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Survivors of sisters killed in Mississippi continue duo’s ‘ministry of presence’

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by Dan Stockman, Aug. 24, 2017 in Spirituality (reprinted with permission by Global Sisters Report, globalsistersreport.org, original with pictures can be found here)

The sun was rising on an early March morning in 2016, and Rosemarie Merrill was in the driveway, getting ready to leave for the long trek from Durant, Mississippi, to her home near Boston.

She had been visiting her sister, Sr. Paula Merrill, a member of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth in Kentucky, and Paula’s housemate, co-worker and friend, Sr. Margaret Held of the School Sisters of St. Francis in Milwaukee.

“Paula brought me my coffee and Margaret brought me blueberry muffins she made,” Merrill said. “Them, standing in the driveway, waving goodbye. That’s my last memory of them, and no one’s going to take that away from me.”

Months later, the motherhouses of the two sisters got the news: On the afternoon of Aug. 25, police checked on the sisters when they did not show up at the medical clinic where they worked in nearby Lexington. They found signs of a break-in and entered the house to find Held and Merrill had been killed.

Held and Merrill had become what Jesuit Fr. James Martin would later call “martyrs of charity.” They were both 68.

In Nazareth, the leadership team called the sisters together in the chapel and shared the news.

“Our individual and community grief flowed in and out of each other,” Sr. Susan Gatz, the congregation’s president, wrote. “Our minds scrambled to make sense of it … no use. Our hearts ached.”

Less than 48 hours later, police arrested Rodney Earl Sanders, 46, of Kosciusko, a town about 18 miles east of Durant. He remains held without bond, preliminarily charged with two counts of capital murder as well as burglary and grand larceny for allegedly stealing one of the sisters’ cars. The sisters had reportedly been stabbed to death.

Holmes County court officials said a grand jury is expected to deliver its decision in September or October on whether there is enough evidence to put Sanders to trial. If so, he will be formally charged and a trial date will likely be set for next year. The district attorney has not said whether she will seek the death penalty for Sanders; both congregations have stated their opposition to it.

Though Held and Merrill had been in the impoverished town of Durant, population about 2,700, for six years, they had been ministering to those made poor for some 30 years, mostly in Mississippi. In May, a stone monument with their pictures on it was placed in a Durant park honoring their service.

They were posthumously inducted into the Nightingale Hall of Fame, sponsored by the Mississippi Nurses’ Association and the Mississippi Nurses’ Foundation, and a scholarship at the Mississippi University for Women, where both received nursing degrees, was established in their names. The award will be presented to a graduate nursing student who works in an underserviced or needy area or who is active in charitable or community service work.

The Sisters of Charity of Nazareth will hold a Mass in Merrill’s honor at 10:30 a.m. EDT Aug. 25, which can be viewed via a live webcast. The School Sisters of St. Francis held a prayer service in Held’s honor Aug. 23.

A lifelong bond with the School Sisters

Beth Bacik saw Held, her younger sister, in Milwaukee just a few weeks before Held died. Held was home in Milwaukee for a spirituality conference but took time to visit all the elderly sisters in the motherhouse because she didn’t get back to Milwaukee often and feared it might be the last time she saw them before they died, Bacik said.

Bacik has always been close to the School Sisters of St. Francis, and not only because her sister joined the order. The School Sisters educated both of their parents, and all six daughters went to the sisters’ grade school. Held and Bacik both attended their high school, and Bacik attended their Alverno College.

Whenever Bacik visited the motherhouse, it always felt like home because of her many years spent with the sisters. But after Held’s death, she became even closer to the community. After the All Saints’ Day Mass, the choir director asked if she sang.

“I said, ‘I was taught by the School Sisters of St. Francis. Of course I sing!’ ” Bacik said, and that sealed her membership in the choir. “One bad thing happens, and then you find something good in it. We have a larger family now.”

In addition to choir rehearsals and singing for Mass, Bacik also traveled with several sisters to Durant in May for the dedication of the monument honoring Held and Merrill’s work.

The night before the dedication, sisters from both communities as well as relatives of Held and Merrill had dinner with a local parishioner, who also happened to be the real estate agent handling the sale of the sisters’ house, which belonged to Rosemarie Merrill and Rosemarie’s son, David. As the real estate agent, he had a key, and some of those gathered decided to visit the home the next morning.

“I knew I was going to go in, but others weren’t sure,” Bacik said. Though the crime scene had been cleaned so the house could be sold, some were not sure they wanted to be in a place where such horror had taken place.

Bacik had visited Held there eight years before. And when she walked in, she instantly recognized something.

“There was a fragrance in the house that reminded me of the last time I visited them,” she said. “I can’t even tell you what it was, but I recognized it instantly.”

The others stayed in the living room, but Bacik went into Held’s bedroom.

“I walked in there by myself, not knowing what I was going to feel,” Bacik said. “But I immediately felt close to her, being in her space. I just folded my hands, closed my eyes, and this beautiful feeling of peace just washed over me.

“It was so beautiful and intense. I thought, ‘This is a holy place, a sacred place.’ I felt like it was a holy chapel or a church.”

‘Paula was doing what she loved’

Sr. Adeline Fehribach was the Sisters of Charity’s provincial at the time Merrill died and delivered a reflection at her funeral Mass.

Merrill did much more than just treat the sick, Fehribach told the mourners. She listened to their stories, she prayed for them, she wept for them, and she worked for others to hear the cry of people who live in poverty, as well.

“She listened with love, knowing that she was encountering the suffering Christ, and then she would bring her experience of the suffering Christ to prayer, where she would sometimes weep over her own Jerusalem of Holmes County, Mississippi,” she said.

Those encounters with Christ also would have shaped her reaction to the perpetrator of the crime against her, Fehribach said.

“As strange as it may sound to those who did not know Paula, if Paula could meet the person who killed her, she would not focus on what the person had done to her. Her heart would be broken at what had happened to her friend Margaret, and she may even have to work at getting over her anger at the fact that her patients had lost their one lifeline to a better quality of life,” she said.

