By Catholic News Service
PORTLAND, Maine – A parish priest in Bangor, Maine, said he saw many Massgoers “in tears” as they took holy Communion for the first time in close to three months at a publicly celebrated Mass June 7, Trinity Sunday, at St. Paul the Apostle Church.
Father Augustine Nellary, parochial vicar of the parish, said he was “extremely excited to have some of our parishioners back in the church and celebrate the Eucharist with them. I saw many of them in tears as they received the Eucharist.”
Across the country, Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of Los Angeles celebrated his first Mass with faithful present at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. Attendance was limited to 100 people, on a first-come, first-served basis, following the guidelines and regulations set by the County Health Department and the archdiocese.
In his homily, Archbishop Gomez said: “Today marks a beautiful new beginning for the family of God here in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, as many of our churches are opening to celebrate the Eucharist for the first time in many weeks.”
On May 26, Archbishop Gomez told priests and parish staff churches in the archdiocese could begin to open to the public the first week of June if they implemented certain safety guidelines.
In recent weeks, U.S. dioceses have begun issuing plans for the gradual reopening of churches over several phases with the safety of congregants, priests, deacons and other parish staff foremost in the minds of Catholic officials – and with safety protocols in place, including required mask wearing and social distancing inside church, with seating in designated pews.
The gradual opening of churches or planned openings – with limits on congregation size – have for the most part come as cities and states announce a gradual reopening of a variety of what they deem as “nonessential” public and private entities, including churches, as the threat of COVID-19 has subsided – but not gone away entirely
Dioceses are still encouraging online giving to parishes, and Masses everywhere continue to be livestreamed.
In the statewide Diocese of Portland, Maine, the effort to reopen churches, even in a limited fashion, prompted creativity among clergy and parish staff. No more than 50 people could be in attendance, masks were mandatory, and temporary pew seating arrangements ensured social-distancing guidelines were followed. In addition, reservations were required to make sure capacity wasn’t exceeded.
But Catholics felt the regulations and protocols were small prices to pay for the opportunity to be together again.
“People were so very happy to be back at Mass. I told them how wonderful it was to have more people to pray with,” said Father John Skehan, pastor of St. Michael Parish in Augusta.
“We are grateful to God that we are able once again to celebrate and receive Eucharist together,” said Bishop Robert P. Deeley of Portland told Massgoers during his June 7 Mass at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Portland.
“How nice to see you this morning! Over these last three months, I have known that you are there, but it is nice to see some of you actually here with us this morning,” he added.
The bishop also described the work being completed at Maine churches after each Mass to keep those attending safe, including the sanitization of seats and pews, knobs, door handles, bathrooms, altars, musical equipment and other touched surfaces.
In Ontario, the provincial government lifted the blanket ban on services, allowing churches to resume public Masses and seat up to 30% of their capacity – the highest allowance in Canada – starting June 12.
Premier Doug Ford announced the loosening of restrictions June 8 as Ontario moved into stage 2 of its reopening plan. With Ontario churches reopening, Quebec is the only Canadian province yet to resume public Masses in some form.
But not all Catholic churches in Ontario reopened June 12. They will need to develop protocols to provide added hygiene, allow parishioners to maintain proper distancing and ensure that no more than 30% of the pews are occupied.
Bishop Ronald Fabbro of London, Ontario, said the news must be tempered with patience and health and safety remains paramount. “I ask for your patience. We have been working hard to prepare for the re-opening of churches, but we will need to make sure our communities can worship safely,” he said.
Robert Du Broy, communications director for the Archdiocese of Ottawa-Cornwall, Ontario, said some churches in the archdiocese are more prepared to open quickly than others. He said it will be left to individual churches to decide if they have the necessary number of volunteers and sanitary precautions and other safe-distancing measures in place.
Bishop Douglas Crosby of Hamilton, Ontario, said the reopening brings new challenges and the church will not look the same as it did pre-pandemic.
“We can expect instructions about social distancing, use of hand sanitizers and face masks, and how to receive holy Communion, among other things,” said Bishop Crosby. “We count on the goodwill of everybody to assure the safety of priests and congregation. Some of this will not be easy, but together we can do it.”
The bishops said their current guidelines for public celebrations of the Mass remain in effect for now: sign up to attend, physical distancing, contact tracing, hand sanitizing, no singing, and requiring masks for volunteers and all those who wish to receive Communion.
“We are grateful to all those who have worked so hard to make the necessary preparations, and to our parishioners for the patience and the responsibility toward others that they have demonstrated as they have returned to Mass,” Alberta’s bishops said June 9.
Back in Maine, Julie Ann Smyth, a member of Good Shepherd Parish in Biddeford, was one of those brought to tears by being able to attend Mass in church once again.
“As soon as the opening song started playing, I teared up. It was overwhelming to think about the past two months,” she said. “To return to the pew and to be with others who share your love of your faith, it was just so special.”

