School’s In! - Roman Catholic Diocese of San Angelo · School’s In! Midland St. Ann’s School...

DIOCESE OF SAN ANGELO

PO BOX 1829

SAN ANGELO TX 76902-1829NONPROFIT ORG.

US POSTAGE PAID

SAN ANGELO, TX

PERMIT NO. 44

Serving the Diocese of San Angelo, TexasVolume XXXVII, No. 9 SEPTEMBER 2017

School’s In!Midland St. Ann’s School students

Crystal Chukwuma, left; Theron

Racho, right, and Micaela Paez, kneel-

ing, pose with a statue of the school’s

namesake shortly after the start of the

2017-2018 school year. There are three

Catholic Schools in the Dicoese of San

Angelo — St. Mary’s in Odessa, Angelo

Catholic School in San Angelo and St.

Ann’s in Midland.

SEPTEMBER 2017 The Angelus

The Inside Front

Fr Stefano Cecchin visited the diocese in August to investigate the cause for sainthood of Sor Maria de Agrea De

Jesus, the Lady in Blue. Fr. Cecchin is photographed here at the Mt. Carmel Hermitage, near Christoval, one of many

stops he made on his visit to West Texas. He also visited Midland, Paint Rock and San Angelo. (Courtesy photo).

Visiting priest investigates cause for Sor MaríaBy Jimmy PattersonEditor / The Angelus

SAN ANGELO — Fr. StefanoCecchin, OFM, vice postulator forthe cause of sainthood for SorMaría de Jesús de Agreda complet-ed a weeklong visit to West Texasin August with hopes of furtherbuilding the case for the canoniza-tion of the Spanish nun. Alsoknown as The Lady in Blue, SorMaría is believed to have bilocatedbetween her convent in Spain andthe southwestern United States,including parts of West Texas,where Jumano Indians have heldfor centuries that she appeared tothem, and led more than 2,000 ofthem to be baptized.

Fr. Cecchin said during his visitthat if this is substantiated, “shewould be the first woman evangel-ist in America. This is an importantstory that needs to be told.”

Noting that the Jumanos “were apeaceful tribe,” Fr. Cecchin said ofSan Angelo and West Texas, “You

can still feel the peace here.”Tilly Chandler, who helps lead a

committee of more than 30 inWest Texas in support of thecause, said Father Cecchin’sknowledge, enthusiasm and lovefor the Church was a shot in thearm to every committee member.

San Angelo Bishop Michael J.Sis, who greeted Fr. Cecchin andshared dinner with him the night ofhis arrival, August 4, said thatregardless of Sor María’s eventualbeatification or canonization, thelarger question is, “How will Iallow my life to be impacted byher example? What am I doing toshare the gift of faith? What is Godcalling me to do with my life?

“Fr. Cecchin’s central task at thispoint is to deepen our theologicalreflection on the mysical theologi-cal writings of Sor María. Hisexpertise in Theology, Mariology,and the dogma of the ImmaculateConception make him particularlywell suited for this role. He is awell-trained theologian and profes-

sor, and I am confident he willstudy her case with diligence andprudence in order to assist theChurch in making the right deci-sion in regard to her possible beati-fication and canonization.”

Sor María de Jesús de Ágredawas a cloistered nun in northernSpain who physically never left herconvent. She had a great mission-ary desire to share the gift of ourfaith in Jesus Christ and her story isa testimony to the spirit of evange-lization.

“Our Catholic faith is a precioustreasure,” Bishop Sis said. “Whenwe appreciate the value of thistreasure, we will seek to share ourfaith with others. To all who learnof Sor María's history, I offer thischallenge — are you willing to useyour own personal gifts to pass onthe gift of our Catholic faith tothose who do not know it?”

Committee members are alsoplanning for the eventual unveilingof a Lady in Blue statue along theConcho River in San Angelo.

Discipleship: Meeting cultural changes in our parishesBy Alison PopeSpecial for The Angelus

ORLANDO, Fla. — I’ve been accusedof being many things over the years —mostly crazy. It’s hard to deny that titlewhen I willingly chose to attend a break-out session entitled “Identifying andMeeting the Changing Needs of AllParishioners” at the Convocation ofCatholic Leaders in Orlando, in earlyJuly. Only a crazy person would want tolearn about something seemingly

impossible. At the root of the Convocation of

Catholic Leaders was an awareness thatall of us, as baptized Catholics, are calledto be missionary disciples. Yet, too often,we are more focused on what we get outof our faith than how we can share itwith others. I know I’ve been guilty ofwalking into a full church on Christmas,Easter, or even Ash Wednesday, andwondering where all these people came

from and why they had to take my seat.Maybe our frustration comes when a newBible study or faith sharing group startsup and wants to meet in our meetingroom on our night. For some, it could bethat we think the younger generationshould be stepping up to take on a leader-ship role, yet we want them to continuedoing things the way we’ve always donethem, rather than allowing them to imple-ment new ideas.

(Please See CULTURE/23)

Dioceses looking to

build on partnership

with San Pedro Sula,

La Cieba, HondurasBy Msgr Larry DrollSpecial for The Angelus

SAN PEDRO SULA, Honduras — Bishop Michael Sis andother representatives of the Diocese of San Angelo attendedthe XVI Asamblea del Hermanamiento at Monte HorebRetreat Center in the Diocese of San Pedro Sula, August 7-11,2017. Joining him were Msgr. Larry Droll (Midland),Seminary Deacon Freddy Perez (Sweetwater), Leonor Spencer(Midland) and Diana Madero (Odessa). Other dioceses partici-pating were Tyler, and La Ceiba (Honduras).

A report on the development of unity between dioceses ofNorth, Central and South America in the 20 years since theSynod on the Americas in Rome was discussed. Church and

society interact and affect one another; it is important to worktoward cooperation across international boundaries.

Social issues in Honduras were presented by a panel ofspeakers with topics including immigration and deportation;forced migration within the country; and crime, corruptionand lack of employment opportunities. Awareness of theseissues is important in missionary contacts with one another.

Each diocese made resolutions about how it would furtherthe work of the Hermanamiento (partnership) during the com-ing year. The Diocese of San Angelo offered five resolutions.The first is to include the topics of unity and social issuesdescribed above as part of the formation of people who go onmission experiences.

The second resolution is to look actively for parishes in theSan Angelo Diocese that would partner with Honduran parish-es and explore some sharing between parish groups from Tylerand San Angelo. A vacation/mission combination experienceis being designed for the Honduran island of Roatan.

The third is to follow a program of “accompanying” thepeople in the parish in mission exchanges, walking with andworking with the people in the local parish in their ministriesand sacramental celebrations. In the encounter with oneanother, we encounter the living Christ; this “new evangeliza-tion” leads to personal conversion, desire for communion withone another, and solidarity in working together.

The fourth resolution is to look for other opportunities forsharing in mission experiences beyond parish-to-parish part-nerships, for example, between university apostolates,Catholic schools, and parish catechists.

The fifth resolution is to bring new people onto the DiocesanPartnership Team for the next generation of leadership.

To learn more about these opportunities, contact Msgr.Larry Droll at St. Ann’s Parish in Midland, 432-682-6303 [email protected].

4Related story / Pg. 7

4Related story, photos / Pg. 10

Obispo Michael J. Sis

Jesús tenía un lugar especial en sucorazón para los niños. Un día se sentó,llamó a sus doce apóstoles alrededor deél, y les enseñóuna lección muyimportante. Éltomó a un niñoen sus brazos yles dijo: “El quereciba a un niñocomo éste en minombre merecibe a mi.”(Marcos 9:36) Éldijo: “Deja que los niños vengan a mí...porque el reino de Dios es de quienesson como ellos.” (Marcos 10:14)

En nuestra diócesis, una de nuestrasprincipales prioridades debe ser de pro-porcionar un programa de calidad de laeducación religiosa, para formar aniños, jóvenes y adultos en el caminode nuestra fe. La catequesis es el proce-so de pasar la tradición de fe, ayudandoa otra persona a crecer en la comunióníntima con Jesucristo a través de lapráctica activa de nuestra fe Católica.Esto ocurre de manera gradual, con eltiempo, a medida que desplegamos pro-gresivamente el mensaje.

Los que enseñan la educación reli-giosa en nuestras parroquias son llama-dos catequistas. Ellos están respondien-do al llamado de Dios que viene con sumisión bautismal de proclamar laPalabra de Dios.

Estoy muy agradecido por todosnuestros catequistas, ministros dejóvenes y voluntarios que participan enlas actividades de evangelización ycatequesis de nuestras parroquias. Siusted nunca ha intentado de ayudar deesta manera, lo recomiendo muchísimo.Cuando les enseñamos la fe a losdemás, terminamos aprendiendo muchonosotros mismos.

Los padres también tienen unavocación catequística, viviendo su lla-mado bautismal como los principalescatequistas de sus hijos. Nuestra IglesiaCatólica enseña que la familia es la“Iglesia doméstica.” Dios ha dado a lospadres la tarea de ser los primeros yprincipales educadores de sus hijos enla fe.

Los padres tienen la responsabilidadde evangelizar a sus hijos en una var-iedad de maneras – enseñándoles la fe,y enseñándoles a rezar, rezando conellos, participando en la vida de laIglesia, llevándolos a Misa, y dandobuen ejemplo de vivir una buena vidaCristiana moral. Los niños aprenden enla familia cómo practicar las virtudesque van a vivir más adelante en lasociedad.

Algunos padres dicen: “¿Cómopuedo enseñar a mis hijos la fe, si no sélas respuestas yo mismo?” Un buenprimer paso es equipar su hogar conbuenos recursos Católicos. Ustedmismo no tiene que convertirse en unaenciclopedia caminante Católica, peropuede almacenar su biblioteca en casa

con algunos materiales de referenciaútiles.

Mire usted a los libros que se sientanen la estantería de su casa. ¿Qué ve?¿Tal vez algunos libros de cocina,álbumes de fotos, manuales dereparación de automóviles, libros infan-tiles, novelas, o revistas populares?¿Por qué no tener también algunoslibros que le ayude a usted y su familiaa crecer más cerca de Dios?

Yo recomendaría cualquiera de lossiguientes recursos para el estante delibros de un hogar Católico:• La Biblia: recomiendo la BibliaLatinaoamerica, la Biblia Misionera(Misioneros Servidores de la Palabra)la Biblia de Nuestro Pueblo (Biblia delPeregrino, por Luis Alonso Schokel), laBiblia de Jerusalén, o la BibliaCatólica para Jovenes.• Catecismo: Este podría ser elCatecismo de la Iglesia Católica (unpoco complicado, que también estádisponible en línea), el CatecismoCatólico de los Estados Unidos paralos Adultos (menos complicado), o paralos jóvenes, el Youcat Español (porCardinal Schoenborn)• Comentario de la Biblia Católica(como el Comentario BíblicoLatinoamericano, o Comprender lasEscrituras, por Scott Hahn)• Libro de los Santos• Libro de oraciones Católicas: algunosejemplos son Oraciones Católicas (por

(Mira OBISPO/15)

The Angelus SEPTEMBER 2017

From The Bishop’s Desk

By Most Rev. Michael J. SisBishop of San Angelo

Jesus had a special place in his heartfor children. One day he sat down, calledhis twelve apostles around him, andtaught them a veryimportant lesson.He took a little childin his arms and toldthem, “Whoeverwelcomes one childsuch as this in myname welcomesme.” (Mark 9:36)He said, “Let thechildren come tome…It is to just suchas these that the Kingdom of Godbelongs.” (Mark 10:14)

In our diocese, one of our major priori-ties must be to provide a quality programof religious education, to form children,young people, and adults in the ways ofour faith. Catechesis is the process ofhanding on the faith tradition, helpinganother person to grow in intimate com-munion with Jesus Christ through theactive practice of our Catholic faith.This happens gradually, over time, as weprogressively unfold the message.

Those who teach religious education inour parishes are called catechists. They

are answering the call from God thatcomes with their baptismal mission toproclaim the Word of God.

I am very grateful for all our cate-chists, youth ministers, and volunteerswho are involved in the evangelizationand catechesis activities of our parishes.If you have never tried helping in thisway, I highly recommend it. When weteach the faith to others, we end up learn-ing a lot ourselves.

Parents also have a catechetical voca-tion, living out their baptismal call as theprimary catechists of their children. OurCatholic Church teaches that the familyis the “domestic Church.” God hasgiven to parents the task of being theirchildren’s first and primary educators inthe faith.

Parents have the responsibility to evan-gelize their children in a variety of ways— teaching them the faith, teaching themto pray, praying with them, involvingthem in the life of the Church, bringingthem to Mass, and giving good exampleof living a good moral Christian life.Children learn in the family how to prac-tice the virtues that they will later liveout in society.

Some parents say, “How can I teachmy children the faith, if I don’t know theanswers myself?” A good first step is to

equip your home with good Catholicresources. You yourself don’t have tobecome a walking Catholic encyclope-dia, but you can stock your home book-shelf with some helpful reference materi-als.

Look at the books that sit on the book-shelf in your home. What do you see?Maybe some cookbooks, photo albums,car repair manuals, children’s books,novels, or popular magazines? Why notalso have some books that help you andyour family grow closer to God?

I would recommend any of the follow-ing resources for Catholic home book-shelves:• Bible: I recommend the New AmericanBible, the Revised Standard Version, the Jerusalem Bible, or the International

(Please See BISHOP/15)

Bishop Sis

Obispo Sis

CALENDARSBISHOP SIS’

SEPTEMBER 2017SCHEDULE

1-3 — PIEDRASNEGRAS, MEXICO, Tex-Mex Border Bishops mtg

6 — McCAMEY, SacredHeart, Confirmation Massat 7:00 p.m.

8 — ODESSA, St.Mary’s Central CatholicSchool, Mass at 10 a.m.

8 — MIDLAND, St. Ann,Early Ministry Programmeeting at 2:00 p.m.

9 — SAN ANGELO,Angelo Catholic School,Diocesan Catholic SchoolsCommission mtg, 9 a.m.

10-11 — WASHING-TON, DC, USCCBDoctrine Committee mtg

12 — SAN ANGELO,Diocesan Pastoral Center,Liturgy Commission meet-ing 1:30 p.m.

12 — ST. LAWRENCE,St. Lawrence Parish, plan-ning meeting at 6:00 p.m.

13 — SAN ANGELO,Diocesan Pastoral Center,Vocation Team mtg, 2 p.m.

16 — MIDLAND, St.Ann, RCIA Workshop

16 — BROWNWOOD,St. Mary, Mass at 5:30p.m. followed by Knights ofColumbus AppreciationDinner

17 — SAN ANGELO, St.Joseph, Annual Pro-LifeMass at 11:00 a.m.

19 — SAN ANGELO,Diocesan Pastoral Center,Presbyteral Council meet-ing at 11:00 a.m.

20 — SAN ANGELO,Angelo Catholic School,Mass at 8:30 a.m.

21 — MIDLAND, BasinBurger House, 607 N.Colorado Street, Spirit andSpirits presentation foryoung adults from 7:00-8:30 p.m.

22-23 — OKLAHOMACITY, OK, Beatification ofMartyr, Father StanleyRother

24 — CARLSBAD, St.Therese, 60th AnniversaryMass at 11:00 a.m.

25 — SAN ANTONIO,Oblate Renewal Center,Texas Conference ofCatholic Bishops FallMeeting

27 — ABILENE, HolyFamily, Share the Journeyevent at 7:00 p.m.

28 — SAN ANGELO,Christ the King RetreatCenter, Interfaith presenta-tion at 5:30 p.m.

29-30 — SAN ANGELO,McNease ConventionCenter, San AngeloWomen’s Conference

30 — SAN ANGELO,Christ the King RetreatCenter, RCIA Workshop

BISHOP’S SCHEDULEOCTOBER 2017

1 — CHRISTOVAL, Mt.Carmel Hermitage, FirstVows of Brother AugustineStegenga at 10:00 a.m.

2 — BALLINGER, St.Mary Star of the Sea, dedi-cation Mass at 6:00 p.m.

3 — SAN ANGELO,

Diocesan Pastoral Center,Finance Council meetingat 11:00 a.m.

6-7 — SAN ANGELO,Christ the King RetreatCenter, Annual DiaconalConvocation

7 — SWEETWATER,Holy Spirit, ConfirmationMass at 5:00 p.m.

8 — STANTON, St.Joseph, Installation ofPastor, Rev. PatrickAkpanobong, at 9:00 a.m.

10-11 — SAN ANGELO,Christ the King RetreatCenter, Priests’Convocation

11 — SAN ANGELO,Diocesan Pastoral Center,Priest Personnel Boardmeeting at 2:00 p.m.

12-14 — CONCEP-TION, MO, SeminaryBoard of Regents meeting

17 — ODESSA, HolyRedeemer, AnniversaryMass of PerpetualEucharistic Adoration at6:30 p.m.

18 — SAN ANGELO,Angelo State University,Rams for Life meeting at6:30 p.m.

19 — SAN ANTONIO,Mexican AmericanCatholic College, MACC’s45th Anniversary

21 — SAN ANGELO,McNease ConventionCenter, DiocesanConference Day

22 — OKLAHOMA CITY,OK, Equestrian Order ofthe Holy Sepulchre, annualmeeting

24 — BIG SPRING,Holy Trinity, ConfirmationMass at 6:30 p.m.

25 — ABILENE, SacredHeart, Confirmation Massat 6:30 p.m.

26 — SAN ANGELO,Diocesan Pastoral Center,Liturgy Commission meet-ing at 10:00 a.m.

31 — SAN ANGELO,Diocesan Pastoral Center,Presbyteral Council meet-ing at 11:00 a.m.

