Author Archives: Joe Lee

Sister Dorothea, rather ‘wear out than rust out’

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By Joe Lee
MADISON – Growing up an hour from Chicago, Illinois, long, cold winters were a way of life for Sister Dorothea Sondgeroth as well as an opportunity to enjoy sports that most Mississippians may never experience.

“We went ice skating, sledding and snowmobiling,” said Sister Dorothea, a registered dietician and a 2017 recipient of the Catholic Health Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award for her ministry at St. Dominic Health Services. “Later, I snow skied in Utah and Colorado when meetings would take me to that part of the country. I’ve gone dog sledding out there.”

MADISON – Sister Dorothea Sondgeroth and Bishop Joseph Kopacz share a laugh at the opening of the Clarence and Sue Smith Rehab Center and Tuscany Skilled Nursing Center at St. Catherines Village in July 2019. (Photo by Joanna King)

The broken neck Sister Dorothea suffered on Palm Sunday in 2015 brought an end to the sledding and snowmobiling the beloved Dominican Sister still enjoyed by then, but in no way did it put a stop to her desire to remain active.

“My broken neck wasn’t from skiing or dog sledding,” she said. “I was at the chapel at St. Catherine’s Village. I got out of a chair, lost my balance, fell back and hit my neck on the back of a padded chair. I had no pain when I stood, but as I drove back to the convent, I felt a lump in my throat and decided to go to the E.R. and have it checked out.”

Sister Dorothea, as she would learn, had torn a ligament in her neck. She had surgery that night and left the hospital the next morning wearing a neck brace.

“I didn’t need rehab, and I thank God and the doctor for the surgery,” she said. “It was a miracle. I had an assistant whose mother is a paraplegic after being injured in a tornado. Another assistant, when I was a dietician, was broadsided in a car accident and died from a broken neck. I said, ‘The Lord has something for me to do.’”

There would be no more snowmobiling, no more daydreams of skydiving. But Sister Dorothea remains active to this day, walking often and gardening the lovely expanse behind the convent every chance she gets. She’s quick to offer gentle encouragement to those who find it difficult to cope with the aging process.

“I was not depressed. It was the reality of it,” she said of the Palm Sunday fall. “I knew God had intervened. God has plans. There’s a reason for everything. We’re not as young as we used to be, and when I’m asked by people, ‘You’re really still working?’, I say, ‘I’d rather wear out than rust out.’

“My mantra is to have everything in your life in balance, everything in moderation. Good exercise, good nutrition, good rest and prayer.”

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Leap of faith fuels diving adventure

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By Joe Lee
MADISON – Former President George H. W. Bush might be the first person that comes to mind when one thinks of skydiving late in life.

Our country’s 41st president, Bush passed away in 2018 at the age of 94. A Navy pilot during World War II, he jumped from an airplane in 1999 to commemorate his 75th birthday. He enjoyed the experience so much he did so again on birthdays in 2004, 2009 and, remarkably, in 2014 – at the ripe old age of 90.

“It’s vintage George Bush,” said spokesman Jim McGrath to Fox News after Bush’s skydive in 2014. “It’s that passion for life. It’s wanting to set a goal, wanting to achieve it. I’m sure part of it is sending a message to others that even in your retirement years you can still find challenges.”

At age 83, Lois Booth of Sacred Heart Canton fulfilled her bucket-list item to skydive. She is pictured here with her grandchildren after her skydive over Thanksgiving in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Photo courtesy of Lois Booth)

Adventures in parasailing
Lois Booth didn’t make the national news after her skydive last Thanksgiving. Neither did Rita Martinson, her neighbor at St. Catherine’s Village in Madison. But the motivations for both – and their shared sense of accomplishment afterward – were comparable to those of our nation’s late Skydiver-in-Chief.

“My identical twin sister and I went to Orange Beach, Alabama, two years ago and parasailed. I loved it and she did, too,” said Booth, who grew up in Drew, Mississippi, became Catholic a year ago, and is a parishioner at Sacred Heart Church in Canton.

“The exhilaration I felt as we lifted off the back of that boat had me squealing like a teenager,” she continued. “I think we were 3,000-4,000 feet up. We were in the air about five minutes. There were six of us on the boat. You go off the back of the boat, and land on the back of the boat. I learned from parasailing how to land while skydiving.”
She also began thinking about skydiving for the first time that day.

Fascinated with flying
Rita Martinson, who served District 58 in the Mississippi House of Representatives from 1992-2016, is a long-time parishioner at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Madison. A native of Gloster, Mississippi, she thinks she has adventure in her blood.

“If you’d been raised in a little town like Gloster, you’d have it in yours, too,” she said of her formative years. “We lived in our imaginations.”

Always fascinated with flying, Martinson received her fixed-wing pilot license in 1965 and became certified to fly glider aircraft several years later. The move to parasailing probably wasn’t a surprise to anyone who knew Martinson and her late husband, Billy, who encouraged her and went along on her flights.

“Every chance I got, I flew,” Martinson said. “I was fascinated with hot-air balloon rides and rode in them. The next thing was to jump out of a plane. Billy and I joined several flying clubs. One was a Cessna club.”

