Faith in Action
By Jacob Eftink

TUPELO – For many years Knights of Columbus council #8848 has supported the local crisis pregnancy center, Parkgate Pregnancy Center. Parkgate offers high quality, confidential services. The center has an outstanding, dedicated staff including supportive counselors and a sonographer to guide their clients along the way. All services are free of charge made possible by generous community members, including the Knights of Columbus.

Services include pregnancy tests, ultrasound sonography, and counseling. Parkgate also provides the Empower program, a relevant, real-life class for students in grades 7-12 teaching healthy decision making, sexual risk avoidance and more. Other services include parenting for first time parents; mentor programs to support new parents. Parkgate also connects clients with other resources in the community.

The unique location of the pregnancy center provides visibility to potential clients in an underserved community. The nearest abortion clinic is in Memphis about 100 miles away. There are two major universities and a U.S. Air Force base within 60 miles of the center.

Parkgate’s needed to replace their aging, leased ultrasound machine and the Supreme Knights of Columbus Ultrasound Program was a natural fit. The program has well defined parameters and criteria. With the support of Knights of Columbus supreme and state officers, the local council was able to successfully navigate through the process. Ultimately, Parkgate Pregnancy Center formally qualified for the ultrasound program after a thorough survey on Dec. 6, 2021 by the Diocese of Jackson.

The Tupelo Knights of Columbus council’s major fundraiser event, the 6th Annual Charity Concert Gala, took place on Aug. 13, 2022, at St. James Catholic Church in Tupelo. The concert featured extremely talented musicians from the region. There were over 200 concert goers from the parish and community. Ultimately, about $11,000 was raised at the event. The Mississippi council generously contributed $7,000 for a total of $18,000 raised. Supreme Knights of Columbus ultrasound program added the other 50% of funds for a grand total of $36,000 for the final purchase of the GE ultrasound machine. Collaboration among the Pregnancy Center, the Diocese of Jackson, then local, state, and supreme Knights of Columbus council was been inspiring. This was truly a blessed project.

The local ultrasound program officially concluded with a dedication ceremony on May 23, 2023 at Parkgate Pregnancy Center. Parkgate staff, board members, parishioners from St. James Catholic Church, and Knights of Columbus members were in attendance to enjoy the celebration.

One of the highlights was when the sonographer, Stacy Armstrong, demonstrated the new machine and the images of unborn babies it produces. She commented the new machine’s quality is a marked improvement over the old one. We agreed the ultrasound room is sacred space where decisions for life are made every day as a direct result of mothers seeing the images of their unborn children.

(Jackob Eftink served as chairman for the ultrasound program for the Father Reitmeier Knight of Columbus Council #8848 in Tupelo)

IN EXILE
By Father Ron Rolheiser, OMI

Elizabeth Poreba ends a poem, No Good Company, with these words:
I’ve got no banter,
I’m all judgement and edges, an edgy white lady
Wondering what to do, what to do next
As in Jesus is coming, look busy.

At the wedding feast in Cana, Mary tells Jesus – they have no wine – asking him to create some. What do wine and banter have in common? Both bring a needed extra into our lives.

Let’s start with wine. Wine is not a protein, something the body needs to be nourished and kept alive, part of an essential diet. It’s an extra that provides something special for one’s health. Taken with the right spirit and in moderation, wine can help lift the mood, lighten the heart and warm the conversation, even as it helps (at least for the moment) lessen some of the tensions among us. It’s a grease that can help make a conversation, a family dinner or a social gathering flow more pleasantly.

Banter? Well, like wine, if taken with the right spirit and in moderation, it can also lift the mood, lighten the heart, warm a conversation and lessen tensions at a gathering. Classical Greek thought suggested that love has six components: Eros – emotional and sexual attraction; mania – emotional obsession; asteismos – playfulness and banter; storge – care and solicitousness; pragma – practical arrangement and accommodation; philia – friendship; and agape – altruism.

Normally, when we think of love, we think of each of these components, except the aspect of banter and playfulness. Our romantic selves identify love very much with emotional obsession and sexual attraction. Our religious and moral selves identify love with care, friendship and altruism; and our pragmatic selves identify it with practical arrangement. Few speak of the place and importance of banter or playfulness, of healthy teasing, of humor, but these are often the grease that keeps the others flowing more smoothly.

