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Author Archives: Tereza Ma
Look to Christ, not the law, to receive new life
By Carol Glatz
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – What made Christian life radically new was the call for those who have faith in Jesus Christ to live in the Holy Spirit, who liberates from the law God handed down to Moses, Pope Francis said during his weekly general audience.
Mosaic law was necessary and important to follow at that time in history, but it served as a path to follow toward an eventual encounter with Christ and his commandment of love, he said Aug. 11 to those gathered in the Paul VI audience hall at the Vatican.
The pope continued with his series of talks reflecting on St. Paul’s Letter to the Galatians, focusing on the apostle answering the question, “Why, then, the law” if, after all, “there is the Holy Spirit and if there is Jesus who redeems us?”
“The law is a journey” and it acts like a teacher that takes people by the hand, leading them forward, toward an encounter with Jesus and having faith in Christ, he said.
God gave Moses the law to prepare his people on this journey during a time of rampant idolatry and to help his people guide their behavior in a way that showed and expressed their faith and covenant with God, he said.
However, he said, the law was not the covenant; the covenant came first with Abraham, hundreds of years before Moses, the pope said. The covenant was based not on the observance of the law, but on faith in the fulfilment of God’s promises, he said.
St. Paul needed to clarify the role of the law to the Galatians because there were “fundamentalist missionaries” among them who seemed almost “nostalgic” about observing Mosaic law, believing that adhering to the covenant also included observing the Mosaic law, he said.
The apostle explains that, “in reality, the covenant and the law are not linked indissolubly,” the pope said. “The first element he relies on is that the covenant established by God with Abraham was based on faith in the fulfillment of the promise and not on the observance of the law that did not yet exist.”
“Having said this, one should not think, however, that St. Paul was opposed to the Mosaic law” because he does defend its divine origin and says it has “a well-defined role in the history of salvation,” the pope said.
“The law, however, does not give life, it does not offer the fulfillment of (God’s) promise, because it is not capable of being able to fulfill it. Those who seek life need to look to the promise and to its fulfillment in Christ,” he said.
This was the problem – when people put more importance on observing the law than with encountering Christ, he said.
This passage of St. Paul to the Galatians “presents the radical newness of the Christian life: All those who have faith in Jesus Christ are called to live in the Holy Spirit, who liberates from the law and, at the same time, brings it to fulfillment according to the commandment of love,” he said.
The law is a path and “may the Lord help people walk along the path of the Ten Commandments, however, by looking at Christ’s love, the encounter with Christ, knowing that the encounter with Jesus is more important than all the commandments,” he said.
Addressing people after the main audience talk, Pope Francis told French-speaking visitors that it was “with great sorrow” that he learned of the Aug. 6 murder of the 60-year-old Montfort Father Olivier Maire.
“I extend my condolences to the religious community of the Monfortians in Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre in Vendée, to his family and to all Catholics in France,” he said, assuring everyone of his closeness.
At the end of the audience, right before the pope was set to greet visitors, an aide went to the pope, spoke to him for a few minutes and handed him a mobile phone. The pope spoke on the phone for a few minutes, then left the hall briefly before returning to greet visitors as usual.
The way of St. Dominic
Reflections on Life
By Melvin Arrington
Among the saints with an August feast day is Santo Domingo de Guzmán – St. Dominic (1170-1221) – founder of the Dominican Order, the Order of Preachers (O.P.). Born in North-Central Spain, he began his religious life as a contemplative, but when he was in his mid-30s Pope Innocent III sent him to the south of France on a preaching campaign in an effort to halt the spread of the Albigensian heresy sweeping across the land. The Albigensians taught that all material things, including the body and human sexuality, were evil; they saw extreme austerity as the only way to achieve perfection. Dominic preached relentlessly against these false doctrines, countering the bizarre practices of the heretics by walking barefoot across the countryside and enduring other mortifications, all the while praising God.
Dominic and the friars who gathered around him devoted themselves to intellectual life and preaching the Gospel. Formal papal approval for the Order came in 1216, but some 10 years earlier in France Dominic had already organized a group of women converts from Albigensianism, establishing a convent in Prouille. So, interestingly, Dominican sisters actually predate the friars.
