Category Archives: U.S. News

Clergy deliver documents about black Catholic movement to Notre Dame

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By Catholic News Service
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (CNS) — A delegation of black Catholic priests paid a visit to the University of Notre Dame’s Theodore Hesburgh Library in South Bend to entrust the archives there with historical documents about African-American Catholic priests, sisters, brothers, deacons, seminarians and laypeople.
The group visited the archives Oct. 24 in advance of Black Catholic History Month in November. The observance was established in 1990 by the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus.
Members of the delegation Father Kenneth Taylor, a priest of the Indianapolis Archdiocese, who is president of National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus; Precious Blood Father Clarence Williams, caucus vice president and archivist; Father Theodore Parker, a priest of the Archdiocese of Detroit; and Deacon Melvin Tardy, an academic adviser at Notre Dame.
The materials they delivered will be preserved in the library’s archives and be available for study.

Father Kenneth Taylor, president of the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus, pushes a cart of archival material earmarked for the Theodore Hesburgh Library on the campus of the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., Oct. 25. Assisting him is Holy Cross Brother Roy Smith of Notre Dame. (CNS photo/courtesy Catholic African World Network) See BLACK-HISTORY-MONTH-CLERGY Nov. 2, 2016.

Father Kenneth Taylor, president of the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus, pushes a cart of archival material earmarked for the Theodore Hesburgh Library on the campus of the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., Oct. 25. Assisting him is Holy Cross Brother Roy Smith of Notre Dame. (CNS photo/courtesy Catholic African World Network) See BLACK-HISTORY-MONTH-CLERGY Nov. 2, 2016.

The three priests were nostalgic about bringing the documentation to Notre Dame because of their personal histories with the university.
“It is hard to believe that we were here as seminarians in 1970, and began the National Black Catholic Seminarians Association. And now we return almost 50 years later as priests. Things have come full circle,” said Father Parker. He had served on the coordinating committee of the seminarians association.
The group’s first meeting at Notre Dame drew 70 black seminarians from across the country. They were the guests of the National Black Sisters Conference, which had formed two years earlier.
Father Taylor, who also was present in 1970, called it amazing to see the return of the historical documents to a place that was instrumental in building the black Catholic movement in its infancy.
“November as Black Catholic History Month is a project of the black Catholic clergy, so this is a perfect time to accept the invitation to place our chronicle with the Notre Dame archives on the American Catholic Heritage,” he said.
The Notre Dame visit was one step toward a greater appreciation of the black Catholic movement to be explored in 2018.
Father Williams, who is chairman of the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus’ 50th anniversary committee, said the group was “putting things in place” as the anniversary approaches. The anniversary will mark the beginning of the black Catholic movement that began “with the clergy leading it,” he added.
The priests met with the National Interracial Justice Conference in Detroit the week after the April 4, 1968, assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King in Memphis, Tennessee. “These priests asked that those Negro priests present could gather as a caucus to share their feeling and thoughts of the Negro mood,” said a news release on the delegation’s visit to Notre Dame.
The result of those meetings in the late 1960s “was a statement on the racism of the Catholic Church and the formation” of the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus, said the news release. “The rest is history.”
The clergy caucus has a standing committee to review documents and articles that will continue to build the black Catholic collection now at Notre Dame.
“We are open to the contribution of others who wish to preserve our black Catholic history and invite their participation,” Father Taylor said. “In a special way, we dedicate our efforts in the memory of (Benedictine) Cyprian Davis, who recently died.” The priest was the leading example, he said, about the need “to value the contribution of our unique Catholic journey. He was the keeper of the archives and now that he is no longer here to protect and preserve, we must take up that responsibility.”
Father Davis, who died May 18, 2015, at age 84, was considered the pre-eminent chronicler of black Catholic history. He wrote six books, including “The History of Black Catholics in the United States,” published in 1990. He was working on a revised edition of the book at the time of his death.
He also had also written what is considered the definitive biography of Mother Henriette Delille, the black foundress of the Sisters of the Holy Family in antebellum New Orleans. Her sainthood cause was opened in 1988 and she was declared venerable in 2010.