“But as she worked through her pain and anger at the harm done to others, I believe she would look upon the one who caused all the harm and see in that face the suffering Christ, as well,” Fehribach added. “I can almost hear her say with compassion, ‘What kind of violence did you experience that could allow you to do what you have done to me, to my friend, and to this community? Who hurt you that much? How can I help you let go of some of that pain?’ ”

Fehribach said in an email interview with Global Sisters Report that she initially asked God why something like this would happen, especially when there are so few sisters to take their place.

“I came to the realization that the sister who experienced such a violent death probably would have been an active sister working on the margins,” Fehribach wrote. “Consolation came with knowing that Paula was doing what she loved with the people whom she loved and who loved her back.”

Holmes County can a painful place, Rosemarie Merrill said. When she would visit her sister and Held in Durant, she never failed to be shocked by the abject poverty she witnessed.

“Paper shacks. Metal shacks. Houses with very few windows. It was just awful,” Merrill said.

Though she is deeply grieved by the loss, Merrill said she focuses on the incredible joy the sisters brought to everyone they met.

“They were just fun people to be around,” she said. “We would be there some nights at dinner, and we couldn’t eat because we were laughing so hard. I know the people in Durant still miss them terribly — the people just really loved Paula and Margaret.”

Though she attended Sanders’ first court appearance and plans to attend the sentencing if he is convicted, Merrill will not attend a trial. She said she doesn’t want her fond memories ruined by details of the deaths.

Looking to the future

Many of those close to Held and Merrill have said part of their mourning is for the community the sisters served because the two were a vital link between people living in poverty and health care.

But the Daughters of Charity are preparing to help fill that gap.

Daughters of Charity Sr. Mary Beth Kubera said Sr. Mary Walz, a social worker, will live and work in Durant starting in November, after Walz’s sabbatical ends. Kubera said the two have been planning the mission for months.

Kubera, a member of the province leadership council, said the community in St. Louis had already been looking for a way to serve the people of Mississippi, and, after the loss of Held and Merrill, Durant seemed to be the perfect place.

“The work the sisters were doing was really a ministry of presence to the people,” Kubera said. “Sister Mary’s going to be a social worker at the clinic, and we’re looking for another sister or two interested in partnering with us.”

The Lexington Medical Clinic has hired a nurse practitioner and continues to run much as it did when Held and Merrill worked there, officials at the clinic said.

Kubera said the invitation to join Walz has gone out to the entire Sisters of Charity Federation, and they hope to have a partner for Walz by the end of September in time for the November move-in date.

The sister or sisters who go to Durant will already have a place to live: They will lease the same house Held and Merrill lived in, which Rosemarie and David Merrill still own.

“It’s a very sacred space. The sisters made a very happy home there,” Kubera said. “The people will be extremely pleased to know they’ll have the presence of sisters again.”

Sister Paula Merrill, right, and School Sister of St. Francis Margaret Held celebrate the anniversary of their vows at St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church in Lexington, Mississippi. The cake reads: "We Love You Sister Margaret and Sister Paula. Thank you for your loving service." (Courtesy of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth)

School Sister of St. Francis Margaret Held, left, and Charity Sr. Paula Merrill on vacation (Courtesy of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth)

[Dan Stockman is national correspondent for Global Sisters Report. His email address is dstockman@ncronline.org. Follow him on Twitter or on Facebook.]

Catholic leaders, groups urge all Americans to confront ‘sin of racism’

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By Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON (CNS) – The Franciscan Action Network called on all Americans, “especially ourselves and those who have benefited from white privilege,” to look within themselves “and confront America’s original sin – the sin of racism.”
“White Americans must no longer stand silent as we continue to benefit from the attitudes and structures that put us ahead of African-Americans and other minority groups,” the organization said in an Aug. 14 statement issued in reaction to a chaotic and hate-filled weekend in Charlottesville, Virginia, Aug. 11 and 12.
The network joined with Catholic bishops, other church leaders and various groups throughout the nation in calling for peace after three people died and several others were injured following clashes between pacifists, protesters and white supremacists in Charlottesville.
Bishop Joseph Kopacz was in Ireland when violence erupted in Charlottesville. He and the priests with whom he traveled greeted the news with sadness and prayer. “I have and will continue to condemn racism and violence of all kinds. The people of Mississippi have seen the deep and lasting damage that hate can leave on a community,” he said upon his return.
“One of our new Pastoral Priorities focuses on reconciliation within our communities. This is a reconciliation we can take out into the world as we proclaim the gospel,” he added.
Franciscan Action Network officials said they were “deeply saddened” by the loss of life and injuries Aug. 12 and were praying for those “whose lives have been tragically altered by this violence” and praying for “greater justice and peace.”
The group’s statement also asked for forgiveness from “our African-American and Native (American) brothers and sisters” for all the injustices done to them in the nation’s history and also for times when the Franciscan Action Network itself has “fallen short” in standing up for justice for them.
“FAN has not done enough to address” the ongoing issue of police brutality against African-Americans “and other issues of systemic racism. From this point forward, we vow to do better,” the statement said.
The National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus in an Aug. 14 statement strongly condemned “the hateful and racist actions and rhetoric that has taken place in our country this past weekend. We not only agree with those who have been saying that the positions proposed by the white nationalist groups are opposed to American values, we also say that they are opposed to Christian values.”
The organization prayed for those who lost their lives and those injured in Charlottesville and for their families and friends. Heather D. Heyer, 32, was killed Aug. 12 when a car plowed into a counterprotest of the white supremacists. Two Virginia State Police troopers also died when a helicopter they were in crashed while trying to help with the violent events on the ground. Nineteen others were injured in the clash.
“And we pray that the Holy Spirit may act once again to bring together the diversity of people that make up our country so that we can live up to our national motto: ‘E pluribus unum,'” said the statement, signed by Father Kenneth Taylor, president of the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus.
“The angry and violent mob which gathered in Virginia this past weekend by word and deed contradicted our national creed and code of civil conduct,” said Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley of Boston, adding that neo-Nazism, racism and threats against all people of color and efforts to “banish immigrants” from this country “dishonor the basic convictions” of the country’s political and constitutional traditions. “They must be opposed in word and deed,” he said.
In Arizona, Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas of Tucson said: “Like Charlottesville, we are a community that will not tolerate racism, bigotry, fascism and white supremacy. These stand in contradiction to the values we hold as a nation and as a people of faith.
“We must strive even harder to break down these barriers (these groups) seek to erect and increase our efforts to educate all, especially young people, to put aside prejudice and hatred and work to build unity among us,” he added.
The Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, who have served in the Diocese of Jackson, released a statement of their own. “We, the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, rooted in Gospel nonviolence and the call to ‘love our neighbor as our self’ (Matthew12:31) find racism an offense against God. We pray with those who are victims and for those who are in need of awakening to a love that honors all,” it reads.
The Archdiocese of St. Louis in a statement said: “Our country has a detestable history with regard to the treatment of its citizens, including discrimination and hatred that undermine the God-given dignity of every human person. Unfortunately, some of our fellow citizens cling to these detestable ideas which continue with hate and ignorance. We must boldly march forward to a time when ‘love and truth will meet; justice and peace will kiss.’ (Psalm 85:11).”
The statement also recalled that in the midst of the 2014 protests in Ferguson, Missouri, over the fatal police shooting of a young black man, 18-year-old Michael Brown, St. Louis Archbishop Robert J. Carlson said that “our nation must deal with the sin of racism.”
“That remains true,” it said. “Racism is a sin because it is contrary to human dignity. What we have seen in Charlottesville, Baltimore, Ferguson. and elsewhere. is the result of a society that has put racism, fascism, nationalism, socialism, individualism, and other ideologies in place of God.”

