Nuestra Señora de Fátima, origen del llamado a la consagración

Por Obispo Joseph R. Kopacz, D.D.
La fiesta de la Anunciación, el 25 de marzo, celebra el momento en que María accede con todo asombro y misterio a ser la madre del Hijo amado de Dios. Este año adquiere un significado adicional en respuesta al llamado del Papa Francisco a la iglesia para consagrar Rusia y Ucrania al Inmaculado Corazón de María.
Desde hace casi un mes, hay una súplica y oración desesperadas por la paz para el pueblo de Ucrania. Nuestra oración no se limita a este conflicto, sino que se extiende a todas las naciones devastadas por la guerra en nuestro mundo. Sin embargo, la inspiración para consagrar una nación, en particular Rusia, afligida por el comunismo, al Inmaculado Corazón de la Santísima Madre se originó en Nuestra Señora de Fátima, en base a las apariciones relatadas en 1917 por los tres niños pastores en Cova da Iria, en Fátima, Portugal.

Obispo Joseph R. Kopacz

Los tres niños eran Lucía Dos Santos y sus dos primos Francisco y Jacinta Marto. Las apariciones ocurrieron entre el 13 de mayo de 1917 y el 13 de septiembre de 1917. La consagración de Rusia al Inmaculado Corazón de María se solicitó por primera vez el 13 de julio de 1917, cuando se desató la Primera Guerra Mundial y avanzaba la amenaza del comunismo.

La decisión del Papa Francisco de consagrar Rusia y Ucrania al Inmaculado Corazón de María en la Solemnidad de la Anunciación llega en otro momento crucial para la iglesia y el mundo. Los obispos del Rito Latino de Ucrania hicieron el llamamiento al Papa Francisco después que Rusia lanzara su invasión, hace un mes, el 24 de febrero.

Esta no es la primera vez que el Obispo de Roma y Vicario de Cristo consagra naciones y pueblos al Inmaculado Corazón de María. Después del atentado contra su vida en 1981, el Papa San Juan Pablo II inmediatamente pensó en consagrar el mundo al Inmaculado Corazón de María y él mismo compuso una oración que llamó un “Acto de Encomienda”, que fue celebrado en la Basílica de Santa María la Mayor el 7 de junio de 1981, en la solemnidad de Pentecostés. La porción siguiente es la que se refiere específicamente al Acta de Encomienda:

“Madre de los hombres y de los pueblos, Tú conoces todos sus sufrimientos y sus esperanzas, Tú sientes maternalmente todas las luchas entre el bien y el mal, entre la luz y las tinieblas que sacuden al mundo, acoge nuestro grito dirigido en el Espíritu Santo directamente a tu Corazón y abraza con el amor de la Madre y de la Esclava del Señor a los que más esperan este abrazo, y, al mismo tiempo, a aquellos cuya entrega Tú esperas de modo especial. Toma bajo tu protección materna a toda la familia humana a la que, con todo afecto a ti, Madre, confiamos. Que se acerque para todos, el tiempo de la paz y de la libertad, el tiempo de la verdad, de la justicia y de la esperanza.”

Para responder más plenamente a las peticiones de Nuestra Señora, el Santo Padre quiso hacer más explícito el Acta de Encomienda durante el Año Santo de la Redención del 7 de mayo de 1981, que había sido repetida en Fátima el 13 de mayo de 1982.

El 25 de marzo de 1984 en la Plaza de San Pedro, recordando el fiat pronunciado por María en la Anunciación, el Santo Padre, en unión espiritual con los Obispos del mundo, que habían sido convocados de antemano, encomendó a todos los hombres y mujeres de todos los pueblos al Inmaculado Corazón de María, en términos que recordaron las sentidas palabras pronunciadas en 1981.

En una carta manuscrita de 1989, la Hermana Lucía dijo que la consagración del mundo entero al Inmaculado Corazón de María por parte del Papa Juan Pablo II fue “aceptada en el cielo.” La Congregación para la Doctrina de la Fe del Vaticano dijo que la consagración se completó a satisfacción de la hermana Lucía. “La decisión del Santo Padre Juan Pablo II de hacer pública la tercera parte del «secreto» de Fátima cierra una página de historia, marcada por la trágica voluntad humana de poder y de iniquidad, pero impregnada del amor misericordioso de Dios y de la atenta premura de la Madre de Jesús y de la Iglesia.” (El Mensaje de Fátima, 2000)

El viernes 25 de marzo habrá oraciones de consagración subiendo al cielo desde todo el mundo.
Nuestra diócesis se solidarizará con la iglesia universal con una hora santa especial de consagración a las 11 a.m. en la Catedral de San Pedro Apóstol en Jackson, seguida de una Misa por la Solemnidad de la Anunciación. Asimismo, habrá oración a través de toda la diócesis.