In learning about flying a glider, Martinson became well-versed in thermals, or the combination of warmth provided by the sun and the ground that’s necessary to keep the lightweight craft aloft. As the sun warms the ground, the ground warms the air directly above it. This provides lift for the glider, which counters the natural sinking tendency of the plane.

“The higher you could get in one of those thermals, the longer you could stay up,” Martinson said. “The worst thing I ever experienced was actually a dream I had, where I pulled the rope too soon and couldn’t get the plane high enough to have altitude to land. That put the fear of the Lord in me for a while.”

Martinson and her husband went to Puerto Vallarto, Mexico, seven or eight times to parasail. In keeping with her lifelong sense of adventure, Martinson began to consider jumping out of a plane, thinking it would be fun.

“I’m in New Orleans often and found a skydiving club in St. Tammany Parish. I made sure they had precautions and safety measures,” she said. “Billy was still living when I made my first jump.”

Religious experience
Booth’s skydive took place last Thanksgiving in Raleigh, North Carolina. She relished the opportunity to go with her grandchild.

“I was tethered to an ex-Marine I met that morning,” she said. “He was delightful. I watched them pack the parachutes, and I had all the confidence in the world in him. There were 14-15 people on the plane, and when the green light by the door goes on, it’s done. There’s no turning back.”

“The most uncomfortable part is that once you jump, you freefall several thousand feet. It’s hard to breathe. Once (the ex-Marine) deployed the parachute, we sat upright, and it was absolutely beautiful. It was late afternoon, and the sun was getting ready to go down. It was a religious experience.”

“This was a drop of 13,000 feet,” Booth continued. “It was quiet and calm. You could not hear anything. It was about as serene as I have ever been. I told a friend that I soared like an eagle and landed like a feather. A lot of the people on the plane were true parachutists. One woman was making her fourteenth or fifteenth jump.”

Rita Martinson of St. Francis Madison, took her first skydive in November 2017 with grandson Eric McKie. She plans to ‘step out on faith’ in another dive on her 85th birthday on Sept. 11. (Photo courtesy of Rita Martinson)

Booth, who turns 84 in June, considered the skydive a bucket list item. Although she has no plans for another jump, the overwhelmingly positive first experience is something she’ll always carry with her.

“I think being able to step out of the box at this age is important, both to keep yourself up and running and interested – and interesting,” she said. “The pandemic took its toll on everybody, and I’m no exception. That was one more reason I needed to prove to myself that I could still do anything I wanted to do.”

“Sock it to me”
Martinson’s jump took place in November 2017. Like Booth, she went airborne with a grandchild.

“First, you don’t jump – you walk out of the plane,” she said. “Eric, who had jumped once before, was tethered to someone else. We were asked if we wanted to do any loops or twirls. I said, ‘Sock it to me.’ We were up at 11,000 feet when we jumped. It made me a little dizzy, but it’s fun to know what it’s like, and that you can do it.”

Martinson, who will celebrate her 85th birthday on September 11, will do what President Bush did on his 85th birthday – step out on faith and watch the world as she knows it come into focus while she floats back to earth.

“People who are afraid to take a chance never get to see what they can do,” Martinson said. “It helped me and our children that Billy always urged us to get out there and take risks. He did that, too.”

“I would like others to know that there are no firm boundaries keeping them from at least trying to do new things. There is so much to gain by at least giving it a whirl. I only wish there were more time to do more.”

(Joe Lee is the Editor-in-Chief of Dogwood Press, and member of St. Francis Madison.)

Charities seeks foster families for refugee children

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By Joe Lee
MADISON – Can you imagine meeting your future foster son or daughter at a soccer match?
That’s what happened to Joey Luse of Brandon and his family, as the young Afghanistan native who joined them and one of Luse’s biological sons were on the same travel soccer team. After inviting the teen to their home a couple of times and getting to know him, the family held a surprise birthday party for him and popped the question on their minds.

“We said we wanted him to be part of our family as long as he wanted,” Luse said. “It was a little awkward at first, but as we were getting to know him, he said, ‘I am really glad to be here. I miss being part of a family.’”

Luse is one of many Jackson-area parents who’ve had teens from The Catholic Charities Unaccompanied Refugee Minor program (URM) placed in their homes. URM, through funding from the Office of Refugee Resettlement, places minors in therapeutic foster homes, group homes, or independent living arrangements appropriate to developmental needs. All URM youth must enter the legal custody of the Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services prior to their eighteenth birthday.

“The URM program has been active for more than thirty years in Hinds, Madison and Rankin counties,” said program director Ebonye Debose-Moore. “The goal is to assist unaccompanied refugee minors in developing skills to enter adulthood and achieve economic self-sufficiency. Our services include youth therapy, cultural orientation, translation services, assistance with obtaining U.S. residency and more.
“We place teens from age fifteen until their seventeenth birthday. They can remain in our program until age twenty-one. The minors come from many countries, including Haiti, the Sudan, Guatemala and Honduras. Some are victims of human trafficking. Some are victims of political persecution. There has been no information released at this time regarding Ukraine, but it’s a possibility we may receive referrals from there.”

