By Michael Kelly DUBLIN (OSV News) – The sainthood cause of an Irish nun killed in an earthquake in Ecuador in 2016 is to open early next year, it has been revealed.
Derry-born Sister Clare Crockett was a promising actress with little interest in religion when she went on a Holy Week retreat in Spain in 2000 that changed her life.
The then 18-year-old self-confessed “wild child” felt a profound call to religious life, and entered the convent of the Servant Sisters of the Home of the Mother.
Following her death in the 2016 Ecuador earthquake, stories soon began to spread of her holiness of life and devoted pastoral service. Her grave in her native Derry soon became a place of pilgrimage, and devotion to her intercession has grown. She has been credited with bringing many young people back to the practice of their Catholic faith.
Father Gerard Mongan, parish priest of her native parish of St. Columba’s in Derry’s working-class Bogside neighborhood, told OSV News that “news of the opening of Sister Clare’s cause for canonization has been received with great joy and anticipation in Derry.”
Sister Clare Crockett, a member of the Servant Sisters of the Home of the Mother, is pictured in a 2011 photo. A sainthood cause for he Irish sister, who was killed in Ecuador during an 2016 earthquake, is to be opened in early 2025. (OSV News photo/courtesy Servant Sisters of the Home of the Mother)
Father Mongan confirmed to OSV News that the cause for Sister Clare will open in Madrid Jan. 12. From this point she will be declared a servant of God and the intensive scrutiny of her life and ministry will continue with both a postulator and vice postulator appointed to present the case to the Vatican.
Father Mongan said he hopes that the news will help devotion to Sister Clare to spread far and wide. “She already has a huge following of devotees who are inspired by her remarkable conversion story.
“The people of Derry and beyond are overwhelmed by the possibility that one day, they will have their own saint. In particular, she has been an inspiration to many young people who have been inspired by her life, especially her infectious joy.
“She has already brought countless people back to the practice of their faith. We all look forward to the official opening of her cause when she will become (a) servant of God. Exciting times ahead!” Father Mongan said.
Sister Clare was born in Derry, Northern Ireland, in 1982 at the height of the sectarian conflict known as The Troubles, in which over 3,000 people lost their lives.
Her home town is featured in the popular comedy series “Derry Girls,” which follows the antics of teenagers in the city.
Shortly after her death her religious congregation, the Home of the Mother, released a film charting her life. “All of Nothing” documents the last 15 years of her life and includes interviews with her family, childhood friends and the sisters from the Home of the Mother order. The film now has more than 2.5 million views on YouTube.
In 2020, the order published the first full-length biography of the religious sister. “Sister Clare Crockett: Alone with Christ Alone” is written by Sister Kristen Gardner, who was also responsible for the documentary.
The book is based on Sister Clare’s notebooks of spiritual writings, discovered after her death. In one passage she recalls the experience that brought her to rediscover her faith on Good Friday in 2000. “I do not know how to explain exactly what happened. I did not see the choirs of angels or a white dove come down from the ceiling and descend on me, but I had the certainty that the Lord was on the Cross, for me,” she recalled.
“And along with that conviction, I felt a great sorrow, similar to what I had experienced when I was little and prayed the Stations of the Cross. When I returned to my pew, I already had imprinted in me something that was not there before. I had to do something for him Who had given his life for me,” she wrote.
It was the start of a journey of conversion and healing that led to her – despite protests from her family and acting manager – joining the sisters and taking her first vows in 2006.
Her first assignment was in the community at Belmonte, in Cuenca, Spain, in a residence for girls that come from families in difficulty. “Her zeal for souls, especially those of the youth, was immense,” the sisters wrote in her online biography.
Soon after she was sent to the new community that was about to be opened in Jacksonville, Florida, in October 2006. The sisters began pastoral work at Assumption Parish and School.
Father Frederick Parke, who died Oct. 18, 2021, remembered Sister Clare as one beaming with enthusiasm and joy.
“The children picked up on the enthusiasm that she had for the Eucharist. She overflowed with enthusiasm for the Lord. Once you had been with her, you knew you had to pick up that same enthusiasm. It was so catchy.”
Michael Kelly writes for OSV News from Dublin, Ireland.
FROM THE HERMITAGE By sister alies therese For many the outcome of the election is a disaster … for others a great boon. If you are a political geek (like me) you will have paid attention to speeches, debates and anything else that would show the how, when, where’s of it all. ‘Do no harm’ seems a requisite for the move forward.
You know there is nothing worse than losing (for the losers) and nothing more joyful and puffing up than winning (for the winners). There are so many in between who didn’t even participate and for them it is ho-hum, as usual, who cares? “The humiliation of living somewhere between knee socks and support hose served as another reminder that the secrets I try hardest to conceal are the one most often exposed.” (Tina Krause, Embarrassing Moments, 2008). We will soon discover the ‘secrets’ and be exposed to what has been ‘concealed’. Well, who cares are the most vulnerable and those with no sense of humor. Don’t get me wrong … elections matter and there’s nothing funny about them … but in the outcomes we might need a deep breath or two.