El Cardenal Ratzinger como jefe de la Congregación para la Doctrina de la Fe escribió en el documento de 2000, “El Mensaje de Fátima” que “…creemos que la acción de Dios, Señor de la historia y la corresponsabilidad de hombres y mujeres en el drama de la libertad creadora de Dios, son los dos pilares sobre los que se construye la historia humana. Nuestra Señora, que se apareció en Fátima, recuerda estos valores olvidados. Ella nos recuerda que el futuro de la humanidad está en Dios y que somos socios activos y responsables en la creación de ese futuro.”

Lo siguiente es un extracto de las oraciones que se elevarán como incienso en la Solemnidad de la Anunciación.

“Santísima Virgen María, tierna Madre de los hombres y mujeres, para cumplir los deseos del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús y la petición del Vicario de Tu Hijo en la tierra, consagramos Rusia y Ucrania a tu Doloroso e Inmaculado Corazón, ¡oh!, Reina del Santísimo Rosario y encomendamos a Ti, a todo el pueblo de nuestra patria y de todo el mundo. Por favor acepta nuestra consagración, Madre queridísima, y úsanos como Tú deseas para realizar Tus designios en el mundo.”

Called by name

I was ready for spring to get here, and I’m ready for Easter to get here too. The older I get the less I like the cold, and the older I get the more I am moved and drawn to the joy and light of Easter as we walk through Lent, preparing our hearts and minds to solemnly and joyfully celebrate the mysteries of our redemption. So, if you are like me and you are waiting in anticipation of the glory to be revealed, then this article is for you. This spring is going to be amazing.

Father Nick Adam
Father Nick Adam

At 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 14 at the Cathedral of St. Peter in Jackson, you can witness the ordination of a brand new priest – Father Andrew Bowden. Then a few weeks later, Carlisle Beggerly will be ordained a deacon in preparation for priesthood on Saturday, June 4 at his home parish of Immaculate Conception in West Point. The public is invited to each of these masses, and I hope that some of you will make it a point to come and celebrate with us.

This will also be a great spring (and summer) for our other seminarians. Ryan Stoer and Tristan Stovall will both be working at St. Dominic Hospital as a part of their priestly formation. I am so grateful to the pastoral care and volunteer services teams at “St. D,” who have collaborated with the diocese since 2016 to provide this experience for our second-year theologians. It is a great gift for our men to be able to get field experience ministering to the sick in their home diocese. I was a part of the first summer experience at “St. D” when I was in seminary, and it was a really rewarding experience.

While Ryan and Tristan care for the sick, Will Foggo will be learning at the feet of the Divine Physician this spring and summer. Will is going to be in Omaha, Nebraska at the Institute for Priestly Formation. I have written about this two-month program before, but basically it is a summer experience where 175 seminarians from across the country gather to learn how to live out the spirituality of a diocesan priest. They learn skills that will help them remain faithful to prayer and to the call to spiritual fatherhood that they are discerning while in seminary.

Grayson Foley will be placed in a diocesan parish this summer, and I’m still working out those details. Grayson spent his first summer as a seminarian with Father Aaron Williams at St. Joseph in Greenville, and he had a wonderful time and learned so much from Father Aaron and from the people of this parish and the community. I take the placement of our seminarians very seriously because their summer assignments give them a taste of what ministry in their diocese will be like. The support and the guidance that you, the people of our diocese, give our seminarians while they are on assignment (or just home for the weekend) is so vital to their priestly formation. Please pray for me as I work to build up our formation program, and please let me know if you have suggestions or feedback!

Also please pray for several men who are considering applying or are in the application process right now. St. John Vianney, pray for us!

                                                    – Father Nick Adam

If you are interested in learning more about religious orders or vocations to the priesthood and religious life, please email nick.adam@jacksondiocese.org.

Our best farewell gift

IN EXILE
By Father Ron Rolheiser, OMI
In his farewell speech in John’s Gospel, Jesus tells us that he is going away but that he will leave us a parting gift, the gift of his peace, and that we will experience this gift in the spirit he leaves behind.

How does this work? How do we leave peace and a spirit behind us as we go?

This is not something abstract, but something we experience (perhaps only unconsciously) all the time in all our relationships. It works this way. Each of us brings a certain energy into every relationship we have, and when we walk into a room, that energy in some way affects what everyone else in the room is feeling. Moreover, it will stay with them after we leave. We leave a spirit behind us.

For example, if I enter a room and my person and presence radiate positive energy: trust, stability, gratitude, concern for others, joy in living, wit, and humor, that energy will affect everyone in the room and will remain with them after I have left the room, as the spirit that I leave behind. Conversely, even though my words might try to say the contrary, if my person and presence radiate negative energy: anger, jealousy, bitterness, lying, or chaos, everyone will sense that, and that negative energy will remain with them after I leave, coloring everything I have left behind.

Father Ron Rolheiser, OMI

Sigmund Freud once suggested that we understand things the clearest when we see them broken, and that is true here. We see this writ large, for instance, in the case of how a long-term alcoholic parent affects his children. Despite trying not to do so, he will invariably bring a certain instability, distrust, and chaos into his family, and it will stay there after he is gone, as the spirit he leaves behind, short-term and long-term. His person and his presence will trigger a feeling of distrust and chaos, and the memory of him will do the same.