Contributing to this story were the staff of Angelus in Los Angeles, Mickey Conlon at The Catholic Register in Toronto and Andrew Ehrkamp of Grandin Media.

By Katie Scott
PORTLAND, Ore. – At 8 a.m. on Easter, two days before giving birth, Jennifer Ratigan pulled into a hospital parking lot and waited for a physician’s assistant – donning full protective garb, including a face mask and shield – to reach through a rolled-down window to swab her nose for a COVID-19 test.
The hospital was preparing for a potential surge in coronavirus cases and was testing all mothers who’d likely deliver soon. Medical staff wanted to allocate equipment and health care workers properly.
Ratigan, whose test results were negative, understood the precaution. But the contrast between the strange early morning outing and her soul’s desire was acute and painful. She longed to be at Mass, to be among friends, to be watching her five children gleefully scramble for hidden eggs.
“It was emotional,” said the 42-year-old, a member of St. Rose of Lima Parish in Northeast Portland. “I felt sad and lonely.”
For pregnant and postpartum mothers, the pandemic has upended birth plans and altered expectations. It’s caused heightened uncertainty and twinges of fear. At the same time, many women, Ratigan included, say it’s intensified their awe of life and reliance on God.
“This Easter I needed the surrender prayer, ‘Jesus, I turn it over to you,’” Ratigan said.
On April 14, the Ratigan family welcomed child No. 6, a boy they named Luke. “It means ‘light,’ and he’s our light right now,” said his mother in a recent phone interview, the cries and coos of the newborn interrupting periodically.
Ratigan’s husband, Mitch, is a baseball coach, and before the virus, the couple wondered how the family would juggle baseball season with four sons who play and a baby on the way.
“When the pandemic started, it was a jolt into reality and the realization of how silly our little frets were before,” said Ratigan. After her previous births, she’d stayed in the hospital a few days. With Luke, it was a mere 24 hours. “It was very quick; they want to get people out,” she said. When her muscles ached, she reminded herself she wasn’t usually out of a hospital bed so early.
There have been many moments of pregnancy, pandemic and birth that she’ll never forget.
En route from the hospital, she texted Father Matt Libra, their pastor, asking if they could get a drive-by blessing. The priest came out of the rectory mask-clad and prayed over the family.
“That felt so very special,” recalled Ratigan.
A few nights ago, close family friends dropped off pizza on their doorstep and then stood across the street as Luke was held up and introduced.
“We are being really diligent and following social-distancing recommendations,” Ratigan said.
“No one wants to be responsible for getting anyone else sick. But that night I started to tear up. We will not ever underappreciate friendships.”
Prayer, thankfully, pays no heed to physical distance. “The many prayers of others have strengthened us through all this,” she said.
Because the coronavirus is new, it’s not yet clear if pregnant women have a greater chance than the general public of contracting COVID-19 or if they’re more likely to have serious complications. The CDC says pregnant women seem to have the same risk as those who are not pregnant.
There also currently is no evidence that the virus is transmitted in utero or through breast milk, said Dr. Judy Marvin, medical director of Providence Health and Services women’s clinics in Oregon.
Another impact of the virus is this: No doula in the delivery room. No post-birth hugs from her parents. No tender hospital moment of grandparents meeting their freshly arrived grandson.
“You have these expectations, and then – surprise – a pandemic is here and everything looks different,” said Angie Kelly, whose first baby was born on Palm Sunday.
She said of all the changes to her birth plan, keeping the baby, Tano Lorenzo Thomas Kelly, and her parents separate has been the hardest. First it was because of hospital limits on visitors, now it’s due to social distancing.
The lack of her anticipated support at the hospital meant “it was all the more meaningful to have such caring nurses,” said the 29-year-old.
Right now, Kelly and her husband are savoring this time with their son. “We’d be in the house all the time anyway,” she said with a laugh. “Instead of needing to turn down events or showing up late, we are able to just be with each other.”