Community members in Charlottesville, Va., hold a vigil for Heather Heyer Aug. 16. She was killed Aug. 12 during a white supremacist protest over a plan to remove the statue of a Confederate general from a city park. (CNS photo/Kate Bellows, The Cavalier Daily via Reuters) See CHARLOTTESVILLE-CAMPUS-CHAPLAIN Aug. 18, 2017.

The General Council of the Adrian Dominican Sisters deplored “the acts of white supremacist terrorism in Charlottesville,” adding: “Hatred and bigotry are anathema to civil discourse, the rule of law and the ideals of our democracy. As women of faith, we add our voice to those calling for an end to racist violence in our country and pray that we awaken to the loving imperative of our being created equal in the image of God.”
“This bold display of hateful rhetoric and action (in Charlottesville) impels us to call on elected leaders, and all people, to explicitly and publicly condemn white supremacy and racism and the organizations that embolden and encourage the movement,” said a statement from the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas.
“May this grieving time call us to search our hearts and ask what are the ways in which we perpetuate this culture of violence and fear? What actions will we take in response? What truths will we speak to contribute to dialogue that brings unity, peace and comfort to those who are afraid? We must continue to act,” it said.
The Ignatian Solidarity Network, a national social justice education and advocacy organization, posted on its blog statements from the leaders of Jesuit-run colleges and universities and other institutions. The blog can be found at https://bit.ly/2x1Lg8U.
“Our common humanity calls on each of us to speak out against racism, violence, prejudice and hatred,” said a post by Jesuit Father Stephen V. Sundborg, president of Seattle University.
A group called Christian Ethicists Without Borders likewise issued a condemnation of the racial hatred and violence on display and issued a statement — signed by dozens and dozens of professors of Christian studies, ethics and theology – declaring: “The evil of white supremacy and racism must be brought face-to-face before the figure of Jesus Christ, who cannot be confined to any one culture or nationality. Through faith we proclaim that God the Creator is the origin of all human persons.”
“We will bring the best of our (religious) traditions to an ecclesial and societal examination of conscience where rhetoric and acts of hatred against particular groups can be publicly named as grave sins and injustices,” it said. “We commit – through our teaching, writing, and service – to the ongoing, hard work of building bridges and restoring wholeness where racist and xenophobic ideologies have brought brokenness and pain.”

Come. Listen. Live. Witness. Sister honored for Civil Rights work

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By Kathryn Ziesig
ST. LOUIS – Those are the words by which Sister Mary Antona Ebo continues to live and those by which she was celebrated at a presentation July 30 at the Missouri History Museum in St. Louis.
Music, poetry and acting, peppered with photos and past video interviews with the Franciscan Sister of Mary and civil rights icon, were woven into a nearly two-hour program to recognize Sister Ebo. She’s most famous for her role in the 1965 march in Selma, Ala., for voting rights for blacks, but also known for her groundbreaking ministry as a woman religious and in health care. From 1981-1987 she worked at University Medical Center in Jackson as a chaplain.
The 93-year-old guest of honor was unable to be present, and instead watched the event at home via livestream with a small group of family and friends. Throughout the program the crowd cheered her, with some yelling out “Ebo!” as they turned toward the video camera to greet Sister Ebo at home.
Just as important was the message of how the local community must stay engaged in the movement for racial justice post-Ferguson, and doing so through Sister Ebo’s example — which is brightly illuminated by her Catholic faith.
“This was all about demonstrating the completeness of her life,” said Philip Deitch, a longtime friend of Sister Ebo’s who organized the program. Her example doesn’t solely lie in the the moments at Selma, he said, but also through her leadership roles in health care and even within her religious community.
“You don’t get to sit back and say ‘I’ve done enough,’” Deitch said. “If there’s still an issue that needs work and you can do something — do something. None of us have the right to sit back and say we’ve done enough, and that’s what I have learned from her.”
Sister Ebo was a trailblazer in many aspects. She was among the first group of African-Americans to enter the Sisters of St. Mary (now Franciscan Sisters of Mary) in 1946. She continued that in her ministry in hospital administration, joining then-segregated St. Mary’s Infirmary in St. Louis. She later became administrator of St. Clare Hospital in Baraboo, Wis., becoming the first African-American to lead a hospital in the state of Wisconsin.
Over the years, she became involved in interfaith work and other social justice issues. In 2014, she visited Ferguson after the death of Michael Brown, in which she told others that they must “raise the rug up and look at what’s under the rug” in Ferguson.
Several videos of Sister Ebo speaking in the past decade, which were shown at the program, demonstrated that her words are just as relevant today.
“My favorite words out of Isaiah 55 are ‘come, listen, live and witness,’” she said in a 2006 awards ceremony. “Those were the words that were represented when we as a group went to Selma. … We choose life for ourselves and our people and that’s what it’s all about. The call was to come to listen to one another — that’s where our unity comes from. By knowing one another, (to) listen to one another, and then bring forth new life.”
Father Art Cavitt of the St. Charles Lwanga Center, who spoke at the History Museum event, said that Sister Ebo encompasses “all the tenets of the Gospel. It’s coming, it’s listening, it’s acting, it’s living, it’s testifying. It’s keeping God in the picture as we integrate practically what it is we’re going to do for justice and in education and equality and all those things.”
Others must live up to what Jesus calls us to do in spreading the Gospel message, which has always been Sister Ebo’s example, said Frederick and Teresa Scurloch, friends of Sister Ebo’s from her home parish, St. Matthew Parish in the Ville neighborhood of north St. Louis. Members of the St. Matthew and several other nearby parishes sang at the event.
(Story and photos reprinted with permission from the St. Louis Review, the newspaper for the Archdiocese of St. Louis.)