Jubilee Year of Mercy: Mercy is bridge to encounter with Christ, transforms world, says bishop

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By Jay Nies
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (CNS) – The Jubilee Year of Mercy will conclude Nov. 20, but the Catholic Church’s renewed emphasis on mercy must not.
“If it does come to an end, shame on us!” Bishop Edward M. Rice of Springfield-Cape Girardeau proclaimed from the ornate dais of the House chamber in the Missouri Capitol.
Bishop Rice addressed 400 Catholics from all over the state at the Missouri Catholic Conference’s annual assembly. The Oct. 8 assembly’s theme, borrowed from Pope Francis, was: “A little bit of mercy makes the world less cold and more just.”
The pope has described mercy as “being loved forever despite our sinfulness” and as “not getting what you deserve.”
Drawing from and extrapolating on the pope’s document instituting the Year of Mercy, “Misericordiae Vultus” (“The Face of Mercy”), Bishop Rice spoke of mercy as a bridge to an encounter with Christ at the foot of his cross and into a relationship that transforms people and the entire world.
“What began at the Incarnation, what came to full expression on the cross, what is given to us in the Eucharist – that’s mercy. And as the children of God, we’re supposed to put it into practice,” said Bishop Rice.
Pope Francis based his call for the Year of Mercy on the fact that “Jesus Christ is the face of the Father’s mercy.”
“If we study the words of Jesus, if we look at the actions of Jesus, the entire person of Jesus, what we learn about is the mercy of the Father,” said Bishop Rice.
“When you’re humble enough to open your heart to the mercy of God, he’s not going to leave you where you are,” he noted. “He’s going to call you to conversion and to change your ways.”
Returning from the 2013 World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro, Pope Francis told reporters that “ours is a time of mercy – this generation.”
Bishop Rice reiterated the pope’s observation that the church’s credibility is seen in how it shows merciful and compassionate love.
Mercy transforms everything it touches, the bishop said. “It has implications in our efforts for respect for life, for the entire spectrum, from the womb to the tomb.”
“Mercy has something to say about employment and education,” he continued. “Mercy has something to say about health care. Mercy has something to say about the poor and the marginalized … those who suffer violence, the refugees, those who are addicted, those who need housing, those who suffer from hunger.”
“To the world, mercy, forgiveness and kindness are often seen as signs of weakness,” Bishop Rice observed. “But in the eyes of faith – mercy, forgiveness and kindness are signs of God’s power!”
Bishop Rice noted that the Year of Mercy and its themes of experiencing God’s mercy and becoming more merciful as individuals and as the church have resonated profoundly with people of all ages.
This inevitably leads to a personal encounter with people who are poor and marginalized, who reveal the face of Christ, who reveals the face of God’s mercy.
Bishop Rice called to mind a sign a Protestant pastor in St. Louis posted shortly after Pope Francis announced the Jubilee Year of Mercy. It said: “Mercy is more than a year.”
“You know, the guy is right!” the bishop remarked. “In fact, it would be great if all of our Catholic parishes put up the same sign, because that’s our real challenge as the Year of Mercy draws to a close.”
(Nies is editor of The Catholic Missourian, newspaper of the Diocese of Jefferson City.)