The foster parents, who go through a URM training program, have varying backgrounds. Carol O’Connor of Jackson is a first-time foster parent. A former educator with the Jackson Public School District who once lived in Ethiopia, O’Connor has had a foster son from Eritrea (a country north of Ethiopia) with her since Thanksgiving 2020.

“During the pandemic I felt I wanted to do something of value,” O’Connor said. “An Ethiopian friend suggested I contact Catholic Charities, and I went through the training and got certified.”
Her foster son, though argumentative at first, became comfortable with O’Connor’s parenting style over time.

“He had a rough upbringing, spending time in a refugee camp. There’s no biological family he’s in touch with,” O’Connor said. “But he’s a cheerful person – I can tell when he’s up first thing in the morning because he is singing – and he has calmed down over time. He is now in twelfth grade. It has been really a worthwhile experience for me.”

While it’s only O’Connor and her foster son at her home, Sandra Pugh of Hinds County has a biological daughter as well as the African foster daughter she has taken in.

“She has been with me two years,” said Pugh, who has served as a foster parent for over a decade. “There were cultural changes for her, but we have a similar faith. Language was not a problem. Once she got going in school, it wasn’t a large challenge – she’s a smart girl. She will be graduating high school and going on to college.”

“Because we’re Christians, we enjoy offering a better life and opportunity. It would be good if we had more parents volunteering, because we can make a difference in their lives. There are many of the same challenges you face in raising your own. Once the foster understands your culture, they blend in with your family.

“We’ve found that the biggest challenge is the language barrier,” Debose-Moore said. “The youth that come over speak several different languages, English often being their second or third choice. Once they get into the home, they start working on improving English skills. Most would love to be in foster homes where they are culturally matched. That’s not always possible, but we do our very best.”

Luse’s foster son works part-time in the restaurant business and will join his foster brother closest to his age at college this fall. While very close to his Jackson-area family, there is healthy, ongoing communication between the foster son and his biological family in Afghanistan.

“It takes commitment, and not just in terms of time,” Luse said. “There were adjustments we had to make – we didn’t have a fire evacuation plan – but if that’s the price to pay to help a young child get through high school, get a car, get a job, and plan a path to adulthood, it’s a small one. We’ve gotten as much or more from the relationship than he has.”

(If you are interested in learning more about becoming a foster parent with Catholic Charities Unaccompanied Refugee Minor program, please contact program director, Ebonye’ Debose-Moore at (601) 981-0725 or visit www.catholiccharitiesjackson.org.)

Diocesan lay minister, Minninger retires

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By Joe Lee
GLUCKSTADT – Pam Minninger, who retired as Lay Ecclesial Minister (LEM) at St. Joseph Church of Gluckstadt at the end of January, has never forgotten the time she spent as a young child with her maternal grandmother at bedtime.

“I remember spending summer weeks with her in her small home,” Minninger said. “I would sleep with her, and we would kneel together beside her bed to say our prayers. Then she would tuck me into bed and get back on her knees for more prayer. I would wake up a bit later and she would be sound asleep, still on her knees beside the bed.”

Originally from Corpus Christi, Texas, Minninger moved to Mississippi in 1975 when she married her husband, Kerry. Residents of Gluckstadt, the couple have two kids and a pair of preschool-age grandchildren.

A fixture at St. Joseph for well over a decade, Minninger was hired as pastoral associate in February 2005 and appointed as LEM by Bishop Joseph Latino in March 2006. A LEM in lieu of a full-time pastor is not uncommon in a very small parish – which St. Joseph was at the time of Minninger’s appointment – and in that role she was responsible for the administration, educational, sacramental and charitable activities of the parish.

GLUCKSTADT – (Above) Bishop Joseph Kopacz and Pam Minninger walk through St. Joseph parish’s signature event – GermanFest – in 2017. Minninger served as LEM for the parish since 2006 and retired at the end of January this year. (Photo from archives)

“I worked very closely, first with Father Robert Olivier and then with Father Kevin Slattery, as Sacramental Ministers to make sure the sacraments were available to our parishioners,” she said. “We had approximately 90 families in our parish when I was appointed, but we began growing rapidly. We’re now at 700 families.

“In 2009 I appointed a building committee to work on design, financing and construction of a new church and education building. In September 2011, we moved into that new $3.1 million building. I am very proud of the fact that we paid off the note for our church in just over three years. We have an amazing parish family here at St. Joseph.”

Minninger’s presence and leadership have been felt on a diocesan level as well. She was the chairman of the continuing formation committee for many years and served more recently on the cathedraticum committee. She has worked with the vocations committee, interviewing candidates for the deacon-formation program. She is also a member of the ethics committee at St. Dominic Hospital.

“I worked with Pam fourteen years and have known her probably twenty-five,” said Father Slattery. “Pam, as the LEM, basically was the pastor at St. Joseph, and she’s a wonderful leader and great with people. As an administrator, she’s frugal and very good. She will be missed. But the parish has grown to the point where a full-time pastor is definitely needed.”

