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Jesuit Father William J. Byron, a former president of The Catholic University of America in Washington and University of Scranton, Pa., and known for his writings on the relationship between business practices and Catholic spirituality, died at age 96 April 9, 2024. He is pictured in a file photo. (OSV News photo, CNS file)

NATION
PHILADELPHIA (OSV News) – Jesuit Father William J. Byron, known for his leadership of Jesuit institutions of higher learning and his many years of lecturing, teaching and writing on the relationship between business practices and Catholic spirituality, died April 9 at Manresa Hall, the health center of the Jesuit community at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. He was 96. Byron was a former president of the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania, 1975-1982, and The Catholic University of America in Washington, 1982-1992. He spent a year as acting president of Loyola University New Orleans, 2003-2004, and served as president at his high school alma mater, St. Joseph’s Preparatory School, 2006-2008. His other leadership roles for the Society of Jesus included rector of the Jesuit community at Georgetown University in Washington, 1994-2000. A funeral Mass for Father Byron was celebrated April 20 at St. Matthias Church in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania. In an April 9 message to the university community, Jesuit Father Joseph Marina, Scranton’s current president, said that during one of their last visits together, Father Byron managed to ask him if he was “the president at Scranton now. When I nodded yes, he said, ‘Take good care of it.’”

GRASS VALLEY, Calif. (OSV News) – By any measure, Louis Anthony “Lou” Conter, a Catholic hero of World War II who died April 1 at his home in Grass Valley, California, at age 102, led a celebrated life. Conter’s funeral Mass will be celebrated April 23 at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Grass Valley, followed by burial with full military honors. Born in Ojibwa, Wisconsin, on Sept. 13, 1921, Conter graduated from high school in Colorado. He escaped a hardscrabble life – at age 7, he hunted rabbits in Kansas, where his family was living, in order to provide dinner – and a job in a Hormel meatpacking plant by enlisting in the Navy in 1939. As a quartermaster on the battleship USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Conter was one of only 335 crewmen and officers aboard to survive the assault by Japanese fighter pilots, bombers and torpedo planes that sank it on Dec. 7, 1941, launching the United States into World War II. The sailors and Marines killed aboard numbered 1,177. The Arizona casualties amounted to nearly half of the 2,403 U.S. personnel, including 68 civilians, who died that day. Conter served for 28 years, retiring at the rank of lieutenant commander, the highest rank possible for someone with a high school diploma.

AMARILLO, Texas (OSV News) – An assault on a Texas priest highlights the need for parishes to implement more robust security measures, experts told OSV News. On April 10, Father Tony Neusch, rector of St. Mary’s Catholic Cathedral in Amarillo, was pepper-sprayed while hearing confessions. The priest advised in a Facebook post that he was uninjured and that police had been notified, but that walk-in confessions would be suspended pending security upgrades. The assault comes in the wake of Catholic churches and shrines throughout the U.S. and Canada having seen a number of security incidents in the past few months, from protesters to mentally-ill individuals. Preserving both pastoral welcome and commonsense security in places of prayer can be a delicate balance, said Craig Gundry of Critical Intervention Services, a Tampa, Florida-based security consulting firm with extensive experience in church security. Having a parish security team is valuable, he added – and the Catholic Community of St. Thomas More in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, established such a team in 2017. The St. Michael the Defender Ministry, according to its leader and security professional Jeff Malkovsky, has now been applied to parishes and schools throughout the Diocese of Raleigh. But keeping priests and penitents safe during the sacrament of reconciliation, which is bound by anonymity and the seal of confession, requires extra consideration, admitted St. Thomas More pastor Father Scott McCue. The attack on Father Neusch, he said, is “a good conversation starter” for additional discussions on parish security.