The same is true in reverse vis-à-vis those who bring positive energy, stability and trust, into a room. Unfortunately, often at the time, we do not sense the real gift that these persons bring and what that gift does for us. Mostly it is felt as an unspoken energy, not consciously perceived, and only later in our lives (often long after the persons who did that for us are gone) do we recognize and consciously appreciate what their presence did for us. This is true for me when I think back on the safety and stability of the home that my parents provided for me. As child, I sometimes longed for more exciting parents and naively felt safety and stability more as boredom than as a gift. Years later, long after I had left home and learned from others how starved they were as kids for safety and stability, I recognized the great gift my parents had given me. Whatever their human shortcomings, they provided my siblings and me with a stable and safe place within which to grow up. They died while we were still young, but they left us the gift of peace. I suspect the same is true for many of you.

This dynamic (wherein we bring either stability or chaos into a room) is something which daily colors every relationship we have and is particularly true regarding the spirit we will leave behind us when we die. Death clarifies things, washes things clean, especially regarding how we are remembered and how our legacy affects our loved ones. When someone close to us dies, our relationship to him or her will eventually wash clean and we will know exactly the gift or burden that he or she was in our lives. It may take some time, perhaps months, perhaps years, but we will eventually receive the spirit he or she left behind with clarity and know it as gift or burden.

And so, we need to take seriously the fact that our lives belong not just to us but also to others. Likewise, our deaths do not belong only to us, but also to our families, our loved ones, and the world. We are meant to give both our lives and our deaths to others as gift. If this is true, then our dying is something that will impart either a gift or a burden to those who know us.

To paraphrase Henri Nouwen, if we die with guilt, shame, anger, or bitterness, all of that becomes part of the spirit we leave behind, binding and burdening the lives of our family and friends. Conversely, our dying can be our final gift to them. If we die without anger, reconciled, thankful for those around us, at peace with things, without recrimination and making others feel guilty, our going away will be a sadness but not a binding and a burdening. Then the spirit we leave behind, our real legacy, will continue to nourish others with the same warm energy we used to bring into a room.

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

Current war tactics date back centuries;
Bishop Elder describes destruction in time of U.S. Civil War

From the Archives
By Mary Woodward
JACKSON – This week we are journeying back to Civil War times in analyzing the current situation in the world. In no way would I equate the motives of the Civil War to that of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, but the siege tactics are classic military maneuvers that date back centuries.

In July 1863, the city of Vicksburg fell after a 47-day siege by General Ulysses S. Grant. Forty miles to the east, General William Sherman arrived at Jackson to implement a similar siege strategy.

My knowledge of Civil War tactics may not be precisely accurate, but we read in Bishop William Henry Elder’s diary about the Civil War’s destruction to Jackson and its only Catholic church – St. Peter. Bishop Elder’s writing style is more phrase-based than in complete sentences, but it is easily followed.

The original St. Peter Church was located about five blocks south and east from its current location on the corner of West and Amite Streets in the center of the capitol city. In May 1863, it along with the school and rectory was burned to the ground by Federal troops exiting Jackson. The troops were ordered to burn tar in a storage shed adjacent to the church according to the diary and despite the pleas of Father Orlandi, the pastor, to move the tar into the street away from the church, the shed was set ablaze and with it all the parish buildings.

A view from a drone shows the site of a destroyed shopping center after it was hit during a Russian military strike in Kyiv, Ukraine, March 21, 2022. During his March 20 Angelus, Pope Francis condemned Russia’s war on Ukraine, calling it a “senseless massacre” and “sacrilegious” attack on human life. (CNS photo/Marko Djurica, Reuters)

We read in the diary marked May 21: “Father Orlandi begged for fifteen minutes to roll the barrels into the street where they would burn with less danger to the church, but the officer would allow of no delay and the shed was so close that there was no possibility of saving the church, etc. – All the ornaments and furniture were removed to safety. Dr. Hewet, surgeon in the Federal Army, brother to Rev. Dr. Hewet of the Paulists, himself a convert, endeavored also to obtain the respite, and when he could not succeed, he helped to save the things.”

Two months later, on July 18-20, Bishop Elder is able finally to visit Jackson and this is what he reports: July 18: “General Crosby, Commanding the Rear Guard, first refused to let me go to Jackson. When I explained that I wanted to see to the Sisters [of Mercy], he agreed to let me go.”

“Left Brandon at 4 p.m. for Jackson. Some cotton burned along the road and some burning [still]. Federal Pickets allowed me to go to the hospital – the field hospital of the Confederates during the siege of Jackson: attended still by Confederate Surgeons – although in the Federal Lines. Dr. Hinckley – son of Lawyer Hinckley of Baltimore has charge.”

July 19, Sunday – “No Mass. Spent the day visiting the hospital. The Federal Soldiers wounded here were moved – nearly all of them to town today.”