CHRIST THE KINGRETREAT CENTERSEPTEMBER 2017

10 — 2022 DeaconFormation Pre-Aspirancy(One Day)

11 — Heart of MercyPrayer Group

14-17 — LubbockDeacons’ Annual Retreat 1

18 — Heart of MercyPrayer Group

20-23 — AnglicanDiocese of SouthwestTexas SYNOD

25 — Heart of Mercy Prayer Group

29-Oct 1— EngagedEncounter

OCTOBER 20171 Engaged Encounter1 Natural Family

Planning2 Heart of Mercy

Prayer Group4-5 Region 15

Education Service Center5 Lifeline Screening

(continued on 18)

El Aprendizaje de la Fe es un Proceso de por Vida

Learning the faith a lifelong process


DIOCESAN BRIEFSMidland Workshop to

feature Christian WritersMIDLAND — A stellar group of authors, presenters

and teachers of the writing craft and marketing tech-nique has been assembled for the Permian BasinWriter's Workshop 2017, Sept. 15-17, 2017, atMidland College. Friday is a full day session withmaster instructor Chuck Sambuchino and Saturday isa day's worth of breakout session with topics thatmeet your objectives. Sunday's is a team-up of twohighly successful Christian fiction writers, DiAnn Millsand Cynthia Ruchti. Ruchti represents theAssociation of Christian Writers. They will share whatit takes to be a successful Christian writer and howthat genre differs. They are dynamic and will inspireyou to get on board with your writing, no matter thegenre. For registration details and other info, visit per-mianbasinwritersworkshop.com.

Women’s Conference in San AngeloSAN ANGELO — Registration for the Catholic

Women’s Conference for the Diocese of San Angelo,September 29-30, 2017, is open. Our theme this yearis “Outrageous Love — Martha and Mary, the TwoWithin Us!” Our exciting Speakers for 2017 include:Sister Miriam James Heidland, SOLT,soltsisters.blogspot.com; Sarah Swafford, www.emo-tionalvirtue.com, and Teresa Tomeo, teresatomeo.com.Bishop Sis will preside at Mass on Saturday morning.The Catholic Women’s Conference has moved thisyear to the McNease Center, 501 Rio Concho in SanAngelo. It begins at 5:30 pm on Sept. 29, 2017, andconcludes Sept. 30. at 4 pm. Admission is $50 withSaturday lunch and snacks provided. Register Onlineat: heartjmj.org (PayPal & major credit cards accept-ed). Please do not let price keep you from coming.We have generous groups that have donated so thatwe can give scholarships for those who want to come.You can register to receive a scholarship online at:heartjmj.org. A limited block of rooms has beenreserved at the Clarion Hotel, 441 Rio Concho Drivefor $69 a night, + tax & fees (Call 325-658-2828), andthe Pearl on the Concho, 333 Rio Concho Drive for$79 a night, + tax & fees (Call 325-653-4500). Mentionthe Catholic Women’s Conference.

Applications accepted for Msgr.

Droll ScholarshipSAN ANTONIO—Catholic laymen and women pursu-

ing a graduate degree in theology or religious studies inorder to serve their church in a professionalcapacity must submit applications for the Rev. Msgr.Larry J. Droll Scholarship by September 15, 2017. Therenewable $2,000 scholarship will be awarded to twocandidates in need of tuition assistance for additionaleducation who serve or want to serve his or her parishas an Administrator, Youth Minister, Parish Coordinatoror other role.

“Today many dedicated Catholics, who are notordained clergy or women religious, serve parishesas Parish Coordinators or Administrators, asPastoral Associates, Directors of ReligiousEducation, Youth Ministers, Liturgists, and many

other roles,” said Msgr. Droll. “This scholarship canhelp provide the funds to earn the advanced educa-tional degree in theology or religious studies that isoften required for these positions.”

This scholarship is geared towards those whohave already obtained their bachelor’s degree andwho are either enrolled or wanting to enroll in anyCatholic graduate school in Texas, Arizona, Florida,Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma or Mississippi.Applicants may also be enrolled in an extension pro-gram or in the Catholic University of America Schoolof Canon Law.

Applications may be obtained by submitting anapplication which may be found online atwww.cliu.com, contacting the CommunicationsDepartment at (210) 828-9921 or 1 (800) 262-2548or by writing to Catholic Life Insurance, Attn:Communications Department, P.O. Box 659527, SanAntonio, TX 78265-9527. Founded in 1901, CatholicLife Insurance offers life insurance, IRAs andretirement annuities to individuals and businesses inTexas and five other states.

Odessa Fatima ProcessionODESSA -- St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in

Odessa will hold a rosary and procession in honor ofOur Lady of Fatima on Thursday, Oct. 12. The multi-lingual service will begin at 7:00 p.m. in the parish'sChapel of the Risen Lord. The prayer service willcommemorate the 100th anniversary of Mary's lastapparition at Fatima and the miracle of the sunwhich occurred on Oct. 13, 1917. The celebrationwill replicate many of the elements included in theevening procession scheduled daity at the Shrine ofOur Lady of Fatima in Portugal. These include therecitation of the rosary in multiple languages and theprocessional hymn, "In Fatima's Cove." All are wel-come to attend the service and march in the proces-sion.

KudosBIG SPRING — Congratulations to Msgr. Bernard

Gully, pastor; Fr. Sam Matthiesen, parochial vicar;Deacon Johnny Arguello; Richard Light, businessmanager, all staff and the more than 800 parish-ioners at Holy Trinity Catholic Church for receivingthe Big Spring Herald’s Reader’s Choice Award for“Best Church.” Holy Trinity is located at 1009 HearnSt., in Big Spring. The Reader’s Choice Awards arepresented annually by the Big Spring Herald.

Victims Assistance InformationIf you or someone you know has been sexually

abused by anyone who serves the Church, and youneed a place to talk with someone about your feelingsof betrayal or hurt by the Church due to abuse,exploitation, or harassment, we are here to help you.To report sexual misconduct call Lori Hines, VictimAssistance Coordinator, 325-374-7609, or writeDiocese of San Angelo Victim Assistance Ministry, POBox 1829, San Angelo, TX 76902, If the sexual abuseoccurred outside this diocese, the Victim AssistanceCoordinator will assist in bringing the concern to theappropriate authorities.

Pope urges respect for

the life and dignity of

migrants and refugeesVATICAN CITY (CNS) — With

millions of people fleeing violence, per-secution and poverty around the globe,individual nations must expand optionsthat make it possible for migrants andrefugees to cross their borders safelyand legally, Pope Francis said.

"The principle of the centrality ofthe human person, firmly stated bymy beloved predecessor, BenedictXVI, obliges us to always prioritizepersonal safety over national securi-ty," Pope Francis wrote in his mes-sage for the World Day of Migrantsand Refugees 2018.

The Vatican will mark the day Jan.14, while in the United States, thebishops' conference sets aside anentire week — January 7-13 — asNational Migration Week.

The pope's message for the annualevent was released Aug. 21, which isearlier than normal, to stimulateCatholic involvement in the U.N.process for developing and adoptinga Global Compact for Migration anda Global Compact on Refugees.

Since the U.N. General Assemblyvoted in September 2016 to draw upthe compacts, the Vatican and manyCatholic organizations have beenparticipating in the discussions andhearings to formulate them. TheU.N. hopes to have a draft of thecompacts ready by February and topresent them to the GeneralAssembly in September 2018.

Approving the development of thecompacts, "world leaders clearlyexpressed their desire to take deci-sive action in support of migrantsand refugees to save their lives andprotect their rights," the pope said inhis message. He urged Catholics toget involved by lobbying their gov-ernments to include in the compactsproposals that would ensure the wel-come, protection, promotion andintegration of migrants and refugees.

For Catholics, he said, "every

stranger who knocks at our door isan opportunity for an encounter withJesus Christ, who identifies with thewelcomed and rejected strangers ofevery age."

"The Lord entrusts to the church'smotherly love every person forced toleave their homeland in search of abetter future," Pope Francis wrote.

To fulfill its duties towardmigrants and refugees, he said, thechurch needs all of its members toact in solidarity with them, whetherit is in countries of departure, transit,arrival or return.

In the message, Pope Franciscalled for countries to: "increase andsimplify the process for grantinghumanitarian visas and for reunify-ing families"; grant special tempo-rary visas to people fleeing conflict;uphold the rights and dignity ofmigrants and refugees "independentof their legal status"; educate peoplein migrant-sending countries abouttheir rights and obligations abroad;stop the detention of underagemigrants; provide migrants, refugeesand asylum seekers with work per-mits so they can begin supportingthemselves and contributing to theirnew communities; and guarantee theright of all migrants and refugees topractice their faith.

"Considering the current situation,welcoming means, above all, offeringbroader options for migrants andrefugees to enter destination countriessafely and legally," the pope said.

And, he said, even when facedwith situations in which someonehas entered a country without theproper legal permits, "collective andarbitrary expulsions of migrants andrefugees are not suitable solutions,particularly where people arereturned to countries which cannotguarantee respect for human dignityand fundamental rights."

“Every stranger who knocks at our door is an opportunity for an encounter with

Jesus Christ.” — Pope Francis.


SEPTEMBER

St. Therese Catholic ChurchCarlsbad

Annual Fall FestivalSunday, September 17, 2017

Knights of Columbus Hall3636 N. Bryant, San Angelo

St. Therese Catholic Church ofCarlsbad will hold its annual festivalon Sunday, September 17, at theKnights of Columbus Hall, 3636 N.Bryant, in San Angelo. A meal featur-ing barbecued pulled pork, home-made German sausage, homemadepotato salad, pinto beans, coleslaw,dessert, and tea/coffee will be servedfrom 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. AdultPlates: $10; Children Plates (Age 10and Under): $6. Drive-Thru To-Goplates will also be available for $10.

Cooked/Uncooked homemadeGerman sausage may be purchasedin the afternoon. A live auction featur-ing donations from various merchantsand parishioners will begin at 1:15p.m. A Country Store, Silent Auction,Bingo and other games will be avail-able throughout the afternoon. Formore information, call St. ThereseCatholic Church: 1-325-465-8062.

St. Mary Star of the SeaBallinger

Sunday, September 17, 2017"AUTUMN BLEST"

The festival is the only fundraisingevent for our parish. A large portionof the proceeds from the festival go tosupport the Food Pantry. This year'smenu will be BBQ Brisket & Sausage,pinto beans, new potatoes, trimmingsand dessert. The meal will be servedfrom 11:00AM to 1:00PM. Dine-Inand Drive-thru plates will be $10.00each.

The 'Live Auction,' which is theprincipal fundraising event, is sched-uled to begin at 12:30PM.Parishioners will be selling raffle tick-ets $5 each for a chance to win a 1/2side of beef, an iPad, or a $250.00gift card. Parishioners will also beselling tickets for a handmade quilt at$1.00 per ticket or 6 tickets for $5.00.Other entertaining activities willinclude Bingo, a Country Store, aBounce Castle with a big Air Slide,and expanded children's games.

Our Lady of Guadalupe Fall Festival

Sunday, September 17, 2017Schleicher County Courthouse Lawn

Eldorado 11:00am-4:00pm Gorditas, brisket on a bun, drinks,

corn-on-the cob, sweets, hamburgers,funnel cakes, snow cones, other fooditems. Please join us for DJ music,games for children, country store,bingo, and lots of family fun. Thanks!

Immaculate Conception Fall Festival

Sunday, September 24Knickerbocker

Mesquite-cooked brisket & sausage with all the trimmings served from 11am – 2 pm Adults $10 Children (12

& under) $8Live Auction at 1 pm. Raffle

The St.Theresa Fall FestivalSunday, September 24

11:00 am-4:00pm., at the parish hallin Junction. Again this year we areraffling a Trail Wagon, a fishing kayak,a choice axis hunt, a white-tail youthdoe hunt, a pass to the Texas State

Park, and several gift cards. We willalso have an enchilada dinner, foodbooths, drinks, games, dancers, cakewalk, a billy goat bingo, and severalother activities.

St. Ann's Midland 69th annual Family Fair

Saturday, September 30, 20171906 W. Texas10am-10pm.

Carnival hours are 6-10pm onSeptember 28th & 29th, 10am –12pm September 30th, and 1 - 6pmon October 1st. 2017 Raffle PrizesTickets are $3 or 11 for $30: 1st prize-2017 4 Door Jeep Wrangler UnlimitedSport 4x4, 2nd prize- Troy-Bilt 19HP42” Riding Lawn Mower, 3rd prize-$500 Voucher, Isy’s Jewelry, 4thprize- 24” FireDisc, 5th prize- PoulanPro 20” 50cc Gas Chainsaw. Thedrawing will take place Sept 30thneed not be present to win.

Our Family Fair will move to tickets(each ticket will have a $1 value). Wewill have 4 ticket purchasing locationsavailable the day of the Fair. Ticketswill also be available for pre-sale atthe Church Office M-F 8am-5pm.Games, food, rides! Enjoy non-smok-ing bingo, dunking booth, a countrystore. Burgers, tacos, roasted corn,quesadillas, turkey legs, funnel cakes,much more. Visit stannsfair.org or call432-682-6303. The Family Fair bene-fits St. Ann's Catholic School.

OCTOBER

St Patrick's Fall FestivalOctober 1, 2017

Brady Civic Center, Brady.Raffle Tickets on Sale now, only

500 tickets available. $100 a ticketGrand Prize: 2017 Chevrolet 15002wd Silverado crew cab Texas Edition More prizes as well. Early birdDrawing is September 10, 2017 for$500.00 for purchasing your ticketearly. Meal is Turkey and Dressingstarting at 11 am

61st AnnualSt. Lawrence Fall Festival

Sunday, October 1, 2017Parish Hall grounds

2400 FM 2401, Garden CityMASS ~ 9:00 a.m. in the ChurchLOCATION ~ the ST. LAWRENCE

CHURCH AND PARISH HALL arelocated 10 miles SOUTH of GARDENCITY on HWY 33, then 5 miles west(right) on HWY 2401 ~OR~ fromMidland, travel EAST (toward GardenCity/San Angelo) on HWY 158 for 22miles THEN turn SOUTH (righttoward Big Lake) at the blinking lightonto HWY 137 South, continue for 14miles, then at the next blinking light,turn EAST (Left) onto HWY 2401,then drive for 6 miles and the ST.LAWRENCE CHURCH/PARISHHALL will be on the north (LEFT)side of the highway.

MEAL ~ Lunch will be served from11:00 a.m. ~ 2:00 p.m. ONLY. Platesto go will also be available during thistime. The menu features barbequebrisket, homemade German sausageand all of the trimmings, includinghomemade desserts (including dia-betic desserts), tea, coffee or water. TICKETS ~ ADULTS $12.00 perplate and CHILDREN under 12 are$10.00 per plate. Sausage sandwich-es and other food concessions will beavailable after 4:00 p.m. for purchase.

SAUSAGE ~ uncooked, homemadeGERMAN SAUSAGE will be sold for$6.00 per pound in the SAUSAGE

HAUS located directly behind theParish Hall patio

ACTIVITIES ~ various gamebooths, jumpy houses and otherbooths, including a SILENT AUC-TION, will open at 10:30 a.m. fol-lowed by the opening of the KountryKitchen, Religious Booth, ConcessionStand and Balloon Creations.

BINGO ~ will begin at 12:00 NOONand conclude at 4:00 p.m.

AUCTION ~ the LIVE AUCTION willbegin at 2:00 p.m. and will feature awide array of unique items for pur-chase to the highest bidderPARKING ~ several handicap parkingspaces are available near the frontentrance of the Parish Hall

St. Mary Queen of Peace 2017 Fall Festival

Sunday, October 1, 20171103 Main St.Brownwood

The 2017 Fall Festival will be heldon Sunday, October 1, 2017 from10a.m. to 5:00pm at St. Mary Queenof Peace Catholic Church at 1103Main St. Brownwood. There will beSilent and Live Auctions, Bingo, aCake Walk, A country Store, aChildren’s area with train rides for thechildren and Youth activities. Plusmusic provided by a Dj. Our top raffle1st prize is 4 tickets to Cowboys vs.Washington Red Skins game onNovember 30th and a $100 gift cardfor Salt Grass Steakhouse. Alsoincluded in the raffle this year is a 2ndprize pre-paid Visa Card for $1200and if that is not enough, a 3rd prizepre-paid Visa Card for $800 and fourour 4fth prize an IPad! Raffle ticketsare $5.00 each.

Car Show: 10am to 2:00pmFood: Available from 10am to 5:00pmChildren’s and Youth Activities: 10am

to 5:00pmCountry Store: 10am to 5:00pm

Cake Walk: 10am to 3:00pmSilent Auction: 10am to 3:00pm

Bingo: 1pm to 3:00pmLive Auction: 3:00pm to 5:00pm

Raffle Drawing: 5:00pmWhere else might you spend this day

for a $5.00 ticket you could win suchwonderful prizes! Bring our family andfriends to help celebrate this year’s FallFestival. All proceeds from this year’sactivities will go into our fund for therenovation of our Parish Hall.

Parroquia Santa MaríaFestival de Otoño 2017

El festival de Otoño 2017 tendrálugar Domingo, 1 de Octubre de10am - 5 pm en la Parroquia SantaMaría Reina de la Paz localizada en1103 Main St., Brownwood. Habrásubasta en vivo y silenciosa, Bingo,paseo de pasteles, tiendita delpueblo, are para niños con juegos ypaseos en tren, así como tambiénactividades para los jóvenes. Tambiénmúsica de DJ. Primer premio superiorde la rifa será 4 boletos para el juegode Cowboys vs Washington Redskinsel 30 de Noviembre y una tarjeta deregalo para el restaurant Salt GrassSteakhouse. 2nd premio será unatarjeta de Visa pre-pagada de $1200y por si esto no es suficiente, una 3erpremio de una tarjeta de Visa pre-pagada de $800 y 4rto premio unaIPad! Boletos de la rifa son de $5.00cada uno.