Though now officially retired, Minninger will continue with the administration and general work of the parish on a part-time basis until the new pastor is appointed and joins St. Joseph this summer. This means a transitional time for the parishioners, but they – like everyone else – are more than used to having to adapt after the last two years.

“When the churches shut down, we had people who were scared to death to be around anyone. We also had people thinking the pandemic was a bunch of baloney,” Minninger said. “It took a little while to get there, but people who needed to be in church in the early part of the pandemic could be there to worship, and those more cautious could be fed with spiritual communion through online services. Hopefully one of the blessings is that on a human level, I think we have re-learned how to take care of each other when we take the politics out of it.”

Minninger will also have more time in retirement to play with her granddaughters. It’s not beyond the realm of possibility for her to come full circle and nod off while saying prayers with them. She’ll also have time to reflect on the many meaningful moments she’s had while affiliated with St. Joseph.

“One of the most profound moments I ever had, where I felt God right in the middle of it, was when a parishioner called me, not ready and willing to let go of the love of his life. They had been married over fifty years, and she was dying,” Minninger said. “I went to see them, and he and I sat there and talked. I was there when she passed, and I stayed with him until the coroner arrived.

“I’ve been in the back of the church during weddings and seen the looks on the faces of family and friends as vows are exchanged. The sacramental moments and special times in the lives of people I’ve been privileged to be part of gives you goose bumps all over. God has been there also. That’s why I did it as long as I have.”

GLUCKSTADT – Father Kevin Slattery and Pam Minninger open gifts at their going away party on Sunday, January 30 at St. Joseph parish. Minninger retired as Lay Ecclesial Minister for the parish at the end of January and Father Slattery moved as Sacramental Minister of the parish to St. John Crystal Springs and St. Martin Hazlehurst on Feb. 1. (Photo by Alicia Clifton Baladi)

Catholic Build continues to give families place to ‘call home’

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By Joe Lee
MADISON – How hard has Habitat for Humanity/Mississippi Capital Area (HHMCA) been hit in 2021 by the ongoing COVID pandemic and the skyrocketing costs of building materials? The numbers are sobering.

“It cost $80,000 to build before. Now it’s $120,000,” said HHMCA executive director Merrill McKewen. “None of that (increase) was in our 2021 budget.”

That’s a whopping 50 percent leap, and over a very short period of time. When combined with COVID safety measures reducing on-site volunteers at builds from 15 at a time to only seven, McKewen and her board of directors faced serious challenges in keeping their tradition of bringing people together to build homes, communities and hope.
The way forward, at least temporarily, lies in touching up previously-built Habitat homes.

“This was an unusual year,” McKewen said. “We had a cluster of homeowners who wanted to live in recycled Habitat houses. Not much big stuff is involved in recycling them – not much gutting – we’re getting the home up to standards with electrical, painting, plumbing, and clearing the property.”

HHMCA hopes to close on five safe, recycled homes before Christmas. Among them is the annual Catholic build, located this year on Gentry Street off Bailey Avenue in west Jackson. Hard-working volunteers have spent several Saturday mornings on the property and will wrap up before Thanksgiving.

“I started volunteering on the Catholic builds about 12 years ago,” said Allen Scott, incoming HHMCA board president and a parishioner at Holy Savior of Clinton. “For several years that was my total involvement — a few Saturdays a year on the Catholic build.”

JACKSON – Arthur Ring, Allen Scott and Brett Fitzgerald work on rehabbing a ‘recycled’ Habitat for Humanity home for a family that needs a place to ‘call home.’ As COVID hit and construction prices skyrocketed, Habitat has had to limit the number of volunteers and are now rehabbing homes to save on costs. (Photo by Callie Ainsworth)

“The staff at HHMCA asked me to chair the Catholic Build committee for a couple of years. When I met the families that were going to live in the houses – especially the children – and saw how happy they were, it just gave me a real feeling that I was helping somebody.”

The Catholic build tradition goes back more than three decades, as parishes in Jackson, Pearl, Madison, Clinton, Gluckstadt and Canton have all contributed monetarily as well as providing volunteers.

“HHMCA informs us of the amount that will be needed to do the work, and in turn we ask our parishes to contribute at the level that is feasible for them, depending on the population of the parish community,” said Bishop Joseph Kopacz.
“Most parishioners are familiar with the annual project and the invitation to contribute and respond generously. The Habitat for Humanity organization is a trusted brand, and all know that the prospective homeowners are carefully screened to assure success with their lifelong dream of home ownership.”

“We don’t give houses away,” McKewen said. “But anyone, regardless of income, can apply with us for a home if they’re willing to do the work and pay for a thirty-year zero-interest mortgage. We function as a mortgage lender with a Christian attitude.”

What drives McKewen is getting people out of poverty and into safe homes, where they have greatly improved chances of putting roots down, learning marketable skills, attaining an education and, ultimately, giving back to the community.

In addition to the thorough vetting the homeowners receive before being approved, all help physically build their new Habitat homes. That sweat equity is crucial in developing the pride the owners have in their new residences, and it’s not uncommon to witness deeply touching moments when families take ownership.