July 20 – “Continued in the hospitals till dinner time. The doctors here have been very polite to me.”
“After dinner drove into Jackson – trestle work burning – rails torn up – crossed river on the pontoon bridge of the Federals. In the warm ashes and ruins at every step. Melancholy desolation. Found Father Orlandi at Mrs. O’Connor’s house. Sad meeting.”

“The chapel he had fitted up with so much labor – in the Spengler’s Saloon – has been burned – the chalice and crucifix stolen – though recovered broken – bought by a Catholic Federal soldier and brought back to Father Orlandi. Father Orlandi’s house was robbed of all his clothes and the provisions he had laid up.

“He is now living on Army rations – he has no place to cook them. Today he has eaten only some crackers.”

“We went to General Ewing’s quarters to find a safe place for my horse and buggy. General Ewing is a Catholic from Ohio. He promised to see that the Sisters’ Convent in Vicksburg would be preserved unhurt for them. I could not talk much, I felt myself choaked with sadness.”

A man walks near a block of destroyed apartment buildings in Mariupol, Ukraine, March 17, 2022. A theater in Mariupol, where hundreds of people are said to have taken shelter, has sustained heavy damage after it was bombed by Russian forces. (CNS photo/Alexander Ermochenko, Reuters)

I share these moments to bring us back to the notion that no matter the era, the destruction of war only hurts those caught in the middle. The human toll – both physical and spiritual – is immeasurable.
Those trying to bring aid and relief to the people of Ukraine in the midst of the chaos and savage violence are much like the wandering Bishop Elder trying to minister to those he encountered in field hospitals and burned-out towns.

Now as we are spectators to a war unfolding before us, let us pray for peace and hope for a miracle.
Pope Francis is consecrating Ukraine and Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on March 25, the Feast of the Annunciation of Our Lord. Here is a snippet of the prayer he is using:
Therefore, O Mother, hear our prayer.
Star of the Sea, do not let us be shipwrecked in the tempest of war.
Ark of the New Covenant, inspire projects and paths of reconciliation.
Queen of Heaven, restore God’s peace to the world.

Eliminate hatred and the thirst for revenge, and teach us forgiveness.
Free us from war, protect our world from the menace of nuclear weapons.
Queen of the Rosary, make us realize our need to pray and to love.
Queen of the Human Family, show people the path of fraternity.
Queen of Peace, obtain peace for our world.
Amen.

(Mary Woodward is Chancellor and Archivist for the Diocese of Jackson.)

There are other Catholic Churches?

SPIRIT AND TRUTH
By Father Aaron Williams
The eyes of the world lately have been fixed on the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. But, one element that isn’t being reported well is the religious differences that exist particularly between Russian and Ukrainian Christians. The majority of Russian Christians (72%) are members of the Russian Orthodox Church. The remainder of Christians in Russia are, for the majority, members of a protestant community. Very few Russians assert they are members of the Catholic Church, and even fewer profess to be Roman Catholic.

Without attempting to explain centuries-old conflicts between Catholics and Orthodox Christians, suffice it to say that the major source of division stems from our understanding of the Pope of Rome as having authority, given to Christ the Lord to St. Peter, as supreme head of the church. But, apart from our political differences, the liturgy of the Orthodox Christians (not simply Russian Orthodox) is aesthetically very different from our celebrations of the Mass.

The liturgy celebrated in Orthodox churches is usually one of two liturgies which find their source in St. Basil the Great and St. John Chrysostom. These “Divine Liturgies” (their term for the “Mass”) are theologically the same celebrations we experience in our churches, with a valid Eucharist and all valid sacraments. Catholic and Orthodox Christians believe the same thing about the Mass, even though we are separated. This is why Orthodox Christians who request sacraments from a Catholic priest would freely be given them, though the same cannot be said of Catholic who may request sacraments from an Orthodox priest.

Father Aaron Williams

Now, what most Catholics do not know is that this eastern form of the liturgy also exists within the Catholic Church. There are Catholics throughout the world, and even in our own diocese, who are just as Catholic as you and me and yet are not Roman Catholic, meaning they do not celebrate the Roman form of the Holy Mass or the Sacraments and other rites. The largest of these ‘other’ Catholic Churches is the Ukrainian-Greek Catholic Church, which like the Russian Orthodox, also celebrate the Divine Liturgies of St. Basil and St. John Chrysostom.

Ukrainian-Greek Catholics, as well as the members of the other non-Roman Catholic Churches differ from Orthodox Christians because, like us, they also accept the authority of the Pope and believe all that is professed in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. So, we speak of these Catholics as being “in full communion.” The highest authority figure of the Ukrainian-Greek Catholic Church is the Major Archbishop of Kyiv-Galicia, Sviatoslav Shevchuk — who, like any archbishop, is answerable to Pope Francis.

So, with this as a background, Catholics should be aware that one major point of concern for us in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine is that culturally the impact of this war could be devastating to our fellow Catholics. Russian Orthodox Christians have historically been very unreceptive to their Catholic counterparts in Ukraine. In fact, the Russian Orthodox Patriarch Krill of Moscow has on several occasions publicly denounced Ukrainian-Greek Catholics as “heretics” who “abuse the liturgy with Roman customs.”