VATICAN
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Hundreds of parish priests from around the world will spend three days praying and talking about experiences of synodality and discernment in parishes and dioceses before having a two-hour dialogue with Pope Francis May 2. The priests, chosen by their national bishops’ conference or Eastern Catholic church synod, will meet outside of Rome April 29-May 1 to reflect on the theme “How to be a synodal local Church in mission.” The results of their discussions will be used, along with contributions from bishops’ conferences, in preparing the working document for the second session of the Synod of Bishops on synodality in October. Publishing a detailed schedule of the priests’ meeting April 16, the synod secretariat listed the questions the priests will be asked to pray about and discuss during their time at Sacrofano, outside of Rome. The priests will be asked what “experiences of a synodal church” have they had in their parishes and “which ones have been happy and which ones less so?” They also will be asked how they have experienced the participation of “different charisms, vocations, ministries in the life of the parish and diocese/eparchy” and what questions those experiences raised.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Peace can spread and grow from “small seeds” like including someone who is left out of an activity, showing concern for someone who is struggling, picking up some litter and praying for God’s help, Pope Francis told Italian schoolchildren. “At a time still marked by war, I ask you to be artisans of peace,” the pope told some 6,000 Italian schoolchildren involved in the National Network of Schools of Peace, a civic education program designed to teach the children to care for themselves, their friends, their communities, the world and the environment. During the gathering April 19 in the Vatican audience hall, Pope Francis led the children in a moment of silent prayer for their peers in Ukraine and in Gaza. “In a society still prisoner of a throwaway culture,” he told them, “I ask you to be protagonists of inclusion; in a world torn by global crises, I ask you to be builders of the future, so that our common home may become a place of fraternity.”

WORLD
MOHNYIN, Myanmar (OSV News) – Unknown assailants gunned down and seriously injured a priest while celebrating morning Mass in Myanmar’s conflict-stricken northern Kachin state on April 12. Two men opened fire at 6:30 a.m. on Father Paul Khwi Shane Aung, 40, parish priest of St. Patrick’s Church in Mohnyin town, within the Myitkyina Diocese, according to church sources. “They were wearing black clothes and masks and entered the church on a motorcycle to shoot the priest three times,” U Zaw, a local catechist, told UCA News, an independent Catholic news service covering East, South and Southeast Asia. The motive behind the attack is not yet known. Zaw said the injured priest was rushed to a Mohnyin hospital and was later moved to a hospital in Myitkyina, the state capital. An activist based in Kachin state said anti-social elements are fomenting religious and ethnic conflict as the civil war in military-ruled Myanmar has entered a critical phase. Clergy, pastors and church-run institutions are being targeted by the military, which toppled the civilian government in February 2021, for supporting the rebels. Kachin state’s 1.7 million people are mainly Christians, some 116,000 of whom are Catholics.

LAGOS, Nigeria (OSV News) – For decades, Nigeria has remained a source, transit and destination country for human trafficking in sub-Saharan Africa, with her citizens making up 6% of immigrants in Libya, where they are commonly traded in open markets, according to a 2021 report from the International Organization for Migration. But a network of Catholic Sisters of St. Louis at the Bakhita Empowerment center, a safehouse in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, is determined to change this by providing shelter to survivors and conducting education campaigns to prevent others from being victimized. At the transit shelter, women and girls receive rehabilitation and counseling to restart their lives. The shelter is named after St. Josephine Bakhita, the patron saint of human trafficking survivors. Kidnapped at age 7 in Sudan and sold into slavery, Josephine was taken to Italy in 1885 by her last owner. A court ruled she was free because slavery was illegal in Italy. The Catholic Sisters of St. Louis offer assistance, counseling and vocational training at the shelter to help trafficking survivors reintegrate into society. They also do prevention and sensitization campaigns, to raise awareness on the causes of human traffickers. The shelter accommodates about 30 survivors whom Sister Patricia Ebegbulem, project coordinator of the safehouse calls “treasures.” Human trafficking is a global plague that generates billions of dollars in profits; over 40 million people are exploited and trafficked each year.

Movie Review: Irena’s Vow

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By John Mulderig
NEW YORK (OSV News) – An inspiring but once little-known chapter of history provides the basis for the Holocaust drama “Irena’s Vow” (Quiver). The humane basic values of the story could potentially make it appealing for older teens as well as grown-ups. However, a plot development involving an objectively immoral situation requires careful assessment.

