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Helplessness as fruitful

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IN EXILE
By Father Ron Rolheiser, OMI

Sometimes we are the most helpful and life-giving at the very times when we are most helpless. We’ve all been there. We’re at a funeral and there’s nothing to say that will ease the heartache of someone who has lost a loved one. We feel awkward and helpless. We’d like to say or do something, but there’s nothing to be said or done, other than to be there, embrace the one nursing the grief and share our helplessness. Passing strange, but it is our very helplessness that’s most helpful and generative in that situation. Our passivity is more fruitful and generative than if we were doing something.

We see an example of this in Jesus. He gave both his life and his death for us – but in separate moments. He gave his life for us through his activity and his death for us through his passivity, that is, through what he absorbed in helplessness. Indeed, we can divide each of the Gospels into two clear parts. Up until his arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus is the active one: he teaches, he heals, he performs miracles, he feeds people. Then, after he is arrested, he doesn’t do anything: he is handcuffed, led away, put on trial, scourged and crucified. Yet, and this is the mystery, we believe that he gave us more during that time when he couldn’t do anything than during all those times he was active. We are saved more through his passivity and helplessness than through his powerful actions during his ministry. How does this work? How can helplessness and passivity be so generative?

Father Ron Rolheiser, OMI

Partly this is mystery, though partly we grasp some of it through experience. For example, a loving mother dying in hospice, in a coma, unable to speak, can sometimes in that condition change the hearts of her children more powerfully than she ever could during all the years when she did so much for them. What’s the logic here? By what metaphysics does this work?

Let me begin abstractly and circle this question before venturing to an answer. The atheistic thinkers of the Enlightenment (Nietzsche, Feuerbach, Marx and others) offer a very powerful critique of religion and of religious experience. In their view, all religious experience is simply subjective projection, nothing more. For them, in our faith and religious practices, we are forever creating a god in our own image and likeness, to serve our self-interest. (The very antithesis of what Christians believe.) For Nietzsche, for instance, there is no divine revelation coming from outside us, no God in heaven revealing divine truth to us. Everything is us, projecting our needs and creating a god to serve those needs. All religion is self-serving, human projection.

How true is this? One of the most influential professors I’ve studied under, Jesuit Michael Buckley, says this in face of that criticism: These thinkers are 90% correct. But they’re 10% wrong – and that 10% makes all the difference.

Buckley made this comment while teaching what John of the Cross calls a dark night of the soul. What is a dark night of the soul? It’s an experience where we can no longer sense God imaginatively or feel God affectively, when the very sense of God’s existence dries up inside us and we are left in an agnostic darkness, helpless (in head, heart and gut) to conjure up any sense of God.

However, (and this is the point, precisely because we are helpless and unable to conjure up any imaginative concepts or affective feelings about God) God can now flow into us purely, without us being able to color or contaminate that experience. When all our efforts are useless, grace can finally take over and flow into us in purity. Indeed, that’s how all authentic revelation enters our world. When human helplessness renders us incapable of making God serve our self-interest, God can then flow into our lives without contamination.

Now, this is also true for human love. So much of our love for each other, no matter our sincerity, is colored by self-interest and is at some point self-serving. In some fashion, we inevitably form those we love into our own image and likeness. However, as is the case with Buckley’s critique of the atheistic thinkers of the Enlightenment, this isn’t always the case. There are certain situations when we can’t in any way taint love and make it self-serving. What are those situations? Precisely those in which find we ourselves completely helpless, mute, stammering, unable to say or do anything that’s helpful. In these particular “dark nights of the soul,” when we are completely helpless to shape the experience, love and grace can flow in purely and powerfully.

In his classic work The Divine Milieu, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin challenges us to help others both through our activity and through our passivity. He’s right. We can be generative through what we actively do for others, and we can be particularly generative when we stand passively with them in helplessness.

(Oblate Father Ron Rolheiser is a theologian, teacher and award-winning author. He can be contacted through his website www.ronrolheiser.com.)

Parents teach Christian values best by example, pope says

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By Cindy Wooden

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The only way for parents to teach their children the beauty and importance of marriage and of accepting children as a gift from God is through their example, Pope Francis said.
Children “are immersed” in a media and cultural environment extolling virtues and practices that are “at odds with what, until a few decades ago, was considered ‘normal’ but is no longer the case,” the pope told members of the European Parents’ Association.

“Parents thus find themselves constantly having to show their children the goodness and reasonableness of choices and values that can no longer be taken for granted, such as the importance of marriage and the family, or the decision to accept children as a gift from God,” the pope told the group Nov. 11.

In his talk, Pope Francis reiterated the church’s strong support for the right of parents “to raise and educate their children in freedom, without finding themselves constrained in any sphere, particularly in that of schooling, to accept educational programs contrary to their beliefs and values.”

While the culture and its values change, “the needs of the human heart remain the same,” the pope said, and that is the place where parents must start in educating children to be good Christians and responsible citizens.

Pope Francis receives a gift from a member of the European Parents’ Association in the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican Nov. 11, 2023. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

“God himself has planted in our nature an irrepressible need for love, truth and beauty, an openness to others in healthy relationships and an openness to himself as our creator,” he said. “These yearnings of the human heart are powerful allies of every educator.”