“Humor is a divine quality, and God has the greatest sense of humor of all. He must have otherwise He wouldn’t have made so many politicians.” (MLK, Jr.) You have to wonder what would bring out a certain joy (maybe that it’s over?) in the public (especially the losers). What is the answer to a miserable look forward when one was so sure of another outcome? Are you kidding me is the response of some, and don’t be a sore loser that of the others.
One thing that struck me as funny was how there was very little or no ‘cheating’. Did you notice that? Is politics just a mugs game or is governing a sacred duty? Who are the leaders we elect?
“Asked about his position on whiskey, a Congressman replied:” ‘if you mean the demon drink that poisons the mind, pollutes the body, desecrates family life, and inflames sinners, then I’m against it. But, if you mean the elixir of Christmas cheer, the shield against winter chill, the taxable potion that puts needed funds into public coffers to comfort little crippled children, then I’m for it. This is my position, and I will not compromise!” (Rev. Karl Kraft, New Jersey, 1999)
We need a bit of therapy just now … winners and losers both to bring back some sense of a common good. Is there such a thing? I think there is and no matter where one fell, winner or loser, striving to make sure the most vulnerable are at the heart is critical. Resentment festers. “Laughter is God’s medicine; the most beautiful therapy God ever gave humanity.” (anon)
Regular life, just our day to day causes us to consider how much we need heart therapy. “The washing machine overflows, your toddler comes down with the chicken pox, the septic system quits, and you still have casserole to prepare and tables to decorate for the big family reunion you promised to host in your home the next day. It is tough to smile at times like these. Most of us would prefer to stay in bed, pull the sheets over our head, and refuse to budge until things get better. Yet when life’s irritants bug us more than a swam of pesky mosquitoes and troubles spread faster than cold germs, laugher is what we need the most … humor is heart therapy.” (Tina Krause, 2008) What that therapy looks like will vary but I think it matters who we think about and who we pray for. Who needs our laugh?
As we move toward Thanksgiving Day and for some that dreadful dinner where politics, religion and other hot button issues are either exaggerated or ignored, let’s try to put things in perspective.
“A Sunday school teacher asked her class about the meaning of Easter. A little boy raised his hand and said, ‘that’s when we shoot off firecrackers and celebrate our freedom!’ A little girl said, ‘no that’s when we eat the turkey and give thanks.’ ‘I know,’ a third youngster exclaimed, ‘that’s when Jesus comes out of the tomb … but if He sees his shadow, He goes back in.’“ (Father Harry Winter, OMI, 1999)
Life might just be a little bit like that for a while. We will have many opportunities to lighten up the situation as well as delve deeply into the pros and cons as we move into the holidays. So, I wish you all the opportunity of giving thanks for all things as Paul teaches and to be grateful for your pastor!
“A new pastor, eager to make sure the church’s employees would like him, called them together shortly before Thanksgiving Day approached and told them that each of them would receive a turkey. ‘In fact,’ he said, ‘as long as I’m around you will always have a turkey.’ “ (Msgr. Charles Dollen, The Priest, 1999) Blessings.
(Sister alies therese is a canonically vowed hermit with days formed around prayer and writing.)
MORE THAN WORDS By Bishop Robert Reed Those of us who have experienced the death of a loved one, even if we believe that she or he has gone to a better place, still find ourselves struggling with the parting. It’s hard to let go. Sometimes it’s made a little easier if we have been present for someone’s last days, and at the moment of their death, when we experience the whole strange (and often quite beautiful) mystery of living and dying being played out before our very eyes.
Still, parting is, as Shakespeare wrote, “such sweet sorrow.” In November, death seems uniquely before us Catholics. The month begins with the great memorial of our saints, followed the next day by the commemoration of all who have passed from this life before us. And then the nights grow longer, and the winds come. The familiar and warm rustle of leaves diminishes and is replaced with the dry-bones clickety-click of bare branches. It all helps us to remember, and keenly, that “we have no lasting city” (Heb 13:14). At least not one here, on earth. Thanks be to God that we Christians know physical death is not an end to our lives, but a portal to what St. Paul calls “the city that is yet to come.”
The Gospels are an invitation to us to believe fully in the glory and power of God; to hand ourselves over in all things; to put our doubts and fears themselves to death!
Think of the emotion expressed in the 11th chapter of the Gospel of John, when Lazarus, Jesus’ close friend, has died. His sisters are devastated, and their heartache moves the Lord to tears. Jesus reaches into the situation. He touches the air all around it – a word through the Word – and transforms it. Death to life. The Messiah has revealed the glory and power of God, for whom all things are possible.
The focus of our good prayer this month is not directly on us, but on those who have gone before – our ancestors of genetic and spiritual oneness. It is a venerable tradition for us, as people of faith, to remember those whom we have had to let go: grandparents, parents, siblings, relatives and friends, and those whom we have come to know, love and pray with, within the great “cloud of witnesses.”