Kathryn Ziesig | kathrynziesig@archstl.org | instagram: kziesigphoto
Marie Janet Turner, portraying Sister Antona Ebo, FSM, knelt in front of the protesters and police during the play “God’s Witness” at the Missouri History Museum on July 30 during the tribute event for Sr. Ebo. The play was inspired by the events that occurred in Selma in 1965. The play’s writer and director Madeline Jackson said that while the police did not put down their weapons and the protestors didn’t put down their signs during the Selma marches she hopes that one day this will be the solution.

God Needs Better Press

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IN EXILE

Father Ron Rolheiser

By Father Ron Rolheiser, OMI
The word “Protestant” is generally misunderstood. Martin Luther’s protest that led to the Protestant reformation was not, in fact, a protest against the Roman Catholic Church; properly understood, it was a protest for God. God, in Luther’s view, was being manipulated to serve human and ecclesial self-interest. His protest was a plea to respect God’s transcendence.
We need a new protest today, a new plea, a strong one, to not connect God and our churches to intolerance, injustice, bigotry, violence, terrorism, racism, sexism, rigidity, dogmatism, anti-eroticism, homophobia, self-serving power, institutional self-protection, security for the rich, ideology of all kinds and just plain stupidity. God is getting a lot of bad press!
A simple example can be illustrative here: In a recent book that documents an extraordinary fifty-year friendship with his former coach, basketball legend (and present-day exceptional writer), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, shares why he became a Muslim. Raised a Roman Catholic, a graduate of Catholic schools, he eventually left Christianity to become a Muslim. Why?
In his own words: Because “the white people who were bombing churches and killing little girls, who were shooting unarmed black boys, who were beating black protestors with clubs loudly declared themselves to be proud Christians. The Ku Klux Klan were proud Christians. I felt no allegiance to a religion with so many evil followers. Yes, I was also aware that the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was also a proud Christian, as were many of the civil rights leaders. Coach Wooden was a devout Christian. The civil rights movement was supported by many brave white Christians who marched side by side with blacks. When the KKK attacked, they often delivered even worse beatings to the whites, whom they considered to be race traitors. I didn’t condemn the religion, but I definitely felt removed from it.”
His story is only one story and by his own admission has another side to it, but it’s highly illustrative. It’s easy to connect God to the wrong things. Christianity, of course, isn’t the only culprit. Today, for instance, we see perhaps the worst examples of tying God to evil in the violence of ISIS and other such terrorist groups who are killing, randomly and brutally, in the name of God. You can be sure that the last words uttered, just as a suicide bomber randomly kills innocent people, is: God is great! What horrible thing to say as one is committing an act of murder! Doing the ungodly in the name of God!
And yet we so often do the same thing in subtler forms, namely, we justify the ungodly (violence, injustice, inequality, poverty, intolerance, bigotry, racism, sexism, the abuse of power and rich privilege) by appealing to our religion. Silently, unconsciously, blind to ourselves, grounded in a sense of right and wrong that’s colored by self-interest, we give ourselves divine permission to live and act in ways that are antithetical to most everything Jesus taught.
We can protest, saying that we’re sincere, but sincerity by itself is not a moral or religious criterion. Sincerity can and often does, tie God to the ungodly and justifies what’s evil in the name of God: The people conducting the Inquisition were sincere; the slave traitors were sincere; those who protected pedophile priests were sincere, racists are sincere; sexists are sincere; bigots are sincere; the rich defending their privilege are sincere; church offices making hurtful, gospel-defying pastoral decisions that deprive people of ecclesial access are very sincere and gospel-motivated; and all of us, as we make the kind of judgments of others that Jesus told us time and again not to make, are sincere. But we think that we’re doing this all for the good, for God.
However in so many of our actions we are connecting God and church to narrowness, intolerance, rigidity, racism, sexism, favoritism, legalism, dogmatism and stupidity. And we wonder why so many of our own children no longer go to church and struggle with religion.
The God whom Jesus reveals is the antithesis of much of religion, sad but true. The God whom Jesus reveals is a prodigal God, a God who isn’t stingy; a God who wills the salvation of everyone, who loves all races and all peoples equally; a God with a preferential love for the poor; a God who creates both genders equally; a God who strongly opposes worldly power and privilege. The God of Jesus Christ is a God of compassion, empathy and forgiveness, a God who demands that spirit take precedence over law, love over dogma and forgiveness over juridical justice. And very importantly, the God whom Jesus incarnates isn’t stupid, but is a God whose intelligence isn’t threatened by science and a God who doesn’t condemn and send people to hell according to our limited human judgments.
Sadly, too often that’s not the God of religion, of our churches, of our spirituality, or of our private consciences.
God isn’t narrow, stupid, legalistic, bigoted, racist, violent, or vengeful and it’s time we stopped connecting God to those things.
(Oblate Father Ron Rolheiser, theologian, teacher and award-winning author, is President of the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, TX.)