Parents must help their children recognize “the beauty of life in this world and grow confident and enthused about the prospect of embarking on the adventure of life, convinced that they too have a mission to carry out, a mission which will bring them great fulfillment and happiness,” Pope Francis said.
To instill that in children, he said, they must know that God loves them.

“When we realize that at the root of our being is the love of God our father, then we see clearly that life is good, that being born is good and that loving is good,” the pope said.

Firm in the knowledge that one is loved by God and is a gift to one’s family gives a person the strength he or she needs to avoid “a demeaning tendency to hoard material goods, a constant concern not to run risks, not to get overly involved, not to get our hands dirty.”

Instead, he said, they learn to see how “life blossoms in all its richness and beauty” when it is shared with others.

That Christian outlook, the pope said, is also the root of a healthy society because it trains young people “in sound and respectful relationships with others, a readiness to cooperate in view of a shared goal, forming them to take responsibility, a sense of duty and the value of sacrifice for sake of the common good.”

Sacrificing excitement to make the wait of Advent more holy

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Senior Standing
By Lisa M. Hendey

“Waiting has never been my strong suit. I tend to associate long waits with a childhood tradition that I’m certain my mother invented. Each Christmas when I was young, Leroy and Bessie, Mom’s parents, would make the annual drive from their home in Fort Wayne, Indiana to ours in Westminster, California. We always knew the day of their scheduled arrival. But in those pre-GPS, non-cell-phone-toting days, we had no idea of the exact hour.

Sometime after breakfast, Mom would send my younger siblings and me to the front yard where we would dutifully “wait for Grandma and Grandpa” on the street curb. In retrospect, I realize it’s likely that Mom knew better, and that we were only out there for a matter of minutes, but to me, the wait felt endless.

But that first sight of my grandparents as they stepped out of their car was well worth the wait on that hard curb. Perhaps the unknown of their arrival time, those hours of anticipation, made the payoff all the greater when we wrapped them in hugs and kisses. Now, as a grandmother myself, I can relate to how they must have felt.

“Are we almost there?” Grandma Bessie must certainly have asked Leroy. For she was waiting too.
I experience a similar impatience each year when the violet, rose and green hues of our family’s Advent wreath emerge from my Christmas bins. Those wreaths and their candles, and our daily devotionals, help us to mark the days until the Nativity of Our Lord. But it seems the more I age, the more childlike and impatient I become for the “big day” to be upon us.

Catholics celebrate liturgical seasons rather than singular days for a reason, though, and so this year, I have decided to focus on lingering in the waiting – sacrificing my own excitement as I try to make my anticipation something holy.

If we are living Advent mindfully, we are preparing our hearts and minds for something even more remarkable than Christ’s birth: his second coming in salvation. Advent, at its best, can be for us a time of intense spiritual training – to make straight our paths toward our ultimate goal: an eternity in God’s presence.

The autumn makes us long for Advent as we wait for the time of waiting, writes Lisa M. Hendey. (OSV News photo/Pixabay)

I realize that sanctifying the waiting does not simply happen as I slide open the doors on my glitter-gilded calendar. This year, I hope to be doing all of my usual Advent-y things. I’ll light the candles and send out the cards. I’ll seek the perfect gifts and ponder over the O Antiphons. I’ll bake the cookies and will probably burn a few of them.

But I hope to approach my waiting – especially for those waits that challenge me so greatly – with greater intentionality, and here is how. Sometimes the waiting keeps us looking for resolution. We may have experienced the loss of a job, the further explanation of a pending diagnosis, or the outcome of a hoped-for plan or dream. When that happens, we understandably focus on the state of our incompleteness. In our crises of confidence, may we remember to pray for a greater acceptance of God’s perfect will for our lives.

Some of us await reconciliation. We may deeply feel the loss of relationships with loved ones that have dimmed or grown dark completely. As the world around us plays out various Hallmark moments of family gatherings, we lament the empty seat at our holiday table. In the absence of our loved one’s physical presence, may we remember to pray unceasingly for their well-being.

Some of us await peace. We may be overwhelmed by despair at the profound divides in our world that seem to further separate us with each passing day. Embroiled in our own traumas and those of nations around us, we may lose sight of hope. As we tune into the daily news (and the state of our own souls), may we remember in our waiting to invoke the lasting love of the Christ Child, our Prince of perfect peace.

(Lisa M. Hendey is the founder of CatholicMom.com, a bestselling author and an international speaker. “Senior Standing” appears monthly at OSV News)

Scars

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FROM THE HERMITAGE
By Sister alies therese

In the Texas death house, on Nov. 9. 2023, Brent Brewer uttered these last words, “tell the family of the victim I could never figure out the right words to fix what I have broken.” And with that he was executed and died, the seventh execution this year in Texas.

In this month of November, we celebrate the dead, Dia de los Muertos, those who have gone before us, but do we pay attention, however, to every day death-dealing … wars filling the globe, hunger, abortions for inconvenience, executions, euthanasia, or the dying of those in hospital or nursing homes, fading away, cast aside?

Scars are forever things; they ache. “I thought about what death is and what loss is – a sharp pain that lessens with time but can never quite heal. A scar.” So says Maya Lin, the Chinese American creator of the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, DC where thousands of names are beautifully inscribed to serve as reminders. Maybe we have not figured out the words or the policies that will fix what is broken? Maybe they are scars that never heal?