Here’s an example: For all my adult life, I’ve lived in various religious houses, in community with other vowed religious (in my case, men). We don’t get to pick with whom we live, but are assigned to a community, along with everyone else who lives there. And we come together with our different backgrounds, different personalities and different eccentricities. This can be a formula for tension and yet, for the most part, it works, is pleasant and provides life-giving support and fellowship. What makes it work? Why don’t we end up killing each other? How do we live (for the most part) pleasantly together beyond our differences, immaturities and egos?

Well, there’s a common mission that keeps us working together and, most importantly, there’s regular common prayer that helps us see each other in a better light. But, very importantly, there is banter, playfulness, healthy teasing and humor which, like wine at a table, help take the edge off things and ease the tension inherent in our differences. A community that doesn’t stay light-hearted through banter, playfulness and healthy teasing will eventually become everything that light-hearted is not, namely, heavy, drab, full of tension and pompous. In every healthy community I’ve lived in, one of the things that made it healthy (and pleasant to come home to) was banter, playfulness, loving teasing and humor. These are rich wines that can enliven the table of any family and any community.

This, of course, like drinking wine, can be overdone and be a way of avoiding harder conversations that need to be had. As well, banter can keep us relating to each other in ways that actually hinder genuine community. Humor, banter, the jokester and the prankster need to know when enough is enough and when serious conversation needs to happen. The risk of overdoing banter is real, though perhaps the greater risk lies in trying to live together in its absence.

Banter, playfulness, loving teasing and humor don’t just help us relate to each other beyond our differences, they also help deflate the pomposity that is invariably the child of over-seriousness. They help keep our families and communities grounded and pleasant.

I grew up in a large family, with each of us having strong personalities and plenty of faults; yet save for very few occasions, our house, which was physically too small for so large a family, was pleasant to be in because it was perennially filled with banter, playfulness, humor and healthy teasing. We seldom had wine, but we had banter! When I look back on what my family gave me, I am deeply grateful for many gifts: faith, love, safety, trust, support, education, moderation and moral sensitivity. But it also taught me banter, playfulness, healthy teasing and humor. No small gift.

At the wedding feast in Cana, Jesus’ mother noticed that, even though a wedding celebration was happening, something wasn’t right. Was it a heaviness? An over-seriousness? Was it an unhealthy pomposity? Was there a noticeable tension in the room? Whatever. Something was missing, so she goes to Jesus and says: “Son, they have no banter!”

(Oblate Father Ron Rolheiser is a theologian, teacher and award-winning author. He can be contacted through his website www.ronrolheiser.com.)

Things Old and New
By Ruth Powers

The Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is coming up on July 16, so it is appropriate at this time to learn about a popular sacramental used by Catholics that has its origin in the Carmelite order. Many people are at least somewhat familiar with the brown scapular, and may even wear one regularly, without realizing what it means and what responsibilities the brown scapular places on the wearer.

The brown scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel traces its origin to an English Carmelite friar, St. Simon Stock, who lived about 250 years ago. It symbolizes the garment of the Blessed Virgin and represents in a very small scale the brown and cream habits of the friars, nuns and sisters of these orders. On a larger scale the scapular is the habit of the Secular Carmelites in both congregations. This scapular places the wearer under the protection of Mary in a special way.

Many people who are not associated formally with the Carmelite orders also wear the brown scapular as a sign of their devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, but in so doing share not only in the resulting graces but also in the responsibilities which those graces confer. Because it incurs spiritual responsibilities, an individual should be invested with the brown scapular by a priest or other authorized person. Thereafter, either the brown scapular or the scapular medal may be worn.

The official manual of the Carmelite orders on the catechesis of the brown scapular provides the following description of Carmelite spirituality:

1. Frequent participation at Mass and reception of Holy Communion;
2. Frequent reading of and meditation on the Word of God in sacred Scripture;
3. The regular praying of at least part of the Liturgy of the Hours;
4. Imitation of and devotion to Mary, the woman of faith who hears the word of God and puts it into practice;
5. The practice of the virtues, notable charity, chastity (according to one’s state in life), and obedience to the will of God.

Those who wear the brown scapular are expected to take part in these practices to the extent possible according to their state in life.

Since the brown scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is a sacramental administered by the two Carmelite orders, a person who wears this scapular or medal is affiliated with the Carmelite community throughout the world, however loosely, and many find hope and consolation in the writings of the three Carmelite doctors: St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross and St. Therese of Lisieux.

