi River – despite reaching some critically low water levels in recent years – plunges to 200 feet at Algiers Point near New Orleans.
The shift in location has made for “a complicated endeavor,” admitted Father Champagne, noting that planning for this year’s procession, which required detailed logistics and permission from multiple officials, began over two years ago.
“We’re involved with the pilots’ association, the port authorities, nine sheriffs’ departments and the Coast Guard, which is supervising the procession,” he said.
Only commercial vessels operated by licensed river pilots, carrying “a handful of civilians” including the priests safeguarding the Blessed Sacrament, will be out on the water, with the average speed of the craft about 10 knots (approximately 11.5 miles) per hour, said Father Champagne.
But those on the banks were nonetheless able to participate in a rich “spiritual tailgating” experience as they witnessed the historic procession and honored the Blessed Sacrament in the port of call gatherings, he said.
Even the most casual observer had no trouble seeing the host, which was displayed in a 14-foot-tall monstrance crafted by Father Champagne’s cousin by marriage, Lyndon Stromberg of the Texas-based Stromberg Architectural.
Stromberg told OSV News that Father Champagne had provided him with a “an old antique monstrance … and said, ‘Can you make me something like this?’”
The “genius entrepreneur,” as Father Champagne described him, set to work modeling and refining a design, creating a mold for casting the monstrance in fiberglass over a metal frame, and finishing the surface in gold leaf.
A team of “about a dozen” staff worked on the project for a year, said Stromberg, noting that he and his team donated time and material for the 220-pound monstrance.
“A lot of them are Catholic, so we had people bringing their spouses and kids to show what mom and dad were working on,” Stromberg said.
The procession has also become an ecumenical encounter, said Father Champagne.
“I’ve been meeting with tugboat companies and pilots and industry guys that worked on the river their whole life,” he said. “One guy told me, ‘Look I’m Baptist, I’m not Catholic. I’ve been on the river 50 years, and it’s never been blessed. We got to bless the river, man. I’m all in.’ And another guy who’s not Catholic completely renovated one of his boats, with lots of money invested, just because he’s going to carry a statue and bells.”
As the procession looked to “bless the state of Louisiana and the Mississippi River … by bringing Jesus down a good swath of it,” Father Champagne hopes that participants were swept from the shallows of faith into a current of desire for Christ.
“I couldn’t imagine life without being in the presence of the Lord,” he said. “And I’ve got to go deeper, I’ve got to be more and more preoccupied with the Lord, and bring people to the Eucharist.”
(Gina Christian is a multimedia reporter for OSV News. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) at @GinaJesseReina.)