During my studies at the Liturgical Institute, I was graced with the opportunity to concelebrate the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom every Sunday for several weeks at a nearby Byzantine (Greek) Catholic Church. It was a great opportunity for me to learn about and participate in an ancient Catholic rite, though differing from my own. The experience also helped me better understand the now-famous phrase of Pope St. John Paul II that, in the eastern and western liturgies, the church breathes with “two lungs.”

Though our diocese does not have an eastern Catholic Church, there are several eastern Catholics among us who are members of the Byzantine (Greek) Church, the Melkite (Lebanese) Church, or the Syro-Malabar and Syro-Malankara (Indian) Churches. Mississippi does have several orthodox churches and communities, the largest of which are the Greek Orthodox Churches in Jackson. The closest Eastern Catholic Church to our diocese is St. Nicholas Byzantine Mission in New Orleans.

As the situation in Ukraine worsens, and our Holy Father continues to call us to prayer, we as Roman Catholics should remember especially our eastern-Catholic brothers and sisters who have historically suffered much more prejudice against them than Roman Catholics experience, and who still suffer today.

(Father Aaron Williams is parochial vicar at St. Patrick and St. Joseph Meridian.)

Women of Ordinary Time

On Ordinary Times
By Lucia A. Silecchia
Throughout March, myriad celebrations of “Women’s History Month” unfold. I understand the sentiment behind this and see the great value in recognizing the contributions that so many of my sisters, past and present, have made to building our society. This is particularly true when it comes to celebrating those who have too often been overlooked.

Yet, I find myself wishing that the world would celebrate women year-round in ways more akin to the way in which I see women celebrated by the church. Let me explain.

In Women’s History Month, I see honor paid to those women who – with the odds frequently stacked against them – succeeded in the eyes of the world. Women who were pioneers, or public figures of influence, or daring “first” women to achieve great feats, or those beckoned by history to play extraordinary roles on the world stage are celebrated with great enthusiasm. Those who used their great scientific, literary, intellectual, entrepreneurial, artistic and musical gifts to advance culture as we know it are honored this month with often overdue praise and gratitude.

The church also recognizes among our saints those women who did extraordinary things in the eyes of the world. We celebrate women who were great warriors like Joan of Arc; intellectuals like Hildegard, Edith Stein and Teresa of Avila; royalty like Margaret of Scotland, Jadwiga of Poland, Elizabeth of Portugal, Elizabeth of Hungary and Helena of Constantinople; foundresses like Elizabeth Seton, Scholastica, Frances Xavier Cabrini, Katherine Drexel and Jane Francs de Chantal. We also celebrate women like Teresa of Calcutta and Catherine of Sienna, whose unique roles led them to challenge those who held great influence in the world at their times.

Lucia A. Silecchia

These women who did great things with great holiness are honored as examples for those called and gifted to do such things with fidelity to the will of God.
Yet, I am proud and grateful that the church also holds out as examples those women who lived lives that were simple in the eyes of the world. That is, after all, the way in which most of us live our lives on this side of eternity.

Honored as saints are women like Ann, Gianna and Monica who lived the vocation to motherhood with extraordinary grace; Therese of Lisieux and Clare of Assisi who lived lives hidden from the world; Zelie of Lisieux who spun lace for a living and raised holy children; Josephine Bakhita and Felicity who, separated by centuries, both bore the abuse of slavery; Kateri Tekakwitha, an orphan scarred by smallpox; and girls like Bernadette, Dymphna, Maria Goretti, Jacinta, Agnes and Lucy who died long before the fullness of years would have given them the chance to have worldly accomplishments to their names.

More than all others, the church honors Mary of Nazareth who did the greatest of all things when, in an instant, she gave the “yes” on which salvation turned. She is honored by such great names as the Mother of God, Queen of Heaven, Queen of Angels, and Queen of All Saints. Yet, the only title she gave herself was “handmaid of the Lord.”

I hope that this month we continue to celebrate those women whose great deeds have made our world better. Yet, if that was all we did, much would be missing.

I hope that, like the church, we also take time to honor those women whose lives are not marked by the extraordinary deeds they did, but by the extraordinary love, grace and fidelity with which they did the simple things entrusted to their care. History is full of those women even if their names and stories are lost to time.

If you are blessed to know such women in your life, this month may be a chance to say a simple thank you. If you were blessed to know such women who have left this life, this month may be a particular time to pray in gratitude for the goodness of their lives – a goodness perhaps hidden from the world but known to God. May God bless the great and the good women of ordinary time.

(Lucia A. Silecchia is a Professor of Law at the Columbus School of Law at the Catholic University of America.)

Glimpse of WWI and WWII through lens of Bishops Gunn and Gerow

From the Archives
By Mary Woodward

JACKSON – Considering the volatile situation, the world is facing, I thought I would share some more somber notes from Bishop John E. Gunn’s diary about World War I and a reflective paragraph from Bishop Richard Gerow’s diary on the beginning of World War II.