Time can soften our griefs, but our attachments remain, until we too must be mourned and then released. And yet – never forget this! – we who have been baptized into Christ’s death live with a substantial hope; one that does not disappoint. As the book of Wisdom teaches, our hope is “full of immortality” (Wis 3:4). That hope helps us to wonder at the depths of pain, grief and confusion that death can bring us to, until we begin to perceive the mysterious “rest of the story.” That we are standing and grieving and growing and necessarily carrying on with our lives, while encountering a place of transition, a sacred passage – a gate through which we know with certitude we too must pass – into what Christ Jesus proved to us through his resurrection: the reality of eternal life.
“Baptized into his death … we were buried therefore with him,” St. Paul preached to the Romans (Rom 6: 3-4), “so that as Christ was raised from the dead … we too might walk in the newness of life.”
That’s a refreshing concept, isn’t it? “The newness of life” encourages us to embrace all seasons of our time here and to open our minds, hearts and souls to Christ in everything that comes to us, because in all of it – the joyful and the painful and the uncertain – a kind of newness of life is revealed.
Things change; they do not end. And isn’t that a wonderful thing to contemplate, as we approach the close of another liturgical year, and look forward to the deep expectation of Advent?
(Bishop Robert P. Reed is an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Boston, pastor of St. Patrick and Sacred Heart parishes in Watertown, Massachusetts, and president of the CatholicTV Network. He is chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Communications.)
By Kate Scanlon (OSV News) – A federal judge in Texas on Nov. 7 struck down a Biden administration program to protect from deportation and provide a path to U.S. citizenship for hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants living in the country who are married to U.S. citizens.
The program, known as “Keeping Families Together,” which sought to allow undocumented spouses and stepchildren of U.S. citizens to apply for a green card without first having to leave the country, was challenged by 16 Republican-led states that filed a lawsuit after applications were made available in August. At that time, a judge put the program on hold.
“Sadly, this court decision will likely end the program, as Trump will terminate it upon taking office,” J. Kevin Appleby, senior fellow for policy at the Center for Migration Studies of New York and the former director of migration policy for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, told OSV News.
“Instead, his administration will start targeting the exact same families for deportation, separating U.S. citizen children from their parents,” Appleby said. “Hopefully, Catholic advocates, including the U.S. bishops, will not pull their punches in opposing Trump’s mass deportation and anti-asylum plans. History will mark how the church in the U.S. defends the rights of migrants in the years ahead.”
A migrant from Chiapas, Mexico, looks through his family’s immigration paperwork at Casa Alitas in Tucson, Ariz., March 15, 2024. A federal judge in Texas Nov. 7 struck down a Biden administration program that gave a pathway to legalization and citizenship for certain undocumented spouses and children of U.S. citizens. (OSV News photo/Rebecca Noble, Reuters)
Under the terms of the program, applicants must have resided in the U.S. for 10 or more years and be legally married to a U.S. citizen. Those approved by the Department of Homeland Security would have been permitted to remain in the U.S. for a three-year period to apply for permanent residency. In June, the White House had said the program would benefit “approximately half a million spouses of U.S. citizens, and approximately 50,000 noncitizen children under the age of 21 whose parent is married to a U.S. citizen.” But Judge J. Campbell Barker of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, who previously temporarily blocked the program, struck it down Nov. 7, arguing the administration exceeded its authority in creating the program.
The program would have been unlikely to remain in place once President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January.
Andrew Bailey, the attorney general of Missouri, one of the states that joined the lawsuit challenging the program, said in a post on X (formerly Twitter), “The court just granted our request to throw out the Biden-Harris administration’s illegal parole-in-place program allowing illegal aliens to remain in our country after they have crossed the border. A huge win for the rule of law.”
FWD.us, an immigration and criminal justice reform advocacy group, said in a post on X it is “deeply disappointed” by the ruling, arguing the program represented “a lifeline for hundreds of thousands of American families in desperate need of protection from being separated by our failed immigration system.”
Previously, Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas, who serves as chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Migration, praised the Biden administration rule at the time. He noted a similar program had been available to military service members and their families for several years. In a June 18 statement, Bishop Seitz said, “We’ve seen the positive impacts such programs can have, not only for beneficiaries themselves but for the families, employers, and communities that rely on them,” adding that the new program was “sure to yield similar benefits.”
The Catholic Church’s magisterium outlines the church’s moral parameters on immigration. The Catechism of the Catholic Church instructs, “The more prosperous nations are obliged, to the extent they are able, to welcome the foreigner in search of the security and the means of livelihood which he cannot find in his country of origin.”
At the same time, the church has also made clear human laws are also subject to divine limits. St. John Paul II’s 1993 encyclical “Veritatis Splendor” (“Splendor of Truth”) and 1995 encyclical “Evangelium Vitae” (“The Gospel of Life”) — both quote the Second Vatican Council’s teaching in “Gaudium et Spes,” the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, which names “deportation” among various specific acts “offensive to human dignity” that “are a disgrace, and so long as they infect human civilization they contaminate those who inflict them more than those who suffer injustice, and they are a negation of the honor due to the Creator.”