The couple has tried to limit their news consumption, while staying mindful of the suffering caused by the pandemic. “I want to soak in this awesome, wild, new-parent time,” said Kelly, cradling her baby. “From where I sit, the world looks beautiful.”
Christina Fordyce, a member of St. Joseph Parish in Salem, is having a home birth for her second baby, due in August.
“It was such an amazing experience with our first that we wanted to do it again,” said Fordyce, 25. Now she feels especially relieved at the decision, which a growing number of women nationwide are making during the pandemic.
Some women have concerns about their own and especially their babies’ potential vulnerability to the virus in hospitals.
Though Fordyce’s birth plan may remain in place even if the pandemic lasts through the summer, her visits with the midwives have changed. The last prenatal appointment was over the phone, and for the previous one the midwife wore a mask and gloves and stayed just long enough to check her vitals.
“The visits usually feel so intimate and personal,” said Fordyce. “Both their experience and mine were so different.”
It’s also been a bit tough to parent a toddler while pregnant without the in-person practical and spiritual support of her parish community.
Lent as a “big part of the pregnancy was providential,” she said. “It’s a time to get on your feet spiritually and pick up prayer routines you may have dropped. I needed that more than ever.”
“Trust” is a word that keeps coming to mind, she added. “There are so many unknowns right now. It’s an opportunity to place more trust in God.”
Olivia is an Oregon Catholic who’s three months pregnant with her third child. She’s keeping her name private so she can share the news in person with her extended family, now separated by social distancing.
“We are close to a lot of my family, and we really miss seeing them, our kids really miss seeing them,” said Oliva, who is in her late 30s.
She’s not due until the fall, but public health experts, including the head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, have warned a second wave of coronavirus cases could appear around then.
“If we have to do social distancing and no one can come over, my husband may have to stay with the kids while I give birth,” Oliva said. “That’s a tough, sad reality to consider.”
“Even in the midst of these trials and the unknowns and the world changing so fast, life is a gift,” Olivia said. “I can celebrate the life in my womb in this moment. This baby in me is a source of joy in a strange time. This baby is a source of hope.”

(Scott is special projects reporter at the Catholic Sentinel, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Portland.)