Sophie Nélisse plays Irena Gut, a young Catholic Polish woman swept up in – and left homeless by – the Nazi occupation of her homeland following the outbreak of World War II. Irena is eventually put to work as a waitress in the local Wehrmacht officers’ mess. She’s also placed in charge of the group of Jewish laundry workers who tend to the officers’ clothing.

Overhearing that all Jews in the area will be transported and liquidated in the near future, Irena resolves to act quickly. A lucky but unlikely opportunity to rescue her new friends arises when Major Rugemer (Dougray Scott), one of the soldiers who dines at the mess, decides to make Irena his personal housekeeper.

Sophie Nélisse stars as Irene Gut, left, alongside members of the ensemble cast in a scene from the movie “Irena’s Vow.” The OSV News classification is A-III – adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R – restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian. (OSV news photo/Quiver)

Rugemer has requisitioned a large villa with a multi-room basement. As Irena gets the dwelling ready for its new occupant, but before he moves in, she smuggles the launderers into the cellar and arranges to keep them safely concealed there.

The perils of the precarious situation uphold viewer interest in director Louise Archambault’s generally uplifting adaptation of screenwriter Dan Gordon’s play. But the film is not free of challenging content.

In addition to scenes of brutality, Irena has to confront an unforeseen problem when one of her proteges – who, with the arrival of a newcomer, now number 12 – becomes pregnant and announces her intention to terminate her baby’s life. Though this subplot has a happy ending, and shows Irena in a still more favorable light, it obviously constitutes mature fare.

So, too, does the turn the relationship between Irena and Rugemer takes as the movie nears its end. While revealing the specifics would constitute a spoiler, suffice it to say that – to borrow a phrase from Facebook – it’s complicated.

This aspect of the picture shouldn’t necessarily bar mature adolescents from watching it. But a family discussion might be needed to unpack its ins-and-outs.

The real-life Irena survived the global conflict and went on to marry United Nations worker William Opdyke. She resisted telling the tale of her wartime activities until provoked to do so, beginning in the 1970s, by a Holocaust denier. Having been honored both by the State of Israel and by St. John Paul II, she died in 2003 at age 85.

The film contains stylized but sometimes disturbing violence, including infanticide, implied nonmarital sexual activity and discussion of an abortion. The OSV News classification is A-III – adults. The Motion Picture Association rating is R – restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

(John Mulderig is media reviewer for OSV News. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @JohnMulderig1.)

Pew finds Catholics diverge by political parties, Mass attendance on many, but not all, issues

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By Gina Christian
(OSV News) – A new study of U.S. Catholics suggests that Mass attendance and political affiliation are associated with their views of Pope Francis and Catholic teaching on key moral issues.
The findings were released by the Pew Research Center April 12 from a study that surveyed close to 12,700 respondents, 2,019 of whom self-identified as Catholic.

The sample was designed to be representative of the nation’s self-identified Catholics, who constitute 20% of the U.S. population, about 52 million U.S. Catholic adults out of the nation’s 262 million adults counted by the U.S. Census Bureau in 2023.

Most (57%) of the nation’s Catholics are white, while 33% are Hispanic, followed by Asian (4%), Black (2%) and Catholics of other races (3%). Racial and ethnic distribution of Catholics varies in the U.S., with greater numbers of U.S. Hispanic Catholics living in the South and West, where they respectively represent 40% and 55% of the Catholic population in those regions.

A majority of U.S. Catholics (58%) are age 50 and above, as compared to 48% of all U.S. adults in Pew’s survey.

Hispanic Catholics tend to be significantly younger than white Catholics, with 57% of Hispanic Catholics under 50 as compared to 32% of white Catholics.

Regionally, 29% of U.S. Catholics live in the nation’s South; 26% in the Northeast; 24% in the West; and 21% in the Midwest.

Pew found that nearly three in 10 (28%) of U.S. Catholics reported attending Mass weekly or more often, similar to results reported by a recent Gallup poll in which 21% of U.S. Catholics said they attend weekly and 9% almost every week.