Show de Autos: 10am-2:00pmComida: Venta de 10am-5:00pmActividades par niños y jóvenes:

10am a 5:00pmTiendita del Pueblo: 10am-5:00pmPaseo de Pasteles: 10am-5:00pm

Subasta Silenciosa: 10am-3:00pmBingo: 1:00pm-3:00pm

Subasta en Vivo: 3:00pm a 5:00pmSorteo de Boletos: 5:00pm

Donde más puedes pasar este grandía por un boleto de $5.00 dondepueden ganar premios maravillosos!Traiga a su familia y amistades paraayudar a celebrar el festival de Otoñode este ano. Todos los ingresos delas actividades de este año se desti-naran al fondo para la renovación denuestro salón parroquial.

St. Francis-Abilene “Jamaica”901 Treadaway

October 6-7, 2017The festival will be Friday, 5-11 pm

and Saturday 11am-11pm. Live musicwill be under the church pavilion.Plenty of food. Funnel cakes, ham-burgers, tamales, turkey legs andmore. Sample one or more while youenjoy the music. We will also havekid's games. Abilene K-9 patrol willkick off the Saturday festival at 11 am.Dancers, jalapeno eating contest,grito contest, and crafts will be part ofthe festival on Saturday thru-out theday. Our grand prize for this year is a2017 Ford Escape SUV! In addition, 4other prizes will be award in our raffleprogram, gift cads in the amount of$400, $300, $200, and $100. Raffletickets are $50 each and can be pur-chased after each mass on Saturdayand Sunday or at the church office.For more information, please call thechurch office at 325.672.6695.

St. Boniface Church-OlfenSunday, October 8, 2017

"Freedom Fest"Homemade turkey, dressing and

sausage meal served from 11 a.m. -1p.m. at the parish hall. Games & con-cessions open at 12:00 noonLive Auction 1:00 p.m.Candy drop 3:00 p.m. Quilt raffle

Sausage sandwiches available inthe afternoon. Homemade food anditems for sale at the Fancy StandCountry Store Adult plates and allplates-to-go $10 Children's plates(under 10 years of age) $5 Dine-in,walk-up plates-to-go. Drive throughplates-to-go enter Olfen from theWest on CR 234, all others enter fromthe north on FM 1874.

Homemade raw sausage for sale$5 per pound. Please mail paymentand check to St. Boniface SausageSales, 1829 FM 584, San Angelo, TX.76904 - Deadline for orders is Oct. 6.

St. Ambrose Fall Festival78th St. Ambrose Church, Wall

Sunday, October 15, 2017Turkey, dressing, and sausage

Adults - $10, Children - $5, Plates toGo - $10, Sausage $5/lb.

dinner served 11:00 am-2:00 pmChildren's games 10:30am-4:00pm

Bingo 12:00pm-4:00pmLive Auction 1:15 pm

St. Ann’s Church-SonoraSunday, October 15

11 a.m.-6 p.mSilent Auction, raffle, games,

Queen contest, food, entertainment.

NOVEMBER

St. Joseph’s Fall FestivalSunday, November 12

RowenaFair info to

[email protected],[email protected]

FALL FESTIVALS

|(From 7)

mercy of Christ but fail to be goodexamples.

Sometimes we are only worriedabout building, expanding, andmaintaining churches instead ofbuilding our church communities,making them stronger and reach-ing out to the Christians who arelost. “I hope that all communitieswill devote the necessary effort toadvancing along the path of a pas-toral and missionary conversionwhich cannot leave things as theypresently are. “Mere administra-tion” can no longer be enough.Throughout the world, let us be“permanently in a state of mission”(paragraph 25). The parish is not anoutdated institution; preciselybecause it possesses great flexibili-ty, it can assume quite differentcontours depending on the open-ness and missionary creativity ofthe pastor and the community.While certainly not the only institu-tion which evangelizes, if the parishproves capable of self-renewal andconstant adaptivity, it continues tobe “the Church living in the midstof the homes of her sons and

DISCIPLES

Kolbe Ministriesbenefit inmates;how you canbecome involvedWest Texas Angelus

ACTS retreats are enriching thelives of many adults and youth inthe Diocese of San Angelo.ACTS, like the Cursillo, is a threeday retreat consisting of talks,sacraments, prayer, fellowshipand fun. The letters in the wordACTS represent the themes ofAdoration, Community, Theology,and Service. These retreats havespawned the building of spirit-filled communities with manyresponding to the call of Servicein the various parish ministries.

Besides the growing effort tobuild spirit-filled parish families,ACTS is now being extended intothe Texas prisons. This call toService in prison is in response toMatthew’s gospel (25:36), whereJesus said, “…I was in prison andyou came to visit me…” ACTSprovides a vehicle to take thebuilding of small communitiesand extend it inside the prisonwalls. The goal is to provide thesame opportunity for the impris-oned living in darkness to experi-ence peace, as those who attendparish retreats have found. Thisvision was implemented when agroup of men from several TexasHill Country parishes in the

(Please See KOLBE/15)


Hurricane Harvey hascaused a widespread pathof destruction. Ourprayers and material sup-port are urgently neededto help rebuild lives.

The people of theDiocese of San Angelohave always been verygenerous in reaching outto help others in time ofneed. Any contribution,large or small, is anexpression of the corporalworks of mercy and theChristian virtue of solidari-ty.

In a united effort of allCatholic dioceses in theU.S., all parishes and mis-sions are asked to take upan emergency special col-lection in the Masses ofSeptember 2-3, 2017, andsend the proceeds to theFinance Office of theDiocese of San Angelo,with “Hurricane Harvey” inthe memo line.

This emergency collec-tion will be used both tosupport the humanitarianand recovery efforts ofCatholic Charities USAand to provide pastoraland rebuilding support toimpacted diocesesthrough the USCCB.

Any individuals whowish to make separatedonations can contribute

directly to CatholicCharities USA. Individualcontributions can be madehere:

By mail: send check,payable to CatholicCharities USA, to CatholicCharities USA, P.O. Box17066, Baltimore, MD21297-1066 (“HurricaneHarvey” in memo line).

Online: www.catholic-charitiesusa.org

By phone: call toll free1-800-919-9338 to makea contribution by creditcard.

Let us all offer upprayers to God for thesafety and health of these,our suffering brothers andsisters, in their time ofneed.General Intercessions

On any day, the follow-ing may be used in theprayers of the faithful:

For our brothers andsisters who have beenimpacted by HurricaneHarvey, that they mayhave the strength torebuild their lives, we prayto the Lord.

Por nuestros hermanosque han sido afectadospor el Huracán Harvey,para que tengan lasfuerzas para reconstruirsus vidas, roguemos alSeñor.

A Message to all Parishes from

Bishop Michael J. Sis

Emergency Collection for

Hurricane Harvey Victims

A storm like no other

Catholics mobilize to aid Harvey victimsWASHINGTON (CNS) —

Catholic dioceses and charities arequickly organizing to help in theaftermath of a Category 4 hurricanethat made landfall with heavy rainsand winds of 130 miles per hour lateAug. 25 into the Rockport, Texasarea, northeast of Corpus Christi.The National Weather Service saidin a tweet Aug. 27 that the rainfallexpected after the hurricane andstorm are over "are beyond anythingexperienced before."

The hurricane, named Harvey, issaid to be the strongest one to hit theUnited States in more than a decadeand perhaps the strongest one tomake landfall in Texas.

Catholic Charities USA, as well asthe Society of St. Vincent de PaulDisaster Services, announced earlyon Aug. 26 that they're mobilizing tohelp an as-yet-unknown number ofpersons affected by the hurricane.The Texas Catholic Conference ofBishops has a list of charities help-ing with the disaster listed on itswebsite at https://txcatholic.org/har-vey.

Authorities reported at least fivecasualties as of Aug. 27, but becauseof safety issues, not many emer-gency teams have been yet able torespond to the aftermath and muchof the damage is unknown. TexasGov. Greg Abbott declared the statea disaster area, which will allow fed-eral money to help in reconstruction.Catholic groups said they want tohelp with the immediate needs ofthe communities affected.

"We will be sending in rapid-response teams to help our impacted

St. Vincent de Paul councils and weare coordinating nationally with theKnights of Columbus, Knights ofMalta and (Catholic CharitiesUSA)," said Elizabeth Disco-Shearer, CEO of the Society of St.Vincent de Paul USA.

Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo, pres-ident of the U.S. Conference ofCatholic Bishops, on Aug. 27 urged"all people of goodwill to closelymonitor future calls for assistancefor victims and survivors in the daysahead."

The cardinal also is the head ofthe Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, one of the hardest-hitareas.

"Hurricane Harvey hit the GulfCoast in a catastrophic and devastat-ing way this weekend, bringing withit severe flooding and high windswhich have taken human life,caused countless injuries, andseverely damaged homes and prop-

erty throughout the region," said thecardinal in an Aug. 27 news release."The effects of this storm continueto put people in harm's way, withhorrific scenes playing out allaround, such as those of peopletrapped on their rooftops as watercontinues to rise around them. Manydioceses of the church in the UnitedStates have been affected; many oth-ers will be as the storm continues."

He asked for prayers but also forassistance for those affected. One ofthe first to pledge help was theDiocese of Brownsville, Texas,where Bishop Daniel E. Floresauthorized a second collection to betaken up at the diocese's localchurches on the weekend of Aug.26-27 to send to Catholic Charitiesin nearby Corpus Christi and "other places hardest hit by loss ofpower, storm damage, flooding."

(Please See HARVEY/21)

People walk through floodwa-

ters from Hurricane Harvey,

left, Aug. 27 after being evacu-

ated in Dickinson. Interstate 45

is seen submerged from the

effects of Hurricane Harvey

Aug. 28 in Houston, below.

(CNS photos / Richard Carson,

Reuters)


By Jimmy Patterson

It struck with an intensity rarely seen. Like a visitor who knocks ona door and barges in at the same time, that was Harvey. Harvey gaveTexans little warning. Only several hours before landfall it was a

minor disturbance, a tropical depression in the Gulf.It was not terribly alarming for awhile.

Forecasters had said the hurricane — by thatmorning a tropical storm — would produce a lot ofrain, but there was nothing dire. Then somethinghappened. Harvey sat a few hundred miles off thecoast. And didn’t move. The bathtub-warm water ofthe Gulf fed its intensity and the eye became tightand distinct. And only then did everyone realize thiswasn’t a storm, it was a monster. Forecasters began

using phrases — “never seen anything like thisbefore,” “catastrophe in the making and “epic flood-

ing” — that certainly didn’t help anyone’s comfort level.I pray for those who suffer because of the storm, for those who lost

anything and for those who lost everything. My family escaped theworst, but our story was one that was both unique and similar to manyothers. I was stuck in Midland while my wife, our daughter and herfamily rode out some tense hours with a new addition.

Ten days before Harvey stormed ashore, our daughter had a healthybaby boy, Nolan Edward, our first grandson (Nolan was named afterthe Hall of Famer who pitched for the Texas Rangers, not the Astros).

Our grandson’s birth was recorded at Methodist WillowbrookHospital, on Hwy. 249 in North Houston. For weeks earlier, the planhad been that Karen would remain in Cypress (northwest Houston) tohelp our daughter and her husband in the first couple of weeks withchores that made life with a newborn a little easier, or such was theplan. So on August 18, I returned to West Texas and would plan areturn over the Labor Day weekend to pick up Karen and bring herback home to Midland.

The storm’s first 24 hours were uneventful for our family — but notfor so many millions of other people. We kept in touch through textsand phone calls, but there was nothing out of the ordinary. (Likewisefor our other daughter, who braced for the worst in San Antonio).

About 3 o’clock Saturday, on the afternoon of August 26, I was work-ing in my office and an alert sounded on my phone. Karen was textingme about a tornado warning in Cypress. In fact, as it turned out, it wasless than two miles from where the family was, and getting closer.

“A little nervous,” she wrote.“Looks bad.”“Yep,” she wrote.“It’s touched down in four areas. Not sure where.”“Are you in the closet?”“We’re in the bathroom tub.”“It’s at Barker-Cypress and 290.”A few minutes pass by. Nothing.

“Huffmeister and Barker-Cypress. Back of the neighborhood.”More minutes (hours?) passed by.“It’s at the convenience store just down the street.”Seconds (minutes?) ticked by.Finally. A call. The funnel cloud had lifted over the neighborhood,

rotating angrily as it passed. They were spared.Eight o’clock that same night.“Tornado on the ground, headed our way,” the next text came as I

was in a meeting, thinking the worst had passed hours earlier.Again long stretches of nothingness alerted the committee in my head.I left my meeting and tried calling. Nothing. Finally, another text. “Turned and headed west.”It was a long day for millions who suffered first hand and millions

more who watched, hoped and prayed from a distance. Our familywas spared, thank God, especially given that a 2-year-old grand-daughter and 2-week-old (almost) grandson were oblivious to whatwas happening outside. They survived Saturday.

And then came Sunday and Monday. And the rain that seemed to goon forever.

In August we allbecame Houstonians,

Southeast Texans

From the Editor

Fr. Bala Anthony Govindu, right, at his Mass of Thanksgiving, Sacred Heart Abilene, January 3, 2015.

Maintaining a church to missionarydiscipleship, building the Body of Christ

By Fr. Bala GovinduSt. Anthony/St. Joseph-Odessa

ORLANDO, Fla. — It was agreat honor and privilege to bechosen by Bishop Michael Sisto be one of the delegates of ourDiocese of San Angelo to thegreat event called “TheConvocation of CatholicLeaders: The Joy of the Gospelin America.”

The event brought togethermany of the cardinals, bishops,delegate priests, deacons, reli-gious, and lay leaders in differ-ent movements and groups ofthe Church.

Taking into consideration theexhortation of Pope Francis’Evangelii Gaudium: Joy of theGospel, “Pastoral ministry in amissionary seeks to abandon thecomplacent attitude that says:‘We have always done it thisway.’ I invite everyone to bebold and creative in this task ofrethinking the goals, structures,style and methods of evange-lization in their respective com-munities” (paragraph 33).

There were lots of motivation-al and inspirational speeches bykey leaders of the Church. Themain focus in their talks werehow to bring the joy of theGospel to our society in theUSA as missionary disciples inour socio-cultural-political-eco-nomical environment. What areour growing and pressing chal-lenges and concerns of theChurch today? This is a wakeupcall for our Catholic Church torise from our deep sleep andcomplacency. “Each baptize

person is called to be a mission-ary disciple to proclaim theGospel of Jesus Christ to ourbrothers and sisters in our sur-roundings, especially the lost,poor, youth, vulnerable, immi-grants and people on the mar-gins.” The key things that weneed to keep in mind as mis-sionary disciples are:

1. Personal Encounter withJesus. Our deep and personalrelationship with the HolyTrinity through prayer and fre-quent participation in theSacraments. When we are pro-foundly rooted in Jesus Christ,we will start proclaiming andtelling everyone our deep expe-rience of Christ. We should notbe a lighted candle under thebushel but on the lampstand,which means sharing that joyand light of Christ to our broth-ers and sisters so that they cancome to that light and receivethe same joy and walk in thelight of Christ.

2. Living Witnesses asMissionary Disciples. We notonly preach the Word of Godbut also become the embodi-ment of the Word by living it.What are our challenges, con-cerns and priorities in our

Church communities? Can we(priests and parishioners) worktogether to bring joy, love andmercy of Christ through ourwords, deeds and actions? “ForChrist came to seek and to savethe lost” (Lk: 19:10). As mis-sionary disciples, are we seek-ing the lost members of theChurch or expecting them tocome to us?

3. Joy of the Gospel andPastoral Care. The Gospelinvites us to experience the joyand love of God. In the sameway the Church — we —should emulate the joy and loveof God through our interactionswith our fellow brothers and sis-ters. God has given us com-mandments and his teachingsfor our benefits and well being.Even the Church has the rulesand laws for spiritual benefit ofthe people. When we, priestsand lay leaders, deal with thepastoral situations, we have tobe merciful and loving likeChrist not to be too rigid andhard on people which turnsthem away from love and themercy of God. What is impor-tant for a Christian is to know,love and serve God and eachperson made in the image ofGod. As instruments of God, weshould never miss our focus ofseeking and saving the lostsouls. In my personal experi-ence, I have seen priests and layleaders or ministers who lack apersonal relationship with Christand who always talk beautifullyabout the love and

(Please See DISCIPLES/5)

Patterson

By Fr. Knick and Sandie Knickerbocker

There are so many references in Scripture togifts of the Holy Spirit! How are we to distin-guish among them, and, most of all, how are weto receive them and allow the Holy Spirit to mani-fest them in our lives?

The Motivational Gifts orRoman Gifts (12:6-8) aretalents given when Godforms us in the womb. Oneor more of these gifts may bedominant in our tempera-ments, character, and voca-tional decisions. These tal-ents are referred to as giftsbecause they are given to usfreely by God so we can con-tribute to our family, parish,and society and bring gloryto Him as we utilize them:

prophecy (perceiver), ministry (server/doer),teaching, exhorting (encourager), contributing(giver of alms), leading (administrator/facilitator),showing mercy (person of compassion).

The Traditional Gifts or Isaiah Gifts (11:2)are poured out by the Holy Spirit at Baptism andrenewed at Confirmation to enable us to fulfillGod's purpose for our life: wisdom, understand-ing, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fearof the Lord. When we are "Baptized in the Spirit,"the Holy Spirit "fans the flames" of our Baptismand Confirmation.

The Ministry Gifts or Ephesian Gifts (4:11-12) are the gifts of function or position in thebody. "And his gifts were that some should beapostles, some prophets, some evangelists, somepastors and teachers, to equip the saints for thework of ministry, for building up the body of

Christ..." (RSVCE). The persons to whom Godgives any of the five ministry gifts are the leadersGod has appointed to teach and inspire us in ourChristian mission. The Ministry Gifts are peoplein specific roles.

The Charismatic Gifts are also referred to asthe Manifestation Gifts. "To each is given themanifestation of the Spirit for the common good,"(1 Cor. 12:7) i.e. to build up the Body of Christ.These gifts are supernatural abilities. God chooseshow He will manifest His attributes through us forthe common good. Most often these gifts aremanifested in a praying community and are givento minister to a particular need or situation in thatcommunity: Gifts of Insight/Revelation,Communication/Utterance, Power/Dynamism.