By Rhina Guidos
WASHINGTON (CNS) – On the feast of St. Joseph the Worker, the Center for Migration Studies of New York released a new report highlighting the role of 19.8 million immigrant laborers who work in “essential critical infrastructure” in the U.S. during the coronavirus pandemic.
“In the midst of the pandemic and in the places where they are most needed, immigrants are working to stem the spread of COVID-19 and to sustain their fellow Americans – often at great personal risk,” said Donald Kerwin, the center’s executive director in a statement released with the report on May 1. “These same workers are going to be essential to the United States’ economic recovery. They deserve our support and thanks.”
The report says immigrants comprise 16% of all health care workers in the country, including 33% of health care sector workers in New York State, 32% in California, 31% in New Jersey, states that have been hard-hit by the pandemic.
The center based its findings on 2018 U.S. Census Bureau data. The report also points out that “immigrants work at high rates in essential jobs that keep Americans safe, healthy, and fed” especially “distressed states.”
The report says that immigrants make up 31% of the country’s agricultural employees, 26% of workers in food and beverage manufacturing and processing, 26% of grocery wholesalers, and 17% of retail grocery and food and beverage industries.
The report pays particular attention to New York state, where higher deaths and infection rates for ethnic groups brought to the national spotlight disparities affecting communities of color.
The report says that the “majority of the New York foreign-born essential workers – 1.04 million – are naturalized citizens, 458,400 are legal noncitizens (mostly lawful permanent residents), and 342,100 are undocumented.”
The document was issued at a time when the Trump administration has been more strictly limiting immigration to the U.S., saying these measures are necessary to stop the pandemic.
In New York, immigrants make up about one-third of health care sector workers; two-thirds (or 66%) of home health care workers and aides for the elderly; undocumented immigrants make up 11% of all home health care workers and elderly aides in the state, according to the report. Other immigrants are 23% of workers in medical equipment manufacturing and another 30% in pharmaceuticals manufacturing, it says.
Many also are janitors and building cleaners (41%), work in disinfection (33%), and 38% manufacture soap and cleaning compounds.
They also are in the state’s transportation industry, operating buses, rails, and vehicles-for-hire, are gas station workers, or in warehousing, distribution, as well as agriculture and in food and beverage manufacturing and processing.
The center profiled immigrant essential workers such as Ismael Castellanos, a Mexican immigrant who has worked at a dairy farm in New York for the past seven years and lives in employer-provided housing with four others.
“If we get sick, the entire farm will get sick,” he said. “If the workers get sick, the farm won’t be able to operate, and if the farm stops producing, the workers will lose their jobs” and this will affect the food supply as well.
The farmworker said that while his employer provided masks, disinfecting gel, and transportation to buy groceries, not all employers are doing the same.
A group of U.S. bishops on April 29 called on government officials to consider the role and plight of U.S. migrant farmworkers during the coronavirus pandemic and made recommendations that include free testing and care should the workers test positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
They also expressed concern that since some of the farmworkers are “undocumented,” their immigration status could make them more vulnerable to abuse as some would be reluctant to address overcrowding, lack of social distance in their work, transportation or housing and lack of protective equipment – conditions also highlighted in the report.
With New York and much of the country in lockdown, the center said, “immigrant workers are sustaining the economy and helping to keep Americans healthy and safe.”
The report quotes Ismael, the farmworker, saying that while many U.S. workers are able to stay safely at home, earning much higher wages and “have a good job, own a house,” they are able to remain calm while not considering “who is working day and night to ensure that food is available in their supermarkets and grocery stores … we are the ones producing the food that arrives at their table.”

By Richard Szczepanowski
WASHINGTON (CNS) – The oven timer dings, alerting Capuchin Franciscan Brother Andrew Corriente the chocolate layer cake he is baking needs to be checked.
A quick test with a toothpick tells him the cake needs about five more minutes in the oven, more than enough time for him to soften the butter that will eventually become the buttercream icing that will top the confection.
The enticing aromas in the kitchen at Capuchin College in Washington signal that Brother Andrew is busy creating another treat for the men who call the friary home.
Brother Andrew knows his way around a kitchen. In fact, he was crowned this year’s baking champion on ABC’s “The Great American Baking Show: Holiday Edition.” The program, which aired during the month of December and concluded Jan. 2, is an adaptation of the wildly popular “Great British Bake Off.”
Brother Andrew said he wanted to participate in the program “because I love to bake, and I wanted to learn from the others” who were part of the production. “They were very good, incredible cooks,” the brother said of his competition. Several of them have since become good friends of his.
“The Great American Baking Show: Holiday Edition,” now in its fifth season, features 10 amateur bakers who compete in a series of challenges in which they must produce outstanding baked goods. Contestants are eliminated one by one until a champion is selected.
Brother Andrew emerged as the victor after he and the other two finalists were charged with making three individual party desserts of their choice. He earned the crown with chocolate cookies with lime cream and blackberry jam, sponge cakes with fresh cream and fruits, and a puff pastry.
Brother Andrew was given the nod to appear on the show last June, but he applied for the program in 2017.