When it comes to vocations, successful programs focus on the basics

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(EDITOR’S NOTE: This edition of Mississippi Catholic celebrates National Vocations Awareness Week, Nov. 6-11. Look inside for stories from local religious and reflections on vocations from across the diocese.)
By Dennis Sadowski
WASHINGTON (CNS) – Finding candidates to consider joining the priesthood or religious life has never been easy.
There are serious questions to address, prayer to undertake, and solo and group activities that help determine whether a person is meant to live a religious life of ministry.
To meet the ongoing need for priests and women religious to meet the spiritual needs of Catholic communities, various programs have evolved over time to give men and women a wide range of discernment opportunities.
In the end, it comes down building relationships, trust and understanding. On the spiritual side, the desire to enter religious life is grounded in a deep love of God that is built through prayer and a desire to take on the “smell of the sheep,” as Pope Francis has demonstrated time and again.
Here’s a look at the way a few organizations operate their vocations programs. Innovative? Perhaps. More so they seem to be common sense steps that are reaping rewards.
At Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, the Catholic community is larger than the majority of parishes in the country.
About 25 percent of the 60,000 students on campus identify themselves as Catholic, said Marcel LeJeune, associate director of Newman Campus Ministry at St. Mary’s Catholic Center, which serves the school. That breaks down to about 15,000 young adults around which to build ministry.
“We average about 5,000 people at Mass on the weekends,” LeJeune told Catholic News Service. He estimates that 90 percent of Massgoers are students. “People are usually standing in the aisles,”
When confessions are heard, the lines are long with some students waiting up to 45 minutes to see a priest. And it’s not uncommon for LeJeune to make a stop in the chapel where perpetual adoration occurs and see “15 kids in there.”
All of these are signs of what LeJeune describes as a dynamic ministry “to all the different kinds of kids you’re going to meet.” Such vibrancy has long borne fruit for vocations in religious life.
“We have 160 Aggie Catholics who are bishops, priests, deacons and religious,” LeJeune explained, invoking the school’s sports nickname.
LeJeune shared some statistics:
– In mid-October, 81 university alumni were in formation for religious life or enrolled in a seminary.
– This year alone, 15 men and women entered formation programs.
– During the past 19 years, more than nine men and women annually entered religious life; over the past five years, the average number has risen to more than 12.
LeJeune credits the large Catholic population for such glowing statistics: the more people, the greater the number of vocations.
Further, he finds that such vocations success has more to do with the enthusiasm of the 65 people, including the priests and women religious, who work at St. Mary’s.
“We don’t have a magic bullet,” he said. “For us, it’s men and women who love what they do and who are meeting students who can see these men and women, a priest, a religious, who love what they do, and can see themselves doing it.
“We also do a good job of evangelizing and forming them in prayer. Without conversion and formation and prayer, you can’t discern. We’re teaching them how to pray. Plus putting them in front of opportunities to get to know priests and (women) religious who love what they do. That’s it.”
The vibrancy of the St. Mary’s Catholic Center apparently has gained the attention of the Diocese of Austin, Texas, and even Vatican officials. The last two pastors of the community have been named bishops. There’s Bishop Dave A. Konderla of Tulsa, Oklahoma, who served for 11 years at St. Mary’s, and his predecessor, Bishop Michael J. Sis of San Angelo, Texas, who served for 13 years there.
“That will tell you how much they value the priests who have served here,” LeJeune says. “It takes a special man to be our pastor with a special set of gifts.”
In a few years, Msgr. Scott Friend, director of vocations in the Diocese of Little Rock, Arkansas, sees the number of priests bumping up from the mid-50s to the mid-60s.
That may not seem like a large number of priests, but in a state where Catholics are a definite minority, a boost of nearly 20 percent looks good.
Msgr. Friend, who also is the diocese’s vicar general, saw five men ordained to the priesthood in May. For next spring, six men are on course for ordination. And in 2018, the number is seven.
“That’s pretty phenomenal. We’ve got some pretty sharp guys coming up,” he told CNS.
Current seminarians and new priests represent a mix of men from different age groups. Along with young men who entered the seminary from high school, there’s a number of men who began careers before discerning a call to serve God.
Several factors have contributed to the diocese’s success. One is the ability of staff, especially the four priests on the team, to help seminarians navigate the road to priesthood.
Msgr. Friend has led the vocations effort for 12 years. He’s 55 and finds that he often he’s called to be “a good father figure.”
With an increasing number of older seminarians – those not just out of high school – Msgr. Friend said it’s necessary “to maintain the right kind of balance, of being approachable, and at the same time maintain the boundaries of what it means to be a good father (parent).”
Other factors also have contributed to the diocese’s growing vocations numbers.
About a dozen seminarians live in what is known as Formation House, a community located at a Little Rock parish in one of the city’s working-class neighborhoods. There, seminarians not only go through the experience of book learning, but see the potential for parish ministry.
He said that the setting allows the men to widen their “missionary spirit” in a state where just 4 percent of the population is Catholic.
Like many areas of the country, Arkansas is experiencing a growth in the Latino population. Seminarians are required to learn Spanish. Having a language skill builds a bond to a community that priests might not get to know well, Msgr. Friend said.
And the Latino community is beginning to produce candidates for priestly vocations as well. It’s a good sign, Msgr. Friend acknowledged.
A culture of vocations finds parishioners throughout the Diocese of Wichita, Kansas, promoting the priesthood and religious life.
It’s something that has been fostered in the 25 counties of the diocese for 30 years, said Father Michael M. Simone, diocesan director of vocations.
There has been “profound impact on our families and schools and has a strong effect on our vocations programs,” Father Simone told CNS.
The effort has helped boost the number of seminarians to more than 60 in recent years after it hovered about 33 percent lower a decade ago. One result is that median age of diocesan priests has remained constant at 45 to 47.
“In terms of recruiting the next generation of priests, it really starts in the family and expands to the family receiving the faith which is the parish and the school,” he explained.
Diocesan schools play a role in the vocations culture as well. “There’s a lot of preformation and cultivation for the calls to discernment to take place for us,” Father Simone added.
Once the men are in formation, Father Simone helps them with supplemental programs that help them build a sense of what the priesthood is about. He cites a weekly Friday night discussion group throughout the summer “to discuss pertinent topics relevant to the ways they’ll exercise their priestly ministry in the diocese.”
The seminarians also are prepared to minister to the growing Latino population of the diocese, something which other dioceses may not be addressing yet. The effort includes training in the Spanish language as a way to stress the global nature of the church.
“We have a lot of Hispanic people who desire and need bilingual priests,” he said.