As stories arose about his life, the line separating historical fact from tradition and legend gradually became blurred. One example concerns how he got his name. While on a pilgrimage to the shrine of 11th century Spanish saint Domingo de Silos, Dominic’s mother had a vision of a dog leaping from her womb and carrying a torch that lit up the world. Later, when she gave birth to a son, she named him Dominic, in honor of the namesake of the abbey she had visited. Thus, the Dominicans became known as the Hounds of the Lord, in Latin domini canes.
Illustrative of Dominic’s charity is this anecdote from his student days, during a time of famine in Spain. In an effort to alleviate suffering, he sold all his possessions, including his cherished books, giving the proceeds to the poor. His life of self-denial and personal holiness would be totally foreign to today’s self-absorbed, pleasure-seeking culture.
Dominic is often associated with the origin of the Rosary. According to tradition, the Virgin Mary, appeared to him in a vision and gave him the first Rosary. Early on, the Dominicans were the ones largely responsible for spreading this Catholic devotion throughout Europe.
Concerning his love of books and learning and his devotion to Sacred Scripture, it was said that he always carried copies of Matthew’s Gospel and Paul’s letters wherever he went and that he knew all those texts by heart. Through prayer and study he and his friars equipped themselves for teaching and preaching, thereby combining the contemplative life with the active, something that had not been done before on such a broad scale.
I feel connected to this saint in several ways, not the least of which is that I was born in St. Dominic’s Hospital in Jackson, not the sprawling complex off I-55 at Lakeland, but the original one, the former Jackson Infirmary, located on North President Street, just off Capitol Street. The Dominican Sisters of Springfield, Illinois, acquired the old hospital in 1946. In 1954 operations moved to the current location, where my sister was born.
My mother, a nurse, spent much of her career at St. Dominic’s. When I was a little boy, I would often go with Daddy to the hospital to pick her up after her shift. When we entered the building, I would inevitably encounter one of the sisters moving down the hallway in our direction at a rapid pace. I just knew she was coming to get me. In those days a Dominican nun typically wore a voluminous, free-flowing tunic, topped off with a headpiece that was imposing, to say the least. The sisters looked like nothing I had ever seen before, and I was scared to death of all of them.
Mama had several surgeries and procedures performed at St. Dominic’s and Daddy passed away there after suffering a massive heart attack. So, my family has long had close ties to the hospital.
Another link with Dominic concerns the fact that he was Spanish. During college and graduate school, I majored in Spanish language, literature and culture. Before I became Catholic, I was moved by the holiness and spirituality of the Spanish saints I read about. Those studies played some role in my conversion, as did the strong faith of my wife, who received her first 12 years of formal education from the Adrian Dominicans in Detroit.
In a recently published study, Saint Dominic’s Way of Life: A Path to Knowing and Loving God, Patrick Mary Briscoe, OP, and Jacob Bertrand Janczyk, OP, offer valuable insights into the saintly path followed by this great man of God, whom they characterize as a “hidden saint.” Other holy men, like Francis of Assisi and Ignatius of Loyola, were more famous, in part due to their striking conversion stories and their influential writings. Dominic, on the other hand, grew up in the church, and he left behind practically nothing in the way of written texts. Nevertheless, his legacy is formidable, especially when one considers his Order’s contributions across the centuries and around the world.
When Pope Honorius III officially confirmed Dominic’s preaching mission, he encouraged him to strive to spread the Gospel by remaining “insistent in season and out of season.” He faithfully carried out this mandate until the day of his death, which occurred 800 years ago, on Aug. 6, 1221. We celebrate his feast day in the summertime, on Aug. 8, but he is truly a saint for all seasons.
(Melvin Arrington is a Professor Emeritus of Modern Languages for the University of Mississippi and a member of St. John Oxford.)