Gifts Of Insight Or RevelationExpression of Knowledge (Word of

Knowledge) is a supernatural revelation of factspast, present, or future which we did not learnthrough the efforts of the natural mind. This is asupernaturally imparted Word. True supernaturalknowledge starts with knowing God personally,through Jesus Christ. Jesus and the disciplesreceived many Words of Knowledge’ from theHoly Spirit. See Matthew 17:27 Mark 5:36-40,John 4:17-27, Acts 3:1-20, Acts 5:1-9

Expression of Wisdom (Word of Wisdom) is asupernatural insight given to the members of theBody of Christ, which reveals God's timing andmethod of ministry in a given situation. Itexplains or illuminates a given revelation such asa Word of Knowledge, Discernment of Spirits, orthe communication of revealed Prophecy.

Discernment of Spirits is a supernatural abilityto recognize whether a person or situation is being

(Please See KNICKERBOCKER/23)


By Mary Lou Gibson

Marie Victoire Couderc was 20 years old when she attended amission preached by a young priest, the Rev. J. P. E. Terme. It wasthe year 1824 and Fr. Terme and a few other priests had been sent

to La Louvesc, in the Vivarais, a rural section insoutheastern France to look after the pilgrimshrine of St. John Francis Regis.

The priests opened a hostel for women pil-grims and Fr. Terme asked a community of sis-ters he had established to run the hostel. The sis-ters were teachers in Fr. Terme’s former parishof Aps. After he met Marie Victoire, he invitedher to join this new congregation dedicated toeducation. She took the religious name Thérèseand when she was only 23, Fr. Terme made hersuperior general at La Louvesc. The congrega-tion was known as the Daughters of St. Regis.

Soon after, things changed rapidly for Thérèseand her sisters. Editor Michael Walsh writes in Butler’s Lives of theSaints that in 1828 Fr. Terme attended a retreat at the Jesuit housenear Le Puy. When he returned, he announced that the Daughters ofSt. Regis should include the giving of retreats for women to theirduties. His decision that nuns, not priests, should conduct retreatsfor the women who came to visit the pilgrim site was astonishingfor its day. Tom Cowan writes in The Way of the Saints thatnowhere did nuns give retreats.

But, according to Cowan, the concept caught on and grew andflourished under Mother Thérèse’s supervision. It was an immediatesuccess, especially among country women. Thus, the Society of theCenacle became a separate congregation from the teaching ministryof the Sisters of St. Regis. Dom Basil Watkins, OSB writes in TheBook of Saints that it was Thérèse’s intention to attract pilgrims tothe tomb of St. John Francis Regis and to help them spend time inrecollection. The small community of 12 sisters were installed at LaLouvesc with Mother Thérèse at their head. They began givingretreats according to the method of St. Ignatius. Plans were madefor a new house and church for the convent

But the community’s financial resources could not meet theincreased expenses, and the community amassed very large debts.Before Fr, Terme’s death in 1834, the shrine of St. John FrancisRegis and the parish of Le Louvesc were taken over by the Jesuits.Walsh writes that Mother Thėrèse blamed herself for the financialproblems and mismanagement that followed. She resigned in 1838.Sarah Gallick writes in The Big Book of Women Saints, the Jesuitsdemoted Thérèse and replaced her with a series of wealthy, well-connected women. While she continued to play a role in the retreatprogram, Thérèse more and more withdrew into obscurity.

Years of internal dissension followed in the community andCowan writes that there was disagreement and conflict over whowas the true founder of the Society of the Cenacle. Thérèse livedmost of the rest of her life as a simple nun and endured false allega-tions about her health and abilities from many in the religious com-munity.

But these years were also a time of grace for her. Gallick notesthat during the last 20 years of her life, Mother Thérèse receivedmany mystical graces and discovered a revelation on the meaningof complete self surrender to God. This became the keynote to herspirituality, and she wrote: “The surrendered soul has foundParadise on earth.”

Finally, toward the end of her life, by decree of a local bishop,Mother Thérèse was officially recognized as the cofounder of theCenacle retreat movement along with Fr. John Terme. She died onSeptember 26, 1885. She was beatified in 1951 by Pope Pius XIIand canonized in 1970 by Pope Paul VI. Cowan writes that she isknown as “a pioneer in the women’s retreat movement.”

Today the Sisters of the Cenacle continue to lead retreats all overthe world. They have houses in Chicago, Houston, Atlanta andRonkonkoma, New York.

Mary Lou Gibson writes about saints for the Angelus from Austin.

Speaking of Saints

St. Thérèse Couderc keyin retreat movement

before demotion, obscurity

Fr. Knick and Sandie Knickerbocker

Gibson

The gifts of the Holy Spirit

Lighting the WayBishop Michael Sis with Kevin Pantoja, the student leader of the Catholic student group at Abilene

Christian University, after Mass at St. Francis Parish in Abilene. ACU Lighthouse is the name of the

Catholic student organization at ACU. (Courtesy photo)


Pastor Installations

Fr. Rodney White, with Bishop Michael Sis during Fr. Rodney’s

installation as pastor of St Stephen’s in Midland (at left and above),

August 19, 2017.

Below right, Fr. Albert Ezeanya during the Oath of Fidelity at his

installation at St. Charles in Eden; at bottom right, front row, left to

right, Fr. Hilary Ihedioha, left; Fr. Desmond Obi; Fr. Joseph

Choutapalli; Rev. Darrell K. Howanit, of Trinity Lutheran Church;

San Angelo Bishop Michael Sis; Eden Mayor Eddy Markham, and Fr.

Albert. The wives of Rev. Houwanit and Mayor Markham, are stand-

ing above each of them. The installation Mass for Fr. Albert was cel-

ebrated August 14, 2017.

The installation

Mass for Fr. Isidore

Ochiabuto, August

13, 3017, at St

Francis, Abilene.

Below, Bishop

Michael Sis, left,

celebrates the

Installation Mass

for Fr. Chinna

Pagidela, second

from left, at St.

Lawrence Church,

in St. Lawrence,

August 15, 2017.

Photos of Fr. Rodney White installation by Jimmy Patterson, West Texas Angelus.

All other photos courtesy photos


Hope for Honduras

By Msgr. Larry J. Droll

“Our parish is having a mission trip toSantisima Trinidad parish in Honduras;would you like to join us?”

“What will we do on the mission trip?”That’s always the first question!

Our mission trip is not to accomplish aproject, like build a house, dig a waterwell or paint an orphanage. It is to“accompany” the parishioners of ourpartner parish in the missionary life oftheir parish for a week. To spend a blockof time with people, joining them inwhatever work they are doing—maybevisiting the sick, feeding the hungry, cel-ebrating Mass, having parish meetings,etc. In walking with our fellowCatholics, we encounter the livingChrist; this leads to conversion in ourhearts, a feeling of communion withthem and solidarity to engage in workalongside them.

The recent St. Ann’s-Midland’s mis-sion trip (July 27-August 3, 2017) is apart of the Hermanamiento (partnership)among the dioceses of San Pedro Sula,La Ceiba, Tyler and San Angelo, initiatedin September 2001. We have enjoyed ourparish-to-parish relationship for sevenyears, although prior to that we workedwith another Catholic group in the sameneighborhood, a very poor community inSan Pedro Sula called Chamelecón.During these years, we have participatedin a variety of mission experiences andreciprocal visits.

This year our group was composed offive young adults, one retired teacher, theparish youth coordinator, a seminary dea-con and myself. In any given year, theparticipants vary. We had several forma-tion sessions in Midland toprepare for the trip.

With this group, we expe-rienced the pastoral life ofthe parish in five dimen-sions, which come from thegeneral organization of theparish and diocesan plan.The pastor, Padre LuisEstevez, gave us an orienta-tion soon after we arrived,so we could interpret ourexperience according to thePastoral Plan.

The first dimension is dis-cipleship. To become disci-ples, we have to encounterChrist in his Word and com-munity and learn his way oflife. Our group spent amorning with the catechistsof the Santa Ana community. We metthe bishop of San Pedro Sula for an hourand had several sessions of reflectionwith the pastor.

The second dimension is communitarian. The parish is a community of com-munities; there are thirteen chapels. We

(Please See HONDURAS/24)

Mission trip about accompanying, encountering Christ

Top photo, Monsignor Larry Droll, second from left;

Alexis Garcia; Ysidro Bustillos; Perla Garcia (obstructed),

and kneeling (in blue shirt), Deacon Freddy Perez, with a

group of young adults from Honduras. At right, providing

food for shut-ins, and above, Msgr. Droll with Padre Luis

Estevez, and young adult leaders from St. Ann’s in

Midland, from left, Kristian Padilla, Sara Porter and Claire

Crawford.


Racism in America

Charlottesville: the antidote is in the venomBy Carole Norris GreeneCatholic News Service

The Ku Klux Klan once came out primarily at night,carrying torches with their faces covered by hoods withghostly openings for eyes.

Not anymore.They were out in droves in

Charlottesville, Virginia, in mid-August. Their faces were unmaskedand held high, unapologetic. Theyjoined hundreds of other whitesupremacists protesting the Februaryvote by the City Council to remove astatue from Lee Park that has memori-alized Confederate General Robert E.Lee since 1924. In June, the cityrenamed Lee Park Emancipation Park.

Remove the statue and you try to erase history, theUnite the Right rally argued vehemently.

That statue, said hundreds of counter-protesters withequal passion, is a monument to white supremacy andmust go.

Soon evil, like a venomous snake, reared its ugly headin the once-quiet college town.

I was vacationing in Charlottesville with my husbandand a friend the three days leading up to the ill-fatedrally. Everywhere we went, we were greeted by friendlypeople. We drove home that Friday morning unaware of

the hatred to be spewed that night as tiki torches werelifted high and racial slurs chanted.

The next day, social activist Heather Heyer was mur-dered when a Nazi sympathizer rammed his car into thecrowd of anti-protesters. Two Virginia state troopersdied en route to surveillance of the clash. Many wereinjured.

Anyone looking for God in all of this may take com-fort in considering that, just as the antidote for a poison-ous snake bite is found within the venom, the antidote toevil is likewise built within itself.

Making an antidote to coral snake poison, for exam-ple, takes time, as many as three years and 69,000 milk-ings to obtain one pint of the snake's venom.

After the snake is milked with its head grasped so thatit will not bite, the venom is cooled considerably andfreeze-dried for storage and transport for immunization.The venom is then injected into animals, horses mainlybecause of their large body mass, for the creation ofantibodies.

But before the chemist injects an animal, the venom ismixed with distilled water or another buffer solution.Then an adjuvant, a substance that enhances the body'simmune response to a foreign substance, is added. Thusthe horse remains healthy as its immune system reacts,producing antibodies that attach to and neutralize thevenom.

So, while countless people are horrified by Unite theRight's poisonous display in Charlottesville, God is

already using that same venom to make the antidote!The white supremacists did not save the Lee monu-

ment; they only numbered its days and ignited effortsacross the United States to bring down otherConfederate symbols. Some counter-protesters nowwant the statue of Lee astride his horse to be replacedby a memorial of Heather Heyer.

Fighting may have occurred in Emancipation Park,but now people are going there to reflect, pray and singsongs of hope.

Photos of the violence are now frozen in time, chillingreminders that unleashed hatred can be deadly.

Culprits are being rounded up and transported to jail.While many throughout the nation were shocked that

their president did not immediately and unequivocallyname names as he condemned the blatant displays ofdomestic terrorism in Charlottesville, President DonaldTrump's delayed response has caused a widening of thespotlight to encompass his inner circle. Now there areresounding calls for the removal of suspected whitesupremacists serving incognito in the White House. Those suffering from the injection of evil into theirmidst are standing up to it with righteous indignation.They armor themselves with the cleansing waters oftough love and forgiveness. Christ is their adjuvant forstaying healthy and offering revival to those poisonedby hatred.

Greene was an associate editor for CNS for nearly 22years.

Community members in

Charlottesville, Va., hold a

vigil for Heather Heyer

Aug. 16. She was killed

Aug. 12 during a white

supremacist protest over

a plan to remove the stat-

ue of a Confederate gen-

eral from a city park.

(CNS photo/Kate Bellows,

The Cavalier Daily via

Reuters)

Greene

SEPTEMBER 2017 The Angelus The Angelus SEPTEMBER 2017 Page 13

By Deacon Freddy Medina

Director of Diaconal Ministry

Diocese of San Angelo

GARDEN CITY — On August 19, 2017 at the parish ofSt. Lawrence in St. Lawrence, Bishop Michael Sis,received 14 men into the Ministry of Acolyte for theDiocese of San Angelo. The men joined their classmate,Edward Gonzalez, who is already an instituted acolyte.The ministry of acolyte is their final ministry prior toordination as a permanent deacon.

Nearly filled to capacity, it was a lovely Mass and soappropriate to take place in a Church dedicated to apatron saint of deacons.

Bishop Sis in his homily charged the acolytes to keep

service to others in mind always and not to assume anauthoritarian or superior role when working in the vine-yard of the Lord.

The function of an acolyte may include but is not limit-ed to:• Carry the cross in the procession.• Present the missal to the priest and/or deacon for theentire celebration• In the absence of the deacon, the acolyte arranges itemson the altar. • Assist the priest in receiving the gifts from the people. • Bring the bread/wine to the altar and hand them to thepriest. • Handle the thurible if incense is used (assist the priest toincense the cross, altar, and offerings).

Bishop installs 14 to Ministry of the Acolyte

Thomas Collier

Andrew Davis

Thomas Flores

Jose Gallegos

Joel Gutierrez

Jesse Martinez

David Mendez

Orlando Mendoza

Alan Pelzel

John Rangel

Floyd Schwartz

Ronald Stegenga

Jose Villagrana

Bobby Wright

AcolytesInstalled by Bishop Michael J. Sis, August 19, 2017,

St. Lawrence Catholic Church, Garden City

Acolytes called to follow Jesus with their whole hearts

In above photo, top row, left to right, acolytes (except where noted) Bobby Wright, Orlando

Mendoza, Ronald Stegenga, Dcn. Freddy Medina, Bishop Michael Sis, Dcn. David

Workman, Andrew Davis, José Gallegos, Thomas Collier. Center row, from left, Edward

Gonzalez, Jesse Martinez; bottom row, left to right, Joel Gutierrez, Tommy Flores, José

Villagrana, John Rangel, David Mendez, Alan Pelzel, Floyd Schwartz.San Angelo Bishop Michael J. Sis.

(Courtesy photos)


olpxEotyaDA

chsoeRRoeota L

:ero

h

- -

The Angelus SEPTEMBER 2017 Page 15

(From 3)

Student Bible for Catholics (it has a greatindex in the back)• Catechism: This could be the Catechismof the Catholic Church (quite technical,also available online), the United StatesCatholic Catechism for Adults (less techni-cal, easier to understand), or perhaps theCatholic Faith Handbook for Youth (forteens) from St. Mary’s Press• Catholic Bible Commentary (such as theCollegeville Bible Commentary)• Book of the Saints• Catholic prayer book: some examples areCatholic Household Blessings and Prayers(USCCB) and the Manual of Prayers(North American College)• Catholic Encyclopedia: some are a singlevolume, and some have multiple volumes• Basic question-and-answer book, such asCatholic Q & A: All You Want to KnowAbout Catholicism, by John J. Dietzen

When I was a child, my parents hadsome of these books around the house.Every once in a while, when they were notlooking, I would look up things in thosebooks, to answer my curiosities about God

and the Catholic faith. I found them to beextremely informative.

Think about all the things you havearound your house. Ask yourself, “How isour home equipped for the practice of theCatholic faith?” Some helpful tools wouldbe movies with a religious theme, Christianmusic, religious art on the walls, crosses,crucifixes, icons, rosaries, and an adventwreath. Some families have discovered anamazing new online resource calledFormed.org from the Augustine Institute inColorado. This is a digital platform thatoffers a wealth of informative and enter-taining Catholic audio talks, eBooks, fea-ture films, documentaries, and video-basedstudy programs. Some parishes provideFormed.org free to their parishioners;check your bulletin or call your parish forthe access code.

I have also known many adult Catholicswho have experienced profound growth intheir religious understanding throughwatching a video series such as BishopRobert Barron’s Catholicism or JeffCavins’ Bible Timeline. It is especiallyeffective to gather a group of adults oryoung adults to watch these videos and dis-

cuss them together.The school year is just beginning. If you

have children at home, and they are not inthe religious education program of yourlocal Catholic parish, I recommend thatyou contact the parish office and ask howyour children can get started now.

Religious education is not just for imme-diate preparation before receiving a sacra-ment. Ongoing formation and education inthe faith is a lifelong process. If the onlyreligious education we ever received wasas a young child, that is not enough to helpus manage the complicated life situationswe face in adulthood. We should neverstop studying and learning the faith. If wedon’t keep the plant watered, it will notgrow, and eventually it will shrivel up anddie.

Any relationship will suffer if weapproach it with a minimalistic attitude.The same is true of our relationship withGod. Minimalism debilitates our faith life.For example, if we pray only when wewant something from God, or if we go toreligious education classes just enough toreceive a sacrament, or if we are satisfiedwith an elementary level of faith education,

we are being minimalists. God has muchmore waiting for us if we will just openourselves to receive it.

If you are preparing a barbecue, and youmarinate the meat in a certain sauce, it willabsorb the flavor of that sauce. If you mar-inate your mind with certain values, youwill eventually absorb those values. Whatis the marinade in which you dwell? Doesit provide only the secular, materialisticvalues of the world around us, or is it alifetime learning process based in the truthof Jesus Christ?

All of us have occasional experiences ofdoubts. Whenever we have doubts, itmakes a difference where we go with ourdoubts. Rather than isolating ourselves, weshould go to where the Church is, andremain open to the guidance of the HolySpirit. After all, Jesus promised that hewould send his Spirit to guide the Churchto all truth until the end of time.