Catholic vote remains important, but less predictable than in the past

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By Dennis Sadowski
WASHINGTON (CNS) – Is there a Catholic vote?
Well, yes. Kind of.
Voting patterns show Catholics vote much like the rest of America, with minor swings one way or the other, depending on the candidate and the state.
Nevertheless, the Catholic vote still is important, as syndicated columnist, political commentator and Georgetown University professor E.J. Dionne likes to say.
Any way it’s examined, analysts say the Catholic vote — about 22 percent of the electorate — is not as monolithic as it once was.
That is, except for Latinos, who now comprise about 35 percent of U.S. Catholics: More than 65 percent regularly vote for Democrats, and about 20 percent vote Republican, leaving few to be swayed by the candidates’ political positions.
“Even though people use the shorthand of ‘the Catholic vote,’ ‘the vote of Catholics’ is probably the better way to describe it because there is that diversity now,” said Mark Gray, senior research associate at the Washington-based Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate.
Gray suggested that the elections of 1960 and 1964 were the last where Catholics could be considered a uniform voting bloc. In 1960, they were moved to support Democrat John F. Kennedy, the country’s first and only Catholic president, and that wave carried into the election four years later.
But since then, Gray told Catholic News Service, Catholics “have not been really in one camp or the other,” and they hold values similar to the rest of the voting populace, an indication that church teaching holds little sway in the election at the polls.
“(Catholics) look for teachings of the church that are consistent with the party affiliation that they have,” Gray said.
Monika L. McDermott, associate professor of political science at Fordham University, who has analyzed exit poll data for national news organizations, echoed Gray, saying the diversity among Catholics means they vote the way they want no matter what the Catholic Church teaches.
“They go their own way. They pick and choose what they want and what they want to follow,” she said. So there’s no need to expect that Catholics by themselves will sway the eventual outcome of this year’s presidential election, with its strange twists as candidates trade extraordinarily nasty barbs and accuse major party leadership of a lack of transparency in the delegate selection process.
Factors such as anger and distrust among voters are fueling the rise of self-proclaimed “outsiders” whose message has appealed to those who have felt betrayed by the institutions of government, church and social services that they once trusted to work on their behalf.
Stephen F. Schneck, director of the Institute for Policy Research & Catholic Studies at The Catholic University of America, said perhaps no other group has felt more betrayed than white working-class communities in places such as Pennsylvania, Appalachia, the Ozarks and the Deep South.
In an address during a daylong symposium, “Rebuilding Trust,”  in April at the university, Schneck described the high levels of drug abuse and alcoholism, marriage failures, declining life expectancy and rising crime rates that plague such communities.
“There are many angles from which to consider the correlation between decaying social capital and what’s happening to the quality of life for these populations, but one way to see it is as a crisis of trust,” Schneck told the audience.
“It’s a breakdown of trust with even basic institutions of social life. Their distrust of government is something we all hear about, but it goes far beyond that,” he said.
Later in an interview, Schneck said working-class whites feel “like they’ve lived up to their end of the bargain, but the other institutions have not,” so they are turning to candidates who seem to offer them a better life.
Matthew Green, assistant professor of political scientist at The Catholic University of America and another symposium speaker, said that could explain the appeal of candidates who have positioned themselves as outside the political mainstream.
Green said the high turnout in Republican primaries among people feeling forgotten helped Donald Trump hold off challengers.
“If you distrust the institution, but there is a candidate who says ‘I’m going to fix things,’ then that might motivate you to vote,” Green told CNS.
Even with the large turnout among working-class white voters during the primaries, Latinos may hold the key to the general election. If they show up at the polls in places such as Florida, Nevada and Colorado, they will influence who becomes the next occupant of the White House, said  Luis Fraga, co-director of the Institute for Latino Studies and professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame.
As goes the Latino vote, so goes Catholic Latino voters, he said.
He offered a few statistics that are expected to influence election outcomes beginning this year, but especially in the future:
— 63 percent of Latinos in the U.S. were born in the U.S. and another 15 percent are naturalized citizens.
— Of the Latinos younger than age 18, 94 percent were born in the U.S.
— About 800,000 Latinos turn 18 every year.
“If I wanted to register new Latino voters, that’s where you tend to focus, it would be 17-year-olds. You have a huge group that has the possibility of engaging (politically),” he said.
Fraga pointed to Florida, with its rapid growth in newcomers from Puerto Rico, with large numbers of young and educated people seeking opportunities that are unavailable on the Caribbean island territory.
Fraga said the number of Florida residents of Cuban origin, who tend to vote Republican, remains flat and, because both trends are expected to continue, the political landscape in Florida will change.
However Catholics vote, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops again is disseminating its quadrennial document “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship” with accompanying study and discussion guides, bulletin inserts, and materials for use by bishops.
The latest iteration of the document, approved at the bishops’ annual fall meeting in November, draws on papal teaching since 2007, particularly the latter part of Pope Benedict XVI’s tenure and Pope Francis’ three years overseeing the Vatican. It also considers recent developments in U.S. domestic and foreign policy related to same-sex marriage, the use of drones in warfare and care for the environment, among other issues.
“There’s no doubt that this is something that’s very important to bring to the attention of Catholics, and formation of conscience, as the document says, is a lifelong undertaking, and our need to bring our faith to the public square is also not about one election,” said Susan Sullivan, director of education and outreach in the USCCB Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development.
(Editor’s Note: See Bishop Kopacz’ column on page 3 for additonal reflections and find a link to “Faithful Citizenship” materials online at www.jacksondiocese.org.)
Follow Sadowski on Twitter: @DennisSadowski