Rachel weeps for loss of innocent life at St. Richard parish
By Joanna Puddister King and Tereza Ma
JACKSON – Rachel stands perpetually weeping for the loss of innocent life on Lynwood Drive in Jackson near the Special Kids building at St. Richard parish. “Rachel Weeping” is the culmination of a vision that started at the parish years ago in a desire to have a substantial ‘pro-life’ monument permanently present at the church.
“One day a few years back, I … stumbled across a story whose headline said something to the effect of ‘Iceland eliminates down syndrome,'” said Father John Bohn. He was prepared to be amazed by scientific discoveries, but found that they were simply aborting any child who tested positive for Trisomy 21, the condition that leads to down syndrome.
“So, I didn’t think that was a cause for celebration. I thought that it was a tragedy, in large part because our Special Kids program here at St. Richard is really the best part of our parish. I thought about what we’d all miss if these souls had been aborted by their parents before birth simply because they were different,” said Father John.
Commissioned by the Knights of Columbus at St. Richard, the work began in 2017 and was sculpted by Tracy H. Sugg.
The concept of the sculpture is based on the scripture in Jeremiah 31:15 “Behold, Rachel weeping for her children, and she would not be comforted because they were no more.”
Sugg, whose studio is in Tennessee, has been sculpting professionally for about 30 years and has ties to Jackson, earning a master of fine arts from Mississippi College. She also sculpted a piece in the main hall of St. Richard called “Christ Setting Forth the Sacraments,” and has pieces across the country, including “G. V. Sonny Montgomery” at Mississippi State University in Starkville, “Dominican Sister” in the lobby of St. Dominic Hospital in Jackson and “General Tadeusz Kosciuszko” in Kosciusko.
Sugg surrounded Rachel with astounding symbolism from her bare feet to the curls in her loose flowing hair. The Knights requested that Rachel hold a baby blanket, which Sugg took great care to create, using only her hands.
“I wanted to bring home to the viewer the loss of that life. So, I chose to create a sharp contrast between the movement found in the figure to the shocking stillness found in the blanket,” said Sugg. “So, I just have the blanket inert with gravity pulling on it so it has very heavy folds.”
The same folds are also tucked in the sculpture under Rachel’s belt. “The folds are echoed in the blanket and it ties in with her womb and visually creates a connection mentally between the grieving mother and the loss of a child,” said Sugg.
“This sculpture … will continue to show the dignity of human life. It will continue to glorify God and this testimony through the tool of a bronze sculpture. It goes beyond me and beyond all of you. And beyond this generation that is alive right now because it will continue to tell the story long after they are gone,” said Sugg.
“My hands are just the tools. This was the vision of the Knights of Columbus and Father John … we are all a part of this enduring statement that will endlessly cry out to those who view it of the blessed dignity of all human life.”
(More about Sugg’s process for creating Rachel and more about her breathtaking symbolism can be found at www.tracyhsugg.com/rachel-weeping/.)
St. Paul Vicksburg dedicates statue of patron saint
By John Surratt, The Vicksburg Post
VICKSBURG – A statue of St. Paul Catholic Church’s patron saint now graces the church’s sanctuary, and the story behind its arrival begins with a new pastor and a donation left to the church’s altar society.
Not long after he arrived at St. Paul Catholic Church as pastor, Father Rusty Vincent was approached by Janice Waring with a gift from the church’s altar society.
“Some money was donated to the altar society years ago and it had been in a CD for many years,” said Waring, who was altar society treasurer.
Interest in the altar society had been waning for several years and two years ago the group disbanded with the money still in the bank.
“I went to Father Rusty and said we want to do something with it, but we don’t want to piecemeal it out,” Waring said. “What is something we may need?”
Father Vincent noticed the need. The church had statues of Jesus and Mary but there was no statue of the church’s patron saint, St. Paul the Apostle.
“Since the church didn’t have a St. Paul statue and we were named St. Paul’s, I thought that was the best thing to do,” Father Vincent said.
The decision led to a two-year process to find a statue of St. Paul that ended with the T.H. Stemper Co., which specializes in supplies and reconditioning and making statues for churches, making the statue.
When she first saw the statue, Waring said, “It was a white statue, but the manufacturer put us with an artist and when it was finished it looks like wood. We were very pleased.”