Through catechesis, youth ministry, adultfaith formation, and reliable Catholic booksand websites, we can ask questions andwork through our doubts. This is the pathto a deeper, more adult level of faith.

(Para 3)

Nelson), y El Libro de MisOraciones (por Jacobo).• Enciclopedia Católica: algunosson un solo volumen, y algunostienen varios volúmenes• Libro básico de preguntas yrespuestas, tales como ConozcaPrimero Su Fe Católica (porPedro Nuñez)

Cuando yo era un niño, mispadres tenían algunos de estoslibros en la casa. De vez en cuan-do, cuando no estaban mirando,me gustaba escudriñar cosas enesos libros, para hallar respuestasa mis curiosidades acerca de Diosy la fe Católica. Me parecieronser muy informativos.

Piense en todas las cosas quetiene alrededor en su casa.Pregúntese: “¿Cómo está equipa-do nuestro hogar para la prácticade la fe Católica?” Algunas her-ramientas útiles serían las pelícu-las con un tema religioso, músicaCristiana, el arte religioso en lasparedes, cruces, crucifijos,iconos, rosarios, y una corona deAdviento. Algunas familias handescubierto un sorprendentenuevo recurso en línea llamadoFormed.org del Instituto Agustínen Colorado. Algunas parroquiasproveen Formed.org gratuita-mente para sus feligreses; mirenel boletín o llamen a su parroquiapara el código de acceso. Se tratade una plataforma digital queofrece una gran cantidad de pláti-cas Católicas informativas y deentretenimiento de audio, libroselectrónicos, películas, documen-tales y programas de estudio en

vídeo.También he conocido a

muchos Católicos adultos que hanexperimentado un crecimientoprofundo en su comprensión reli-giosa a través de ver una serie devídeos, como El Catolicismo delObispo Robert Barron oCronología de la Biblia de JeffCavins. Es especialmente eficazel reunir un grupo de adultosjóvenes o adultos a ver estosvideos y discutirlos juntos.

El año escolar acaba decomenzar. Si usted tiene niños encasa, y no están en el programade educación religiosa en su par-roquia Católica local, recomiendoque se ponga en contacto con laoficina parroquial y preguntecómo sus hijos pueden empezarahora.

La educación religiosa no essolamente para la preparacióninmediata antes de recibir unsacramento. La formación contin-ua y la educación en la fe es unproceso de toda la vida. Si laúnica educación religiosa quejamás hemos recibido fue cuandoéramos niños pequeños, eso no essuficiente para ayudarnos a mane-jar las situaciones complicadas dela vida que nos enfrentamoscomo adultos. Nunca debemosdejar de estudiar y aprender la fe.Si no mantenemos la planta rega-da, no va a crecer, y con el tiem-po se marchita y se muere.

Cualquier relación se veráafectada si nos acercamos a ellacon una actitud minimalista. Es lomismo con nuestra relación conDios. El minimalismo debilitanuestra vida de fe. Por ejemplo, si

sólo oramos cuando queremosalgo de Dios, o si vamos a clasesde educación religiosa sólo losuficiente para recibir un sacra-mento, o si estamos satisfechoscon un nivel elemental de edu-cación en la fe, estamos siendominimalistas. Dios tiene muchoque nos espera si solamente nosabrimos a recibirlo.

Si usted va a preparar una bar-bacoa, y marina la carne en unacierta salsa, la carne absorberátodo el sabor de la salsa. Si ponea marinar su mente con ciertosvalores, es muy probable queabsorba esos valores. ¿Cuál es eladobo en que morará? ¿Le pro-porciona únicamente los valoresseculares y materialistas delmundo que nos rodea, o se tratade un proceso de aprendizaje depor vida basada en la verdad deJesucristo?

Todos nosotros tenemos expe-riencias ocasionales de dudas.Cada vez que tenemos dudas, sehace una diferencia a dondevamos con nuestras dudas. Enlugar de aislarnos, debemos ir adonde está la Iglesia, y per-manecer abiertos a la guía delEspíritu Santo. Después de todo,Jesús prometió que enviaría suEspíritu para guiar a la Iglesia atoda la verdad hasta el fin deltiempo.

A través de la catequesis, pas-toral juvenil, formación de la fede adultos, y los libros y sitiosweb Católicos fiables, podemoshacer preguntas y aprender através de nuestras dudas. Este esel camino a un más profundonivel de la fe de adultos.

BISHOP

OBISPO KOLBE(From 5)

Archdiocese of San Antonio teamed up to put on a 3-day prisonACTS retreat in August 2009 at Connally Unit in Kenedy.

From this initial prison retreat, the effort has now been extendedto over 40 state prisons in 14 dioceses of Texas. In 2015, theseretreats took on a new name, after the patron saint of prisoners, St.Maximillian Kolbe. Kolbe retreats are igniting a fire in many mento return to the Catholic Church and in others who want to learnabout the truths of our faith so RCIA is a follow-up program beingoffered to inmates after attending a Kolbe retreat. This overalleffort is called Kolbe Prison Ministries (KPM). Kolbe is now anapproved retreat program having the endorsement of the TexasDepartment of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) in Huntsville. Even so,each prison has local authority with its warden and chaplain sotheir approval is needed to hold a Kolbe retreat, just like it is ingetting a pastor’s support to bring ACTS to a new parish.

In the Diocese of San Angelo, the first Kolbe retreat was held atthe Havins State Jail in Brownwood in July 9-11, 2015, led byvolunteers from the Dioceses of Austin and San Antonio. Kolbe2 was held in March 10-12, 2016 and Kolbe 3 at Havins occurredJuly 6-8, 2017. KPM is still in its infancy here so volunteersfrom neighboring dioceses under the direction of Kolbe Missionscontinue to lead the retreats at Havins until a local team can beestablished. Also, Kolbe Missions is committed to help bring aretreat to the Robertson Unit in Abilene later this year in October.

Lay and clergy participants from the ACTS community in theDiocese of San Angelo are desperately needed. The retreat teamis predominantly lay so volunteers are needed to man the teamand then a local community is a must following the retreat ifRCIA is to be offered to prepare those that want to receive thesacraments and enter the Church. Priests are required at theretreat for confessions and Masses offered. Also, deacons haveroles to serve, to expose and repose the Blessed Sacrament fordaily adoration, to give the Theology and Sacraments talks and toassist at Mass, just to name a few.

Kolbe is calling priests, deacons, deacon candidates, and laityof the Diocese of San Angelo. Please pass the word in yourparishes, work place, and to everyone who will listen. ContactDeacon Mike Medina, Director of Criminal Justice Ministry inthe Diocese at (432) 222-2256 and inform him of your interest. Ifyou want more information about Kolbe Prison Ministries, youcan contact Deacon Bob Leibrecht from the Archdiocese of SanAntonio at 210-734-1980 or his cell, 432-889-3858. In addition,you can visit the website: http://www.kolbeprisonministries.com/to learn more. It is time to say YES!


By Fr. Ron Rolheiser

The word “Protestant” is generally mis-understood. Martin Luther’s protest thatled to the Protestant reformation was not,in fact, a protest against the RomanCatholic Church; proper-ly understood, it was aprotest for God. God, inLuther’s view, was beingmanipulated to servehuman and ecclesialself-interest. His protestwas a plea to respectGod’s transcendence.

We need a new protesttoday, a new plea, astrong one, to not connect God and ourchurches to intolerance, injustice, bigotry,violence, terrorism, racism, sexism, rigid-ity, dogmatism, anti-eroticism, homopho-bia, self-serving power, institutional self-protection, security for the rich, ideologyof all kinds, and just plain stupidity. Godis getting a lot of bad press!

A simple example can be illustrativehere: In a recent book that documents anextraordinary fifty-year friendship withhis former coach, basketball legend (andpresent-day exceptional writer), KareemAbdul-Jabbar, shares why he became aMuslim. Raised a Roman Catholic, agraduate of Catholic schools, he eventual-ly left Christianity to become a Muslim.Why?

In his own words: Because “the whitepeople who were bombing churches and

killing little girls, who were shootingunarmed black boys, who were beatingblack protestors with clubs loudlydeclared themselves to be proudChristians. The Ku Klux Klan were proudChristians. I felt no allegiance to a reli-gion with so many evil followers. Yes, Iwas also aware that the Reverend Dr.Martin Luther King, Jr., was also a proudChristian, as were many of the civil rightsleaders. Coach Wooden was a devoutChristian. The civil rights movement wassupported by many brave whiteChristians who marched side by side withblacks. When the KKK attacked, theyoften delivered even worse beatings tothe whites, whom they considered to berace traitors. I didn’t condemn the reli-gion, but I definitely felt removed fromit.”

His story is only one story and by hisown admission has another side to it, butit’s highly illustrative. It’s easy to connectGod to the wrong things. Christianity, ofcourse, isn’t the only culprit. Today, forinstance, we see perhaps the worst exam-ples of tying God to evil in the violenceof ISIS and other such terrorist groupswho are killing, randomly and brutally, inthe name of God. You can be sure that thelast words uttered, just as a suicidebomber randomly kills innocent people,is: God is great! What horrible thing tosay as one is committing an act of mur-der! Doing the ungodly in the name ofGod!

And yet we so often do the same thing

in subtler forms, namely, we justify theungodly (violence, injustice, inequality,poverty, intolerance, bigotry, racism, sex-ism, the abuse of power, and rich privi-lege) by appealing to our religion.Silently, unconsciously, blind to our-selves, grounded in a sense of right andwrong that’s colored by self-interest, wegive ourselves divine permission to liveand act in ways that are antithetical tomost everything Jesus taught.

We can protest, saying that we’re sin-cere, but sincerity by itself is not a moralor religious criterion. Sincerity can, andoften does, tie God to the ungodly andjustifies what’s evil in the name of God:The people conducting the Inquisitionwere sincere; the slave traitors were sin-cere; those who protected pedophilepriests were sincere, racists are sincere;sexists are sincere; bigots are sincere; therich defending their privilege are sincere;church offices making hurtful, gospel-defying pastoral decisions that deprivepeople of ecclesial access are very sincereand gospel-motivated; and all of us, aswe make the kind of judgments of othersthat Jesus told us time and again not tomake, are sincere. But we think thatwe’re doing this all for the good, for God.

However in so many of our actions weare connecting God and church to nar-rowness, intolerance, rigidity, racism,sexism, favoritism, legalism, dogmatism,and stupidity. And we wonder why somany of our own children no longer go tochurch and struggle with religion.

The God whom Jesus reveals is theantithesis of much of religion, sad buttrue. The God whom Jesus reveals is aprodigal God, a God who isn’t stingy; aGod who wills the salvation of everyone,who loves all races and all peoples equal-ly; a God with a preferential love for thepoor; a God who creates both gendersequally; a God who strongly opposesworldly power and privilege. The God ofJesus Christ is a God of compassion,empathy, and forgiveness, a God whodemands that spirit take precedence overlaw, love over dogma, and forgivenessover juridical justice. And very impor-tantly, the God whom Jesus incarnatesisn’t stupid, but is a God whose intelli-gence isn’t threatened by science, and aGod who doesn’t condemn and send peo-ple to hell according to our limitedhuman judgments.

Sadly, too often that’s not the God ofreligion, of our churches, of our spiritual-ity, or of our private consciences.

God isn’t narrow, stupid, legalistic, big-oted, racist, violent, or vengeful, and it’stime we stopped connecting God to thosethings.

Fr. Ron Rolheiser, theologian, teacher,and author, is President of the OblateSchool of Theology in San Antonio. Hecan be contacted through his websitewww.ronrolheiser.com. Now onFacebook www.facebook.com/ronrolheis-er.

Catholic Voices

Fr. Rolheiser

By Most Rev. Robert BarronAuxiliary Bishop of Los Angeles

Even though I lived in France for threeyears while doing my doctoral studies, Inever managed a visitto Mont Saint-Michel,the mysterious, mysti-cal, and hauntinglyphotogenic abbey situ-ated on a promontoryjust off the Normandycoast between Caenand St. Malo. But lastweek, in connectionwith the filming formy Pivotal Playersseries, my team and I made the pilgrim-age. I first spied the mount from the back-seat of the van, when we were still manymiles away. It looked like a great ship,moored on the line of the horizon. As wegot closer, the place became increasinglyimpressive, sometimes looming like afortress, other times seeming to float onthe sea. When we entered the gates thismorning to commence our work, westepped out of our world and into theMiddle Ages. Our climb to the top—ardu-ous and steep—mimicked that of thou-sands of pilgrims and monks and spiritualseekers over the centuries.

To grasp the religious significance of theMount, we have to remember that it was

built on the edge. Like the Irish monkswho constructed their simple dwellings offthe harsh western coast of their homeland,the religious who gave rise to Mont Saint-Michel felt that they were doing theirwork, quite literally, at the ends of theearth. Jesus told his disciples to proclaimthe Gospel everywhere and not to stopuntil they had gone all the way. CardinalFrancis George loved to relate the story ofhis brothers in the Oblates of MaryImmaculate, who, taking Jesus at hisword, declared the resurrection to everyvillage and hamlet in the Yukon, until theycame finally to the people who said,“There’s no one beyond us.” Mont Saint-Michel was intended to be a monument tothe thoroughness of the Christian mission-ary effort. Hence it was, to me, a vividreminder that we need to pick up ourgame today and to go to what PopeFrancis has famously termed the periferia,a border country more existential thangeographical.

I have discovered now through directexperience, though I had certainly sensedit through photographs, that it is practical-ly impossible to gaze at Mont Saint-Michel without falling into mystical rever-ie. I would challenge anyone to come hereand walk the causeway leading up to themount and not find himself beguiled intothinking of things higher and more eternal.The mountain itself, and then the architec-

ture piled so exquisitely on top of it, drawthe viewer’s eyes up and up, beyond thisworld. And when you climb to the top,you look out on the trackless and seeming-ly endless sea. From Plato, through Dante,to James Joyce, the trope of the open seahas been used to evoke the transcendentgoal of the searching heart. The art, thesacraments, the doctrine, and the saints ofthe church are meant to lure us to the edgeof the ordinary and to allow us at least aglimpse of that open sea of God’s eternity.They are, accordingly, the enemies ofCharles Taylor’s “buffered self,” the mod-ern person so thoroughly shaped by secu-larist ideology that she no longer hears therumors of angels. It has always struck meas curious that a religious person is seen assomehow conventional and non-threaten-ing, a little fussy Ned Flanders. AuthenticChristians are in fact edgy folks, morethan a bit dangerous. Mont Saint-Michel,standing on the border between heavenand earth, is just the kind of place thosedangerous types like to go.

Finally, to understand this sacred place,we should remember its name and the fig-ure who stands on the pinnacle of thespire, namely, Michael the Archangel.Michael is invariably depicted in thearmor of a warrior, for he is the general ofthe angelic army that stood athwart thelegions of Lucifer, who had dared to arro-gate to himself the prerogatives of God.

He fought, not with sword and spear, butwith the unanswerable challenge of hisown name: Micha-el (Who is like God?).Now we should recall that the Mount issituated precisely on the western border ofEurope, looking out toward the settingsun. In the medieval imagination, the landof the setting sun was associated with thepowers of darkness, which helps toexplain why the great cathedrals of theMiddle Ages were, almost without excep-tion, oriented, situated toward the east.They symbolized the Church turnedtoward the light of the risen Christ andaway from sin and death. So the strong-hold, named for and topped by the fighterangel, and erected on the western edge ofthe world, represents the power of Christ’sChurch turned against the forces of dark-ness, both visible and invisible.

As we were filming at Mont Saint-Michel, armies of tourists were makingtheir way through the myriad nooks andcrannies of the place. As they passed byaltars, sanctuaries, and monastic cells usedby monks long ago, many of them, I wouldventure to say, probably saw the ensembleas redolent more of Harry Potter than of St.Anselm. Come here if you can, or at leastfind a good photo of the Mount on theInternet, but don’t look at it in the mannerof a tourist. Rather, see it as its builderswould have seen it: as a beautiful and holymonument on the edge of the world.

Bishop Barron

The mysterious church on the edge of the world

God, who loves all people equally, needs better press


By Fr. Kenneth DoyleCatholic News Service

Q. At dinner recently with twoCatholic priests, they happened toobserve that it will be more difficultfor them to reachheaven than for mostpeople. I dismissedthat opinion ratherquickly until I read apassage from section14 in "LumenGentium."

Speaking ofCatholics, it said: "Heis not saved, however,who, though part of the body of thechurch, does not persevere in charity.He remains indeed in the bosom of thechurch, but, as it were, only in a 'bodi-ly' manner and not 'in his heart.' ...

"All the church's children shouldremember that their exalted status is tobe attributed not to their own meritsbut to the special grace of Christ. Ifthey fail moreover to respond to thatgrace in thought, word and deed, notonly shall they not be saved but theywill be more severely judged."

Is the "gate of heaven," therefore,narrower for Catholics because more isgiven and expected? (Vacherie,Louisiana)

A. Let me say first that I have alwaysbelieved that the vast majority of the peo-ple God created will wind up in heaven.Why would God have made all of us inthe first place, if that experiment weredestined largely to fail?

And I do not think that the gate is morenarrow for Catholics; in fact, I think theopposite -- namely, that Catholics have ahead start on eternal salvation. WeCatholics have access to abundant gracesthrough the seven sacraments that help usto live as God wants; and we have, fromChrist, the guarantee of fundamental truthand of continual guidance in theologicalteaching.

What the Second Vatican Council wascautioning against (in your quote from"Lumen Gentium") was the same kind offormalism Jesus had detected in the reli-gious leaders of his day -- the convictionthat merely by officially "belonging" tothe church, righteousness and eternal sal-vation were certainties.

The council noted that salvation isworked out "on the ground," by sharingGod's love with those we meet. (Didn'tJesus say the same thing in Matthew 25,when he suggested that the ultimate thingwe'll judged on is whether we helpedpeople when they needed it?)