Diocese of Memphis welcomes Bishop Holley

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Bishop Holley is congratulated after receiving the crozier by Papal Nuncio Archbishop Christophe Pierre and Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Karen Pulfer Focht)

By Suzanne Avilés
MEMPHIS, TENN. –Bishop Martin David Holley, DD, was installed as the fifth bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Memphis in Tennessee on Wednesday, Oct 19. He follows Bishop Emeritus J. Terry Steib, SVD, who retires after 23 years of service to the Memphis Diocese.
Immediately after his installation, Bishop Holley joined volunteers from the diocese in two service projects to serve the hungry and comfort the sick. The effort was just one event in his “100 Days of Service,” in which he has teamed up with Catholic Charities of West Tennessee to assist the vulnerable.
In addition to Bishop Joseph Kopacz from the Diocese of Jackson, Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States, Justin Cardinal Rigali, Theodore Cardinal McCarrick, Donald Cardinal Wuerl and Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, attended the installation.
“I am honored and humbled to join the Catholic Diocese of Memphis in Tennessee. I’ve chosen as the motto for my episcopal ministry “His Mercy Endures”, and mercy will be my guiding principle here on the banks of the Mississippi. I look forward to listening to, learning from and sharing with the people of the diocese,” said Bishop Holley.
Bishop Emeritus Steib stated, “I thank God for allowing me to serve the good people of the Catholic Diocese of Memphis in Tennessee for the last 23 years. Likewise, I thank God for sending Bishop Holley to our diocese to serve the people of West Tennessee. I offer Bishop Holley my prayers and best wishes.”
Bishop Holley was ordained as a priest in 1987 and served in his home diocese of Pensacola, Florida, before being named auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Washington in 2004. In the 12 years in Washington, he served as vicar general, moderator of ethnic ministries, a member of the Washington InterFaith Network, the International Catholic Foundation for the service of Deaf People, Catholic Athletes for Christ. He also participated on several committees for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops including the African-American Catholics, Hispanic Affairs, Pro-life and Multicultural committees. Bishop Holley has been a member of the Joint Conference of the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus since 1983. He has been on the Board of Catholic Relief Services and is the immediate past Chaplain of the Knights of St. Peter Claver.
The Catholic Diocese of Memphis covers more than 10,000 square miles and includes more than 65,000 Catholics. Within the state of Tennessee, Catholics make up approximately 4 percent of the population. The Diocese is referred to as “The Good Samaritan on the banks of the Mississippi” and as the “Land between the rivers” referring to its location between the Mississippi and Tennessee Rivers. The north and south boundaries of the diocese are the state lines of Kentucky and Mississippi.
(Suzanne Avilés is the Director of Communications for the Diocese of Memphis)

Worst U.S. natural disaster since Superstorm Sandy

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By Richard Meek
BATON ROUGE, La. (CNS) – Water lapped at the heels of Father Michael Galea, steady rain an arduous reminder of Mother Nature’s unfinished business.
With a sadness in his voice, Father Galea, pastor at Holy Rosary Church in St. Amant, estimated that as many as 90 percent of his parishioners were impacted during the recent historic flooding that touched nearly every corner of the Diocese of Baton Rouge.
“It’s going to change the whole dynamic of Holy Rosary as a parish as we know it,” Father Galea told The Catholic Commentator, the diocesan newspaper. “It’s not going to be the same. And we are going to lose quite a bit of people if they choose to move away.

How to Help:
— Diocese of Baton Rouge Disaster Assistance Fund at www.diobr.org.
— Catholic Charities USA at https://catholiccharitiesusa.org. (Donations can be sent by mail with a check payable to Catholic Charities USA, Catholic Charities USA, P.O. Box 17066 Baltimore, MD, 21297-1066; or by phone with a credit card, (800) 919-9338.
— Knights of Columbus at www.kofc.org/flood. (Donations via check or money order can be sent to: K of C Louisiana Flood, Knights of Columbus Charities, P.O. Box 1966, New Haven, CT, 06509-1966.)