Knights of Columbus planning to replace traditional uniform

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By Tony Gutierez
PHOENIX, Ariz. (CNS) – The Knights of Columbus, long associated with swords, capes and chapeaus, will be going through a significant uniform change.
The traditional regalia worn by fourth-degree Knights will be replaced, announced Supreme Knight Carl Anderson Aug. 1, during the international fraternal organization’s 135th annual Supreme Convention in St. Louis, which was livestreamed on EWTN.
Throughout the years, the regalia of the Knights’ fourth degree, known as the patriotic degree, has gone through changes, Anderson said, noting that when this degree was first established, the uniform included white ties, top hats and tails.
In place of a tuxedo with a black bow tie, members will be wearing a blue blazer, an official Knights of Columbus tie and a beret, all with the fourth-degree emblem on them, along with a white shirt and dark gray slacks. After the convention, Anderson said swords could still me used. Mississippi’s Supreme Knight, Philip Jabour, told Mississippi Catholic that in this state, knights always defer to the preference of their parish priest when it comes to using swords during events.
“The board of directors has decided that the time is right for a modernization of the fourth-degree uniform,” Anderson said. “On a limited basis, assemblies may choose to continue using the traditional cape and chapeau for color corps at public events and honor guards in liturgical processions. However, the preferred dress for the fourth degree, including color corps and honor guards, is the new uniform of jacket and beret.”
Robert Earl, a member of the Father Novatus Assembly 23, which serves Our Lady of Perpetual Help and St. Daniel the Prophet parishes in Scottsdale, welcomes the new changes.
“I feel it is significant that the order changes to respond to changing times. The new uniform evokes an image of elite military corpsmen in my mind, and I believe this is the intent behind the change,” Earl told The Catholic Sun, newspaper of the Diocese of Phoenix.
“Our former regalia was reminiscent of Navy officers and consistent with the nautical theme in the patriotic degree, but it perhaps did not have currency in the minds of the general public,” he added, noting that in addition to the tuxedo, the other items collectively could cost approximately $500. “I think the new uniform creates a positive and striking image of ‘soldiers for Christ,’ which is, after all, what we are meant to be.”
Many members are not as thrilled about the pending changes, which generated some controversy among the membership. Joseph Meyer from Msgr. Bernard G. Collins Assembly 2899, which serves St. Bridget and Christ the King parishes in Mesa, said the new uniforms lose a sense of the pageantry associated with the Knights’ fourth-degree level.
“I have been a fourth-degree Knight since 1978 and we have always had this regalia,” said Meyer, who was a color corps commander in Toledo, Ohio. for 13 years before moving to Arizona. “We all looked great in the fourth-degree outfits. These (new) outfits look bad.”
Meyer also expressed concern for members who own the current uniform and have to spend money on the new one.
“If we get a new uniform like this, you will see a lot of Knights leave the degree. A lot of your Knights are retired and don’t have over $500 to spend,” he said.
Paul Lee, a member of the Iowa delegation who spoke to The Catholic Sun from St. Louis, said the reaction on the ground was “mixed.”
“The largest concern is people don’t feel that they have answers for the question of why the need for the change. They want something beyond a more modern look,” said Lee.
Lee said many members he’s interacted with are excited about the changes because it brings the uniform “more in line with other military service organizations because it connects us as patriotic organizations.” There also are members who “don’t like change, so they’re already up in arms,” he added.
“Then you have the sect of folks that feel that their voice was not consulted, (that) this sort of change should have taken place as discussion at the state council level and then brought concerns to the Supreme level,” said Lee, who countered that notion by saying conversations have been happening at all levels of the order about the need for change.
Representatives of the Arizona State Council said it was too early to comment as program details and guidelines for implementing the new uniforms were still unavailable.
(Gutierrez is editor of The Catholic Sun, newspaper of the Diocese of Phoenix.)

National Black Catholic Congress engages younger attendees

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By Gail DeGeorge
ORLANDO, Fla. (CNS) – A standing-room-only crowd of young black Catholics in a frank session that lasted more than two hours told bishops, priests and women and men religious why they stay in the church, what threatens to drive them away and that they want a stronger voice from church officials for the Black Lives Matter movement.
As the National Black Catholic Congress got underway in Orlando July 6 with more than 2,000 attendees, some 120 participants discussed ways to keep young adult black Catholics engaged in their parishes and the church – and raised criticism of, and an apology for, the church’s silence regarding the movement spawned by the killings of unarmed blacks by police.
Among the bishops attending Congress XII was Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States.
“How do we respond as people of faith to issues of race that have always been going on in society but especially in light of the Black Lives Matter movement? And in a lot of the police killings, a lot of people feel that the church has been almost silent in its response,” Stacy Allen, one of the facilitators, said toward the end of the session.
“The church is very vocal on a myriad of issues – immigration for instance – which are important,” Allen said. “But specifically on the issues of race, especially from the perspective of a young adult black Catholic, what should the Catholic response be?”
That prompted Auxiliary Bishop Fernand Cheri III of New Orleans to stand. With a bow to those in the room, he said, “To the black youth, I apologize to you as a leader of the church because I feel we have abandoned you in the Black Lives Matter movement and I apologize.
“Partly, I didn’t understand it, and by the time I did understand it, it was too late – the moment was gone,” he said. “I’m very proud of you – you stood up and said enough is enough. As a leader, I want to say that to you – thank you.”
He then went on to tell of challenges in his own journey as a priest and a bishop, his outreach to bring young people, and starting choirs in parishes. “You’re going to struggle and you’re going to persevere,” he said. He counseled that young black adults reach out to each other and others within their parishes and church communities.
“No one knows how to best minister to you as young people – we’re all learning this together,” he said. “One of the reasons we have faltered when it comes to vocations from our community because when it comes to being church, we just don’t have the community working at it together and that’s the failure.”
Many at the session spoke of the need to address a lack of programs for young adults and meaningful engagement and leadership opportunities within parishes and the larger church. Young adults want more than to be tapped to set up tables, take out trash, run kids’ programs and generally do things that older parishioners don’t want to do, participants said.
Too many parishes have youth programs that end at high school – and nothing for those who come back after college with talents and skills and a willingness to get involved, participants said. A participant from New Orleans said the reason she stays Catholic is the strength of her parish community, she has encountered resistance in other parishes. “One reason young adults are leaving is that sometimes it feels like the church does not want us,” she said.
She said she’s tried to volunteer and has been told “no because of age, or no because they don’t say it, but because I’m a young adult, and they think I’m too young to know about that, or no because that’s ‘too black’ and that might be fine for your church in New Orleans but not here,” she said.
“We as young adults don’t want programs, we want a relationship,” said a participant. “We don’t want things to do – we have enough to do. We want a place to belong. Successful young adult ministries are where they feel invested to make change within their parishes.”