It is true that, as Luke's Gospel says(12:48), "much will be required of theperson entrusted with much, and stillmore will be demanded of the personentrusted with more." But that heavierresponsibility can be balanced by theopportunities that life offers. (Priests, forexample, have the daily Eucharist, theDivine Office and the frequent chance tominister directly with the compassion ofJesus.)

Q. Can a priest refuse to christen achild born out of wedlock? (MasonNeck, Virginia)

A. The answer -- which may not be theone you were expecting or wanted -- is,"It depends." Simply that the child's par-ents are unmarried would not justifyrefusing a baptism, and I would call PopeFrancis as my witness on this.

In 2014, on the feast of the Baptism ofthe Lord, Pope Francis was reported bythe Italian press as having baptized thechild of an unmarried couple in a cere-mony in the Sistine Chapel. That wouldhave squared with what Pope Francis, in2009 while still a cardinal in Argentina,was quoted as telling the Italian maga-zine 30 Giorni: "The child has absolutelyno responsibility for the state of the par-ents' marriage. And often a baptism canbe a new start for the parents as well."

There may, however, be other circum-stances that would warrant delaying abaptism. The church's Code of CanonLaw requires that, for an infant to be bap-tized, "there must be a founded hope thatthe infant will be brought up in theCatholic religion" (No. 868.1.2).

Priests vary somewhat as to just whatevidence is needed for that assurance, butpastoral sensitivity is always critical; Iam personally inclined to give the benefitof the doubt to the parents.

Nearly all parishes require parents toattend a class or two of baptismal prepa-ration, which can help to bring them backto regular church attendance and some-times, if the circumstances permit, tohave a marriage blessed in the church.(And even if there is virtually no likeli-hood that the parents will bring the childto Mass regularly, sometimes a grandpar-ent is willing to step into that role.)

Q. I have been a Catholic since birth(over 50 years), but I am still learningthings about my religion. Recently wewere at a wedding in another city, andthe priest who performed the ceremo-ny told us that he has been a priest for10 years but has been married for 30years. Did I miss something here?

I have never heard of marriedCatholic priests. He said that there area few of them around. Can you enlight-en me? (City of origin withheld)

A. Most likely, the man you mentionedhad once been an Anglican (Episcopal)priest who later converted to RomanCatholicism.

In 1980, Pope John Paul II effected apolicy change that allowed marriedAnglican priests to continue their min-istry after their conversion, and there arenow several dozen such men serving asCatholic priests throughout the U.S. I amaware of Lutheran pastors also who havemade a similar transition.

Another possibility is that he belongs toone of the Eastern Catholic Churches(there are more than 20) that are in unionwith Rome (Maronites, Ukrainians, etc.),which for centuries have allowed theordination of married men.

From 1929 until 2014, such priestswere generally not permitted to ministeroutside their rite's country of origin, butin 2014 Pope Francis quietly lifted thatban, opening the door for them to servein the U.S.

Questions may be sent to FatherKenneth Doyle [email protected] and 30Columbia Circle Dr., Albany, New York

By Greg ErlandsenCatholic News Service

The daughter of a good friend of mine died this weekof a drug overdose.

I had been praying for her for at least two years.I keep a list of people I pray for. I

always hated the idea of saying, "Youare in my prayers" and then that notbeing so. I started keeping track, andif the person passes away, I keep pray-ing for them.

Praying for the dead, for the souls inpurgatory, is a spiritual work ofmercy. We don't pray expecting a cer-tain result, for it is all beyond ourvision. We simply pray that God'smercy will envelop our beloved deadand that, as the prayer says, his perpetual will light shineupon them.

But for my friend's daughter, I wasn't praying for thedead but for the living. I knew she was in a serious fight.I barely knew her personally, but I wanted her to comeout victorious in this cage match with addiction. I want-ed it for her father and her mother, for her siblings.

As a father myself, I could imagine -- if but a little --my friend's pain. No parent is more vulnerable thanwhen it comes to his children. We are wired to protect

them, even when it is impossible to do so.There was so little I could do for him, for her, other

than pray. And yet she died. Hearts were broken. Anemptiness that will surely last a lifetime opened up inthe hearts of her family.

And there was a small, angry part of me that said,"God, I was praying for her. Others were praying for her.She was loved despite all. Couldn't you have stoppedthis?"

Jerome Lejeune, the great French Catholic geneticist,once said, "God always forgives, man sometimes for-gives, nature never forgives."

That is one reason we believe desperately in miracles:That even in nature's remorseless grip -- the deep cavityof addiction, the rot of disease, the frightening merci-lessness of drought and floods -- God's mercy and heal-ing can triumph.

St. Paul in the stunning12th chapter of his Letter to theRomans, exhorts us: "Rejoice in hope, endure in afflic-tion, persevere in prayer." When it is another who isafflicted, our hope resides in prayer, hoping that theAlmighty can work miracles.

Jesus healed the leper. Jesus brought Lazarus back tolife. Couldn't he have done the same for this youngwoman?

The entire fourth pillar or section of the Catechism ofthe Catholic Church is an extended reflection on prayer.In language we don't often hear, it describes "the battle

of prayer," part of which is against "erroneous notions ofprayer."

One of these notions is when we are disappointed thatwe have not been heard according to what our will is. InMatthew Kelly's wonderful line, too often our attitude is"Listen Lord, your servant is speaking." We want God todo our will, to implement our wishes.

Instead, St. Augustine says it is God's will "that ourdesire should be exercised in prayer, that we may beable to receive what he is prepared to give." And whathe is prepared to give is not always what we are askingfor.

And so, in a few days we will gather at a funeral litur-gy. We will find ourselves praying once again.

We will pray for God's mercy on this broken daughterof the Lord. We will pray for her grieving family. Wewill endure this new affliction. We will persevere inprayer.

And our hope will remain in the Lord, knowing evennow that he will not abandon us.

- - -

Erlandson, director and editor-in-chief of CatholicNews Service, can be reached at [email protected].

Doyle

Perseverance an essential part of prayer life

Narrow gate? / Refuse to baptize? / Married priests

Erlandsen


By Hosffman OspinoCatholic News Service

The appointment ofHispanic bishops as ordinar-ies of dioceses in California,Texas or Florida is rathercommon. This is not sur-prising since most Catholicsin the South and the Westare Hispanic.

However, the recentappointment of Bishop Nelson J. Perez asthe next bishop of Cleveland is not busi-ness as usual. It is a historical milestone forU.S. Catholics.

Many reports have noted that BishopPerez is the first Hispanic bishop ofCleveland. More interesting is that he is thefirst Hispanic bishop to head a diocese inthe entire Midwest.

The Midwest and the Northeast remainas the standard hubs of Euro-American

Catholicism. These are the regions wheremost Catholics from Europe settled duringthe 19th and early 20th centuries.

In recent decades, Catholicism in theMidwest has experienced significant demo-graphic, racial/ethnic and cultural transfor-mations. These transformations havebrought renewed attention to the rich diver-sity that has long existed amongMidwestern Catholics.

Some of those changes are small. Othersare more significant, but they are oftentreated as marginal compared against pre-dominant cultural expressions of Catholiclife. In any case, change is happeningsteadily and it will continue to transformCatholic life in the region.

Bishop Perez assumes leadership of aCatholic body that is largely white, Euro-American, with about 10.7 percentHispanic, 2.3 percent black, and 1.6 per

(Please See OSPINO/22)

By Fr. Tad Pacholczyk

Couples who struggle to get pregnantare turning with greater frequency to thein vitro fertilization(IVF) industry for assis-tance. In some cases,they can end up feelingthey are “too pregnant”when twins, triplets orquads arise. This occursfrom the practice ofimplanting more thanone embryo at a time toimprove pregnancy suc-cess rates. A multipletpregnancy can involve significant risk,both for the children in utero, and for themother. Because of these risks, the preg-nant mother will sometimes be advised toopt for a “selective reduction,” wherepotassium chloride is injected into one ortwo of the growing babies, to cause theirhearts to seize, followed by death and thegradual re-absorption of their bodies dur-ing the remainder of the pregnancy. Thiscan allow the one or more remainingbrothers or sisters to grow more safely andavoid further complications during thepregnancy. Given the incredible effortexpended by the couple to become preg-nant in the first place, these lethal prac-tices often draw gasps of disbelief fromothers.

A New York Times Magazine articlefrom 2011 chronicled the saga of awoman who selectively reduced her preg-nancy from twins to a single. Even thoughshe tried to not think too much about thetwo ultrasound shadows within her, shewas forthright about her justification fordoing it: “If I had conceived these twinsnaturally, I wouldn’t have reduced thispregnancy, because you feel like if there’sa natural order, then you don’t want to dis-turb it. But we created this child in suchan artificial manner — in a test tube,choosing an egg donor, having the embryoplaced in me — and somehow, making adecision about how many to carry seemedto be just another choice. The pregnancywas all so consumerish to begin with, andthis became yet another thing we couldcontrol.”

Her devastatingly honest appraisal ofIVF and the way it devalues the lives ofchildren offers an important opportunityfor reflection. When we take it upon our-selves to manufacture new human life intest tubes, it indeed becomes another“thing we can control,” an object for ourown willful manipulation, another meansto realize our own goals. This “commandand control mentality” over procreationsets up a glide path for us to begin treatingour own offspring like raw material, eventempting us to exercise an absolute, death-dealing dominion over them. As they areproduced in the laboratory and transferredto the womb, our children can become an

abstraction, mere pawns to be played inthe end game of seeking what we want.

This attitude of seeing our offspring asexpendable is becoming more widelyaccepted not only among IVF customers,but also among biomedical researchersthemselves. In August, a highly troublingreport was published describing the firstsuccessful editing of DNA in humanembryos. The experiments were carriedout in the laboratory of ShoukhratMitalipov at the Oregon Health andScience University (OHSU) and involvedthe generation of many dozens of embryosby IVF. The experiments utilized a newand highly precise DNA-editing technolo-gy called CRISPR-Cas9 to fix a defective,disease-causing gene that some of theembryos carried. While research intounderstanding and eliminating serious dis-eases is certainly good and praiseworthyas a goal, the techniques we employ as wepursue good research goals need to begood as well. Doing evil that good mayaccrue, is, after all, still doing evil.

These research experiments performedon human embryos at OHSU were moral-ly objectionable on a number of counts. Ifsuch genetically modified embryos hadbeen allowed to grow up, there may wellhave been unintended effects from modi-fying their genes, unanticipated defectsthat they and future generations wouldbear. The problems and risks associatedwith this kind of “germ-line therapy” raisesuch serious concerns as to make it doubt-ful it should ever be attempted in humans.Even more distressing from the moralpoint of view is the fact that very younghumans were treated not as ends, but asmere means to achieve particular inves-tigative goals. They were created in labo-ratory glassware, experimented upon, theirgenes were tinkered with and they werekilled and dispatched as research fodderinto biohazard waste containers. The pur-ported darkness of medieval times wasnever as dark as the remarkable ethicalblackness that is descending upon contem-porary “enlightened” man as he exploitsand destroys his own offspring.

Vigilance and care are required whendealing with vulnerable research subjects,and human embryos are among the mostvulnerable of God’s creatures, entrusted tous as our children, calling for stringentmeasures to ensure their protection andsafeguard their human dignity.

———

Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, Ph.D.earned his doctorate in neuroscience fromYale and did post-doctoral work atHarvard. He is a priest of the diocese ofFall River, MA, and serves as the Directorof Education at The National CatholicBioethics Center in Philadelphia. Seewww.ncbcenter.org

The tragedy of the‘expendable children’

Making Sense of Bioethics

Pacholczyk

Hosffman OspinoCatholic News Service

El nombramiento de obispos hispanoscomo ordinarios de las diócesis deCalifornia o Texas o Florida es bastantecomún. Esto no sorprende a nadie, pues lamayoría de los católicos en el Sur y elOeste son hispanos.

Sin embargo, el reciente nombramientode monseñor Nelson J. Pérez como elpróximo obispo de Cleveland tiene bas-tante de novedoso. Es un evento degrandes incidencias históricas para elcatolicismo estadounidense.

Muchos reportes han observado quemonseñor Pérez es el primer obispo his-pano de Cleveland. Más interesante aún esel hecho de que él es el primer obispo his-pano en guiar una diócesis en el todo elMedio Oeste del país.

El Medio Oeste junto con el Norestetienen las concentraciones más altas decatólicos euroamericanos. Estas son lasregiones en las cuales se estableció lamayoría de católicos que llegaron deEuropa durante el siglo 19 y comienzosdel siglo 20.

En las últimas décadas, el catolicismo enel Medio Oeste ha experimentado transfor-maciones demográficas, raciales, étnicas yculturales profundas. Estas transforma-ciones han renovado la atención sobre lagran diversidad que ha existido por muchotiempo entre los católicos que viven enesta región.

Algunos de estos cambios son pequeños.Otros son mucho más significativos,aunque con frecuencia son consideradoscomo marginales al compararlos con

(Mira PEREZ/22)

Ospino

Bishop Nelson J. Perez and a newmoment for Midwest Catholicism

Monseñor Nelson J. Pérez y unnuevo momento para el catolicismo

en el Medio Oeste

(From 3)

6-7 DOSA Deacon’sConvocation

8 Confirmation Retreat 9 Heart of Mercy Prayer

Group10-11 DOSA Priest Fall

Convocation13-15 Deacon Formation15 2022 Deacon Formation

Pre-Aspirancy (One Day)16 Heart of Mercy Prayer

Group19 Staff Mass & Lunch19-22 Lubbock Deacons’

Annual Retreat 223 Heart of Mercy Prayer

Group24 Deacon Quarterly26-29 Women’s Walk to

Emmaus30 Heart of Mercy Prayer

Group

PRIEST ORDINATION DATESSEPTEMBER

2-Fr. Albert Ezeanya (2005)OCTOBER

3- Fr. Nilo Nalugon (1994)5-Fr. Hilary Ihedioha (1985)

NECROLOGY PRIESTSSEPTEMBER

10-Rev. James Franchi(1969)

10-Rev. Leo St. John, OMI(1976)

15-Rev. Peter Vergauwen(2003)

21- Rev. Domingo Estrada(2009)

23-Rev. Herman Valladares(1997)

25-Rev. William Lensing(1978)

26-Fr. William Cadigan,MSC (1971)

OCTOBER5-Rev. William Meagher, OMI(1970)7-Rev. Francis Schoutteten,OMI (2002)15-Rev. James Norman, OMI(1987)

NECROLOGYDEACONS

SEPTEMBER5-Deacon Jesus Mercado

(2009)28-Deacon Paul Ramos

(1990)OCTOBER

4-Deacon Thomas Lambdin(1982)

8-Deacon Simón Franco(2008)12-Deacon Peter Ballaro Jr.

(1989)21-Deacon Richard Blake

CALENDARS (continued)


By Elise ItalianoCatholic News Service

Of all of the headliners billed for last month's WorldYouth Day Unite in Washington, D.C., I was guessing thatthe two musicians — Audrey Assad and Tony Melendez —

were the biggest draw for theyoung pilgrims who traveled tothe St. John Paul II NationalShrine.

Assad isa nationally knownsinger and songwriter whoshares personal witnesses abouther conversion. Melendez, aNicaraguan American born with-out arms who plays the guitarexclusively with his feet, hasperformed for international audi-

ences at World Youth Days convened by the past threepopes.

Little did I know that the biggest star of the event wouldbe Bishop Frank J. Caggiano of Bridgeport, Connecticut, ashepherd who though small in stature, is big in heart.

Those who have their pulse on the American Catholichierarchy tend to follow the prelates responsible for thechurch's response to the biggest social and cultural issuesof the day: immigration, religious liberty, the protection of

life, marriage and health care. They're the topics that domi-nate religion news headlines. They're also the issues thatpeople think are so polarizing that they are keeping youngpeople out of the pews.

As we've been exploring in this column, the church hasanother priority that is less contentious but no less impor-tant: direct, attentive engagement with the next generationof believers. After hearing his World Youth Day Unite cat-echesis, it's clear that Bishop Caggiano needs to play a bigpart of the American contribution to the world synod onyouth.

Though from the world's perspective a 58-year-old clericmight be as far removed as one could be from millennialyouth and young adults, he understands the challenges theyface when discerning and saying "yes" to God's plan fortheir lives. No doubt that's why the past two popes bookedhim at World Youth Days and why he has served as theepiscopal advisor for The National Federation of CatholicYouth Ministry for three years.

At various points during his 30-minute catechesis, Ilooked to my left and right and saw teens and 20-some-things leaning forward in pews or on the floor with batedbreath, hanging on his every word -- that is, when theyweren't catching their breath between side-stitching fits oflaughter.

Like the pope who shares his name, his approach is per-sonal and passionate. He masterfully combined exegesis

with personal accounts of his vocation story and invitedthe participants to share their own takeaways. He lookedthem directly in the eyes.

Anyone in youth ministry knows that building up youngpeople involves both instruction and invitation. That's thebasis for trust, intimacy and response.

Bishop Caggiano seems to think when it comes to youth,it's best -- as he says -- to "get down to brass tacks." Theycrave the good news more than anything else: God is love,he loves them in spite of their sins and in their brokenness,and he's closer to them than they can imagine.

For a generation plagued by anxiety, depression, fear andloneliness, a generation who has endless virtual encountersat the expense of real friendship, the bishop simply deliv-ered the fundamental messages of the Gospel. Though thecontroversial issues of our day saturate news and socialmedia, it's the basic kerygma -- God loves me -- thatmakes skeptics into saints.

From that starting point alone young people can askthemselves, "What does God want for my life? How will Irespond tomorrow now that I know what I do today?"

Maybe it was his Brooklyn accent that wrapped his talkin warmth or his eyes that sparkled with a little bit of mis-chief. Whatever it was, Bishop Caggiano convinced meand those crammed into a chapel in Washington, that eventhough "life will give us a thousand reasons to doubt God'slove," there is still yet good news.