Recently the President told us he took his grandchildren, one at a time, when they turned 15, to Dachau in Germany to see the concentration camp and to hear his instruction: never again. Never again seems a lot like here we go again when we view the world and the savage massacres of men, women and children. Having visited Dachau myself I can tell you that the chills that ran up and down my spine will never be forgotten nor the ache when visiting a friend on death row.

November is about remembrance, yes … and rightly so. About love and about loss. It is also about service and protection. Indeed. Perhaps, however, it might also be a month of renewal? A new commitment to peace, a month where like the suffering servant in Isaiah all people across the world are not murdered for who they are … Black, Native American, Asian, Hispanic, Jew, Palestinian, gay, women?

Gary Cummins in If Only We Could See (Cascade, 2015) writes, “like the suffering servant, ‘the crucified people have no form, no comeliness, no beauty, (Is 53:2) since to the ugliness of daily poverty is added that of disfiguring bloodshed, the terror of tortures and mutilations….’ As Rauschenbusch says, ‘religiosity sharpens the steel edge of intolerance.’ As Pascal says, ‘people never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.’”

What part of these are we ignoring?

Let’s use the rest of this month to discover what death and fear bring to the human spirit, to the soul. Of our many remembrances let’s honor those who told the truth, who did not lie to us; let’s honor those who struggled to help others, who went out of their way to sacrifice themselves, especially when it was unpopular. Consider your own scars received from abuse, or hatred, or hopelessness … and then ask the Good Jesus to wash your heart with His love so that you might not pass on any resentments or fears to others. In our tradition we remind one another that life has changed not ended and so does American teacher and writer Helen Coutant, in First Snow, who says: “At this moment, Lien thought she understood what dying meant. The drop of water had not really gone; it had only changed like the snowflake into something else.”

Let’s pray for a change of spirit, one of the beatitudes and especially draw to our hearts the tiny children who suffer so and if living with scars of anguish might just take that other path. May our prayer join those of St. Francis as Thomas Celano (St. Francis of Assisi, 1988) writes “The common view of Francis forgets that after his vision of Christ crucified, ‘he could never keep himself from weeping, even bewailing in a loud voice the passion of Christ. For this he allowed himself no consolation and filled his days with ‘sighs.’ “Let us weep as we work for justice, let us cry out to an awesome God who promises to hear us.
Blessings.

(Sister alies therese is a canonically vowed hermit with days formed around prayer and writing.)

Bishop Strickland removed from diocese after accusing pope of backing ‘attack on the sacred’

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By Maria Wiering and Peter Jesserer Smith

(OSV News) – Pope Francis has removed Bishop Joseph E. Strickland from the pastoral governance of the Diocese of Tyler, Texas, the Holy See Press Office announced Nov. 11. Simultaneously, Francis has appointed Bishop Joe S. Vásquez of Austin as apostolic administrator to oversee the diocese until a new bishop is appointed.

No reason was given for Bishop Strickland’s removal, although speculation about his future in the diocese has swirled for months following the bishop’s May 12 post on Twitter (now known as X), accusing the pontiff of “undermining the deposit of faith.”

The pope’s decision followed an address given by Bishop Strickland at an Oct. 31 public gathering in Rome, where he read from a lengthy letter, attributed to a “dear friend,” that accused Pope Francis (among other things) of being a “usurper of Peter’s chair.” Later, the bishop opined himself that Pope Francis was supporting an “attack on the sacred” coming out of the Vatican.

The speculation about Bishop Strickland’s future was accelerated by a June 19-24 apostolic visitation of the Diocese of Tyler conducted by retired Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas of Tucson, Arizona, and Bishop Dennis J. Sullivan of Camden, New Jersey.

File photo of Pope Francis greeting Bishop Joseph E. Strickland of Tyler, Texas, during a Jan. 20, 2020, meeting with U.S. bishops from Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas during their “ad limina” visits to the Vatican. The Holy See Press Office announced Nov. 11, 2023, that Pope Francis has removed Bishop Strickland from the pastoral governance of the Diocese of Tyler. (OSV News photo/Vatican Media)

On Nov. 11, Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston released a public statement on the bishop’s removal, explaining that after the apostolic visitation of the Tyler Diocese took place – which he described as “an exhaustive inquiry into all aspects of the governance and leadership of the Diocese of Tyler by its Ordinary” – it was recommended “the continuation in office of Bishop Strickland was not feasible.”

“After months of careful consideration by the Dicastery for Bishops and the Holy Father, the decision was reached that the resignation of Bishop Strickland should be requested,” Cardinal DiNardo said in his statement. “Having been presented with that request on November 9, 2023, Bishop Strickland declined to resign from office. Thereafter, on Nov. 11, 2023, the Holy Father removed Bishop Strickland from the Office of Bishop of Tyler.”

“Let us keep Bishop Strickland, the clergy and faithful of the Diocese of Tyler and Bishop Vasquez in our prayers,” Cardinal DiNardo concluded.

OSV News was told by Elizabeth Slaten, communications director for the Diocese of Tyler, that Bishop Strickland is “not available for comment at this time.”

Bishop Strickland had himself indicated previously that he would not resign willingly from office. The Pillar reported in September that Bishop Strickland’s removal had been recommended to the Holy Father following the apostolic visitation.