Parishioner Charles Hahn made the stand for the statue using the old church organ’s wood pipes.
On June 27, St. Paul dedicated the statue of its patron saint during a ceremony at its 10:30 a.m. Mass.
“He is the patron saint of the church, it is named after him and the saints in heaven are already with God so they’re interceding on our behalf; they’re praying for us to get to heaven,” Father Vincent said of the statue’s significance to the parish.
“When you name a church after a saint, you have a special connection with that saint,” he said. “St. Paul’s life as a saint, whether it be his conversion or martyrdom, is all to encourage us to live the life of a saint as he did.”
St. Paul initially persecuted Christians.
“He was caught up in the zeal for the Jewish faith,” he said. “He was very passionate about it but at the same time too, he was very misguided in the sense of the fact that he thought he was right, but he was living it out in a cruel way.
“Then he had his conversion; he had that vision of Christ that’s seen in the Acts of the Apostles and changed him completely; he was devoted to Christ from that day forward, even to death. It was amazing the change he went through,” Father Vincent said.
(Reprinted with permission of The Vicksburg Post. John Surratt is a graduate of Louisiana State University with a degree in general studies. He has been a member of The Vicksburg Post staff since 2011 and covers city government. He and his wife attend St. Paul Catholic Church.)
Sister Kelly Moline professes perpetual vows as Dominican Sister of Springfield
By Sister Beth Murphy, OP
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Early in the morning on the day after she made her perpetual profession of vows as a Dominican Sister of Springfield, Sister Kelly Moline was in a car travelling back to Jackson, Mississippi, where she ministers as a chaplain in the COVID-strained St. Dominic’s Hospital.
The day before, Sunday, Aug. 8, 2021, a defining moment of Sister Kelly Moline’s life had come and gone. Beyond that moment, what follows is a lifelong commitment to her vows of consecration to God as a Dominican Sister of Springfield. That, of course, is not a small or simple thing. As Dominican Brother Timothy Radcliffe said while he was Master General of the Order of Preachers, “What we profess in a moment we live in to for a lifetime.”
This, Sister Kelly does not do alone. In addition to the grace of God which accompanies every person through life, she also has the support of her Springfield Dominican Sisters and a global Dominican Family that includes thousands of others who have been claimed for the Order of Preachers as sisters, brothers, ordained ministers and laity.
Sister Kelly’s parents, Kevin and Cindy Moline, of Glendale, Arizona, raised Sister Kelly and her brother Jay in Minnesota, Florida, Iowa and Missouri. “I was itinerant before I knew what that was,” Sister Kelly quipped, referring to the Dominicans’ desire to be willing to move anywhere to fulfill the preaching mission of the order.
In an interview for the new podcast, F.L.O.W.cast, Sister Kelly said, “There is a certain joy that comes in knowing you are where you are supposed to be.” She likes to quote the famous Dominican mystic St. Catherine of Siena who said “Be who you are meant to be and you will set the world on fire.” Like the 14th Century Dominican, Sister Kelly seems to have found her place. “To be with the poor, to be with the sick, to provide them hospitality, that is what brought me joy,” Sister Kelly said.
After completing a bachelor’s degree in gerontology from Missouri State University in 2005, Sister Kelly worked in continuing care retirement communities in St. Louis and Southbury, Connecticut, before taking the position that synced her coordinates with several Springfield Dominican Sisters.
“I moved to Springfield for work in 2009 and kept bumping into Springfield Dominicans,” she said in 2019. “I’d been thinking about religious life already. The joy I saw in those first three sisters I met — Sister Maxine, Sister Concepta and Sister Loyola — made me want to learn more about Dominican life.”
Sister Kelly began formation in Dominican consecrated life in 2013, giving three years toward prayer, study and ongoing discernment of her call to religious life. Her first year was focused on learning the basics of faith, religious life and the charism and history of the Order of Preachers. A second year was spent with other women discerning Dominican consecrated life in the Collaborative Dominican Novitiate in St. Louis. During the third year the focus was ministry, when she experienced the pillars of Dominican life — prayer, study, preaching and common life — alongside already-professed members of the congregation at various mission sites.