“But hopefully with love and compassion and a lot of hugs we can become a family all over again. That is what is most important, for us to be together again.”
Coming together as a family, whether it is a community, church parish or simply a family dinner, is a question many are asking in the wake of the floods that in some area dumped 20 inches of rain in as many hours. The carnage is stunning.
In Central, it is estimated 27,000 out of 28,000 people were impacted, leaving some to speculate if the suburban community will be able to recover.
In Livingston Parish, a civil jurisdiction, at least 75 percent of residents suffered some type of water damage, with most of the destruction major. Residents in the civil jurisdictions of East Baton Rouge, Ascension and Tangipahoa parishes also were forced to dig out.
Much of Zachary was damaged, as the wide swath of destruction seems endless. In the aftermath many residential streets appeared to be mere passes surrounded by mountains of debris. And the stench permeates one’s pores, a smell that eventually subsides but never leaves.
Schools were closed, many for weeks, and businesses were struggling to reopen. Curfews were enacted in civil parishes throughout to lessen the threat of looting in the impacted areas.
Some estimates are as high as 100,000 homes damaged, with thousands fleeing to evacuation shelters. The floodwaters claimed 13 lives, and many others survived only after being rescued from their rooftops, reminiscent of Hurricane Katrina 11 years ago.
According to Joe Ingraham, chief financial officer for the Baton Rouge Diocese, six churches took on water and the parish schools at two of those also were damaged. Cristo Rey Baton Rouge Franciscan High School, which opened in August, was inundated with 4 feet of water and has to relocate.
Although the damage was widespread and costly, Ingraham managed to see the silver lining in the storm clouds that blanketed the area for nearly a week.
“It could have been worse, when you see four churches out of 71 severely damaged,” Ingraham said. “The worst thing is the damage to our parishioners and their homes.”
The storm, which first began to unleash its nearly weeklong fury Aug. 12, packed a one-two wallop that drove water into areas that had never experienced flooding. Initially, torrential rains from the slow-moving system initially caused street flooding, which also forced water into homes.
But the greater damage came in the days that followed as area rivers overflowed their banks and flowed unfettered into neighborhoods, businesses and even major thoroughfares.
At one point, Interstates 10 and 12, the two main arteries in and out of Baton Rouge, were closed. Along I-12, some motorists were trapped in their cars for more than 30 hours, presenting a unique opportunity for ministry for Father Jamin David, pastor at St. Margaret of Scotland Church in Albany.
Even as the waters continued to rise, donations, in the form of cash, clothes, gift cards, cleaning supplies and other necessities began to filter in from all over the world. On Aug. 23, the Knights of Columbus donated $200,000 to the diocese and another $30,000 to the Knights’ Louisiana State Council.
Members of The Mississippi Knights of Columbus have rallied to the support of the people from Louisiana impacted by the recent flooding. Guy Heying, state programs director of the Knights of Columbus Mississippi Jurisdiction, said that Knights of Columbus Councils from all corners of the state have responded in great numbers, working with their local communities and collecting trailer loads of supplies and delivering them to those in need in throughout the flood impacted areas.
“In addition to providing needed supplies, the Mississippi Knights have put boots on the ground helping to remove debris and cleaning out flooded homes in the Louisiana cities of Walker, St. Francisville, Denham Springs and Baton Rouge supporting the communities as they begin their recovery efforts in the aftermath of the recent catastrophic flooding,” said Heying.
(Meek is editor of The Catholic Commentator, newspaper of the Diocese of Baton Rouge.)

Texas Catholic high school community cheers swimmer to Olympic bronze

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By Joan Kurkowski-Gillen
FORT WORTH, Texas (CNS) – Matthew Coffer, a 2007 Nolan Catholic High School graduate, said it best in a comment posted to the school’s alumni page: “It was a great night to be a Viking!”
He was referring to the pride and excitement when Nolan alumna Katie Meili won the bronze medal in the women’s 100-meter breaststroke at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. The Colleyville native, who graduated from Nolan Catholic in 2009, posted a time of 1:05.69. Another American, Lilly King, beat out a Russian competitor to win the gold.
Meili is the first Olympic athlete in the school’s 55-year history.
“I’m just so happy,” a beaming Meili told reporters moments after her race.
“It’s a lot of hard work, but I’ve had so much support along the way,” Meili said. “This medal belongs to so many more people than just me, and I’m really proud of them.”
The 25-year-old’s former swim teammates at Nolan Catholic gathered for a watch party in the school’s auditorium Aug. 8. They were joined by current students, faculty members, and friends of the Meili family, who had watched the athlete’s swimming prowess blossom, first at Columbia University, where she clinched a 2013 Division I NCAA bronze medal in the 100-meter breaststroke, and later at the invitation-only SwimMAC elite team in Charlotte, N.C.
Sports analysts said Meili was a long shot for an Olympic medal, but that’s not how the Nolan community felt. Current and former Nolan students wore blue T-shirts inscribed with the words, “All Viking for Meili” as they watched the 2016 Olympian compete.
“Everybody at the watch party knew it was going to happen,” said Nolan Catholic President Erin Vader. “If there is power in prayer and positive thinking, the people here got her through it.”
During the race, no one sat down.
“The sound was deafening. People were laughing and crying,” Vader said, describing the moment when TV graphics announced Meili’s bronze-medal finish. “It was thrilling.”
Stephen Montes, a Nolan classmate and friend of Meili, remembered her as “super supportive” of teammates when she swam the breaststroke and 200-meter individual medley in high school.
“Her practices were always intense,” he recalled. “She was a great teammate — humble and down to earth. Regardless of how tonight turned out, we would be proud of Katie.”
Nolan teammate Becky Russell has kept up with Meili’s competitive swimming through social media forums.
“She would give regular updates when she was swimming at Columbia and MAC Elite,” Russell said. “I’ve watched her progress to international meets and get faster and faster. It’s wonderful that she captured the swimming world’s attention.”
Russell applauded Meili’s decision to keep swimming after graduating from Columbia.
“She was never an Olympic shoo-in but at the same time, it was a very real dream,” she said.
“Katie winning this medal makes our other athletes feel like the Olympics are possible and that’s amazing,” Vader says. “It gives them a new goal.”
(Kurkowski-Gillen is a reporter for North Texas Catholic, online newsmagazine of the Diocese of Fort Worth.)