The official manual of the brown scapular states the following:

The brown scapular is not:

1. A magical charm to protect you;
2. An automatic guarantee of salvation; or
3. An excuse for not living up to the demands of the Christian life.
   

The brown scapular:

1. Is a sign which has been approved by the church for over seven centuries (since the founding of the Carmelite orders);
2. Stands for a decision to follow Jesus, like Mary;
   a. Open to God and His will;
   b. Guided by faith, hope and love;
   c. Close to the needs of people;
   d. Praying at all time; and
   e. Discovering God present in all that happens around us.

Unfortunately, there is a great deal of misinformation in some Catholic circles regarding the brown scapular. Perhaps the most common misconception involves the “Sabbatine Privilege.” The so-called Sabbatine Privilege alleged that wearers of the brown scapular would receive early liberation from purgatory (on the first Saturday after death) through the special intercession of the Virgin Mary. This derived from a papal bull attributed to Pope John XXII, which has been known to be fraudulent since 1613, and the Carmelite order is prohibited from mentioning or supporting this “privilege.”

The brown scapular is a powerful sacramental gift to us, but one which must be understood and used properly in order to gain the graces it promises. As the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel approaches, give some consideration to making this devotion part of your life.

A special thanks goes out to Elizabeth Boggess, a member of the Secular Carmelite community in Natchez, for her invaluable help in preparing this column.

(Ruth Powers is the program coordinator for The Basilica of St. Mary in Natchez.)

On Ordinary Times
By Lucia A. Silecchia

If it is graduation season, then it is graduation speech season too.

High schools, colleges, and even elementary schools seek out high profile speakers to impart their wisdom to graduates – or, at least, they aim to. I am a bit dubious about what a pampered celebrity or popular sports figure could possibly know about the life of an average graduate, and I am disappointed when political speakers bring disheartening division to what should be a final moment of unity for a class that has lived four or more years together.

When I think about the wisdom imparted to me in the speeches at my graduations, I cannot recall what any speaker said to my classmates and me.

What I have recalled, through decades of university life, is all the wisdom imparted to me by those who did not tell me how to live a good and great life, but by those who showed me how to do so. With prayerful gratitude, I can remember so many people whose lives well lived told me more than the most eloquent of speeches ever could. In the quiet, humble ways so loved by Christ, their lives were silent speeches I will never forget.

So, if you are graduating this year, enjoy your graduation and the speeches given that day. I hope that they inspire you to goodness, greatness, and holiness.

However, I hope that you will also think about what you have been taught by the people you met along the way. In their silence, not in their speeches, what did you learn from:

• The maintenance worker who, after long days at work, left for a second job to support his family and see his children attend college and live the dreams he dreamt for them?
• The staff member battling a serious illness who still spent time patiently helping students with problems that must have seemed so trivial to her?
• The teacher who taught an early morning class with grace and good cheer after spending most of her evening awake with a parent suffering with dementia and unable to sleep – or to recognize the daughter who kept vigil with her?
• The campus chaplain who became the voice of hope and courage when public tragedy struck campus – or private heartache struck any member of the campus community?
• The fellow student who made sure that a classmate who went home after the sudden death of a parent did not fall behind, and shared notes, wisdom and review time with kind generosity?
• The server in the university cafeteria who greeted everyone with love, asked how all were doing – and really, truly wanted to know?
• The quiet classmate who found the courage to confront a bully, and in an instant changed the culture of the playing field?
• The student athlete who lost a critical match and, with grace and good sportsmanship, congratulated a victorious opponent with genuine admiration for a job well done?
• The roommate who prayed quietly at the break or close of day and whose example reawakened your own faith?
• The professor whose family extended a Thanksgiving invitation to anyone who could not travel home for the holiday weekend?
• The classmate who gave birth to a child – planned or unplanned – and did not sacrifice motherhood for mortarboard? All those who supported her with material and intangible support?
• The professor who noticed that you were not yourself and cared enough to ask what was wrong?
  

I have known some of these people. Others have told me about some of them.

The truth is that schools and universities are filled with people such as these. They are people who will often not be well known, whose names will not be announced as graduation speakers, and who will not be receiving honorary degrees.

Yet, if you are graduating, I hope you will think about those whose lives touched yours and whose lives were loving lectures without words. If you can, thank them with your words and with your prayers. No matter how eloquent your graduation ceremonies may be, it is those such as these who impart the wisdom of ordinary time.