During that time, she accompanied English language learners at the Dominican Literacy Center in Aurora, Illinois; learned the challenges of life on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation while ministering alongside Sister Barbara Ann Bogenschutz at Our Lady of the Sioux Parish, Oglala, South Dakota; was introduced to the life and ministry of our sisters in Jarpa and Lima Peru; and spent time with our sisters who carry out a variety of ministries at St. Dominic Hospital and St. Catherine’s Village in Jackson. It is there she now ministers, serving as a chaplain’s assistant at St. Dominic’s.
After professing her first vows in 2016, Sister Kelly completed a master’s degree in pastoral studies at Catholic Theological Union while living in community with Springfield Dominican Sisters at St. Martin de Porres Convent in Chicago.
During Sunday Mass on the feast of the founder of the Order of Preachers, St. Dominic de Guzman, Sister Kelly knelt in the sanctuary of Sacred Heart Convent Chapel, placed her hands in the hands of Sister Rebecca Ann Gemma, the congregation’s prioress general, and proclaimed the vows that Dominicans have proclaimed for centuries:
I, Sister Kelly Moline, make profession, and promise obedience to God, to Blessed Mary, to Blessed Dominic, and to you, Sister Rebecca Ann Gemma, the Prioress General of our congregation, the Dominican Sisters of Springfield, and to your successors, according to the Rule of St. Augustine and the Constitutions of this congregation. I will be obedient to you and your successors until death.
“With these ancient words, Sister Kelly became the most recent in a long line of women and men who have been drawn by God toward a life of prayer, study, common life and preaching,” said Sister Elyse Ramirez, who has accompanied Sister Kelly as director of initial formation for the Springfield Dominicans. “Sister Kelly’s yes puts her in good company. Her commitment is a courageous one at this time of such dramatic change in the church and the world. We are so happy to have her alongside us and encourage other women to consider the same rewarding, challenging path.”
To learn how you can become a member of the Dominican Family visit https://springfieldop.org/join-us/ or contact Sister Denise Glazik at dglazik@spdom.org.
(The Dominican Sisters of Springfield are part of a worldwide Dominican family, the Order of Preachers. For more than 800 years, Dominicans have preached the Gospel in word and deed. The Springfield Dominicans were established in Jacksonville, Illinois, in 1873 and relocated to Springfield in 1893. Today, thousands of Dominican sisters, nuns, priests, brothers, associates, and laity minister in more than 100 countries around the world.)
In memoriam: Abbot Thomas DeWane, O. Praem., Sister Roselyn Snyder, OP and Sister Nicholas Catrambone, BVM
Abbot Thomas DeWane, O, Praem
DE PERE, Wis. – Abbot Emeritus Evermode Thomas DeWane, O. Praem., 89, a member of the Norbertine Community of St. Norbert Abbey, De Pere, Wisconsin and a Norbertine priest, passed into God’s eternal kingdom on July 31, 2021.
Abbot DeWane was born on Feb. 26, 1932 in Green Bay to the late Thomas and Angeline (Bos) DeWane. His home parish was St. Willebrord in Green Bay.
After graduating as salutatorian from what was then Central Catholic High School, his desire to become a priest solidified. Abbot DeWane felt he was “born to be a priest.” He was vested as a novice, professed simple vows and solemn vows on Aug. 28 in 1950, 1952 and 1955, respectively.
In 1955, he graduated from St. Norbert College in De Pere with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy while teaching at Abbot Pennings High School. On May 31, 1958, Abbot DeWane was ordained to the priesthood. After ordination, he served as a teacher, then registrar at Premontre High School in Green Bay for five years.
He attended Marquette University in Milwaukee and obtained a doctorate in education in 1964. From there, he went on to the University of Chicago for doctoral administration studies, while also being the house superior at the Holy Spirit House of Studies for six years.