WWI was the war to end all wars, but obviously that was not the case. My paternal grandfather served as a mule-trainer in WWI as part of the 39th Infantry 140th Field Artillery Regimen in France during the last stages of that war. He never spoke of it.

Volumes of Bishop Gerow’s diary sit on the desk of Mary Woodward.

Bishop Gunn writes in his diary at Christmas 1915: “It seemed hard to preach on peace on earth and good will to men at Christmas when everyone was talking of the big war. I made no allusion to it in my notes of 1915 because our President told us to be neutral in thought and word.

“However, now everybody is talking of it – in fact, the world is talking of nothing else, it may be no harm to note some dates and facts that will live in history.”
“In the summer of 1914, an Austrian Archduke was assassinated in Servia. The crime was an atrocious one and was turned over to the world politicians for adjustment. The politicians fumbled and turned the crime over to the war lords of Europe, with this result:
1914 – July 28th Austria declares war on Servia
August 1st Germany invades France
August 4th England declares war on Germany
August 6th The Germans take two Belgian forts
August 10th France breaks with Austria
August 13th England declares war on Austria
August 18th English soldiers land in France
August 23rd The Allies take offensive against the Germans along 150 miles from Mons to Luxembourg but on the 24th the Allies were forced to fall back. The Germans had all the initial advantages and on August 30th the French left wing had to fall back, thus exposing on August 31st even the capture of Paris; the French government voted to move the capital temporarily to Bourdeaux.”

Shelby Woodward, sitting, is the paternal grandfather of diocesan chancellor and archivist, Mary Woodward. He is pictured here with others at Camp Shelby for training before deployment in World War I. (Photos courtesy of Mary Woodward)

“Apart from the Battle of Marne the first few months of the war was entirely favorable to Germany. Americans read and listened and the biggest propaganda that was ever known in the history of the world was started in 1914 and continued all through 1915 to get the Americans actively interested on the side of the Allies. In this diary I shall say little about the war, except where the Diocese took some part in it.”

On April 2, 1917, the United States entered the war on the side of the allies. It was the beginning of Holy Week in the Catholic Church and Bishop Gunn writes the following in his diary from April 1917: “The usual routine of Holy Week at Natchez – the blessing of the oils, the washing of the feet, the big ceremonies of Good Friday and Holy Saturday and Easter were all thrown in the shade by the declaration of war against Germany.

“This declaration upset everyone and everything and its influence was felt in every circle. I made up my mind before Easter Sunday the role that I would play as Bishop of Natchez during the war.”

“I had no time for consultation with anybody but at the Pontifical High Mass on Easter Sunday, April 8, I declared my policy very clearly and very plainly. While preaching on the subject ‘Christianity is not a Failure’ (because it never got a chance) as we were living in an age when there was knowledge without faith, manners without morality; plenty of work but ill-directed, I took up the President’s proclamation and told the Catholics of the Diocese that during the war they had to follow one leader; they had to form their conscience to one direction and to do everything as men, as Christians and as Catholics to win the war.”

Shelby Woodward’s ring commemorating WWI. He was a part of the 39th Infantry 140th Field Artillery Regimen in France.

Twenty-two years later, on Sept. 3, 1939, Bishop Gerow writes this bleak entry in his diary: “Today, England and France officially declared a state of war exists with Germany. Though we in this country are three thousand miles from Europe, we feel that the inauguration of another great war in Europe cannot but have a vital influence upon us and upon the other nations of the world, no matter how far away they may be.”

“We cannot but hope and pray that the other nations of the world will not be involved in this conflict and that another world war may not ensue which might wreck our modern civilization.”

Only two years later, he writes on Dec. 8, 1941: “Today, President Roosevelt addressed Congress telling them of the attack of the Japanese upon the Hawaiian Islands and our naval and air forces there, asking them to declare war.”

Bishops’ diaries provide a unique lens on history often including facts that do not make it into the history books. We are fortunate to have these diaries to be able to look back on the development of the church in Mississippi, the region, the country and the world.

I share these sobering passages from the two diaries to put into perspective what is going on in Ukraine as this is written. Who knows what will be by the day this is published and where we may be in two weeks or even two years? We can only pray and hope for peace.

(Mary Woodward is Chancellor and Archivist for the Diocese of Jackson.)

The perfect ritual

IN EXILE
By Father Ron Rolheiser, OMI

Sometimes it takes an outsider to help you to see the beauty and depth of something you have never fully appreciated. I suspect this true for many of us, myself no exception, regarding the celebration of the Eucharist in our churches.

David P. Gushee, an Evangelical, recently published a book entitled After Evangelicalism, within which he describes his decades-long struggle to make peace with some issues inside his own church. He has remained in his church, though now on Sundays he also goes (with his wife who is a Roman Catholic) to a Catholic Mass. Here’s his description of what he sees there.