Little Sisters provincial accepts highest award from Knights of Columbus

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By Michael Swan
TORONTO (CNS) – The Little Sisters who fought the big system heard the cheers, held back tears and accepted the Gaudium et Spes Award from the Knights of Columbus at the Knights’ annual gala “States Dinner” in Toronto. A delegation of Mississippi Knights attended the convention, accepting awards and gathering information on behalf of Knights across the Magnolia State.
The Knights of Columbus in the United States provided $1 million to fund the exhaustive legal battle between the Little Sisters and the Health and Human Services mandate contained in rules for the 2011 Affordable Care Act.
“With a kind yet intrepid spirit, (the Little Sisters of the Poor) opposed government regulations that sought to force them to act against their consciences so that they may continue to carry out their longstanding service to the poor,” said the award citation.
The Little Sisters are the first religious order to receive the Gaudium et Spes Award, the highest honor bestowed only occasionally by the Knights. It was first given to Blessed Teresa of Kolkata in 1992. Other honorees include L’Arche founder Jean Vanier in 2005, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz in 2010 and Chicago Cardinal Francis George in 2015.
The award to the sisters fits into a religious freedom theme the Knights of Columbus are promoting at their 134th Supreme Convention in Toronto. The Knights have also brought bishops from Iraq and Syria to participate. The Knights of Columbus played a significant lobbying role in persuading the U.S. Congress to declare massacres of Christians by the Islamic State group “genocide.”
Mother Loraine Marie Maguire, superior of the Little Sisters’ Baltimore province said the order did not go looking for a high-profile fight against Washington regulators.
“We would never have chosen to become the public face of resistance to the HHS mandate,” she said.
In 2000, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled that companies providing insurance for prescription drugs to their employees but excluding birth control were violating the 1964 Civil Rights Act. After the contraceptive mandate was included in the Affordable Care Act, the Little Sisters of the Poor argued in multiple courts that it violated their constitutional right to the free exercise of religion by forcing them to indirectly pay for forms of contraception that violate Catholic teaching. Most courts ruled the burden on the Little Sisters’ religious freedom rights was not substantial.
The Supreme Court found that the lower courts should have sought a compromise which would allow the order of Catholic sisters a way out of paying for contraception.
This year the Knights are celebrating $175 million raised worldwide for worthwhile causes and more than 73.5 million hours of volunteering. Their 2015 global fundraising was $1.5 million higher than in 2014. Last year was the 17th year in a row that the Knights set records for both hours of service and dollars raised.
The convention has attracted Knights from the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Poland, Mexico, Mindanao, Guam, the Dominican Republic and all parts of the United States.
(Swan is associate editor of The Catholic Register, Toronto-based Canadian Catholic weekly.)

Baton Rouge bishop visits shelters, dispenses Mass obligation in face of widespread floods