Convovation format: part retreat, part pep-rally aimed to inspire leaders

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By Carol Zimmermann
ORLANDO, Fla. (CNS) – From July 1-4 the main floor of the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Orlando was transformed into a huge parish hall with places for worship, prayer, discussion, and even coffee and doughnuts during the “Convocation of Catholic Leaders: The Joy of the Gospel in America.”

At the convocation 3,500 church leaders – men and women religious, bishops and laypeople – gathered to set a new course for the U.S. Catholic Church.
Following a retreat format, each day started and ended with group prayer. Mass was celebrated each day in the hotel ballroom, and there were plenty of scheduled times for the sacrament of reconciliation and private prayer in a large room turned into an adoration chapel.
Many of the keynote sessions took the form of pep talks encouraging delegates to share their faith boldly with the world at large and within their own families and parishes. The numerous breakout sessions provided the working aspect of the gathering: closely examining what the church is doing and where it can do more.
More than 155 bishops attended the gathering, sitting with their delegations for meals and breakout sessions. Cardinals and bishops who spoke at keynote sessions or in Mass homilies encouraged participants that this was their time, their moment, stressing the urgency to bring God’s message of love to a divided world.
At the final Mass, described as a “Mass of Sending,” Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston said the church is called to achieve great things in the face of the impossible – to unite people together by going to the peripheries of society and sharing the good news of Jesus through action rooted in faith.
“Sisters and brothers, we are in a very, very significant time in our church in this country,” said Cardinal DiNardo, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and he urged the delegates to receive God’s grace for the work ahead.
None of the homilists or keynote speakers sugarcoated the challenges for the modern church and more than once speakers pointed out that Catholics are leaving the church in greater numbers, particularly young adults, than those joining the church.
But as Auxiliary Bishop Robert E. Barron of Los Angeles pointed out: “The saints always loved a good fight and we should like a good fight too.”
The bishop, who addressed the crowd through a video hookup July 4, told them it was an “exciting time to be an evangelist” but that they also should pick up their game to evangelize effectively.
Throughout the convocation Pope Francis was pointed out as a model for modern Catholics to follow in inviting others, especially those on the peripheries, to Christ. Speakers also were quick to quote his 2013 apostolic exhortation, “Evangelii Gaudium” (“The Joy of the Gospel”), which lays out a vision of the church dedicated to evangelization – or missionary discipleship – in a positive way, with a focus on society’s poorest and most vulnerable, including the aged, unborn and forgotten.
Two homilies during the convocation specifically quoted the pope’s admonition in “Evangelii Gaudium” that Catholics shouldn’t be “sourpusses” but should reflect joy.
Washington Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl acknowledged that Catholics are not always comfortable with the idea of evangelizing, but said they need to be willing to step out of themselves and talk with people about their faith as part of an encounter the pope speaks about.
Part of this simply involves listening to people, caring for them and leading them to Jesus, said speaker Sister Miriam James Heidland, a sister of the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity.
Delegates were repeatedly encouraged to reach out to the peripheries especially to immigrants and the poor, but also to all members of the church’s diverse family – people of all races, women and young people.
Hosffman Ospino, associate professor of theology and religious education at Boston College, said it is time for the church to start building a “language of communion” rather than dividing the church community into different groups and individually responding to those needs.
“It’s the church serving the church,” he said. “We all are the church.”
That message inspired Sister Kathleen Burton, a Sister of St. Joseph who is co-director of the Office of Faith Formation, Family Life and Lay Ministry Formation in the Diocese of Camden, New Jersey, who said: “The walls need to come down.”
“There’s a renewed sense of evangelization and re-evangelization,” the delegate told Catholic News Service. “We’re being challenged that we don’t wait for people to come to us, but we’ve got to go out to them.”
For many delegates, seeing the church’s diversity – Latinos, African-Americans and Africans, Native Americans, and Asians from across the continent at the convocation – was an inspiring sight, helping them better understand the idea of the church as family.
Vanessa Griffin Campbell, director of the Office of Ministry to African American Catholics in the Diocese of Cleveland, said the key to embracing diversity and going to the peripheries will be teamwork among laypeople, clergy and diocesan staff.
The church should “not just open the doors on Sunday,” she said, “but make sure our doors are open Sunday to Sunday.”
At the end of the closing Mass, Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States, who attended all four days of the convocation, congratulated attendees for the invigorating discussion.
He called it a “kairos,” or opportune moment, in the life of the U.S. church and said he would tell Pope Francis: “the Spirit is alive in the church in the United States.”
“I will tell him of the commitment of many missionary disciples and their love for the church,” he added.
(See related stories on pages 3 and 6. Contributing to this report was Dennis Sadowski in Orlando.)