“In 2018, they (producers of the show) called me, but I said no because I was taking my final vows,” he told the Catholic Standard, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Washington. “They called me again this year, and I did it.”
He said he spent the month of July “recipe developing and recipe testing” before traveling to London in August, where the entire season was taped over the course of that month. “Filming sometimes took up to 14 hours a day,” Brother Andrew said. “I had to stay focused so that I could get my prayers in, Mass in and meditation in.”
Although it was very hot in the kitchen where the contestants competed, Brother Andrew chose to wear his distinctive brown Capuchin robes as he baked.
“I love my life so much, and I wanted people to see that,” he said. “My ability to bake is so tied to my way of life. Everything I have is from God, and I wanted people to see how all of that is integrated.”
The friary where Brother Andrew regularly creates his bakery masterpieces is part of the St. Augustine Province of the Order of Friars Minor. The 30 men who live at Capuchin College are either studying nearby at The Catholic University of America, preparing for the priesthood, serving in various ministries throughout the Archdiocese of Washington or are retired.
Capuchin Franciscan Father Paul Dressler, the province’s guardian and director of formation at Capuchin College, called Brother Andrew’s appearance on the program “part of the new evangelization.”
“Brother Andrew wanted to be on the show as a witness. He went to evangelize and put before the world the Gospel and our order,” Father Dressler said.

Capuchin Father Tom Betz, the provincial of the St. Augustine Province, gave the nod and Brother Andrew was on his way.
“Brother Andrew brought attention to the goodness of God and the goodness of religious life,” Father Dressler said.
He added that it is not unusual for a religious to be familiar in the kitchen. “Religious life has long been a source of nourishment,” Father Dressler said. He also pointed to the ancient tradition of monks brewing beer, making wine and even giving coffee lovers everywhere the eponymous cappuccino.
“It is connected to the fact that all good things come from God,” Father Dressler said.
In episode four of “The Great American Baking Show: Holiday Edition,” Brother Andrew struggled with the challenge of creating a cheesecake tower with at least three tiers, with two of one flavor and one of a different flavor. As he struggled to construct his tower, Brother Andrew stopped, lifted his hands in prayer and uttered the word, “surrender.”
Brother Andrew is a third-year seminarian. After studying filmmaking in college, the now 31-year-old native of California, “had a desk job in the entertainment industry,” working for a talent agent.
“I was searching for other jobs, but never thought about religious life,” he said. “A friend of mine from college became a nun, and when I went to see her profess her vows, I met a Capuchin.” That spurred Brother Andrew to give the order a try. “I met the guys, and the rest is history,” he said.
Brother Andrew regularly bakes for the residents of the friary and one of his specialties is “kouign amann,” a French pastry made with multiple layers of buttery croissant pastry caramelized with slightly burnt sugar.
Baking, he said, “is in a way eucharistic.”
“Jesus gave us himself in the bread and wine,” Brother Andrew said. “For me, I put myself out there with my cooking. It is kind of a sacrificial love.”
His interest in baking, he added, was spurred during his postulancy.
Brother Andrew said he finds time for prayer as he cooks. For example, in preparing meringue – a confection made of whipped egg whites and sugar – he discovered “the best way to time my stirring is by praying the Hail Mary.”
The “guys,” as Brother Andrew calls his fellow Capuchins, sent their favorite baker off to compete in London with “a really nice blessing and prayer.” Brother Andrew’s family – mother Elna, father Rodel and sister Theresa – flew to London to watch the finale.
When he won, Brother Andrew was sworn to secrecy; for more than four months he was not allowed to tell others that he had won.
The residents of the friary would gather each week to watch the show together, cheering their brother on. Father Dressler said it was akin to watching the Super Bowl. The friary, he said, exploded with whoops and shouts and cheers when Brother Andrew was named the winner.
In addition to his baking, Brother Andrew uses his culinary skills to help the less fortunate and the working poor. He and a group of brothers and lay volunteers cook and serve dinner every Sunday for the day laborers who congregate at a local Home Depot looking for work.
After he is ordained to the priesthood in two years, Brother Andrew is unsure whether his priestly vocation will permit him as much time to pursue his baking avocation. “God has already zigzagged my life in so many ways that I am open to anywhere he leads me,” he said.

