Halloween fun around the Diocese
YAZOO CITY – St. Mary parish participated in trunk-or-treat in downtown Yazoo City on Monday, Oct. 31. (Photos by Babs McMaster)
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Category Archives: Featured
Remembering Bishop Latino
From the Archives
By Mary Woodward
JACKSON – This past Friday, Oct. 21, would have been the 85th birthday of Bishop Joseph Nunzio Latino of happy memory. +Joseph Nunzio was born in 1937; ordained in 1963; became a monsignor in 1983; and ordained a bishop in 2003.
+Joseph Nunzio was a second generation American whose four grandparents emigrated to New Orleans from a small town on the central plains of Sicily known as Contessa Entellina. In New Orleans, most Sicilian heritage citizens come from Contessa.
Contessa is part of the Eparchy of Piana degli Albanesi, which serves the descendants of the Albanians who came to Sicily in the 1500s after holding off the Ottoman’s. The pope gave them five towns in Sicily. Albanians are Roman Rite and Byzantine Rite Catholics. +Joseph Nunzio’s father was Roman Rite, hence the name Latino; his mother’s family was Byzantine Rite (Italo-Albanesi). He had a cousin who was a Byzantine Rite priest named Papas Mateo Sciambra, who taught music in the seminary in Palermo.
In 2012, +Joseph Nunzio was finally able to visit his ancestral home and meet many Sciambra cousins in Contessa. New Orleans descendants formed the Contessa Entellina Society to celebrate their proud heritage. To our knowledge, +Joseph Nunzio was the only man to receive the Society’s Man-of-the-Year Award twice.
Since this week’s paper is a digital edition only, I thought I would share some images of him that give a small glimpse into his life of service to the Lord as a priest, bishop and faithful servant. There are far too many to share…
(Mary Woodward is Chancellor and Archivist for the Diocese of Jackson.)
more about Bishop Latino:
Bishop Joseph Latino – farewell humble shepherd
From the top, left to right to bottom: Bishops Latino and Houck look out over Sferracavallo during 2012 visit Latino’s ancestral homeland of Sicily; Chris Luke and Bishop Latino at his 80th birthday celebration at the chancery on Oct. 21, 2017; first Solemn Blessing concluding his first Mass on May 26, 1963; Father George, Bishop Latino, Bishops William Houck and Sotir Ferrara, during a visit to Italy in 2012.(Photos courtesy of archives)
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CLARKSDALE – St. Elizabeth School held a Blue Mass honoring those in Uniform in the Clarksdale community. (Photos by Rachel Patterson)
St. Richard PreK3 students were treated to a visit from the Jackson Fire Department. Students got to try on the firemen’s gear, use the hose AND sit behind the wheel of a real fire engine! Afterwards, students
returned to their classrooms to make their own firetruck cookies! Pictured: Merrick Milligan dreams of driving the fire engine and shows off his cookie creation.
MADISON – St. Joseph seventh graders work on their lab project: Physical Properties of Matter. (Photo by Tricia Harris)
MADISON – Terry Cassreino’s communication/broadcasting class at St. Joseph School are pictured in action. (Photo by Tereza Ma)
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VICKSBURG – Lydia Nettles and Father Rusty Vincent donated blood to help save lives through a blood drive for Mississippi Blood Services. Blessings to all the Flashes family who participated in this life-saving event. (Photo by Lindsey Bradley)
Blessing of the pets
Sister Thea Bowman documentary on her journey to sainthood, set to release Oct. 2
A new documentary from NewGroup Media and the Diocese of Jackson, MS, Going Home Like a Shooting Star: Thea Bowman’s Journey to Sainthood, presents the riveting life of Sister Thea Bowman, an African American Catholic Franciscan Sister who used her powerful gifts to educate and challenge the church and society to grow in racial inclusivity. Her skills of preaching, music, and teaching moved many Catholics to begin to confront their own racism while she urged her African American brothers and sisters to claim their gifts and share their “fully functioning” personhood. Thea worked tirelessly to proclaim this message until her untimely death from breast cancer in 1990.
The film features interviews and commentary from her family, Sisters in community, colleagues, friends, and former students. Input from African-American scholars, clerics and bishops will speak to the ongoing issue of systemic racism in the church and country. Extensive use is made of archival media that portrays Thea in action–photographs, film, video and audio recordings recorded in locations of significance to her life.
The program title is drawn from a quotation attributed to Sojourner Truth. When Thea was asked what she wanted said at her funeral, she answered, “Just say what Sojourner Truth said: ‘I’m not going to die. I’m going home like a shooting star.’”