Changing landscape requires mutual accompaniment, convocation hears

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By Dennis Sadowski
ORLANDO, Fla. (CNS) – The U.S. Catholic Church’s increasing diversity presents Catholics with the opportunity to accompany each other on the journey of faith Pope Francis envisions, a Boston College professor told delegates to the “Convocation of Catholic Leaders: The Joy of the Gospel in America” in Orlando.
Hosffman Ospino, associate professor of theology and religious education at Boston College, said the changes in the landscape are a sign of strength and present new opportunities to welcome newcomers into the church family.
“It’s OK if we wrestle with diversity and pluralism,” he told the 3,500 delegates assembled for the convocation’s first plenary session July 2. “This where we need to exercise the pastoral practice of mutual accompaniment.”
Ospino suggested that Catholics of the first decades of the 21st century might begin to understand that they can set the course of a “new Catholic moment in the U.S.” by embracing diversity.
Citing the explosive growth of Catholic communities in the American South and West, Ospino said the church is being called to respond to the needs of new immigrants so that they are welcomed and not made to feel forgotten.
He said half of U.S. church members today are non-European, with about 40 percent Latino, 5 percent Asian and Pacific Islanders, 4 percent African-American and 1 percent Native American. The numbers contrast with the church population of 50 years ago, when 80 to 85 percent of Catholics were of European descent, he said.
“The question is do we see those faces in our faith communities? Do we see them in our diocesan offices? Do we see them in our Catholic schools, universities, seminaries? Do we know their concerns?” he asked.
“The future of U.S. Catholicism is being forged in areas once not central to U.S. Catholic life. … Are we paying attention?” he asked.
“This is an excellent opportunity for us as a country to be a poor church for the poor. As Pope Francis reminds us, an opportunity for solidarity of Catholics at all places,” he said.
Ospino also cautioned that the church faces challenges from increased isolation, rising secularization and increasing numbers of people unaffiliated with any faith community, and the continuing differences entrenched in the “so-called culture wars.” He called for respectful dialogue among people with differences of opinion across the spectrum of issues that concern the church, from abortion to care for the poor.
“Our society continues to witness an erosion of communal life. If communal life is not important, advocating for others is not a priority. Caring about the most vulnerable is somebody else’s problem,” Ospino said, explaining that the church can bridge such gaps.
He said the convocation-goers and those they engage when they return to their home parishes and dioceses can set the tone for future historians to see that they have laid the foundation for a stronger church that embraced diversity and inclusion.
In response, four panelists offered their insights into the changing landscape the church is facing, saying that the church will be better positioned to respond following the convocation.
They addressed issues of women’s role in the church, the need to embrace young Latinos as active church members and the vital role of family in the church at a time when society’s understanding of family is changing.
Franciscan Father Agustino Torres, who has worked with youth and specializes in bilingual outreach to Hispanic millennials said he had found young Latinos want to engage in ministries that affirmed their identity. “Latinos don’t want just a program,” he said.
“If the church can say, ‘You belong here. This is your home,’ you’re going to get an army of people,” he said.
Women can be welcomed into church leadership roles that do not depend upon ordination, said Helen Alvare, professor of law at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University. She said women must be accepted seriously as contributors rather than being chosen for their roles to check off a box on a list.
She suggested, to applause, that Catholics adopt an expanded view of complementarity that applies equally to family and the church.
Kerry Weber, executive editor of America magazine, recalled her conversations with parishioners across the country who are seeking ways to live out the joy of the Gospel, as Pope Francis envisioned in his encyclical, “Evangelii Gaudium” (“The Joy of the Gospel”).
“People are trying to see how to turn this sentiment into action,” she said.
Pope Francis calls people to show mercy, not as a passive action, but in response to the realities of the world today, Weber said, adding, “We have to figure out how to live mercy in the world today.”
Jesuit Father Thomas P. Gaunt, executive director of the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University, said the center’s researchers have identified as many as one-third of the country’s 75 million self-identified Catholics are not connected with the church.
He said the resulting question focuses on why people who may not be connected with the church still consider themselves Catholic and he suggested that they represent an untapped resource for the church.
“How do we re-invite and re-engage them once more?” he asked.
The key, Ospino concluded, is that it is time for the church to start building a “language of communion” rather than dividing the church community into different groups and individually responding to those needs.
“It’s the church serving the church,” he said. “We all are the church.”
(Editor’s note: Bishop Joseph Kopacz, Abbey Schuhmann, Coordinator for the Office of Youth Ministry and Charlene Bearden, Coordinator for the Office of Family Ministry attended the convocation. Look for their reflections in the next edition.)

Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori carries a monstrance under a canopy as he leads a eucharistic procession during the “Convocation of Catholic Leaders: The Joy of the Gospel in America” July 3 in Orlando, Fla. Leaders from dioceses and various Catholic organizations are gathering for the July 1-4 convocation. (CNS photo/Bob Roller) See CONVOCATION- July 3, 2017.

Sacerdote de la Santa Cruz presenta reflexión sobre temas de inmigración para los obispos

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Por Natalie Hoefer
INDIANAPOLIS (CNS) – El Padre Daniel Groody estuvo ante los obispos estadounidenses el 14 de junio y sostuvo un cáliz. No era especial en apariencia, sino más bien en la historia que contaba. El cáliz fue hecho a mano principalmente con madera de un barco de refugiados que desembarcó en las playas de Lampedusa, la isla mediterránea de la que el Papa Francisco arrojó una corona en las aguas para recordar a los miles de refugiados que perdieron la vida intentando huir de la persecución.
La base del cáliz se formó a partir de mesquite, una madera común a lo largo de la frontera entre Estados Unidos y México, atravesada por inmigrantes que buscan mejores vidas en América. Juntos, dijo, los materiales del cáliz hablan de la difícil situación de los inmigrantes, un tema abordado durante la reunión de la Conferencia de los Obispos Católicos de Estados Unidos en Indianápolis.
“La migración es un tema increíblemente complejo, y aquellos que no se dan cuenta de su complejidad tampoco están escuchando, o no entienden”, dijo el padre Groody, profesor asociado de teología en la Universidad de Notre Dame y director de inmigración Iniciativas en el Instituto para Estudios Latinos de la universidad. “Y segundo, la migración es un tema increíblemente simple, y aquellos que no se dan cuenta de su simplicidad o no están escuchando, o no entienden”, dijo.
A lo largo de esas líneas de dualidad, el Padre Groody señaló la necesidad de “mover a la gente más allá del lenguaje binario: legal o ilegal, ciudadano o extranjero, nativo o extranjero, e intentar ir al río más profundo de estos temas”. Habló de las tensiones en el tema de la inmigración, la tensión entre los derechos soberanos y los derechos humanos, entre el derecho civil y el derecho natural, y entre la seguridad nacional y la seguridad humana.
La reflexión del Padre Groody precedió a una revisión del grupo de trabajo sobre migrantes y refugiados creado por la asamblea general de obispos el pasado mes de noviembre. El cardenal Daniel N. Dinardo de Galveston-Houston, presidente de USCCB, anunció el 15 de junio que estaba ampliando el grupo.
El arzobispo José H. Gómez de Los Ángeles, vicepresidente de la USCCB y presidente del grupo, y el obispo Joe S. Vasquez de Austin, Texas, presidente del Comité de Migración de la USCCB, se refirieron a los orígenes, actividades y pasos futuros de los grupos de trabajo.
El arzobispo Gómez señaló que parte de la razón por la que el grupo fue creado en noviembre pasado fue el “deseo de los obispos de una fuerte respuesta a las políticas anticipadas de la administración entrante con respecto a los refugiados e inmigrantes”. Ese motivo resultó profético. Algunas de las primeras acciones del grupo involucraron la emisión de declaraciones oficiales que se oponían a tres órdenes ejecutivas relacionadas con la inmigración y los inmigrantes que la administración Trump emitió en su primera semana. La orden ejecutiva de la prohibición de viajes y una revisión de la misma está siendo suspendida en los tribunales; La orden prohíbe temporalmente la entrada en los EE.UU. por personas de seis países de mayoría musulmana.
“Estas declaraciones, combinadas con muchas declaraciones locales de los obispos de todo el país en la misma línea, ayudaron a tener un impacto positivo en la conversación pública con respecto a las órdenes”, dijo el arzobispo Gómez.
El obispo Vásquez también señaló el esfuerzo colaborativo en curso de los grupos católicos a través de Justicia para los Inmigrantes – https://justiceforimmigrants.org. El sitio web de coalición, creado en 2004 y coordinado por la USCCB, ofrece información de antecedentes, webinars y alertas de acción que el grupo de trabajo desarrolló y difundió.