May God bless them, and the class of 2023!

(Lucia A. Silecchia is a Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Faculty Research at the Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law. Email her at silecchia@cua.edu.)

On Ordinary Times
By Lucia A. Silecchia

If you enter a church and find the sanctuary decked out in red flowers, chances are that, unless it is Christmas, the parish has just celebrated Confirmation. This is particularly true in spring when so many such celebrations take place in the wake of Easter.

I wonder, though, if this Sacrament is in danger of being deeply underappreciated.

Unlike Communion and Reconciliation, Confirmation is celebrated only once in a lifetime. Thus, it is not repeatedly recalled in such a tangible way.

Unlike Holy Matrimony and Ordination, Confirmation does not bring forth an obvious reorientation of daily life and the organization of that life to meet the demands that come with a new state of life.
Unlike Baptism, it does not come with such constant reminders as the Baptismal candle prominently placed in every church or the annual renewal of Baptismal vows at Easter or the reminder of Baptism at every Christian funeral.

Unlike the Anointing of the Sick, it is often celebrated amidst the myriad distractions and angsts of teenage life rather than in those days when the mind and heart are intensely oriented toward the spiritual.
It is also centered on the Holy Spirit, perhaps the most intangible member of the Holy Trinity.

Yet, when considering the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the fruits of that Spirit, and the great promise of strength that comes with it, there may be more that can be done to emphasize the importance of this Sacrament for those receiving it this year, those for whom Confirmation was a long-ago celebration, and for the life of a parish as a whole. So, perhaps:

• If space allows, all parishioners should be invited to and urged to attend the parish’s celebration of Confirmation to remember their own celebration, hear the beautiful prayers of Confirmation, and support the newly confirmed with their presence and their prayers. Attend if you can and recall the graces you received that special day of your own life.

• Consider hosting a parish wide celebration each year for those who are confirmed – perhaps on the Feast of Pentecost or on a Sunday close to the Confirmation celebration. This can be an occasion for all to rejoice in the gracious gifts of the Holy Spirit.

• Occasionally the beautiful words of the Confirmation rite might be printed in the parish bulletin or website so that those who last heard these words long ago can have a chance to reflect on them once again.

• Confirmation sponsors may consider all the ways they can help the one they sponsored grow in wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord. Often, godparents are chosen for their critical role because of their relationships with the parents of the infant to be baptized. Typically, however, when a teenager or adult is being confirmed, he or she chooses the sponsor. Hopefully, those special relationships will inspire sponsors to play active roles in the lives of faith of those they presented for Confirmation. Perhaps the anniversary of Confirmation day, or the Feast Day of the Confirmation patron saint can be particular occasions to renew and strengthen that commitment.

• To the extent possible, the years after Confirmation might be given greater attention. All too often, Confirmation can become a day that marks the end of religious education rather than the beginning of a newer and deeper life of faith. Those who lead parish organizations might consider how to reach out to the newly Confirmed to play an active role in parish life. Yes, this may mean a vibrant youth and young adult ministry program. But it should also involve real invitations for the newly confirmed to join every other activity and form of service that is part of parish life.

• Planning for Pentecost Sunday – celebrated on May 28 this year – might include ways to recall the celebration of Confirmation, remember what it meant, and pray for continued openness to receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

• If those to be Confirmed are still teenagers or younger, their parents – the first teachers of the faith – have a sacred role to play in helping them to prepare, by sharing with them a strong witness of a faith-filled life and prioritizing their growth in faith above all the other demands on their time.

• Likewise, godparents should accompany their godchildren as they journey toward Confirmation. With the intimate connection between Baptism and Confirmation, this support can be essential.

My own Confirmation was decades ago. I have happy memories and some photographs in which I am wearing a red robe and a white felt stole bearing the name of my patron saint, “Ann.” I wish I remembered more. However, with every passing year, I get a bit more grateful for that long ago day and what happened on it.

Perhaps as individuals and as parish families this can be the year to celebrate Confirmation and its important role in the life of Baptized Christians and in the very life of the church herself. When the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles, these men who had trembled and hidden in fear were strengthened to do great things boldly and bravely for the rest of their days. May we seek ways to more fully embrace the Holy Spirit in our own lives and to rejoice in the way it fills our ordinary times.

(Lucia A. Silecchia is a Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Faculty Research at the Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law. Email her at silecchia@cua.edu.)