(Szczepanowski is managing editor of the Catholic Standard, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Washington.)

WASHINGTON – Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, has issued the following statement to mark the observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on January 20, 2020.
Archbishop Gomez’s full statement follows:
“As our nation prepares to commemorate the life and witness of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., we are grateful for his courageous stand in solidarity with all who suffer injustice and his witness of love and nonviolence in the struggle for social change. But we are once again painfully aware that we are still far off from his dream for America, the ‘beloved community’ for which he gave his life.
“We have come a long way in our country, but we have not come nearly far enough. Too many hearts and minds are clouded by racist presumptions of privilege and too many injustices in our society are still rooted in racism and discrimination. Too many young African American men are still being killed in our streets or spending their best years behind bars. Many minority neighborhoods in this country are still what they were in Rev. King’s time, what he called ‘lonely islands of poverty.’ Let us recommit ourselves to ensuring opportunity reaches every community.
“In recent years, we have seen disturbing outbreaks of racism and prejudice against other groups. There has been a rise of anti-Semitic attacks and also ugly displays of white nationalism, nativism, and violence targeting Hispanics and other immigrants. Such bigotry is not worthy of a great nation. As Catholics and as Americans, we must reject every form of racism and anti-Semitism.
“Racism is a sin that denies the truth about God and his creation, and it is a scandal that disfigures the beauty of America’s founding vision. In our 2018 pastoral letter on racism, my brother bishops and I stated: ‘What is needed, and what we are calling for, is a genuine conversion of heart, a conversion that will compel change and the reform of our institutions and society.’
“Let us honor the memory of Rev. King by returning to what he called ‘the best in the American dream and the most sacred values in our Judeo-Christian heritage.’ Let us commit ourselves once more to building his ‘beloved community,’ an America where all men and women are treated as children of God, made in his image and endowed with dignity, equality, and rights that can never be denied, no matter the color of their skin, the language they speak, or the place they were born.”
The U.S. Bishops’ 2018 pastoral letter on racism, “Open Wide Your Hearts: The Enduring Call of Love,” and other resources from the Ad Hoc Committee on Racism can be found at: https://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/human-life-and-dignity/racism/index.cfm.

By Mark Pattison
WASHINGTON (CNS) – The March for Life, the annual march in Washington to protest legalized abortion in the United States, is tying itself in 2020 to the women’s suffrage movement for the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote.
The theme of the march is “Life Empowers: Pro-Life Is Pro-Woman.” Jeanne Mancini, head of the March for Life, remarked how two noted suffragists of their day, Alice Paul and Susan B. Anthony, were themselves staunchly against abortion. A video made to support the upcoming march, to be held Jan. 24, said the women called abortion “the ultimate exploitation of women.”
An unnamed woman speaking in the video said 30 million female babies had been aborted since the twin 1973 Supreme Court rulings in Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton that legalized abortion virtually on demand.