“I would encourage all HHMCA volunteers, and anyone interested in the ministry, to attend a house dedication,” Scott said. “The new homeowners are so genuinely appreciative that it is hard not to feel their emotions. My favorite memory was a house on Greenview (in south Jackson) where the four-year-old ran into the master bedroom and shouted, ‘This one’s mine!’ I truly believe that anybody who ever volunteers one time and meets the family will be hooked.”

McKewen has high hopes for a smoother 2022 and plans to return HHMCA to the beloved Broadmoor neighborhood in north Jackson, where a number of the memorable homes built during the Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson administrations have fallen into disrepair and been abandoned.

“We are changing the neighborhood and will be completely rehabbing those houses, as in gutting to the studs,” she said. “We are putting homeowners into homes for $650/month and getting people out of deplorable conditions where they were paying as much as $800/month.”

“This commitment has endured the test of time,” Kopacz said. “We want families to have a place to call home, and in the process see the restoration of the blighted areas of the City of Jackson, one house and one block at a time.”

Want to help Habitat?

“There are many ways to help in addition to volunteering on a worksite,” said incoming HHMCA board president, Allen Scott. “Pray for the families and the ministry. Encourage your parish council and finance committee to financially support HHMCA. Individual donations add up, so no gift is too small.”

“The volunteer crews have to be fed so meals have to be prepared and delivered to the home site. Basically, if a person wants to be involved, we can find some way to include them in a build.”

JACKSON – Pictured left to right: Arthur Ring, Allen Scott, Bo Bender, Demetrica Clincy (homeowner), Lechen Tyler (homeowner), Polly Hammett and Marc McAllister. The group stands outside of the home Catholic Build made possible for the family. (Photo by Callie Ainsworth)

The Power of One – the Sister Anne Brooks story

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By Joe Lee
MADISON – A book you may have missed during the pandemic is the excellent biography of Sister Anne Brooks, The Power of One (University Press of Mississippi, 2020). Penned by Sally Palmer Thomason and Jean Carter Fisher, this brief but powerful read dives deep into the culturally transforming work a devoted Catholic nun did for the people of poverty-stricken Tallahatchie County, Mississippi, for over three decades.

This is the book cover of The Power of One: Sister Anne Brooks and the Tutwiler Clinic by Sally Palmer Thomason with Jean Carter Fisher. The book is reviewed by Joe Lee. (Photo courtesy of publisher)

That’s merely part of the story, however. Raised in Maryland by a high-ranking naval officer and an emotionally distant, alcoholic mother, Sister Anne (Kitty, growing up) learned early on that her parents wanted nothing to do with organized religion and even preferred their daughter not associate with neighborhood kids, let alone cultivate friendships.

So how did this young woman, after growing up in such an environment, develop such a deep, abiding faith? What empowered her to thoroughly immerse herself in serving the least among us in places so far from home?

As Sister Anne is still quick to point out, the kindness of people in her formative years can’t be overstated. The family of practicing Catholics across the street in Maryland – with a daughter to whom Kitty discreetly became close – were instrumental in her decision to devote herself to a life of service.

As a young adult, while teaching at a Catholic school and volunteering at a free medical clinic in Clearwater, Florida, Sister Anne was plagued with pain from rheumatoid arthritis. Not surprisingly, she was skeptical upon meeting a doctor who took a holistic approach to medical treatment and insisted he could cure her. But as Sister Anne would come to realize – and apply to her ministry the rest of her life – the holistic approach was very much about building trust.

The death of Emmett Till and the subsequent trial of those accused of his murder, which took place while Kitty Brooks was in high school, was a great motivation for her to serve in Tutwiler, Mississippi (just minutes from where the horrific crime occurred) once the opportunity presented itself in 1983. After relocating and seeing for herself the once-prosperous railroad town dying a slow, torturous death while its mostly black, largely uneducated population lived in squalor, she prayed long and hard for guidance.

The answer she received: it was time to go to medical school. At age forty.

Sister Anne Brooks eventually became Dr. Anne Brooks, DO (Doctor of Osteopathy), and spent more than three decades healing and building trust in black citizens who, when she arrived, still wouldn’t look white people in the eye. As she says, treating the whole person – the heart of the holistic medical approach – absolutely requires listening and earning one’s trust.

Now retired and living with her fellow sisters at St. Joseph’s Provincial House in Latham, New York, Sister Anne Brooks has a story that needs to be heard not just by Catholics, but most everyone in these trying times. Highly recommended.

(Joe Lee is the Editor-in-Chief of Dogwood Press, a small but traditional publishing house headquartered in central Mississippi. He is a regular contributor to Mississippi Catholic.)

Sister Anne Brooks, an osteopathic physician, holds a child at the Tutwiler Clinic in Tutwiler, Miss. With help from Catholic Extension she was able to open the facility 20 years ago to provide care to a community that had been lacking a doctor for many years. She is a member of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary. (CNS photo by Troy Catchings for Catholic Extension) (June 6, 2003)

Elizabeth Smart to speak at annual Charities Journey of Hope

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By Joe Lee
JACKSON – Abducted at age 14 from her Utah family home in 2002 in a kidnapping that drew national media coverage, Elizabeth Smart spent nine months in captivity and had no idea if she would ever see her parents, siblings and friends again.