Back in June, Bishop Seitz emphasized that “legislators have a moral and patriotic duty to improve our legal immigration system, including the opportunities available for family reunification and preservation.” “A society is only as strong as its families, and family unity is a fundamental right,” he said. “For the good of the country, Congress must find a way to overcome partisan divisions and enact immigration reform that includes an earned legalization program for longtime undocumented residents.”
(Kate Scanlon is a national reporter for OSV News covering Washington. Follow her on X (formerly known as Twitter) @kgscanlon.)
NATION WASHINGTON (OSV News) – Catholic Mobilizing Network, a group that advocates for the abolition of capital punishment in line with Catholic teaching, issued a statement Nov. 6 urging President Joe Biden to take action on the practice during the remainder of his presidency while 40 lives on death row “hang in the balance.” Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy, CMN’s executive director, noted in a statement that Biden became the first U.S. president in 2020 to have campaigned on an openly anti-death penalty platform. After Biden was elected, his administration declared a moratorium on federal executions, but some activists say he should have gone further to end the practice. Vaillancourt Murphy argued the nation’s second Catholic president should follow through with concrete action in the post-election lame-duck period before President-elect Donald Trump, who has sought to expand the uses of capital punishment, returns to the White House. “As faithful anti-death penalty advocates, we know lives hang in the balance,” Vaillancourt Murphy said. She said CMN would “redouble its efforts to urge President Biden to commute the sentences of all 40 men currently on federal death row before he leaves office in January.” The group invited Catholics to sign a petition, hosted at catholicsmobilizing.org, calling on Biden to do so.
WASHINGTON (OSV News) – The Archdiocese of Los Angeles’ $880 million abuse claims settlement, announced Oct. 16, brings the total payouts of U.S. Catholic dioceses for abuse claims since 2004 to more than $5 billion – and possibly more than $6 billion – OSV News has found. An aggregated total from two decades of reports issued by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops shows the nation’s dioceses and eparchies paid some $4.384 billion to settle claims between 2004 and 2023. Data for fiscal year 2024 is still pending; however, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles’ $880 million settlement and a $323 million settlement announced Sept. 26 by the Diocese of Rockville Centre, New York, account for $1.2 billion within the span of less than a month. Those two settlements, plus the USCCB total for 2004-2023, add up to $5.59 billion. The USCCB 2004-2023 total does not appear to include a $660 million settlement announced in 2007 by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles which, along with the Oct. 16 settlement, brings that archdiocese’s total to at least $1.54 billion in abuse-related costs over the past two decades. An archdiocesan official told OSV News the archdiocese was looking into how that settlement data was reported. The overall national total of diocesan settlement payouts for the past two decades could exceed $6.24 billion, if the USCCB data does not already include the 2007 Archdiocese of Los Angeles payout. Data from the USCCB’s reports does not include any settlements that dioceses reached with victims prior to 2004.
The Christmas tree is lighted in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican Dec. 9, 2023. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)
VATICAN VATICAN CITY (CNS) – A local Italian group launched an online petition urging Pope Francis, the Vatican and others to stop the “fir tree-icide” of cutting down a 200-year-old red pine to decorate St. Peter’s Square for Christmas. The Bears and Others Association, a land and wildlife conservancy group located in the northern Italian province of Trento, launched the petition on change.org Oct. 13. It had gathered more than 49,800 signatories by midday Nov. 15. Citing the pope’s teachings on caring for creation, the group said, “It is necessary to give clear and concise signals” to change people’s attitudes toward respecting nature, especially given the rapidly evolving climate change. The Christmas tree “is a pagan tradition and has nothing to do with the birth of Christ,” the petition said. Renato Girardi, mayor of Ledro, told the Italian state television network, RAI, that the donated tree comes from a certified sustainable working forest that follows strict forest management practices, which include thinning out towering, older trees to open up the canopy and facilitate the growth of multiple younger trees below. Renato Girardi, mayor of Ledro, said the tree was actually 60 years old, according to Avvenire, the newspaper of the Italian bishops’ conference, Nov. 19.
WORLD MEXICO CITY (OSV News) – The Mexican bishops’ conference expressed deep concern over an initiative in the Mexico City assembly “which seeks to completely eliminate legal protection for life in gestation” and could lead to the further removal of limits on abortion across the country. “This initiative, which seeks the total decriminalization of abortion in Mexico City, and which will probably be extended to other states in the Republic, would not only eliminate the current limit of twelve weeks of gestation, but would also open the door to the termination of pregnancy at any time,” the bishops’ said in a Nov. 6 statement signed by the conference president, Archbishop Rogelio Cabrera López of Monterrey, and its general secretary, Bishop Ramón Castro Castro of Cuernavaca. “As pastors, we cannot remain silent in the face of a measure that, under the pretext of defending rights, in reality ignores the most fundamental human right: ‘the right to life from conception to natural death,’ and abandons women to decisions that can dramatically affect their lives.” A pair of commissions in the Mexico City assembly voted Nov. 4 to eliminate abortion from the criminal code, along with any limits on how late an abortion could occur during pregnancy. Punishments of three to six months in prison or 100 to 300 days of community service for women who abort were also scrapped.
