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Abril 25
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Marzo 28
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Febrero 28
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31 de enero
January 17, 2025
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Mayo 23
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Abril 25
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Marzo 28
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marzo 14
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Febrero 28
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31 de enero
January 17, 2025
By Cindy Wooden
VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis, who died April 21 at the age of 88, gave new energy to millions of Catholics – and caused concern for some – as he transformed the image of the papacy into a pastoral ministry based on personal encounters and strong convictions about poverty, mission and dialogue.
U.S. Cardinal Kevin J. Farrell, chamberlain of the Holy Roman Church, announced that Pope Francis had died at 7:35 a.m.
“His whole life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and his church,” Cardinal Farrell said in a video announcement broadcast from the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae, where Pope Francis lived.
His gestures – from tenderly embracing the sick to repeatedly visiting prisoners – touched millions of hearts. But controversy raged over his denunciations of the excesses of unbridled capitalism, his warnings about the human contributions to climate change and his insistence on accompanying, not judging, gay people.
With bronchitis and difficulty breathing, Pope Francis was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital Feb. 14. He was diagnosed with double pneumonia and a complex infection. He had returned to the Vatican March 23 to continue his convalescence.
God’s mercy was a constant theme in Pope Francis’ preaching and was so central to his vision of what the church’s ministry must embody that he proclaimed an extraordinary Holy Year of Mercy for Dec. 8, 2015-Nov. 20, 2016.
Elected March 13, 2013, Pope Francis was the first pope in history to come from the Southern Hemisphere, the first non-European to be elected in almost 1,300 years and the first Jesuit to serve as successor to St. Peter.
In the first three years of his papacy, he published three major documents: “Evangelii Gaudium” (“The Joy of the Gospel”), a detailed vision of the program for his papacy and his vision for the church – particularly the church’s outreach and its response to challenges posed by secular culture; “Laudato Si’, on Care for Our Common Home,” on the environment; and “Amoris Laetitia” (“The Joy of Love”), his reflections on the discussions of the synods of bishops on the family in 2014 and 2015.
Holiness was the topic of his March 2018 apostolic exhortation, “Gaudete et Exsultate” (“Rejoice and Be Glad”) in which he insisted being holy is not boring or impossible, and that it grows through small, daily gestures and acts of loving kindness.
Following in the footsteps of his predecessors, Pope Francis was an untiring voice for peace, urging an end to armed conflict, supporting dialogue and encouraging reconciliation. The pope described Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as “madness” and called on the world’s bishops to join him in consecrating Ukraine and Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. When Hamas militants attacked communities in Israel, killing scores of people and taking more than 200 people hostage in late 2023, and Israel retaliated by attacking Gaza, Pope Francis made repeated appeals for the return of hostages, a ceasefire to deliver humanitarian aid, and a real commitment to a negotiated peace.
Promoting peace, solidarity and respect for the Earth, the pope insisted people needed to recognize each other as brothers and sisters and issued an encyclical about that, “Fratelli Tutti, on Fraternity and Social Friendship.” He signed the text at the tomb of St. Francis of Assisi on the saint’s feast day, Oct. 4, 2020.
Pope Francis spent much of the first nine years of his pontificate pursuing two ambitious projects: revitalizing the church’s efforts at evangelization – constantly urging outreach rather than a preoccupation with internal church affairs – and reforming the central administration of the Vatican, emphasizing its role of assisting bishops around the world rather than dictating policy to them.
On March 19, 2022, the ninth anniversary of the inauguration of his papacy, he finally promulgated “Praedicate Evangelium” (“Preach the Gospel”), his complete restructuring of the Roma Curia, highlighting its mission to serve the church’s evangelization efforts at all levels.
His simple lifestyle, which included his decision not to live in the Apostolic Palace and his choice of riding around Rome in a small Fiat or Ford instead of a Mercedes sedan, sent a message of austerity to Vatican officials and clergy throughout the church. He reinforced the message with frequent admonitions about the Gospel demands and evangelical witness of poverty and simplicity.
Although he repeatedly said he did not like to travel, he made 47 foreign trips, taking his message of Gospel joy to North and South America, Europe, Africa and Asia.
Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina’s capital city, Dec. 17, 1936. He earned a chemical technician’s diploma from his high school and entered the Jesuit novitiate in March 1958. After studying liberal arts in Santiago, Chile, he returned to Argentina and earned his licentiate in philosophy from the Colegio San Jose in San Miguel.
He was ordained a priest Dec. 13, 1969, and after his perpetual profession as a Jesuit in 1973, he became master of novices at the Seminary of Villa Barilari in San Miguel. Later that same year, he was appointed superior of the Jesuit province of Argentina, a role in which by his own account he proved a divisive figure because of an “authoritarian and quick manner of making decisions.”
In May 1992, Father Bergoglio was named an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires. He was appointed coadjutor archbishop five years later and became archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998; Pope John Paul II named him to the College of Cardinals in 2001.
As leader of an archdiocese with more than 2.5 million Catholics, Cardinal Bergoglio strove to be close to the people. He rode the bus, visited the poor, lived in a simple apartment and cooked his own meals.
His international reputation was enhanced by his work at the 2007 assembly of the Latin American bishops’ council, CELAM, and particularly by his role as head of the committee that drafted the gathering’s final document on reforming and reinvigorating the church’s evangelizing efforts on the continent.
Cardinal Bergoglio was a known and respected figure within the College of Cardinals, so much so that no one disputed a respected Italian journal’s report that he received the second-highest number of votes on all four ballots cast in the 2005 conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI.
Eight years later, Pope Benedict retired. At the cardinals’ meetings prior to the 2013 conclave to elect his successor, the need to reform the Vatican bureaucracy was a common theme of concern.
Addressing the gathering, Cardinal Bergoglio warned against “self-referentiality and a kind of theological narcissism” in the church and argued the next pope “must be a man who, from the contemplation and adoration of Jesus Christ, helps the church to go out to the existential peripheries” to spread the Gospel.
His election March 13 came on the second day of the conclave, on its fifth ballot. He chose the name Francis to honor St. Francis of Assisi, “the man of poverty, the man of peace, the man who loves and protects creation,” he said.
“Go out” was Pope Francis’ constant plea to every Catholic, from curial cardinals to the people in the pews. More than once, he told people that while the Bible presents Jesus as knocking at the door of people’s hearts to get in, today Jesus is knocking at the doors of parish churches trying to get out and among the people.
But he faced criticism for what many saw as a lack of consistency in dealing forcefully with the clerical sexual abuse crisis, especially when it came to holding bishops accountable for handling allegations and removing priests credibly accused of abuse.
And while his pontificate marked major progress in the Vatican’s attempts to reach an agreement with China’s communist government on the appointment of Catholic bishops, a provisional accord signed in September 2018, and renewed in 2020, 2022 and 2024, was denounced by critics as a betrayal of Catholics who risked their lives for refusing any cooperation with the communists.
Like his predecessors, Pope Francis was a strong defender of the sacredness of human life. Meeting Catholic physicians in November 2014, for example, he insisted that in “the light of faith and the light of correct reason, human life is always sacred and always of ‘quality.’ There is no human life that is more sacred than another” and no “human life qualitatively more significant than another.”
For Pope Francis, helping the defenseless also meant paying special attention to prisoners, victims of war and, particularly, Christians and other religious minorities persecuted for their faith.
When Islamic State forces and other terrorist groups began specifically targeting Christians and other religious minorities in Syria and Iraq, and later in North Africa, Pope Francis demanded the international community act.
He frequently cited figures that the number of Christian martyrs is greater today than in the first centuries of Christianity, and he insisted the international community cannot “look the other way.”
Editor’s note: On Wednesday April 9, diocesan schools in the metro Jackson area received on-site visits from Cognia Accreditation. Accreditation by Cognia ensures that a school meets rigorous educational standards and is committed to continuous improvement, providing credibility and quality assurance for students, parents and educators.