Very close to parents who brought her up in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Smart leaned hard on her faith during her ordeal.

“I was raised believing the family unit was forever,” she said. “Even if I had died while in captivity, there would still be a brother or grandparent – my family would still be a family. Conversely, if I got home and learned one of my parents had died, I knew I would see them again one day, and we would still be a family. That was a very large source of comfort to me.”

Now 34 and married with three small children, the national bestselling author will sign copies of My Story and Where There’s Hope at Bravo Restaurant of Jackson at a meet-and-greet from 6-8 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 13. She’s the keynote speaker the following day at the annual Journey of Hope luncheon, presented by Catholic Charities, Inc. at the Jackson Convention Complex.

In addition to being a devoted wife and mother, Smart is president of the Elizabeth Smart Foundation, which focuses on fighting sexual exploitation, advocacy, and prevention education. Not surprisingly, she is quite passionate about using her platform to help young girls and women who may not realize they are at risk.

Smart, however, was hardly ready to discuss what had happened to her in the immediate aftermath. And while it took the case against captor Brian David Mitchell and his wife, Wanda Barzee, a whopping eight years to go to trial, a silver lining of having to testify in open court about what she endured was Smart deciding she was ready to go public with her story and begin her advocacy.

“I initially swore I would never do a book, a movie,” Smart said. “When I first got home (in 2003), I didn’t really understand what therapy was. In the first 48-72 hours I was taken to a children’s advocacy center where I was extensively interviewed by two middle-aged male psychiatrists.”

“They were very religious and good at their jobs, but I’d been abused – a lot – for nine months in just about every way you can imagine by middle-aged men who used religion to manipulate. Speaking to men so graphically about being raped was horrific, devastating. When I got out of that room, I thought, ‘If this is what therapy is, I don’t ever want to do it again.’

“Looking back, those men were investigators gathering evidence, and they were doing their jobs. They weren’t therapists, and I believe in therapy 100 percent,” Smart said. “After the trial, I realized my story deserved more than a list of ‘bullet points.’ I knew there was value in it because what I went through could help people understand and change, provide some amount of hope in their lives. That’s what pushed me to tell my story, to become involved in pieces of legislation.”

Smart will bring a message of situational awareness to her audiences in Jackson, as well as one of deep, abiding faith for young girls and women who’ve suffered.

“My favorite campaign that we do for the Elizabeth Smart Foundation is ‘We Believe You,” which is in support of victims knowing we believe them,” she said. “If you doubt their story, that can set the trajectory for whether they pursue healing in a positive or negative way: ‘If Mom didn’t believe me, no one will.’ It’s a poison that can kill you from the inside out.

“I want females to know they’re daughters of God, and that He loves them more than they can ever imagine. I want them to recognize that everything taken away from them and everything that caused them distress can be healed,” said Smart.

Journey of Hope luncheon: Tuesday, Sept. 14 from 12-1 p.m. at the Jackson Convention Complex. Elizabeth will speak for 30 minutes and will be followed by Johanna Beeland of the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office, who will speak on human trafficking in our state.

Human trafficking prevention and victim services to be featured at
Journey of Hope

By Joe Lee
JACKSON – Human trafficking, including the kind of torture and suffering Elizabeth Smart went through for almost a year, is real, and happens right here in Mississippi. It takes great courage and trust to speak up after being traumatized, but valuable and completely confidential resources are always available.

“In order to prevent human trafficking, communities must rally together and be made aware that it exists,” said Wanda Thomas, executive director of Catholic Charities, Inc. (CCI).

“We want to make certain that children, youth, parents and at-risk adults in our cities are educated. It is important to bring awareness through factual details of what trafficking looks like. Furthermore, we want to provide education as it relates to recovery after rescue.”

CCI’s victim services program furnishes trafficking victims with shelter, food, medical attention, clothing, counseling, legal information and assistance with crime victim compensation. The Healing Hearts program, also a service of CCI, offers specific trauma counseling for both young girls and adult women.

“For our youth, we have Trauma Focused-Cognitive Behavior Therapy (TF-CBT),” said Lakeisha Davis, CCI community service program director. “TF-CBT is especially sensitive to the unique problems of youth with post-traumatic stress and mood disorders resulting from sexual abuse, violence or grief. We move at the pace of our client, and no process is rushed or has a time limit. We are here as long as it takes.

“Our women also receive intense trauma therapy. Again, we know and understand that trauma is real and healing hurts. Our last phase is reprogramming, where we rewrite the story with our client, teaching our client to reconnect with others, to develop social skills, and we allow her to mourn the losses from those years spent in survival mode. We believe in validation, acceptance and, most of all, healing.”

Johanna Beeland, deputy director of engagement and human trafficking manager for the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office, will speak at the Journey of Hope luncheon about helping trafficking victims recover with hope and dignity.

“We have an interactive services map and potential access to the crime victims’ compensation fund,” Beeland said. “We encourage all victims, or anyone who may know of someone being trafficked, to report that information to the National Human Trafficking Hotline.