The film, part of the Interfaith Broadcasting Commission’s fall documentary season, will begin airing on ABC stations nationwide on October 2, 2022. As of Sept. 30, the following stations have scheduled showings of the film:
WTVA Tupelo- Oct. 2 at 10 a.m.
WTOK Meridian – Oct. 2 at 11:30 p.m.
WLOX Biloxi – Oct. 16 at 1 p.m.
WAPT Jackson – Oct. 30 at 1 p.m.
The film can be streamed on the Diocese of Jackson’s YouTube channel beginning October 2. The film is free to view, with donations requested to the Cause for Sister Thea Bowman.
Sister Judith Ann Zielinski, OSF researched, wrote and produced the film, from early COVID-quarantined research in spring, 2020 through fund-raising, location production, scriptwriting, and delivery to ABC in fall, 2022. She coordinated dramatic re-enactments from Thea’s childhood and early convent life and conducted all of the program’s interviews—with Thea’s childhood friends, former students, teaching colleagues, two bishops, several priests and Franciscan Sisters, weaving together their personal memories and testimonies as a basis for the script.
Christopher Salvador, NGM Partner, directed the dramatic re-enactments within the film, coordinated budget, contractual and network relations, and oversaw post- production.
Bishop Joseph R. Kopacz, Ordinary of Jackson, MS, initiated Sister Thea’s Cause for Sainthood in 2018 with an appeal to the full body of US Bishops which won unanimous approval. As Executive Producer, he supported the production of the film, actively collaborated with the production team, and continues to oversee the advancement of Sister Thea’s Cause.
Other interviewees include:
Rev. Maurice J. Nutt, CSsR, Preacher and pastoral theologian; Thea’s doctoral student; her biographer; associate producer instrumental in gathering pivotal colleagues and friends of Thea to participate in the project;
Rev. Bryan Massingale, Theology Professor, Fordham University, Authority/ speaker on systemic racism in the US and church;
Cardinal Wilton D. Gregory, Ordinary, Archdiocese of Washington, DC, senior African-American Bishop who was present at Sister Thea’s famous Seton Hall address to the US Bishops in 1989;
Sr Eileen McKenzie, FSPA, President, Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, Thea’s religious community, La Crosse WI;
Sr Dorothy Ann Kundinger, FSPA, Thea’s friend, companion and caretaker during Thea’s struggle with cancer and present at her death
Going Home Like a Shooting Star includes extensive use of Bowman family photos, archival material, and footage of Thea from varied public appearances, including her famous interview with Mike Wallace on CBS’ 60 Minutes.
Going Home Like a Shooting Star was filmed on location in:
- Jackson and Canton, MS
- New Orleans, LA
- La Crosse, WI
- Washington, DC
- San Antonio, TX
- New York City
- South Bend, IN
The film makes a strong connection between Thea’s Gospel call for justice, love and unity and the current effort of Black Lives Matter activists and efforts to combat systemic racism. Many in the film cite Thea’s voice as an influence on their ongoing efforts to achieve social and racial justice.
Production of Going Home Like a Shooting Star: Thea Bowman’s Journey to Sainthood was made possible with funding from the Catholic Communications Campaign of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, as well as support from various foundations and congregations of U.S. men and women religious.
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Hands-on learning
Germanfest 2022
By Joanna Puddister King
GLUCKSTADT – St. Joseph parish hosted their annual Germanfest on Sunday, Sept. 25 on the church grounds. The Gluckstadt community was founded in 1905 by German immigrants. Many of the descendants of the original families still attend the parish.
Much prep work goes into planning this fun-filled festival. Families gather weeks in advance to can sauerkraut using a traditional recipe. In the days leading up to the Germanfest you can find parishioners preparing sausages, bratwurst, desserts and other German delicacies to share with the community.
This year, Germanfest was a hot one with temps in the low-to-mid 90s, but festival goers had lots of fun, good food and a variety of beer to sample.