Padre Ron Rolheiser, OMI

“I view design of the Catholic Mass as something like a polished gem, refined over time to a state of great beauty – if you know what you are looking at. … The movement of the Mass manages to accomplish so much in something like an hour – a processional, with the cross held high; greetings in the name of the triune God; early confession of sin, brief but compelling; an Old Testament reading read by a lay person; a sung psalm; an Epistle reading by a layperson; the Gospel reading by the priest, and the ceremony around it; a brief homily; the centering movement provided by the creed and the prayers of the people. An offertory and music. Then right to the Table – the people offer gifts that are then offered to God and come back to the people as Christ’s body and blood; the kneeling in humility; the Lord’s Prayer as an important part of the Eucharistic rite; the precious chance to pass the peace with neighbors just before the supper; more kneeling; the chance to watch the people come up for Communion and pray for them, or instead be quiet with God; the final Trinitarian blessing and recessional.”

What an insightful description of the ritual by which we celebrate the Eucharist! Sometimes when we’re inside something, we don’t see it as clearly as does someone from the outside.
Let me add two other descriptions that highlight the Eucharistic ritual in a way that we often don’t think about or meet in our usual theology and catechesis on this.

The first, like Gushee’s, also comes from a non-Catholic. A Methodist layman shares this: “I’m not a Roman Catholic, but sometimes I go to a Roman Catholic Mass just to take in the ritual. I’m not sure if they know exactly what they’re doing, but they’re doing something very powerful. Take their daily Mass, for example. Unlike their Sunday Mass, they do daily Mass more simply, with the ritual stripped down to its skeleton. What you see then, in essence, is something akin to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.” Why does he make that connection?

Here are his words. “People who go to daily Mass don’t go there to experience anything novel or exciting. It’s always the same, and that’s the point. Like people going to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, they’re going there to receive the support they need to stay steady in their lives, and the steadiness comes through the ritual. Underneath the surface, each person is saying, “My name is _ and my life is fragile. I know that if I don’t come to this ritual regularly my life will begin to unravel. I need this ritual to stay alive.” The ritual of the Eucharist functions too as a “12-Step” meeting.

Another perspective comes from Ronald Knox, a British theologian. He submits that we have never truly been faithful to Jesus. When we’re honest, we have to admit that we don’t love our enemies, don’t turn the other cheek, don’t bless those who curse us, don’t forgive those who kill our loved ones, don’t reach out enough to the poor, and don’t extend our compassion out equally to the bad as well as to the good. Rather, we cherry-pick the teachings of Jesus. But, says Knox, we have been faithful in one great way, through the ritual of the Eucharist. Jesus asked us to keep celebrating that ritual until he returns and, 2000 years later, we are still celebrating it. The ritual of the Eucharist is our one great act of fidelity, and the good news is that this ritual will ultimately be enough.

Jesus left us two things: his Word and the Eucharist. Various churches have taken different approaches as to which of these to give priory. Some churches, like Roman Catholics, Episcopalians and Anglicans have prioritized the Eucharist as the foundation on which they build and maintain community. Other churches, most Protestant and Evangelical communities, have reversed this and prioritized the Word as the foundation on which they build and maintain community. How do the Word and the Eucharist play out together?

On the Road to Emmaus when the disciples of Jesus fail to recognize him even as they are walking with him, Jesus stirs their hearts with the Word, enough so that they beg him to stay with them. Then he sits down with them for Eucharist, and the ritual does the rest.

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

Called by name

In my past three entries I have discussed three of the four dimensions of priestly formation for our seminarians. The human, spiritual and intellectual pillars all serve the greater purpose of forming pastors. Therefore, the fourth and final dimension we will examine is the pastoral dimension. This dimension of priestly formation can be seen as a stand-alone pillar with different tasks highlighted and required during seminary training, but it can also be seen as the synthesis of everything that a man learns and becomes during his time in the seminary.

Father Nick Adam
Father Nick Adam

If a seminarian is attentive to his human formation, then he becomes both more approachable and more effective at inviting others into a more robust faith. If a seminarian is diligently praying and growing in relationship with Jesus Christ, then he’ll be a more inspiring spiritual father to his parishioners. If a seminarian has taken the time and the effort to really apply what he has learned in the classroom, he is better able to share the truths in the faith with his people in a way that is helpful rather than weaponizing the truth and steering people away from his counsel.

Concretely, the seminarians are given opportunities for pastoral formation both inside the seminary and outside its confines. I remember with great clarity working in the student government at Notre Dame Seminary (NDS). There are plenty of big opinions and competing agendas when you live in a building with 130 other men, and so my year as the president of the student body at NDS was very formative. I was able to gain practice in collaborating effectively and empowering others with different skill sets than mine. I also was able to make mistakes in a controlled environment with the safety net of the seminary administration and faculty there to back me up. Our seminarian, Carlisle Beggerly is currently serving as NDS student body president, please keep him in your prayers!

