By Maureen Smith
PEARL – More than a dozen catechists gathered at St. Jude Parish the week of August 18 to conclude a week of training in Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. This group is finishing the third and final level of training, almost 300 hours in all, so they can now guide students through the program appropriate for their age.

Catechesis of the Good Shepherd is a Montessori-based program in which students and their teachers work together to learn and explore their faith. There are three atriums, or learning environments, students and teachers use for the program, one for ages three to six, a second for ages six to nine and the third for ages nine to 12.
“It’s just so wonderful. It’s not the kids sitting in a desk and us teaching them like they do in school. It’s completely different. It’s centered around the work of the child and what they need and so for the kids it’s so different from what they have seen all week,” explained Stacy Wolf, coordinator of Faith Formation at St. Jude. “To come into a room that’s built for them and it’s a place of prayer and God – they can just slow down and take time to read the Bible and just talk about it,” she continued.
She said she likes that students can take Scripture at their own level so they are not reading it with the worry that they will have to take a test. The process is “organic and the students have time to do the work and to choose where the Holy Spirit is leading them – not everyone has to be doing the same thing,” said Wolf.
She and teachers from eight other area churches, including representatives from Baptist and Episcopal congregations, formed an association to make trainings such as this one easier. Each level of training can take 90 hours so being able to offer it to larger groups makes the process easier and more cost-effective for the churches and trainers alike. This training drew a catechist from Alabama and another from Florida.
The formation leader for this training was Donna Turner from Memphis. She said she first found out about Catechesis of the Good Shepherd back in 1994 when she was teaching children at her parish. She did not feel like the curriculum she was using fit the needs or capacity of her students so she spoke to her pastor about seeking new programs. She fell in love with Catechesis of the Good Shepherd almost immediately. “I love that it is a gift for the children, but as much as it is a gift for us as the adults who also do the work so it is really a beautiful way I think God draws all of us to him, ” she said.
Turner said the program is more than just lesson plans, it works with what people want and need. “Relationship – that relationship with Jesus, the relationship with the Good Shepherd, is one of their greatest needs and Catechesis of the Good Shepherd provides the right food to nurture that,” said Turner.
During the training on Friday, August 25, participants took turns reading the story of Moses and his confrontation with Pharaoh. They discussed how they reacted to the story and how they would expect the students to react. Turner took out cards with images from the story on them and a small group sat on the floor to talk about the items and their role in the story. One of the things catechists who use this program learn is that they will also have to do the work with their students.

Each atrium has items designed for the students who will use it. Smaller children may use a wooden shepherd, sheep and little fences to better understand the story of the good shepherd while older students may set up a small altar or create their own artwork to go with a story that appeals to them. Each age group will take on different topics, but ultimately, the students select what work they want to do.
The association is able to work with catechists who are worried about the cost of training or setting up an atrium. The association will offer a Level I training this year at a local Episcopal Church in the Jackson area. Anyone interested in learning more about local training should contact Stacy Wolf at St. Jude, 601-939-3181 or by email at ccd@stjudepearl.org.

 

By Maureen Smith
DURANT – On Saturday, May 20, at 3 p.m., the community is invited to honor the memory of Sisters Paula Merrill, SCN, and Margaret Held, SSSF. Father Greg Plata, OFM, will bless and dedicate a marker to the two women in Liberty Park in Durant, Miss. The women were found murdered in their home in Durant in August 2016. Both had been nurse practitioners at a medical clinic in Lexington.

Carolyn Reynolds, an alderwoman in Durant, conceived the idea of a memorial. “She called me, she didn’t really know the sisters, she had never met them, in fact, but she knew about all the good work they had done and thought it would be tragic if there was no memorial for them,” said Father Plata.
“She was hearing people in Durant talk about them – grown men were crying about them so she thought ‘surely someone like this needs some recognition,’” said Jaime Sample, the music minister at Lexington St. Thomas Parish where the sisters were in the choir. “I still cry sometimes when I am selecting music,” said Sample.
Family members and members of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth and the School Sisters of St. Francis will be on hand for the dedication. In fact, the Sisters of Charity will arrive early and spend a week doing service in Durant, which is currently cleaning up from a tornado.
The monument will include pictures of the sisters and will sit near a similar marker dedicated to two Durant natives who died on 9/11. The dedication service will include scripture readings and the sisters’ favorite songs, ‘This Alone I Ask,’ and ‘How Can I Keep from Singing’ as well as some reflections from close friends and family members. After the service, the community will gather for Mass at 4:30 at St. Thomas.
“I still miss them, but I know they are still with us. I know they are watching over us,” said Sample. The parish is still accepting donations for the marker. They can be sent to St. Thomas Catholic Church, 200 Boulevard St., Lexington, MS, 39095 or via Go Fund Me at: https://www.gofundme.com/3r26suw.