Mancini said speakers lined up for the pre-march gathering include Louisiana State Sen. Katrina Jackson, a pro-life Democrat who authored a bill in 2014 to require abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals. It was ruled unconstitutional in 2017, but that ruling in June Medical Services v. Gee was reversed by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The U.S. Supreme Court said in October it would take up the case, its first abortion-related case since the death of Antonin Scalia and the retirement of Anthony Kennedy.
Also on the speakers’ list is U.S. Rep. Christopher Smith, R-New Jersey, long a pro-life advocate, who has sponsored the Born-Alive Survivors Protection Act, which would bar the killing of any baby who survives an abortion. Two such survivors will speak as well, according to Mancini.
The 2020 march will be the 47th such march. “We march regardless,” Mancini said during a Dec. 3 news briefing in Washington about the march. In 2016, “we had ‘Blizzard-geddon,'” she added. An even stronger blizzard in 1982 that crippled the Washington region and its transportation network did not deter those hardy but few marchers who had already made it to the nation’s capital.
The 2019 march was “the first one we marched during a government shutdown,” Mancini added. She said she is working with the U.S. Park Service to assure that there would be no complications to conducting the march should the government be shut down again.
The March for Life now bills itself as “the world’s largest human rights demonstration” and “the world’s largest pro-life event.” Mancini, during the news briefing, called it “the single unifying pro-life event” bringing together people from all points on the pro-life spectrum.
Mancini said more legislation on the abortion front is being advanced at the state level, and that the March for Life would be replicated elsewhere, including Virginia, Connecticut and Chicago.
While the march promotes legislation reflecting pro-life interests, it also aims to “change hearts and minds,” Mancini said.
Tom McClusky, president of March for Life Action, which is the sister organization of the March for Life Education and Defense Fund headed by Mancini, also spoke at the briefing. “If Roe v. Wade is overturned or weakened,” he said, “there will be even more action in the states.”
(Editor’s note: Groups from around the Diocese of Jackson will be in attendance at March for Life 2020, including students from Natchez Cathedral and St. Joseph Starkville Catholic Campus Ministry.)

By Cori Fugere Urban
GUILFORD, Vt. (CNS) – Christmas comes early to Shirley Squires’ Guilford home.
Actually, it never quiet leaves her home if the scores of Nativity sets she leaves on display year round count as keeping Christ in Christmas 365 days a year.

Squires, a parishioner of St. Michael Church in Brattleboro, has collected more than 1,500 Nativity sets, and though she leaves many on display in hutches and in one bay of her detached garage, come August she begins setting up the others throughout her white clapboard home.
“It used to be a two-bedroom,” she said with a smile, explaining that those second-floor rooms are now the permanent home of part of her collection; one room holds a Nativity set of more than 200 pieces.
She now sleeps in a daybed in the first-floor sunroom, where plenty of sunshine pours in, shimmering through glass Nativities and illuminating colorful ones that fill two shelves built in front of the windows overlooking woods and fields.
When she takes the Nativities down in that room at the end of January, she replaces them with scores of family photographs.
Squires is the mother of eight and has 20 grandchildren, 22 great grandchildren and two great, great grandchildren.
Members of her family have made Nativities for her – one uses photographs of family members as the faces of the angels and people in the Nativity scene. Another is made of shells.
Squires herself has crocheted or made of ceramics some of her sets.
Friends and family, children from St. Michael School in Brattleboro and even people she doesn’t know, have been giving her Nativities since she began collecting them in the early 1990s after the death of her husband and son. She had long liked Nativities and had a few sets, but collecting them at that point helped her forget the tragedies she had endured.
At least 55 countries are represented in her collection – Brazil, Italy, Peru, Ecuador, Israel, Germany, Tanzania and Switzerland, to name a few. Some Nativity sets represent different cultures, like the Amish, and some feature penguins, bears or other animals in human roles. In a couple of the scenes Joseph holds the Baby Jesus.
The Nativity sets – with anywhere from one piece to a couple hundred – range from the sophisticated and expensive, the whimsical and handmade and the tiny to the nearly life-size (the latter displayed outdoors). She has a tissue box with a Nativity design, paper gift bags, music boxes, ornaments and even a footstool with a nativity picture. Some are vintage, others new.
And they come from a variety of manufacturers such as Lladro, Jim Shore, Fontanini, Willow Tree, Avon and Belleek, and they are made of various materials including wood, ceramic, glass, wool, beeswax, paper and wire. There’s even a Lego Nativity her great grandson made, and she won a pewter one at a St. Michael’s bazaar raffle.
Although much of her collection has been given to her, she has bought some sets – some on sale, some on trips, some in increments. It’s difficult for her to pick a favorite, but the one her daughter Donna Rhodes made with photos of family members is one of them along with the large Fontanini set in an upstairs room.
And even though she is surrounded by Nativity sets, Squires never feels like there is too much Christmas. “It’s my favorite time of year. It’s always been my favorite time of year,” she told Vermont Catholic, Burlington’s diocesan publication.
From the first of December until the end of January, Squires opens her home by appointment to those who would like to see her Nativity collection, often wearing a special light purple Nativity sweatshirt. “When I see the joy on people’s faces, it makes it all worthwhile,” said the 89-year-old, who is living in the house she grew up in.
She makes friends with some of her visitors, and some have returned each year since she began displaying her collection for others to see 21 years ago; she’s only missed one year after triple bypass surgery about six years ago.
She receives nearly 300 visitors to see the Nativity sets each year.
The Nativity scenes represent is what is most important: her faith. “Looking at them keeps it in my mind that it all started with a little baby,” Jesus, she said.
“Without my faith I would not have gotten through all the struggles,” she said, pointing to a photograph of one of her grandsons and his girlfriend who died in an automobile crash. “My faith means everything to me.”