MADISON – (Top) Dr. Michael Bratcher of Cognia observes Patricia Holder’s classroom at St. Anthony School. (Right) Thomas Caskey chats with Dr. Bratcher about how much he loves St. Anthony School. (Photos by Joanna Puddister King)
JACKSON – (Above) Sister Thea Bowman School fifth grade students, Khamari Stevenson and Harry Chia greet Dr. Michael Bratcher before they took him on an informative tour of the school. (Right) All students pointed to the state of Kentucky where Dr. Bratcher is from. (Photos by Tereza Ma)
By Mary Woodward
JACKSON – As the green haze of spring pollen fills the air coating our cars, sidewalks, and nasal passages, another reality of warmer weather emerges – mosquitoes. These disease-carrying flying monsters have wreaked havoc on the human population for centuries.
In the mid and late 1800s, Yellow Fever was the epidemic feared by the population in our diocese and around the warmer, humid climate zones. Clergy, religious and laity were all fair game for infection and entire towns would quarantine. It was survivable, but thousands did not survive. Our second bishop, James Oliver Van de Velde, died of Yellow Fever in 1855.
Rev. Jean Baptiste Mouton, who died of Yellow Fever along with five other priests in 1878. Father Mouton was an architect who designed several churches in the mid 1800 including Annunciation Catholic Church in Columbus. (Photo courtesy of Mary Woodward)
Bishop William Henry Elder, our third bishop, contracted the fever but survived it. However, Bishop Elder lost six of his priests to the fever’s outbreak in 1878. From August 31 – September 14, 1878, the then Diocese of Natchez lost: Fathers Jean Baptiste Mouton (8/31), Patrick Cogan (9/8), John McManus (9/8), Anacletus Oberti (9/11), Charles Van Queckleberge (9/11) and John Vitolo (9/14).
In a letter from November 1878, Father Patrick Hayden writes Bishop Elder from Columbus lamenting the loss of the six men, especially Father Mouton, who was a trained architect and had designed several of the churches in the eastern half of the diocese, including the original church in Columbus.
Father Cogan was in Canton and was said to be the only remaining minister in the town when the outbreak occurred. An interesting note from a newspaper article reveals ministers of other denominations wanted to stay but were convinced to leave because they had wives and children, who would be left destitute without them if they died. There is a monument for Father Cogan at Sacred Heart in Canton.
We must remember, though, that alongside these priests were fearless women religious – Sisters of Mercy and Sisters of Charity – Angels, who served as nurses to the sick and eventually themselves died. Rarely are these heroic women given names, but in the case of Holly Springs St. Joseph, we do have at least the first names of the six Sisters of Charity who died – Stanislaus, Stella, Margaret, Victoria, Lorentia and Corinthia.
Cleta Ellington in her masterwork “Christ the Living Water,” written for the Diocese of Jackson’s 150th anniversary in 1988, gives a stirring account of the epidemic of 1878 in Holly Springs. It follows below along with the tribute given to Sr. Corinthia Mahoney by an eyewitness account.
“In the late summer and early fall of 1878, yellow fever swept across Mississippi like a conquering army, but it appeared that Holly Springs was to be spared. The city fathers, in a burst of generosity and believing that the germ could not live in such a high and dry climate, opened the doors of the town to feverish refugees from surrounding counties.”
Two articles from New Orleans newspapers reveal the swiftness with which the townspeople learned their leadership was in error.
“August 13, 1878: ‘The town is clean and healthy…no symptoms of the outbreak here. We have thrown open our hospitality to our sister cities, even accepting Grenada where the fever rages. The mayor and the community council decided today to use disinfectants merely as a precautionary…’
“August 19, 1878: ‘Yesterday there were seven deaths, last night six, five of whom died in our house. The situation is too appalling to be described and the worst is, not a single case has recovered or promises recovery.’
The Marshall County Courthouse was turned into a hospital where beds were piles of straw, where black and white lay together to await medical treatment almost certainly useless. The 12 sisters at Bethlehem Academy closed the school and took over the courthouse hospital. They were joined by a number of volunteer doctors who had heroically rushed to the town and by Father Anacletus Oberti, a friendly Italian priest, 31 years old, who had been working very hard to establish a Catholic library at St. Joseph. Six of the sisters, all of them part of the original group at Holly Springs, died during September and October. Father Oberti died on Sept. 11. Over 300 of the townspeople perished, 30 of them Catholic.