Archbishop Gregory asks survivors for forgiveness

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(Editor’s note: Bishop Joseph Kopacz participated in this Mass during the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishop’s gathering. See related stories on pages 1 and 3.)
WASHINGTON – As they began the spring general assembly, bishops from across the U.S. gathered June 14 at Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral in Indianapolis for a Mass of Prayer and Penance for survivors of sexual abuse within the Church. The Mass was held in response to a call from Pope Francis for all episcopal conferences across the world to have a Day of Prayer and Penance for victims of sexual abuse within the Church.
The bishops gathered together in solidarity to pray for victims and to acknowledge the pain caused by the failures of the Church in the past. The Mass marked the opening for the June plenary assembly of bishops held June 14-15 in Indianapolis.
Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo, of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, was the principal celebrant.

Atlanta Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory delivers the homily during Mass June 14 at SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral in Indianapolis during the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ annual spring assembly. (CNS photo/Sean Gallagher, The Criterion)

Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory, of Atlanta, and former president of the USCCB, was the homilist.
Following is the full text of Archbishop Gregory’s homily.
In the very same chapter of his Gospel in which St. Matthew presents his rendition of the Beatitudes, Jesus tells us that He has not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it. Clearly, the Beatitudes are in fact a startling new edition of God’s Law. Jesus is Himself both the new law and the fulfillment of the old law. He calls us to see with new eyes how to live in a world so continually filled with sorrow, injustice and violence and how important it is to acknowledge our own share in causing or compounding the sorrows, suffering and violence that often seem to surround us.
We bishops have learned a great deal about the sorrow and pain of those we love and serve, even as we have to acknowledge humbly, publicly and pitifully our share in bringing much of that pain to bear. We feel, we see, we live with, as they do in much greater measure, the impact of behaviors, responses and revelations that have no place in Matthew’s Gospel, in the Beatitudes, or in the narrative of Jesus’ promise to fulfill God’s Law. And yet only there, by His Grace and His unwavering example, can we begin to learn to heal and to reconcile — to bind the wounds and to assuage the sorrow. We recognize this even as Paul reminds us that we have been qualified for this ministry only by God’s purpose and designation.
Pope Francis has summoned us as bishops to find occasions and opportunities to pray earnestly for God’s grace to bring about the healing and the reconciliation of those who have been harmed in this tragedy that has hurt far too many of His people and far too much of His Church. The Holy Father has called us respectfully to acknowledge our own share in causing the pain that so many are still enduring.
At this Mass, we bishops humbly and sincerely ask for the forgiveness of those who have been harmed, scandalized or dispirited by events that, even if they happened many years ago, remain ongoing sources of anguish for them and for those who love them. We humbly seek forgiveness from the faith-filled people of our Church and from our society at-large — and especially from those whose lives may have been devastated by our failure to care adequately for the little ones entrusted to us and for any decision that we made or should have made that exacerbated the sorrow and heartache that the entire Church has felt and continues to feel — for what we have done, and for what we have failed to do. We can never say that we are sorry enough for the share that we have had in this tragedy of broken fidelity and trust.

Clergymen pray during Mass at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ annual spring assembly June 14 at SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral in Indianapolis. (CNS photo/Mike Krokos, The Criterion)

With hearts that are contrite we ask the forgiveness of God, our Almighty Father, under whose purpose and designation we are entrusted with this ministry, and whom we disgrace most profoundly when we fall so woefully short.
There have been many procedural and educational expressions of our commitment to reform and renewal that have been put into place in the past 15 years. They are sincere, state-of-the-art, and effective. Nevertheless, this expression of our sorrow is far more important at this time, in this place, than any administrative process or training effort, however beneficial to the Church and to the world.
While we have had many opportunities to pray in our own dioceses with survivors, their families and our people, we gather this evening as a community of bishops to pray together for the grace of healing and reconciliation that only the Lord Jesus Himself can bestow upon His Church. While there is still more, always more, that must and will be done to assure our people of our dedication and commitment to safeguarding the innocent lives of our young and vulnerable faithful, this evening we acknowledge that ultimately it must be the Lord Himself who heals and reconciles the hearts of those who live with the pain of God’s law unheeded.
For that Grace, with sincere hearts, with contrite spirits and with a renewed promise to protect, we simply pray this evening. Amen

Clergymen pray during Mass at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ annual spring assembly June 14 at SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral in Indianapolis. (CNS photo/Mike Krokos, The Criterion)