By Maureen Smith

CRYSTAL SPRINGS – Father Tom Delaney will celebrate 60 years as a priest this June. The 83-year-old continues to serve as the pastor of St. John parish and St. Martin of Tours mission. “I plan to continue in active ministry for as long as the Lord gives me breath,” he said during a recent interview. His parish of Crystal Springs St. John has planned a Mass and lunch for Saturday, June 24, starting at 11 a.m.
Father Delaney had to work hard just to get to Mississippi in 1959. He was ready to make the trip after his June 8, 1957, ordination, but an x-ray required for a visa showed a shadow on his lung. When he followed up with a doctor he discovered he had tuberculosis. It took almost a year of treatment and months of monitoring to heal completely before he was allowed a visa. He has never had a lung problem since.
Last July he had an aortic valve replaced, and this year had a malignant spot removed from his head, but he describes himself as being in good health.
“I have enjoyed my service in Mississippi and I have been blessed by the friendship of so many people, brother priests and bishops. I was lucky to know Bishops Gerow, Brunini, Howze (of Biloxi), Houck, Latino and now Bishop Kopacz,” said Father Delaney.
He has served all across the state, starting in Bay St. Louis at Our Lady of the Gulf before the creation of the Diocese of Biloxi. He went on to Greenville St. Joseph, Jackson St. Peter, Pearl St. Jude, Starkville St. Joseph, Port Gibson St. Joseph, Grenada St. Peter, Greenwood Immaculate Heart of Mary and Crystal Springs St. John along with its mission of Hazelhurst St. Martin of Tours. “I hope I have done some good,” said Father Delaney when reflecting on his time here.
Father Delaney also served as the chaplain for the state hospital at Whitfield, Mercy Hospital in Vicksburg, the moderator for the Catholic physicians’ guild and chaplain for Catholic nurses as well as once being a moderator and advocate for the marriage tribunal. “I would like to add one thing, I want to apologize to anyone whose feelings I may have hurt over the years,” said Father Delaney.
(Editor’s note: Father Tom Delaney was inadvertently omitted from the article in the past issue about significant anniversaries. I apologize for the error.)

By Peter Finney Jr.
NEW ORLEANS (CNS) – It was 10:10 a.m. on Sunday, Aug. 28 – 20 minutes before the regular 10:30 a.m. Mass at St. Rita Church in New Orleans – normally a time when the church is pin-drop quiet except for the sacristan, the organist and a few early arrivers reciting the rosary.
But as parishioners began filing into the church for Mass that day, they witnessed something they had not seen in years – their church half-filled with people.
Men, some dressed in coats and ties, some in black suits with Roman collars, were spread out in the pews, reading their morning prayers or praying silently.
“I thought it was a funeral or a wedding,” one parishioner said with a laugh, astonished by the sight of more than 100 seminarians, including some from the Diocese of Jackson, from Notre Dame Seminary sitting or kneeling in the pews.
That Sunday was the first manifestation of a bold initiative launched by Father James Wehner, rector of Notre Dame Seminary, and New Orleans Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond to have the 136-member seminary community partner with nearby St. Rita Parish.
The idea is simple but bold.