Dr. R.M. Swearingen, a volunteer from Austin, Texas, penciled a tribute to Sister Corinthia Mahoney on the plaster wall of a jury room. It remained there until 1925 when the courthouse was renovated. To save the tribute, R.A. McDermott had workmen remove that section of the wall. Then he took it to Nazareth, Ky., where it remained until 1971 when it was returned to Holly Springs to the Marshall County Historical Museum where it can be seen today.
Within this room, September 1878, Sister Corinthia sank into eternal sleep. Among the first to enter this realm of death, she was the last, save one, to leave. The writer of this humble notice saw her in health, gentle but strong, as she moved with noiseless steps and serene smiles through the crowded wards. He saw her when the yellow plumed angel threw his golden shadows over the last sad scene, and eyes unused to weeping paid the tribute of tears to the brave and beautiful “Spirit of Mercy.”
Father Oberti and the sisters were laid to rest in the local cemetery where a monument was erected by a grateful town. And Bethlehem Academy reopened its doors.
Be safe and remember to take all precautions against mosquito bites this year. Sr. Corinthia is watching and praying for us.
(Mary Woodward is Chancellor and Archivist for the Diocese of Jackson.)
VICKSBURG – (left) 1st and 2nd graders performed their music program, Sing a Song of Folklore. (Photo by Hannah Hinson.
(above) Our 100+ member cast performed 6 sold-out showings of Disney’s The Little Mermaid as our spring musical. (Photo by Anna Griffing)
By Mary Woodward
JACKSON – Bishop Joseph Kopacz will be leading a Jubilee of Hope pilgrimage to Rome and environs from Oct. 25 through Nov. 3. The pilgrimage will visit the holy sites of Rome then venture off to the Abbey at Montecasino, down to Padre Pio’s home, then up to Assisi. See the ad with QR code to find more information on the trip. It will be an amazing time.
The year 2025 was proclaimed the Jubilee of Hope by Pope Francis maintaining the tradition of having a Jubilee Year in the church every 25 years. Pilgrims can travel to Rome and visit the Holy Doors of the four major basilicas of our church – St. John Lateran, St. Mary Major, St. Paul Outside the Walls and St. Peter.
Pilgrimages have been going on for millennia. They are designed to allow the traveler a chance to deepen her/his faith by walking in the footsteps of the Lord and his apostles. A jubilee is based on Leviticus 25 when a sabbatical year for farming was taken every seven years to let the soil regenerate then after the seventh sabbatical (50 years) a jubilee of forgiving all debts, freeing all captives and proclaiming sight to the blind would occur. The church eventually proclaimed jubilee years every 25 years so that more pilgrims could go on spiritual journeys.
Back in 2000, the last Jubilee year which crossed from one millennium to the next, Bishop William Houck led a pilgrimage to Rome and Assisi. In between jubilees various holy years have been held such as the 500th anniversary of the Vatican Museum in 2006 and the Year of Mercy in 2016. Bishop Joseph Latino led a pilgrimage for the 2006 holy year.
Since not everyone is able to make a pilgrimage to Rome for the Jubilee, Bishop Kopacz has designated several Jubilee Churches in our diocese that were recommended to him by the deaneries. Those churches are the Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle in Jackson, the Basilica of St. Mary in Natchez, St. Patrick in Meridian, Immaculate Heart of Mary in Greenwood, St. Joseph in Greenville, St. Elizabeth in Clarksdale, St. Joseph in Holly Springs, Immaculate Heart of Mary in Houston, St. Francis of Assisi in New Albany, and St. Mary in Iuka.
Visiting Rome or one of these churches offers the opportunity to gain a jubilee plenary indulgence. To obtain the indulgence one must visit one of the churches and participate in Mass or adoration while there, pray for the intentions of the Holy Father, and go to confession within eight days of the visit.
Throughout this year look for moments to be a beacon of hope for others. Hope is the theme for the year and our world needs us as Christians to reflect and embody a spirit of hope to counter all the anxiety and fear all around us. It is my hope that you will have a blessed jubilee filled with faith, hope, and love, and that you will journey deeper into the heart of God – source of all hope.
(Mary Woodward is Chancellor and Archivist for the Diocese of Jackson.)
SOUTHAVEN
MACON