Daily prayer was reported by 52% of U.S. Catholics, while 46% described religion as “very important” in their lives. According to Pew, 20% of U.S. Catholics reported weekly Mass attendance, daily prayer and a regard for religion as “very important” in their life.

Politically, a majority of Catholic registered voters (52%) identify with or lean toward the Republican Party, and 44% with the Democratic Party.

The data showed that 75% of U.S. Catholics regarded the pope favorably, which is down from 83% in 2021, and 90% in early 2015.

The report said that 89% of U.S. Catholics who are or lean Democrat approve of the pope, while just 7% disapprove of him. In contrast, just 63% of U.S. Catholics who are or lean Republican give the pope a thumbs-up, while 35% view him unfavorably. Those unfavorable views among Catholics who are or lean Republican are higher than 2018, the year a new wave of sex abuse scandals, including abuse accusations involving former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, broke out.

“The partisan gap in views of Pope Francis is now as large as it’s ever been in our surveys,” said the report.
Despite the church’s teaching against abortion, some six in 10 U.S. Catholics support legalized abortion in all or most cases, with Hispanic Catholics (63%) slightly more approving of keeping abortion legal in all or most cases than white Catholics (59%).

Those opinions about abortion “tend to align” with U.S. Catholics’ political preferences, noted Pew, with 78% of Catholics who are or lean Democrat favoring legalized abortion in most or all cases less than 84% of U.S. adults who are or lean Democrat; and 43% of Catholics who are or lean Republican slightly favoring abortion compared to 40% of U.S. adults who are or lean Republican.

The survey also assessed U.S. Catholics’ views on contraception, sexuality and the priesthood, and found “big differences between Mass-attending Catholics and those who don’t (attend)” on those issues.

“Catholics who attend Mass regularly (once a week or more) are far more inclined than those who go less often to say the church should take a traditional or conservative approach on questions about the priesthood and sexuality,” said the report.

Most weekly Mass attendees said the church should not recognize same-sex marriages (65%) or allow women to be ordained as priests (56%).

A majority of U.S. Catholics (69%) across the political divide – including 53% of weekly Mass attending Catholics – said the church should “allow priests to get married.”

The Pew survey question on this point, however, does not accurately distinguish between the normative practice in the Eastern Catholic and Orthodox churches of ordaining married men to the priesthood on the one hand, and the churches’ ancient prohibition on priests attempting marriage after ordination.

Although the Latin Church, which most Catholics belong to, only ordains celibate men with few exceptions, and could legitimately change its discipline on the ordination of married men to align with the Eastern Catholic or Orthodox churches – none of these churches allows priests to marry unless they are returned first to the lay state, rendering them no longer in a position of spiritual power over a lay woman whose full and free consent is necessary for sacramental marriage.

U.S. Catholics who do not attend Mass on a weekly basis favored recognition of same-sex marriages (61%) and women’s ordination (71%).

Broadly, 83% of U.S. Catholics surveyed said the church should permit the use of contraception, 75% said the church should permit reception of holy Communion by unmarried couples living together and 54% said the church should recognize same-sex marriage.

Among Catholics who opposed deviating from church teaching on contraception, priestly celibacy, women’s ordination, holy Communion for unmarried cohabiting couples and recognition of same-sex marriages, 59% said they attend Mass at least once a week, and 72% identify with or lean toward the Republican Party.

For those Catholics who said the church should permit the above practices, 56% reported seldom or never attending Mass, and 57% identified with or leaned toward the Democratic Party.

Pew research associate Patricia Tevington told OSV News the report, for which she was one of three primary researchers, is intended to serve as “a descriptive source of information,” rather than a causal analysis of the nation’s Catholics and their characteristics.

“We try to just tell you what’s going on,” said Teverington. “If we can rule out explanations that might be obvious, we try to do so, but generally we just … give you the facts.”

The data has been released publicly and can be downloaded from Pew’s website, she said, so that other researchers “are able to run deeper analyses … and make more causal arguments” about the results.

Still, Teverington said that the effects of political divides and weekly Mass attendance can be detected in the data.