Upon returning to De Pere in 1970, he was appointed Dean of Students at St. Norbert College. In 1973, Abbot DeWane returned to the high school and served as principal for nine years. During this time, he was on the St. Norbert College board of trustees, held leadership positions on several educational committees and was active in various professional organizations. In 1983, he returned to St. Norbert College to serve as the director of teacher education, a position he held for nine years.
In 1993, Abbot DeWane was appointed the director of formation for St. Norbert Abbey. In April 1994, he was elected as fifth Abbot of St. Norbert Abbey and received his abbatial blessing from Bishop Robert Banks on June 6, 1994.
After his nine-year term as abbot, he moved to the Priory of St. Moses the Black in Raymond, Mississippi and ministered in a variety of parishes and the state correctional facility. He retired to St. Norbert Abbey in 2019.
He is survived by the Norbertine community of St. Norbert Abbey; one sister, Marilyn Marsh; many nieces and nephews.
Abbot DeWane was preceded in dealth by his parents; siblings: Gordon (Elaine) DeWane, Lois (John) Cawley, Gladys Jentz; brother-in-law, Charles Marsh.
Abbot DeWane’s Mass of Christian Burial took place on Saturday, Aug. 7, 2021 and he was buried in the St. Norbert Abbey Cemetery.
Sister Roselyn Snyder, OP
SINSINAWA, Wis. — Sister Roselyn Snyder, OP, died June 25, 2021, at St. Dominic Villa, Hazel Green, Wisconsin. Her religious name was Sister Adeltrude. The funeral Mass was held at the Dominican motherhouse, Sinsinawa, July 8, followed by burial in the Motherhouse Cemetery.
Sister Roslyn made her first profession as a Dominican Sister of Sinsinawa Aug. 5, 1949, and her perpetual profession Aug. 5, 1952. She ministered in education as a teacher for 27 years, assistant principal for two years, and principal for four years. Sister Roslyn served as director of social justice ministry for three years, in parish ministry for eight years, and director of religious education for five years. She served the Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa as finance officer for the Southern Province for 14 years and as support staff in the Office of Development for 15 years. Sister Roslyn believed in the dignity of every person and worked for social justice with her unwavering, calm, and caring presence. She served in Illinois, the District of Columbia, Wisconsin, Alabama and Mississippi.
In the Diocese of Jackson, Sister Roslyn served the Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa as finance officer for the Southern Province, 1998-2002, while living in Madison.
Sister Roslyn was born Oct. 5, 1928, in Galena, Ill., the daughter of Peter and Mathilda (Kaiser) Snyder. Her parents; four sisters, Delphine Sheehan Fischer, Alverna Segert, Mabel Bussan, and Marian Davis; and two brothers, Richard Snyder and Emmet Snyder, preceded her in death. She is survived by nieces, nephews, and her Dominican Sisters with whom she shared 71 years of religious life.
Memorials may be made to the Sinsinawa Dominicans, 585 County Road Z, Sinsinawa, WI, 53824-9701 or at www.sinsinawa.org/donate online.
Repeat broadcasts of the wake and funeral for Sister Roslyn are available online at www.sinsinawa.org/live. Click on the “on demand” tab.
Sister Nicholas “Nic” Catrambone, BVM
DEBUQUE, Iowa – Sister Nicholas “Nic” Catrambone, BVM, 85, died Monday, July 12, 2021, at Mount Carmel Bluffs in Dubuque, Iowa.
Private funeral services were held Tuesday, July 20, 2021 with burial in the Mount Carmel Cemetery.
She was born April 8, 1936, in Chicago to Nicholas and Theresa Catrambone. She entered the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary congregation on Sept. 8, 1954, from St. Callistus parish, Chicago. She professed first vows on March 19, 1957, and final vows on July 16, 1962.
In Clarksdale, Mississippi, she taught at Immaculate Conception High School from 1964 to 1978, and worked in prison ministry.
Sister Nic taught at Memphis Catholic High School from 1984 to 1992. She also served in prison ministry at the Shelby County Jail and volunteered at the St. Vincent de Paul soup kitchen.
She also taught in Iowa, Illinois, Michigan and Missouri.