In a Sept. 20 blog post on his website, bishopstrickland.com, the bishop addressed rumors of an impending resignation, saying to resign “would be me abandoning the flock that I was given charge of by Pope Benedict XVI.” However, he said that he would respect Pope Francis’ authority if the pontiff removed him from the diocese.

Many had connected the apostolic visitation to Bishop Strickland’s vocal criticisms of Pope Francis and other church prelates, especially on X, where he has around 153,900 followers.

The bishop himself likened the apostolic visitation to “being called to the principal’s office.” In July, he said on his weekly radio show, “The Bishop Strickland Hour,” that he believed the apostolic visitation was initiated “because I’ve been bold enough, I love the Lord enough and his church to simply keep preaching the truth.”

At the same time, he acknowledged that in the diocese “there have been some administrative issues, and I’m sure people are concerned.” Overall, he said, “the diocese is really in good shape.”

Bishop Strickland’s public opposition to Pope Francis seemed to increase substantially with the Synod of Bishops the pope had called to discuss synodality in the Catholic Church along the themes of “communion, participation and mission.” The first session of that synod took place in October; the second is scheduled for next year.

Bishop Strickland charged the synod would instead lead to further confusion and division in the church. From Sept. 5 to Oct. 17, Bishop Strickland published seven pastoral letters on various topics, including the nature of the church and of humanity, the Eucharist, matrimony and holy orders, human love in the divine plan and the error of universalism. In his final pastoral letter, he urged the faithful to “lift high the cross.”

The Oct. 31 Rome Life Forum, sponsored by LifeSiteNews, was billed as a “two-day strategy conference … held immediately after the Vatican’s Synod on Synodality which threatens to formalize heretical teachings on the family.” Organizers said the event was meant to “focus on confronting the evils of the Deep Church and Deep State and their involvement in the Great Reset agenda.”

Bishop Strickland gave a 46-minute public address, which included him reading at length from a letter he said was written to him by an unnamed “dear friend.” This letter accused Pope Francis of being “an expert at producing cowards by preaching dialogue and openness in a welcoming spirit and by highlighting always his own authority.”

The letter outright attacked Pope Francis’ validity as the successor of St. Peter, claiming he had ousted his predecessor, the late-Benedict XVI (who denied such allegations): “Would you now allow this one, who has pushed aside the true pope and has attempted to sit on a chair that is not his, define what the church is to be?”

Bishop Strickland said the letter’s words were “challenging” but did not dispute the allegations.

Bishop Strickland himself said in his address that “one of the most frustrating things coming out of the Vatican, and it’s supported at least by Pope Francis, is the attack on the sacred.”

Nine days later, Pope Francis asked for his resignation, before finally removing him Nov. 11.

Bishop Strickland did not mention his removal when posting to social media, but on Nov. 11 posted a message on X urging followers to “rejoice always that…no matter what the day brings Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life, yesterday, today and forever.”

Bishop Strickland, 65, was ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Dallas in 1985. He ministered in the northeast Texas diocese since its founding in 1987 and led the diocese since his ordination as bishop in 2012.

In 2017, Bishop Strickland issued “A Teaching Diocese: Constitution on Teaching the Catholic Faith,” which outlined a new catechetical structure for the Diocese of Tyler and established the St. Philip Institute of Catechesis and Evangelization, over which he serves as president.

Bishop Strickland has also supported the formation of Veritatis Splendor, an independent, lay-run Catholic community in his diocese with a residential development near Winona, Texas and named for Pope John Paul II’s 1993 encyclical. In a March 2021 message posted to his blog, Bishop Strickland called the initiative “an inspiration of lay Catholics seeking a community where their families can flourish in Jesus Christ.” Months later, the project was marred by scandal as its executive director stepped down over her adulterous relationship with a Texas pro-life leader.

Bishop Strickland’s public profile started growing in 2018 after he issued a notice on the diocese’s website saying he found the accusations made by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò implicating Pope Francis and other prelates in the scandals of then-cardinal Theodore McCarrick (whom Pope Francis laicized in 2019) were “credible.” The post (removed from the website but archived on the internet) directed his priests to read the notice at Mass and post on their websites and social media.

While the bishop was celebrated for his outspokenness by many in the pro-life movement, during the COVID-19 pandemic, he criticized the Vatican’s moral defense of the available vaccines, which in turn had relied upon studies and guidelines established under Pope Francis’ predecessors.

Bishop Strickland’s controversial persona eventually led to profiles in The New York Times and Esquire, the latter calling him a “‘Red-Pilled’ Bishop … Beefing With the Pope,” a reference to a tweet in which the bishop likened himself to Neo in “The Matrix,” who in the film took the “red pill” in order to unplug from the Matrix and experience reality. “I’ve seen the truth,” he explained in a 2019 interview with the National Catholic Register.

The Diocese of Tyler posted Nov. 11 a notice of the transition from Bishop Strickland to Bishop Vásquez as apostolic administrator, adding, “Our work as the Catholic Church in northeast Texas continues.”
“Our mission is to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to foster an authentic Christian community, and to serve the needs of all people with compassion and love,” it stated. “We strive to deepen our faith, promote the common good, and create a welcoming environment for all to encounter the loving God – Father, Son, and Spirit.”

(Maria Wiering is senior writer for OSV News. Peter Jesserer Smith is national news and features editor for OSV News. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @jesserersmith. OSV News national reporter Gina Christian contributed to this report. Follow her on X at @GinaJesseReina.)