“Political partisanship has definitely been … increasing over time,” she said. “And people (who) attend Mass weekly or more are definitely different than folks that attend less often.”

(Gina Christian is a multimedia reporter for OSV News. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) @GinaJesseReina.)

Calendar of events

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PARISH, FAMILY & SCHOOL EVENTS
DIOCESE – Jackson area young adults (ages 18-35), Co-ed Softball league, register by May 8. Cost: $30. Games on Monday and Thursday evenings; game locations vary from Ridgeland Baptist Church, Liberty Park and in Canton. Details: Register at https://jacksondiocese.flocknote.com/signup/164316 or email amelia.rizor@jacksondiocese.org.

CLEVELAND – Our Lady of Victories, Parish Picnic, Sunday, May 19. Enjoy cookout and games for the whole family. Details: church office (662) 846-6273.

DIOCESE/JACKSON – Cathedral of St. Peter, Priestly Ordination of Tristan Stovall, Saturday, May 18 at 10:30 a.m. All are invited to attend.

JACKSON – St. Richard, Evening with Mary, Thursday, May 2 at 6 p.m. Please join us for a time of reflection and prayer honoring the Blessed Mother, with speaker Fran Lavelle, director of faith formation for the diocese. Details: RSVP to the church office at (601) 366-2335 or secretary@saintrichard.com.

MADISON – St. Joseph School, “Bruin Burn” 5k Run/Walk and fun run, Saturday, May 11 at 8 a.m. Registration $30 for 5k or $15 for fun run after April 25. Register at https://raceroster.com/events/2024/87878/bruin-burn. Details: email bruinburn@gmail.com.
NATCHEZ – Cathedral School, Cajun Countdown, Friday, May 3. Details: eks_46@yahoo.com or sarahc@terralriverservice.com.

OLIVE BRANCH – Queen of Peace, Cinco de Mayo Dinner Celebration, Saturday, May 4 after Mass in the social hall. Sign-up to attend in the common area. cost: $20/person or $30/couple – includes dinner and one beverage. Must be 21 or older to attend. Details: church office (662) 895-5007.
PEARL – St. Jude, Spring Fair, Saturday, May 4 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the parish hall. This free event will feature a variety of handmade items, homemade food, raffle and more. All proceeds will benefit the St. Jude’s Artisan Guild ministry. Details: church office (601) 939-3181.

RIPLEY – St. Matthew, Free Immigration Day, May 4 at 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 2-5 p.m. Conference is on key aspects of Immigration Law in the U.S. Special guest: attorney, Steven Balson-Cohen, Esq. of Immigration Pro, LLC. Conference includes free case evaluation and consultation. Details: church office (662) 993-8862.

SPIRITUAL ENRICHMENT
BOONVILLE – National Day of Prayer, Thursday, May 2 at 12 p.m. at the Booneville City Hall steps. Join this day as Christians come together and pray for our nation. Lunch provided for attendees.

BROOKHAVEN – St. Francis of Assisi, Vietnamese Language Mass, 11 a.m. on Sunday, May 12 (then the first Sunday of the month thereafter).

NEW ORLEANS – Directed Retreat with the Archdiocesan Spirituality Center at the Cenacle on Lake Pontchartrain, June 28-July 3. Cost $500 – includes lodging, meals and personal spiritual director. To register call (504) 861-3254. Details: for more information call Melinda at (601) 597-7178.

MERIDIAN – St. Patrick, Men’s Group, Saturday, May 4 at 9 a.m. in the Father Vally room in the St. Patrick center. This is the first meeting of this newly formed group. Details: John at jmcylk@gmail.com.

NATCHEZ – National Day of Prayer, Thursday, May 2 at 12 p.m. at the Gazebo on the Bluff.

SOUTHAVEN – Christ the King, “Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist,” Thursdays, May 2, 9, 16, 23, 30; and June 6 from 6:30-8 p.m. How do these Jewish roots help us, to understand his real presence in the Eucharist? Facilitator is Don Coker. Details: church office (662) 342-1073.

SAVE THE DATE
BROOKHAVEN – St. Francis of Assisi, Vacation Bible School, July 14 – 17.