VIENNA (OSV News) – With new reports of human rights organizations in Europe, it is clear that anti-Christian discrimination is a hot-button issue in the old continent, and on the rise. The Vienna-based Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe revealed widespread intolerance and discrimination against Christians in Europe in its Nov. 15 report, published in cooperation with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, or OSCE, and its Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights. OIDAC Europe identified 2,444 anti-Christian hate crimes which were documented by police and civil society in 35 European countries in 2023, including 232 personal attacks on Christians, such as harassment, threats and physical violence. These figures include data requested from governments, which found 1,230 anti-Christian hate crimes recorded by 10 European governments in 2023, up from 1,029 recorded by governments in 2022. While only 10 European governments submitted data on anti-Christian hate crimes in 2023, civil society reported incidents from 26 European countries. The report was published ahead of Nov. 16 observance of International Day for Tolerance, which was established in 1996 by the United Nations General Assembly.
JACKSON — A spot in the parking lot of the Cathedral of St. Peter is being prepared for the arrival of a bronze statue of Sister Thea Bowman. Bishop Joseph Koapcz will bless the statue following Mass on Saturday, Dec. 21 at 11 a.m. in the Cathedral. (Photos by Tereza Ma)
SPIRITUAL ENRICHMENT GLUCKSTADT – St. Joseph, Millions of Monicas – Praying with confidence for our children, each Tuesday from 6:30-7:30 p.m. in the church. Join with other mothers, grandmothers and step-mothers as we pray to grow in holiness and humility, and for our children’s faithful return to the church. Details: church office (601) 856-2054 or email millionsofmonicas@stjosephgluckstadt.com.
St. Joseph, Fatima Five First Saturdays Devotion, Jan. 4, Feb. 1, March 1, April 5 and May 3, 2025. Confession begins at 8 a.m. and ends with a period of meditation beginning at 10 a.m. Details: church office (601) 856-2054.
OFFICE OF CATHOLIC EDUCATION – The OCE hosts a Zoom Rosary the first Wednesday of each month during the school year at 7 p.m. On Dec. 4, Annunciation School will lead us in prayer. Join early and place your intentions in the chat. Details: Join the rosary via zoom at https://bit.ly/zoomrosary2024 or check the diocese calendar of events.
ROBINSONVILLE – Good Shepherd, “Journey through Advent,” Wednedays, Dec. 4, 11 and 18 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Small group sessions on Advent Sunday readings led by Sister Rose. All are invited! Details: church office (662) 342-1073.
PARISH, FAMILY & SCHOOL EVENTS COLUMBUS – Annunciation Parish, “Columbus Sings G.F. Handel’s Messiah,” Tuesday, Dec. 10 at 7 p.m. Tickets available in church office. No charge. Details: church office (662) 328-2927.
CORINTH – St. James the Less, Parish Thanksgiving Meal, Thursday, Nov. 28 after 9 a.m. Mass. Bring your favorite dish and celebrate Father Mario’s birthday. Come enjoy fellowship and give thanks to God for all of His blessings. Details: church office (662) 331-5184.
FLOWOOD – St. Paul, Christmas Bingo, Friday, Dec. 6, doors open at 6 p.m. with bingo at 6:30 p.m. Be sure to wear your festive Christmas attire and come join the fun. Adults only. BYOB. Details: church office (601) 992-9547.
St. Paul, Breast Cancer Support Group, Sunday, Dec. 8 at 2:30 p.m. in the Family Life Center (St. Peter’s Room). A gathering of women in all stages of their breast cancer journey. Details: call or text Monica at (601) 942-5753.
HERNANDO – Holy Spirit, Christmas Program and Dinner, Sunday, Dec. 8. Save the date. Details: Keelan at (601) 604-2202.
JACKSON – St. Peter the Apostle, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration, Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025 from 1-2:30 p.m. with speaker Constance Slaughter Harvey. You may write a one page reflection on how Dr. King’s message impacted your life or society. Submit no later than Jan. 10. Details: amelia.breton@jacksondiocese.org.
NATCHEZ – St. Mary Basilica, Advent Wreath Workshop, Sunday, Dec. 1, in the Family Life Center after 10 a.m. Mass. Families or individuals are invited to come and make an Advent wreath. Fun craft activities available for children. Details: church office (601) 445-5616.
SOUTHAVEN – Christ the King, Advent Program, Sunday, Dec. 1 at 4 p.m. followed by dinner. Details: church office (662) 342-1073.
DIOCESE #iGiveCatholic on #GivingTuesday, Dec. 3, Advanced giving is now open – Nov. 18 through Dec. 2. Details: https://jackson.igivecatholic.org.
YOUNG ADULTS – Theology on Tap Karaoke Christmas, Thursday, Dec. 19 from 7-9 p.m. at Mr. Chen’s Restaurant in Jackson. Adults 21+ are welcome for an evening of food, fellowship and karaoke. Guest are responsible for cost of drinks and dinner. Details: amelia.rizor@jacksondiocese.org.
Camino de Santiago Pilgrimage, May 12-27. Father Lincoln Dall will be leading this once in a lifetime journey. Space is limited. Email amelia.rizor@jacksondiocese.org for more information.