Briefs

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NATION
BALTIMORE (OSV News) – Attendees of the National Eucharistic Congress July 17-21 in Indianapolis now have the option of purchasing single-day and weekend passes in order to make attendance more affordable and flexible, the bishop overseeing the congress announced Nov. 15. Speaking at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ fall plenary assembly, Bishop Andrew H. Cozzens of Crookston, Minnesota, also said scholarship funds may help ease the costs for some attendees, via the bishops’ Solidarity Fund. Standard passes for the five-day congress are $299-$375 for adults, and $99 for children ages 2-18 traveling with their family. The single-day passes will range $49-$95 depending on the day, and weekend passes will be $125. Registration does not include housing, transportation or meals related to the congress. Registration for day and weekend passes will open in January. A limited number of discounted single-day passes will be available for early registrants. The National Eucharistic Congress is the pinnacle of the National Eucharistic Revival, a three-year initiative the USCCB launched in 2022 to renew and strengthen Catholics’ understanding of and love for Jesus in the Eucharist.

MENLO PARK, Calif. (OSV News) – At age 50, seminarian Scott-Vincent Borba doesn’t consider his to be a late vocation. “God called me at age 10,” he told OSV News. “I just accepted late.” Now in his pastoral year at St. Patrick’s University and Seminary in Menlo Park, California, Borba shared with OSV News how he traded a life as a young, highly successful cosmetics industry executive – a career that included co-founding the e.l.f. line of products, regular media appearances, and clients such as actress Mila Kunis – for a life of priestly service. Fame, fortune and a nonstop work schedule ultimately couldn’t silence a call Borba experienced at age 10, and his journey back to his childhood faith and his vocation has brought profound joy, he said. “I have never been happier. I have never been more full of joy,” he said. “With everything the world can give me, I would give it back a million times over to be united to Jesus,” added Borba, who is studying to be a priest for the Diocese of Fresno, California.

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – The chairman of the U.S. bishops’ migration committee has sent a letter to lawmakers in Congress urging enhanced protections be put in place for migrant children. “In recent months, several concerning reports have emerged regarding incidents of migrant children in the United States suffering exploitative labor conditions and other harmful situations,” Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas, said in his Nov. 9 letter. “Among migrants, unaccompanied children constitute the most vulnerable group,” added the bishop, who is chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Migration. His letter follows the Nov. 1 introduction of a bipartisan, bicameral measure that would add protections for minors to immigration courts, which do not currently have protocols specifically for processing children. Sens. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, alongside Reps. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., and Maria Salazar, R-Fla., introduced the Immigration Court Efficiency and Children’s Court Act, legislation they said would establish a Children’s Court within the Executive Office for Immigration Review, which they argued would both combat the immigration court backlog and strengthen due process rights for unaccompanied migrant children. Reps. Hillary Scholten, D-Mich., and Lori Chavez-DeRemer, R-Ore., are also original co-sponsors of the legislation, according to a release from Bennett’s office.

VATICAN
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Embrace God’s unconditional love and live in a way that is based on and radiates hope, Pope Francis told Catholic young people. Christian hope “is the celebration of the love of the risen Christ, who is always at our side, even when he seems far from us,” the pope said in his annual message for local celebrations of World Youth Day. Hope is nurtured by prayer and the concrete choices one makes every day, he said in the message, published Nov. 14 at the Vatican. “I urge all of you to choose a style of life grounded in hope,” he wrote. For example, instead of sharing negative things on social media, share things that inspire hope. “Each day, try to share a word of hope with others. Try to sow seeds of hope in the lives of your friends and everyone around you,” the pope wrote. While the next international celebration of World Youth Day will be held in Seoul, South Korea, in 2027, Pope Francis has asked Catholic young people around the world to prepare for the Holy Year 2025 and its Jubilee of Young People in Rome, which will be part of the Holy Year celebration. In the two years preceding the Jubilee of Young People, dioceses around the world are to celebrate World Youth Day on a local level on the feast of Christ the King, which will be Nov. 26 this year and Nov. 24, 2024.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Often enough, the first people who need to be evangelized are Christians themselves, Pope Francis said. “A Christian who is discontented, sad, dissatisfied, or worse still, resentful or rancorous, is not credible” and will not attract anyone to a relationship with Jesus and a life of faith, the pope said Nov. 15 at his weekly general audience. After almost a year of audience talks about “zeal for evangelization” and highlighting the example of saints and other exemplary men and women from around the world, Pope Francis said his last talks in the series would focus on four points from his 2013 apostolic exhortation, “The Joy of the Gospel.” The first point, the subject of his talk Nov. 15, was the essential role of joy in the life of Christians and in their ability to share the Gospel with others. “The Gospel is not an ideology; the Gospel is a proclamation of joy,” he said. “All ideologies are cold, but the Gospel has the warmth of joy. Ideologies don’t make people smile, but the Gospel is a smile. It makes you smile because it touches your soul with the Good News.”