MADISON – St. Francis, Vacation Bible School – June 17-20, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. for Pre-K4 through fourth graders. Email mc.george@stfrancismadison.org to volunteer.

St. Francis, Cajun Fest, Sunday, May 19.

DIOCESE – Each month, the Office of Catholic Education holds a Rosary in thanksgiving for Catholic education in the diocese. Join them via Zoom on Wednesday, May 1 at 7 p.m. Check the diocese calendar of events for the Zoom link. Join us!

‘Together, we will’ Dominican Sisters of Springfield set direction for coming years

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General chapter focuses on interculturality, collaborative Dominican future “For the life of the World”

SPRINGFIELD, ILL. — During a week of prayerful conversation and contemplative deliberation, the
Dominican Sisters of Springfield on April 5, 2024, affirmed a chapter statement in which they agreed to
respond to the needs of the Church and the world by committing to intercultural living and participative
Dominican governance as they look toward the next five years.


“Rooted in our prayer for the life of the world, and in our care for our common home, we are
strengthened by our Associates and partners-in-mission to walk together into a future of authentic
intercultural living,” the statement says.

To reach their goal, the sisters said “Together, we will” strengthen relationships within the congregation,
welcome and support new members to the congregation and Dominican life, and build intercultural
relationships “through study, engagement, and interaction.”

The hallmarks of the congregation’s ministry for the past two decades have been their commitment to
antiracism and their response to the “Cry of the Earth and the Cry of the Poor” through their efforts to
live sustainably and encourage others in the care of Earth and her inhabitants.

“These efforts will continue, and will be strengthened by this evolution in our thinking,” explained Sister
Rebecca Ann Gemma, OP, the current prioress general of the congregation. “We want witness to the
good news of Jesus in our countries of origin—the United States and Peru—both burdened with cultural
and political divisiveness, threats to democracy, and threats to the peace, tranquility, and flourishing of
the human and the other-than-human beings with whom we share our homelands. Our desire to live
interculturally—within our own community as Dominican Sisters who are Peruvian and U.S. citizens, and
with the many diverse cultures in our countries—is a natural outgrowth of our antiracism work and, we
believe, a powerful intercultural—and countercultural—gospel witness.

“It is for these reasons we say we want to ‘walk together into a future of authentic intercultural living’,”
Sister Rebecca Ann said, referencing a line from the chapter direction statement.

The second major theme of their chapter deliberations was the future of Dominican governance within
the Dominican family.

“We take the next steps into our congregational future, grounded in the freedom offered in our Constitutions. We are energized by participating in the emerging movements of governance within the Dominican family,” the statement says.

To fulfill their commitment to themselves, the broader Dominican family, and the People of God, the Dominican Sisters of Springfield have committed to the necessary study to move toward a collaborative form of Dominican governance.

“Creative conversations about how collaboration can reshape and renew the future of Dominican life have been going on for years,” said Sister Rose Miriam Schulte, OP, vicaress general. “We are now at a point in our journey when it is time to animate our words with actions that move us forward into the future together.”

The week-long general chapter consisted of two parts. During the 5-day chapter of life and mission the sisters synthesized an 18-month-long period of study, prayer, and contemplative dialogue into the 2024 General Chapter Direction Statement. The complete statement is here.

We, the Dominican Sisters of Springfield, guided by the Holy Spirit, join with others to reimagine a future of promise and hope.
Rooted in our prayer for the life of the world, and in our care for our common home, we are strengthened by our Associates and partners-in-mission to walk together into a future of authentic intercultural living. Trusting in the transformation already at work within us, we step into the challenges, riches, and grace of the unknown.
Together, we will strengthen relationships within our congregation.
Together, we will invite, welcome, and support new members to our congregation and to Dominican life.
Together, we will build relationships with those of other cultures, through study, engagement and interaction.
We take the next steps into our congregational future, grounded in the freedom offered in our Constitutions. We are energized by participating in the emerging movements of governance within the Dominican family.
Together, we will engage in ongoing conversation and communal study in our effort to move toward a collaborative form of governance.
Together, we will embrace individual and shared responsibility for participative Dominican governance.
Compelled by our passion for mission, we respond, in Christ, for the life of the world.