YOUTH – Diocesan SEARCH Retreat for tenth through twelfth graders, Jan. 17-19, 2025 at Camp Wesley Pines, Gallman. Diocese High School Confirmation Retreat, Jan. 25-26, 2025 at Lake Forest Ranch, Macon. Diocese Catholic Youth Conference – DCYC for ninth through twelfth grades, March 21-23, 2025 at the Vicksburg Convention Center. Details: contact your individual parish offices or contact Abbey at (601) 949-6934 or abbey.schuhmann@jacksondiocese.org.
CATHOLIC ENGAGED ENCOUNTER – CEE is the diocesan marriage prep program for couples preparing for the sacrament of marriage. The upcoming weekends for 2025 are: Feb. 21-23; Aug. 1-3; and Oct. 24-26 at Camp Garaywa in Clinton; and April 25-27 at Lake Tiak-O’Khata in Louisville. Register at https://bit.ly/CEE2024-2025. Details: email debbie.tubertini@jacksondiocese.org.
PENANCE SERVICES CLINTON – Holy Savior, Wednesday, Dec. 18 at 6 p.m. CANTON – Sacred Heart, Tuesday, Dec. 10 at 6 p.m. COLUMBUS – Annunciation, Thursday, Dec. 19 at 6 p.m. GREENVILLE – St. Joseph, Monday, Dec. 16 at 5:30 p.m. HERNANDO – Holy Spirit, Wednesday, Dec. 18 at 7 p.m. JACKSON – Cathedral of St. Peter, Tuesday, Dec. 17 from 5:30-7 p.m. MADISON – St. Francis, Thursday, Dec. 5 at 6 p.m. MAGEE – St. Stephen, Monday, Dec. 9 at 6 p.m. OLIVE BRANCH – Queen of Peace, Wednesday, Dec. 11 at 7 p.m. PEARL – St. Jude, Wednesday, Dec. 11 at 6 p.m. SOUTHAVEN – Christ the King, Tuesday, Dec. 10 at 7 p.m.
By Michael R. Heinlein (OSV News) – We are greatly blessed by the contributions of Black Catholics in the church in the United States, particularly their illuminating legacy of holiness. The struggles and pain faced by the African American community are succinctly captured in the lives of these six Black Catholics now being considered for canonization. In them we can find the greatest of human characteristics, truly men and women for our times.
Pierre Toussaint, declared “Venerable” in 1996, is depicted in a stained-glass window in the mausoleum chapel at Holy Rood Cemetery in Westbury, N.Y. Born into slavery in modern-day Haiti, Toussaint (1766-1853) became a successful hairdresser in New York City. He later bought his freedom and generously supported many charitable endeavors of the local Catholic church. Toussaint is among the U.S. Black Catholic sainthood candidates who receive special recognition during National Black Catholic History Month, observed every November. (CNS photo/Gregory A. Shemitz)
– Venerable Pierre Toussaint (1766–1853) Born a slave in Haiti, Toussaint came to New York as property of a French Haitian family, who later freed him in 1807. Establishing himself as a successful hairdresser, Toussaint earned a sizable salary, which he put to use for the good of others, beginning with the purchase of his sister’s freedom as well as that of his future wife, Juliette. Together the Toussaints spent their lives in service to the poor and needy. When urged to retire and enjoy his remaining years, Toussaint is quoted as saying, “I have enough for myself, but if I stop working, I have not enough for others.”
Toussaint’s great charity and works of mercy were fueled by an abiding faith. A daily Mass attendee for more than 60 years, Toussaint lived as he worshiped. Not embittered by the hardships he endured because of his race and his Catholic faith, the model layman gave of himself to others. Toussaint and his wife adopted his niece, took in orphans and funded orphanages, operated a credit bureau, established hostels for priests and refugees, and generously supported the church and other institutions. Toussaint attended to the sick and suffering, too, even strangers whom he helped nurse to health.
Toussaint died June 30, 1853. In 1990, his remains were moved to a niche in the bishop’s crypt at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City – a rather poetic postscript to the life of a man whose race once prohibited him from entering the city’s Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral. He was declared venerable in 1996.
Venerable Henriette Delille, who founded the Sisters of the Holy Family in New Orleans in 1842, is depicted in a painting by Haitian artist Ulrick Jean Pierre. The Diocese of Little Rock, Ark., submitted formal documentation from a fact-finding mission regarding an alleged miracle, a healing through the intercession of Mother Henriette of a 19-year-old Arkansas college student in 2008. (CNS photo/courtesy Sisters of the Holy Family)
– Venerable Mother Henriette Delille (1812–1862) Born out of wedlock to a Frenchman and a free woman of color, Henriette Delille spent all her life in and around New Orleans’ French Quarter. A cultured young woman of high society, Delille was expected, like her mother and the women of her family, to form a liaison relationship with an eligible white man. After receiving the sacrament of confirmation, however, Delille clearly became a woman committed to the Lord. Her guiding motto, written in a prayer book, captures what defined her heart and spurred her vocation: “I believe in God. I hope in God. I love. I want to live and die for God.”