WORLD
NOTTINGHAM, England (OSV News) – British bishops expressed their condolences to Dean and Claire Gregory, parents of 8-month-old Indi who died Nov. 13 after neither a court battle nor Italian citizenship granted to the infant prevented the British courts from halting her life-support. Following the death of baby Indi, Bishop Patrick McKinney of Nottingham and Bishop John Sherrington, Lead Bishop for Life Issues and Auxiliary of Westminster, wrote in a statement that they learned about the death of the child with “deep sadness,” assuring the parents “of our prayers and those of all the Catholic Community, including Pope Francis, at this sad time.” “As a baptized child of God, we believe that she will now share in the joy of heaven after her short life which brought deep joy to her parents who loved and protected her as a precious gift of God,” the bishops said. The father of the girl said earlier that he was not religious, but he had chosen to have his child baptized Sept. 23 after feeling the “pull of hell” in their court battle to extend her life. Indi died at 1:45 a.m. U.K. time Nov. 13.

NICE, France (OSV News) – The Little Sisters of the Poor, a religious order founded in 1839 by St. Jeanne Jugan, serves the elderly poor in over 30 countries around the world. They serve the neediest with assistance, care and prayer. Now one of their own needs prayers. On Oct. 31, the Little Sisters in Nice experienced a devastating blow when “a car went out of control and up onto a sidewalk, striking two sisters,” the congregation said in a message sent to supporters. “One, less seriously injured, was hospitalized and has now returned home. The other, a 28-year-old sister from India, sustained serious head injuries and doctors do not give any hope for her recovery,” Sister Constance Veit, U.S. communications director for the order, said on behalf of the French sisters. “If this is God’s will, we accept, but we also see this as a call to arms, to pray for her healing, knowing that nothing is impossible to our loving God,” the sisters wrote. “Would you please join us in praying through the intercession of Father Ernest Lelièvre for the healing of Sister Isabelle Antoinette? … Because of his holiness and missionary zeal we believe he could be a powerful role model and intercessor for the clergy of our day.” Father Lelièvre (1826-1889) traveled the world to establish homes run by the sisters.

WARSAW, Poland (OSV News) – On Warsaw’s Rakowiecka street, flanked by a smart new Metro station and office building, a gray cement wall runs mournfully along a damp surface of fallen leaves. At midpoint in the wall, a narrow gateway opens out onto crumbling barrack buildings, still daubed with political graffiti between tightly barred windows. When Mokotow prison was opened as the Museum of Cursed Soldiers and Political Prisoners of the Polish People’s Republic in March, six years after shedding its last inmates, it was agreed regular Masses and liturgies should be held to dispel the site’s dark, malevolent associations. Today, dedicated to communist-era resistance fighters and political prisoners, the museum’s melancholy courtyards and corridors gain special poignancy during the commemorative month of November. “Though this is a secular institution, it’s also a place of prayer,” explained Father Tomasz Trzaska, the museum’s chaplain. “While Poles place candles each year on the graves of loved ones, we should remember many victims of past misrule have no known resting place. It’s especially those people we pray for in November, as work continues to uncover and identify their remains.” Given the horrors perpetrated here, Father Trzaska thinks religious ceremonies are important – especially for ex-inmates who sometimes show up with friends and relatives. “This museum should serve as a visible warning of humanity’s darker side,” said Lidia Ujazdowska, a Warsaw historian.

Advent Reconciliation/Penance Services

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BATESVILLE – St. Mary, Advent Penance Service, Thursday, Dec. 14, after 5:30 Mass.

CLEVELAND – Our Lady of Victories, Confessions, Monday, Dec. 11 from 4:30-6 p.m.

CLINTON – Holy Savior, Penance Service, Wednesday, Dec. 6 at 6 p.m.

COLUMBUS – Annunciation, Advent Reconciliation Service, Wednesday, Dec. 13 at 6 p.m.

FLOWOOD – St. Paul, Reconciliation Service, Monday, Dec. 18 at 6 p.m.

HERNANDO – Holy Spirit, Advent Penance Service, Wednesday, Dec. 6 at 7 p.m.

JACKSON – Cathedral of St. Peter, Confession, Wednesday, Dec. 6 from 4:30-6 p.m.

JACKSON – St. Richard, Advent Confessions, Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. until Christmas.

MADISON – St. Francis, Reconciliation Service, Thursday, Dec. 14 at 6 p.m.

MERIDIAN – St. Patrick, Advent Penance Service, Monday, Dec. 11 at 5:30 p.m.

OLIVE BRANCH – Advent Penance Service, Wednesday, Dec. 13 at 7 p.m.

PEARL – St. Jude, Reconciliation Service, Monday, Dec. 11 at 6 p.m.

SOUTHAVEN – Christ the King, Advent Penance Service, Tuesday, Dec. 5 at 7 p.m.

VICKSBURG – St. Michael, Advent Penance Service, Tuesday, Dec. 5 at 7 p.m.

VICKSBURG – St. Paul, Penance Service, Thursday, Dec. 7 at 5:30 p.m.

YAZOO CITY – St. Mary, Reconciliation Service, Monday, Dec. 4 at 6 p.m.

Feature Photo … Cathedral ‘shiny and new’ …

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JACKSON – Father Nick Adam, rector of the Cathedral of St. Peter, is extremely pleased with the final outcome of the exterior work done by Marsh Waterproofing at the Cathedral. Due to little to no rain, the big job took only half the time with little disruption to day-to-day activities. Special thanks go to Mary Woodward and Traci Avalon for their assistance with the project. (Photo by Tereza Ma)

Four Ways to jump start your Eucharistic Revival

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By Gretchen R. Crowe

It’s been almost a year and a half since Corpus Christi Sunday 2022 — June 19 — the launch date of the ongoing National Eucharistic Revival.