During the 2-day chapter of elections the sisters elected a team of four leaders who will assume leadership on June 15, 2024. They are Sisters Mary Paul McCaughey, OP, prioress general-elect; Sister
Joanne Delehanty, OP, vicaress general-elect, and second and third councilors-elect, Sister Elyse Marie Ramirez, OP, and Sister Kathlyn Mulcahy, OP. Their brief biographies are below.

Since 2017 Sister Mary Paul McCaughey, OP, has been a full-time faculty member at DePaul University, Chicago, where she teaches masters and doctoral students and coordinates the graduate studies and internship programs for Catholic Educational Leadership in the College of Education. 2008-2015 she was superintendent of schools for the Archdiocese of Chicago, the country’s second largest Catholic education system, and then 2015-2017 was appointed the Cardinal’s Advocate for Catholic Schools, where she was instrumental in helping to pass the Invest in Kids legislation at the Illinois Statehouse. Prior to that she spent many years in educational leadership at Sacred Heart Academy/Sacred Heart-Griffin, 1985-1991; and Marian Catholic High School, 1992-2008, where she served at various times as president and principal. She began her ministry in elementary school and high school teaching and also pursued doctoral studies in theology and social sciences at Chicago Theological Seminary. Sister Mary Paul was raised in Park Ridge and Olympia Fields, Illinois. She holds a certificate in clinical pastoral counseling, and master’s degrees in education, theology, and business and school administration.

Sister Joanne Delehanty, OP, a Chicago native, who was raised in Park Forest, Ill., was an elementary school teacher at parochial schools in Algonquin, Springfield, and Chicago from just after her profession 1969 through 1989, when she became a pioneer at St. Benedict the African Parish, a consolidation of eight parishes, in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood. She served there as pastoral associate, religious education coordinator and director of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults until 2021. In February 2022 she began her ministry as support staff at St. Bernard’s Hospital, Chicago. She has a masters in pastoral studies and an undergraduate degree in education.

Springfield native Sister Elyse Marie Ramirez, OP, has, since 2019, been director of formation for the congregation and most recently for this past year, the director of formation for the Collaborative Dominican Novitiate in Chicago, where she has facilitated the spiritual and professional growth of five novices from three Dominican congregations. She served the congregation as vocation director, 1998-2006, during which time she was also promoter of preaching and campus minister at Sacred Heart-Griffin High School. She was coordinator of religious vocation ministry for the Archdiocese of Chicago, 2007-2014. After her profession of vows in 1985 through 1994 she completed a bachelor’s degree then taught elementary school in Aurora, Ill., and at St. Thomas Aquinas High School, Hammond, La. Her bachelor’s degrees are in history and theology. She holds a certificate in preaching and a Master’s in theology from Aquinas Institute of Theology.

Born in Chicago and raised in Kankakee, Ill., Sister Kathlyn Mulcahy, OP, previously served in congregation leadership, 2009-2019. After her profession of vows in 1981 she taught junior high school and high school math and computer at St. Christina Parish Chicago, St. Patrick School, Springfield, and Marian Catholic High School, Chicago Heights, Ill. In 1996 she was missioned to Peru where she did pastoral work and helped to found a new mission in San Juan Bautista, Jarpa, where she served 2000-2004 and 2005-2006. She was director of formation for the sisters in Lima, 2006-2009. After completing her prior term of leadership, she began part time ministry at Bethany House of Hospitality, a home for women in the asylum process, in Chicago, where she is currently the director. Sister Kathlyn has a bachelor degree in math, a master in computers in education, and a certificate in cross-cultural ministry from Catholic Theological Union.

Spring Sacraments

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SPRING SACRAMENTS – Mississippi Catholic will publish a Spring Sacraments edition in July. This means we need First Communion and Confirmation photos! Send photos with parish name, date of sacrament, names listed left to right by row of those pictured, plus name of the photographer; no later than Friday, June 7. Email in the highest resolution possible to editor@jacksondiocese.org.