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SOUTHAVEN – Sacred Heart School’s seventh grade baptism study included the students making their own candles. Pictured is Fernanda Bermudez working on her votive candle. (Photo by Sister Margaret Sue Broker)
MERIDIAN – St. Patrick assistant teacher, Jasmine Jordan aids kindergartener Matthew Rush with finger painting. (Photo by Emily Thompson)
MADISON – St. Anthony third graders work on a science project in Ms. Holder’s room. Pictured left to right: Isaac Smith, Aspen Taylor, Sydney Beard and Cruz Warwick. (Photo by Kati Loyacono)
VICKSBURG – AP Biology students participated in an Animal Behavior Lab exercise learning the response to environmental variables. Katelyn Clark and Sara Beth Johnston observed animal behaviors relating to environmental stimuli and courtship behaviors. (Photo by Lindsey Bradley)
JACKSON – The shape of the week was a square and these St. Richard PreK-3 students got “hands on” when making their very own squares. Clockwise from top: Josie Ball, Oliver Metzger, Townes Crews and Louise Simmons. (Photo by Tammy Conrad)
FLORA – After a time out with their coach, the Jr. Bruins march back for another play versus the Tri-County Academy Rebels on Thursday, Aug. 25. The Jr. Bruins are made up of fifth and sixth grade students from St. Anthony and St. Richard schools. (Photo by Joanna Puddister King)
Retreat master Gunn rides rails west
From the Archives
By Mary Woodward
JACKSON – In these From the Archives articles I have chronicled a lot about Bishop John Edward Gunn, SM, sixth bishop of our diocese. In this installment I would like to bring to light that Bishop Gunn was a highly sought-after retreat master. Bishops around the country would recruit him to give retreats to the clergy of their diocese.
Therefore, here is a description of his journeys across the country by train in August of 1918. World War I was still raging, and forest fires had been ravaging the western United States. It sounds vaguely familiar in some respects, but also gives a unique view of the development of the Northwest.
“On August 1st I went to Vicksburg where I remained a few hours, taking the night train to Memphis from there. I got the Chicago train at six twenty, reaching the Auditorium on August 2nd. There I heard of the birth of Roy McCanna’s baby – long expected, much prayed for and the most welcome youngster that ever appeared in Wisconsin. I phoned my congratulations from Chicago, and I was requested to stop over on my way to St. Paul to baptize the youngster, which I did on Saturday, August 3rd.
“I left the same night for St. Paul’s and reached the Marists on Sunday, August 4th. I called to see Archbishop Ireland and found him in a dying condition in his new home on Summit Avenue. The Catholics of St. Paul had purchased the finest house in the city and donated it to the Archbishop. He was brought into it, put to bed and he actually never saw the house that was his own.
“I left for St. Cloud on August 5th and went to St. John’s College, the Benedictine Monastery, where I was booked to preach a retreat for the clergy of the Diocese of St. Cloud. I started in on Monday and ended on the following Friday. Bishop Busch of St. Cloud was persuaded by Archbishop Ireland to get me to give the retreat, owing to war conditions which were painfully acute in that section of Minnesota.
“Practically all the Priests and nearly 90% of the Catholics of St. Cloud were pro-German. The Bishop, of German Extraction, was very American and this created a natural state of war or at least of ill-feeling between the Catholics and the Bishop. I was supposed to smooth things out and while the Priests resented a retreat in English, one of the first every given in that language in the diocese, still they treated me very well.
“St. John’s College was a place worth seeing. The community was very large, the Monastery grounds covered 1000 acres, the monks were farmers as well as priests and the place was as near ideal as could possibly be imagined.
“There was a lake in the center of the property which was so thickly stocked with fish that it was almost a crime to throw in a hook and line. It was not fishing – it was slaughter.
“I left St. Cloud satisfied with myself and I think left the Bishop and his priests pretty well satisfied and came to St. Paul where I stopped at the Ryan Hotel. I spent the night of August 10th with the Marists on Cedar Street and helped them out on Sunday and left Sunday night over the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul for Seattle.
“On the train, I met Archbishop Messmer of Milwaukee, and we exchanged a lot of thought between Milwaukee and Spokane. The Archbishop had put his parish church under interdict and excommunicated three or four Polish priests on the day on which we met, so I think he was looking for shelter.
“The trip from St. Paul to Seattle was over some of the wildest parts of America. There was not a town of any importance after leaving Minneapolis. The Rockies were not as wild further South.
“The one thing that was a novelty to me was to go through a country that had been a raging furnace for over two years and a half and defied the power of the United States to put out the forest fires. The country showed the ruins of fire and looked as sad a spectacle as could be imagined.
“On the trip, I saw for the first time a railroad actually controlled and propelled by electricity. The big Mountain engines could not do the work and tremendous electric power houses were installed all along the line and engines equipped to suit. We zig-zagged around the Mountain and took a day to travel a bee line distance of thirty or forty miles. The trip was pleasant as we reached Seattle on August 14th.”
In my opinion, bishops are not always appreciated until years after their tenure. Bishop Gunn certainly had his moments during his time in office that caused consternation among clergy and faithful, but we are very fortunate to have his diary to share his adventures in the early 1900’s from his unique perspective. Now, more than 100 years later time sheds light on the wisdom of his actions.
In our next installment, we will continue this journey with Bishop Gunn as he shares his keen wit and intellect across the country.
(Mary Woodward is Chancellor and Archivist for the Diocese of Jackson.)