At the time of the revival’s start, Bishop Andrew Cozzens of Crookston, who is leading the efforts, said the following: “It’s our mission to renew the church by enkindling in God’s people a living relationship with Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist. We want everyone to encounter the love of Jesus Christ truly present in the Eucharist and to experience the life-changing effects of that love. We want to see a movement of Catholics across the United States that are healed, converted, formed and unified by an encounter with Jesus Christ in the Eucharist and sent out on mission for the life of the world.”

I’m not sure there’s a better mission than that. I’m also not sure there’s a bigger one. Following the timeline of the revival, we are currently in its second year — what is called a time for “fostering Eucharistic devotion at the parish level, strengthening our liturgical life through the faithful celebration of the Mass, Eucharistic adoration, missions, resources, preaching, and organic movements of the Holy Spirit.”

At my parish, we are having a 40 Hours Devotion at the start of Advent, where parishioners can come and spend time intimately with the Lord. I’d imagine most parishes around the country are doing something similar to foster devotion to Our Lord in the Eucharist.

Gretchen R. Crowe

Then, of course, in just eight short months, there will be the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis. “Every movement needs a moment,” the website says. “This is ours.” A lot of time and money and planning is going into this national event, and it’s exciting. We’re going, and I hope you go, too.

But it’s also one event. What about the in-between times? What about the times when our parishes are not bringing in a speaker, or facilitating small group discussions, or coordinating special devotions? What about the times when we will not be gathered together by the thousands, being affirmed in our faith and encountering the Lord together? It’s in these in-between times that the habits of daily life are formed, and where virtue is born.

Four Eucharistic tips
This time of year offers us a prime opportunity for getting serious about our own personal revival in the Eucharist. With the start of Advent in a few weeks, we will begin preparations to welcome the Prince of Peace into our homes. Here are a few things we could do to draw closer to him in the Eucharist:

1) Make time for some spiritual reading on the Eucharist. In particular, sit and pray with the treasure that is St. John Paul II’s encyclical on the Eucharist, “Ecclesia de Eucharistia,” available from OSV for purchase or on the Vatican’s website for free. If you’ve never read it, or read it 100 times, there’s always more to glean from it, if we make the time.

2) Speaking of making time, any personal Eucharistic revival has to start with our own commitment of time spent in the presence of the Eucharist. Maybe we’re being called to attend daily Mass for Advent, or perhaps make a weekly holy hour. Or maybe you do both of those things, and the Lord is asking you to up the ante and make a daily holy hour! Pick something and commit to it.

3) Try really paying attention to the words of the Eucharistic prayer during Mass. I’ll be the first to admit, it can be easy or tempting to lose focus during this part of the liturgy. But try to really focus. Read along if it helps. Ask Jesus to quiet your mind and center your heart on him.

4) Once we learn more about Christ, spend more time with him, and seek to better understand his saving love for us in the Mass, the natural next step is to resolve to bring Christ to others. Perhaps there’s an opportunity to bring your kids to adoration – or your parents, a friend, or a sibling. Maybe, once you’ve read and enjoyed a book on the Eucharist, you could share it with others. Most importantly, we bring our Eucharistic Lord to the world through our love of and sacrifice for others.

We’re just about halfway through with the revival, which wraps up on Pentecost 2025. Let’s embrace the opportunity for renewal this Advent.

(Gretchen R. Crowe is the editor-in-chief of OSV News.)

Calendar of Events

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PARISH, FAMILY & SCHOOL EVENTS
ABERDEEN – St. Francis, Christmas Party, Sunday, Dec. 10 with happy hour at 5 p.m. and dinner at 6 p.m. Potluck, sign up to bring your dish in the parish hall. Dirty Santa with $15 gift after dinner. Details: church office (662) 813-2295.

ANGUILLA – Our Mother of Mercy, Celebrating 100 years of our Catholic faith, Saturday, Jan. 27. Mass at 10:30 a.m. with reception following. Please join us!

CHATAWA – Our Lady of Hope and Camp Chatawa, Christmas in Chatawa, Saturday, Dec. 16 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Enjoy a live Nativity, pancake breakfast, train rides, caroling hay ride, Santa and Mrs. Claus, reindeer games, crafts and hot chocolate bar. Cost: $20 per person. Details: RSVP at ourladyofhopems.com.

St. Richard School, Krewe de Cardinal, Save the date: Friday, Feb. 2 from 7-11 p.m. at The South Warehouse. Details: school office (601) 366-1157.

Catholic Charities, Born Free/New Beginnings program is seeking a sponsor(s) for Christmas 2023 gifts. Born Free offers substance abuse treatment for pregnant mothers and mothers with children ages 0-4 residing in Mississippi. Details: www.catholiccharitiesjackson.org or call (601) 326-3714.

CANTON – Diocesan Young Adult Advent Day of Reflection, Saturday, Dec. 2 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Camp Bratton Green. Join young adults from around the diocese for a day of fellowship, fun and prayer. Cost: $30 Details: register at https://jacksondiocese.flocknote.com/signup/140596 or contact amelia.rizor@jacksondiocese.org.