First Communion and Confirmation

COLUMBUS – (Left) Chris and Janel Vander-Zanden had two of their children – Isaiah and Everett – baptized by Father Jeffrey Waldrep in the month of February. (Photo courtesy of Annunciation Church)
CLARKSDALE – St. Elizabeth, First Communion on Sunday, April 14. Pictured (l-r): Catelin Britt, Emily Guevara, Allison Zuniga, Alexa Zuniga, Emery Ellis Alderson, Elizabeth Blaine Cauthen and Father Raju Macherla.
CLARKSDALE – St. Elizabeth, Confirmation on Saturday, April 6 at 6 p.m. Pictured (l-r): Catelin Britt, Kevin Elias, Angel Zuniga, Dominic Birdsong, Priscila Lopez, Bishop Joseph Kopacz, Bella Favi, Ayden Lutts, Bailey Martin and Father Raju Macherla. (Photos courtesy of St. Elizabeth Church)

Youth

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Around our schools

JACKSON – Students at Sister Thea Bowman School were pumped to view the solar eclipse on Monday, April 8. (Photos by Deacon Denzil Lobo)
COLUMBUS – First graders at Annunciation School were in awe of the solar eclipse on Monday, April 8. (Photo by Jacque Hince)
MADISON – St. Joseph students received a standing ovation for their performance “All Shook Up!” The play featured the music of Elvis Presley and was based on a book by Joe Dipietro. (Photo by Tereza Ma)

Tome Nota

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Vírgenes y Santos

Virgen de los Desamparados. Mayo 8
Nuestra Señora de Lujan. Mayo 8
Dia de las Madres. Mayo 12
Solemnidad de la Ascensión del Señor. Mayo 9
Virgen de Fátima. Mayo 13
Nuestra Señora de la Evangelización. Mayo 14
San Isidro Labrador. Mayo 15
Fiesta de Pentecostés. Mayo 19

Alrededor Diocesano

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PONTOTOC – Organizado por la Hermana Raquel Otez, un Retiro de Quinceañeras se realizó el fin de semana del 5 de abril. Maria Mares, quien también llevó a su hija, decoró el lugar de color rosado y un gran numero 15. En el medio de la foto de las diez quinceañeras asistentes, está el quinceañero Christian Diaz, quien se convirtió en el primer varón que asiste a estas conversaciones para jóvenes que se acercan a la edad adulta. (Foto de Paola Hernandez y Aracely Nieves)

PONTOTOC – Al retiro de quinceañeras asistieron alrededor de treinta personas, 10 niñas, un niño y sus familiares. Allí recibieron enseñanzas sobre la sagrada familia, la juventud, razón y sentido de cumplir 15 años y de cómo usar el lado espiritual para tomar buenas decisiones basadas en la fe. (Fotos de Paola Hernández y Aracely Nieves)

PONTOTOC – Un grupo de 30 confirmados de San Cristóbal recibieron sus sacramentos de manos del obispo Joseph Kopacz el 20 de abril, en Misa concelebrada con el Padre Tim Murphy. Como cada año la catequista de Confirmacion fue Lety Ruedas Ortiz, (izq.) en la foto, quien da las ultimas orientaciones a los jóvenes. (Fotos de Aracely Nieves)

JACKSON – Mujeres participaron en el retiro #3 de Emaus Jackson, los días 12-14 de abril. El retiro tuvo la asistencia de servidoras de los retiros anteriores de Jackson y de Houston, Texas, lideradas todas por Margarita Lopez. Las rosas son el símbolo de este Ministerio de Emaus, a todas les fueron entregadas rosas frescas y muchas portaban una rosa artificial en su pelo. El retiro terminó con una Misa en la Catedral de San Pedro celebrada por el padre Nick Adam. (arriba) (izq.) Delmy Cortez de El Salvador, (centro) una de las caminantes de Emaus rezando en la Catedral antes de la Misa, y (der.) Cruz Granillo de El Salvador. (Fotos de Berta Mexidor)