“Tips can be reported anonymously, 24/7, and are directed to local authorities on the ground, like our office, in real time, to ensure quick and timely responses to possible victims. I’ll also be sharing information on the signs that you or someone you know is being trafficked, and how to report trafficking.”

Call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888, or text the word INFO to 233733. For more information on victim assistance at the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office, visit www.AttorneyGeneralLynnFitch.com. Visit Catholic Charities Inc. at catholiccharitiesusa.org.

O’Connor pens book on his priesthood

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By Joe Lee
MADISON – When Father David O’Connor was ordained to the priesthood in his native Ireland in 1964, he volunteered to minister in the United States and Mississippi in particular. That wish was granted and then some, as O’Connor was assigned to St. Patrick Catholic Church in Meridian mere weeks after the murders of civil rights workers James Chaney, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodwin in nearby Neshoba County.

His transition to a foreign and quite turbulent new work environment is one of many fascinating stories that fill the pages of A Priestly Pilgrimage: The Experiences of a Diocesan Priest in Times of Change and Challenge.

“It’s an autobiographical narrative told through the sub-stories of an evolving theology, ministry skills development, cultural transitions, and programs that were responsive to the pastoral needs of God’s people,” O’Connor said of the book. “It will take the reader from my childhood and formative years in Ireland through my fifty-five years in the priesthood, and places special interest on the impact of Vatican II, which changed the context and vision of the Catholic Church.”

Written in an engaging, conversational style, A Priestly Pilgrimage devotes chapters to O’Connor’s years in Meridian, Oxford, Greenwood, in Diocesan administration, and in Natchez (where he pastored for two different stretches before retiring there in 2019). Amid his Mississippi assignments he returned to Ireland for several years in the 1970s to help recruit Irish seminarians for the priesthood in this state, he served seven years in pastoral ministry in his home diocese of Limerick in the 1990s, and he served four years as development director for St. Joseph Catholic School in Madison just after St. Joe moved to its present location.

NATCHEZ – Father David O’Connor’s new autobiographical narrative, A Priestly Pilgrimage is available in paperback.

Through it all, O’Connor brought organizational skills, leadership, work ethic, compassion, and a gentle good humor to all around him. He reached across racial and interfaith lines to make countless friends and important connections all over Mississippi, and to this day he is a regular at a coffee shop in Natchez where he enjoys discussing current events and sports with his buddies.

Charles Nolan, with whom O’Connor became acquainted while pastoring in Natchez in the mid-1980s, said of A Priestly Pilgrimage, “(It’s) the story of an Irish farm boy who grew up and prepared for the priesthood in pre-Vatican II Ireland, began ministry in a pre-integration Mississippi parish, met the challenges of a rapid changing Mississippi society and church with an open, enquiring mind, developed a challenging and now often-accepted style of leadership, responded to very diverse ministry appointments and challenges, fortunately documented well his years in ministry, and at retirement, wished to continue ministry by sharing the journey and some of the wisdom accumulated along the way.”

A Priestly Pilgrimage is published by Ronnoco Press and will be available in paperback in July. Find Father O’Connor on Facebook by searching David O’Connor, and watch for his book talks at weekend Masses in Natchez, Greenwood, Meridian and Oxford in the coming months. Copies will be on sale in the offices of St. Mary Basilica, Assumption Church and Holy Family in Natchez, and at Locus Benedictus of Greenwood. To reach Father O’Connor directly, email him at doconnor@cableone.net.

Monsignor pens new books, vowing to keep busy in 2020

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By Joe Lee
MADISON – Already the author of four books, including Saltillo Mission, his tribute to the humanitarian efforts of his friend and mentor, the late Father Patrick Quinn, Msgr. Michael Flannery vowed to do something productive while quarantining during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020.

Instead of simply working on his next manuscript, he completed and published a whopping four new titles through Covenant Books, a Christian publishing house based in South Carolina. All four titles weave fiction with history and matters of faith and spirituality, an approach that plays to Msgr. Flannery’s strengths as a storyteller.

“When I taught religion,” he said, “I felt the best way to do it was to tell stories and bring them to life for the kids. But these books aren’t just for children; they’re for parents and grandparents, too.”
Here’s a look at each:

MADISON – Pictured are books by Msgr. Michael Flannery. He stayed productive while quarantining during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020.

The Chalice of Limerick explores a dark, dangerous period in the history of the Irish people and uses a chalice belonging to Bishop Turlough O’Brien and cared for (after Bishop O’Brien was hanged) by Father James Kelly to represent the lengths the Irish people would go to defend their Catholic faith from persecution, as well as the resilience they showed in surviving the Irish Potato Famine. A story of hope, bravery and loyalty, the book’s message underscores the true value of our beloved Catholic symbols, such as the chalice.

The Holy Grail is allegedly the cup Jesus used the night of The Last Supper. Many books have been written about where the Holy Grail might be, and a major Hollywood film a generation ago, “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” included the search for the cup as a significant part of the plot. In a previous book, Padre’s Christian Stories, Msgr. Flannery penned an inspirational story about the Holy Grail, and in One View of the Holy Grail, he takes a new and creative approach to what might have happened to the mythical cup.