She was preceded in death by her parents; brothers Anthony, Joseph (Thelma), Eugene, and Arthur Catrambone; and sisters Tessie (Ralph) Galluzzi and Kay (Dominic) Belmonte. She is survived by a sister, Letty Catrambone, Oak Park, Ill.; sisters-in-law Mary Catrambone, Westlake Village, Calif., and Terri Catrambone, Oak Park, Ill.; nieces, nephews, and the Sisters of Charity, BVM, with whom she shared life for 66 years.
Memorials may be given to the BVM Support Fund, 1100 Carmel Drive, Dubuque, IA 52003.
USCCB, Catholic groups, politicians back Mississippi in court abortion case
By Carol Zimmermann
WASHINGTON (CNS) – Catholic leaders, pro-life organizations, Republican members of Congress and several governors are among those on a long list of supporters backing Mississippi’s ban on abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy and urging the court to reexamine its previous abortion rulings when it takes up this case in the fall.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, in its friend-of-the-court brief filed July 27, stressed that abortion is not a right created by the Constitution and called it “inherently different from other types of personal decisions to which this court has accorded constitutional protection.”
Referring to the court’s major abortion decisions – Roe v. Wade, the 1973 court case which legalized abortion, and 1992’s Casey v. Planned Parenthood, which affirmed Roe, – the brief warned that if the Supreme Court “continues to treat abortion as a constitutional issue,” it will face more questions in the future about “what sorts of abortion regulations are permissible.”
Other Catholic groups echoed the USCCB, which was joined in its brief by other religious groups and the two dioceses of Mississippi, in their support of the state’s abortion ban after 15 weeks.
The case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, came before the court last year but the justices only agreed in late May to take it up in the next term.
The case focuses on an appeal from Mississippi to keep its ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, which was struck down by a federal District Court in Mississippi in 2018 and upheld a year later by the New Orleans-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit.
A brief filed by O. Carter Snead, law professor at the University of Notre Dame and director of the university’s Center for Ethics and Culture, and Mary Ann Glendon, former U.S. ambassador to the Holy See, said the Mississippi case “offers the cleanest opportunity since Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973 for the court to revisit its deeply flawed and harmful jurisprudence,” or theory of law, on abortion decisions.
They also said the court’s abortion rulings have been “completely untethered from the Constitution’s text, history and tradition” and have imposed “an extreme, incoherent, unworkable and antidemocratic legal regime for abortion on the nation for several decades.”
Similarly, a brief filed by the National Association of Catholic Nurses and the Catholic Medical Association urged the court to take itself out of the “arbitrary line-drawing that Roe and Casey engaged in while attempting to settle the abortion controversy.”
“There is no nonarbitrary line during pregnancy that the court can draw,” the groups added, emphasizing that “the lives of unborn children are on a continuum toward adulthood from conception forward.”
Other Catholic or pro-life groups that filed briefs supporting Mississippi in this case included the Thomas More Society, the National Catholic Bioethics Center, the Diocese of Tyler, Texas, which joined other religious and civil groups, the National Right to Life Committee, Americans United for Life and the March for Life Education and Defense Fund.
The case, which is already getting a lot of attention, will be the court’s first look at the right to an abortion since Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation to the court last year.
The Mississippi law is being challenged by the state’s only abortion facility, the Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
In announcing they would take up this case, the justices said they would only review one of the three questions presented to them: “Whether all previability prohibitions on elective abortions are unconstitutional.”
In other words, they are focusing on the viability, or when a fetus is said to be able to survive on its own. The Supreme Court has consistently ruled that states cannot restrict abortion before the 24-week mark. The ban on abortions after 15 weeks is more restrictive than current law.
Featured photo Father McGing’s golden anniversary …
Calendar of events
PARISH, FAMILY AND SCHOOL EVENTS
ABERDEEN St. Francis of Assisi, Adult Bible Study meets on Tuesdays at 10 a.m. They are presently studying church history. All are welcome. Details: (662) 813-2295.
CLARKSDALE Catholic Community of St. Elizabeth, Father Raju is offering a Healing Mass on the first Saturday of each month at 7:30 a.m. If you would like to schedule it for a special intention, call the church office at (662) 624-4301.