By Bill DoddsCatholic News Service

Thank you.For the past 26 years --

September 1991, for crying outloud -- I've had the pleasure,privilege andsometimes panicof writing amonthly familycolumn forCatholic NewsService.

("Panic"? Alittle. "Thecopy's duewhen!")

Simply and sincerely put, I'dstop this one right here with aheartfelt "thank you" to a vari-ety of CNS editors, diocesaneditors and many, many read-ers. At least I always hopedmany, many readers.

But!Those editors, God bless

them, have a word count thatthey want columnists to fill.Mine is 600. Give or take a lit-tle.

So!No, I'm not in poor health.

Yes, I'll continue to crank outmaterial about family, God andlove in a variety of Catholicpublications, but let's be honesthere. It's time for a youngerperson to write a family col-umn for CNS. Someone on thefront lines of raising little onesin the 21st century.

My children are ... well,yikes, two of the three of themare in their 40s. (Which, I'lladmit, greatly amuses me.)

When I began writing for CNSmy youngest was 11. Now Ihave a grandchild who's 12.

"Tempus fugit." Latin for"Holy moly, where did thosedecades go?"

Some longtime readers mayrecall that it's only recently thatI became a solo act. Only sincemy wife, Monica, died of uter-ine cancer in early 2013.

Before that, years and yearsbefore that, David Gibson -- aneditor at CNS at the time --approached me and asked me ifI'd be interested in writing amonthly column. He had a fewtopics in mind, but the only oneI remember focused on familycaregiving.

I knew just about nothing onthat topic, but I knew someonewho knew a lot: Monica, asocial worker for the Seattlearchdiocese's CatholicCommunity Services. Monica,my wife. We could work on ittogether. So we began "YourAging Parent," which became abook and, when that went outof print, a website and a secondbook.

In the early 2000s, the col-umn's focus broadened andbecame family life in general.

To sound like an old manhere (which is not a stretch,since I'm not a young or mid-dle-aged man and stretchingisn't as easy as it used to be) ...By cracky when Monica and Ibegan this column, we wrote iton a Radio Shack TRS-80 com-puter, ran it off on a dot matrixprinter and sent it in a stampedenvelope to CNS. Later, going

high tech, we faxed it in.Because of CNS, because of

you dear diocesan editors andreaders, in 2005, our websiteabout family caregiving led toour beginning the Friends of St.John the Caregiver(www.FSJC.org). It's an inter-national Catholic organizationthat promotes care for familycaregivers.

To Monica and me, it seemedthat was what we had beenmoving toward all our adultslives. A ministry we were led toand, thanks be God, were ableto do. One that, in 2013,became a core part of her lega-cy.

That year I wrote a lotcolumns about widowhoodbecause, although I thought Iwas prepared for Monica'sdeath, I -- like most new wid-ows and widowers -- was clue-less. It was a blessing to me tobe able to share a part of thatjourney. To receive emails fromfellow "club members" tellingme their stories and thankingme. To have so many peopleremembering Monica, me andour family in their prayers.

I'm nearing the 600-wordlimit. Feel free to visit me atBillDodds.com. (Info on mybooks there.) Or contact me [email protected].

(Wow, do columnists havebig egos or what?)

- - -Bill Dodds and his late wife,

Monica, were the founders ofthe Friends of St. John theCaregiver (www.FSJC.org).

Bishop Caggiano reached the young with heart

It’s time to say goodbye

Catholic Voices

Dodds

Cartoon Corner


Review By Brenda LehrWest Texas Angelus

The book “Beautiful Mercy” deals withthe giving and receiving of mercy. Nomatter where a person is in life, the sevenspiritual and seven corporal works ofmercy are possible for us all.

These authors witness the power ofGod’s mercy, provide simple, practical tipson how to be an instrument of that mercy,and bring hope to anyone searching fordeeper meaning in life.

First, let us look at the definitions of“Mercy,” “Counsel,” and “Doubtful,” asexplained by priests to Jackie Francois-Angel.

The Latin word for mercy, is misericor-dia, derived from the two words miserere(“pity” or “misery”) and cor (“heart).When we ask for God’s mercy, we areessentially asking him to relieve us of aheart that is in misery. Our hearts can bein a state of misery not just from sin, butfrom the deep hurt caused by a brokenrelationship with a family member, fromthe suffering of infertility, from the pain ofa physical or mental illness, from losing ajob, from being betrayed or abandoned,from spiritual or physical poverty, and soon.

The English word “counsel” comes fromthe Latin consilium (con (with) + silium (adecision). So, to counsel means to assistsomeone in the act of deciding, not just togive vague or generic advice.

The word “doubt” comes from the fromLatin word dubius meaning “uncertain.”This gives us a more precise description ofthe spiritual work of mercy we call“Giving counsel to the doubtful.” It is thework which helps the undecided (or thoseof two minds on something) to come to agood and upright decision rooted in thecall to holiness and the goal of attainingHeaven by God’s grace.

Every time we go to Mass and say,“Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy.Lord, have mercy,” we know that the Godwho is relieving us of a heart in misery isalso empowering us by His Holy Spirit togo and do the same for others.

John wrote to his people: “You must seewhat great love the Father has lavished onus by letting us be called God’s children –which is what we are.” The great chal-lenge of the spiritual life is to claim theidentity of Jesus for ourselves and to say:We are the living Christ today!”

The following stories are excerpts fromseveral of the contributors in the book“Beautiful Mercy.”

FREEING MERCYKerry Weber

The chaplain from San Quentin StatePrison, Fr. George, sat down in KerryWeber’s office. Kerry was eager to tellhim about her recent trip to Rwanda. Shehad traveled there with Catholic ReliefServices to report on the country’s 1994genocide and the healing and reconcilia-tion that had taken place.

If you are not familiar, it was at thebeginning of April 1994, that over thecourse of 100 days, approximately 1 mil-lion people were killed in Rwanda. Aminority tribe, the Tutsi, were being killed

by members of a majority tribe, the Hutu.Many of these people were being killed bytheir neighbors who they spent time within their daily lives.

Catholic Relief Services worked with thepeople of the Rugango parish and the dio-cese to create the Community Healing andReconciliation Program, which fostereddiscussion and forgiveness among the peo-ple of that community – a communitywhere survivors and perpetrators of thegenocide lived side by side.

Little by little forgiveness began to hap-pen. Boniface, a man who was in prisonfor ten years, came home to discover thewomen he had harmed was living in peaceand harmony with his wife. She evenhelped his wife feed him while he was inprison. Another member in the communityforgave him for killing his relatives.

All this took place gradually as more andmore participated in discussions and tookpart in “solidarity activities” during theannual month of mourning each April.The parish was also able to build a youthclub, which helped educate young peoplein ways of peace.

One survivor said, “We forgive becausewe know God also forgives.”

After finishing her story, Fr George toldKerry, she should come to San QuentinPrison. He told her they had a restorativejustice program that many men participatein. He thought the men would appreciateher stories. Kerry said, “no” she was notan expert, but Fr. George asked her to sim-ply be a conduit for these grace-filled

examples.She soon found herself in front of about

eighty men in the San Quentin chapel.Given the pain and violence they’d experi-enced or perpetrated in their own lives, shewas unsure if they wanted to hear of theviolence and pain in the stories she wasgoing to bring to them.

She began to tell them stories of the menand women she had met in Rwanda. Theylistened, asked questions, and were verythoughtful and kind. They shared fromtheir own lives as well, and were eager totalk about forgiveness.

She discovered while sitting there, shewas among a community of men cut offfrom the rest of the world, sharing storiesfrom men and women she had methalfway around the world, and everyonewas struggling, suffering, and seeking for-giveness. She found that there is power incommunity, and that we must accompanyone another in life’s struggles, as Christaccompanies us.

SHARING MERCYSarah Swofford

Sarah was raised a Kansas farm girl.

Whenever she read through the corporaland spiritual works of mercy, it gave herpause when she came across “instruct theignorant.” Her definition of ignorant wasbeing dumb or rude, and therefore not atthe heart of the work of mercy.

She later learned the word ignorant isfrom the Latin meaning “not knowing.” Itcan also mean “unlearned,” “unknown,” oreven “unaware.” She found while spread-ing the “good news” to those who were“ignorant,” was a mix of exhilaration, frus-tration, excitement, and terror all rolled upin one. She also discovered that “wisdom”and “faith” are the anchors of human life,giving us meaning and purpose.

Borrowing the line from Peter as he waswalking to the temple and saw a beggar who has been crippled since birth, “I haveno silver or gold, but I give you what Ihave; in the name of Jesus Christ ofNazareth, rise and walk” (Acts 3:4-6).

We may not always have the perfectanswer or argument, but we have the sametruth, knowledge, wisdom, faith, and con-viction that was given to the apostles; the

(Please See MERCY/21)

Writer excerpts exhibit ‘Beautiful Mercy’ in Kelly’s book

“Beautiful Mercy: . Experiencing God’sUnconditional Love So We Can Share Itwith Others” (Published by MatthewKelly/DynamicCatholic.com). Contributors:Pope Francis, Matthew Kelly, CardinalDonald Wuerl, Fr. Larry Richards, Fr.Michael Gaitley, Fr. Donald Calloway, Dr.Allen Hunt, Kerry Weber, Mother OlgaYaqqb, Christopher West, Lisa Hendey, Sr.Marie Veritas, Dr. Carolyn Woo, LisaBrenninkmeyer, Curtis Martin, SarahSwafford, Sr. Mary Mageline Todd, Sr.Helena Burns, Jackie Francois-Angel,Jennifer Fulwiler, Daniel Burke, MattFradd, Fr. James Mallon, Fr. Mike Schmitz,John Michael Talbot, Msgr. Charles Popeand Dr. Scott Hahn.


Member

Catholic News ServiceCatholic Press Association

Texas Catholic NewsPublished the first Monday follow-

ing the 1st Saturday of each month

and delivered to all registered

parishioners in the

San Angelo Diocese.

Subscription rate for all others:

$10 per year

THIRD CLASS POSTAGE PAID

AT SAN ANGELO, TEXAS

Printed by the

San Angelo Standard Times

A Scripps-Howard Company

Submissions:

Story suggestions, calendar items,

parish briefs and all other

submissions should be emailed to

Jpatterson@

sanangelodiocese.org

COPY, PHOTO

DEADLINE:

Third Friday of every month.

Photos should be in jpeg format.

Letters to the editor are welcome,

and should be emailed to

Jpatterson@

sanangelodiocese.org.

Letters to the editor are printed at

the discretion of the editor and

identities of the writer are subject to

verification. Please include name,

address and phone number when

submitting letters.

Bishop Michael J. Sis

Publisher

Jimmy Patterson

EditorMedia Relations Director

The West Texas Angelus

Official Newspaper of the

Diocese of San Angelo, Texas

POSTMASTER: Send all address

changes to:

WEST TEXAS ANGELUS

P.O. Box 1829

SAN ANGELO, TX

76902-1829

__________________________

IOD SOCE

siM

SAN ONC RNFE

noiss

RE DNC DA

ryan

O EEN F

e

E

c

MisssiiDD

ssioneellppiiccss

naryiihhssee

JJ

ennenn afer CaaaTYNOKEY

aCfer CienniJJExecu

rrar AAr oEAKEPPE

Allmr Allmrarar oovutive Directo

E

IO$

EG0 00

R TGISTRAT0 00$$ 0.0333

E ncereonfeCEntire (lu ed)deuncluch inun

olioliCathCathexas Te

O OTC

encc Conferc Conferlili enc

ROBE 172021

005.$2ationtrsigie RylEar

nr ooreefoed brkstmaoped)deuncluch in(lun

005.$3DA h

n 22ertembpn Se

r ooDAt the ed)deuncluch in(lun

O ROBETC 17 2021,

9:00 A.M. 00 4: P.M.

SE C ONVENTION CENTERo) Sa,enterr,tion CCevenConlo ge )n Angelo

MCNEA

( Angen Sa

(From 20)

same Holy Spirit descends upon us andasks us to go out to all the nations and tellthe Good News (see Matthew 28:19-20;Acts 2:1-6). Sarah says, this is our role,our part to play in the story – and remem-ber, no one can argue with your story, yourtestimony.

BEING MERCYSr. Helena Burns, FSP

Sr. Helena Burns, likes to “counsel thedoubtful.” The people who – just don’t getit. This is her favorite spiritual work ofmercy, knowing that we live in a doubtful,skeptical age. As the non-Christian culturebecomes stronger and stronger, faith getsweaker and weaker. In the United States,according to the Pew Research Center, onein three millennials now declare “no affili-ation” as their religion, even if they werebaptized. If it were a religion, the second-largest religion after “Catholic” in theUnited States would be “lapsed Catholic,”with twenty-two million members. These“lapsed Catholics” are precisely the audi-ence for the New Evangelization pro-claimed by John Paul II. “There is anintermediate situation, particularly in coun-

tries with ancient Christian roots, and occa-sionally in the younger Churches as well,where entire groups of the baptized havelost a living sense of the faith, or even nolonger consider themselves members of theChurch, and live a life far removed fromChrist and his Gospel. In this case what isneeded is a ‘new evangelization’ or a ‘re-evangelization’.” The book covers indetail the categories these doubt-filledsouls fall into.

We need to thank God for our strongfaith. We obviously have a treasure thatothers do not have, but one they do want.People who are constantly wavering, canbe a real cross to bear. St. Paul theApostle took great care with those hecalled the “weak in faith,” to bring asmany as possible to salvation

BEYOND GRUMBLINGDr. Scott Hahn

Dr. Scott Hahn is a popular speaker,teacher and author. He expresses that OurHeavenly Father longs to convince us of his passionate love for each one of us, that

(Please See KELLY/22)

MERCY

HARVEY(From 6)

It's been hard to communicate with otherareas, said Bishop Flores in an Aug. 26interview with Catholic News Service, soit's hard to gauge the extent of the damage.But he said his diocese wanted to get ahead start to quickly divert help where it isneeded and as fast as possible.

If the Rio Grande Valley, where BishopFlores' diocese is located, was spared themajor impact of Hurricane Harvey, thenthe diocese had a duty to help their neigh-bors to the north, in the coastal areas ofCorpus Christi and Galveston-Houston,which seemed to be hit hardest, he said.Hurricane Harvey seemed to enter nearCorpus Christi and affected seven coastalcounties in Texas and one Louisianaparish.

"We continue to pray for every foreveryone affected by the hurricane andthose who are at risk as the storms contin-ue," said Bishop Flores in a statement.

Though the brunt of the hurricane'swinds has passed and Harvey was down-graded to a tropical storm hours after land-fall, heavy rains and "catastrophic flood-ing" are expected for days, said theNational Hurricane Center.

"We have to remember ... the familiesaffected by flood damage in the next fewdays in other parts of the state will be inneed of relief," said Bishop Flores. "Wewill assess better how we can help as weget further information about the needsfrom the (Texas Catholic Conference ofBishops) and Catholic Charities."

In an Aug. 26 statement published by theGalveston-Houston archdiocese, CardinalDiNardo said powerful winds and heavyrainfall have already impacted many livesand homes throughout the region, andmany in the southern counties of his arch-diocese have already suffered substantialproperty damage and losses

In Houston, the country's fourth largestcity with 6.6 million residents, many strug-gled seeking safety in flooded residentialstreets, which are expected to get up to 50inches of rainfall by the time the rain stopssometime at the end of August.

"Numerous homes in these communitiesare currently without power. Several fore-casts anticipate additional storm damageand flooding in the coming days, alongwith high winds and tornado activity,"Cardinal DiNardo said.

Up to 250,000 have been reported with-out power in Texas, a number that'sexpected to rise.

San Antonio Archbishop GustavoGarcia-Siller said in a statement that thearchdiocese pledged its support to recoveryefforts that will start after the rain andwind subside.

"My thoughts and prayers are with thepeople of the dioceses of Corpus Christiand Victoria, as well as the Archdiocese ofGalveston-Houston, as they cope with thedamaging effects of Hurricane Harvey," hesaid. "The people of San Antonio haveopened their arms to welcome evacuees ofthis historic hurricane, and CatholicCharities of the archdiocese has beenassisting and will continue to assist in avariety of ways those impacted by this nat-ural disaster."


(From 18)

cent Asian and Pacific Islander, amongother groups from different cultural fam-ilies. Everything seems to indicate thatsuch diversity will continue to expand.

The closer one gets to larger cities inthe region like Detroit, Indianapolis orChicago, the more culturally diverse thepicture becomes.

Bishop Perez without a doubt willbring attention to the fast-growingHispanic presence in his new diocese aswell as in the region. The Cuban-American, born in Miami, is perfectlybilingual and bicultural.

He is also uniquely positioned to relateto many other Catholics in light of hispersonal and pastoral experience. A childof Cuban immigrants, his story intersectswith that of many immigrants, exiles andrefugees. His Afro-Caribbean roots bringhim closer to the journey of African-American and other black Catholics.

As an American Catholic, BishopPerez journeys culturally and religiouslywith his Catholic sisters and brothers ata moment when we continue to discerncultural diversity as a blessing. As a pas-tor, he has the responsibility to accompa-ny all Catholics under his care.

A pastoral leader indeed does not needto be Irish to serve Irish Catholics orHispanic to serve Hispanic Catholics orVietnamese to serve VietnameseCatholics. The key is to become familiaras much as possible with the spiritual,ecclesial and cultural realities of thecommunities one serves.

Bishop Perez and countless otherHispanic pastoral leaders are increasing-ly prepared and ready to serve the entireCatholic community in our country. Onecould not expect less. We need to culti-vate more of these leaders.

Knowing this challenges the unrealis-tic assumption that Hispanic pastoralleaders are to serve primarily Hispanic

Catholics. I do not think that I ever metanyone who would expect that a bishopwith a non-Hispanic surname shouldchoose to serve primarily non-Hispanics.Such willful neglect would be sinful.