(Urban is content editor/staff writer for Vermont Catholic, official publication of the Diocese of Burlington.)

By Carol Zimmermann
WASHINGTON (CNS) – Fifty years ago, the White House sponsored a Dec. 2-4 conference on food, nutrition and health designed to set the groundwork for a national nutrition policy and to advise President Richard Nixon on the best ways to eliminate hunger in the U.S.
The conference succeeded in initiating policies to improve school lunch programs and nutrition education and to give more consumer protection – which led to the nutritional labeling food buyers are now accustomed to.
The conference also helped develop the Women, Infants and Children program, which offers supplemental food assistance to low-income pregnant women and mothers and children up to age 5, and it paved the way for the first major expansion of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which helps low-income individuals and families buy food.
Fast forward 50 years and food policy advocates still have a lot on their plates, in efforts to address food insecurities as well as growing food-related epidemics of diabetes and obesity. They also want to ensure policies that took shape 50 years ago do not face pending cuts by President Donald Trump’s administration.
Several of the event panelists cited troubling statistics on hunger. Notably, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 2019 Household Food Insecurity report said more than 37 million people in the U.S. struggle with hunger.

Other statistics they shared, compiled by Hunger Free America, include:
– 14.3 million households were food insecure with limited or uncertain access to enough food.
– More than 11 million children are food-insecure.
– Many households that experience food insecurity do not qualify for SNAP and rely on local food banks.
No one needs to tell these facts to those who work in public policy at Catholic Charities USA or its local agencies providing food to those in need.
Anthony Granado, vice president at Catholic Charities USA, said there are several food policies that have the support of Catholic Charities, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Catholic Health Association, Catholic Rural Life and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.
Those groups submitted a joint comment objecting to the Trump administration’s proposal to tighten eligibility standards for SNAP that would cause about 3.1 million to lose food stamp benefits.
The comment, submitted Sept. 23, called SNAP the “first line of defense against hunger.”
They also said the proposed changes to SNAP would bring more people to charities for help when they are already feeding millions each year.
“Our organizations already struggle to meet the needs in our communities and are forced to turn away many for lack of resources. The proposed rule, if implemented, will only add to a demand that we cannot meet,” their comment letter said.
Lizanne Hagedorn, director of Nutritional Development Services for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, knows all about food needs and hasn’t seen them decrease by any means.
As the head of agency that administers local federally funded child nutrition programs and a community food program, Hagedorn said those who come for help are not always atypical; in recent years the agency has seen more senior citizens and college students. She also has seen a shrinking pool of volunteers to serve those in need at food pantries.
“It’s in our blood as Catholic Christians to be good stewards of food and money and to bring everybody along,” Hagedorn said. “Not in an overbearing way but understanding ‘there but for the grace of God go I.'”