Prevailing racist attitudes, even within the church, made Delille’s pursuit of a religious vocation painful and difficult, and two congregations denied her admittance. Undeterred by the rejection, Delille persevered to establish a religious congregation herself in 1836. Using inheritance from her mother, Delille began what became known as the Sisters of the Holy Family with the aim to serve the poor, sick and elderly, and to teach the faith to both slave and free children.
Delille’s generosity and love was known to everyone who knew her. She was a mother to all she encountered, and sacramental records show she even served as godmother and marriage witness to many. She died Nov. 16, 1862, at age 49. An obituary summed up her calling: “For the love of Jesus Christ she had become the humble and devout servant of the slaves.” Delille’s cause for canonization opened in 1988, and she was declared venerable in 2010.
Father Augustine Tolton, also known as Augustus, is pictured in a photo from an undated portrait card. Born into slavery in Missouri, he was ordained a priest April 24, 1886. He served as pastor at St. Joseph Church in Quincy, Ill., and later established St. Monica’s Church in Chicago. (CNS photo/courtesy of Archdiocese of Chicago Archives and Records Center)
– Venerable Father Augustus Tolton (1854–1897) Augustus Tolton, born the son of slaves on April 1, 1854, was the first Black individual from the United States to be ordained a priest. But his path to priesthood was not easy.
After a harrowing escape from their Missouri home, Tolton’s family settled in freedom in Quincy, Illinois, where the pastor accepted him into the parish school despite much opposition from parishioners. Later, as Tolton began to pursue a priestly vocation, seminaries across the United States rejected his applications out of prejudice.
With heroic determination, Tolton pressed on toward his calling. He was accepted to a seminary in Rome and was ordained there in 1886. Though Tolton expected to serve as a missionary in Africa, he soon found out that he was destined for service back in the United States. “America has been called the most enlightened nation; we will see if it deserves that honor,” said Cardinal Giovanni Simeoni, prefect of the Holy See’s Congregation for Propagation of the Faith, which oversaw Tolton’s seminary. “If America has never seen a black priest, it has to see one now.” Upon his return to Quincy, Father Tolton was met with racial prejudice by laity and clergy alike. An authority even told him not to allow white people to attend his parish. A priest of great humility and obedience, Tolton was invited to minister in Chicago in 1889, and left Quincy thinking he had been a failure there.
In Chicago, Tolton was indefatigable in his efforts to serve a growing Black Catholic community and established St. Monica Church for Black Catholics. Returning from a retreat by train, Tolton collapsed on a Chicago street amid record heat and died July 9, 1897, at the young age of forty-three, and his body was returned to Quincy for burial. Tolton’s cause for canonization was opened in 2010, and he was declared venerable in 2019.
A painting depicts Mother Mary Elizabeth Lange, founder of the Oblate Sisters of Providence, the first Catholic order of African American nuns, who work largely in the Baltimore area. Vatican officials are moving ahead with Mother Lange’s sainthood cause, Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori said Dec. 5, 2019, in Rome. (CNS photo/courtesy of the Catholic Review)
– Venerable Mother Mary Lange (c. 1784–1882) Few details are known about the early life of Elizabeth Lange. Likely born in Santiago de Cuba, she emigrated to the United States with a heart ready for service. Known to be of African descent, Lange once described herself as “French to my soul.” God’s providence eventually led Lange to Baltimore, where there was a sizable group of French-speaking Catholics who fled Haiti at the time of their revolution. At that time, no free education existed for Black children in Maryland. There, Lange operated a free school out of her home. Financial difficulties eventually forced its closure.
Lange was drawn into further teaching by Sulpician Father James Joubert, who also encouraged her and a few companions to consecrate their lives and work to God as professed religious women. With Mother Mary Elizabeth Lange as the first superior, the Oblate Sisters of Providence were established in 1829 – the first successful congregation for Black women in the United States. With Lange’s pioneering vision and holy example, the Oblate sisters persevered through great difficulties and offered their lives in service to all in need – especially to pupils, orphans, widows, the sick and those in spiritual need.
With a humble heart, Lange accepted whatever tasks lay before her. In her final years she patiently endured many hardships. Yet, Lange consistently persevered trusting in God’s provident hand. She died Feb. 3, 1882, and her cause for canonization formally was opened in 1991.
This image of Julia Greeley, a former slave who lived in Colorado, was commissioned by the Archdiocese of Denver by iconographer Vivian Imbruglia. During their fall general assembly Nov. 14-16, 2016 in Baltimore, the U.S. bishops in a voice vote approved Greeley’s sainthood cause moving forward. (CNS photo/iconographer Vivian Imbruglia, courtesy Archdiocese of Denver)
– Servant of God Julia Greeley (c. 1840–1918) Born into slavery in Hannibal, Missouri, Julia Greeley gained her freedom after the Emancipation Proclamation. Her years as a slave left a permanent mark: a drooping eye, received as the result of a beating. After moving to Colorado in 1879, Greeley fell in love with the Catholic faith. She converted the following year and immediately immersed herself in the devotional and sacramental life of the church. She attended daily Mass, was devout and pious, and took up intense fasting. When questioned about regularly eating no breakfast, Greeley would respond, “My Communion is my breakfast.”