In The Emerald, young Adolfo Rodriquez finds a rare and valuable stone in his native San Pedro, Coahuila, Mexico. As Adolfo learns, the emerald is rare and valuable because of the powers and opportunities it affords him — such as being the first from the village of San Pedro to attend college, where he earns a master’s degree in engineering. Adolfo goes on to do great things, including bringing a wind turbine back to the village, which greatly improves the lives of the people there.

A first-person work of fiction, In Search of My Twin is seen through the eyes of William Musgrove. After he and his twin brother, Joseph, survive a deadly car crash that takes the lives of their parents when the boys are only two days old, they become wards of the state and are separated. William is especially intrigued to learn, as he grows up, that he actually has a twin brother, and his generation-long search to find Joseph takes him on a path that mirrors the close relationship between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

(All four new releases by Msgr. Flannery are available in paperback and digital formats through Amazon, Barnes and Noble and www.covenantbooks.com. Signed copies are also available for purchase at St. Francis of Assisi in Madison, located at 4000 W. Tidewater Lane, (601) 856-5556)

Monseñor Flannery – Padre Miguelito – brinda sabiduria en libros

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Por Joe Lee
JACKSON – Monseñor Michael Flannery ya es autor de cuatro libros más, donde se incluye La Misión de Saltillo (Saltillo Mission), su tributo a los esfuerzos humanitarios de su amigo y mentor, el difunto Padre Patrick Quinn.

Monseñor Flannery, Padre Miguelito, como es conocido por algunos en la comunidad Hispana Flannery, prometió hacer algo productivo mientras estaba en cuarentena durante la pandemia de coronavirus de 2020.

En lugar de simplemente trabajar en su próximo manuscrito, completó y publicó la friolera de cuatro nuevos títulos a través de Covenant Books, una editorial cristiana con sede en Carolina del Sur. Los cuatro libros tejen ficción con historia y asuntos de fe y espiritualidad, un enfoque con el que juega Mons. Flannery y una de sus fortalezas como narrador.

“Cuando enseñé religión a los niños”, dijo Mons. Flannery, “sentí que la mejor manera de hacerlo era darles vida contándolas como historias. Pero estos libros no son solo para niños; también son para padres y abuelos”.

Aquí hay un vistazo a cada uno de estos libros:
El Cáliz de Limerick
Este libro explora un período oscuro y peligroso en la historia del pueblo irlandés y utiliza un cáliz perteneciente al obispo Turlough O’Brien y cuidado por el padre James Kelly, después que el obispo O’Brien fuera ahorcado, para representar cuan largo los irlandeses iban a defender su fe católica de la persecución, así como la resistencia que demostraron al sobrevivir lo que se conoce como La Gran Hambruna Irlandesa de la Patata (papa). Este es una historia de esperanza, valentía y lealtad; el mensaje del libro subraya el verdadero valor de nuestros amados símbolos católicos, como es el cáliz.

Una vista del Santo Grial
El Santo Grial es supuestamente la copa que Jesús usó la noche de la Última Cena. Se han escrito muchos libros sobre dónde podría estar el Santo Grial, y una gran película de Hollywood de hace una generación, Indiana Jones y la última cruzada, incluyó la búsqueda de la copa como una parte importante de la trama. En un libro anterior, Historias de un Padre Cristiano (Padre’s Christian Stories), Mons. Flannery escribió una historia inspiradora sobre el Santo Grial, y en éste Una Vista al Santo Grial (One View of the Holy Grail), adopta un enfoque nuevo y creativo de lo que podría haberle sucedido a la mítica copa.

La Esmeralda
En el libro La Esmeralda, el joven Adolfo Rodríguez encuentra una piedra rara y valiosa en su natal San Pedro, Coahuila, México. Como aprende Adolfo, la esmeralda es rara y valiosa debido a los poderes y oportunidades que le brinda, como ser el primero de la aldea de San Pedro en asistir a la universidad, donde obtiene una maestría en ingeniería. Adolfo continúa haciendo grandes cosas, incluido el traer una turbina eólica de regreso al pueblo, lo que mejora enormemente la vida de las personas allí.

En busca de mi Gemelo
Una obra de ficción en primera persona, En busca de mi Gemelo (In Search of my Twin) se ve a través de los ojos de William Musgrove. Después de que él y su hermano gemelo, Joseph, sobreviven a un accidente automovilístico mortal que cobra la vida de sus padres cuando los niños tienen solo dos días de edad, se convierten en pupilos del estado y son separados. William está especialmente intrigado al saber, a medida que crece, que en realidad tiene un hermano gemelo, y su larga búsqueda, de una generación, para encontrar a José lo lleva por un camino que refleja la estrecha relación entre el Padre, el Hijo y el Espíritu Santo.

(Los cuatro nuevos lanzamientos de Mons. Flannery están disponibles en formato de bolsillo y digital, sólo en Inglés, a través de Amazon, Barnes and Noble y www.covenantbooks.com. Las copias firmadas también están disponibles para su compra en St. Francis of Assisi en Madison, llame al (601) 856-5556.)