On most Sundays, the Notre Dame Seminary community will join the parishioners of St. Rita for the parish-seminary Mass at 10:30 a.m. A group of seminarians opens the church each weekday at 6 a.m. for morning prayer and eucharistic adoration, which lasts until the 7 a.m. weekday Mass.
About 20 third-year seminarians also serve during the week as mentors to the students at St. Rita School, sitting in on classes, answering questions the students might have or just playing with them on the playground.
Father Wehner is the canonical pastor of St. Rita, and Father Peter Finney is the administrator, handling the day-to-day operations of the church and school and overseeing the seminarians in their new apostolic work.
While the partnership is a work in progress, one thing clear is: The church is more alive than ever.
“We were a smaller parish before, and now, with all these seminarians, it’s brought life to the parish,” said Dr. Thomas Ryan, secretary of the St. Rita parish council.
Father Wehner and Father Finney wanted to assure parishioners from the outset that the seminary was not going to be taking control of the parish. They met with parishioners in July and told them they were there to listen and to see what the parish’s needs were.
“We’re starting off very slowly,” Father Wehner told The Clarion Herald, the archdiocesan newspaper.
There is a two-pronged approach for the seminarians. The first is the liturgical experience, bringing the entire seminary community together at St. Rita for Sunday Mass where “seminarians will simply attend and worship side-by-side with the lay faithful.”
“The idea is that after four to six years – the length of their time at Notre Dame Seminary – they will have cultivated friendships with parishioners during the school year, consistent with their seminary formation, which we see as a benefit,” Father Wehner said. “At the end of the day, priestly ministry is dedicated to the lay faithful. These seminarians will be praying for St. Rita Parish and its neighborhood and the school children and for their intentions. There will be a parochial foundation for their spirituality.” Two seminarians have been assigned to each grade level for the entire year.
“Those seminarians will know the children’s names and their families and their background,” Father Wehner said. “That pastoral ministry will contribute to an understanding of the whole reason of why they are in the seminary to begin with.”
Beyond that, another six to eight seminarians will help Father Wehner and Father Finney by sitting in on the parish council and finance council meetings and by helping out with adult education. Pastoral outreach has started with two seminarians, equipped with iPads, inputting and updating parishioners’ information in the parish record-keeping software.
“The involvement of the seminarians will increase,” Father Wehner said. “This is the first year, and we feel that the liturgical dimensions and the pastoral dimensions are a good way to go.”

Father Finney said the experience thus far has exceeded expectations. Recently, the parish picnic that drew about 50 people last year attracted more than 200. While children played on inflatables, seminarian Matthew Hoffpauir, studying for the Archdiocese of New Orleans, set up an easel to draw caricatures. “I can draw (almost) anything in 45 seconds,” he wrote, piquing the interest of kids.
“It’s really been great for the school kids,” Father Finney said. “They don’t really know how to make heads or tails of all these guys coming into their classes, but it’s been good to give them some practical, real and ongoing relationships. This isn’t something where we’re parachuting in and out.”
The idea for the seminarians is to encourage them to “think with the mind of a parochial vicar” and to think more “long-term,” Father Finney said.
As the initiative progresses, Father Wehner and Father Finney, who took over in July, want to find out more about what the parish’s needs are. The parish currently has 343 registered families but has added families in recent weeks.
“You want to bring people in, but what are you offering them?” Father Finney said. “We can offer them liturgy and prayer at this point, but we still need to get to know our people a little bit and develop what we have here before engaging in that.”
Karen Henderson, principal of St. Rita School, said she has been amazed by the benefits of the interaction between the seminarians and her students.
“We’re extremely excited about just having their presence,” Henderson said. “We’ve had seminarians teaching religion or assisting the teachers with religion. We’ve had them serve as mentors, for our young boys, in particular. To have so many men of faith is wonderful.”
In Stefanie Cronin’s fourth-grade class recently, seminarian Cletus Orji of New Orleans helped students by holding their handmade projects as they described the significance of them. After each child finished, Orji gave the students a high-five.
Orji said he’s gained an appreciation for the teachers’ deep well of patience, something he can make use of when he becomes a priest.
Ryan, the parish council secretary, said the seminary-parish partnership is like “learning to dance together.”

“This is unique around the country, and there’s no instruction booklet on how this should work,” Ryan said. “Something we need to watch out for is that the seminarians would come and take over, not out of spite or anything like that but because of their love of the parish and their love of ministry. The challenge is for the seminarians to empower the laity to work in ministry and live out their baptismal vocation.”
He likened it to a teaching hospital. “Medical schools do that. They want their medical students to learn on the job, so that’s what the seminarians are doing here,” he explained. “I think it’s great they want to learn from us. I think other dioceses can learn from this.”
(Finney is executive editor/general manager of the Clarion Herald, newspaper of the Archdiocese of New Orleans.)