FLOWOOD St. Paul Early Learning Center 8th annual Golf Tournament, Friday, Sept. 10 at Bay Pointe Golf Club. Individual players $100; four-person teams $400. Shotgun start at 1 p.m with lunch and doorprizes at 11:30 a.m. Dinner and awards at 5:30 p.m. Proceeds will be used to update tables and chairs in classrooms and cafeteria. Details: call 601-992-2876 or email stpaullearningcenter@gmail.com.
GLUCKSTADT St. Joseph, Save the Date, Germanfest is scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 26 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The family-oriented festival is best known for its authentic German food and music. There are a lot of “behind-the-scenes” jobs that happen before the actual festival day. Wednesday, Sept. 8 – Kraut Packing, 4 p.m. until finished. This is the kraut they will use the day of the festival. Lots of help needed! Details: church office (601) 856-2054.
GRENADA, RICHLAND & SUMMIT Pro-life Mississippi Walk for Life, Saturday, Sept. 18, 10 a.m. It is not just a walk it’s a family fun day! Food, games and more. No registration fee and prizes awarded. Details: https://bit.ly/walk4life2021 or plm@prolifemississippi.org.
JACKSON St. Richard, Save the Date, An Evening with Our Stars, Saturday, Sept. 11 at 5:30 p.m. in Foley Hall. This is a fundraiser benefitting the St. Richard Special Kids. Tickets are $60 each. Enjoy dinner, dancing and decadent desserts. Dinner will be provided by the Knights of Columbus. Details: church office (601) 366-2335.
40th annual St. Richard Special Kids Day Golf Tournament, Thursday, Oct. 7 at Deerfield Golf Club. The unique gifts of the children are recognized and applauded, and the community participates in a day full of fun, excitement and meaningful fundraising. Details: To learn more, or to find out how to participate in this event, call the church office at (601) 366-2335 or email garner@saintrichard.com.
MADISON St. Francis of Assisi, The M&M Study Group will have sessions on Wednesdays, beginning Sept. 8, from 10-11:30 a.m. All ladies are invited to attend. The first session will be on the book ‘’Learning to Pray” by Father James Martin. Details: call (601) 613-1926 or (601) 853-4187.
Parish Mission, Wednesday, Sept. 22. Presenter: Deacon John McGregor, D.Min. will speak on “Discipleship and the Authenticity Gap” beginning with food and fellowship at 5 p.m. Deacon John will look at what authentic discipleship means in our everyday lives and why so many people are leaving the church. Details: church office (601) 856-5556.
Save the Date, Cajun Fest 2021, Sunday, Oct. 3. Plan to attend for a great afternoon of fun and cajun music. Details: church office (601) 856-5556.
MERIDAN Catholic Community of Meridian, Save the Date, Sunday, Sept. 12, we will gather after 11 a.m. Mass for a family luncheon to recognize and officially welcome the parishioners who have joined our Catholic Community in the recent years. We look forward to everyone getting together once again to share a meal and the fellowship of one another. Details: church office (601) 693-1321.
NATCHEZ Assumption of BVM, the Grief Share program is held on Thursdays through Sept. 23 from 1-3 p.m. Details: to sign up call the church office at (601) 442-7250 or (318)-421-4559 or sign up at www.Griefshare.org.
OLIVE BRANCH Queen of Peace, Bible study/prayer group will meet Wednesdays at 9:30 am. Details: contact Wayne Miller at (901) 679-3400 with any questions.
YOUTH BRIEFS
HERNANDO Holy Spirit, “Open Gym” on Wednesdays from 5:30-6:30 p.m. for sixth through 12th grades at the Family Life Center. Make plans to come and enjoy the food, fun and games. Details: church office (662) 429-7851.
MADISON St. Francis of Assisi, Ignite! 2021-22 Life Teen for 7th-12th graders begins with their annual kick-off event on Sunday, Aug. 29 starting with 5 p.m. Mass followed by supper and flaming fun! Details: contact Mary Catherine or Melissa at the church office (601) 856-5556.