GREENWOOD – St. Francis, Bingo, Monday, Dec. 4 at 6 p.m. in the school cafeteria. Details: church office (662) 453-0623.

HERNANDO – Holy Spirit, Cocktails and Catholicism, Friday, Dec. 8. Mass at 6 p.m. with talk and coctails after with Father Bruce Cinquegrani speaking on the Blessed Mother. Details: RSVP at https://bit.ly/CocktailsCatholicismDec2023.

Holy Spirit, Advent Day-by-Day “Slow Down and Just Breathe.” Three part program begins Thursday, Dec. 7 from 6:30-8 p.m.; then Thursday, Dec. 14 and 21 in Chapel Hall with facilitator Chris Greer. Don’t be overwhelmed by the demands of the season, we can wait for Jesus in joyful hope! Details: church office (662) 429-7851; sign up in the narthex.

JACKSON – St. Richard, Liturgical Living: Liturgy of the Word, Wednesday, Nov. 29 from 6-7 p.m. in Foley Hall. Series will focus on the order and structure of the Mass, beginning with the Liturgy of the Word. All adults welcome for refreshments, resources and fellowship. Nursery available. Details: RSVP to dre@saintrichard.com.

St. Richard, Christmas Candlelighting Celebration for Deceased Loved Ones, Thursday, Dec. 14 at 6 p.m. in Foley Hall. Sister Dorothea Sondgeroth, OP will share comments on her own experiences with lost loved ones. A brief ceremony of prayer and rememberance is included, followed by drinks and light refreshments. Details: please RSVP to Nancy at (601) 942-2078 or ncmcghee@bellsouth.net.

Carmelite Gift Shop, Meet Emanuele Fontanini, Friday, Dec. 1 from 1-4 p.m. Location: 2155 Terry Road. Details: call (601) 373-3412.

MADISON – St. Anthony School, Starry Night Gala, Saturday, Dec. 9 at the Sheraton Flowood. VIP preview party from 6-7 p.m. with general admission opening at 7 p.m. Cost: Event tickets $150 per couple. You do not need to be present to win the $5,000 raffle and tickets are only $10 per chance. Details: purchase tickets at https://bit.ly/StarryNight2023.

St. Francis, Ring in Your Faith 10k/5k, Monday, Jan. 1 at 8 a.m. You are guaranteed a delicious New Year’s Day meal and fellowship after the race. Cost is $30, with proceeds to assist Knights ongoing service projects. Register at https://bit.ly/ringinyourfaith2024. Details: Joe at leslieslee@hotmail.com.

St. Joseph School, Jeans, Jazz and Bruin Blues $10,000 Draw Down, Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024 at the Reunion Country Club. Sponsorships available. Details: www.stjoedrawdown.com.

MERIDIAN – St. Patrick, Candy Cane 5k Dash and Fun Run, Saturday, Dec. 2. Details: register at https://bit.ly/CandyCane2023.

St. Patrick, Memorial brick campaign. Cost of each brick is $125, with a maximum of three lines with up to 18 letters per line. Brick size is 4×8 inches. Net proceeds for recent parish repairs. Details: https://www.bricksrus.com/donorsite/catholicmeridian.

NATCHEZ – St. Mary Basilica, Advent Fair and Wreath Workshop, Sunday, Dec. 3 at 3 p.m. in the Family Life Center. Families can come to learn about the history and symbolism of the Creche, with craft activities for kids, snaks and the opportunity to make an advent wreath for your home. Details: church office (601) 445-5616.

OLIVE BRANCH – Queen of Peace, Harmonies of Christmas Concert, Sunday, Dec. 3 at 4 p.m. All are welcome! Details: church office (662) 429-7851.

Queen of Peace, Breakfast with Santa, Sunday, Dec. 3 at 11 a.m. in the social hall. Details: church office (662) 429-7851.

PAULDING – St. Michael, 180th Celebration with Bishop Kopacz, Saturday, Dec. 2 at 10 a.m. Details: caevans745@gmail.com.

STARKVILLE – St. Joseph, CYO Garage Sale, Saturday, Dec. 2 from 8-11:30 a.m. in the parish hall. Details: church office (662) 323-2257.

SPIRITUAL ENRICHMENT
NATCHEZ – 2nd annual Believe Conference, April 19-21, 2024. Featured speakers are Anne Trufant, Catholic speaker and founder of The Mission on the Mountain; Barbara Heil, Catholic speaker and founder of From His Heart Ministries; and Joanne Moody, minister author, and founder of Agape Freedom Fighters. Cost: $100 for the weekend; $50 for students. Lunch included on Saturday. Details: visit https://www.themissiononthemountain.com.

NEW ORLEANS – St. Augustine Church, Eucharistic Celebration of Servant of God, Venerable Henriette Delille, Saturday, Nov. 18 at 4 p.m. at the Sisters of the Holy Family Motherhouse (6901 Chef Menteur Hwy., New Orleans). Reception to follow. Details: https://www.sistersoftheholyfamily.com.

PINE MOUNTAINS, GA – The Girls Garden Retreat, April 4-7, 2024 at Callaway Resort and Gardens. Retreat is for any woman who seeks goodness of God through beauty, rest, prayer and small community. Featured speaker is Laura Huval, a Grammy-nominated recording artist, Catholic speaker, author and more. Details: for registration, information and pricing visit www.girlsgardenretreats.com.