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BATON ROUGE, La. (CNS) – As Louisiana’s governor announced the federal government had declared a major disaster for the state Aug. 14, Catholic churches in the Baton Rouge Diocese called for volunteers to help those displaced by extreme flooding and asked flood victims what assistance they needed.
Gov. John Bel Edwards told reporters at a news conference that about 20,000 people had been rescued from their homes and more than 10,000 people were in shelters after a slow-moving tropical storm system dumped nearly 2 feet of rain on southern Louisiana. Several rivers crested at record levels.
As of mid-morning Aug. 15, state officials said at least six people have died in the floods.
Baton Rouge Bishop Robert W. Muench visited three evacuation shelters Aug. 14 to comfort evacuees. In a statement the day before, he dispensed Sunday Mass obligations for all Catholics affected by the storm and urged parishioners to limit their driving over the weekend because of “the inherent dangers of unsafe driving conditions.”
“Please know of my prayers for your safety and the safety of your church parishes and parishioners,” he said in a message to pastors.
On Aug. 12 Edwards declared a state of emergency for the state of Louisiana and deployed the Louisiana National Guard. He then requested that President Barack Obama issue a federal disaster declaration. With that  declaration – which initially affects four civil parishes, with more expected – residents can seek assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. At least 18 civil parishes have declared a state of emergency, with more expected to do so.
In a notice on its website, St. Jude the Apostle Catholic Church in East Baton Rouge civil parish called on parishioners available to volunteer to attend a morning meeting Aug. 15 to help with “flood relief planning and implementation.”
“It is possible that a significant number of our parish staff are unable to leave their homes and come to work, so we will need to rely heavily on parish volunteers,” the notice said.
At least two other Baton Rouge parishes, St. George and St. Aloysius, have set up Web pages asking flood victims to submit requests for help and asking others to list the kind of help they can provide.

Bishop urges people to listen, learn, pray, act to foster racial harmony

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By Joseph Kenny
ST. LOUIS (CNS) — Bishop Edward K. Braxton of Belleville, Illinois, said his background is as an academic, with writings on theological and pastoral topics, and not as an expert in a field related to racial matters.
But he has become an important voice in the Catholic Church on the topic, thanks to his writings.
His pastoral letter “The Racial Divide in the United States: A Reflection for the World Day of Peace 2015” was followed early this year by “The Catholic Church and the Black Lives Matter Movement: The Racial Divide in the United States Revisited.”
The second pastoral was a basis for his address to the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress and a Lenten reflection at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama, as well as the Aug. 8 talk sponsored by the St. Charles Lwanga Center, the Knights and Ladies of Peter Claver, and the Peace and Justice Commission of the Archdiocese of St. Louis.
After the well-researched yet plain-spoken talk in St. Louis, several people — black and white, young and old — lined up before a microphone to add personal experiences of a racial divide or ask questions about how they can play a role in easing it. Applause and reactions from the attendees showed they were engaged with the topic and encouraged by the talk.
Several times Bishop Braxton asked people to listen, learn, think, pray and act on the issue of racial equality and harmony.
“Listen to people who think differently than you. Tell your children and your children’s children. Finally, act. Everyone can do something,” he said, recalling Blessed Teresa of Kolkata, who told him, “I must do what I can,” when he asked her why she continued her work with the poor and dying.
He hopes to raise consciousness and encourage a civil discourse about the powerful challenges.
The Black Lives Matter movement that sprang from the shooting deaths of black men in confrontations with police and an All Lives Matter response are compatible, Bishop Braxton said. However, “it is necessary to acknowledge the legitimacy of the particular concern for the lives of people of color. This is not something Americans recognize,” he said.
He gave the example of being in a secure home with plenty to eat and facing a family in dire need of food and shelter.
In the case of the second family,at case, “it is their lives and not mine that are in peril. If you simply say ‘All Lives Matter,’ there is a danger of falsely implying that every group of Americans is facing the same degree of peril, which then makes it possible to ignore or deny pressing issues like the frequent violent and fatal treatment of African-Americans in the face of minor or suspected misconducts. They seem to be tried, convicted and sentenced to death on the streets.”
Bishop Braxton, a former auxiliary bishop in St. Louis, said police officers have a very difficult and dangerous job. They deserve respect and gratitude, and their lives matter, he said.
At the same time, he said, “the point of Black Lives Matter is that many in the African-American community face existential threats that must not be ignored.”
Bishop Braxton encouraged audience members who spoke during the comment period after his talk. He urged a high school student from a nearly all-white suburban parish to visit parishes with diversity, serve on a justice and peace committee and most of all to express discomfort when others are belittling someone who is different from themselves. He told another person not to wait for her priest to gather people together because through her baptism she is the Church and is called to share the Gospel. He also urged support for schools that serve children in economically disadvantaged communities.
Bishop Braxton cited the unique peril that makes the Black Lives Matter movement relevant. But it should not be silent about the significant number of young African-American males who die at the hands of other African-Americans or alarmingly high number of abortions, he said. He also called for a repudiation of any form of violence against white people, especially police officers.
A recognition must be made that the lives of other vulnerable, marginalized groups in the country also matter, he added.
He praised Elie Wiesel, a Nobel laureate who was a survivor of Nazi death camps, for bringing the word’s attention to the horrors of Jewish suffering during the Holocaust as well as being a champion for the human rights of oppressed people around the world.
(Editor’s Note: Bishop Braxton’s 2015 and 2016 pastorals on the racial divide in the U.S. can be found on the website of the Diocese of Belleville, www.diobelle.org.)