Greeley found great joy in her love for the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which she saw as the source for her many charitable and service-oriented ministries. She was known to spread the devotion, even using it as a tool to evangelize Denver’s firemen. From her heart flowed the love of Christ’s heart.
Greeley took on a life of poverty, living in union with the poor of Denver. Taking on odd jobs like cooking and cleaning, she used her meager salary to finance a ministry to the poor while suffering from painful arthritis. She could not write, read or count, but wearing her trademark floppy hat Greeley could show Christ’s love. She dragged a red wagon filled with goods to distribute to the poor, and, at times, she even begged for them. Many of those she helped were among the nearly 1,000 mourners who attended the funeral after her death on June 7, 1918. Her canonization cause was opened in 2016.
– Servant of God Sister Thea Bowman (1937–1990) Born in Mississippi on Dec. 29, 1937, Bertha Bowman converted to Catholicism at the age of nine. Missionary priests and sisters began a Catholic school in her hometown to provide a better education for Black children, and it did not discriminate. The Gospel-filled joyfulness of those missionaries attracted the young Bowman to the faith. This same joyfulness became a hallmark trait of hers later on. Bowman was so attracted to their way of life that at fifteen she went on a hunger strike to get her parents’ permission to enter as an aspirant with her teachers’ order, the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration in La Crosse, Wisconsin.
CANTON – Holy Child Jesus school students sing with Sister Thea Bowman. (Photos courtesy archives)
Life in the convent did not protect her from racial prejudice, but she won people over with her joyful, outgoing demeanor and love for Christ and the church. The daughter of a doctor and a teacher, Sister Thea, her name given upon taking religious vows, was intellectually gifted. She earned a doctorate in English at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., and subsequently served in a variety of teaching roles.
After she, as an only child, returned home to take care of her parents in 1978, Sister Thea served as director for intercultural affairs in the Diocese of Jackson. She dedicated herself to overcoming divisions in the church and society in the wake of the Second Vatican Council and the racial strife of the 1960s. As a writer, teacher, musician and evangelist, Sister Thea preached the Gospel to clergy and laity alike, promoting ecclesial and cultural harmony and reconciliation as a tireless spokeswoman for the Black Catholic experience. Pledging to “live until I die,” Sister Thea remained wholeheartedly committed to her ministry while battling breast cancer for several years. She died March 30, 1990, and her cause for canonization was opened in 2018.
(Michael R. Heinlein is editor of “Black Catholics on the Road to Sainthood” and author of “Glorifying Christ: The Life of Cardinal Francis E. George, OMI.”)
By Justin McLellan VATICAN CITY (CNS) – People in positions of authority should care for the vulnerable and exercise their power with humility, not with hypocrisy and arrogance, Pope Francis said.
Reflecting on the day’s Gospel reading from St. Mark, the pope highlighted Jesus’ warning about “the hypocritical attitude of some scribes” who use their prestige in the community to look down on others. “This is very ugly, looking down on another person from above,” the pope told visitors gathered in St. Peter’s Square Nov. 10. “They put on airs and, hiding behind a facade of feigned respectability and legalism, arrogated privileges to themselves and even went so far as to commit outright theft to the detriment of the weakest, such as widows.”
In St. Mark’s Gospel, Jesus denounces the scribes who “devour the houses of widows and, as a pretext, recite lengthy prayers,” adding that “they will receive a very severe condemnation.”
Pope Francis said that rather than using their authority to serve others “they made it an instrument of arrogance and manipulation,” to the point where “even prayer, for them, was in danger of no longer being a moment of encounter with the Lord, but an occasion to flaunt respectability and feigned piety, useful for attracting people’s attention and gaining approval.”
As a result, the pope said those leaders “behaved like corrupt people, feeding a social and religious system in which it was normal to take advantage of others behind their backs, especially the most defenseless, committing injustices and ensuring impunity for themselves.”
Pope Francis gives his blessing to visitors in St. Peter’s Square gathered to pray the Angelus at the Vatican Nov. 10, 2024. (CNS photo/Pablo Esparza)
In contrast, Jesus “taught very different things about authority,” Pope Francis said.
“He spoke about it in terms of self-sacrifice and humble service, of maternal and paternal tenderness toward people, especially those most in need,” he said. “He invites those invested with it to look at others from their position of power, not to humiliate them, but to lift them up, giving them hope and assistance.”
After reciting the Angelus, the pope prayed for the victims of a Nov. 9 volcanic eruption in Indonesia, which he visited in September. He also expressed his closeness to the people of Valencia, Spain, affected by severe floodings and mudslides.
The pope also recalled the situation in Mozambique, where 21 people have been killed in clashes with police following a disputed election in October. He prayed for the people of Mozambique, asking that “the present situation does not cause them to lose faith in the path of democracy, justice and peace.” The day before the opening of COP 29, the U.N. climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, Pope Francis prayed that participating nations would “may make an effective contribution for the protection of our common home.”