Outside the seminary there are many different pastoral outreach opportunities. The seminary will typically either assign or allow a seminarian to pick a ministry that they’d like to be involved with during an academic year. This could include prison ministry, homeless outreach, or working in Catholic Schools or parish religious education. All of these opportunities allow the seminarian not only to reflect on their own pastoral skills and development, but they also allow the members of the church to give feedback on his development both to the individual seminarian and those entrusted with his formation.

The four dimensions of priestly formation, human, spiritual, intellectual and pastoral, work together. They are helpful categories for the seminarians and their supervisors to gauge their aptitude for diocesan priesthood. Every man who is ordained a priest should be able to diligently and effectively lead the people of a parish, even if he will not immediately be named a pastor. These dimensions help us create goals and gauge progress so that the people of God can be served by the pastors they need.
– Father Nick Adam

If you are interested in learning more about religious orders or vocations to the priesthood and religious life, please email nick.adam@jacksondiocese.org.

Wisdom for Lent

From the hermitage
By sister alies therese

Lent can be a curious time, full of darkness or foreboding, scary or convicting. Other times we experience the coming of spring, the hopefulness of a world reborn, and of our own selves drawn out and creating anew.

I love the wisdom literature our canon has retained. The Book of Wisdom is clocked back to 100 BCE and though the actual author is unknown, he was likely a member of the Jewish community at Alexandria in Egypt. It is said that he “places his teachings on the lips of the wise king [Solomon] of Hebrew tradition in order to emphasize their value.” (Intro, page 729, Book of Wisdom, NAB, 1970) The author would be considered learned among the sages of post-exilic Judaism.

Sister alies therese

At the end of the Book of Sirach (132 BCE) we find the call to discover wisdom by prayer, persistent study, instruction, purification from sin, enlightenment and ardent desire. In 51:23-26 the author notes that “wisdom gives herself to those who seek her and for their labor God will reward them at the end.”

We also discover this: “How long will you be deprived of wisdom’s food; how long will you endure such bitter thirst? For she is close to those who seek her, and the one in earnest finds her … let your spirits rejoice in the mercy of God and not be ashamed to give God praise.” (Sirach 51:24, 26, 29)

The author of this book is likely who he says he is, Yeshua ben Eleazar ben Sira. This is one of the longest books in the Bible and ‘contains the most extensive portion of Israelite wisdom literature.’ (NJBC, page 496)

Further back in 300 BCE the Book of Ecclesiastes introduces the notion of the vanity of all things and asks questions about the purpose of life … has it any value?

“Merit does not yield happiness, for it is often tried by suffering. Riches and pleasures do not avail. Existence is monotonous, enjoyment fleeting and vain; darkness quickly follows. Life, then is an enigma beyond human ability to solve.” (Intro, page 711, the Book of Eccl, NAB). Qoheleth (Greek for the Hebrew Ecclesiastes) was a pen name for the author some thought might be Solomon. Again, to give great dignity and authority to the text. Thought to be a native of Jerusalem he studied the law, prophets and writings and became a teacher.

His text is a series of questions and not mandates, for he had studied and also experienced life and found they do not always jive. For example, he notices that the same things seem to happen to the wise and to the foolish, the faithful and the deceived. So, what’s the profit? They both die. Yet he sees something of the timelessness of all things and his poem with which you might be familiar … in chapter 3:1-8 “for everything thing there is a season …” is beautiful. Later in his text he poses this: “no one knows the future … who can tell what will come after?” (9:1-11:6)

I love studying these three books. They address basic human questions about life, death, knowledge, love and wisdom. Other challenges about life … am I just a waste of space? Can I do anything I want? Where do I learn (and how) to live and how to love? How am I deceived? Lent is a perfect time to explore something new, to enhance our relationship with our Creator, and to offer to others our treasure so they might grow as well.

Wisdom literature reads beautifully in so many places, poetic, flowing and drawing one into the graciousness of God’s heart. What does God want for us? I suspect some of Jesus’ formation as a boy and youth came from these invitations in Wisdom. You will be familiar with the little chapter on suffering in Wisdom 3:1-12 as central to our funeral celebration.

In the New Jerome Biblical Commentary, I found this:
“The first half of the book is divided … the Book of Eschatology, dealing with the problems of retribution for good and evil and the immortality Wisdom offers. The second describes Wisdom and her operations in the world and explains how she is to be found … the exhortation to justice, which the rest of the book will reinforce: live a virtuous life, and trust in God because these qualities make possible union with God and with Wisdom.” (page 513, Commentary NJBC)

As Lent progresses discover whether and how you apply the practical deeds of wisdom in your life:
“Her I loved and sought from my youth; she adds to nobility the splendor of companionship with God; even the Lord loved her … if one loves justice the fruits of her works are virtues; for she teaches moderation and prudence, justice and fortitude, and nothing in life is more useful for us than these. So I determined to take her to live with me, knowing she would be my counselor while all was well, and my comfort in care and grief.” (Wisdom 8:2-3, 7, 9)

Easter Blessings.

(Sister alies therese is a canonically vowed hermit with days formed around prayer and writing.)