Bishop Perez is the first Hispanic bish-op heading a diocese in the Midwest.The first of many, for sure. This is goodnews for our church.

When Boston awaited the appointmentof a new archbishop in 2003, I told anIrish-American priest friend that I wouldlove to see a Hispanic leading the arch-diocese. He said, "Boston Catholicism isvery Irish, I don't think I will see aHispanic leading this diocese in my life-time." To that, I responded, "Why not!"

- - -Ospino is professor of theology and

religious education at Boston College.He is a member of the leadership teamfor the Fifth National Encuentro ofHispanic/Latino Ministry.

(Para 18)

expresiones predominantes de vidacatólica. De todos modos, el cambio sesigue dando poco a poco y seguirá trans-formado al catolicismo en el MedioOeste.

Monseñor Pérez asume el liderazgo deuna diócesis que es altamente blanca,euroamericana, con un 10.7 por cientode hispanos, 2.3 por ciento de católicosde raza negra y un 1.6 por ciento decatólicos asiáticos y de las islas delPacífico. También hay unos cuantoscatólicos de otras familias culturales.Todo parece indicar que esta diversidadseguirá incrementando.

Mientras más grandes las ciudades enla región, como en el caso de Detroit,Indianápolis y Chicago, más diversa esla población católica a nivel cultural.

Sin duda alguna la presencia de mon-señor Pérez hará que se ponga más aten-ción a la población hispana en la región,la cual crece rápidamente. El obispocubanoamericano, nacido en Miami, esperfectamente bilingüe y bicultural.

Monseñor también está posicionado demanera única para relacionarse con

muchos otros católicos gracias a suexperiencia personal y pastoral. Siendohijo de inmigrantes cubanos, su historiaconverge con la de muchos inmigrantes,exiliados y refugiados. Sus raícesafroamericanas le permiten relacionarsemás de cerca con el itinerario de loscatólicos de raza negra.

Como católico estadounidense, mon-señor Pérez camina cultural y religiosa-mente con sus hermanas y hermanoscatólicos en un momento en el queseguimos discerniendo la diversidad cul-tural como una bendición. Como pastor,él tiene la responsabilidad de acompañara todos los católicos que se le hanencomendado.

Un líder pastoral ciertamente no tieneque ser irlandés para servir a los católi-cos irlandeses, o hispano para servir alos católicos hispanos, o vietnamita paraservir a los católicos vietnamitas. Laclave es familiarizarse al máximo conlas realidades espirituales, eclesiales yculturales de las comunidades que unosirve.

Monseñor Pérez y un sinnúmero delíderes pastorales hispanos están cadavez más preparados y listos para servir a

toda la comunidad católica en nuestropaís. No se pudiera esperar menos.Necesitamos dedicar más recursos paracultivar a esta clase de líderes.

El saber esto desafía la presunciónpoco razonable de que los líderes pas-torales hispanos han de servir primor-dialmente a los católicos hispanos. Nocreo haber conocido una sola personaque piense que un obispo que no es his-pano deba servir primordialmente acatólicos que no son hispanos. Tal negli-gencia intencionada sería pecaminosa.

Monseñor Pérez es el primer obispohispano a cargo de una diócesis en elMedio Oeste. Seguramente el primero demuchos. Esto es una buena noticia parala iglesia en los Estados Unidos.

Cuando Boston esperaba el nom-bramiento de un nuevo arzobispo en elaño 2003, le comenté a un amigo sacer-dote, el cual es irlandés-americano, queme encantaría ver a un obispo hispanoguiando el rumbo de esta arquidiócesis.Él me dijo, "El catolicismo en Boston esmuy irlandés; no creo que en mi vidaveré a un latino guiando a esta diócesis."A lo cual respondí, "¡Por qué no!"

OSPINO

PEREZ

(From 21)

relentless mercy which calls – and –enables – us to share his own divine life,that fiery outpouring of love by whichthe Father eternally begets the Son in theHoly Spirit. Only an infinite, raginglove such as appears among the BlessedTrinity can explain the mysteries ofhuman sin and salvation.

This invisible love requires much moresuffering and self-denial than simplygiving up chocolate for Lent. Itdemands nothing less than a constantdying to self.

We’d like to think there’s a simpler

solution – more education, laws, tech-nology, or money. That’s like prescrib-ing aspirin for AIDS! Sin’s infection istoo deep and too deadly. But we shouldnot despair or get depressed. Our Fatherknows what we need better than we do.

Through Scripture we must train our-selves to attain a sacramental vision ofthe Church. Don’t ever let the mixedbag that is the Church on earth causeyou to leave her or stay out of her.When you allow scandal to make youleave the Church or stay out of theChurch, you are not only depriving your-self of the spiritual food of the sacra-ments, you are spurning Christ’s Bride.

Sinners are in the Church, but they donot embody the Church. For them theChurch is a hospital for healing – sothey can be made into saints. The sacra-ments, the liturgy and especially thesaints embody the Church’s true essence.

The crisis of the Church is notreducible to the lack of good catechists,liturgies, theologians, and so forth. It’s acrisis of saints. But it’s a crisis that ourFather can be trusted to handle, especial-ly if we allow him to keep his promisesto us.

With Saint Pope John Paul II, ScottHahn urges us to make ourselves saints,and do so quickly!

KELLY


KNICKERBOCKER

(From 2)

In all of these instances, the answer isthe same. We have to move from themindset of “this is my church or my pro-gram” to “this is our church, our pro-gram, and we want everybody to be wel-comed and included.” This means wehave to have a paradigm shift, or whatwas referred to at the convocation as a“culture change” in our parishes. We haveto change from a culture of “this ismine,” to a culture that specifically goesout looking to bring others in, especiallythose on the margins, and making it ours.We can no longer foster a culture of whatcan I get out of this, but rather we mustcultivate a culture of, “What do I have tooffer to help strengthen and grow ourfaith community?”

It is up to each of us to take part in thischange. How can we reach out to thosearound us — both in the pews and downthe street — and make them a welcomedpart of our community? It is aboutaccompaniment. Accompaniment is notsimply inviting people into what isalready established and expecting them toconform. It is about something deeper. Itis about relationship. A relationship that

truly cares about where another is in lifeand how we can journey with them, attheir pace, in a way that is beneficial tothem and their faith.

For years, in the youth ministry world,the catch phrase has been “relational min-istry.” It’s more than a catch phrase, it’s anew way of ministering to and withyoung people. It’s not about a program,but developing relationships with eachindividual and walking with them no mat-ter their past, their present situation, ortheir future. It’s about developing a rela-tionship that first and foremost lets themknow that they are deeply cared for andsecond, helps to point them to Christ. Inthis sense, the youth ministry communityas a whole has been a step ahead. As mis-sionary disciples, we should each belooking at building the Kingdom, and ourfaith communities, by first buildingauthentic relationships with each other.Relationships that are about accompany-ing each other in this life—being presentin a real and authentic way in eachother’s lives.

As part of this culture change, we mustalso look at the leadership of our parish-es. One panelist suggested the 50%rule—at least half of the visible leader-

ship in parish programs should be at orbelow the median age of the congrega-tion. Do we have young adults on parishand finance councils? Is there representa-tion of that median age in our variousministries and councils? Are we allowingnew, and possibly younger parishioners,to take the lead in organizations like AltarSociety, Knights of Columbus, etc.? Orare we too worried about the ways theymay change things? If there is not, howcan we mentor those people so that theycan take on those leadership roles?

The other main takeaway was that wecannot rely on the priests or the staff toadd yet another program to the calendar.It is up to each of us, at more of a grass-roots level, to start this culture change.We must empower people to do for them-selves, rather than them waiting on thepriests or staff to do for them. Rather thancomplain that a new women’s program isneeded, are we willing to step up and leada new women’s group? Can we offer ourservices to help get the new Bible studyup and running or do we expect a staffmember to do it? If we have a great ideaof how something can be improved, dowe offer to help implement that idea, ordo we simply complain that it could be

better? As I processed and reflected on these

ideas, I admit I found it both inspiringand overwhelming. As Pope Francis saysin Evangelii Gaudium, “There…exists aconstant tension between ideas and reali-ties. Realities simply are, where ideas areworked out. There has to be continuousdialogue between the two, lest ideasbecome detached from realities.” So howdo we take these ideas and bring them toreality?

There’s no easy answer. We must bewilling to honestly look at our parishesand evaluate the current culture. As wefind the areas that need to begin this cul-ture change, we must be intentional infacilitating that change. We must knowwhat our goal is and work toward it, butin a way that is focused more on the cul-ture we are trying to cultivate and chang-ing people’s approach and less on a spe-cific strategy. No matter how we go aboutthis process, we must keep in mind that itwill be an ongoing process. It will takeprayer, dedication, perseverance, andmore prayer.

And it just might help if you’re a littlecrazy.

CULTURE

(From 8)

motivated by the Holy Spirit, their humanspirit, an evil spirit, or a combination ofthese spirits. The Discernment of Spiritsis a gift of revelation given for a specificsituation. This revelation can comethrough a vision, a sense, or a specificword, similar to a Word of Knowledge.

Gifts of Communication or Utterance

Tongues is a spontaneous, inspiredutterance by the Holy Spirit in which weuse our voice according to the Spirit’sprompting to minister to the prayingcommunity for a particular need or in aparticular situation. Speaking in tonguesis a transient gift used only when there isan anointing. It may be an earthly orheavenly language; a language current onthe earth or one long dead, or it could beany one of countless dialects. Theseinspired utterances can bring deliverance,inspiration, refreshment (both spirituallyand physically), revival, wisdom, and is ameans to victory in spiritual warfare

Interpretation of Tongues is aprophetic message given in response tospeaking in tongues in a community. Ifsomeone speaks out in tongues thereshould be an interpretation for the benefitof the community. This can be given bythe person who has spoken in tongues, orit can be given by someone else in thegroup.

Prayer in tongues, on the other hand,is a permanent gift in which the individ-ual is edified. The Spirit prays withinaccording to Romans 8:26: "Likewise theSpirit helps us in our weakness; for wedo not know how to pray as we ought,but the Spirit himself intercedes for uswith signs too deep for words." In aprayer language, the person yields to the

Holy Spirit to pray through him/heraccording to the will of the Spirit,through sounds and syllables, not know-ing what the Spirit is praying.Relinquishing ones self to the Holy Spiritin this way is loving, trusting, and prais-ing God. Prayer in tongues may be usedin private or communal prayer.

Prophecy is a supernatural communi-cation from God to an individual or agroup of believers. It is an anointinggiven as the Spirit wills to anyone opento bringing forth a gift in love to theirbrothers and sisters in Christ to promotethe spiritual growth and development ofthe body of believers. Prophecy buildsup, encourages (this could include warn-ings), exhorts, consoles, draws us closerto God in worship, and stirs up aresponse in God’s people. It alwaysbrings glory to Jesus Christ. Prophecy isforth-telling of the mind and heart of Godto His people. Prophecy can be manifest-ed through a vision, words, and thoughts,or be prompted by a form of physicalsensation to alert us to listen. Prophecyshould always be discerned and tested bythose present. It is a specific messagegiven at a particular time for a specificpurpose. On the other hand, a prophet isone who has been anointed by the HolySpirit to express prophetic words consis-tently over time--a Ministry Gift.

Gifts of Power/DynamismFaith is a supernatural outpouring or

anointing of the Holy Spirit whichenables us to believe without a doubt that

what is spoken or undertaken in Jesus’name will be accomplished. Faithinvolves entrusting oneself wholly to Godand to believing absolutely and complete-ly what He reveals. The Gift of Faith is asupernatural faith that will heal and bringabout miracles. The person who has thisgift centers his/her mind on God toreceive Words of Knowledge and Wordsof Wisdom to know what God wants todo at that particular moment. This Gift ofFaith is to be distinguished from faith asbelief in God, saving or justifying faith,and faith as faithfulness--a fruit of theSpirit.

Healing is a supernatural outpouring ofGod’s power, which results in the healingof sickness and disease without the use ofmedical means. This can involve sicknessof the body, soul and/or spirit. God isinterested in healing our total person.Healing may be physical, psychological,emotional, spiritual, or relational. Jesus isthe healer. Even healings that come to usthrough the intercession of our BlessedMother Mary and the saints are throughtheir intercession with Jesus the Healer.When we pray for healing, some type ofhealing comes, though it may not be whatwe asked for. Healing is often accompa-nied with the gift of tears – a wonderfulgift described by one of the saints as the"washing of the soul." Also, joy mayaccompany healing and can be expressedthrough "holy laughter" or tears.

Working of Miracles – Miracles areinterventions into the course of eventsthat seem to contradict the laws of nature.

Through working of miracles the HolySpirit manifests the power of God to pro-duce works that override natural laws,such as turning water into wine, multipli-cation of the loaves and fishes; healingbeyond the ordinary, such as healing thewithered hand (Luke 6:6-10), the replace-ment of an organ that is not there, disap-pearance of a tumor without surgery,making the blind see without surgery.The Lord bestows miracles to encourage,strengthen, and support the faith of Hispeople, or to correct a given situationwhich cannot be accomplished by anynatural means, or to show His power atwork in response to a ministry of preach-ing or teaching. Miracles always happeninstantaneously; healings may be instan-taneous, gradual, or a speeded up recov-ery.

I Peter 4:10-11 shows us how to useour gifts: "As each one has received agift, use it to serve one another as goodstewards of God’s varied grace...so that inall things God may be glorified throughJesus Christ, to whom belong glory anddominion forever and ever. Amen."

How do you receive a ManifestationGift? Pray the Holy Spirit to gift youaccording to His will; ask the grace,prayers, and assistance of our BlessedMother Mary; and ask the intercession ofa prayer team in a Charismatic Renewalcommunity. If you are interested in par-ticipating in an English or Spanish lan-guage Charismatic prayer group, contactSandy Seidel, 325-656-5550 to find outthe location and time of one closest toyou. The Diocesan Renewal website issanangeloheartofmercy.com.

"Come, Holy Spirit, fill our hearts,enkindle in us the fire of your love. Sendforth your Spirit and we shall be created,and you shall renew the face of theearth."

Faith is a supernatural outpouring or anointing of the Holy

Spirit which enables us to believe without a doubt that what

is spoken or undertaken in Jesus’ name will be accom-

plished.


Fun Stockton!

Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Fort

Stockton hosted a Family Sunday

Funday End of Summer Bash on August

13, at the Michael Quiroz Memorial

Heroes Spray Park. Through a com-

bined effort of contributions of all min-

istries and groups, a fun-filled afternoon

was enjoyed by all parishioners in an

event to end the summer. Hamburgers

with all the trimmings, hot dogs, chips

and watermelon were enjoyed by all.

More importantly, it helped strengthen

the unity of the Catholic family at Our

Lady of Guadalupe Parish.

(From 10)

visited most of these. The chapel-com-munities are organized, each with its ownlay leadership, which in turn are repre-sented on the Parish Pastoral Council(with whom we enjoyed a meeting andfestive activities). About half the chapel-communities have Youth Groups; wespent a lively afternoon with the leaders.Formation programs take place in com-munity, such as “small Christian commu-nities”; we spent an evening with one,learning to “see, judge, and act.”

The third dimension is called the“paschal” dimension, referring to cele-brating our faith in the Mass, other sacra-ments and prayer services. We took partin Sunday Masses, weekday Masses andone Mass on the patronal feast day of oneof the chapel-communities, Santa Marta,with the meal after it. Small groups ofthree or four of us accompanied womenof the Legion of Mary, taking Holy

Communion to shut-ins in their homes;these encounters were especially emo-tional for our group members, as theysaw what it is like to be sick or elderly inthe midst of poverty and heat of theneighborhood. Christ is present to thesick in the missionary disciples whocome to see them and in the Bread ofLife, Holy Communion.

The fourth dimension of the Church ismission. Pope Francis calls on us to goout to the marginalized and the poor. Theentire parish of Santisima Trinidad is inone of the most distressed barrios of SanPedro Sula; we were immersed in thisenvironment every day. One afternoonwe sorted bags of food and then wentwith the people involved in social min-istries to take the food to the homes ofthe most needy, a truly moving time forour parishioners.

The fifth dimension is called the“Samaritan” area; it is the fruit of beingmissionary disciples of Jesus. This is

demonstrated especially in areas of serv-ice, which can bring about change in thesociety. We spent an afternoon with theparish IHER program, teaching Englishin this effort which helps students achievea high school equivalency diploma (like aGED). We spent a morning with anotherIHER program, a non-profit called“Caminando por la Paz” which is support-ed by a number of people from our parishback home. We spent yet another morn-ing with the “Jardines de Niños,” a headstart type program for four and five-year-olds, in which Moms (trained by theChurch) work with at-risk children to pre-pare them to enter Kindergarten.

Every moment during the week-longtrip was a time of encounter, travel, shar-ing meals, meeting the people ofHonduras. We were accompanying peo-ple in their parish life, working alongsidethem. The activities listed above are sim-ply what happened during this week;another week would have been different,

perhaps with a retreat or a vocation pro-motion or a procession through thestreets, but just as impactful. The mainidea is to spend a good block of timewith the people in each activity; in thistime, we share our faith, witness to oneanother, encourage one another.

Finally, life includes times of rest andenjoyment, too. So one day was spenttraveling to the Caribbean coast at Omoa.We toured a fortress from the 1700s andswam at the beach. Another afternoonwe toured the cathedral and the cityplaza, finishing the visit with shoppingfor souvenirs at the artisan market called“Guamilito.”

In his apostolic exhortation “TheChurch in America (1999)” Saint PopeJohn Paul II wrote that accompanying ourfellow Catholics results in an encounterwith the living Christ; from thisencounter proceed conversion, commun-ion and solidarity.

This is what we “do” on a mission trip.

HONDURAS

School’s In! - Roman Catholic Diocese of San Angelo · School’s In! Midland St. Ann’s School...

Documents

Transcript of School’s In! - Roman Catholic Diocese of San Angelo · School’s In! Midland St. Ann’s School...